Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Q Tips

The previous post will be my last for 5 or 6 days (just taking a little summer break). Keep the NPR related comments coming.

12 comments:

Porter Melmoth said...

As cheerfully discussed in the last Q Tips entry, Yawn Williams' wonderment over the all-star cast of First Agent Poppy Bush and an alarmingly bloated Doc Henry 'Chile Fixin' Kissinger, as they all strolled down memory hutong in Nixonian Peking was indeed bleedingly, droolingly awful.

But that's Yawn for you: on his knees before Deadeye Dick Cheney, pretending to be 'against' Bloody Bill Kristols on Fox, and coming into his own as the premier simperer against anything non-neocon. Hell, even Clarence Thomas isn't as screwed up, and that's saying something.

I hear tell that when the awesome Dr. K finally decamps to detente limbo, his corpse will be embalmed and placed beside the aging plastic replica of Chairman Mao that lies in perpetual glory in Tiananmen Square.

Porter Melmoth said...

PS: And when he's lying in that formaldehyde-y state, Henry JUST BETTER be wearing his original glasses, the ones that WERE THERE when he made all that illustrious (corporate) history!

RepubLiecan said...

NPR did an excellent job of promoting Jerome Corsi's latest attempt at swiftboating, Obama Nation. They even adopted the kinder, gentler term swiftbooking by the end of the piece. No wonder these folks don't get my money anymore.

Anonymous said...

Human Rights Watch, while it may expose some genuine cases of abuses, is tightly intertwined with the geopolitical goals of Western/US corporate capitalism.

So, the lastest meme by this 'objective' human rights watchdog is to impune and diminish Russian and Ossetian accusations against the slaughter directed against South Ossetian civilians during a midnight suprise raid on the city.

NPR's intrepid reporter, embedded with a group of Russian soldiers, for the last two days has contributed reports that Russian/Ossetian charges of mass slaughter are over blown. He, and Human Rights Watch, offer only anecdotal evidence--stuff that is clearly leading, non-scientific, and not very compelling (to say the least).

In short, these reports by NPR are sickening US state propaganda.

You might want to check these reports. At least, I thought these were leading, and function as propaganda (directed at the liberal, managerial classes, folks that almost always back US supported state violence and the State Department's vile geopolitical objectives).

Kevan Smith said...

I think that anytime one tries to kill another human being it's morally wrong. I can't say I support either Russia or Georgia, or anyone who bears arms to kill another.

Porter Melmoth said...

Stupid NPR Footnotes Dept.

Just a not-so-quick word concerning that 'Captain' Fatty blowhard. He's still mucking about in SE Asian waters. I noticed that he confidently labeled Indonesia ISLAMIST (his emphasis, not mine.) These sort of brain-dead labels are pure Frank Luntz-speak in their implications. What about the Hindus of Bali and the hundreds of animist tribes on Borneo alone? In West Irian (west half of New Guinea), there are people so remotely located, they wouldn't even know what a mosque is.

Then Fatty goes into show-off mode, telling how he heroically evaded some (Islamic, you think?) pirates. Yawn. If I want swashbuckling, I'll take Tyrone Power, thank you very much.

(Yeah, yeah, I know, just turn it off...)

Again, a minor detail, but it's all too typical of NPR's sleazy infiltration into 'thinking' peoples' minds. That's why Obama's a Muslim, you know.

PS: I notice the NPR power lords have reassigned one of their most prestigious toughies, Ann of GreenZone Garrels to MOSCOW, perhaps to teach Grig Pfieffer not to sound so snotty in his reports, and to gear up for the impending New, Colder War.

Anonymous said...

Scott Horsley just did a piece about Obama, McCain, and veterans and FAILED to include any info about McCain's voting record. This drives me insane.

He got 20% from the Disabled Vets and a D from Iraq and Afghan Vets of America.

But no mention. Just bullshit rhetoric.

Have reporters forgotten that McCain's been in the Senate since 1987??

Anonymous said...

And active members of the military are giving more $$ to Obama by a ratio of 6 to 1. Hell, they're giving more to Ron Paul and he's more anti-war than the Democrats!

Here's more info from Veterans for Common Sense:
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/9559

And the info about campaign spending:
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/08/troops-deployed-abroad-give-61.html

Anonymous said...

Slave revolt,
I'd be interested to know what is the evidence for your comment about HRW being intertwined with US corporate/global capitalism.

I'm aware of their work in the area of Palestine/Israel, and I think they take courageous stands.

But I'd like to hear more.

Anonymous said...

That HRW isn't calling for war crimes trials for the US political class--this kind of says something.

But, hey, maybe it's just me.

I am a weird-bird--I thought Hiroshima and Nagasaki amounted to crimes.

quasi-joking aside--follow the money.

Do AI and HRW focus on human rights in an even-handed, dispassionate manner?

If they really did their jobs they would be maligned as 'terrorists' in capitalists countries that cooperate with US imperialism.

I just don't see these sanctioned rights organizations as being anything but adjuncts to US-lead capitalist hegemony.

Use google and read some of the myriad criticisms, the contradictions are quite telling.

Devoting several hours to toward developing an essay using the copious information that already exists seems rather a waste of time.

clue--Haiti, Aristide, Lavalas, CIA

there, your off to the races.

Mytwords said...

I'd say that HRW has occasional lapses, but produces a lot of material that is not at all supportive of US global hegemony and is informative about human rights abuses. For myself, I'm much more supportive of AI (I'm a contributor). They have been very critical of the US and its allies when no one else with such a public role is willing to do so.

Anonymous said...

Don't get me wrong, I would rather have AI and HRW than not.

But Iraq and Haiti disabused me of some of my naivete.

Let's leave it at that.

But I would still invite anyone that reads this blog to research--and I think in the end one must ALWAYS follow the money.

Economics constrains discourse--because folks need to eat.

No, I don't expect purity--but being consistent and acknowledging mistakes and lapses is a good thing.

Another of my pet peeves is using the term 'objective' when describing journalism.

One's biases act as a filter. Biases and deep ideology is the ground upon which all narrative structures are built.