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Saturday, Nov 7, 2009
DrEyeBall
Published Letters: 154 Editor's Choice: 2
I have always wished that we could give the right wingers and libertarians what they wanted -- while the rest of us live in a sane world.
It would be perfect to see Norquist and all the wise men at Cato and Heratige screaming "FREE MARKET" on the phone to his favorite drug company (in which he owns stock of course). Before he passes out from fever and dehydration from the a flu infection which the CDC had no funds to combat, they get transferred to a recording that explains that the companies first priority is to maximize the return to their stockholders, and unfortunately the laws of supply and demand mean that the company can make more profit by keeping supply low. So please hold and we will take your call in the order received -- you are 38,292 in the queue.
So then they exercise their "free market" prerogatives and get their friends on the administration to get them priority and wham! -- within hours they bump some nameless middle-class kid of the list and get their vaccine dose. But wait! The vaccine doesn't work! Why, because the FDC has also been defunded (if not disbanded) and they had no teeth to ensure drug quality. Remember the profit motive that makes all things good? Drug quality assurance is expensive, and that eats into profits.
So the dividend check from the drug company comes in the mail but unfortunately the stock owner is no longer around to enjoy it -- he's off to that free market in the sky.
On the other hand all the rest of us that opted in for the responsible taxes and responsible (albeit sometimes wasteful and overreaching) government got -- for sake of argument -- 75% of the services we paid for. We live happily ever after.
Glenn,
You might want to point out another major source of mistrust in the media, which is their self-serving inconsistency. The most maddening is when they play the "balance" game where they outright refuse to fact check any White House or Republican talking point. A lot of your own column is about debunking these outrages and they happen constantly.
Remember Paul Krugman's joke that if the RNC suddenly declared the world is flat and the Democrats pointed out the obvious, the story would be "shape of the earth differs."
It would be funny if it were not for:
... In 2004 a decorated war hero candidate somehow became the choice of cowards over the guy who abandoned his post during the same war.
... The true straight-arrow candidate in 2000 who had been right about nearly everything for decades suddenly became a serial liar and exaggerator, while his opponent somehow "won" the debates because the soundtrack detected heavy breathing from the other side.
... The Republican porn "path to 9/11" was aired without a peep from any main news outlet (at least that I ever saw) about the outrageous distortions and false facts it portrayed. At the same time anything that is truthful and would place Reagan in a bad light is banished to pay-for broadcast.
The list is endless. And they wonder why we won't trust them?
I note Atrios and MediaMatters have calls to action to CNN to set the record straight on Pelosi's trip to Syria. If you are so inclined please go there and put your $0.02 in.
Bob Somerby has been on the right track for a long time. Fox News is a big problem, but the real problems come from the so-called Main Stream Media. The profits and the cachet that Limbaugh and Ailes have created, along with the right-wing activisim of the far-right religious minority, have completely convinced them to abandon any pursuit other than what Bartcop called "the ditto monkey dollar."
It seems that the top honchos at ABC News think that they and the White House is one and the same. The mindset is that if the White House corrects a story and ABC News repeats that, that constitutes a statement on behalf of ABC News. That seems to be his argument, isn't it? If so that's an interesting look into their world view.
I'll bet there are a fair number of well-trained journalists at ABC News who really feel burned about now.
The cool kids have had it in for Pelosi even before she took office. I recall them talking about what a disaster she was back in December, when she was making routine political decisions on committees.
It's pretty much what they do to every Democrat, isn't it? For that matter, every non-Bush. Nothing personal.
He depended on the whackos to get him this far, now they've turned on him.
It does bring up an interesting point, however. A few days back Glenn wrote about how the 29-percenters were all about supporting Bush, not about supporting Iraq. In other words, if Bush came out tomorrow for leaving Iraq, that's what they would support tomorrow all prior statements on the subject notwithstanding.
However this article seems to contradict that summary. It is somewhat reassuring to see that the conservative monolith is not so monolithic. Let them suffer their own pet fringe the way we progressives had to deal with all the hippies with their Books of Mao.
I guess that if you are ideologically opposed to recreational drugs, this is what you get.
"Subverting Democracy" just seems too mild a description of what is going on.
About the tri-glyph "teh": yes it is (usually) an intentional mis-typing of the word "the," made popular by the ascendancy of text messaging amoung the younger crowd by cell phones and chat rooms. Many pioneering participants have nascent keyboard skills and for some reason "teh" is a common mis-key which has evolved into intentional use. It sort of makes a statement that the writer is hip, casual, and a frequenter of a certain sort of forum.
As for George W Bush, he is teh ghey.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The Maine fight was supposed to be the dress rehearsal for repealing California's Prop. 8 -- but gay marriage lost
Once one obtains Seriousness credentials in the Washington media, they are irrevocable no matter one's conduct.
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