Diary

Tue - September 6, 2005

jjjj

nterview with Mark Knoller of CBS. She referred to the foreign insurgents and terrorists in Iraq as “freedom fighters.” Knoller cut those words out of his report, he told me, because he “really wasn’t interested.” He should have left them in. In fact, alarm bells should have rung in his brain. First of all, it’s startling that an antiwar mother would talk that way about people who blow up children and who may have killed her own son. Second, “freedom fighters” in this context is the telltale lingo of the hard, anti-American left. When the grieving mother starts talking that way, it’s news.

Knoller recalls that other reporters on the scene were watching his interview that day in Texas, but apparently they weren’t any more interested in Sheehan’s little linguistic adventure than he was. Apparently none bothered to report it. The “freedom fighter” remark reached the public only because an antiwar group, Veterans for Peace, filmed the CBS interview. It was picked up by an anti-Cindy Sheehan website, sweetness-light.com, where bloggers and conservative commentators noticed and circulated it.

Sheehan, before and after her arrival in Texas, said a great many colorful things that failed to interest mainstream reporters. Some of her acid comments registered with the public mostly because of George Will’s powerful column of August 25 and his similar comments on the Sunday ABC TV news show This Week. A few made it on to cable news. Others simply failed to make it into the mainstream media. It’s worth reviewing what she said: The neocons deliberately allowed the terrorist attacks of 9/11. American soldiers are “being sent to kill innocent people” in Iraq. Her son, Casey Sheehan, “died for oil” and was “murdered” by President Bush. The United States is “not worth dying for.” The president, who “stole the election,” is part of the “Bush crime family,” a “lying bastard,” a “führer,” a “filth spewer,” “the biggest terrorist in the world,” and an “evil maniac” who is guilty of “blatant genocide.” Sheehan also compared Lynne Stewart, the radical lawyer convicted of aiding terrorists, to Atticus Finch, the heroic lawyer who battled racism in the book and movie To Kill a Mockingbird. She has been accused of making vaguely anti-Semitic remarks, but she attributes those remarks to her political opponents. On Hardball, she said the American attack in Afghanistan was “almost the same thing” (i.e., just as evil) as the invasion of Iraq.

Extreme politics. The mainstream media’s lack of interest in these little verbal grenades is astonishing. According to a computer search, not one of them made it into news coverage by the New York Times. The Times has a public editor, or ombudsman, who might want to ask why. One explanation for the news failure is that the media wedded themselves early to a simple narrative line-the president, holed up on his ranch, refuses to meet with and comfort a grief-stricken mother. This narrative became frozen in cement when columnists of the left began talking about the “moral authority” of a parent who loses a son in war. This story line-moral mom versus stone-hearted president-didn’t allow much room to note Sheehan’s great contempt for America. There is also the vituperation she has been showering on Bush for years. She campaigned against him in 2004, vigorously promoting his impeachment, not seeking a meaningful heart-to-heart chat with the “evil maniac.” Nor did reporters point out that Bush would set himself up for more abuse if he sat down with Sheehan, probably in the meeting and surely in the press conference afterward. By sticking to the anguished-mother story line and declining to publish her outlandish verbal abuse, mainstream reporters protected the public from an inference that would otherwise been obvious: that Sheehan had either gone around the bend psychologically or, more likely, had simply thrown in her lot with the extreme America-hating left. Whenever the mainstream media inched toward actual information about what Sheehan was up to, they employed the familiar “conservatives are claiming” construction, not directly reporting Sheehan’s odd comments and extreme politics.

On the whole, the mainstream media depicted Cindy Sheehan as a moral figure without blemish. Maybe reporters and editors felt paralyzed by the “absolute moral authority” rhetoric or justified by polls showing declining support for the war. Some reporters, of course, detest Bush and oppose the war. For whatever reason, they weren’t able to break from the original soft narrative line about a mother’s grief and tell us what was really going on

Posted at 12:50 AM

Sun - September 4, 2005

nnn

Even as the tragedy in New Orleans was still unfolding, the blame game was well under way.
• Bobby Kennedy Jr., chief lawyer for the left-wing Natural Resources Defense Council, rushed out a blog suggesting such a thing wouldn't have happened if Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and President Bush hadn't opposed the Kyoto Accords on global warming.
• The New York Times suggested that if only Bush hadn't let the country get mired in a senseless war, America would have the resources and manpower to deal more effectively with the aftermath of the storm.
• And some critics claimed that if only taxes hadn't been cut, money could have been available to reinforce the levees around New Orleans that gave way under the pressure of the storm water.
Blame may be in order, but not until enough time passes to rationally assess things. For one thing, recommendations for strengthening the levees far predate the Bush administration. For another, while 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard are in Iraq, more than twice as many were still in Louisiana -- and 30,000 federal troops were on the way.
And as prominent meteorologists have noted, the frequency and intensity of Atlantic storms had been declining for several decades, which may be one reason (federal subsidies for flooded areas being another) so many people took risks in building along the coasts. The recent uptick in violent storms in the past two years may be part of a natural cycle.
The Times called Bush's brief talk to the nation on Wednesday evening "the worst speech of his life," complaining that he spent too much time giving a laundry list of aid that was on the way. But a president can hardly be blamed for wanting to reassure people that Washington has its act together.
Mostly he got things right, establishing a clear line of authority for the relief effort, opening the national oil reserve, suspending environmental rules that limit gasoline supplies and giving a heartfelt and honest first assessment of the difficult task that lies ahead.
Of course, some serious second-guessing should be done. Should evacuation orders be mandatory? Could the breakdown of law and order in New Orleans have been averted by stronger police action? And why are U.S. energy supplies so vulnerable to disruption?
But let's keep in perspective that Katrina was a rare event. Its effects took just about everybody by surprise. Yes, a calamity might have been anticipated, just as September 11 might have been anticipated. But trying to anticipate and avoid all risk runs the even larger risk of bankrupting society -- and leaving it unable to cope with the surprises that inevitably occur.
There is no such thing as a risk-free world, and pretending otherwise is dangerous -- as the failure of so many people to flee the Gulf Coast when they had time demonstrates. The ultimate strategy for protecting the country from disaster must be a strategy of resilience -- making sure we have the skills, the moral fiber and the resources to respond effectively to calamity.

Posted at 12:56 PM

Sun - August 7, 2005

Told you so :)

One of my very first blog entries I discussed fad diets and the Atkins phenomena.... well, guess what? People finally listened to what the true experts said all along, and, probably more impacting, they listened to their own bodies revolt!

Heres the headline...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Atkins Nutritionals Inc., the company that promoted low-carb eating into a national diet craze, filed for bankruptcy court protection Sunday, a company spokesman said.

Atkins has been hurt by waning popularity of its namesake diet, which focuses on eliminating carbohydrates such as bread and pasta to shed weight. The diet became one of the most popular in U.S. history, spawning a virtual cottage industry of low-carb regimens, but also drew criticism from experts for its focus on fatty foods and low fruit and vegetable consumption.

Posted at 05:05 PM

Too shocking for Main Stream Media!

Here it is, what you do not see from the Iraq war, the GOOD NEWS!!

Posted at 04:57 PM

Sat - July 9, 2005

Londons 911

The TV network Al-Arabiya, on its Web site, solicited readers' responses to the attacks. Several expressed happiness, with comments such as "Allahu Akbar, thanks be to God," "More power to al Qaeda leader Osama (bin Laden)."

Furthermore, Al-Arabiya, in my opinion, has sanitized the war on terrorism and had in fact made it look like America and England are the real terrorists!

In response to the FEW Arab and Muslims who condone 9/11 and the recent attacks in London I say this:

To the heroes of Arabism and Jihad, since you are sparing no method to attack the West and you gloat as you try to kill the largest number of civilians. How would you like it if the West relieves itself of your headache by hitting you with one of its nuclear weapons. It takes only minutes and then there will be no heroes, no men and no shish kebab!

In response to the MAJORITY of Arab and Muslims who condemn 9/11 and the recent attacks in London I say this:

Like you, I am shocked and angry. WE shall overcome these awful events and prevail through a philosophy of love, fairness and democracy, not hate, evil and Genocide!

Posted at 01:51 AM

Teacher first, Trainer second

I own a Personal Training business in Southern California. I love what I do. I used to be a tenure-track professor at a major university in North Dakota. I loved what I did. It is the teaching aspect of these two jobs that I love. If you are a trainer I hope you 'get it'... keep reading... (hint: your clients are your students)...

Like doctors, lawyers, accountants, and architects, teachers have to master their disciplines to be effective in their professions, but knowing their subject matter is not sufficient. Professionals are not simply holders of knowledge; they are people who act on this knowledge for the benefit of clients. The difference between teachers and other professionals in this regard, however, is striking. Most professionals use their knowledge to help the client with a problem, but they don’t provide the client with the capacity to figure it out for himself or herself the next time around. Undoubtedly this is one of the ways that physicians have succeeded in garnering the status and income they presently enjoy – that is, to ‘lock up’ or mystify their knowledge. Most professionals rent their expertise without disclosing its mysteries, so they can reserve its power to themselves. The next time that clients need help with medical, legal, or accounting problems, they have no choice but to return to the professional for another fix, another intervention, another rental of expertise. Teachers are different. They don’t rent their expertise, they give it away. A good teacher is in the business of making himself or herself unnecessary, of empowering learners to learn without the teacher’s help. By doing things this way, teachers demystify their own expertise and thus willingly abandon the source of power over the client that other professions guard so jealously.

Posted at 01:49 AM

Fri - July 1, 2005

Oxymoron?

The World Record Hot Dog Eating Competition recently aired on ESPN. I was ironically eating a hot dog (Chicago-style, the best) and nearly choked on it when I heard the announcer say "these athletes are from all over the world". Athletes?!?!?! World-record-all-you-can-stuff-down-your-throat athletes?!?! LOL Geezzzz... and I had problems with bowlers and billiard players being labeled 'athletes'.

Incidentally an Asian athlete won by eating 53(!!!!) hot dogs in 12 minutes. Burp.

Posted at 08:14 PM

Wed - June 29, 2005

Mr. Cruise, stifle yourself

Stick to crushing aliens in Science Fiction movies instead of crushing your reputation with recent public confessions of embracing Scientology and psuedo-garbage of the sorts Tom!!