Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.
A video that examines the vast chasm between Obama’s rhetoric at AIPAC gatherings and his actions towards Israel: And because actions have consequences, I thought you’d find interesting the way in which Obama’s attitude towards Israel is reflected in the way the media covers that nation — not even in
Continue readingI’m planning a trip this summer to Japan, a country about which I know nothing. Actually that’s an overstatement. I know some things: it’s beautiful, historic, and clean (I love that part), and comes complete with great food and well-mannered people. But that’s all I know. Toji Pagoda I don’t
Continue readingA few days ago, writing with regard to the media’s decision to ignore the standing ovations Newt received during the last South Carolina debate, I asked “If the Press Ignores an Event, Does It Exist?” The press, it turns out, wants to take that experiment in ignoring facts as far
Continue readingWe can expect tomorrow night’s State of the Union address to be an action-packed hour (or so) of vitriol and self-pity. Obama will cherry-pick a few numbers about the 1% and then whine about how he’s been trying really hard to destroy that same 1%, but that a vast array
Continue readingWe all know the philosophical question that asks, “If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” The media is trying a variation on this question by asking, “If we completely ignore a fact, so that no one hears
Continue readingEver since Obama became president, the war dead have vanished. During the Bush presidency, enemy deaths filled that papers as we were accused of mass slaughter; during the Obama presidency, I think our troops are just out there having nice cups of tea with the bad guys, because none of
Continue readingYou’re not imagining it. I haven’t had a dang thing to say about Barack Obama’s brazen constitutional violation, which was also an indirect repudiation of the 2010 mid-term elections. His decision unilaterally to declare the Senate on a “recess” and then to make “recess” appointments has been analyzed to death
Continue readingAs you already know, I’m sure, the Ultra-Orthodox in Jerusalem are fighting hard to segregate men and women in public spaces in Jerusalem. I posted about the fact that Mr. Bookworm analogized this small group, which is fighting against a democratic, egalitarian government, to the sharia law that exists across
Continue readingYou remember Ilario Pantano, don’t you? Well, maybe not. It’s been a long time now since the media savaged his reputation, selling him to Americans as a cold-blooded killer, a story that ran endlessly on newspaper front pages and in TV headlines. Interestingly, the media was pretty quiet when the
Continue readingI am buried under laundry, house cleaning, caring for parent and children, organizing photos to be digitized (half price, thanks to a Groupon), getting out Christmas cards created and sent, and paying bills. Coherent thought eludes me. Cogent essays are an impossibility. But, all is not lost! Even as I
Continue readingI came of age in the post-Vietnam era. Let me amend that: I came of age in San Francisco in the post-Vietnam era. Although Fleet Week, which started in the City about 20+ years ago has done a lot to turn things around, San Francisco has not been a military
Continue reading“Facts are stubborn things.” — John Adams. “Ideologues are even more stubborn than facts.” — Bookworm A few nights ago, Mr. Bookworm watched the movie Shattered Glass with the children. It’s a fairly good retelling of the way in which Stephen Glass, a young feature writer at The New Republic,
Continue readingAs I was up early, I listened to KSFO’s Brian Sussman show. A man called in, identified himself as someone who works at the Port of Oakland, and described with some amusement the eight or so luxury buses that pulled up, disgorging a bunch of people in their 30s and
Continue readingIt’s an old story: A man and a woman meet at work and they hit it off. They’re both married, although not to each other. One lunch turns into two, two into three, and eventually they’ve got a pattern. For years, they get together two or three times a week
Continue readingRush let ‘er rip against the media this morning regarding its utter failure to investigate any aspect of Obama’s life, even as it subjects Republican candidates to the most invasive investigations and demeaning tactics imaginable. It’s a long riff, but every bit of it is interesting, and you’ll probably be
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