21 February 2005
Spectator
Dante's Hell needs two new rings
This is news?
The Spectator watched the ABC Nightly News on 2/18. That was a mistake.
In rapid succession, I was treated to an "investigative report" about an allegation of sexual harassment by a high ranking UN official and the "controversy" started by decision of the makers of the "The Simpsons" cartoon to depict gay marriage. The nightly news was once the bulwark of a legitimate network; something that was not only paid attention to but cited as the real resume of a broadcasting organization. What happened? Now, we see a steady parade of corporate news functionaries trying to outdo each other to earn their spurs with the Bush Administration. Sexual harassment in the UN? Gay marriage on a cartoon? This is news? This is the best we can do?
What about the scandalous behavior of the Secretary of Defense and his blatant disrespect for Congress? That didn't warrant an "investigation?" What about the continuing preferential treatment accorded to Halliburton by Rumsfeld's DoD? What about the secret memos suggesting that the whole Halliburton scheme was cooked up by its former CEO and the current Vice President of the United States? None of this gets in-depth treatment.
As for moral turpitude, why not investigate the war time press credentials granted to a tax-evading male prostitute masquerading as a reporter? Or the response to the House Ethics Committee's three censures of Tom Delay? In case you've forgotten, the response, which enjoyed the enthusiastic support of our own Tom Reynolds, was to fire the chair of committee and make it harder to bring legitimate charges of ethical malfeasance in the future.
But the ABC Nightly News focused its unblinking investigative journalistic glare on the UN and a cartoon. Can there be any self-respecting journalist who is not disgusted by the trends that we see? Just so we are perfectly clear here, the Spectator hates the current administration. He makes no bones about that. The blatant hypocrisy that is the watermark of this gang of thieves is something to behold. But my real anger is reserved for the pompous pariahs of the news world - those specious spectators who will look you in the eye and tell you that they see no difference in the treatment of they afford George Bush and that accorded to Bill Clinton. Dante should have reserved a particularly hot ring of hell for journalists.
Sanctimonious about the sinners
NPR recently did a segment on the push to get the voting rights of ex-felons restored. They cited the case of a former heroin user in Florida who has been clean for 14 years, who counsels addicts in jails and prisons, and who even serves on Jeb Bush's anti-drug council but is not allowed to vote. In opposition to the notion that felons should have an easy path back to full citizenship was a "Christian" conservative who said that morality is the essence of a democracy and those who steal, rape and murder obviously have no moral fiber. How's that for cohones? Male prostitutes in the press room, an elective war killing tens of thousands of people, draconian cuts in service to the poor—and the "Christians" don't want ex-felons to vote? Wow ... Dante!!! we've got another ring of Hell we need appropriated!
Copyright 2004 by Buffalo Report, Inc.