Random Thoughts from Random Places

More Cronkite

2009-07-19T14:34:00.001-07:00

Walter Cronkite was celebrated, but not for his more significant moments, such as his remarks about the mess in Vietnam, while Tim Russert was celebrated for being what the current journalistic mob, particularly in the Beltway, do, which is not journalism.

To be fair, though, Russert's premature death was a horrible shock to everybody, and he appeared to be a genuinely good person, a contrast to the hatchet man persona he displayed on Meet the Press. Cronkite lived to a ripe old age and was active until shortly before he died. And one should bear in mind Russert, unlike Cronkite, was NOT a journalist anyway; he started out as a political hack. The fact political operatives like him, George Stephanopolous, Chris Matthews, and Joe Scarborough are even given a forum at all when true journalists are ignored should tell us all how far media standards have fallen. It's now all about infotainment, not about information.
_____

No sooner is Cronkite's body cold than somebody is wanting to cash in writing a "tell-all" book writing about how mean he was and was never around his children.

Media Follies

2009-07-19T12:15:00.001-07:00

I am sure the cable outlets will be very heartbroken when no murder indictments will occur in connection with Michael Jackson's sudden death.

However, some doctors could get into trouble over prescribing drugs improperly.

Sanford & Sin

2009-07-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

This scoundrel tries to play the God card in his attempt to keep his office:

I have struggled with how best to convey my regret in letting so many down, and in that regard I realize this column does not do justice to the process of saying “I am sorry.” A hand-written note or phone call would ultimately be more appropriate, but given the number of people I need to apologize to, I write this to begin the journey of trying to get things more right with you and others.

It is true that I did wrong and failed at the largest of levels, but equally true is the fact that God can make good of our respective wrongs in life. In this vein, while none of us has the chance to attend our own funeral, in many ways I feel like I was at my own in the past weeks, and surprisingly I am thankful for the perspective it has afforded.

If you ever have the misfortune of being at this point, whether self-induced as in my case or not, it will give you an indeed amazing perspective on life and on what really matters. I read notes from someone who worked in a sandwich shop I ate at 10 years ago, from 7th-grade classmates, from state employees and more. While there have been lifetimes of lessons learned over the past weeks, three things most immediately come to mind:

In other words, he's going to stay in office, come hell or high water. Screw the people he supposedly represents.

Ensign, Etc.

2009-07-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

What is life REALLY like in that C Street place affiliated with "The Family":

Sharlet: The Family began with this idea that God does not work through churches but rather through those whom The Family calls the “New Chosen.” They believe they’re chosen by God. They can’t be expected to pray with the rest of us. They need to pray in private with people of equal status.

When you join one of these prayer groups, you give these men veto power over your life, over every aspect of your life. Wives involved with The Family have said, “In my husband’s life, his brothers come first, I come second.”

We saw that happening with the men Doug Hampton went to see. They were exercising veto power over Ensign’s life.

A lot of us might think that sounds fine, they were helping him stay on the straight and narrow. But when we look at the people exercising this veto power, in particular David Coe, who has been in the news as sort of working with Ensign, you have some really questionable moral authority.

More Cronkite

2009-07-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

MLK assassination:

What's My Line:

This is the full New York Times obituary.

New Blog Title

2009-07-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

Since I don't know where I am going to end up eventually, I changed the blog's title a bit. I am still technically in Reno, however, despite only being there briefly since April 10. I haven't officially moved yet.

The Despicable Peter Singer

2009-07-18T16:03:00.001-07:00

strikes again, getting piles of ink in the New York Times about the need to "ration" health care, which in his world means to kill off anybody he deems not truly people.

Why this bastard was ever allowed into the United States, much less allowed a forum, is beyond me.

His attitude towards people with significant disabilites is nothing short of advocating bigotry and killing of the disabled.

A critical look at this article is here.

Miscellaneous Politics

2009-07-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

Where there is a golf course, there is sure to be a Dan Quayle, and at this celebrity golf tournament or whatever it is at Lake Tahoe gave him the perfect opportunity to express his opinion about our current president.

Considering the riffraff we have had in the years since Quayle was VP, I am downright nostalgic for some of his wisdom.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The Economy

2009-07-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

The federal minimum wage will go up for the third time in three years, to $7.25 an hour.

Of course to really keep up with the rising cost of living, it should be indexed to inflation.

And contrary to GOP lies about raising the wage costs jobs, previous experience shows it isn't true.

Obituaries

2009-07-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

The world's oldest man and one of the last World War I veterans, Henry Allingham of Britain, has died at the age of 113.

He was one of the first members of the British Royal Air Force.

Details:

Mr Allingham is survived by Harry Patch, who turned 111 last month and is now one of the last two British survivors of WWI.

Speaking from Fletcher House care home in Wells, Somerset, Mr Patch said he was "very sad at losing a friend".

The other British survivor is Claude Choules, aged 108, who served with the Royal Navy.

Born in Worcestershire, he stayed in Australia after he was seconded there in the 1920s as an instructor to the Royal Australian Navy.

There is video at the link.
_____

Speaking of the Moon,

2009-07-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

there are a few nutjobs out there, the same types who would join something like the Flat Earth Society, who believe the Apollo moon missions were hoaxes:

And perhaps the nation's foremost moon-mission doubter - who was famously punched in the face by astronaut Buzz Aldrin during a combative 2002 interview - still argues that NASA archive video and photographs reveal that the mission was rigged.

"The fact is, this footage is them faking being halfway to the moon. I'm a filmmaker, and it's my job to make fake things look real," said Nashville media producer Bart Sibrel, who publicized his theories in the documentary "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon."

Sibrel said he is planning unspecified activities for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, but he declined to provide details, saying they are "still in the works."

He contends that the astronauts used a transparency of the Earth, a crescent-shaped piece of black material and other window-camera tricks to falsify film footage of their mission.

Anything to draw attention to themselves.

And That's the Way It Was

2009-07-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

I would be remiss if I didn't include CBS News' own report of Walter Cronkite's death a short while ago:

Walter Leland Cronkite was born in St. Joseph, Missouri on November 4, 1916, the only child of a dentist father and homemaker mother. When he was still young, his family moved to Texas. One day, he read an article in "Boys Life" magazine about the adventures of reporters working around the world - and young Cronkite was hooked. He began working on his high school newspaper and yearbook and, in 1933, he entered the University of Texas at Austin to study political science, economic and journalism. He never graduated. He took a part time job at the Houston Post, left college to do what he loved: report.

After working as a general assignment reporter for the Post and a sportscaster in Oklahoma City, Cronkite got a job in 1939 working for United Press. He went to Europe to cover World War II as part of the "Writing 69th," a group of reporters who found themselves covering some of the most important developments in the war, including the D-Day invasion, bombing missions over Germany, and later, the Nuremburg war trials. In 1940, he married Mary Elizabeth Maxwell - known as "Betsy" - and for the next six decades she was the dutiful reporter’s wife, enduring sometimes long separations while he covered the world, and raising three children. Cronkite once wrote about her: ''I attribute the longevity of our marriage to Betsy's extraordinary keen sense of humor, which saw us over many bumps (mostly of my making), and her tolerance, even support, for the uncertain schedule and wanderings of a newsman."

While working for the UP, Cronkite was offered a job at CBS by Edward R. Murrow - and he turned it down. He finally accepted a second offer in 1950, and stepped into the new medium of television. In the early '50s, it was a medium many of the "serious" journalists at CBS and elsewhere viewed with skepticism, if not disdain. Radio and print, they contended, were for real reporters; television was for actors or comedians.

We won't see another one like him.

Walter Cronkite 1916-2009

2009-07-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

Journalist icon Walter Cronkite, 92, has died, one day after the 40th anniversary Apollo 11 lifted on its journey to the moon.

Mr. Cronkite anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 to 1981, at a time when television became the dominant medium of the United States. He figuratively held the hand of the American public during the civil rights movement, the space race, the Vietnam war, and the impeachment of Richard Nixon. During his tenure, network newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes from 15.

I might as well pay a tribute to both the moon landing and Cronkite through uploading these videos.

Walter Cronkite Moon Landing Part 1:

Moon Landing Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7:

Part 8:

Link to YouTube site

And this clip is even more famous, of Cronkite's announcement of JFK's murder:

Cronkite was one of the last of the old school of journalists, you know, the kind who actually reported the news. The JFK assassination was perhaps the high point of television journalism. Commentary was minimal; the event told its own story.

However, in an unusual case of Cronkite giving his opinion on events, this link has the famous Vietnam comment.

As Far as I am Concerned,

2009-07-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

once a woman is pregnant, the man doesn't have a hell of a lot of say in what she does about it. It's simply biological reality, and if she wants an abortion, there is nothing a man can do to prevent it; on the other hand, if she wants to carry the baby to term, there's nothing he can do about it, either, except financially support the child (and hopefully be an active father to that child). Nobody ever put a gun a man's head to have sex with a particular woman. Thems the breaks, and I don't have a lot of sympathy here.

As for "abortion parties," I find the concept distinctly sick.

The Health Care Mess

2009-07-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

So-called health care legislation will still leave millions out in the cold and even ration care.

As long as the insurance companies are allowed to remain in the system, all reform will be nothing but a cruel hoax.

In the House Democrats’ proposal—America’s Affordable Health Choices Act—those individuals who do not have employer-based medical insurance, and who choose not to purchase coverage, would pay a penalty of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income, if they cannot demonstrate “hardship.” This component of the legislation comes under the subheading “Shared Responsibility.” The Senate health committee fine would be $750 per individual.

Critics of this “individual mandate” have pointed out that many struggling working families and the unemployed—who would find it difficult to pay hundreds of dollars a month in premiums—would be forced to gamble going without coverage and pay the penalty instead, which might average $1,000 in the House version.

While this penalty is steep, it would still be less than the total annual premium they would expect to pay for coverage. And after the penalty is paid, these families would still be without health care coverage. Only for those earning about $400,000 a year would the 2.5 percent penalty be more or equal to the average insurance premium.

This is almost like mandatory auto insurance. Unbelievable.

Is There Any Economy

2009-07-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

left to recover?

The “New Economy” was based on services. Its artificial life was fed by the Federal Reserve’s artificially low interest rates, which produced a real estate bubble, and by “free market” financial deregulation, which unleashed financial gangsters to new heights of debt leverage and fraudulent financial products.

The real economy was traded away for a make-believe economy. When the make-believe economy collapsed, Americans’ wealth in their real estate, pensions, and savings collapsed dramatically while their jobs disappeared.

The debt economy caused Americans to leverage their assets. They refinanced their homes and spent the equity. They maxed out numerous credit cards. They worked as many jobs as they could find. Debt expansion and multiple family incomes kept the economy going.

And now suddenly Americans can’t borrow in order to spend. They are over their heads in debt. Jobs are disappearing. America’s consumer economy, approximately 70% of GDP, is dead. Those Americans who still have jobs are saving against the prospect of job loss. Millions are homeless. Some have moved in with family and friends; others are living in tent cities.

Our public officials still have their heads in their collective asses, however, so nothing is going to happen.

Misc Outrages

2009-07-16T20:00:00.001-07:00

Remember the Alamo

Jimbo Eruptions

2009-07-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

Jimbo is making a secret trip, not hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but allegedly to Afghanistan.

As one commenter wrote, hopefully the female soldiers there are safe.

Our Corrupt Congress

2009-07-16T10:02:00.001-07:00

Never mind this country needs a drastic change in its health care/health insurance system, but leave it to "blue dog" Democrats to try and thwart any kind of reform.

All of these people are paid off by corporations and do their bidding. This is why the country is in the mess it is in.

Gene Lyons

2009-07-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

The latest craze in our deteriorating culture is the self-pity act, as notably displayed by outgoing Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

It's not just Republicans or right-wingers who are engaging in such theatrics. I love this paragraph from Lyons' column:

The cultural left is sometimes as prone to dimwit populism as the right. Witness Al Sharpton's moving an audience to tears by assuring Michael Jackson's children that he wasn't "strange," but his critics were. Sleep-overs with other people's children? Compulsive plastic surgery? Gobbling pills? Mainlining IV drugs? Sorry, reverend, strange doesn't begin to describe the poor soul. But then, nobody ever proposed running Jackson for national office.

The Education Wars

2009-07-16T06:53:00.000-07:00

A picture is worth a thousand words:

These are the people who want to "reform" our public schools.

Despite Claims

2009-07-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

the economy is getting "better," the misery index is actually increasing, with more and more people out of work and losing their benefits. The government is also playing games with the unemployment figures:

The official jobless rate of 9.5 percent excludes both those who have stopped looking for jobs because local conditions are so bleak and those obliged to accept part-time employment.

If these unemployed and underemployed were included, the real jobless rate in the country’s most populous state, California, for example, would be 20.3 percent, according to the Times. In Oregon it would be 23.5 percent, in Michigan and Rhode Island, 21.5 percent, and in South Carolina, 20.5 percent. The figure would be just below 20 percent in Tennessee, Nevada and a number of “states that have relied heavily on manufacturing and housing.”

Given that the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ national jobless rate is skewed, for political reasons, to minimize the actual conditions, various analysts step in and attempt to come up with a “real unemployment” number.

I find it hard to believe, however, employers are taking "experience" over youth; age discrimination is alive and well, as older employees are a bigger expense than younger workers.

Regardless, this is all a deliberate policy to destroy Americans' living standards to those of the Third World. Our politicians will do little about it, for they are on the take from those who want this country to descend into third worldom.

The WSWS

2009-07-15T17:05:00.001-07:00

interviewed social service applicants to get a better picture of how terrible things are in California.

Misc

2009-07-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

Where is Ashland, Oregon, on this list? The omission seems egregious.
_____

A Caspian Airlines plane crashed minutes after takeoff in Tehran, killing all 168 people aboard:

The airline crash is Iran’s worst in six years, and it underscored the country’s vulnerability to aviation disasters. Iran has been unable to adequately maintain its aging fleet of American-built aircraft for 30 years because of an embargo after the Islamic Revolution, and has increasingly relied on aircraft from Russian manufacturers, which have their own troubled safety history.

_____

Why

2009-07-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

should I give a shit what executive tyrant Jack Welch has to say about "work and balance" and all of that other horse manure having no relevance at all in the real world, a world which is going to economic shit thanks to job killers like Welch?

People out here want jobs to be able to feed themselves and their families; they are hardly worrying about whether their "careers" are interfering with their "family lives."

Jesus Christ in a cracker. When will the elites get their heads out of their collective asses?