Mr. Toads Wild Ride

I'm not aware if you've heard a lot regarding the sad and quite disgusting lack of journalistic integrity at the most recent debate on ABC between Clinton and Obama; if not read about it here.

It's not just about being wrong on so many levels journalistically, it reeks of how far gone our democracy is and how much control We the People have given up. But I'll go 50/50 in terms of responsibility between the American citizen on the one hand, and how we get informed on the other. (For this post at least). A major part of the problem is our news media.

Let's just take a look at what the top stories are, listed in order, as of right now (12;39 pm EST, 4/26/08) from MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News.


MSNBC

- Democrats fear lasting racial divide
- McCain teams up with Huckabee
- Newsweek: If Clinton wins it's payback time
- Half say presidential campaign too negative
- Beach closed after killer shark attack
- Bell's fiancee: 'They killed Sean all over again'
- Mugabe's rivals win parliament
- Report: 14-year-old girl killed in Gaza clashes
- Heavy security thwarts Japanese torch protests



CNN

- Bell's Fiancee: 'They killed Sean all over again'
- Man gets out of jail with one-word blog
- Truck driver questioned in train station accident
- Zimbabwe recount shows opposition ahead
- Chicago cops out in force to deter shootings
- FBI investigates possible kidnap for ransom
- Atheist soldier claims harassment
- Man survives 500-foot fall into strip mine
- Ticker: Obama plays b-ball with WNBA star



Fox News

- Experts debate cause of rising oil prices
- Dems on road to victory?
- Fla. Official: Buy clothes, not booze
- Turkey confirms mediation between Syria, Israel
- R.I. illegals face crackdown amid state budget crisis
- Boy, 7, faces Grand Theft Auto after SUV joyride
- Fiancee of groom shot by cops: 'It's not over'
- Airlines lure fliers with gourmet menus, star chefs
- NFL draft day: College stars turn pro



Most of these news stories, while I won't say they aren't worth reporting, are, to put it bluntly, crap. Who ranked these as "Top Stories?" I mean, a school board official emailing parents who were complaining about school uniforms to prioritize their spending is a top news story? A man getting out of jail because he text-messaged his friends is a top news story? And what about half of whoever was polled saying the campaign for president is too negative. How is this news? How do these stories contribute in any way to the fact that I've watched gasoline go up almost 35 cents the last week?

Now, some of these stories are very newsworthy, don't get me wrong. Mugabe's rivals win parliament is good and debating rising oil prices is very good. But you really have to read between the lines here, and see the news that is not making it onto these three major news corporations' website. Let's go have a look at news posted today and then yesterday:

- U.S. weighing readiness for military action against Iran (Washington Post)
- Many states appear to be in recession as deficits grow (New York Times)

- Shops rations sales of rice as US buyers panic (The Guardian)
- Experts fear nation's waterways need rescuing - from us (Associated Press / Common Dreams)
- Town in the Andes face crisis as glaciers melt (San Francisco Chronicle)
- WWF warns Arctic ice melting faster than predicted (Agence France Presse / Yahoo News)
- Hundreds of EPA scientists report political interference (Los Angeles Times)





These are very serious issues being reported by mainstream, reputable news sources. Why have not MSNBC, CNN, or FOX News picked any of them up as a top story? Arctic ice melting faster than predicted? Um...isn't this a little more serious than a man trespassing in a mine falling 500 feet? Or how about even more evidence that "during much of the Bush administration, there have been reports of the White House watering down documents on climate change, industry language inserted into EPA power-plant regulations and scientific advisory panels' conclusions about toxic chemicals going unheeded." Surely that has to be more important than who Obama played basketball with?

The most logical conclusion I can come up with is that the corporations who own these major networks must have a very large stake in political and economic policy outcomes. Not only do they own the networks listed above, but they also own newspapers, radio stations, other TV stations, and major corporations like Microsoft, NBC, General Electric, HBO, the Atlanta Braves, DC Comics, Time magazine, People magazine, LA Dodgers, LA Kings, LA Lakers, and HarperCollins Books, just to name a few.

With such a HUGE stake in national, and indeed global, finance, would it not be in these corporations best interest to help sway public opinion in their favor? What is their incentive to do otherwise? In any event, it's a moot point. Just taking my totally unscientific, yet very interesting survey sample of what was reported on major national news networks versus news from other major national and European sources in the last two days, it would seem that there are many very important, very time-sensitive issues out there not being reported on nationally.

Could this be one reason why Americans are apathetic to politics? Could the triviality and absurd reality of major network and cable news turn people off to any type of serious debate about current issues and our future? The President of the United States, right after 9/11 tells Americans to go shopping; with a recession gearing up for full-force in 2008, this same guy gives us a tax rebate so we will go shopping.

Are you picking up what I'm putting down? Could there be a connection here?

We Continue the Backslide

We just had our house fitted for FIOS, the new fiber optic internet package the other day. In so doing, the router was put on the opposite side of the house so we must rewire it. At the moment, my PC is cut off from the rest of the world - so my posts may be a bit sporadic and short. If you're reading this for the 2nd or even 5th time, check out some of my earlier posts. :)

Onto some not so good news, but some things that are giving us a clear signal of what our economy is doing and where it is going:

Student loan economic trouble: "Sallie Mae, the largest U.S. student loan company, on Thursday affirmed its 2008 profit forecast, but warned of a “train wreck” in the $85 billion education financing market without urgent government intervention."

Gas pices pass $3.40; expected to rise higher: "Overall, crude prices have jumped more than 4 percent this week, in part due to the falling dollar, as well as a host of supply and demand concerns in the U.S. and abroad."

Merrill Lynch about to cut 3,000 jobs: "Merrill Lynch & Co., the world’s largest brokerage, on Thursday said it would cut another 3,000 jobs after more than $6.5 billion of fresh write-downs pushed it to a loss for the first quarter."

I posted a blog a few weeks regarding the unbelievable fact that 2 airlines went bankrupt in the same week, with another one announcing it will cease to exist at the end of May, putting thousands of people out of work. Yet at the same time, we've got presidential hopeful Bush Light (McCain) as well as the President himself saying that the economy is strong and this is just but a slight bump in the road, yada, yada, yada. What uber rich planet are they living on? Surely not the one where I have don't have a taxpayer-funded travel account, pay $3.15 a gallon for gas and hope I don't get hurt because I have no health insurance.

Where is the media on this? They report exactly what Bush says like it's the truth, yet blow Obama's "American's are bitter" statement totally out of proportion. We ARE bitter! What happened to fact checking and presenting all sides of an argument? Especially in the face of the numerous lies and chicanery the Bush Administration has been guilty of these past 7 years. Liberal biased media my a$$. Criticism of this "liberal media bias" here.



Here's some GOP hypocrisy for you: Why is David Vitter still in office and not Eliot Spitzer?

Going.....Going.....

I'm sure it's a good thing that President Bush stopped saying how great our economy is doing; sooner or later people would actually begin to realize how out of touch with planet Earth (and America in particular) he really is. If this is the beginning of the end, it's happening a lot faster than I expected. Now, that's not to say that we're heading towards a depression or full economic collapse, but I think it could easily go in that direction.

The title of this article from the Independent UK doesn't help me sleep any better at night: USA 2008: The Great Depression. According to the article, "Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive - a sure sign the world's richest country faces economic crisis."




What has really struck me as an ominous sign is the abrupt end of two of the United States' major airlines and a charter airline. Champion Air, with about 550 employees, announced on Monday, March 31, 2008 that they will cease operations effective May 31, 2008. Also on Monday, Aloha Airlines went out of business laying off about 1,900 workers. And today, Thursday, April 3, 2008, ATA Airlines went out of business laying off about 2,200 workers while it was reported that workers in the banking sector will see 200,000 of their co-workers, if not themselves, laid off in the next 12 to 18 months. The article on commercial banks cutting their workforce, found here, compares these record cuts to the record cuts made just last year when 153,000 employees were let go as well as Citigroup's firing of 20,000 people "with at least 2,000 more to come."

According to the White House web page on the economy here, "The U.S. economy is structurally strong, but we are experiencing a period of economic challenge." What exactly do they mean when they say "structurally strong?" What exact "structure" are they talking about? The workers aren't strong, they're getting laid off in record numbers. The businesses aren't strong, they're going out of business one after the other. How this administration is still in office is one question I really wish I could answer.

In an interview with Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food?, here, he talks about how he came to value a more balanced interaction with nature and human farming efforts. Pollan also discusses his opinions on why we eat food (not just for nutrition), what goes into our food, and how mom's good advice on what to eat has gone the way of the rotary phone. Here's a sample:

The more you process the food, the more profitable it is. If I go to the supermarket, I can buy a pound of organic oats for 79 cents. Now that's a lot of oats, and no body's making much money. But if you turn it into Cheerios, suddenly you have a brand. You've got your little doughnut shape, you've got an ad campaign, and suddenly you're charging four bucks for a few ounces of oats.

Then you come up with a Honey Nut Cheerio Cereal Bar with a layer of artificial milk in the middle. Now you've got a convenience food that's very much your own, because you've got this special formula to make your fake milk. And kids can eat them in the car or on the way to school. Now you're charging $10 or $20 for a few penny's worth of oats. That's the gist of the food industry. That's the economic imperative.

If you don't think the United States is an empire or even if you know we are, this video animation by Howard Zinn is a great watch. It's simple, effective, and tells you what you weren't taught in school.