Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Frivolous Friday: Coming To A Yard Sale Near You!
JUST 65 FIRING DAYS? WE'LL SETTLE FOR ONE FIRING DAY
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Retro Thursday: John Ziegler's "Media Malpractice"
Originally posted May 27, 2009
I want to review "Media Malpractice" but for now I will provide a trailer.
THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
I want to review "Media Malpractice" but for now I will provide a trailer.
THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Wild Card Wednesday: Glenn Beck In Israel
Glenn Beck is running circles around everyone: journalism competitors, political enemies, political allies, rival pundits. He is leaving all of them in the dust. Who foresaw his upcoming Jerusalem rally? No one ot anmed Glenn Beck.
Personally, I like Glenn Beck. He might just turn out to be this era's H. L. Mencken. Limbaugh could have seized that honor but he instead chose to play the us vs. them game. The liberal vs. conservative model is still highly profitable and who can argue with Limbaugh's marketability?
But Beck charted a different course starting in 2009. Whereas Limbaugh, Hannity. Levin, et al, mostly cheer for proper nouns, Beck advanced principles. True, Hannity and Limbaugh did some revisionism and retroactively criticized the Republicnas who held power from 2000 to 2006. They embraced the Tea Party and found time to appreciate fiscal conservatism.
For many of us, it was too little too late. Beck, meanwhile, addressed CPAC and warned the audience about The Republican Party. Principle over party. Principle over proper noun. For the life of me, I don't know why the lefties hate him. He is as hard on conservatives/Republicans as he is the Obama Administration. If there is an idea he has advanced above all others, that idea would probably be transparency. But the lefties love to hate and they are not always selective about their favorite activity.
So Glenn Beck is promoting a media event in Jerusalem to show his support for Israel. The lefties are once more enraqed. I wanted to provide a snippet of partisan commnetary. Once more, READ THE COMMENTS! Even in the hardcore authoritarian publications, the readers' comments do not always line up with writers. One more reason to love the Internet.
First up, "The Jewish Daily Forward" and the cranky Noam Sheizaf.
Glenn Beck is in Israel, again. In July, the talk radio host and former Fox News star was invited to the Kensset, where he met “a room full of admirers” — in the words of a Channel 1 report — led by Likud MK Danny Danon. Beck urged Israelis to stand strong; among those shaking his hand was Baruch Marzel, former chairman of the outlawed Kach movement. Yet it seems that this honor wasn’t enough for Beck, who is back for a couple of Israeli rallies this week under the name of “Restoring Courage.”
Americans are by now very familiar with the wild and irresponsible side of politics that Beck represents. Beck stokes hate among ethnic groups and pays little respect to democratic traditions in his own country, let alone in the rest of the world. Many of his comments in recent years have bordered on anti-Semitic. He embraced anti-Semitic writers, and all but one name on his list of “enemies of America and humanity” were Jews. Those were still mild references compared with the language Beck uses against liberals — and Jews are the most liberal group in America. Beck is toxic: Even Fox News got that, and eventually dumped him. If you were representing a company and your product was in trouble, Beck would have been the last public relations man on earth you’d call. Yet this is exactly what Israel has done.
Read the full piece here and DO NOT SKIP THE COMMENTS.
http://forward.com/articles/141673/
Beck also offends "The Christian Science Monitor."
Just as the Fonz's days were numbered the moment he jumped over a shark-infested pen on his summer trip to California (I originally misidentified the infamous shark-jump as having taken place in Hawaii, thanks to readers for pointing out the error), Mr. Beck is in danger of alienating a large section of his target audience on his coming vacation.
The 600 or so tickets for the event at Jerusalem's Davidson Center are sold out, but Beck has been eager to get large numbers of Israelis and foreigners to turn out for a public broadcast. He's not making that task any easier for himself. While Beck often proclaims his love for Israel and Israelis, a recent broadcast makes it clear that he views a vast swath of the Israeli public with contempt.
Full piece here.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0817/Did-Glenn-Beck-just-jump-the-shark-in-Israel
The comments are fairly balanced.
"The Atlantic" is a little more balanced but of course the dissenting commentors are dismissed as trollers.
CAESARIA, Israel -- The tears came early for Glenn Beck. Holding a bible in his hand, his eyes moistened and his voice cracked only moments after he took the stage at the ancient Roman amphitheater of Caeseria, Israel in front of a crowd of nearly 3,000 on Sunday. Beck paced the stage, praising the righteous Gentiles of history who saved Jews from anti-Semitism, and spoke of the greatness of the Jewish people and the need to "love the Jewish people as they are."
Standing on the ancient ruins, Beck also spoke of what he called Jews' "2,000 year old flinch," which makes them shy away from affection from Gentiles (including, presumably, himself) because of "not just the Holocaust, but it's [persecution of Jews] happened over and over and over again."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/08/glenn-becks-ambivalent-welcome-in-israel/243917/
In fairness, Media Matters and PuffHo have done a superior job of maintaining idealogical purity in their comments sections. There, Beck is still an ignorant hate monger. Elsewhere, the crowds are a little less manageable.
Personally, I like Glenn Beck. He might just turn out to be this era's H. L. Mencken. Limbaugh could have seized that honor but he instead chose to play the us vs. them game. The liberal vs. conservative model is still highly profitable and who can argue with Limbaugh's marketability?
But Beck charted a different course starting in 2009. Whereas Limbaugh, Hannity. Levin, et al, mostly cheer for proper nouns, Beck advanced principles. True, Hannity and Limbaugh did some revisionism and retroactively criticized the Republicnas who held power from 2000 to 2006. They embraced the Tea Party and found time to appreciate fiscal conservatism.
For many of us, it was too little too late. Beck, meanwhile, addressed CPAC and warned the audience about The Republican Party. Principle over party. Principle over proper noun. For the life of me, I don't know why the lefties hate him. He is as hard on conservatives/Republicans as he is the Obama Administration. If there is an idea he has advanced above all others, that idea would probably be transparency. But the lefties love to hate and they are not always selective about their favorite activity.
So Glenn Beck is promoting a media event in Jerusalem to show his support for Israel. The lefties are once more enraqed. I wanted to provide a snippet of partisan commnetary. Once more, READ THE COMMENTS! Even in the hardcore authoritarian publications, the readers' comments do not always line up with writers. One more reason to love the Internet.
First up, "The Jewish Daily Forward" and the cranky Noam Sheizaf.
Glenn Beck is in Israel, again. In July, the talk radio host and former Fox News star was invited to the Kensset, where he met “a room full of admirers” — in the words of a Channel 1 report — led by Likud MK Danny Danon. Beck urged Israelis to stand strong; among those shaking his hand was Baruch Marzel, former chairman of the outlawed Kach movement. Yet it seems that this honor wasn’t enough for Beck, who is back for a couple of Israeli rallies this week under the name of “Restoring Courage.”
Americans are by now very familiar with the wild and irresponsible side of politics that Beck represents. Beck stokes hate among ethnic groups and pays little respect to democratic traditions in his own country, let alone in the rest of the world. Many of his comments in recent years have bordered on anti-Semitic. He embraced anti-Semitic writers, and all but one name on his list of “enemies of America and humanity” were Jews. Those were still mild references compared with the language Beck uses against liberals — and Jews are the most liberal group in America. Beck is toxic: Even Fox News got that, and eventually dumped him. If you were representing a company and your product was in trouble, Beck would have been the last public relations man on earth you’d call. Yet this is exactly what Israel has done.
Read the full piece here and DO NOT SKIP THE COMMENTS.
http://forward.com/articles/141673/
Beck also offends "The Christian Science Monitor."
Just as the Fonz's days were numbered the moment he jumped over a shark-infested pen on his summer trip to California (I originally misidentified the infamous shark-jump as having taken place in Hawaii, thanks to readers for pointing out the error), Mr. Beck is in danger of alienating a large section of his target audience on his coming vacation.
The 600 or so tickets for the event at Jerusalem's Davidson Center are sold out, but Beck has been eager to get large numbers of Israelis and foreigners to turn out for a public broadcast. He's not making that task any easier for himself. While Beck often proclaims his love for Israel and Israelis, a recent broadcast makes it clear that he views a vast swath of the Israeli public with contempt.
Full piece here.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0817/Did-Glenn-Beck-just-jump-the-shark-in-Israel
The comments are fairly balanced.
"The Atlantic" is a little more balanced but of course the dissenting commentors are dismissed as trollers.
CAESARIA, Israel -- The tears came early for Glenn Beck. Holding a bible in his hand, his eyes moistened and his voice cracked only moments after he took the stage at the ancient Roman amphitheater of Caeseria, Israel in front of a crowd of nearly 3,000 on Sunday. Beck paced the stage, praising the righteous Gentiles of history who saved Jews from anti-Semitism, and spoke of the greatness of the Jewish people and the need to "love the Jewish people as they are."
Standing on the ancient ruins, Beck also spoke of what he called Jews' "2,000 year old flinch," which makes them shy away from affection from Gentiles (including, presumably, himself) because of "not just the Holocaust, but it's [persecution of Jews] happened over and over and over again."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/08/glenn-becks-ambivalent-welcome-in-israel/243917/
In fairness, Media Matters and PuffHo have done a superior job of maintaining idealogical purity in their comments sections. There, Beck is still an ignorant hate monger. Elsewhere, the crowds are a little less manageable.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Twofer Tuesday: Patri Friedman
YES, HE IS MILTON'S GRANDSON
SEASTEADING: AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS ARRIVED (BUT BE PATIENT)
SEASTEADING: AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS ARRIVED (BUT BE PATIENT)
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
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