Once More, The Media Is The Message

I guess the media are the message or the messages. One of the most common English language errors is to use the plural noun media as a singular noun. Occasionally you will get a double plural, "medias" (as well as the less frequent agendas or datas). We can excuse people confusing media as a singular noun because news people are a giant senseless mob. Sad but true.

I will watch the Super Bowl later today. I did not watch most of the regular and post season mostly because I was sick of the news mob interjecting themselves into the story. Spectator sports work because they sell escape. If the know-it-alls treat the events as forums to expound on the virtues of gun control or the evils of domestic violence or the tragedy of head injuries, something is lost. As high minded as these platitudes might be, they certainly destroy the escapist entertainment.

There was a time when sports reporting was the last refuge of good journalism. If you wanted to know who what when where, the sports guys delivered. Hubris set in and the Bob Costas's of the world insisted on being recognized as oracles at large. They would sanction personnel and policies much as their big brothers in news media were doing. It was time we all bowed down to our superiors.

People can talk about left vs right, conservative vs liberal, Tea Party vs Establishment, etc. Still it does seem like it is often the media vs the people. Andy Rooney's summary of the 2004 presidential election will live on in infamy. "Half of the media liked John Kerry. The other half hated George Bush."

I have ignored most of the Deflategate scandal because it does not rise to the level of a real scandal. Indianapolis did not lose by 38 points because footballs were deflated to the degree that they could not even recognize the deflation. And the Patriots outscored the Colts 28-0 in the second half with fully inflated balls. Facts just do not matter any more.

The sports media generated a witch hunt and then experienced a collective Midol moment when the lynch mob was not activated. They are the rightful shapers of public opinion--all opinion--and Tom Brady is the latest Chris Christie. Ultimately, the news mob was thwarted. I would be cheering on the Patriots today even if I did not live in New England. Screw the news mob. Je suis Belichick!

All That Ass Kissing Goes To Waste

I WISH I WAS ONE OF THE COOL KIDS

SOMEDAY I WILL BE ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

EAT SHIT, PEASANT

Report From Exeter: Romney and Christie and Occupants Oh My

As mentioned, My Handycam has a dead battery and I do not have a charger. I went to the storage unit and found my Handycam accessories. All the accessories except for the AC charger. Hopes dashed.

I spent about seven hours this weekend trying to hook up a printer. Long story but I'll try to summarize. When I moved two years ago I gave away one printer and put the other printer in storage. I don't have much space these days.

Anyway, my friend returned my printer to me at one point and I threw it in the closet. I tried to add the computer without the disk (I know I will find the disk soon now that I have the other printer running) but for whatever reason I was unable to install the printer, even with help from Hewlett Packard. So today, I dug the other printer out of storage.

The second printer was already installed on the computer. In two years time the installed cartridges froze and thawed and froze and thawed. After much futile tinkering I bit the bullet and bought a color cartridge and a black and white cartridge. Seven cumulative hours and $42 later I was able to run off a Bingo card template for my friend.

I decided to drive across town to see Mitt and Christie at the high school gym. I know. Mitt is not my first choice and he is not a great orator. But I have missed the circus this year and I figured there would be a lot of sideshows. I was not disappointed.

I have spent my life in the cheap seats away from the limelight, so this is the highest concentration of media fixtures I have seen in one space. Counting tech people there were literally hundreds of them. There were rows and rows of typists on laptops. There were so many news people that hundreds of civilians, including me, were routed away from the auditorium to a nearby gym.

In the gym, we listened to a speech that was piped in. Dumb ass me thought that the audio track was a previous Mitt and Chris rally and that they would be starting this evening's rally later. After talking to a fellow reject I learned that we had been excluded but that Mitt was going to be dropping by to say hi.

In this era of camera proliferation, it is hard to tell who is in the business and who is a mere civilian. But it seems that even some of the privileged members of the fourth estate were excluded from the grown up room. A mob armed with expensive looking cameras huddled around Mitt. I was able to see the governor's tan forehead and not much else. I guess he got that perfect tan on the campaign trail in Soth Carolina.

I saw David Gergen and Carl Cameron and a bunch of bug-eyed foreign correspondents. There were probably more civilians than media people but it's hard to tell. There were a few dozen Occupiers, a half dozen or so Ron Paul supporters and some guy with a loud voice who yelled something about Romney being a draft dodger. There were even some pro-Israeli Zionists holding signs at the parking lot exit.Some of the Occupiers infiltrated the crowd and started chanting. This happened a couple of times. I was standing by a Gang of Four who started some silly ass chant. I might make C-Span just yet.

I did my own political theater. Whenever an Occupant handed me a flier I would ask if it was printed on recycled paper. After a heartfelt "I don't know sir," I would either act despairing or hostile. I think I frightened one timid soul. But I did learn that "polite occupier" is not an oxymoron. A rarity perhaps, but not an oxymoron.

I wish I had my camera running. I wish I would have purchased a fancy phone with video capacity (mine costs $15.) Instead of video I have pleasant memories that will fade over time. Read: Tuesday. But I will treasure a vague composite memory of the evening that was uniquely New Hampshire. How sweet it is.

New Jersey's Loss is MF Global's Loss

That darn Chris Christie. Had he not knocked Jon Corzine out of the Governor's mansion, the investors would be $1.2 billion richer.

I am hesitant to comment on any financial scandal for a couple of reasons. One, the public and the press cannot distinguish between fraud and violation of SEC regulations. Two, the press and the public cannot distinguish between fraud and violation of laws of extremely dubious merit. The broad brush of financial scandal is applied with vigor. And of course, the public relations machines are prepared to grind their political axes even before the scandal materializes. The Corzine hearings commence and immediately a Democrat (Peterson from Minnesota) bandstands for Dodd/Frank. The 2008 fiasco had not even materialized when the press had blamed a mythical deregulation that unfortunately, never took place.

So it is with caution that I bash Jon Corzine. But make no mistake about it: If a firm misplaces their client's funds, that firm is guilty of either negligence or fraud. No exceptions. If one can account for a client's loss, one is guilty of ineptitude. You are not assigned a dunce cap, not orange coveralls. Conversely, if you cannot account for a client's funds you might still be assigned a dunce cap but you might also be deemed a threat to society.

To summarize:

Insider trading does not equal fraud.

Parking stocks does not equal fraud.

Losing a client's funds through unwise investments does not equal fraud.

Losing--as in to lose track of or account of--a client's funds is either fraud or gross negligence. No exceptions.

If an investment firm cannot account for one cent of a client's funds, corrective action is required. Accounting perfection is the industry standard. MF Global cannot account for $1.2 billion. This folks, is a genuine scandal!

Jon Corzine will be remembered as either a doofus, a crook or both. The silver lining to this sordid tale is that the good people of New Jersey now have a governor with integrity. MF Global clients are not so fortunate.

Chris Christie and The Only Hope Phenomenon

Chris Christie seems like an entertaining guy to me. Would he be my first choice for president? No, and he would notc rack the top five. I would have liked for him to challenge Martinez for the NJ Senate seat. That is not discussed anywhere but here (one time.)

William Kristol, Ann Coulter, and an idiot Boston radio hostess all said that Cristie was the only man who could defeat Obama. The GOP's only hope. I don't understand the only hope phenomenon but it does seem to make people stupid. Dick Morris promoted this idea that only Condoleeza Rice could defeat Hillary. He made no sense when he tried to explain his fantasy and I think he endangered his credibility. The only hope phenomenon can turn a rational person into the equivalent of an Obama supporter. Love makes fools of us all.

I remember a few pundits who had Trump pegged as the only hope. Then it was Perry. Then it was Christie. Will Rubio be next? I hope not.

The search for Mr. Goodenough continues.