Letters to the Editor
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@Baldie
Yeah, I noticed that too.
I'd add that "I'm as liberal as they come..." is pretty much an infallible marker for concern-trollery - I think they teach that locution at Troll U.
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2,000 Smart Bombs in 3 nights = $$$
I remember watching Shock and Awe on TV. Baghdad was one big fireworks display and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" kept scrolling under the images.
They dropped something like 2,000 Smart Bombs in the first 3 nights. I thought, "Those Smart Bombs are going to have to be replaced."
Were they under warranty? Are bombs consumables?
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Ladies and Gentleman, Brian Williams As Ms. Deanna Troi.
Brian Williams: "As I'm sure is obvious to even a casual viewer, I quickly entered into a close friendship with both men. . . . All I can say is this: these two guys never gave what I considered to be the party line. They were tough, honest critics of the U.S. military effort in Iraq..."
Yep, just like when Bush saw Putin, Mr. Williams looked into the generals' eyes and saw their souls.
These Bush-heads (and I include Williams in that) all play from the same basic script.
Here's a notion, Brian Williams, you lazy, blow-dried buffoon, you're a journalist, not that woman from "Star Trek" whose job it was to go around sensing out everybody's feelings and emotions. Nobody gives a sh*t what you personally "thought" or "felt" or "considered" about these guys. Good journalists don't pick guests on the basis of subjective likes or dislikes, trusts or mistrusts. Do some freakin' background research and provide some actual depth and balance to your coverage or else go host a game show, you worthless twit.
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Williams
What is most amazing, as far as I read, is that Williams didn't even mention what the issue was behind the NYT article, and offered no defense, except, "they're cool, dude. Brian Williams told you so."
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Oh and Glenn
What a beautifully crafted article, really just brick and mortar and lock and key. They could use this to teach media criticism.
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@ L.W.M.
It wasn't the flag waving sort of piece you might expect,
I’m not sure exactly what I expected…other than a lack of critical historical context.
Most of the world’s population does not view the American military at this time in history as a neutral force. It is involved in an illegal war of occupation in Iraq, poised to invade Iran, and sucking up far too much of America’s tax revenues, to the extreme detriment of America’s schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, and other peaceful tax-funded projects.
Think of it this way: if you were, say, 17-years-old, living in an crumbling American small town, with no job prospects beyond Walmart, no money for college, no savings account whatsoever, worried about your future, and you watched ‘Carrier,’ would you be tempted to go out and enlist?
Or, say, you were a citizen of Spain—or Brazil, or Norway, or the UAE—and much more aware, due to critical media coverage, of the cost in human and monetary terms of the debacle in Iraq and Afghanistan, and soldiers in American uniforms were not, “your boys,” and you tuned into ‘Carrier,’ would you have viewed it as a neutral story?
My expectations, from every other American media source I’ve seen, read or heard since returning from Ireland, was “Yes,” to the first question, and “No,” to the second. Hence, I decided not to waste time watching.
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He still needs to held to a higher standard
Glenn,
The reason to target Brian Williams is because he's the face of NBC, its symbol and brand -- not because he actually makes any decisions about anything in terms of what they do.
I'm sure he has input into the specific stories they cover and how, but the general framework guiding what they do is way above his level, and way beyond his extremely limited capabilities.
Unfortunately, I do recognize, all too well, where the power really lies. And it will continue to lie there as long as there are anchors like Williams who remain all too happy to merely be their tool. He is culpable in that he allows the corruption to continue. He can not escape that responsibility.
And, regardless of what he is capable of, viewers still need to hold him to the standard of newsmen like Murrow and Cronkite. It is by extension telling the networks what we expect of them. Anything less is allowing the networks to believe we accept their manipulation of the news.
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@ Baldie
http://cthulhucultistprayer.ytmnd.com/
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off-topic...FISA is back
Glenn, I assume you've heard the rumors that Steny Hoyer is doing the dirty work to broker a deal with Jay Rockefeller for telecom immunity.
time to mobilize the blogs again. It was inevitable these guys would try to bury the immunity somehow, and pass it in a way that would attract no notice. Apparently the immunity will be attached to a supplemental appropriation.
Bring it into the light of day!
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@PDA
Good eye. I'll add that locution to my compilation of Trollus trollus behavior.
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@Baldie
Got it. Thanks.
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@kuhnigget
Awesome! Where can I get the lyrics?
I poked around and found this:
http://www.cthulhulives.org/shoggoth/
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Taking the Fifth without Telling Anybody
I'm sure it's already been well noted here, but if there are Federal criminal violations bubbling up from this particular swamp, NBC News itself, as well as various executives, producers, anchors, et al., are, at the very least, material witnesses and might perhaps be open to criminal charges in their own right. I wonder when this will be trotted out as an excuse for the Cone of Silence that now surrounds all the networks.
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Brynn
"Think of it this way: if you were, say, 17-years-old, living in an crumbling American small town, with no job prospects beyond Walmart, no money for college, no savings account whatsoever, worried about your future, and you watched ‘Carrier,’ would you be tempted to go out and enlist?"
Thanks for saying that. There's a lot of military fetishism that passes uncommented on in these here posts and in the media and society in general. I for one, have had it. If even on the left we are constantly honoring the military (as Clinton did in her statement about the Pentagon issue--"criticism did not impugn 'the honor and patriotism of our dedicated career military officers,') then how we can teach our children not to go off and join the military as soon as they are able. For most, that's while they are still in high school. Would you even trust a 17 or 18 year old with your car? Much less making a decision that will irrevocably change their lives and fuck up another country?
I for one am happy to impugn the "honor and patriotism" of the honored career military officers. Every person who willingly served in this debacle has a lot to answer for. And the people who constantly recycle these tired old saws about honor and patriotism (when the military, and the people who serve in it, have excelled in the past 6 years only in undermining those very values).
I say all these things with a son in the Marines ready to ship to Iraq. A lot of that mistake is my fault for not being a good enough dad, and a lot of it his for being an irresponsible teen (I put it in the same category as drag racing), but the people who are still out there cheering on the IDEA of military service have a stake in the game too!
Someday we may have a military we can be proud of; I assume that will be the day we stop using it to build and protect our empire. Until then, stop making things worse.