Saturday, January 28, 2006

Tearing Down the Competition

What is it with the personal attacks between pundits these days?

I really like Keith Olbermann, but his relentless attacks against Bill O'Reilly are getting tiring. I don't see any purpose to it. Bill has his own problems, and the two certainly don't share the same audience.

But the worst has to be Arianna Huffington's attacks on Tim Russert. Week after week she's devoted a Sunday column of Huffington Post to attacking Tim.

Tim's style is pretty regular. He prepares a list of questions, asks them, waits for a reply, then moves on. Sometimes he lets the guests spew their talking points, some times he follows up to get a straighter answer. But rarely have I heard any bias in Tim's questioning.

There are certainly a lot of other talk show hosts that I'd rather see attacked for spin. There just aren't many liberal talk show hosts anymore. But you could go after Wolf. Certainly Brit Hume is one of the worst for misleading viewers. There are guests like Ann Coulter that are just borderline nuts.

Instead, Arianna attacks probably one of the most likeable hosts on the Sunday morning networks. Then squeals like a stuck pig on rumours of a little hardball.

A warning to them both. The old IBM addage, the higher you climb the ladder the more you show your butt. Let's get respectable and move on. If you need someone to attack, attack Tom Cruise, it'll bring you much higher ratings.

Friday, January 27, 2006

Don't Push the Panic Button Yet

While the news of a Hamas victory had US media in an uproar, that curmudgeon of US news and anchor of reality, Don Imus, had former Jerusalem Post publisher Tom Rose on this morning.

His are the first comments that maybe not all is lost because Hamas won an election victory. A couple of things. The Fatah government has also been anti-Israel. Fatah is responsible for more Israeli deaths than Hamas. And just maybe, by stepping up to the plate and having to form a government and produce results, Hamas will have to drop the rhetoric and deal with reality. The reality being that Israel isn't going anywhere and only peaceful negotiations will create the state that the Palestinians want.

So if we can get past the panicked sound bytes of Bebe on the right's new darling, Hardball, maybe we're seeing the start of the next Sinn Féin.

So lets not throw out the baby with the bathwater as Arabs start embracing the processes of democracy. Only by testing its boundaries will Arabs know the full character of democracy.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

A Revolution in Governments

We've seen revolutions in government in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Venezuala, Liberia, Bolivia, Spain, Canada, and now Palestine.

Except for Canada and Liberia, it would seem that a stance against the US is the best platform for getting elected. Even the Liberal Canadian government took out ads against the US during the last campaign, but with the reputation of corruption hanging over the liberal party, an anti-US policy wasn't enough to ensure a victory.

But more than rejecting a close US partnership, I think these elections represent a rebellion against oligarchies and corruption, often propped up artificially by the US, making us a target for their problems, but not the prime cause.

We're familiar with oligarchies in Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, where the position of king or prime minister is often handed from father to son, or to chosen successor. We're now also seeing a rejection of these governments by their people.

Both Venezuala and Bolivia have seen that close cooperation with the IMF by traditional governments has resulted in poverty and corruption in their economy. Egypt is tired of Mubarak, Lebanon of Assad, Canada of the Liberal party, Turkey of Demerel and Ecevet, and Spain of Aznar and the People's Party.

These governments must win the right to govern by serving the people, not keeping their positions by force or through kowtowing to a foreign government, US, Russian, or Chinese.

The low approval rating of both Democrats and Republicans in the US shows this rejection of embedded incumbancy. We more than anyone should realize that it is competition for positions of leadership that keep us sharp, not a system of bribes and threats that create a pseudo-royalty.

Here in the US the elmination of the middle-class is creating a strong chasm between the haves and have nots. If the current government, both Democrat and Republican, don't start doing their housekeeping and patrolling the treasure rooms, we could see a true rebellion even here in the US, which would surely cause a domino affect felt the world round.

Friday, January 20, 2006

What's new

I'm finally grounded again. I've been traveling for the last year and a half, crossing the United States east to west three times, and from the bottom of California to the top of Washington once.

It's hard to imagine how big the US is without having driven it. I used to fly coast to coast a lot, but that was six hours in a plane. There's nothing like three days across Texas to understand big.

I'm grounded for now with short tours on the east coast. But I can hardly wait to get going again. I'll be selling my motorhome. Nothing like 7 miles/gallon to limit travels. I think probably a van conversion next. But give me a little cash and I'll be gone.

I think I can understand hobos now. That was a much more dangerous life. But I'm sure that there were times, riding in a car, watching the scenery, when they felt as enchanted by the country as I have been from my drivers seat.

-Don-