NPR Check: Light's Out

Monday, June 25, 2012

Light's Out

Hello NPR Checkers and anyone stopping by for a look.

I think it's time for a final post to NPR Check. For the first several years of this blog I posted nearly every day, and then began slowly cutting back. For the last year I have not posted more than about once a month, and as you can see from the date of the last post - even that modest output has ground to a halt, and I think it's time to call it quits.

I don't want to repeat the reasons for cutting back on my output - you can read that in posts here and here. My main reason for no longer working on NPR Check is that I no longer spend any time listening to NPR news. As journalism it is worthless: nothing more than an echo chamber for the views of the powerful interests and forces that control this country - large US and multinational corporations, departments and agencies of US military and foreign policy, and the national Republican and Democratic parties, etc. As an organization, NPR never challenges or confronts the myth of US goodness in foreign policy, the belief in US exceptionalism, the supposed benefits of capitalism and market ideologies.

In closing I would encourage any and all people who still contribute to NPR stations to cancel your support for these stations (or some portion of your support) - and let them know that you are sending your financial support to media outlets that do not give your money to NPR (e.g. DemocracyNow! Free Speech Radio Network, Common Dreams, FAIR etc.). It saddens me to cut my support for our local NPR station, since they do some outstanding local programming, but they give the lion's share of their funding to NPR which consistently promotes US aggressive war, imperialism, militarism, torture, rightwing populism, climate science denial, and predatory capitalism. There are far better places and organizations to support.

Thank you everyone who has read and posted at this blog over the years. Please stay active in the political struggle for justice, peace, democracy, fairness and the health of the planet.

Sincerely,
Matthew Murrey

84 comments:

Nate Bowman said...: Sad news MyT
I understand how you feel.
Thank you for keeping the site going for the rest of us for as long as you have.
I will miss you.
And I will definitely miss your posts. Your clarity and thoroughness have been an inspiration.
And bye to everybody else here who has contributed to my education.
See you around.
Nate; 6/25/12, 4:00 PM
miranda said...: I'm disappointed, because I have so enjoyed this blog, your impeccable research and incisive commentary and the smart people who comment here. But of course I understand. I hope we can find a way for those interested in this subject to stay in touch.

Pamela (aka Miranda); 6/25/12, 7:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks, MyTWords. You've done a great thing, but to go on in this way just becomes redundant and one risks taking on the profile of Roskolnikov's dream character Mikolka, who flogs the dead horse...an obviously imperfect metaphor, since NPR, unlike Mikolka's hapless nag, is very much alive and not an innocent old cart horse...though, parallels may be drawn.

I don't listen to NPR much at all these days, and neither do most of the stalwart NPRcheckers, it seems, so, what's the point?

Happy trails, MyTWords. I'll be looking for your wit and wisdom, so let me know if it moves to another public venue.

Cheers,

Geoff; 6/26/12, 2:02 AM
Jay Schiavone said...: I have missed you entries, but I am grateful to your generous effort these years. No reasonable person could expect another to suffer through continuous NPR news programming.
When Schiller was canned-- an administrator who was entirely in the tank for the government-- based on the fabrications of a smear merchant, it was made all too plain that there is no hope for NPR.; 6/26/12, 7:29 AM
Zack! said...: I've always appreciated your work, and your dedication to parsing the various dog whistles and subtle errata of NPR coverage. As someone who works for a public radio station, and a member station of NPR, I would just like to remind your other readers that there are many communities that have no other local station besides their NPR station, and removing financial support would have dramatic consequences in some or most, especially the smaller stations.
Certainly, encouraging those stations to build more local programming and working their way towards another model is great.
Like I said, I've always enjoyed and appreciated your work. This blog was a valuable voice. But public radio (and I think including NPR, PMI, APM) is also valuable, and once it's gone, well...; 6/26/12, 2:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Allow me to be a cloud here. I think your decision is a sign of resignation of spirit. I do very much appreciate the work you have done but . . . now what?

NPR "wins" not by dint of effort but of the constant drumbeat of BS they spew - we may be the only "grassroots" organization that is poking a hole in the lies about and by NPR.

And because it has always been about me: http://www.nowpublic.com/health/foreigners-team-al-qaeda-vs-syria

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Jun-27/178381-syrias-nonconventional-arms-could-be-up-for-grabs-as-crisis-rages.ashx#axzz1z0aWyihD

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/may/11/al-qaida-syria-leon-panetta-video

and MI 6 yesterday claimed there was al-queda present in syria.

Maybe that's the good al-Queda; 6/27/12, 10:37 AM
Anonymous said...: Drive on, good sir.
Farewell NPRCheckers.
Don Q. Public; 6/27/12, 5:47 PM
Anonymous said...: A refreshened NPR Check will indeed be missed. I thought of it more as Sanity Check, because your insightful observations, and the good sense of the choir in open threads, reaffirmed my faith in the American audience. I don't listen much myself anymore; the USA Today of radio news only raises my ire, not my awareness. When I do tune in, if I take a crap or whatever, it's Planet Moron or Inskeep or one of the usual suspects who make me feel bad about NPR.

As for the power argument, here here. It's not a red, white, and blue logo for nothing. One day we'll find definitive proof of the ties that bind it: it's our own military that calls these shots.

Keep a last open Q-tip thread, willya?; 6/28/12, 1:32 AM
bee-pee-eff-bee said...: Expletive deleted. Good, quality carrots are hard to come by. Even more so now.

Soldier on.

Troy the Big Pink Fuzzy Bunny; 6/28/12, 8:54 AM
Anonymous said...: I will miss you Matt. But I understand completely. I have not listened to NPR for a whole year now. And I feel so much better.; 6/29/12, 7:04 AM
VeganLinda said...: I'll miss the blog posts, but I rarely listen to NPR these days myself and it is a relief. Totally understand.; 7/1/12, 7:32 AM
Anonymous said...: This page is needed to prove the point about NPR. I hope you or someone else is occasionally inspired to point out NPRs short falls.; 7/1/12, 11:54 PM
JayV said...: Rarely do I listen to NPR because I just don't trust its news reporting. Got me too agitated when I was driving. But I do love the local stuff from WAMC out of Albany; some of the comments called in there don't praise NPR at all. When I do get riled up enough about lousy reporting on a specific NPR story, invariably I find that my friends on here feel the same way. So I guess I'll just have to check with my NPRchecker friends (Nate, the boulderdude) to commiserate. Sad that this blog is being put to rest. Thanks MyT for waking me up. - Jay Vos; 7/2/12, 4:04 AM
Anonymous said...: You will be missed, Matthew. I wish there were a place where one could still read your political commentary, if you still engage in it. This blog has been more than about NPR, it's been clear-eyed analysis of the political reality, as seen in your last post here. Like you, I've given up on NPR News, though for pure escapism I listen to the Opera, Wait Wait, and Car Guys on local NPR. But even the local station (WAMC) has gone down the tubes in terms of its formerly left politics, settling for the mushy middle and Obamism.

Oh well, keep fighting the good fight, however you choose to!

Fred Baumgarten; 7/3/12, 3:15 PM
dguzman said...: I understand completely; I too have stopped listening. It's too frustrating to hear the interviewers allow their subjects, especially republicans, to lie without so much as a "Did I understand you correctly?" or something. It's not news anymore. I only listen to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and the occasional "Car Talk." The "news" is worthless.; 7/3/12, 10:08 PM
miranda said...: I will especially miss General Warlove.; 7/4/12, 7:49 AM
bpfb said...: ^ Aye. Maybe somethin' will roust him out of retirement, just a-rarin' to polish off those medals in classic "Damn the Torpedoes! - Ready! Fire! Aim!" fashion.; 7/5/12, 3:50 PM
bpfps said...: (yes, and in exactly that order - not a typo); 7/5/12, 3:52 PM
Anonymous said...: But public radio (and I think including NPR, PMI, APM) is also valuable, and once it's gone, well..."

NPR -- at least the "parent" corporation -- is not "public" radio by any stretch of the imagination.

NPR's member stations may be, but the fact that they air NPR's propaganda on a daily basis makes even that questionable.

But despite what NPR always claims, cutting funds to the NPR parent need not affect the local programming of member stations.

What needs to be done is NOT to cut all Federal funding to member stations but instead to forbid member stations from using any such funds to pay NPR member dues OR to buy NPR programming.

The effect would actually be liberating on the member stations because it would allow them to get much better news elsewhere (eg,from DN!) and undoubtedly for a cheaper priceto boot.

Of course,the MPR parent would shrivel up and die .

Good riddance is all I can say.

The people who currently work at NPR )Norris, Inskeep, Gonyea, Gross, Roberts, Davidison, Simon, etc, etc) are little more than war mongering, corporate propagandists, in my opinion.

Nothing would make me happier than to see folks like Scott Simon out of a job (and unable to find another).; 7/6/12, 8:09 AM
Boulder Dude said...: Hey Matt, you got a positive mention in the WAPO:

http://anoteinthec.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/on-media-the-counter-narrative-on-bias-at-npr/; 7/6/12, 10:25 AM
Nate Bowman said...: Well said Anonymous

Perhaps if member stations did not have to rely on the homogeneity of NPR news, they would air different perspectives or rely on Democracy Now or someone else or band to create something new and truly public.

Maybe it's inevitable that when something becomes as big as NPR grew to be, it attracts the interests of the powers that be and their desire to control anything of anything which might threaten the status quo.

Thanks again MyT. For the record you inspired me to start posting at the ombud after completely giving up for a while. I know it's a waste of time to expect any change out of NPR. Being part of the community who can think critically, as here, makes me feel less alone.; 7/6/12, 10:33 AM
Nate Bowman said...: Thanks for the link BD

MyT: You're famous now. You CAN'T shut it down.

: ); 7/7/12, 12:03 AM
Anonymous said...: MTW:

You can feel very good about what you have done.

Just a few short years ago, almost nobody on the "liberal" side questioned what NPR was saying.

Due to the efforts of folks like you, Glenn Greenwald, Dean baker and some others who have commented here, this is no longer true and many people like myself now see trough NPR's charade.

And to the NPR apologist above who referred to "dog whistles and subtle errata of NPR coverage" I would simply have to say that "You obviously have never read any of the stuff that MTW has written.

He was not pointing out "subtle errata" but gross and quite purposeful distortion of reality.; 7/8/12, 7:40 PM
miranda said...: Speaking of which: another fine NPR distortion exposed by Dean Baker: http://bit.ly/PGtXS9; 7/10/12, 7:14 AM
Anonymous said...: But Miranda,

Why shouldn't NPR let Joe Olivo play "Small Business Owner"?

After all, the folks at NPR play "Journalist" all the time -- and they wouldn't know a real journalist even if NPR's very existence depended on it (which, luckily for them, it doesn't).; 7/10/12, 1:35 PM
Porter Melmoth said...: By chance, I happened to visit this site today after some considerable time away. I was delighted to read of Matt's eloquent and accurate farewell address, as I myself couldn't agree more. Under the same pretexts, I have endeavored to do the same for several years now. NPR News is in my past, but awareness of it and other media forces that trade on their kind of 'reasonable' or 'comfortable' deception is more present and developed - with some thanks to this blog – than ever.

Any media source, whether it is Democracy Now!, Al Jazeera, Guardian, or many others, has to be consulted, weighed, juggled, and worked through. NPR News is, to me, a failure, and my wish was for it to just fade away because of its irrelevance. And because it wasn't likely to do that, I had to take the initiative and turn down the dial, as it were, myself.

Critiquing NPR News is entirely valid and necessary, but it can sap your vitality, your energy, and even your soul. The level of frustration encountered can be so dispiriting as to put one in a depressive and even hopeless mindset, and that’s wrong for two reasons: energies are better spent elsewhere and that's what 'they' want: to defeat critical thinkers by wearing them down.

As a regular contributor (or annoyance) to this blog for a long time, I salute Matt in the fullest sense of the word for his and others' outstanding - and necessary - examination of NPR News. It has been a tremendous success, and to those of us who care, it resonates on a daily basis.

The most confounding thing about NPR News is that it is categorically NOT what it purports to be. That being the case, the whole question of the public trust becomes vulnerable to corruption on a sustained and unprecedented basis.

As a pessimistic optimist (whatever that is), I do find that NPR News is a side effect of an Empire in its Late Phase, when individual critical thinking goes the way of the dodo and the majority think that there are no alternatives to, say, a Reaganesque conventionality.

As an international traveler, I think that one the greatest handicaps for Americans is that they not only have to figure everything out, they think they HAVE figured everything out. Thus, there was always something intolerable (and even unsavory) about NPR News presenting THEIR view of the world to listeners - with the gentle and reasonable proposal that they do have things figured out, and they're just trying to indoctrinate the public in the most painless and (faux) intelligent way possible.

Things always get very weird when empires are late - very late - in their game.

It could also be incredibly fun and fulfilling to come together with (mostly) like minds in critiquing what I myself thought might be an impossibly esoteric but super-important field of interest. That being, the effects of manipulated media on 'thinking' audiences, e.g. those who do not settle for Fox News, or traditional mainstream media sources or even the vastly overrated 'New York Times'. I myself was fond of burlesquing the god-awful (to me) people on the air at NPR – who, it seems, were actually commanded to inflict their insipid personalities on listeners genuinely concerned about issues, who are seeking somewhere to find answers, if not a little intelligent discussion.

Indeed, agonizing over NPR via NPRCheck could be a genuine joy.
As Telly Savalas said to Burt Lancaster in 'Birdman of Alcatraz', "them's was good times".

In fact, taking part in NPRCheck was instrumental in helping me endure the Bush Dark Age at all. Surely the power and progressive critical thinking herein can inspire one to not only endure any old Dark Age to come, but to understand it and thus, to help transcend and transform it.

With best sendoffs,

PM

(Porter Melmoth); 7/10/12, 6:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Porter

You couldn't have said it better yourself!

I agree with you holeheartedly.

NPR always struck me as the Wizard of OZ.

Pay no attention to that wo/man inside the radio.

Merry NPRCheck to all and to all a good fight!; 7/11/12, 5:17 PM
bpfb said...: Port, Dude! Sight for these sore lupine eyes. Nice to see ya at "the wake." :-(

see around?; 7/12/12, 9:03 AM
Anonymous said...: One final comment regarding NPR member stations.

I am quite sure that if push came to shove and Congress did forbid member stations from using any federal grants to pay NPR member dues or buy NPR programming that the NPR management would try to play their "trump card": threaten to PULL the equipment used by the local stations, claiming that NPR (CPB) actually "owns" it.

Congress should make sure that they protect the local stations against such an extortionist move by the NPR/CPB management.

In fact, Congress should simply write the existing equipment into the grants to local stations which would cut the NPR management off at the pass.

That way, NPR/CPB would "own" nothing and would have zero leverage over the local stations.

The best way to restore the "public" to public radio is to remove all the leeches who have been sucking on the NPR body for years.; 7/12/12, 9:13 AM
Nate Bowman said...: Porter

Couldn't have expressed it any better.

Thank you.

A toast to you all. I sometimes fantasize about having a drink with you. Even the smartest people among those that I know have fallen prey to the "manipulated media" and so discussions with almost everybody have almost always proven frustrating.

Cheers!; 7/13/12, 5:55 AM
Porter Melmoth said...: I'll drink to that!

By the bye, the bar is always open at my blog, which wobbles on, despite the Googly gulag it inhabits.

http://yakkingmelmoth.blogspot.com/

Yakkings welcomed, as are wabbits and Fudds of all kinds.; 7/13/12, 11:50 AM
Anonymous said...: Maybe the "Wizard of Oddz" would be a better description for the freaks at NPR.; 7/14/12, 8:11 PM
Anonymous said...: On the Joe Olivo story, the NPR Ombuttsman had this to say:

" What we have here is not a matter of ethics or accuracy, but of sluggish journalism. I don't want to say lazy, because the reporters and producers did hustle; they just didn't hustle enough."

So, they didn't "whore" themselves enough?

Just when you thought no one could possibly suck up to NPR management more than NPR's previous Ombutt(head)swoman (Alicia Shepard), the current Ombuttheadsman (Edward Schumacher-Matos) does.

I actually hope and pray that the Republicans don't regain control of the White House and Congress in the upcoming election, but if they DO, I hope to God that they pull the plug on this sorry excuse for a news organization (NPR).

It no more represents the "public" interest than does Fox news.; 7/14/12, 9:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Take Earth day, MLK Day and the de-volution of npr and you could argue a strong case for Marxist sociological analysis. Can't have a Socialist, peace-nik as a national hero (not when there's Obama). Can't have American Capitalists take the blame and the responsibility for wreckinhg the earth. An independant news organization? Why would you want that when you got Fox/NPR

Those three things would make an interesting book but . . . don't expect to be interviwed by Innskeep, Norris, Conan, and last and least David Greeen( puzzler numbers are falling again - time for new host).; 7/16/12, 9:27 AM
clark said...: soooo sad to see this blog close! i have pointed many people here since finding it. literally almost 90% of my friends still listen to ME, TOTN and ATC on a daily basis. they do NOT listen critically and are happy to accept most of what is said at face value -- i think because NPR is still good at sounding professional, unbiased, impartial and thorough. hope somebody else picks up where you are leaving off. it's a soul-sucking proposition to be certain, but very badly needed.; 7/17/12, 1:39 PM
D.O. said...: Well this sucks. Can't you direct readers to other NPR Watch sites?
This has always been an important check on NPR crimes against the media. Now what?; 7/18/12, 6:48 AM
Anonymous said...: I had been trying to set something like this up when i stumbled unto NPR Check.

ed_kriner@hotmail.com; 7/18/12, 10:17 AM
Anonymous said...: they do NOT listen critically and are happy to accept most of what is said at face value -- i think because NPR is still good at sounding professional, unbiased, impartial and thorough."

Actually, they listen non-critically because they WANT to believe what NPR is telling them.

Liberals listen to NPR for the same reason conservatives listen to FOX: it reinforces their world view (especially American exceptionalism) and makes them feel good about themselves.

On this key point, FOX and NPR aren't really very different.

People do not like to hear that drones are killing civilians, that nuclear reactors are melting down, that people are being tortured in their name, etc.

The self-styled "liberals" and "progressives" who make up a large part of NPR's listenership are more blameworthy than the folks who listen to FOX, in my opinion.

The latter claim to be opposed to torture and all the rest but in reality are little more than hypocritical phonies.; 7/18/12, 11:53 AM
Anonymous said...: should have been

"the former" [liberals]; 7/18/12, 11:55 AM
Patrick Lynch said...: Interesting that you are closing up shop. Like so many here, I had stopped posting because I had stopped listening to NPR altogether as a conscious decision. I don't even bother with their non news programmes anymore. On rare occasions I happen to be somewhere where I will hear a bit of NPR news and it makes me both ill to my soul as well as my heaving stomach.

Best of luck to you in all your future endeavours.; 7/30/12, 3:24 PM
Anonymous said...: I guess shooting fish in a barrel is pretty boring after awhile. There was a post back some time where the poster lamented for the good old days when we were the ONLY ones pointing out npr flaws.

This has never been an obsession nor is it a hobby. But . . . I read an AP report last night that stated in print that Obama was going to accept the nomination in a "77,000 seat sports stadium". What is the real name of that place. Bank of America has the naming rights. But I guess it looks bad when a "populist" accepts the nomination in the home of banksters and fraudsters.

That's the real value of NPR Check.

edk; 7/31/12, 10:17 AM
Maine Owl said...: I saw this last post a few weeks back. Hoped it was just an illusion like NPR itself. But alas...

I completely understand, having quenched my own blog. Good luck, MyTWords.

Now it's up to one of us, readers here, to address the continuing need for checking NPR.; 7/31/12, 1:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Adumb Deconstructed.
http://tinyurl.com/9b4l7bz

Don Q. Public; 8/8/12, 9:55 PM
geoff said...: DQP: LOL, I was just about to say that!; 8/10/12, 1:09 AM
Anonymous said...: i may have gone too far by accusing npr of aiding al-queda in Syria (though they obviously are since they can't indentify anybody) and al-Qudea is swarming in Syria. Can not post. Guess i have been flagged but so what? The posts stay up until they are deleted which means someone gets the message.

"Shootout" at mine in south Africa. That implies both sides shooting but no one except police spokesperson claims the miners were armed with guns. Since this was "reported" on MarketPlace i mark it as just another fine defense of 1% cause killing black miners is so . . . but if they are seen as armed why maybe they got what they deserved.

edk; 8/17/12, 10:05 AM
geoff said...: edk, I had a similar reaction to the "shootout" frame. Plus, if it's illegal to withhold your labor...what's that called? Slavery?; 8/17/12, 5:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Geoff: Well, what do you know. There's now video purporting to show miners shooting at police. So npr is able to not only "report" the news but to predict with 100% accuracy what is to be the trope.

edk; 8/20/12, 8:59 AM
Nate Bowman said...: Glenn Greenwald is over at the Guardian now.

I was reading comments on his latest piece there
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/22/julian-assange-media-contempt

And found this:
"Assange is detested by "journalists" because he shows them up for what they really are. I believe the term is "presstitutes"."
Pindi
23 August 2012 8:17AM

Precious!; 8/23/12, 7:10 AM
Anonymous said...: Thanks Nate

Now we know what NPR really stands for: "Nationalistic Presstitute Radio"

With a little bad luck (or is it good?) Romney will get elected and a Republican Congress will put Nationalistic Presstitute Radio out of its misery for good.

Wouldn't that be something?

Nationalistic Presstitute Radio (I really like that, can you tell?) would be history only half a year after NPRCheck shut down.; 8/23/12, 1:34 PM
Anonymous said...: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/ex-npr-reporter-confides-she-simply-r; 8/25/12, 11:02 AM
Nate Bowman said...: Do you think my comment at the ombud's will get deleted?

The ombudsman's office apparently thinks that the only important things to post about over the course of almost a month are a slip of the tongue and use of the word ass.

This, at a time when Andrea Seabrook reveals that "journalists" covering Capitol Hill are basically stenographers and know that they are being lied to, thus prostituting their trade (I guess that makes them presstitutes).

Or, maybe they did.
The connection between the two issues that the ombudsman's office thinks are important are a good metaphor for Ms. Seabrook's revelations.; 8/26/12, 6:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Sh e still sees nothing wrong with being a "colleague" of those she was to cover. That's part of media's problem . . . they have essentially been captured by the ones they are supposed to be watching.

edk; 8/27/12, 12:20 PM
bpfb said...: Quite humorous - A. Seasick, often a scourge of this page, fesses up to what we were lampooning her for all along. Still can't seem to find it a redeeming virtue, though.; 8/28/12, 9:38 AM
geoff said...: I'm so glad we're not posting here anymore. I wouldn't know what to say. Just when it seems the USA can't get any weirder, weirder it gets. RNC convention, anyone? Mara's shameless boosterism? Holy f**kin shit. God damn the usa.; 8/29/12, 11:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Goeff:

I picked up the parting words you posted. Have you ever listened to that particular sermon? I imagine a small % of americans went past that sound bite. I did and this sermon was a heartfelt expression by a guy that served in two different branches of the military. He refers to (ironically enough) the Book of Jeremiah as a warning to America to turn from vengeance to justice in the wake of 9/11 attacks.

Of course American media only picked up the god damn America bite because to listen to the entire sermon would give the impression that God may very well damn the US just as he did Israel (or so the story goes). Because just like that Israel glorified killing and vengeance which Jeremiah said would lead to disaster. The leaders of that Israel tried to silence Jeremiah but were stopped because of the Babylonian invasion, conquest, and the beginning of 70 years of Babylonian occupation and rule.

But just to show you the moral courage of Obama,

it didn't take long to shove Reverend Wright under a bus in the
pursuit of a political office.; 8/31/12, 8:44 AM
geoff said...: I kind of differ with Wright in that I am not a god believer, but I would agree that governments fail - especially when they disregard their constitutions and develop a standing army in pursuit of world domination, as ours has. That bit about killing the natives was a drag too.; 8/31/12, 8:40 PM
geoff said...: oh, and, yeah, slavery is a bummer.; 8/31/12, 8:41 PM
Nate Bowman said...: I read this last week at Glenn Greenwald's comments at his new blog at the Guardian and I've been thinking about it and just realized how germane it is to what we talk about here:

"The Ratchet Effect

...The electoral ratchet permits movement only in the rightward direction. The Republican role is fairly clear; the Republicans apply the torque that rotates the thing rightward.

The Democrats' role is a little less obvious. The Democrats are the pawl. They don't resist the rightward movement -- they let it happen -- but whenever the rightward force slackens momentarily, for whatever reason, the Democrats click into place and keep the machine from rotating back to the left."

http://smithbowen.net/linfame/stopme/chapter02.html; 9/3/12, 8:15 AM
Nate Bowman said...: So, I've become interested in the ratchet effect and have done a little reading:

"The term was included by the MAI Negotiating Group in the 1990s as the essence of a device to enforce legislative progress toward "free trade" by preventing legislative rollback with the compulsory assent of governments as a condition of participation.

Rollback is the liberalisation process by which the reduction and eventual elimination of nonconforming measures to the MAI would take place. It is a dynamic element linked with standstill, which provides its starting point. Combined with standstill, it would produce a “ratchet effect”, where any new liberalisation measures would be “locked in” so they could not be rescinded or nullified over time."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratchet_effect; 9/3/12, 8:31 AM
nate Bowman said...: And here is Kenneth P. Green of the American Enterprise Institute trying to claim that the ratchet effect works in a leftward direction only!

http://american.com/archive/2010/september/bernarticle.2010-09-23.7081778337/; 9/3/12, 8:41 AM
Anonymous said...: Inskeep calls invasion of Iraq an "intervention".

But they are all the same. On Sunday night BBC had a show called "Hard Talk" and the guest was the daughter of a doctor in Bahrain who was just recently sentenced to life for anti-government activity. It was mentioned that the guy had "extensive surgery" on his face and his jaw was wired because he was beaten in prison.

The first question put to her? "Why are you in Denmark if you are committed to . . ." political reform in Bahrain.

I have never heard anyone else ever being asked that question. Usually these political activists are lionized and exalted. Oh wait, Bahrain. Home of US fleet, Sunni ruled and a close friend of Saudi Arabia.

edk; 9/11/12, 10:51 AM
Anonymous said...: poadles 17
npr "celebrates" the anniverary of Occupy Wall Street. Of course now that the "movement" has largely been neutered it's all good. Funny, I remember it took them a month to even recognize the existance of the thing. And no mention of Simeone being canned.

edk; 9/16/12, 12:41 PM
Anonymous said...: ever since our "friends" in Libya killed Stevens I note a lot less "stories" out of Syria. It is beginning to dawn on folks that some people were right from jump: al_queda is working with us in Syria!

edk; 9/18/12, 7:40 AM
Anonymous said...: ever since our "friends" in Libya killed Stevens I note a lot less "stories" out of Syria. It is beginning to dawn on folks that some people were right from jump: al_queda is working with us in Syria!

edk; 9/18/12, 7:40 AM
Anonymous said...: so this was all a "cult of personality" thing. Or maybe it was simply a vanity project

edk; 9/26/12, 8:45 AM
Anonymous said...: http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/10/national-pentagon-radio-npr-watch/; 10/12/12, 11:31 AM
Anonymous said...: Well, one thing is good.

If Romney gets elected (which it is looking like he will), NPR is history..and so is PBS.

Good riddance.

They had every opportunity to actually be a legitimate news organization that did not toe the line of the powers that be, but they chose otherwise.

In fact, because NPR's member stations largely fund NPR (from dues and programming purchases), NPR had far more opportunity than most to actually do good journalism, since they were free from the corporate constraints that most news organizations have.

But the folks at NPR were not satisfied with their situation of uncommon good fortune.

They were fixated on "expanding" and maximizing "profits" (I know they are a non-profit, but that just means they can't show a profit on their ledger)by bringing in corporate money to pay for their exorbitant salaries at the expense of unbiased journalism.

And now it's not just the Republicans who are calling for their shutdown, it's also people like me (who have never voted Republican in our lives).

The people at NPR actually make me sick.

They are some of the most smug, condescending, propagandist, warmongering a-holes that you will find ANYWHERE (even at Fox).

They are not good journalists (not even close), but even worse, they are also not good people.; 10/19/12, 8:12 AM
Nate Bowman said...: Something to think about.

It's pretty long, and thought-provoking.

http://www.powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2012/10/accomplices-to-murder.html; 10/23/12, 10:34 PM
b!p!f!b! said...: Bwah. Ha. Ha.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/npr-abigael-girl-cry-tears-bronco-bama-romney-142904000.html; 11/1/12, 4:40 PM
Bee!Pee!Eff!Bee! said...: And ah gotz two woids for our good ol' buddy-ro Adumb Davidson:

Senator Warren.; 11/7/12, 9:38 AM
Anonymous said...: It's about time this worthless blog went dark. It's about as useful as tracking liberal bias on FoxNews.; 11/11/12, 11:10 PM
bpfb (britishpetroleumfubar) said...: ^Ohh, phooey.

Don'tcha feel vindicated, though? David DID Betray-us. ;-p; 11/19/12, 8:35 AM
Anonymous said...: http://nprcheck.blogspot.com/2007/01/saint-petraeus.html; 11/19/12, 12:57 PM
Nate Bowman said...: Thank you for the link anonymous

Beautifully prescient.
It''s basically what Michael Hastings said on Piers Morgan last week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3eKaXVe-7A; 11/19/12, 8:47 PM
geoff said...: Since Pacifica is in paroxysms of fund raising, I caught some Scott Simon this morning. There he was, worse than ever, excoriating unions for ruining Detroit.; 12/8/12, 11:58 PM
JayV said...: Hey y'all. Hope y'all are well. I've discovered a new website, S.H.A.M.E. (Shaming the Hacks who Abuse Media Ethics), and after looking around a bit, I saw they've got a profile of Adam Davidson, whose reporting has been the subject of previous posts on here. Take a look.A lot of it ain't gonna be news to us, but I like that there are other websites who also see through him.

http://shameproject.com/profile/adam-davidson/; 12/11/12, 9:33 AM
Nate Bowman said...: Happy Holidays everybody (especially MyT)

Thank you for everything.; 12/24/12, 10:57 AM
geoff said...: The Temple of Doom dusts off some underwear bombing for those malicious Malians!; 1/15/13, 7:05 PM
Nate Bowman said...: Happy Valentine's Day everyone.; 2/14/13, 8:13 PM
miranda said...: Hey, friends, I really miss y'all. Just dropped by to say hi.; 2/15/13, 10:59 AM
John Williams said...: Sorry to see this blog stop. Personally, I think it really missed the mark as far as what ails NPR, but I still don't like to see voices go silent.

@NPR_NOT_Neutral; 5/27/13, 6:17 PM
big. pink. fuzzy. bunny. said...: ^ Then please, would you mind edifying us on now you think it should've HIT its intended target?; 6/6/13, 10:48 AM
Anonymous said...: FLUFFBUN!; 6/7/13, 9:55 PM
Grace said...: Thanks again for this post; 12/30/18, 11:18 PM