It's great that NPR had time for bitchy but exactly when did they intend to explain the political crisis to listeners?
They are aware that they never did that, right?
That
never once in the report did they mention the Erbil Agreement or the
2010 elections or anything of real substance. But, hey, we got a bitchy
supporter of Nouri's and didn't that make everything worthwhile?
The six argue that the American people know what the political crisis is over. Do they? Because reporters can't even get it correct. Even when NGOs and think tanks they cite are very clear what's caused the crisis. But here's the basic on NPR reporting, they are not supposed to assume, even if they're reporting on something that's been in the news every broadcast, that listeners know what they're talking about. They are supposed to provide the basic set up. Saying a political crisis is going on in Iraq is not a set up. But it does let Nouri off -- and isn't that the point of all the bad reporting? -- because then no one holds his feet to the fire on the Erbil Agreement which he used to become prime minister but refused to honor in terms of the promises he made in exchange for a second term.
It's funny because I don't remember, for example, news outlets being kind to Suzanne Somers during the final season of ABC's Three's Company and refering to it as a "network crisis." I remember every story mentioning -- and usually trashing her for -- what they saw as her breaking her contract. The same with Farrah Fawcett (who did not break her contract with ABC -- a detail most 'news' outlets ignored, Farrah never signed the contract and what was in it wasn't honored -- she was supposed to be off the set each day by a certain time and was not). In both cases, contracts mattered and were repeated over and over. That's because the press takes its cues from the power structure and decides who'll they treat fairly and who'll they'll attack. That's an issue Ava and I may address at Third tomorrow. For example, I know Jon Voight and if he's acting like an ass, I'll say so. (And have. Even here. Not just in my personal life.) But I wouldn't ridicule him as a 'has been' (he's not) or anything else so stupid. But some 'news' outlets are ridiculing him because they don't care for his political views. It's actually worse than ridicule because what they're doing is dishonest. Voight has a thriving career -- especially for a 73-year-old -- with one film about to be released and two to be filmed this year. I'd love to see these little boot lickers have any kind of a career when they're 73.
When a contract is agreed to and signed off on and actually reported by the press (in November 2010) and then it's broken and that leads to a political crisis, you can't vanish that from the story and be considered an honest news outlet.
In fact, Kenyon's refusal to include the Erbil Agreement is probably the most pertinent detail about his report.
So that takes care of the six. But they really aren't the point of this entry. The point is that a number of community members want "I Hate The War" as an entry. It's not going to be a Thursday night entry. As I noted Sunday, I'm pretty much done with that and have other things to do. But we can turn one of the Saturday entries into that and have more of a talking entry. If you're a community member and that works, let me know. If you're a community member and that doesn't work, let me know that too.
If you're fine with it, it'll be like the above. Nothing major. It'll be whatever's prompting comments or questions in the e-mails. We'll clarify a few things, that sort of thing.
We'll preview a few possible things for Third if they're known. Right now, all that's known is nothing. Ava and I aren't sure what media we're covering. We're currently fast fowarding through entertainment public affairs programs on disc and reading over transcripts in hopes of finding something. We'll layer things into it -- such as a White House spokesperson's 'drama' on TV last week that no one apparently caught or else everyone averted their eyes to it -- but we don't know what we're covering at this point. Rebecca's pitching a piece on sexism and pitching it as both a group piece (most pieces at Third are group pieces) or, if time runs out, a piece that Ava and I would write. Ty's pushing for a roundtable. Nothing's fixed at this point. Which isn't that surprising at this point. And Ava and I are doing PBS. They've slanted a program to rewrite history yet again. I'm not particularly fond of the person we'll be defending but the truth is the truth. (And shame of them for arguing that an individual has no right to go out on there own and seek better employment but owes someone who won't even promote them their professional life.)
Isaiah's "The Jobs Report" went up this morning. A few are wondering if that's the Sunday comic or a bonus one? That's a bonus. He'll have another one up Sunday morning. He'd like to have one up Sunday night but that's probably not happening unless something comes up news wise.
It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
There's a war going on
So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
And I'm writing a song about war
And it goes
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Oh oh oh oh
-- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)
The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4489.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
i hate the war
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