My Favorite Maureen Dowd Column

As you may (or may not) know, Maureen Dowd is a typical New York Times lefty whose columns make great bird cage liner. However, she has an older brother, Kevin, whose conservative views must make for some interesting family reunions. Once a year, Maureen turns over her column to Kevin, who takes full advantage of the opportunity to undo all the damage inflicted by his sister during the previous year. This year’s column is no exception. A must read.

From the comments:

There are all kinds of theories to explain you and Kevin, including birth order (eldest child generally conservative in order to maintain the status quo), Remember that Nature shuffles about 30,000 cards upon the fertilization of an egg during the process of known as genetic recombination which can make siblings seem almost unrelated at the end. Of course, dropping a baby on the head doesn’t help (ask mom or dad this New Years to finally fess up which one of you they dropped). While you’re asking, you may pull mom off to a corner and ask her if she now regrets that thing she had for the milkman. Does Kevin have red hair? Let’s just say that you both keep the Nature versus Nurture debate alive and well. To both you and Kevin, I bid you peace on earth and goodwill to all men (and women).

It’s reassuring to know that, at least in some families, the bonds of love are stronger than politics.

Climategate and the Media

John Coleman, founder of The Weather Channel, doubts that we will ever hear anyone in the MSM utter the three most important words in character-building: “I was wrong.”

He predicts the media will stubbornly stay quiet on the Climategate story until it fades away. But there is one possible development that will make this story so huge that it will overwhelm them.

Read the article to learn more . . . .

“The Emperor Has No Clothes!”

Rosslyn Smith sees a profound irony in the location of next week’s climate summit: Copenhagen, the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen’s story, The Emperor’s New Clothes.

It begins, after all, with two con men who promise they can weave cloth of unsurpassed beauty to the enlightened but which would be invisible to any man who was unfit for his office or unpardonably stupid. They would then tailor that fabric into a fabulous suit of clothes for the emperor. The emperor invested in the venture because such traits would be useful to someone like himself as emperors tend attract both sycophants and self serving manipulators.

Smith notes that the real lesson of the story is not the arrogance of the emperor, but the willingness of his courtiers to suspend reason in support of an obvious lie. The parallels to the current global warming crusade are remarkable.

I can almost excuse the politicians and the speculators who promoted AGW.  Like Anderson’s emperor, they invested in a tool that would advance their self-interest. Representative democracies are supposed to have checks and balances to help keep such self-interest within reasonable bounds. In addition to the way the researchers themselves violated scientific standards, the actions of our journalists and educators who jumped on the AGW bandwagon made matters worse.  People in these positions are supposed to promote healthy skepticism. Journalists see themselves as the guardians of transparency in government and educators in the pursuit of enlightenment.  In fact, our legal system grants special rights to journalists because of their role as the watchdogs and whistle blowers.

But like the emperor’s court, our media and academia have chosen to play along with the scam. Now, finally, someone has had the courage to lay bare for all the world to see that, indeed, the whole enterprise was fabricated out of thin air.

Stossel on Journalistic Bias

John Stossel documents his transition from a typical left-wing government-knows-best journalist hack to a thoughtful free-market libertarian — and the price he paid to make that journey. The experience has given him a unique perspective on the issue of bias in journalism.

Reporters who think coercive government control is generally good and I, who thinks voluntary market forces are generally better, both have a point of view. So why am I the one called biased?

Rush, the NFL, the MSM . . . and Integrity

Only one of the three has it.

The double-standard shown by the NFL and the media in the recent flap over Rush Limbaugh’s bid to buy ownership in the St. Louis Rams is over-the-top shameless. John Hawkins draws five important lessons from the episode. The last one is directed at conservatives:

Maybe conservatives should actually start raising a lot more hell about issues like this one. When Hollywood, the NFL, and the mainstream media conclude that conservatives aren’t suckers who will still hand them money even as they’re insulted, maybe the insults will stop. . . . If conservatives do nothing else in the next few years — well, besides taking back Congress and defeating Barack Obama — we should insist on an end to that double standard.

Global Warming Tipping Point?

No, not the tipping point Al Gore has warned us about. Rather, the tipping point in the media’s move away from AGW alarmism toward skepticism. Marc Morano documents the media’s gradual shift toward a more balanced coverage of the science behind the issue. The result is a growing number of skeptics.

The science is so overwhelmingly obvious, that sooner or later the questions could no longer be avoided.

Finding Truth in a Post-Journalistic Age

With the mainstream media becoming increasingly irrelevant,  and the rise of extremely partisan bloggers on the left and right, how can the average citizen find a balanced source of information to determine the truth on critical issues of the day? Ron Radosh looks at the challenges that face the news consumer trying to sort out the facts on a story like the recent ACORN scandal.

Is there any truth to the charges either side makes? If one listens simply to the TV talking heads, no one will know what is true or what is false. You watch the side you already agree with, and take the argument of those who you listen to in order to reinforce the opinion you already have.

Radosh has a point here. With partisans on both sides retreating deeper into enclaves of rigid group-think, the process of debate and compromise — which is the genius of our democratic system — becomes ever more difficult.

Radosh, however, sees a glimmer of hope in a handful of television programs that feature spirited dialogue among representatives with opposing views. As much as we might disagree with those of opposing views, it is important that we take the time to listen to each other.

NEWS FLASH!! Tea Party Erupts in Violence!!

This just in . . . A tea party in Pittsburg has turned violent!

These wacko conservative Republicans have begun throwing rocks at police cars, smashing plate glass windows, and engaging in other forms of anarchist behavior! Go here to see the shocking photos of these out-of-control freaks on a rampage.

What we in the media have long feared has finally come to pass — the Tea Partiers are a powder keg that can explode at any moment. Clearly, they pose the gravest threat to the Republic since Ronald Reagan.

UPDATE:  Stand by . . . okay, it appears that this is not a tea party at all, but anarchists exercising their constitutional right of free expression at the G-20 summit. No news here, move along to the next story . . .

(via Instapundit)

Our Clueless Leaders

Salena Zito warns the political class that their dismissive attitude toward the surging protests will cost them.

The Tea Party phenomanon has moved Americans to mobilize and protest as never before, which makes you wonder why the media and elected officials downplay it so much.

As for racism, the majority of the electorate is white, and a majority of it voted for Obama — and people are now demonstrating because they think our country is going off a cliff, not because our president is black.

“The Kamikazi Media”

That’s the label that John Nolte places on the mainstream media, who have passed far beyond mere bias into irrational behavior in their support of the Dear Leader. They will sacrifice themselves rather than let the truth be told.

The Palace Guards know full well how the “narrative” works and each of the stories they’ve ignored at crippling expense to their own integrity and relevance represents what terrifies them most … a string that could unravel The Whole Thing.

The Van Jones Saga and the MSM

Yesterday’s resignation of Obama’s energy czar and resident commie Van Jones — and the MSM’s deliberate effort to avoid the scandal — speaks volumes about the accelerated decline of the traditional media.

There is no conspiracy to silence progressive voices. There is no attempt “to choke the breath out of American debate” as a DailyKos blogger claims. You own CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, and PBS. You own The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The L.A. Times, the Associated Press and Reuters. You own the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House.

The failure to get your message out is not the problem. The problem is your message. Your feeling of being politically lost is the result of your own myopia.

Harry Reid, Bully

The editor of the Las Vegas Review Journal calls out Sen. Harry Reid for a veiled threat he allegedly made against the newspaper.  The editorial has gotten wide exposure elsewhere, especially in Nevada, where the Senator is up for reelection next year.

Bravo for the editor. It’s refreshing to see a media outlet perform it’s duty of speaking truth to power.

Even the Press is Getting Irritated . . .

. . . At the Obama administration’s efforts to tightly manage the news about The One. Here is an exchange between Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, and two journalists, Chip Reid and Helen Thomas, over the obviously phony “town hall” meetings that feature staged questions designed to make Mr. O look good.

Oh, No! Michael Jackson is Dead!

Michael who??

As I got into the car yesterday leaving work, the AM station I listen to was breaking into normal broadcasting with a news bulletin:  “This is an ABC Special Report” the announcer declared solemly, with that gripping intro music playing. Uh, oh, I thought. What’s happened? Has the President been shot? Did North Korea just fire a nuke into Hawaii? Has the government of Iran collapsed?

None of the above. Michael Jackson has been rushed to the hospital.

For the next thirty minutes the broadcast was taken over by several news correspondants covering every angle of the story: Michael’s career, Michael’s music, Michael’s health, Michael’s legal problems, ad nauseum.

Gimme a break. If media big shots really want to figure out why our culture is so debased, they can start by examining their own reporting. When this weirdo gets more coverage than the far more important issues facing this country, the media have lost their bearings.

Why the Media’s Liberal Bias?

Because that’s how a loyal media serves its Party masters. The objective is not truth, but advancement of the Party agenda.

There are rules about how a Leninist press works – its operational code. When reading People’s Daily and Pravda with these rules in mind, the controlled press made perfect sense. What’s the point here? Troublingly, these same rules fit today’s American mainstream media – and the media’s relationship to the Democratic Party – nearly to a T.

Apply Fairness to NPR

Brent Bozell argues that if the the Fairness Doctrine is applied to conservative talk radio, it ought to apply equally to NPR.

Liberals would like to “crush Rush” and his conservative compatriots by demanding each station balance its lineup ideologically. But since when has NPR ever felt any pressure to be balanced, even when a majority of taxpayers being forced to subsidize it are center-right?

Why no Fairness Doctrine attention to NPR? It is because those preaching “fairness” on the radio are hypocrites.

The Decline and Fall of the MSM

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is ceasing publication, becoming the second major daily to expire in recent weeks, following the Rocky Mountain News.

I expect this is only the beginning of what will become a torrent of newspaper closings. Like the dinosaurs, their time has come and gone.

How the Press Distorts the AGW Story

Warren Meyer (Climate Skeptic) documents a classic example of how the media exaggerates the global warming issue.

The headline on a recent article screamed, “Scientists:  Pace of Climate Change Exceeds Estimates.” But read the article carefully, and a different picture emerges. The headline should have read, “Scientists Have Raised Their Forecasts for Future Warming.” That’s an entirely different story.

Science is not the issue in this debate. It’s the political agenda of the Left and their hacks in the media.

So You’re a Journalism Major, Huh?

With newspapers laying off employees left and right, what kind of future do you have? For that matter, why do colleges even bother maintaining journalism schools?

To be sure, Journalism School teaches some general skills.  It used to be like an English degree with the possibility of employment.  Now both majors provide a four-year path to a career at Starbucks.

We are witnessing a major paradigm shift in how the public seeks information, and the daily paper is going the way of the buggy whip.

The Media and an Ignorant Electorate

Michael Ledeen, on the failure of the media to inform the public:

Never before has the ignorance of the electorate been so intensely cultivated as in this election.  We all know that major publications and broadcasters have simply refused to report news, and what they did report was spun politically. . . .

An ignorant electorate is a real threat to good government, and the whole point of the First Amendment is to create a wide-open national debate from which the truth might emerge.  The current behavior of the media–now totally politicized–makes it very hard to get to the truth.

And if a government wholly owned by the Democratic Party emerges from today’s election, there will be a determined push to further politicize journalism and squelch the remaining vestiges of dissent.

TV Sex Affects Teen Pregnancy Rate

Via FoxNews.com:

Groundbreaking research suggests that pregnancy rates are much higher among teens who watch a lot of TV with sexual dialogue and behavior than among those who have tamer viewing tastes. . . . Previous research by some of the same scientists had already found that watching lots of sex on TV can influence teens to have sex at earlier ages.

So popular culture influences impressionable young minds. Who would have known?

More Trashing of the Media — by a Journalist

Journalist Michael Malone doesn’t mind the grilling that the media has been giving McCain and Palin. But he is outraged that the media refuses to apply the same treatment to Obama.

What I object to (and I think most other Americans do as well) is the lack of equivalent hardball coverage of the other side – or worse, actively serving as attack dogs for Senators Obama and Biden.  If the current polls are correct, we are about to elect as President of the United States a man who is essentially a cipher, who has left almost no paper trail, seems to have few friends (that at least will talk) and has entire years missing out of his biography.  That isn’t Sen. Obama’s fault:  his job is to put his best face forward.  No, it is the traditional media’s fault, for it alone (unlike the alternative media) has had the resources to cover this story properly, and has systematically refused to do so.

If the media succeeds in getting Obama elected, Americans will eventually figure out that they’ve been duped, perhaps after we pay a terrible price for the mistake. But the real losers will be the media, who will learn too late what their duplicious behavior has cost them — their credibility. They will be finished.

Open Letter to the Local Daily

This “open letter to the local daily paper” by Orsen Scott Card has gotten a lot of exposure in the alternative media the last few days — Rush, Instapundit, Drudge, etc. And for good reason:  Card (a Democrat, by the way) shames the media for their outrageous disrespect for the foundation of their profession: Truth.

These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was … the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was … the Republican Party.

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

What? It’s not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?. . . . .

Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That’s what you claim you do, when you accept people’s money to buy or subscribe to your paper.

But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie — that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain, and the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame everything bad — even bad weather — on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.

If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth — even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.

Because that’s what honorable people do. Honest people tell the truth even when they don’t like the probable consequences. That’s what honesty means. That’s how trust is earned.

Someday someone will write a book — maybe several books — about the media’s role in this campaign. The media will come off looking pretty corrupt, because the evidence is so overwhelming and incontrovertible.

What the MSM Can Learn from Palin

Kathleen Parker offers this advice for media elites who are trying to figure out why they are so disconnected from the rest of the country: Study Sarah Palin.

These are the folks who have found light in Sarah Palin and who have been a major part of the Palin frenzy. They will vote the McCain ticket regardless of whether Palin can rattle off Supreme Court cases with which she disagrees. They recognize themselves in her. To them, her lack of polish and knowledge feels like an absence of slickness and glibness.

McCain’s hunch that Palin would catapult him into the White House ultimately may prove wrong, but the Palin phenomenon and the mainstream media problem are of a piece. Therein lies the answer to the media’s self-inquiry.

Contempt for one’s audience is not a sure way to its heart. Palin’s people feel that contempt and they have identified its source as the enemy.

How the Media Shapes the News

John Hinderaker documents some examples of how the media reported on a recent McCain speech on the economy, to illustrate their deliberate attempt to shape the news:

The Los Angeles Times quoted McCain’s speech right up to the point where he started talking about the economy. Then without, acknowledging that the economy was in fact the main subject of the speech, the Times jumped to a quote from Barack Obama to the effect that McCain is afraid to talk about the economy.

Shameless.

Advice for Palin

Christopher Beam asked some professional media trainers what kind of advice they would give Sarah Palin on how she can improve her interview skills. The bottom line:

The No. 1 piece of advice for interviewees, as with all things, was, practice. But aside from her friendly chat with Hannity, Palin hasn’t been able to warm up. And giving fewer interviews all but guarantees that each one will get analyzed down to the molecular level. “They’re doing a tremendous disservice by not putting her out there.”

The Death of Journalism

Tony Blankley:

While they have been liberal and blinkered in their worldview for decades, in 2007-08, for the first time, the major media consciously are covering for one candidate for president and consciously are knifing the other. This is no longer journalism; it is simply propaganda.

Who Is Shielding Whom?

The media howled when the McCain campaign tried to shield Palin from the press duing her recent visits with world leaders in NYC.

But they see no problem with shielding the public from potentially damaging information about Obama’s past associations and positions.

Latest on Palin Email Hack

Gateway Pundit has the latest details on the hacker who gained access to Sarah Palin’s personal email account and distributed addresses, phone numbers, and other private information around the internet.

It appears the culprit is the son of a Tennessee state representative (a Democrat, in case you couldn’t figure it out).

Of course, you won’t read about any of this in the mainstream media. They’re too busy dumpster diving in Alaska trying to find dirt on Palin.

The Fate of the Daily Newspaper

It’s no secret that daily newspapers across the country are facing horrendous losses, both in revenues and in circulation figures. Jonathan Yardley, himself a lifelong newspaper man, takes a look at how newspapers will have to reinvent themselves in order to stay viable — smaller, but meatier.

We may already be moving toward the daily magazine model even as we struggle to find the most workable and economically viable relationship between our print and Internet editions.

Of course, no amount of jiggering the format can overcome the effects of content that insults the readers.