Category Archives: Media

When the Numbers Just Don’t Work

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According to Frank Rich in a New York Times op-ed, the Massachusetts Massacre “was not a referendum on Barack Obama, who in every poll remains one of the most popular politicians in America.”

Huh?

I don’t want what Mr. Rich is smoking; that’s too much milk and honey for my blood.

With identical approval/disapproval ratings of a record low 47%, I’m thinking he isn’t as popular as Mr. Rich would have us believe. Nixon had a 56% approval and only 20% disapproval rating a year after his inauguration. Even Jimmy Carter was still 51% approval and only 28% disapproval after a year. Reagan had slipped to 49% and 39% by then but was back to 63% to 29% immediately before he left office. Bush 41 was 79% to 10%, far better than Clinton’s 53% to 38%. And, not surprisingly, Bush 43 had 84% approval and only 13% disapproval a year after his inauguration.

I guess Mr. Obama’s “most popularness” is “as compared to Adolph Hitler.” Or to Barney Rubble.

Oddly, David Pogue used his New York Times column this week to decry manufacturers who fudge their numbers.

To the Nines

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Tiger Woods has proven yet again that when a man thinks with his little head, he might run into things with his big one. At least that’s what every pundit on network news says.

Mr. Woods made big news last week after driving his Cadillac Escalade into a fire plug. A neighbor called 911 to report that the accident and that he was “laying [unresponsive] on the ground.” Citing privacy and no requirement to do so, Mr. Woods talked neither to state troopers nor the media for three days after the accident.

He broke his silence to apologize for his “transgressions.”

“Apologize”?

“Transgressions”???

His wife, Elin, may very well have tried to beat him to death with a nine-iron, for heaven’s sake.

The billion dollar spokesman for all things manly blew a unique opportunity to stand up for common sense. He should have used his bully pulpit to stand up for men’s health.

The 14 most popular men’s health searches on webmd.com, in the order given, are gout, masturbation, jock itch, sex, vasectomy, chest pain, premature ejaculation, low testosterone, enlarged prostate, testicle pain, penis discharge, psa, ulcers, and colon cancer.

Fully half of the questions have to do with sex. A couple more if you consider that sex is probably what drives most men to have their prostates checked.

The ulcers question could round it out to an even ten if those ulcers come from grief we men get about sex. Or nine-irons.

Mr. Woods could have done what I’ve waited for politicians and public figures to do for decades: he could have spoken the truth.

Imagine if Tiger Woods had called a news conference. The networks would have sent all their “entertainment” talking heads, all their sports reporters, and even some actual news reporters. The State Police would have shown up. Heck even the Army Times would have been there.

“Is this thing on? I want to thank you all for coming today. I have a short statement and a handout for everyone here. It is in color and uses small words so everyone in the press corps can get it right on the news tonight.

“See this chart?” Mr. Woods could have said. “It is the most important thing I can say to you and to all my fans.”

The Five Things Men Need Most for Good Health

  • Eat tomatoes
  • Wear your seat belt
  • Quit smoking
  • Stop eating so much
  • Avoid cancer

“Orgasms don’t hurt you, either,” Mr. Woods could have said.

“Now, the question you all want to ask is this: ‘Did I have sex with that woman?’ Well, ladies and gentlemen, yes, I did. So what? It’s none of your business. None. If you want a story, print something useful. Otherwise, go home and the real story will be ‘News Media Refused to Publish What Tiger Said about Men’s Health’.

“Thank you all for coming to sunny Florida on this cold and rainy day in your northeastern offices.”

Oh, yeah. And it occurs to me that if I crunched my Escalade against a fire hydrant in North Puffin instead of Windermere, Florida, nobody in the media would care or notice. Even if someone had tried to beat me to death with a nine-iron.

Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform

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Earlier this month, Steven Pearlstein wrote in the Washington Post, “As a columnist who regularly dishes out sharp criticism, I try not to question the motives of people with whom I don’t agree. Today, I’m going to step over that line…”

I was late to the party; comments on the Post site are already closed.

Mr. Pearlstein propagates three significant falsehoods in stepping over his critical line.

(1) It may be true to say the recent attacks by the ideological right … [are] a flat-out lie whose only purpose is to scare the public and stop political conversation, but Mr. Pearlstein ignores the fact that the recent attacks by the ideological left … [are] the same lies whose only purpose are to scare the public and stop political conversation.

(2) The vast majority of Americans will likely not be able to to buy health insurance from private companies when, as happened in Vermont, the ever tightening rules run private insurers out of town.

(3) The centerpiece of all the plans is not a new health insurance exchange. The centerpiece of all the plans is a new trillion dollar tax, a fact Mr. Pearlstein calls “Another lie.” The fact is, Mr. Pearlstein, that health care in America is a TWO trillion dollar annual expense. If the government raises that amount in taxes and dispenses it for health care, that makes it a TWO trillion dollar annual tax.

I agree that “Health reform is a test of whether this country can function once again as a civil society.” One that both sides have failed. It is a test, in fact a war, that so far only the media, the lawyers, and the politicians have won.

Sorry, Mr. Pearlstein, but fighting a war with fiction isn’t right no matter which side of the angels you think you are on.

Read all about ObamaCare here.

If I Had a Million Dollars

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Rufus steps to the mic with a guitar and a Karaoke machine. Is this thing on?If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
I’d buy me some stock
(I would buy me some stock)
If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
I’d buy me General Motors stock
(Maybe a nice Camaro or a Malibu)
If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
I’d not buy a K-car
(A nice reliant automobile)
If I had a million dollars, I’d make a speech.
(Apologies to Barenaked Ladies)

Before we get started. let me thank the GM shareholders who have joined me here on the steps of General Motors World Headquarters. I also need to thank the networks, business, and automotive reporters for covering this event.

[Image]

And now, here’s Dick Harper who did have a million dollars before he traded it for a million shares of General Motors stock…

Thank you Rufus.

If you believe your company has been stolen from you by a conspiracy of politicians, union leaders, and other hoodlums, you’re right.

If you believe 316 people in Washington see the recession as a beneficial event that allows them to institute their grand plan that will sweep into your lives and bankrupt your children and your grandchildren’s grandchildren, you’re right.

If you believe you can’t do anything about it, you’re wrong.

There is a shared cultural belief inside the Beltway that General Motors makes lousy cars and needs to be taken down. That’s just wrong, too.

During his 1955 Senate confirmation hearings to become Secretary of Defense, Charles Erwin Wilson, then Chairman of General Motors, said “for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa.”

We certainly know now that what is bad for the country is bad for General Motors and vice versa.

I have a four-part plan to fix GM. It’s good for General Motors. It’s good for the country. Here’s what we need to do:

  • The Department of Justice needs to prosecute the UAW under Taft-Hartley as well as under United States antitrust laws. Heck Judge Harold Greene broke up AT&T with less grounds. Frankly, I think the D.O.J. should bring R.I.C.O. indictments but I’m afraid the evidence would get buried in a landfill somewhere.
  • The U. S. Congress needs to prosecute the Administration for Grand Theft (Autos). If lying under oath is grounds for impeachment, isn’t stealing the 600 million shares held by almost every pension fund, mutual fund, and individual investor in this country grounds for conviction?
  • The Department of the Treasury needs to force the banks to start making loans or they need to take the bank bailout money back and make the loans themselves.
  • The Main Stream Media needs to stop scaring people out of GM dealerships.

Unfortunately, none of that will happen unless we take action.

The Administration says it has reached a deal with GM.

The UAW says it has reached a deal with GM and the government.

GM’s bondholders say they got screwed.

Here are the deals:

  • The Administration has “lent” GM $19.4 billion dollars. The Administration will now “forgive” $10 billion of that for half of all GM stock.
  • The UAW will “forego” $10 billion of the $20 billion in cash payments owed to the UAW health-care trust for 39% of all GM stock.
  • The Administration says the bondholders must “abandon” $27 billion for just 10% of all GM stock.
  • The Administration says we existing shareholders can pound sand for just 1% of all GM stock.

If any publicly traded company (like GM, for example) had fragged their shareholders and creditors this way under law that was in place up through a couple of weeks from now, prosecutors wouldn’t have time to indict the directors under R.I.C.O. because said shareholders would have already burned down this glass-towered Detroit headquarters right behind me.

If I really had a million shares of General Motors stock, do you suppose anyone would really listen?

We drove the money changers from the Temples 2,000 years ago.
We drove the Princes from the parishes 400 years ago.
We drove the Kings from the land 200 years ago.

Somehow, they’ve all come back to haunt us.

Errors in Fact, Part III

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Last week, my friend “Rufus” announced that he wants to create a new media source dedicated to “balanced” reporting. He believes that the principal reason the Democrats won in 2008 is not that the Democrats had a better story to tell. He believes the Democrats had a better media to tell their story.

I have observed that few Main Stream Media outlets misreport the news; they simply under report the news. The less we know, the more mistakes we make.

  • Did you know that the taxpayer-funded subsidy for ethanol amounted to $1.45 per gallon of ethanol sold in 2006? That’s front page news that never appeared on any front page. We paid that out of our already taxed paychecks in addition to the price at the pump. Mistake #1.
  • Did you know that the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout now amounts to $400 billion? That’s front page news that never appeared on any front page. We will pay that out of our already taxed paychecks in addition to the price “at the pump.” Mistake #2.
  • Did you know that the United States cancer survival rates are significantly better than those in countries with national health care? That’s front page news that never appeared on any front page. About 62.9% of U.S. men and 66.3% of U.S. women survive for at least five years. In Great Britain, on National Health Care, just 44.8% of men and only 52.7% of women live for five years after diagnosis. Other deadly diseases have similar numbers. Mistake #3.

Does the Main Stream Media really twist the news by not publishing it? Do they do it on purpose?

I had hoped someone could tell me who decides what stories to report.

That decision is more than half the battle.

There are eight million stories in the naked city and at least 100 of them happen before deadline, day in and day out. You have 24 total pages for editorial, in between the ads and the funnies and no more because you can’t afford to buy any more pulped trees. You have 21 minutes of total air time less the 2-1/2 or 3 minutes of promos for the upcoming stories, the 4 minutes of weather, and the 3 minutes of sports because God ain’t making any extra minutes in your half hour. You can do up to 12 40-second shorts and one “in depth” 3 minute piece.

Tell me again what 87 stories NOT TO report?

The reason most of the Main Stream Media appears unbalanced has less to do with what they report and more to do with what they don’t.

Many of today’s 87 stories start with the dog biting the postal carrier. That’s news to the Post Office but the two cent stamp hike has far more effect on us. Of the rest, the reason no main stream journal reports that GM sold more cars last month than Toyota is that that fact does not fit the news myth that “no one buys General Motors cars.”

For the record, I have two GM vehicles. I like them.

Also for the record, ethanol in gasoline, bank bailouts, and healthcare are the biggest stories of the last couple of years. I do not like how hard it was to find real information about them.

The news does get managed.

I was asked to take down photos of the construction work in progress on the former Switlik estate. I did. The request was made “to protect the new owner’s privacy.”

  • Privacy? Other sites have similar images (for other examples, check the Realtor’s “we sold this” site or Google maps). No worries there.
  • Space? I have, essentially, unlimited space to publish. No worries there.
  • Copyright? I shot a roll of film legitimately and without challenge. No worries there.

In the end those nice images did little to advance the story and, worse, brought a “paparazzi” feel to the reporting. I really had no need for them and no reason not to say yes to the request.

The news got managed.

I made an editorial decision for the best of reasons but even in this case, there is a little bit less news in the world.

Bottom line: Fewer stories of substance. Less information in the stories. Less news. The less we know, the more mistakes our “free press” assures that we make.

Dear Mr. President:

This is my application for the White House Fiction Corps, um, er … Press Corps. If you have any influence with the Main Stream Media, I would appreciate a little boost.

I’m really good at this stuff, you know.