Kids, I'm thinking of a Courtney Love line, "Did you miss me?" As C.I. told you early this morning, I'll be popping in and out as needed. I'll go into what's going on with C.I. in my next post but I said, "Let me do Democracy Now!"
So here goes, get ready for the ride. What do I like about Amy Goodman? Nothing! Because I don't like Amy Goodman, I love her! There's no way you can't watch Democracy Now! and not just stand in awe of honest to God news in this day of pom-pom, pep-squad, spread 'em for the bully boy press.
Goodman don't play that game.
What she does is give you the news, no pretense, no b.s. This is the news, let it fall where it may.
If you saw her on Charlie Rose, you know Charlie got his panties in a wad when she discussed how Dan Rather told the BBC that he wasn't able to speak freely for fear of being "necklaced."
Charlie turned all tight ass and started getting offended. What did Amy Goodman say back?
"I just quoted what he said."
That's Amy Goodman, giving us the truth and praise Buddah, Jesus, Muhammed, the Mother Goddess or whomever you worship if you worship. If you don't, just say, "She's the real thing."
Here are the headlines from today's show --
Headlines for April 27, 2005
- Syrian Forces Leave Lebanon After Three Decades- Protests in Togo After Election- Ecuador Congress Meets for First Time After Ouster of President- Rice in Latin America- Protests Continue in Nicaragua, Calls for President to Resign- High Schoolers Protests in Chile, Face Off Against Police- Poll Shows People Think Bush Lied on Iraq- Florida Expands Right to Use Deadly Force
All of those are important, click on "Headlines . . ." and you'll be taken to a summary or you can watch. Or you can listen. But what the great Janeane Garofalo says is true, you'll get more information from Goodman's headlines then you will from an hour of tele-bully boy-root news.
My fave headline? "Poll Shows People Think Bush Lied on Iraq!"
He lied and the people are finally catching on! Looking for hope in this disaster of the bully boy administration? There it is, people are catching on!
Do you know Giuliana Sgrena? Maybe you heard her speak on 60 Minutes-lite (also known as "II")? Did they go through what happened step by step? They promised to, remember? No, they didn't. They didn't let Sgrena comment on where the bullets came from. Naomi Klein broke that story on Democracy Now! weeks ago. If you missed it, you should watch, see!
The New Yackity Yack Don't Talk Back Times missed that this morning too.
Here you can hear Sgrena speak for the first time without being censored --
Giuliana Sgrena Blasts U.S. Cover Up, Calls for U.S. and Italy to Leave Iraq
Wait because we're not done yet. Also on the show today was the wonderful Howard Zinn. American treasure comes to mind when I think of the author of so many wonderful books and a lifelong activist like Zinn. He inspires us all. He educates the country. Tired of everything being dumbed down? We've got Zinn and others. Think about the world without them and you'd see dumbed down. What, we've got to settle for those lousy PBS cartoons voiced by the Gropinator and written by Billy Bennent? Not going out like that, don't you either --
Howard Zinn: "To Be Neutral, To Be Passive In A Situation Is To Collaborate With Whatever Is Going On"
Now let's move on to Bob Somerby who's always getting to the nitty gritty at The Daily Howler.
Media analysis ain't analogue, kids, and if you want it in real time, you can start with Bob. You can also check out FAIR which has been fighting the good fight.
So what's Bob talking about today? Important stuff. If you want comparisions to what Talon News ripped off from the wire stories, don't go to Bob Somerby. (Me-ow back at you, Beyonce lover, that the remark is intended for.) If you want media analysis that matters, you get your butt to The Daily Howler.
Here's a sample from today --
THROUGH THE TUBE DARKLY: Refresh us--when exactly did Meet the Press become an openly Catholic program? Last Sunday, for the third time in the last five weeks, Tim Russert devoted his entire show to a religious discussion. Early on, Russert popped this question to Father Thomas Bohlin, U.S. vicar of the conservative Catholic group, Opus Dei:
RUSSERT (4/24/05): Father John McCloskey, who was also an Opus Dei with you, was on this program. He has a Web site where he predicted basically in 2030 that the number of Catholics would go from 60 million to 40 million; almost a smaller and purer church. Is that, do you think, the vision of our pope? [Russert's emphasis]
No, Russert's emphasis didn't make sense, but it was quite pronounced. Moments later, we heard from Joseph Bottum, one of two other guests whose bull-dog conservatism made Bohlin seem like a poodle. Bottum responded to the claim that the Catholic hierarchy needs to consult with Joe Sixpack more often:
BOTTUM: I'm not sure that there's any solution in all of that... I'm not sure it's any solution to the problem the church faces addressing the concerns that arise in a democratic experiment like the United States. We have characteristic abuses, as I said, that are going to happen in these places. And the church needs to be to some degree countercultural, to stand against that and to speak out and say, "We can't kill our babies."
Did we say conservative? Yes, when Bottum discussed the "characteristic abuses" that occur "in these places," he was referring to democracies—to "places" like the U.S.!
Question: Were we the only ones who gazed with surprise at Sunday's Meet the Press discussion? Who wondered what this odd debate had to do with the American news agenda? Who wondered why we were hearing this on NBC's one weekly news hour?
No, Bob, you're not the only wondering. I was raised Catholic and that's a head scratcher. When did the Christian right start embracing us? I thought we were supposed to be pagan or a fake religion or something? But at some point it became "Today, We're All Catholics!" Someone call le Monde!
See Bob gives you news you can use. As Mike Papantionio pointed out on Ring of Fire, Talon News isn't the big bad. Cokie Roberts, Tim Russert and those "respectable" types are. Pap knows where to aim his cannon and so does Bob. (Other little boys aim their water guns. But I'm getting into my next Kat's Korner so let me save my hisses for that.)
Bob's the real deal. Want to know how you can tell? When he talks about certain topics, there is a hush and a silencing online. What the f**k? Did Bob just take on the "left" pundits? Yes, he did. And people run from linking. (Not here, C.I. links to Bob almost every day.)
Quit listening to me jaw on, get your butts over to The Daily Howler.
What are you waiting for, go. Move it. Get on over.
Need another reason? You'll miss the set up to this punch line --
Let's face it--Meacham really isn't the man to be talking about "longest sustained monologues." Or, as we normally paraphrase Meacham, Blah blah blah blah harrumph zzzzzzz.
Now get moving to Democracy Now! and The Daily Howler. Arm yourself with knowledge, not with fluff.
