MLK Jr, the communist?

This story made me sick to my stomach. I have read the accounts of Martin Luther King Jr.'s…shall we say, philandering ways, but to read about the efforts the US government made to silence such an influential man, it is just heart breaking. The disdain is described such detail; I just cannot wrap my mind around the logic of all of this.

The suspected communist bit is so obviously a ruse used to disguise the fact that his persecution had everything to do with racism embedded deeply in the US and it’s government agencies.

I will never understand how a nation built on change can be so anti-progressive.

Protest the protesters

This video is given the headline “Gays Target Church Known For Gay Bashing” on the CNN home page.

I feel like that is pretty big baiting because in that usage, target has a negative connotation, to me it sounded like “gays” were attacking people or something.

The video itself is very interesting, I think it is great that the gay community organized a protest against the Westboro Baptist Church, a church that will protest almost anything (including soldiers funerals) just to spread their hate and apparent failure at life. The church’s lawyer is quoted in the video as saying that God is intolerant, along with many other ridiculous things.

To be honest, my only objection to the protest/video is that it gives even more press to the church. If no one was hearing about what they did, would they bother staging large scale protests? The power of the media is strong and sometimes it can be used to discourage wrong-doings, catch violent criminals, etc., but sometimes, I just encourages them.

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People are stupid, sorry

I get dozens of reader e-mails at work each day (no, not readers of this site, unfortunately) and most of the time, these people just have way too much free time on their hands. They are rarely worthwhile.

Today, I got three e-mails from people referencing this e-mail referenced in a Snopes article about Barack Obama. They first went on about how the bible warns about a charismatic man from the east who is actually the anti-Christ… Dramatic much? I seriously doubt God was super concerned about a “Muslim” (I use quotes because Obama is NOT a muslim as the e-mail claims) becoming president of America way back when the bible was written. Not only did America not exist then, but even if he/she/it knew it would, would he/she/it be really be so concerned about its well being as to warn us via the bible?

The e-mail actually tells people to check snopes to verify that the outrageous claims made about Obama are true, when in fact, Snopes goes through each of the ridiculous points in the e-mail and says how they are wrong.

Anyway, these people actually want a reputable news source to discuss the e-mail and warn citizens that the anti-Christ is running for president, they are very concerned that the media hasn’t picked up on this story yet…

How did the American population get so stupid? The e-mail says to check Snopes, but apparently the people receiving this article are too dumb to type in the Web address, which isn’t all that surprising considering they even believe the outrageous claims to begin with.

Root Beer Kegger

This story is amazing. These kids protested what they felt was an injustice in a non-violent and intelligent way, that not only got their school and law enforcement’s attention, but national media attention as well.

Maybe my friends and I would have thought of something that clever when we were underage if not for the lost brain cells due to our red cups not being filled with root beer.

TSA's Warped Reality

I was pretty filled with outrage when I read this story yesterday. But I wasn’t really sure what to write about it since I want to focus more on actual current events than my own opinions which are carelessly interjected anyway.

Apparently, I was not the only one irked by the TSA’s blatant disregard for this woman’s rights. Although they still stand by the statement that the security guards followed procedure, they did admit today that the existing procedure needs to be updated.

What I don’t get is, the TSA admits that passengers with piercings have the option of a pat-down in lieu of removing the jewelry. Coincidentally, she only had to remove her nipple rings, and not her belly ring, how odd.

The Democratic Party Is Slow

Dean: Bickering Democrats May Hurt Party

Howard Dean is shockingly insightful. This cannot be the first time someone in the Democratic Party has thought, “Hey, maybe we should resolve this inter-party bickering and focus on the national election.”

But this is coming from the same guy that tossed the idea of a Florida and Michigan re-vote into the ring without considering the ramifications, the cost, the public outrage; specifically in a state known to have a history of not always counting all its votes.

So, yeah, breaking news everyone, the Great Obama-Clinton Battle of 2008 may hurt the dems chances in the national election, again. Surprise!

WTC Developer Sues...Everyone He Can Think Of

Sometimes, there just isn’t anyone to sue. But don’t tell that to Larry Silverstein, the developer of the World Trade Center. He is suing pretty much everyone he can think of who may have been involved in the 9/11 tragedy, to the tune of $12.3 billion. He hasn’t released the names of all of the defendants, but highlights include United Airlines, Boeing, and the company that manages Logan International Airport.

Apparently, insurance only covered a fraction of the damage done when the multi-billion dollar towers collapsed, but honestly, how are these parties responsible? If anything, he should really just be pissed at himself for under-insuring a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR FACILITY.
I really wonder where he thinks this money is going to come from, but now quite so much as I wonder what the odds of him actually winning are.

Out Of Control Judges And Wombat Rape?

I don’t visit Fox News often, I have many reasons, but honestly, the biggie is that the Web site is aesthetically terrible. Most local sites are 50x better programmed. Anyway, I just couldn’t resist this story, Judge Sentences Three Men To Learn English Or Go To Jail

”Oh man, how can he do that?!?! That sounds highly illegal, I shall click to see what this means.” Yet another disappointment . The men he sentenced? They should probably be facing jail time, but the judge offered them parole on the grounds that they learn English. I’m still not entirely sure that this is an appropriate condition for parole but I imagine it is still legal nonetheless.

The other great find on my trip to foxnews.com? Check out the most read story on the website, Man Claims to Speak 'Australian' After Allegedly Being Raped by Wombat. Now, I’m not saying this says something about people who read Fox News, but I’m not saying it doesn’t either. The dude later plead guilty ”to using a phone for a fictitious purpose.” Shocker

If you travel internationally, the terrorists win!

Interesting stories today

Egg McMuffin Inventor Dies. I feel as though I have been cheated my entire life, I thought Ronald McDonald invented this stuff, then bam, just kidding! This guy also wrote their first national advertising campaign, “Where quality starts fresh every day.” Really?

Passports Made Abroad. What I don’t understand about this one is US officials saying we can’t make them here because of the high-tech chips that are placed in all new passports (please note the chips are meant to INCREASE security). I guess only European companies can make the chips, which they do in Singapore, but then why are they being sent to Thailand before they arrive in the states? My only guess here is that Thai labor to place the chips in the passport covers is cheaper than having it done here, but it really just ends up being a ridiculous vicious cycle.

We need the chips to “keep the terrorists out” but we can’t make the chips, so they are made in Singapore. The problem is, the chips are so expensive, not to mention all the money spent on having the airport loud speaker announce the threat level every 3 minutes (etc. etc.), so we have to cut corners and have the covers assembled in Thailand, which will cause more of a security risk thus increasing the amount spent on national security and eventually the cost will be so high we will probably have to find even cheaper labor in a place like, I don’t know, Iran, or Korea, or even Iraq while we are at it. Awesome.

And I’ll end on this story, Dozens Killed As Iraq Fighting Rages, which goes into a lot of the stuff I was complaining about yesterday, but I am still frustrated at the cavalier way it is reported. The article talks about the construction workers that have been missing for a year, I wonder how many Iraqi construction workers are missing. I’m sure someone is examining the thousands of Iraqi remains to find their bodies as well.

And finally, John Stewart is great.

Babies Are The New Black

Have you ever noticed how there are trends in news, random subjects that all of a sudden dominate the headlines? I don’t mean things like politics, that become more relevant cyclically because of elections and the fact that people only really care around election time, I mean things that probably happen all the time, but gain popularity in the media for seemingly no reason.

This month I have noticed a couple trends. One being fatal crane collapses, one yesterday in Miami, and one a 10 days ago in New York. So, this is only two, and I’m not sure it happens all the time but it just seems really weird that I have never really heard of this happening before then all of a sudden it happens twice in the same month.

But, the biggie recently is toddlers. Toddlers are in this month for sure. It really doesn’t matter what they’re doing, they are making the news like crazy. People must love baby stories.

Toddler falls into well
Dog bites toddler
Toddler shoots itself, This headline was bullshit, they later revealed that it would take the same amount of force for the child to pull the trigger as the child holding 2 gallons of milk with one finger. It was later ruled a homicide.
Toddler Saves Family
Toddler Found walking alone
Mother and toddler assaulted
Toddler falls from balcony

Replace the word "toddler" with "adult" and all of these stories become irrelevant to popular media.

All this and we still don't know where Suri Cruise is?!?!?!

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Tyra Is More Fierce Than Death

This story, No More 'Top Model' For Tyra Banks, is placed directly next to (although with a smaller photo) this story, Dozens Killed As Iraq Militia Clashes Spread, at the top of the MSNBC home page. This is probably because 55 Iraqis dying is really just not that big of a deal to people. I would be willing to bet that despite its prime location above the fold of a huge Web site, the Tyra story is going to get more page views. (disclaimer: I DO watch America’s Next Top Model and plenty of other worthless crap on TV)

I distinctly remember when the death toll of US soldiers in Iraq hit 2,000. It was the fall of 2005, around two and a half years after the war began. I was watching CNN with some friends and the guy I was kind of, sort of, unfortunately dating at the time celebrated because the number was so low. The number may be lower than in previous wars but any senseless deaths are too many. There are 2,000 families that lost sons and daughters, and thousands more hoping their loved ones come home safely.

Now, just after the 5 year “anniversary” of the war, and on track with previous milestones set, the death toll of US soldiers reached 4,000 as of Sunday.

But what about the death toll for Iraqi citizens? It gets a little fuzzy here. There are US-Iraqi forces, but there are also the militias, members of which are technically considered civilians, plus, as a result of hosting the war, it is not uncommon to read about schools that oddly are full of children being bombed, wups. The overall total is a little hard to find. I googled “Death toll in Iraq war” and every result on the first page referred to the US soldier death toll. I did however, find this gem from HeraldNet which may make some good points but I can’t get past the second paragraph where it says:

“According to a survey published March 12 by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, just 28 percent of U.S. adults new that the death toll was approaching 4,000.”

Eventually, I tracked down this site, which puts the estimated Iraqi civilian death toll somewhere around 85,000 people. I cannot attest to the accuracy of the site but if it is even remotely correct, I wonder what milestone we will mourn in the US? 100,000, 200,000? There has been a media shit show somewhere around every 500 US soldiers (I obviously think it is important to note US soldier deaths on the news, EVERY soldier that dies is important), but the number of Iraqi civilian deaths has skyrocketed to little fanfare.

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Hey, It Happened To Arnold Schwarzenegger

What comes to mind when you see this headline? Oregon Man Says He’s Pregnant

Well, I thought, wow, what a crazy man, I must click on this headline! Was he abducted by aliens or just plain crazy? So click I did, only to be told in the second paragraph that hey, maybe the headline is slightly misleading, he is actually transgendered, and was born a woman and still has female sex organs.

Normally, having the word transgendered in a headline is golden for Web hits, but in this case, the given headline was much more intriguing than “Transgendered Woman Says She’s Pregnant.” That would just be way too obvious and to the point, besides it wouldn’t have made the news anyway. Who would click on that? Women get pregnant all the time. Yawn, I want a misleading headline!

All of this doesn’t even get into the article itself, which after reading all the way through made me really sad. This man and his wife (who is herself unable to have children) cannot find a doctor willing to help. A co-worker of mine decried that this is his own fault for choosing to “screw with his body” and a doctor can choose to avoid a malpractice lawsuit. I couldn't believe this person honestly thinks that because this man made certain decisions, he and his child are unworthy of medical care.

I will be the first to say that I do not understand the decision this man made, but I hardly feel it is my place to judge, nor am I certain that a sex change is a choice. There are so many factors at work in the human body and sexuality is one of those things that NO ONE can really explain or understand.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is, maybe, if this man had received abstinence only sex education, we wouldn't have this problem...

So Condoms Help Prevent Babies? I Thought They Were A Tool Of The Devil

I nearly had a heart-attack when I scrolled all the way down to the bottom of the MSNBC home page to the health section to see this headline, Comprehensive Sex Education May Cut Teen Birth Rate.

Holy cow, really? This is just so revolutionary; it is going to take me decades to wrap my mind around this! Or not. This fact was obvious to me in middle school, when I was lucky enough to attend a school that showed be about birth control instead of just telling me not to have sex. You wanna know how many babies I had in my teen years? None. Later, the state of Florida banned Planned Parenthood from teaching in schools and thanks to federal funding only going to abstinence only programs, well, I’m not even sure what fate holds for Florida’s youths now.

So now, MSNBC is doing some ground-breaking reporting. Telling young girls and boys how to prevent babies may actually…prevent babies.

“Using data from a 2002 national survey, researchers found that among more than 1,700 unmarried, heterosexual teens between 15 and 19 years old, those who'd received comprehensive sex ed in school were 60 percent less likely to have been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant than teens who'd had no formal sex education.

Meanwhile, there was no clear benefit from abstinence-only education in preventing pregnancy or delaying sexual intercourse, the researchers report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.”

Realistically, this isn’t MSNBC’s fault. Some people actually don’t know this stuff to be true, so in that sense, it really is a relevant news story, but I think that is the most depressing part.

This is a subject on which I could go on many tangents, but for now I won’t.

Rabid Dogs Are ALWAYS Relevant

Fortunately, the CNN home page is looking a little more relevant this morning with stories like this one, Food Prices Rising Across The World.

But it also features gems like this one. A video about how the media is literally fighting amongst themselves about the election. Seriously? And why is Tiki Barber one of the commentators featured in the video? Do the politics of New York Giants football and retiring before his time really qualify him to discuss the presidential election on national television? My superior internet researching skills (aka Wikipedia) tell me that as a correspondent for the Today show, Tiki “covers sports for NBC Sports, and hosts entertainment events for NBC Universal.”

I do have to point out that Chris Wallace makes an excellent point somewhere around one third of the way through the video. I don’t know who the smiling blond is, but kudos to her for being able to hold a smile that long while someone is bashing your work.

I get the difference between talk shows and news programs but this is just ridiculous.

P.S. be sure to watch the entire video. The end is extremely relevant…

Politicians Are People Too

NY gov says he tried coke and pot in his youth

Dear New York,

Your absurd governors have totally taken the heat off of Florida’s political ineptitudes, so thanks for that. So what have the Dems decided to do about that pesky and irrelevant Florida primary? Who knows, the only link on the CNN home page right now even remotely related to the election is Exclusive Video: Obama Hits Beach. Wow. (I feel it is important at this point to mention my respect for CNN, and criticism is the most sincere form of flattery anyway, right?) Obama’s sunbathing may be important, but the fabulous wet dream of a story that is The New York Governor Chronicles: Decades Of Wealthy Debauchery Exposed In One Week still got a spot two full headlines higher on the homepage. Awesome.

It took the general population months to do the math and realize that without the Florida and Michigan delegates, 2,024 was an impossible goal. Finally, people are paying attention to something worthwhile, albeit embarrassing for Florida and the Democratic Party as a whole, and then New York, you had to jump and hog all the attention for yourself. It will probably be October before someone asks, “Hey, what ever happened to those Florida delegates.” The room will go silent, and that person will be fired.

So now that we know David Paterson is pretty much no better a moral compass than Spitzer, what next? Within the next few days we will probably start to hear about new Lt. Governor Joeseph Bruno’s secret furry identity. That should keep attention focused elsewhere long enough for most people’s attention span to “like totally forget what they were just outraged about.”

I Don't Have A Catchy Headline, Isn't That The Point?

Every day, John Doe America watches the news and is bombarded with useless crap. It is to the point where the news actually talks about what the news isn’t talking enough about (see the recent coverage on the political talk shows about how “the media” isn’t covering the war in Iraq enough, in a month “the media” will be blowing the war out of proportion). I’m not even sure who qualifies as the news anymore. These shows air on news networks, but they seem to take little responsibility or action to rectify the issues they are so swift to criticize.

One huge problem is the misguided notion that the media is unbiased. As respectable media empires grow, this becomes more and more impossible; the bottom line inevitably dictates the content. It isn’t that the sponsors are literally calling up CNN and saying “Listen, watch what you say about product XYZ,” the problem is that product XYZ won’t pay to be a sponsor on a show that lacks viewers, or a Web site with no hits. So the bias isn’t politically motivated(although, let’s be honest, we all know that FOX News is a freaking hot mess when it comes to political bias), it is catchy headline biased.

Apparently, the war in Iraq isn’t as tantalizing to viewers as six months straight of daily updates on the Britney Spears Crazy Meter. I’d say around 1% of celebrity news that hits the mainstream news is actually worth reporting anywhere other than Entertainment Tonight or OhNoTheyDidnt, but that is a completely different tangent; there are plenty of things, other than celebrities, that the mainstream news jumps on that are a complete waste of time.

The end result of Web hits and Nielsen ratings ruling news content? Ridiculously overblown coverage of mundane happenings that are so sensational, they practically write their own cheesy headlines.

With all of this said, I love the news and the media in general because it is a ridiculously dysfunctional monster that WE have created. I contribute to the monster we call the media not only by providing news sites with dozens of page views a day, but also by working for the beast. I am writing this blog in an effort to vent all of my theories and ideas about current events that my friends and family grow tired of hearing, but I, nonetheless feel are very valid and relevant to modern society.