Less Views For Fox News?

Shortly after the presidential election, I noted that "In recent months, acquaintances my age, many of whom rarely spoke about politics, were saying that they hadn't contributed to a candidate before, but … , or they never volunteered for a campaign before, but … . One qualifier was a version of the same perception; the country is headed in the wrong direction, or worse – because of Bush, America is headed into decline."

If that outlook motivated people who had no history of political involvement, what would you expect of someone who has been aware and active for years? Take, for example, the tale of someone who goes by the pseudonym blue collar doc.


I Know It When I See It

Last week, blue collar doc objected to seeing Fox News playing on the television in his dentist's waiting room. In polite society, such an offense might generate a snicker, or a shrug of resignation. In this case, politeness met commitment. The result unfolds in an open letter to the dentist:

I have been utilizing your services for the past four years, and have been completely satisfied. Unfortunately, when I came in for a cleaning yesterday, I was quite distressed to be subjected to political propaganda. The Fox Propaganda Network was on the TV in your waiting room. In my opinion, there is no place for this type of programming in a place of business; frankly, pornography would not have any more objectionable.

[ … ]

This network validates the most destructive xenophobic instincts in our society, and for me to overlook transgressions of this type would be a violation of my most basic principles. In addition, businesses who subject their patrons to this trash must be informed that not all approve. While I hold no personal animosity toward you or your staff, I have no choice but to seek dental services elsewhere.

That's the end of the letter, but is it the end of the story? Many trusted news outlets shirked their responsibility by being compliant with the Bush administration. Fox News slithered past compliance and embraced advocacy. Their pretense of “Fair and Balanced" was dismantled by Al Franken (and his 14 Harvard Kennedy School of Government graduate-assistants) in the book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Franken's graphic representation of a Fox News former evening program is a concise distillation of the truth about the network. The show pitted a demagogic neoconservative ideologue against a tepid liberal. Its name was typeset as Hannity & colmes.


Who Do You Trust?

Fact-checking on the web and in newspapers was prominent in the 2008 presidential election, but a recent Pew poll found that 70% of people rely on television for national and international news. A Zogby poll taken since the election identified Fox News as the most trusted television news source, topping CNN and MSNBC combined. However, the most significant finding is that the web, with access to news sources all over the world, beats every other medium for trustworthiness.

If you value trust and good judgment as much as I (and our protagonist) do, a dentist's preference for Fox News is a valid reason to move on, but as veteran Democratic Party campaign strategist Joe Trippi said in October of 2008, Barack Obama marks the end of the television presidency.

Images of the Inauguration

The inauguration of President Barack Obama was prominent on the front page of newspapers from Anchorage, Alaska to the South China Sea. Ben Wikler's montage celebrates the event.

If you want to see more than the television networks' pool video of the historic day, I recommend the Boston Globe's Big Picture page, and the amazing 1,474 megapixel gigapan image captured by David Bergman. For the best viewing experience, click on his full screen link.

Wikler's page and the Big Picture will take a while to load if you don't have a broadband connection.

Update, 1-24-09 at 2:05 AM: AXcess News reports that London-based IHS Jane's has analyzed satellite imagery of the inauguration and estimates that between 1.031 million and 1.411 million people were present.

They Were Careless People

My attempts to characterize the expansive damage left by the Bush administration have yielded either painfully long lists or profane rants. In either case, the results were too tedious to post. The inauguration is just hours away, and I can't sleep until I declare something to close this era of arrogant failures. I found an appropriate metaphor at the Booman Tribune, quoting from F. Scott Fitzgerald:

I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . .

I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child. Then he went into the jewelry store to buy a pearl necklace—or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons—rid of my provincial squeamishness forever.

– Nick Carraway, referring to Tom and Daisy Buchanan at the end of The Great Gatsby

Of course, Tom and Daisy would be George and Dick, or Don, or Karl, or Alberto, or many others. Thank you, Booman.
Edited 1-20-09 at 9:45 am

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

It’s been a long
A long time coming, but I know oh-oo-oh
A change is gonna come
Oh yes it will.

A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

Credit: Brandan313 on Dailymotion, Thanks to Ta-Nehisi Coates

Waterboarding is Torture

Waterboarding is Torture. The Power of a Simple Declarative Sentence

Attorney General nominee Eric Holder was questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing on Thursday. Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy asked Holder if he agreed that waterboarding was torture and illegal. The Attorney General-designate replied:

If you look at the history of the use of that technique, used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the Inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes. We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam. I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture.

This past Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama stated his view on waterboarding in this answer to a question from George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week:

For example, Vice President Cheney, I think, continues to defend what he calls extraordinary measures or procedures when it comes to interrogations, and from my view waterboarding is torture. I have said that under my administration we will not torture.

Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mukasey:
May I Have Your Attention?

(Thanks to Think Progress)

An Open Note to Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Mukasey, and Everyone Who Supported or Enabled Them:

President-elect Obama and Attorney General-designate Holder are not promulgating a new legal precedent classifying waterboarding as torture. Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Mukasey, you were wrong; your circumstantial legal relativism contradicts the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Constitution. The rule of law is not to be interpreted at your personal or political convenience.

Mr. Gonzales, your tenure as Attorney General was a failure and a disgrace. Mr. Mukasey, your choice to look the other way is reprehensible.


Torture – Ending The Ugly Reality Will Require Accountability

For nearly 8 years, propaganda, guile, and self-serving amnesia obscured an ugly reality. Most of Congress suspended critical thought and ignored its oversight responsibilities until 2006. Even then, the Democratic leadership tempered accountability with political expediency. The damage done won't repair itself. It will take a lawful reckoning to restore the rule of law and move us forward. Recently, on the presidential transition website, Change.gov, the question submitted most often was, “Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"

A George W. Bush for President 2000 campaign brochure opens with these words:

I’m running for President because I want to help usher in the responsibility era, where people understand they are responsible for the choice they make and are held accountable for their actions.

It would be fitting and just that his administration ends with nothing less.

Edited 1-16-09 at 11:00 pm