Monday, July 23, 2007
ABC Radio News Pisses Me Off
Every time I happen to be in the car, and the ABC hourly news comes on, they seem to engage in one piece of Republican propaganda each time. Today, they were reporting on "a report" that states that Sunnis in Iraq are tired of the "cruel" Al Qaeda leadership and are fighting back, but sadly they only are brave enough to do it because we are there. If we leave Iraq, they will all just be foot soldiers for Osama.
Seriously, it was that blatant. There was no sourcing, no balance, no questioning why this "report" seemed to be Bush administration agit prop. Just "a report" is all.
How come we need an Exxon funded "scientist" for balance when discussing global warming, but Bush administration bullshit on Iraq often goes unchallenged? This drives me bonkers. We are told we need paid hacks to balance a majority position, but when crap is being peddled, it needs no "other side".
Why is that?
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Every time I listen to the top of the hour news, my blood pressure goes up. Yesterday they were hawking the John Edwards haircut story as top news. Today, they were blaming us citizens for not taking vacation.
It's a paraphrase, but the announcer said don't complain about not taking vacations, because half of you don't take the vacations you already get. Many of you are only planning on taking long week-ends this year. So quit your bitching about getting only two weeks a year. This was her basic message.
The reason people don't take their full vacations in most cases is because they can't. Technically, the vacation is there, but you are considered a non team player if you bother taking it. The companies have been so downsized, that the work you do can't be done unless you are around to do it, and how dare you think of yourself, and your need for a mental break when things just have to be done.
That's not the message ABC is sending though. It's all our fault. We "choose" to overwork in the US. There should be a law against such pro corporate propoganda, or the fairness doctrine. Subtle things like this are small in the great scheme of things, but crap like this every day is there to attune people into being compliant worker bees.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Driving home just now, I was listening to the top of the hour news from ABC radio. The first story was President Bush in Columbia asking for rebels to release 3 US private anti-drug contractors who have been held hostage since 2003. Bush asked the rebels to "show mercy" for these guys. In the days of torture and habeus corpus as well as Gitmo and Padilla, this is kind of ironic. I do hope these contractors are released, but part of the problem for american citizens in the world is that George W. Bush doesn't see the irony, and we are seeing no results.
One of the next stories was news about a fire in Anaheim Hills, California where 200 people have been evacuated. The announcer stated that this fire was small in size, but signifigant because it threatened expensive homes. Oh, well if the rich are being put out, it's a huge story. Never mind. Not celebrity rich, just your garden variety every day OC rich folks. You know, George Bush's base.
It led me to to wonder about if we will ever escape tribalism, and worship of our betters. The day we consider 200 families in trailers being threatened by a fire as signifigant as that of wealthy people, we likely will be in a society where there won't be as many people forced to live in trailers.
