The disgusting display put on by the media this week had us looking hard at our choice of topics today.
So much of the media is continually lost in the never-ending circus of stupid that surounds Sarah Palin. We could have focused on former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher blowing off Palin, or equally laughable Michele Bachmann and her staff dissing Palin as "not serious." We could have even ridden the story about Sarah Palin's idiotic alternate version of Paul Revere's ride, and her deluded followers. Half the media rolled in that story over the last few days - and the other half thought about it.
We could have focused on the sad and twisted story in Florida, about a dead child, and the mother who is being tried for her daughter's murder. Of course, since CNN Headline News focuses on that story every five minutes, all day, every day, there's really no point in anyone else even mentioning it.
We also could have focused on Congressman Anthony Weiner again - why not? After all, so much of the media is still obsessed with Weiner's wiener, it would be easy to slap some digital ink into another cartoon and throw some cheap shots at a Congressman, like most of them are doing.
Of course, as we pointedly noted yesterday, we'd like to think we're better than that.
From Montana, through the Dakotas, through parts of Minnesota, all over Nebraska and Iowa, and into Missouri, the effects of global climate change, in the form of massive flooding, is making its presence known.
While the chance of an event like the tsunami and earthquake combo that hit Japan this year is nearly zero, at least one nuclear power plant, in Nebraska, is already being affected by the flooding. Drinking wells are endangered. Some river towns are already under inches - or even feet - of water.
These events won't be like the tornadoes that plowed through Joplin and Tuscaloosa, a short, sharp strike of massive damage, and then the clean up begins. Officials are saying the Missouri River flooding could last into mid-August. That will destroy the crops of countless farmers along the river, for this year, and maybe for next year too.
There are still a few idiots that continue to deny climate change exists, and is happening now. Stories that allow them to continue their denial - like the report issued recently that claimed rising forest density is offsetting some effects of climate change - are all they need to keep their rejection of reality going.
The fact is, as climate change has happened, scientists are seeing a faster release of carbon emissions - which only makes the problem worse.
Don't expect to see the governments of any nation doing anything to help the situation, especially at the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany this week. While Mother Nature's warnings grow louder, that humankind must work - together - to help arrest severe, rapid global climate change, the only thing many humans seem to want to do is expect sacrifice from others, and ignore what they can do themselves.
Strangely, that disgusting display of selfishness may yet be the thing that saves us all. According to a new study, as nations are seeing and hearing more about massive climate change, and are noticing more disasters in their own backyards - like massive flooding, severe storms, huge wildfires and drought. As a result, many nations seem to be picking up speed, adding more legislation, and making moves to lessen their own effects of carbon pollution.
Sadly, America - once again, primarily thanks to our insane political right and our weak political left - seems to be lagging behind other nations in actually doing anything about climate change.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Yes, This Is What It's Come To
There are days when we look around at the business we are in - the business of media and communications - and we are sickened by nearly everything we see.
What happens when our media and communications structure is filled with bright, talented individuals who would rather slack off, do sloppy work, and simply ride the latest trash gossip all the way until the next tabloid non-story comes along? You get nearly two weeks worth of penis jokes aimed towards a guy named Weiner, all started by a media parasite who is finally partly right about something for probably the first time in his sad, pathetic little life.
In case you've been hiding out in the mythical cave Osama Bin Laden was alleged to have occupied, you'd be hard-pressed not to have heard about the troubles of New York Congressman Anthony Weiner.
The story began when the propaganda hack Andrew Breitbart - who seems to have a personal vendetta against Congressman Weiner - began pushing a new story. Breitbart claimed he'd discovered Weiner had sent a lewd picture to a young woman, using Twitter. Most ethical media types should have blown off Breitbart's story. After all, Breibart was wrong about Shirley Sherrod, wrong about ACORN, wrong when he teamed up with known right-wing smear artist James O'Keefe, and wrong in a whole host of other incidents.
Still, much of the media is lazy and bored. "Looking at the budget realties or the effects of climate change is hard work," they whine. So they took the weak, easy path, and followed Breitbart's half-truths.
Initially, the Congressman lied. He claimed his Twitter account had been hacked - which is so easy to do that even not-so tech-saavy people can do it. The bored media machine, spurred on by Breitbart, wouldn't let the story go, though.
So yesterday the Congressman came clean, admitting he'd sent a lewd picture of his crotch to a young woman on his Twitter account as part of a joke. The Congressman then went further, and admitted he'd taken other questionable pictures of himself over the years, and sent them to a few select women during that time.
In the media frenzy to focus on the fact that - SHOCK - a Congressperson LIED, the media also forgot to perform their due diligence.
To cover that professional oversight, we'll do it for them, in rapid fashion.
The Congressman admitted to sending explicit - but not pornographic - pictures to women over the last few years. Until July 11, 2010, the Congressman was technically single - so there wasn't even an ethical problem there, let alone a legal one. Wouldn't it be great if all the elected officials we have, who choose to be more sexually adventurous, would be single, trying to connect with other single people, using generally private methods? We'd much prefer that to Congressmen who have their parents pay their lover's husband to cover up their extramarital affair; or have a toe-tapping Congressman trying to find a quickie sexual liason in an airport bathroom; or even a Presidential candidate having donors bribe his videographer to cover up his affair.
We could even go further. For example, we could ask how Mr. Breitbart got the other photos he's now passing around, claiming they're also images of Congressman Weiner. The first photo was on a public Twitter feed, but the others appear to have been private. No one is asking yet how the piece of human trash that is Breitbart got his hands on those pictures.
The point of our trying to shame some of our fellows in the media, by pointing out their failures to do their jobs well, is simple.
When a press conference with a member of Congress, of either party, regardless of the tawdry topic, ends with some joker in the back yelling, "Were you fully erect" - and the media STILL doesn't understand why their consumers don't take them seriously any more, the problem isn't just the propaganda masters at Fox News. The whole so-called "News Media" now shares the blame for the sick, sad thing they've become.
What happens when our media and communications structure is filled with bright, talented individuals who would rather slack off, do sloppy work, and simply ride the latest trash gossip all the way until the next tabloid non-story comes along? You get nearly two weeks worth of penis jokes aimed towards a guy named Weiner, all started by a media parasite who is finally partly right about something for probably the first time in his sad, pathetic little life.
In case you've been hiding out in the mythical cave Osama Bin Laden was alleged to have occupied, you'd be hard-pressed not to have heard about the troubles of New York Congressman Anthony Weiner.
The story began when the propaganda hack Andrew Breitbart - who seems to have a personal vendetta against Congressman Weiner - began pushing a new story. Breitbart claimed he'd discovered Weiner had sent a lewd picture to a young woman, using Twitter. Most ethical media types should have blown off Breitbart's story. After all, Breibart was wrong about Shirley Sherrod, wrong about ACORN, wrong when he teamed up with known right-wing smear artist James O'Keefe, and wrong in a whole host of other incidents.
Still, much of the media is lazy and bored. "Looking at the budget realties or the effects of climate change is hard work," they whine. So they took the weak, easy path, and followed Breitbart's half-truths.
Initially, the Congressman lied. He claimed his Twitter account had been hacked - which is so easy to do that even not-so tech-saavy people can do it. The bored media machine, spurred on by Breitbart, wouldn't let the story go, though.
So yesterday the Congressman came clean, admitting he'd sent a lewd picture of his crotch to a young woman on his Twitter account as part of a joke. The Congressman then went further, and admitted he'd taken other questionable pictures of himself over the years, and sent them to a few select women during that time.
In the media frenzy to focus on the fact that - SHOCK - a Congressperson LIED, the media also forgot to perform their due diligence.
To cover that professional oversight, we'll do it for them, in rapid fashion.
The Congressman admitted to sending explicit - but not pornographic - pictures to women over the last few years. Until July 11, 2010, the Congressman was technically single - so there wasn't even an ethical problem there, let alone a legal one. Wouldn't it be great if all the elected officials we have, who choose to be more sexually adventurous, would be single, trying to connect with other single people, using generally private methods? We'd much prefer that to Congressmen who have their parents pay their lover's husband to cover up their extramarital affair; or have a toe-tapping Congressman trying to find a quickie sexual liason in an airport bathroom; or even a Presidential candidate having donors bribe his videographer to cover up his affair.
We could even go further. For example, we could ask how Mr. Breitbart got the other photos he's now passing around, claiming they're also images of Congressman Weiner. The first photo was on a public Twitter feed, but the others appear to have been private. No one is asking yet how the piece of human trash that is Breitbart got his hands on those pictures.
The point of our trying to shame some of our fellows in the media, by pointing out their failures to do their jobs well, is simple.
When a press conference with a member of Congress, of either party, regardless of the tawdry topic, ends with some joker in the back yelling, "Were you fully erect" - and the media STILL doesn't understand why their consumers don't take them seriously any more, the problem isn't just the propaganda masters at Fox News. The whole so-called "News Media" now shares the blame for the sick, sad thing they've become.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Marie's Picnic
Things don't always turn out the way we plan. For example, when we began putting together Friday's 'Daily Felltoon', some of our normally reliable online tools weren't quite their usual, fully-functioning selves (If you missed Friday's cartoon Click Here, or Friday's commentary Click Here).
When it comes to the jobs numbers and the economic situation in the United States, the Obama administration is learning a hard lesson about those plans right now.
The lesson isn't what some currently are saying - that America just can't pull itself up by its bootstraps right now. As we pointed out last Thursday, the problem isn't that Americans aren't willing to do the hard work to pull our economy back from the brink.
Our political leaders, however, are a different story.
From the left, the excuse that's heard most often is one that resounds with a story of fatalism - a story we're frankly tired of hearing. As Paul Krugman pointed out over the weekend, we know exactly what the problems are, and we know how to solve them. It is true that we don't have access to some tools to help pump up demand - for example, we can't cut short-term interest rates because they're basically zero. So that tool for driving demand isn't available. But that's NOT the only tool in our toolbox.
As Krugman also states, "We should be using fiscal stimulus; we should be using unconventional monetary policy, including raising the inflation target; we should be pursuing aggressive measures to reduce mortgage debt. Not doing these things means accepting huge waste" - waste, something modern conservatives claim to hate almost as much as taxes.
No, the problem on the left simply lies in not having the political will to do what's needed. Yes, House Democrats are claiming they'll push for more infrastructure spending and other stimulus measures in the face of Friday's jobs report. Sadly, their claims are reminiscent of those many on the Left made during the poorly-handled health care reform debate - too little, too late.
On the right, the sad fact is that they simply don't care. The compassion-free attitude of modern so-called conservatives, as Charles Blow noted over the weekend, is the real problem. The richest of the rich have been able to con many poor into thinking that someday, they'll be rich too - so the rich should never have to pay any more taxes, if we're going to repair our economic standing.
As Mr. Blow also noted, that's a false choice. We've said it repeatedly, as has anyone else who understands the economic problems America faces: BOTH sensible tax increases - especially on those who can most afford it - as well as sensible spending cuts are THE ONLY way to get our economic house in order. BOTH - not either/or.
Yet those on the right - even when they grudgingly admit corporations are swimming in cash and don't need big tax breaks, as Bill Kristol pointed out over the weekend - still insist that tax cuts WITHOUT additional sources of revenue are the only way forward. As Nicholas Kristof pointedly noted, if Republicans and conservatives are so set on finding a country that meets their current ideology of how things should be, they should move to Pakistan.
Unfortunately, this lack of courage on the left and lack of concern for others (and acceptance of reality) on the right are putting most Americans in the position of ants at a picnic, scrambling for scraps, while our so called leaders still feast, seemingly without care.
It's highly recommended that both sides change their tune, and stop focusing on their own pieces of cake before the 2012 elections - or they could find themselves politically headless come November 2012.
When it comes to the jobs numbers and the economic situation in the United States, the Obama administration is learning a hard lesson about those plans right now.
The lesson isn't what some currently are saying - that America just can't pull itself up by its bootstraps right now. As we pointed out last Thursday, the problem isn't that Americans aren't willing to do the hard work to pull our economy back from the brink.
Our political leaders, however, are a different story.
From the left, the excuse that's heard most often is one that resounds with a story of fatalism - a story we're frankly tired of hearing. As Paul Krugman pointed out over the weekend, we know exactly what the problems are, and we know how to solve them. It is true that we don't have access to some tools to help pump up demand - for example, we can't cut short-term interest rates because they're basically zero. So that tool for driving demand isn't available. But that's NOT the only tool in our toolbox.
As Krugman also states, "We should be using fiscal stimulus; we should be using unconventional monetary policy, including raising the inflation target; we should be pursuing aggressive measures to reduce mortgage debt. Not doing these things means accepting huge waste" - waste, something modern conservatives claim to hate almost as much as taxes.
No, the problem on the left simply lies in not having the political will to do what's needed. Yes, House Democrats are claiming they'll push for more infrastructure spending and other stimulus measures in the face of Friday's jobs report. Sadly, their claims are reminiscent of those many on the Left made during the poorly-handled health care reform debate - too little, too late.
On the right, the sad fact is that they simply don't care. The compassion-free attitude of modern so-called conservatives, as Charles Blow noted over the weekend, is the real problem. The richest of the rich have been able to con many poor into thinking that someday, they'll be rich too - so the rich should never have to pay any more taxes, if we're going to repair our economic standing.
As Mr. Blow also noted, that's a false choice. We've said it repeatedly, as has anyone else who understands the economic problems America faces: BOTH sensible tax increases - especially on those who can most afford it - as well as sensible spending cuts are THE ONLY way to get our economic house in order. BOTH - not either/or.
Yet those on the right - even when they grudgingly admit corporations are swimming in cash and don't need big tax breaks, as Bill Kristol pointed out over the weekend - still insist that tax cuts WITHOUT additional sources of revenue are the only way forward. As Nicholas Kristof pointedly noted, if Republicans and conservatives are so set on finding a country that meets their current ideology of how things should be, they should move to Pakistan.
Unfortunately, this lack of courage on the left and lack of concern for others (and acceptance of reality) on the right are putting most Americans in the position of ants at a picnic, scrambling for scraps, while our so called leaders still feast, seemingly without care.
It's highly recommended that both sides change their tune, and stop focusing on their own pieces of cake before the 2012 elections - or they could find themselves politically headless come November 2012.
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