Thursday, June 12, 2008

Open Thread

NPR related comments welcomed.
Posted by Mytwords at 4:58 AM
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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

RE: The Takeaway

Dear Sir or Madam:

Nice to see you covering the SOFA in Iraq issue (Negotiating the future of U.S. bases in Iraq
June 12, 2008).

But was Lawrence Korb the only expert you could find to comment on this? Next time, maybe identify the Center for American Progress as a right-wing think tank, and warn your listeners that your "expert" might serve up some unabashed neoconservative spin and talking points.

The last thing we need is yet another NPR show where the desire for "balance" leads to springboards for insane far-right talking points. Only 50 instead of 200 permanent bases? Oh, OK!

Thanks,

Benoit Balz
New York, NY

6/15/08, 12:05 AM
Anonymous said...

Good one, BB. But batten down the hatches for another happy-happy robo-response. And now, back to our program!

6/15/08, 7:29 AM
Unknown said...

Exciting news! I got a response from Null-and-Void Public Radio today! It's from "Annie", the talking Spam Destroyer! She realized that I was kinda mad about that Inscreep guy reporting about some huge city somewhere that has garbage problems.

Seems that NPR 'regrets' not having brought me much pleasure in my listing experience. This is really too bad, because I hear so many people say, when they've just filled their slot of reporting on NPR, that is was such 'a pleasure'. Man, I can't stand these sort of exchanges, especially after a story of death and destruction - or whatever:

Blobert Seigel: (with particularly pursed lips) "Well, thank you Mara."

Mara Liarsson: (with a mouth filled with gummy worms) "It's been a pleasure, Robert"

Indeed, the pleasure's all theirs, folks. It must be a GAS to work at NPR, and a very sexy, sensual, pleasurable one, too. (Gawrsh, a fella could wonder how much, you know, hanky-panky goes on at that public-type but goody-two-shoes-appearing radio station???)

Anyway, get a load of the message at the end, about 'NPR Listens'! And WE'RE INVITED!! We've given so many years of service, listing to NPR, and now (gasp of wonder) it's THEIR TURN! Learn more!


"Thank you for contacting NPR's Morning Edition.

We regret if our programming has not met your expectations. We strive to offer the highest quality of news and information available. Listener feedback helps us to accomplish this goal.

We welcome praise, as well as criticism, and your thoughts will be taken into consideration.

Thank you for listening to Morning Edition, and for your continued support of public broadcasting. For the latest news and information, visit NPR.org.

Sincerely,

Annie
NPR Services
202-513-3232
www.npr.org

NPR invites you to join its audience advisory panel, NPR Listens.
Learn more at http://www.npr.org/listens/

6/15/08, 2:03 PM
Unknown said...

Sorry for the typo:

For 'listing experience' read 'listening experience', but I suppose 'listing' could work, what with the 'Titanic' and all...

6/15/08, 2:07 PM
Anonymous said...

Hmm, is Brian alias Porter? Nevertheless, "been a pleasure" to read your entry - honest!

"Audience advisory panel", ya say? CHAAAAAAAARRRRGE!!!

6/16/08, 5:13 PM
Porter Melmoth said...

Well, in this age of cyber-piracy on the high airwaves, all sorts of thingamajigs go haywire if every last detail isn't seen to. Sometimes Melmoth needs his 'Life of Brian', and sometimes not. I'm sure you'll agree, a big! bunny! probably isn't pink! and fuzzy! all of the time, either.

Thanks for the compliments.

6/16/08, 7:13 PM
Anonymous said...

Now for a review of the siater network: pbs. charlie rose was particularly uncious (Tues) tonight with mikey gordon (judy miller's sidekick) and two clowns from the cfr. God rose is such a dim clod, and such a suck-up to the oh-so-important gordon. It's truly amazing that a person like gordon can have any credibility whatsoever; rose's treating him like a celebrity was plain creepy. pbs really plays their audience for chumps, and ignorant chumps at that. Even the Nova show tonight was more schtick that substance.

6/17/08, 11:44 PM
Anonymous said...

How come I'm the only one here to castigate Lenny Lopate? Where are you guys? OK, so he's not NPR, he's WNYC. But he's broadcast on NPR stations.

Anyway, I will continue to do my part - yesterday he had on a person who used to be the Jordanian ambassador to Israel. I expected nothing from a state which is so explicitly pro-US. Nevertheless, the guy wasn't bad, he spoke about how Israel has ignored every peace initiative coming from the Arab countries. Then they started talking about Hamas. Lenny asked: 'Hammas and Al Queda - they are the same right?"

What a moron!
How does this guy get away with being so stupid, and still being known as "smart".

ellen

6/19/08, 8:52 AM
Porter Melmoth said...

Sorry Ellen, Lenny's not in my orbit. For those of us struggling to keep our Nationalistic Propaganda Radiation level as low as possible, there's a lot of rubbish that we're missing - deliberately. Otherwise it just gets to dehumanizing.

At any rate, personally speaking, I'm always 'happy' to hear about Greater NPR's lurid nooks and crannies. Sounds like Lenny fits right in to the Neocon Public Radio agenda.

6/19/08, 10:30 AM
Anonymous said...

Indeed - I be here, albeit in the cheering section, far far away from the contaminated area.

As my lil' slogan goes...."

"NPR Check - I'd rather read it from you than hear it from 'them'"

6/19/08, 6:31 PM
Anonymous said...

So yesterday National Propaganda Radio was talking about offshore oil drilling, and, as usual, were entirely repeating lies made up by their GOP owners.

They were claiming that there was no oil spilled in the wake of Katrina by offshore platforms. They claimed that the worst it got was that one rig broke loose and had to be towed back to it's position.

Obviously they are lying (not about the loose oil rig, but the total lack of spilled oil.

In reality the oil spills were so huge that they were visible from space! Here's the image:
http://skytruth.mediatools.org/node/19981

Here's the Texas Chronicle article talking about how bad the oil spills were and how there was no way for the oil companies to mitigate the damage:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3457319.html

Here's the official Fed report in a huge PDF:
http://www.mms.gov/tarprojects/581/44814183_MMS_Katrina_Rita_PL_Final%20Report%20Rev1.pdf

And here is good wrap-up of the blatant lies told by McCain and the rest of the Anti-American right, including NPR:
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/06/19/mccain-katrina-spills/

Bunch of f*#king liars at NPR.

6/20/08, 10:22 AM
Anonymous said...

Here's what I just sent to the Ombudsman:

Yesterday evening, at about 6:30 EDT, I was listening to NPR discussing offshore oil platforms.

The NPR host had a guest on that claimed that almost no oil spilled after Hurricane Katrina, they made it sound like the worst it got was one oil rig broke loose. The guest was very clear in his claim that NO major amount of oil was spilled.

Obviously that was wrong. The oil spills were so massive they were visible from space:
http://skytruth.mediatools.org/node/19981

Here's a Texas Chronicle article talking about how bad the oil spills were and how there was no way for the oil companies to mitigate the damage:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3457319.html

Here's the official Fed report in a huge PDF:
http://www.mms.gov/tarprojects/581/44814183_MMS_Katrina_Rita_PL_Final%20Report%20Rev1.pdf

And here is good wrap-up of the blatant lies told by McCain and the rest of the Anti-American right-wing:
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/06/19/mccain-katrina-spills/

Please do not send me a robo-email, please answer these questions:
Why does NPR not refute such obvious lies? Why does NPR give airtime to blatant liars?
Why is NPR knowingly lying to their listeners?

I have not believed a word any NPR host or guest has said for years, ever since the GOP ordered NPR to stop reporting truth and substitute Republican lies instead. I tell everyone that NPR is a bunch of bald-faced liars every chance I get.

NPR stands for National Propaganda Radio.

Please get NRP to stop telling lies, and get back to truthful reporting.

6/20/08, 10:38 AM
Porter Melmoth said...

Well done, Comrade R!

I'm inspired by your demand for no robo-response. Please post the reply, whether from 'Annie' the RoboTrashCan, or from some sycophant...

6/20/08, 11:46 AM
Anonymous said...

I just heard the umpteenth interview with Lawrence CIA Wright on National Propaganda Radio.

"alQuedaalQuedaalQuedaalQueda
alQuedaalQuedaalQuedaalQuedaalQueda
alQuedaalQuedaalQueda"

Lawrence Wright is a mouthpiece for the Council on Foreign Relations and probably turned CIA back in 1970 when he was teaching at American University in Cairo.

He's on staff at the New Yorker and pre-empted Peter Dale Scott's book about the "Road to 9/11" with his own book with that same title phrase but the opposite message.

Wright is one of NPR's stable of fascist experts for the naive who trust PBS-NPR-Time Magazine.

So know you're being lied to everytime he's on NPR.

6/21/08, 3:09 PM
Anonymous said...

Just to let everyone know, I have been in email contact with Holley Simmons but I have not been able to track down exactly which show I heard all this on. They were helpful, but I can't find a copy of what I heard.

So for now I've given up on this search. The next time I hear such egregious lies, I'll take notes!

6/24/08, 10:15 AM

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