See, this is why the Republicans are the big boys...

So, the conservatives (re: most Republicans these days) are trying to push a bill through Congress to deny NPR of funding, supposedly after they were outraged by the Tea Party entrapment of one of NPR's head honchos(not really because NPR and PBS, in general, have been targets of conservatives for years). It is an illustrative case of how Republicans (and their activist offshoot, the Tea Party) are able to quickly mobilize to set in motion attacks against objects of their ire. Whereas Democrats have to be fired up only after the most egregious incidents (like Wisconsin... which took weeks to build up), Republicans gather forces quickly, set things in motion, and, for the most part, proceed cohesively to decimate their enemy. Of course, sometimes it doesn't work but not for lack of trying.

And what of the Democratic response to the attempt to kill off NPR and its affiliates? The most vigorous response I have read/heard so far:

"Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., chided Republicans for trying to deprive Americans of popular programs such as Car Talk and A Prairie Home Companion, which would do little in the long run to erase the nation's red ink."

...because, of course, these programs are not the ones that set conservatives on fire...(shaking head in dismay)

No nuance (though out of fashion in today's media environment, it would be nice to engage it sometimes), no vigorous defense of the importance of providing funding to our public media system in today's increasingly commercialized media environment, and, most egregious, no exposure of the very real motives and hypocrisy of, notably, the Tea Party.

In an op-ed for The Hill, Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, co-founders of the Tea Party Patriots, wrote that:

"While the defunding of NPR is a given at this this point ... how long will we as a nation be willing to tolerate the arrogance of the self-appointed ruling elite," write Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, co-founders of the Tea Party Patriots, in an op-ed for The Hill.

Note how the the statement confidently and masterfully uses language that presupposes the outcome as well as constructs language of outrage and exclusion to label and demonize NPR. In other words, NPR and their supporters are ruling elites, not us (of course, a gross distortion since many Tea Partiers are above average in income and are funded by the billionaire Koch brothers). Ah, the hypocrisy...

And the liberal response...pathetic.

Where is the other outrage?

Supposedly, Bernard Madoff's interview with the New York Times drew outrage from both his victims and regulators (what really got them super angry was Madoff's insistence that banks and regulators had to have known about his Ponzi scheme and chose to look the other way)... which got me to thinking, where is the outrage for the larger pool of victims of the government's lack of oversight in the financial industry?

A blogger once irreverently pondered why the government doesn't bail out the victims of Bernard Madoff (though, admittedly,this was not the overriding point of the story). For quite some time now we have been innundated with the news of how Bernie Madoff swindled the rich and famous or both of millions, no billions, of dollars. While this is a tragic incidence for sure, one cannot help but wonder where all of the media attention is regarding the millions of homeowners who have been left to rot in foreclosure hell during the financial crisis. Of course, it is not as glamourous as Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, or Jeffrey Katzenberg, losing millions but it is more tragic.

Some glaring examples of media and political double standard:

Often Repeated: Why would homeowners go into mortgages they could not afford?

Then Again, why would so many sophisticated investors choose to invest their money with Madoff and ignore the many glaring examples of cautionary flags set off by Madoff's operation (we've heard it all by now: the small staff, the non-existent paperwork, the lack of transparency, the too-good-to-be-true returns on investments)?

Often Repeated: Some of Madoff's victims may lose everything.

Of course, some homeowners have already lost a lot more---home, job, security, credit, peace of mind.

Although it may be terrible for those involved with Madoff's diabolical scheme, it has been terrible for many thousands more of less means. And while the story of how the rich lost their fortunes is certainly newsworthy, many of them still have fortunes left.

Of the thousands who have lost their homes and jobs, who is telling their story?

The best interview EVER...

Bill Clinton was and is one of the best examples of a true partisan, which makes for some very entertaining encounters. He contributed a great deal to the unmasking of the formerly "we report, you decide," "fair and balanced" Fox News.

... but why insult Al Sharpton?

Politico has an interesting article today airing lamentations of old-school conservatives regarding Sarah Palin's ever-increasing penchant for casting herself and her family as victims. Apparently, this is anathema to Palin's "blue blood" critics and they liken her to their other favorite old-time nemesis, Al Sharpton. What, of course, is left out of this comparison is that Sharpton (at least, the new Sharpton) airs mostly legitimate concerns. As well, as Slate points out in a response posting on their blog, it's not exactly breaking news that Will and company don't fancy Ms. Palin. Probably the most insightful aspect of the article is the ending... does Sarah Palin really care about the hate coming from that camp (who could probably learn a thing or two from Palin about rousing the house)...apparently, not much.

Here, Ms. Palin complaining about "50-year-old bully" Kathy Griffin:



...And Ms. Griffin's response

Clueless in Wisconsin...

So, This guy says that he can't understand why the Democrats left Wisconsin and, later, that their leaving was an absolute insult to the hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who are struggling to find a job, much less one they can run away from and go down to Illinois -- with pay.

The hypocrisy is astounding!

What's wrong with this picture?

Just another reason to get rid of the death penalty. Illinois recently came to its senses. Thank goodness. There is still hope for the world.

Woe for NPR...

Statements made by Schiller:

The Republican Party is anti-intellectual.

Actually, Republicans depend on media's competing interests and lack of attention and the lack of critical thinking within the populace. This is fertile ground for the acceptance of the hypocrisy of many of their core positions such as their favoring of deregulation which nearly destroyed the U. S. economy; disastrous wars paid for on credit; decrying tax cuts for the wealthy but then screaming about the budget deficit, etc.

The Tea Party aren't just Islamophobic but are really xenophobic.

Besides being a generalization, what is really untrue about the statement? The tea party membership does tread very heavily in that territory. Really, what else unites them besides the obvious?

Conservatives are uneducated.

As said before, Republicans and, by extension, many conservatives expect that individuals will not possess or embrace the ability to think critically and argue logically beyond war and sports metaphors.

Again, I say, what did Schiller say that was untrue?

BTW, NPR should really get a spine and realize that no matter what they do or say, the Right is still going to hate them (flashback: John Kerry in hunting garb).

Interestingly, Andrew Breitbart said the best coverage of the NPR scandal is on NPR. This is instructive and says volumes.

Who you callin' educated?

The terms “educated” and “elite” are being confused with “wealthy.” The term “elite” has been used for a long time by right-wing conservatives as a put-down of college-educated liberals. These “educated elite” include many teachers and professors who shop at Marshalls and get hair cuts at Supercuts. As for the other end of the political spectrum, “fair-and-balanced” Fox News is funded by a billionaire conservative. Somehow I doubt that he shops at Marshalls, and gets his hair cut at Supercuts.

The term “educated” is subject to debate. Consider such icons of the right as Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich (who thinks Obama grew up in Kenya) and George Bush (who never would have gotten into an Ivy League school without his daddy’s money). The truly educated person has a working knowledge of history, geography, science, English grammar, and current events. I do not consider a person to be educated if they don’t know the difference between North and South Korea, don’t know where the current U.S. president was raised, or can’t form a coherent answer when asked a question by the press.

NPR exec calls tea party members racist, xenophobic in secretly recorded video

As they say, if the shoe fits...

The former head of NPR's fundraising arm says in a surreptitiously recorded video by a conservative activist that members of the tea party movement are xenophobic and racist and that NPR would prefer to do without subsidies provided by the federal government...more