WEDNESDAY OPEN THREAD
It is the day after.
Rest in Peace.
SUNDAY OPEN THREAD
An 18-year-old man was arrested early Sunday and accused of committing a string of gruesome cat mutilation deaths that had horrified residents of his Miami area community.
BRAIN FOOD, NOT SEX FOOD!
Some North Carolina residents experienced unpleasant sexual side effects after eating a certain kind of fish.
WEDNESDAY OPEN THREAD
The New York Post is not backing down from it. Your thoughts on this are welcomed.
ARRESTED FOR WHISTLING?
Be careful how you whistle, especially if you live in the UK. A man has been locked up for whistling the ADDAMS FAMILY theme.
TUESDAY OPEN THREAD
Did something freeze over when we were not looking? Check out this tidbit regarding how Pat Robertson differs from Rush Limbaugh regarding President Obama.
MONDAY OPEN THREAD
In the 1800’s, Hawaiian Lepers were cast off to the island of Molokai to keep them isolated. Illinois Democratic Senator Roland Burris may be wondering if his colleagues would like to send him to a political analog of Molokai. Burris is afflicted with “Blago,” forever connected to former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who selected him to fill the U. S. Senate seat vacated by President Obama.I don’t pretend to know Mr. Burris or the ins and outs of Chicago politics, but I do know what a wolf-pack press corps looks and sounds like when it is after blood. Clearly, it was after the political blood of Sen. Burris, in this case, at a recent media conference, in Chicago. The senator and his attorney made the mistake of assuming that if they presented a reasonable explanation of circumstances, that reasononable journalistic minds would give them fair consideration. Unfortunately, that is not what these howling media sessions are about.
They are about ridicule. They are about - in this case- making sure that Sen. Burris’ reputation is muddied and his years of political and legal service denigrated. They are about portraying as buffoonery refreshingly forthright and out-going personality. They are about making sure this senator (I might add that the governor of New York is in a similar situation) does not gain enough support to run again.
Look, the days of the media seeking truth and justice and the American way went out with Murrow and Cronkite and Karault. The list time I heard something like ”nail it down and get right” was the late Frank Reynolds. And even then, it was not without its flaws. The Civil-rights movment was just getting out of the womb.
No, they don’t make newspeople like that anymore. Newsertainment folk are coming out of Journalistic Cool School and GQ and America’s Top Model. With the exception of C-Span, it is about making money for media outlets. It is about the self-aggrandizement of the so-called correspondent/anchor/reporter. It’s about who can shout the loudest at the media conference. It’s about selling the political agenda of the outlet for whom they work.
What it is not about is taking a close look at a person; making a determination like you would if you were on jury duty - that this person may be attempting a genuine effort to get the truth on the record.
