John's Blog

Viewer Beware
It's one thing when you have fake news along the lines of "The Daily Show", since you know that what you are getting is fake. It's something else entirely when you have W and company spoon feeding propaganda to so-called legitimate media to pass off as news. The Post looks at these less than savory practices.

What bothers me is the focus of the mainstream media that continues to serve up endless coverage of high profile crimes, but has little time or focus on the truely important stories. We have in general been willing partners in the gradual dumbing down of the news, but at what point will the public wake up and see that they need to be more involved in the process by knowing what's going on? It's always been easier to buy the slickly presented snake oil as served up by Bush and his minions, but when will they wake up and realize that we've been sold a pig-in-a-poke?

Maureen Dowd looks at the chief purveyor of pablum in her column today:
"He started his presidency with a tentative demeanor and a chip on his shoulder. Now, even with the Middle East still roiling and the Democrats still spoiling for a fight over Social Security, W. feels as if he's won a lot of hands and has a big pile of chips.....He's confident enough to send two unilateralist hawks who specialize in blowing off the globe to run global institutions that epitomize multilateralism.....This is a White House that never makes up facts to suit its purposes or sell its programs. It serves its propaganda baldfaced, with no hint of its real agenda."