If you have been getting business news which indicates that the future looks bleak and that things are going to get worse, you are probably reading and listening to conservative media. The journalists who reach very optimistic conclusions from the economic news are likely to be on Air America or progressive liberal web sites. The fact that both camps are forming diametrically opposed predictions (with either a quick endorsement of or repudiation of President Obama's entire agenda) gives citizens a strong indication that "journalism is in danger of an immanent death (if it hasn't already flatlined).
Have any of the observers of contemporary culture done stories mentioning any similarity to the fact that when George H. W. Bush's term was coming to a close, the Savings and Loan crisis required an infusion of government money and that when George W. Bush was coming to the end of his second term in office, the banking industry required an immediate injection of cash on a "do or die basis? Why have neither the liberal nor the conservative pundits pointed out this remarkable economic coincidence?
Do the columnist of either the liberal or conservative persuasion point out the absurdity of the Republican talking point that President Obama can be compared to Adolph Hitler? At the 1936 Olympics wasn't the mere presence of Jesse Owen with a winning gold medal a subtle way of refuting the German leader's views about Aryan superiority?
If the clowns who relay the idea that America's first Negro President is comparable to one of history's most famous exponents of white supremacy, can keep their composure while "reporting such an absurdity, then shouldn't their lack of competency be painfully obvious to all but the most prejudiced members of the audience?
Would a sports reporter covering a football game be reprimanded if he (or she) asked "what inning is it? ?
On Thursday, July 14, 2005, the top headline on page one of the Los Angeles Times read "Governor to Be Paid $8 million by Fitness Magazine. The fact that updates to that story have been obscure at best indicates a bit of favoritism regarding scandal updates. Would a Democratic office holder of similar rank, under similar circumstances, get a similar amount of laisse faire response from journalists? If the California governor was a Democrat, wouldn't O'Reilly and Hannity have become relentless in excoriating the office holder?
Is the disparity level of scandal updates an indicator of the possibility that the pro liberal mainstream media have morphed into an embarrassing exhibition of blind Republican talking sock puppets?
Paid journalists who with straight faces assert that conducting investigations into the use of torture enhanced questioning of prisoners will disrupt the business of Congress should be required to write, direct, and narrate a History Channel special on the use of similar methods by the Germans during World War II and they should be compelled to logically explain how the two instances of intelligence gathering are different.
Did the "pro-liberal mainstream media pay as much attention to the stories that the electronic voting machines can be hacked and the results distorted as they did to the "angry hecklers at this summer's townhall meetings? Why would they want to give more credence to a story that could be based on planted agent provocateurs than they would to a tech story that indicates democracy can easily be subverted? Think maybe their news judgment regarding these two stories would have any bearing on the amount of their Christmas bonus check from the rich fat cats who own the media that employs them?
In most of the classic Western movies, Americans had a basic high level of animosity regarding a card player who used a stacked deck. Why, then do they seem to be so unexplainable amenable to "fair and balanced news reporting that is shoddy and dis-honest?
If Americans are stupid enough to think that Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are modern day journalists of Edward R. Murrow's caliber, then they will, without flinching, accept propaganda, disguised as Pulitzer level quality journalism, that will be used to promote Jeb Bush as a sterling example of a qualified candidate to serve as Dick Chenney's Vice President and be a heartbeat away from sitting in the Oval Office.
So as America enters an new version of the era that maintained "You're lucky to have a job, questioning the direction that America's economy will take as the new post Labor Day Christmas Shopping season begins, is an unnecessary expenditure of energy. Tune in to any news media. Turn on the relentless onslaught of Republican talking points and drop out of the necessity of ascertaining the quality of the reporting you see, hear, and/or read.
Most online sources quote George Washington as the source for this quote: "The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. The Bushes are not known for their propensity to flaunt tradition.
The disk jockey wants to get a holiday weekend so he wants you to go to youtube and play: Pete Seeger singing "I'm stickin' to the union, Roy Orbison's "Working for the man, and Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons. It's time for us to take a break. Have a "kick back type Labor Day weekend.
