Obama v. Fox News, a long American tradition
In an interview with Rolling Stone, President Obama was asked a question about the impact and role of Fox News. He responded as follows:
“Look, as president, I swore to uphold the Constitution, and part of that Constitution is a free press. We’ve got a tradition in this country of a press that oftentimes is opinionated. The golden age of an objective press was a pretty narrow span of time in our history. Before that, you had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition — it is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view. It’s a point of view that I disagree with. It’s a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world. But as an economic enterprise, it’s been wildly successful. And I suspect that if you ask Mr. Murdoch what his number-one concern is, it’s that Fox is very successful.”
Personally, I think that statement is A.) quite accurate; and B.) a natural, inevitable part of the give and take of politics. When media outlets run stories that are critical of a politician, the politician responds, sometimes with criticism of his or her own. Here in Georgia, politicians have campaigned against “those lying Atlanta newspapers” for generations, and they continue to do so to this very day. It comes with the territory.
And yeah, Obama’s the president, which means that his words carry a lot of weight. But Rupert Murdoch and Fox News are big boys too — somehow I think they can handle it. If you can’t withstand a little pushback from politicians, you better go find another line of work, because you’re too much of a wimp for this one.
However, some of my media colleagues disagree with me. For example, David Zurawik, a TV critic for the Baltimore Sun, claims to see Obama’s running feud with Fox as some sort of threat to “a press independent from the reaches and power of any of the branches of government” and further suggests that the president doesn’t respect the role of a free press.
I wonder what Zurawik and others would make of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote eloquently and often about the importance of a free press, calling it our single most important bulwark in defense of liberty. But in 1805, in his second Inaugural Address, Jefferson also complained bitterly that in order to destroy his administration, “the artillery of the press has been leveled against us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare.” Again, that was in his inaugural address, not in some interview with Rolling Stone. And it was just one of many examples of Jefferson complaining about press abuses, which “have been carried to a length never before known or borne by any civilized nation.”
In his Rolling Stone comments, Obama mentioned another prime example in William Randolph Hearst, who in the first half of the 20th century owned a powerful chain of newspapers and used them to conduct a bitter assault on Franklin Roosevelt. For example, in one 1936 editorial that he wrote himself and published on the front page of every newspaper he owned, Hearst charged that FDR was doing the handiwork of the Communists in Moscow and had “adopted the platform of the Karl Marx Socialists in almost every word and letter.”
The FDR White House responded to what it called “a certain notorious newspaper owner,” releasing a statement that in some ways sounds eerily modern.
“Such articles are conceived in malice and born of political spite,” the statement read. “The American people will not permit their attention to be diverted from real issues to fake issues which no patriotic, honorable decent citizen would purposely inject into American affairs.”
Roosevelt himself, in an appearance at the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, took playful note of the press campaign against him. Some character by the name of Franklin Roosevelt, a true villain, kept showing up in all his newspapers, FDR said. This guy Roosevelt, he said, “combined the worst features of Ivan the Terrible, Machiavelli, Judas Iscariot, Henry VIII … and Jesse James. He was engaged in a plot to wreck the American Constitution, to poison the Supreme Court, to demolish capitalism, to wreck old-age security…. in short, to blot from the face of the Earth the United States as we have known it.”
That too sounds familiar.
Obama, in other words, is doing somewhat gently what Jefferson, FDR and others had done aggressively, and in fact what politicians everywhere do. He has every right to point out that Fox has “a very clear, undeniable point of view,” because it’s the truth and everyone knows it. That point of view shows up in myriad ways, some large, some small. And the small ways are often the most telling.
In that same Rolling Stone interview, for example, Obama was asked about his musical tastes these days. He responded:
“My iPod now has about 2,000 songs, and it is a source of great pleasure to me. I am probably still more heavily weighted toward the music of my childhood than I am the new stuff. There’s still a lot of Stevie Wonder, a lot of Bob Dylan, a lot of Rolling Stones, a lot of R&B, a lot of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Those are the old standards.
A lot of classical music. I’m not a big opera buff in terms of going to opera, but there are days where Maria Callas is exactly what I need.
Thanks to Reggie [Love, the president's personal aide], my rap palate has greatly improved. Jay-Z used to be sort of what predominated, but now I’ve got a little Nas and a little Lil Wayne and some other stuff, but I would not claim to be an expert. Malia and Sasha are now getting old enough to where they start hipping me to things. Music is still a great source of joy and occasional solace in the midst of what can be some difficult days.”
Personally, the bit about Maria Callas gets me worried. But that’s not what caught the attention of those good folks at FoxNation.com. Here’s how they pitched it on their website:
Hearst would be so proud.
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839 comments Add your comment
Pogo
September 30th, 2010
5:53 pm
“Farrakhan” is not racist? Now there is a joke. He hates both whites and Jews. One is because of race and the other is because of his religious prejudice and his religious zealotry. Anyone with any intelligence at all that has ever read anything about he has written or said knows that he is a “hater” of the utmost degree. The Jews have always been easy to hate upon for those looking for a scapegoat, haven’t they? And wasn’t Farrakhan implicated with the assasination of a guy named “X” when that “X” just wasn’t radical enough for him anymore or was in the way of his assent to power within the American Muslim movement?
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
5:53 pm
For some reason, after the tree jumpng story, I keep having visions of Ernest T Bass.
(IW&SH)
Media bias?
September 30th, 2010
5:54 pm
Real American,
Should be real communist American. Your wealthy envy is easily detectable when you start whining about Hannity getting rich. Do you complain about Michael Moore getting rich making documentarys about how great the Cuban health care system is? And if you really believe the crap he says about how great the Cuban health system is then I have some beach front property in Nebraska I would like to sell you
Real American
September 30th, 2010
5:56 pm
There have been plenty liberal stations that have begged Hannity, Beck, rush to debate them, they refuse because 2 out of the three never went to college and the othere one never finished. If they went and Debate on liberal station, they know they dont have any facts to back up that crap thay say day after day they would be caught in lies, and you idiots would not buy their books and the riches would stop comming in.
saywhat?
September 30th, 2010
5:57 pm
“Roosevelt himself, in an appearance at the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, took playful note of the press campaign against him. Some character by the name of Franklin Roosevelt, a true villain, kept showing up in all his newspapers, FDR said. This guy Roosevelt, he said, “combined the worst features of Ivan the Terrible, Machiavelli, Judas Iscariot, Henry VIII … and Jesse James. He was engaged in a plot to wreck the American Constitution, to poison the Supreme Court, to demolish capitalism, to wreck old-age security…. in short, to blot from the face of the Earth the United States as we have known it.”
What is so funny about this quote, is that while FDR uses obvious hyperbole in jest, we regularly hear republicans/conservatives/libertarians/teapartiers (whatever they want to call themselves) etc using this type of language in reference to Obama with a straight face. They seem to hold such beliefs as incontrovertible statements of fact, impossible not to agree with.Then they actually wonder, honestly wonder, why people portray them as nuts.
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
5:57 pm
Hillbilly
I learned early to leave the little ones alone…my brother J, and my sister B weren’t to be messed with! Best to keep them on your side!
When B was attacked in the parking garage by a big guy, she got him off her and then beat the hell out of him, had her foot on his throat daring him to move a muscle when the police arrived. He was a mess and they asked her what happened, she said, the first three licks were to get him off me, the rest was to teach him a lesson and make me feel better…delicate lit’ thing, she…
md
September 30th, 2010
5:58 pm
HD,Jo,
Don’t know about the schools near you, but this zero tolerance has changed the game a bit. And we have “resource officers” assigned to all schools. I had the bully problem with one of mine, and once the resource officer explained to Mr Bully how the alternative school works, he straightened up pretty darn quick. No problems since. And now more and more kids are utilizing the resource officer – which is a good thing.
Sean Hannety
September 30th, 2010
5:59 pm
As per the first, I was taught to use the universal release hold – grab the b*lls and squeeze until the attacker releases.
That’s what I’d do if that Ann Coulter ever jumped me from behind.
md
September 30th, 2010
6:01 pm
“where one has the option to take another course””
Read it again…………option.
AmVet
September 30th, 2010
6:07 pm
Media, believe it. You have made your own bigoted bed here today. Now you get to publicly lay in it. (How’s that for a twist on an overused metaphor?)
Ode meat, you took my 5:33 quite personally.
“…there are trolls…who show up to do one thing only – personally insult and demean with provocation.”
Excellent recognition. It is likely the first and last thing you will not screw up today…
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
6:10 pm
md
When I was in school, we’d never heard of a Resource Officer and everybody carrried a pocket knife, even most of the teachers.
On a serious note, what does it say about us, as a society, that we need Resource Officers in schools, today?
md
September 30th, 2010
6:10 pm
“and once the resource officer explained to Mr Bully how the alternative school works”
Failed to mention – Mr Bully “and his parents” – amazing how many bullies get so little after mom and dad find out what they are up to.
Wonder how that works if the moms/dads all start thinking it is OK to fight???
Media bias?
September 30th, 2010
6:15 pm
Gerald West
September 30th, 2010
5:28 pm
Fox News is the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. All the leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, except Mitt Romney, are paid members of the Fox News staff.
Gerald,
You should be cool with that since OBAMA and the Dems have ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN all in their hind pocket. That’s 5-1 in favor of the Dems not to mention stuff like the view, bill maher, dan rather, joy behar, and a number of other hard left folks always ranting about Fox news.
With a 5-1 edge in media coverage its amazing that you guys are still wrankled over the one single conservative station out there. Simply amazing.
md
September 30th, 2010
6:15 pm
“On a serious note, what does it say about us, as a society, that we need Resource Officers in schools, today?”
I hear ya. Same goes for leaving the door unlocked at night, or heaven forbid, leaving the door open to let the breeze in throughout the night.
I got a neighbor that leaves all his flood lights on – all night – every night.
But it is what it is – at least they had the sense to find a viable solution – seems to work fairly well.
Media bias?
September 30th, 2010
6:16 pm
Amvet,
Are you still talking as if you have anything of relevance to say? Or anything logical or rational?
Robert Downey Jr.
September 30th, 2010
6:17 pm
“I have a really interesting political point of view. It’s not something I say too loud at dinner tables here but you can’t go from a 2k-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal” Robert Downey Jr
Thought of the day
September 30th, 2010
6:19 pm
“A government big enough to give you everything you want,is big enough to take away everything you have.”
Ode to Amvet part 2
September 30th, 2010
6:20 pm
I love open forums. You just have to realize that giving a voice to everyone also unsurprisingly gives a voice to fools; as well as people who appeal to ignorance by sounded like geniuses while communicating blatant nonsense.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
6:20 pm
Same goes for leaving the door unlocked at night
My parents said when they were growing up, nobody’s doors even had locks. I can remember when the doors to the churches were never locked. If somebody felt they needed to go to the church, or a weary traveler just needed a dry place to rest, all they had to do was walk in. Those days are long gone now. In my area, and I suspect most others, a church is as likely to be burglarized, as any other place.
2.6 trillion dollars later
September 30th, 2010
6:21 pm
“A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them free to regulate their pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
6:21 pm
md
The resource officer and bullying…it’s a real issue in many schools…not so much in ours. We have a bully here and there, but since it’s an elementary school, a “nip it in the bud” attitude guides us…it helps when you have a principal who knows each and every one of the kids by name, face, rep*tation and character.
JAY
Thanks for the Saxby link.
Conservative thought
September 30th, 2010
6:22 pm
“Any Government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always rely on the support of Paul”- George Bernard Shaw
Paul would be folks like Amvet, HBD and Doggone/GA of course
Conservative thought
September 30th, 2010
6:24 pm
The Problem with Socialism is that sooner or later you run out of Other People’s Money
One day after Obama is finished breaking the bank you liberals will understand this. By then it will of course be too late. But what do you guys care? So long as you got your govt check in the meantime.
Paul
September 30th, 2010
6:26 pm
Conservative thought
So Paul isn’t like Paul?
that explains it -
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
6:26 pm
“a church is as likely to be burglarized, as any other place.”
Undoubtedly true…but I have a slightly different take on it: if churches didn’t have things in that that were worth vandalizind and stealing they wouldn’t have to worry so much about leaving their doors unlocked.
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
6:27 pm
hillbilly
Not long ago I was talking to a Baptist minister from up in North Georgia whose church not only leaves the door unlocked, but opened. His comment is that G-d’s door is always open, why should ours not be? Questioned about the idea of thieves, his comment was, well if you’ve got material possessions in there you’re that worried about, then it’s not G-d’s house any longer, is it? Asked about vandals, he said that while it hasn’t happened yet (and he used the word yet), we will try to understand why and pray for the ones who did it and for ourselves that we might understand why this anger… wise fellow, he, IMHO
Real American
September 30th, 2010
6:29 pm
Conservative thought: Look up the word Socialism and close your eyes and think of George Bush, you idiot conservative dont even understand the word.
Glen Beck has brain washed you people with that boggy man word and has gained 35 million off you idiots.
saywhat?
September 30th, 2010
6:30 pm
“Paul would be folks like Amvet, HBD and Doggone/GA of course”
And here I thought Paul was folks like the Wall Street banks and hedge fund managers, the Koch brothers, the insurance companies, K-streeters, and generally a significant portion of those who infest multiple corporate boardrooms.
Real American
September 30th, 2010
6:32 pm
Had most of you conservative had this now found love for this country 8 years ago, we would not have lost those 1 million jobs in 2007 under Bush.
HDB
September 30th, 2010
6:32 pm
Conservative thought
September 30th, 2010
6:22 pm
“Any Government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always rely on the support of Paul”- George Bernard Shaw
Paul would be folks like Amvet, HBD and Doggone/GA of course
I’ve NEVER asked anything from the government except the ACCESS to everything that my contemporaries have — REGARDLESS OF RACE — so that I could be successful! Is that NOT a conservative paradigm??
I DO believe in having a safety net…..but the abuses of the system are what’s getting people crazy! Rather than to correct the flaws, they want to sacrifice the entire system!!
@@
September 30th, 2010
6:34 pm
md:
Playing doctor? Not me, but Richard did tear my blouse off. Perhaps he was hoping to give me a physical?
(ISH)
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
6:35 pm
Doggone
There’s truth in that but that’s a different topic, in my opinion. Don’t even get me started on some of these opulent church buildings.
josef
I’d agree he’s a wise fellow but still, to me, anybody who’d steal from a church, synagogue, mosque, etc., is the lowest of the low. I still do know of a couple of churches that leave the doors unlocked but, of course, I’m not going to make that knowledge public.
You often read the reason for crime, and stealing in particular, is economics but in my area, it’s about stealing money to buy drugs. There is also that portion of the population (talking people I actually know), who commit crimes just because they have to have that “thrill of the chase”. I don’t really think there is much you can do with that type. The ones I’ve known, either die, spend their entire life in prison, or finally as they get older, just get sick of the lifestyle and straighten up.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
6:36 pm
“Rather than to correct the flaws, they want to sacrifice the entire system!!”
and they’re living in a dream world if they think it’s ever going to be possible to design a system that CAN’T be abused. The best you can do is limit the abuse.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
6:37 pm
“Don’t even get me started on some of these opulent church buildings.”
Me either. That’s one of many, many reasons I could never be a Catholic.
HDB
September 30th, 2010
6:37 pm
J-Nix: The school police in my kid’s school wanted to arrest my kid and the bully….but the school and the kid called me to tell me what went down!! When my kid told me he didn’t start it, all I said was I had his back! When the school said he was suspended, I went straight there, told them that self-defense is a mitigating circumstance…and my kid’s not going anywhere!!
Parents have to stand WITH the kids to let them know they have the RIGHT and OBLIGATION to defend themselves…..and let the school know that we GAVE our kids that right!!
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
6:37 pm
HDB
That is the point and so many just simply don’t get it…it’s equal access…
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
6:38 pm
@@ 6:34
You’re getting into “TMI” territory there. (ISH)
Pogo
September 30th, 2010
6:38 pm
So the Obama Justice Department headed up by Holder has decided that voter protection laws only apply to African Americans? I guess that explains their ignoring the New Black Panther case. There will be more to come on that one in the near future and it isn’t going to be pretty. Corruption knows no color.
md
September 30th, 2010
6:38 pm
@@,
We played “doctor”, in all our naive glory……..sex didn’t even enter into the equation…….
md
September 30th, 2010
6:42 pm
“Parents have to stand WITH the kids to let them know they have the RIGHT and OBLIGATION to defend themselves…..and let the school know that we GAVE our kids that right!!”
And what happens when everybody claims self defense?? They know how to play the game too….
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
6:42 pm
HDB
I had a friend who was a teacher and taught one of the classes that was filled with trouble makers. This was 9th grade I think. Anyway, there were boys in the class who picked on one girl a lot. Finally the girl got tired off it and turned around and bloodied the guy’s nose. My friend, who was the teacher, saw the whole incident and reported exactly what happened, to her superiors. So what happened? The girl was arrested. It’s no wonder things are a mess.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
6:44 pm
“So the Obama Justice Department headed up by Holder has decided that voter protection laws only apply to African Americans?”
I see that you have not bothered to educate youself on the FACTS of that particular case. Pity.
getalife
September 30th, 2010
6:45 pm
“President Rafael Correa pelted with tear gas as police launch chaotic rebellion over benefit cuts .”
Cuts are not going well in some countries.
Smith Jones
September 30th, 2010
6:47 pm
Did someone say opulent. We got you covered. One congregation builds a 10,000 sq.ft. (these numbers are naturally approximate so don’t hold me to the exact values) brick house of worshippers and then a competing congregation, refusing to be outdone, goes and builds a 20,000 sq. footer with stone facia and some of the prettiest stained glass work mine eyes have ever seen glorified to behold. Breath taking. I dread to think of what sort of property tax appraisal that thing would generate but I can bet you that it would rival the local Wal-Mart. It’s no small wonder that none of them can afford to be paying taxes even with the tax write-offs for their charitable contribution to the community.
Paul
September 30th, 2010
6:48 pm
HDB 6:32
well said -
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
6:48 pm
HDB
When I got the call that Younger Boy, a rather peaceful type, had been in a schoolyard brawl, we went to the meeting. Turns out that the other partner in the fight had made some comments about his “qu*er uncles,” and had shoved him. Younger Boy whupped b*tt and said, “yeah, that’s true, but they taught me how to deal with your kind.” The “resource officer” and the principal let us know both boys would be suspended for fighting “on school grounds,” told them not to fight “on school grounds” again, and then the “resource officer” told me an Unmentionable to “take that boy to the dairy bar and buy him whatever he wants!” Younger Boy agreed that he should have not done what he did “on school grounds.” The bully’s parents appealed and lost. Not a bad memory from rural Georgia…
@@
September 30th, 2010
6:49 pm
My question?
What kind of person would wanna vandalize a church? Sometimes ours is left open, other times it’s not. Everybody and their brother has a key.
Not much in there to steal. A small sound system.
The sanctuary is over 100 years old. I would hate for anything to happen to the windows though. They’re beautiful cut glass, designed by my neighbor and moi. Each purchased in memoriam.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
6:49 pm
Smith Jones
For me personally, if the preacher has to use a microphone for me to hear him, then the church is too big. Others are entitled to their own opinion, though.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
6:50 pm
“I dread to think of what sort of property tax appraisal that thing would generate but I can bet you that it would rival the local Wal-Mart.”
My sister and I had a discussion on this very subject a while back. She asked me if I didn’t think Jesus would be flattered to think that people valued his memory enough to build beautiful buildings in his honor? My answer: how many times did Jesus tell his followers to go out and build buildings?
Smith Jones
September 30th, 2010
6:52 pm
You mean to tell me that them Catholics get into opulent stuff too. I suppose it will just be a matter of time before the first two houses of worshippers will be outdone by another one then.
HDB
September 30th, 2010
6:52 pm
md September 30th, 2010
6:42 pm
In my case…the teachers corroborated my kid’s version of the incident….so it was my DUTY to support my son!! Would do it again….and defend him to my LAST!! Fighting is the LAST resort…but if it happens…can’t be scared…got to go all the way!!
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
6:42 pm
If the PARENTS had been there to support the girl, bet it wouldn’t have gotten that far. When the police told me that they wouldn’t teach their child what I taught mine, I POLITELY said…: “You want you child to get his a$$ kicked!! Ain’t happening here!!” Got the respect from the POLICE when I put the LAW on my side!!
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
6:53 pm
md
When I was little, my Uncle Ralph told Granddaddy he was worried about me. He found me playing doctor with the neighbor girl and I had Mama’s stethescope and was making notes! “The boy ain’t right!”
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
6:53 pm
“For me personally, if the preacher has to use a microphone for me to hear him, then the church is too big”
Personally, I like how the Amish do it. The don’t build churches at all. They build their houses to have rooms that can be opened into a bigger space and they rotate from home to home to have worship services.
md
September 30th, 2010
6:56 pm
“My answer: how many times did Jesus tell his followers to go out and build buildings?”
Any way of knowing that he didn’t?? Just because there is no record, doesn’t mean he didn’t tell someone to build them as big as they could.
HDB
September 30th, 2010
6:56 pm
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
6:48 pm
When they tried to suspend my kid, I called my LAWYER!! Suspension was changed to three days detention!! Schools have to know that any child has the RIGHT to defend himself!! Parents HAVE to stand with the kids if they were doing the right thing!! Bully got suspended for two weeks!!
Paul
September 30th, 2010
6:57 pm
josef nix
I just read my wife your 6:53. She laughed and laughed. And laughed.
Thanks – she needed that.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
6:57 pm
HDB
I think the girl was arrested and then her parents were notified. I don’t actually know how everything ended up. My friend changed schools shortly after that. I agree with your point, though.
Smith Jones
September 30th, 2010
6:58 pm
I just think it is a real shame that different religions don’t worship on different days of the week. Then, they could pool their resources and build one really huge and fancy place with some sort of rotisserie thing to indicate which congregation is due up next and save everyone a whole lot of dollars that could subsequently be taxed in order to help out the economy.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
6:58 pm
“Any way of knowing that he didn’t??”
Any evidence that they DID?
AmVet
September 30th, 2010
6:59 pm
Conservative thought, have you considered a name change?
Maybe to Oxy-Moron?
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
7:00 pm
I just think it is a real shame that different religions don’t worship on different days of the week.
Some of them do.
md
September 30th, 2010
7:01 pm
HDB,
I’ll back mine to the nth degree, but I’ll still tell them to turn and walk away – kind of like the penalties in football – the guy that retaliates gets the flag. Let the Bully take himself out of the picture.
md
September 30th, 2010
7:03 pm
“Any evidence that they DID?”
Nope. None either way.
marko
September 30th, 2010
7:05 pm
Bush had an eight year honey moon with the fright wing. Obama can’t say good morning without inspiring angry tirades about exactly what he meant by it. Fox routinely makes multi million dollar contributions to the Rebublican party. To be honest , It’s their money they can stick it where the sun don’t shine for all I care. What bugs me about Fox, is their phoney fair balanced news claim. Under Eisenhower the top tax bracket for weathy Americans, was 91%. Under Nixon 70% Saint Reagan dropped it to 50%, and Bush decided that 35% was about right. The justification for these massive tax cuts was the promise that they would generate enough economic growth to pay for themselves. The plan worked like a charm. For China. The Chinese have the fastest growing economy in The world. They make the junk we buy at Walmart, and they loan us the money to keep our heroic elected leaders on the payroll in Washington. It’s nice to know that at least some folks aren’t worried about where their next pay check’s coming from. The awful Obama Hitler wants to Raise the tax rate to 39%, and Fox tells us that he’s a dangerous socialist. If Obama’s a socialist, what does that make Reagan, Nixon and Eisenhower?
Col. Nathan Jessep
September 30th, 2010
7:05 pm
Obama: You can’t handle the truth.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
7:08 pm
“None either way”
that’s not correct. If they built big, elaborate churches we would know about them. We’d either find the evidence or we’d find the written evidence. But all of the evidence we have from the earliest days of Christianity is that they did not build special buildings, but had a form more like that of the Amish.
getalife
September 30th, 2010
7:09 pm
“Rupert Murdoch Calls For Amnesty for ‘Law Abiding’ Illegal Aliens…” drudge
Get em tea party.
Aaarrrggghhh.
TaxPayer
September 30th, 2010
7:11 pm
Completely off-topic: I saw the strangest little plant today while I was out walking. It is called a strawberry bush.
Del
September 30th, 2010
7:15 pm
“Two of the three never went to college and the othere one never finished.”
In this day and age that’s probably a good thing and over qualifies them to debate the educated dummies who’re lost without Google and a lap top.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
7:21 pm
“who’re lost without Google and a lap top”
yep…and books were criticised too, because they were the “death” of memory training.
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
7:25 pm
Doggone
My own kids claim I don’t think Gutenberg was a good idea!
PAUL
Tell her I’m glad to be of service…
paleo-neo-Carlinist
September 30th, 2010
7:26 pm
as Judge Schmales asked; “don’t you people have homes?” md, josef, et al, I don’t know how you got onto schools and fights and walking away, but the real story is… well, probably connected to the media. that’s the thing, isn’t it? who gets to calibrate the ethical/moral barometer. most sane, well-adjusted, rational people “know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away, and know when to run…”, right? but the media and government have an incestuous relationship where each kinda does PR for the other; and they get to TELL US how to act, when it’s OK to invade and when we need to “walk way”, etc. this is where I scoff at the Randian “rational self-interest” crowd; sure, in an isolated, insular world (like a Fundamentalist Mormom compound) rational self interest has value, but on the other side of the wall, the media and the government dictate values and ethics. I say, let kids bring knives to school. you want omelettes, you gotta break some eggs. BUT, the government and the corporate SPECIAL interests don’t want us to have omelettes; in fact, they don’t even want us to have a menu. we will eat what they tell us, and when they tell us. of message, but back to md’s comments about the UN. I think the UN should be like the British Monarchy; kinda ceremonial best. as you point out, it really has no “power” anyway. maybe it can be like a resort for diplomats; kinda like Las Vegas. heads of state or whatever can hang there, drink too much, act a fool and it will all be in the name of “peace.”
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
7:26 pm
That strawberry plant “dries” well….keeps much of its color…
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
7:27 pm
“My own kids claim I don’t think Gutenberg was a good idea”
I have my moments when I’d be inclined to agree.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
7:39 pm
Taxpayer
Ever seen a sarvis tree?
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com/blind_pig_the_acorn/2010/04/the-sarvis-tree-is-blooming-in-appalachia.html
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
7:40 pm
Doggone
Girlchild wrote one of her papers in high school analyzing the effects of Gutenberg on civilization and projected that onto the effects of internet…she was an optimist…her teacher called “just to make sure” I had not helped her…I laughed. I assured her that had I helped, Little Bit’s conclusions would have been substantially different! A good teacher, she laughed to, “when it comes to a paper like hers, I have to double check to make sure…”
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
7:43 pm
“projected that onto the effects of internet”
What I find increasingly frustrating is the capability the internet gives us for self-education, and how few people seem willing to use it. Or who are willing to do the critical thinking needed to sift the wheat from the chaff that’s out there.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
7:46 pm
the effects of internet
I always heard “believe none of what you hear and half of what you see” but now that we have the Internet and Photoshop, I don’t believe anything I see, either.
TaxPayer
September 30th, 2010
7:46 pm
Hillbilly Deluxe,
I don’t recall ever seeing one of those trees before. Now I’ll have another one to keep an eye out for.
Dave R.
September 30th, 2010
7:48 pm
Sadly, my kids think I knew Gutenberg. . .
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
7:50 pm
Doggone
I found that equally frustrating until Little Bit reminded me that much the same held true for Gutenberg and, by extension, all the way back to the invention of writing itself…
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
7:52 pm
DAVE R
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
7:52 pm
Taxpayer
They are fairly rare, at least in my part of the Hills. Daddy said he used to pick the berries, when he was a boy, and Granny would make a pie out of them.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
7:53 pm
Pffffffffft. Y’all think you’re old. I had to wait a long time for them to invent dirt, so I could fill up a hole.
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
8:00 pm
Hillbilly
Did not know they were edible. What’s the taste?
So, then, you’re older than dirt?
TaxPayer
September 30th, 2010
8:06 pm
Pffffffffft. Y’all think you’re old. I had to wait a long time for them to invent dirt, so I could fill up a hole.
My daddy once told me how to make dirt from rocks. I told him that I’d just as soon let nature take her course.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
8:07 pm
josef
I’ve never actually eaten one. Daddy says he doesn’t know of anything that the taste compares to. He likes them but keep in mind, there is almost nothing he won’t eat.
I know where there is a tree but not sure if it’s old enough to bear yet. Maybe I can remember to check it next year.
Dave R.
September 30th, 2010
8:08 pm
My kids think the only way to determine my age is to carbon-date me . . .
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
8:12 pm
“I found that equally frustrating until Little Bit reminded me that much the same held true for Gutenberg and, by extension, all the way back to the invention of writing itself”
Well, up to a point. But for most of the “life” of the printed word the ability to read it was quite restricted. It’s only in maybe the last 100 years that you could start to call the ability to read “universal” – but even then, it’s only universal in some societies, not world-wide.
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
8:12 pm
Hillbilly
We had them back on home turf in North Mississippi. Back before Andy Young and Company dozed the Piney Grove settlement, there were some in the woods surrounding it…it was one of the things I presented in my plea to save that little spot for the future…oh, well, like so much else, it’s gone with the wind….
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
8:16 pm
Doggone
This was Little Bit’s contention, too…look at what it has brought us in the literate societies…much of value, but much unhappiness, too…a mixed blessing…incidentally, that paper was written under the guidelines to take a great figure of civilization and present the opposing view to his/her lionization…that teacher was a marvel, incidentally…
TaxPayer
September 30th, 2010
8:16 pm
I finally decided to pick a couple of maypops today and bring them home. I read somewhere that they are edible so I though I might give it a try just to see what it tastes like. Those plants have some of the wildest looking flowers though.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
8:19 pm
“but much unhappiness, too”
Sure, but when has that NOT been true? Overall, it’s been a huge improvement. Just think of the Dark Ages, when life was “nasty, brutish, and short”
“present the opposing view to his/her lionization…that teacher was a marvel, incidentally”
Sounds like it! I’ve always had a “nasty” habit of liking best the teachers that were supposed to be “too tough” I can remember being in Junior High and I, and my classmates, went to the front office half-way through one school year to COMPLAIN because our math teacher was giving us test scores we hadn’t earned.
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
8:23 pm
maypops…
Fascinating plant that with a great folk story attached (scroll down to etymology…)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passion_flower
Tasty fruit, with a flavor hard to describe…you probably won’t want to eat a lot of them, though. Let the fruit “wrinkle” before eating…
LV
September 30th, 2010
8:24 pm
The Beckster at his best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-KGukuety0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2FK2vchoEo
@@
September 30th, 2010
8:28 pm
I’ve been laying tile all day. Now my husband’s home with his laser light thingy, telling me how to lay the floor.
“Always work from the hard side to the easy side” says he.
“But I can only work from left to right” says I.
“Then turn around” says he.
I may whoop HIS ass!!!!
josef nix
September 30th, 2010
8:33 pm
Doggone
I know I have a habit of knee-jerking whenever somebody takes a poke at Mississippi and education, but whenever I think back to what teachers in those schools demanded of us, I am eternally grateful…I mean when you’re fifth grade teacher’s exam includes an essay question to compare and contrast the Articles of the Confederation with the Constitution.or the sixth grade teacher who has you reading “Merchant of Venice” and discussing whether or not Shylock is an example of anti-Semitism….only now in old age to I really appreciate what it was they were doing to hold back a new Dark Ages and paid less than field hands for their efforts…an amazing group of people whose likes we’re not likely to see in this generation…
TaxPayer
September 30th, 2010
8:38 pm
@@,
You know you can buy that stuff canned now if you are too tired to do it yourself.
Doggone/GA
September 30th, 2010
8:41 pm
“I finally decided to pick a couple of maypops today ”
That’s interesting…I’ve always hear those called passion flowers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passion_flower
What we called “maypops” in PA are “May Apples”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podophyllum_peltatum
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 30th, 2010
8:42 pm
“Always work from the hard side to the easy side” says he.
Anytime I put in a floor, be it tile or hardwood, I always start in the center and work out. With hardwood, I’d start at one end, in the center, with tile, I’d start dead center. It comes out more even against your walls.