The US media are as liberal as the corporations which own them.

I have been saying that NPR is a commercial media outlet and pretty right wing these days.  The commercial accusation comes from the fact that the conservatives have worked to ensure that no public funding is used for public broadcasting (which includes the The Corporation for Public Broadcasting). Thus US Public Broadcasting resorts to extort-a-thons and corporate "underwriting", which is a fancy word for commericals.  Corporations can pull their "underwriting" if the media decide to publish something contrary to the corporation's interests.  Likewise, it seems that the Cato Institute is dictating NPR's editorial policy.

Anyway, FAIR had Steve Rendall 5 Mar 10 blog post: Progressive History on the Public Airwaves: U.S. vs. U.K. from 03/05/2010 which confirms that my suspicions may not be too far off.

Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the end of the historic British miners strike of 1984-85. The BBC has a special broadcast in commemoration, The Ballad of the Miners Strike, featuring the voices of miners.
But where can Americans turn for commemorations of our progressive history? There is always Howard Zinn's excellent book, A People's History of the United States.  But turn on NPR, the closest thing the U.S. has to the BBC, and the closest you'll get to the people's history is the denunciation of Zinn.

Going to the NPR Finds Right-Wing Crank to Spit on Zinn's Grave: David Horowitz in ATC obituary with substance-free attack post makes the request for action that people ask "why All Things Considered brought on David Horowitz to trash the late Howard Zinn when NPR's extensive coverage of William F. Buckley included no critical guests?"

NPR's coverage has become very right wing as of late, which is part of the reason I posted the Coffee Party info. It seems to me that the US MSM is far too fixated upon the "Tea Party Movement" which is obviously astro-turf.

On the other hand, I watch the BBC and see stories about the Rich-Poor gap in Britain. There is the work Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett which posits that that there is one common factor that links the healthiest and happiest societies: the degree of equality among their citizens: not wealth,resources, culture, climate, diet, or system of government. Furthermore, more-unequal societies are bad for almost everyone within them—the well-off as well as the poor.

In the US, health care isn't considered a right, yet owning a deadly weapon is. Hardly anyone seems to be challenging this idiocy beyond FAIR (How the NRA Rewrote the Constitution and Gun Control, the NRA and the Second Amendment). Where is the screaming about healthcare other than the astroturf tea party movement?

Again, I have to recommend the Wisconsin AFL-CIO's reports on the Right Wing movement.

Anyway, why aren't the US MSM asking the same questions that the BBC and FAIR ask?  Where are the media who will ask the questions and post the news that people need to hear?

If ignorance is bliss, then Americans should be the happiest people in the World (Universe?)

I have to admit a desire to want to take comments, but I really don't want to hear from the ignorentia.

Case in point, I have been trying to explain extraterritorial and universal jurisdiction and how that relates to Article VI of the US Constitution to someone (Fatheaded White Moron). He says I wasted my time in law school if I believe these things exist. Well, sorry, Fatheaded White Moron, but they do exist: especially in the era of the internet where you aren't just dealing with a person around the corner, but you are broadcasting to the entire world (e.g., my current IP address places me in North London, but I could be anywhere in the world).

The thing is that I don't really want to persuade anyone of anything. While I don't mind being informative: I can't teach the unteachable. It's a waste of time trying to explain the concept of jurisdiction to a moron.

But, I shouldn't be surprised. When I was young and into short wave, we heard the Voice of America "special English" program (one with limited vocabulary for people learning English) and it sounded like US mainstream news. I've also noticed that the Beeb dumbs down its news programmes for the US audience. In fact, BBC America was an extreme disappointment when I saw it in all manners (commercials, programming, etc.).

Of course, I am not alone in noticing that the citizens of the United States dislike and distrust intellectuals. There are books by Chris Hedges, Charles F. Pierce, Farhad Manjoo, Michael Specter, and Richard Hofstadter to name just a few. Hofstadter is the most insigtful of the lot. His book The Paranoid Style in American Politics goes a long way to explain some of the thinking we see in the blogosphere and the tea party movement.


People who think are a threat to society. Hence people like Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, George Bush (either one), and so on become the leaders. There is a reason that Bill Clinton became US president and it wasn't that he was a great mind. Obama has always been more smoke and mirrors than anything else, which is why I am not disappointed in his performance as president. He was annointed to be president the moment he took the podium at the 2004 democratic convention. Oprah Winfrey, another media creation, helped catapult him to become the first black celebrity president.

I have been curious as to why people don't want to limit electioneering rather than term limits (other than term limits is one of those concepts that is easy for small minds to grasp and accept). The US election process isn't set up to be democratic as the Ron Paul and Howard Dean campaigns show, but is meant to be run by people with money. It costs money to run for office in the States. This is where we have the golden rule: "Those with the Gold: Rule".

So whether it is a right wing idiot like Sarah Palin or a left wing idiot like Brack Obama, the puppet is elected. The weapons of mass distraction media (thank you, il principe) can confuse the small minded. Or worse, the NPR listening fools who think because it is "public" radio it is any less controlled by commercial interests. As I said before, underwriting is just a slightly less obnoxious commercial.

Of course, where this is all going is that there is a world out there which means that you don't need to be limited to the weapons of mass distraction media in the states. You have the BBC, Radio Nederland, Al Jazeera and a host of other sources out there for alternative viewpoints. Although, that comment is superfluous since most of the closed minds don't want to listen to alternative viewpoints. If they do it will be in a derisory manner, as did Fatheaded White Moron when I tried to explain the concept of jurisdiction.

So after that rambling rant, I long for intellectual discourse, but find it difficult to have. the internet does provide one with others who can be good company, but it is also filled with those who are not as stimulating. I find the less intelligent and closed minded people to be quite tiresome.

Climate Change--More doing Sweet Fanny Adams

I have this weird feeling that Copenhagen will be just another clutter fuck.



Not that the Climate Skeptics will be the ones fucking things up, it seems that the third world wants more give from the developed nations. Of course, the Third World is correct. I mean Bangladesh is suffering from climate change. Maybe we should allow the displaced Bangladeshis to immigrate to the US. There are three reasons for this: one the US is partially responsible for nothing happening regarding global warming, they're muslims, and the US needs more Indian Restaurants.

OK, the last one is my bias for Indian food (which is probably another post) and most Indian Restaurants in the UK are owned by Bengalis (people from Bangladesh). Anyway, this quote from the Daily Kos got me going on this:

Immediately after a UK poll showed decreased belief in global warming, the government organized a billboard campaign to set the record straight. There has been silence from the U.S. government. However, the issues of intentional deception by global warming deniers to confuse and mislead the public about the existence of global warming and liability for damages are now before the courts in the 5th and 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

For some reason, the US has been controlled by the Carbon based energy industries (Coal and Petroleum) who have pretty much screwed up the debate on lots of issues I find dear (Public Transportation, alternative energy, and the environment). In particular, alternative energy industries need to be investigated. The US has been brainwashed that there will always be cheap fossil fuels, which will be another blow to its economy that will make the credit crisis look like the roaring 20s.

Let's say there are time when I wish I had a more important position in the world. But I look at my friends who do have these positions and say "fuck it". Especially when it comes to the United States.

Leadership in the United States requires quite a bit. Unless we are going to have a military take over. Not that I would mind that: Wes Clark as President, Paul Eaton as Secretary of Education, and a few others.

Seriously, one needs a thick skin since politics seems to require that one is a virginal saint, and I doubt some of them would qualify. "Ah, so you heard the voice of the Lord as you were tending your field...". Additionally, I think there is a serious need to educate the public. Although most US citizens seriously qualify as special needs children.

Yeah, even you people who listen to NPR! That's only slightly better than Fox news. If you aren't a member of your local station, you are contributing to the fact that it is beholden to "underwriters" which is a fancy way of saying advertisers. Or as the one person said during an extortathon: "You're a leech, you're taking our services without contributing." How unbiased is the info you get from NPR if its subsidised by something like the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation"? You think you're going to hear any anti-microsoft pieces? Tell me what's Ubuntu, you smug NPR listening oik?

Yeah, I like the BBC, but I listened to Radio Nederland during the last Iraq invasion! Speaking of Radio Nederland, They have a piece on Copenhagen: how to make your voice Heard! I may start listening to RNW again since NPR does suck.

Anyway, I have my blog to let off steam.

Sweet Fanny Adams = Fuck All