Category Archives: Journalism

Updated: Clinton To The Rescue In N. Korea (Will He Pack For Iran?)

America, Foreign Policy, Gender, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Journalism, Pop-Culture

Lisa Ling of the National Geographic Channel can usually be found running around the world transmitting the propaganda du jour about “dying,” forests, “melting” icecaps, and “exploited” peoples. For some time, however, this annoying female has been preoccupied getting her sister Laura Ling released, after the woman was caught nosing around in North Korea with another “journalist,” Euna Lee.

How American! You land on foreign soil with a distinctly American approach to everything—you ignore borders, dangers, and differences. You demand in Yankee drawl, “Let’s have a show of hands for American values.” And you proceed to stomp about “exposing” the ills of the world. When some hostile primitives enforce their jurisdiction and show no appreciation for your patronizing good intentions, you cry foul. Oh please!

An extension of this mindset is the habit of stupendously naïve American parents sending their precious progeny, during their most stupid years—the teens—to dangerous spots around the world for a “growth experience.” My comments here.

(The CNN version: “Lee and Ling were arrested while reporting on the border between North Korea and China and sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of entering the country illegally to conduct a smear campaign.”)

I don’t wish these silly girls ill—although Mr. J-Il obviously did—and I’m glad Bill Clinton rode to the rescue. Bill was, in all likelihood, asked to assist by Al Gore, who employs these broads in his California-based Current TV media venture.

Bill ate humble pie for the women, apologized for their idiotic indiscretions, and has brought them back home. One less topic for Larry King to stagger through on his nightly scintillating hour (He’s currently stuck on M. Jackson).

It’s not over for Bill; he had better pack his bags again. This time for Iran. A couple of American hikers wondered into … Iran, after backpacking across … Iraq. You heard right. Their greeno friends stateside say they’re just amaaazing human beings, thirsty to embrace the world. (Here’s a pic of one Californian adult blowing bubbles into the ether; she’s a “teacher-activist-writer from California currently based in the Middle East.” ) Apparently the feeling was not mutual.

Is natural selection at work?

Update (August 6): One ought to separate heartfelt sympathy for these young women from what I have done above: taken a close look at the hubristic arrogance and self-righteousness often undergirding their actions. Every bit of cynical approbation is warranted, that is if you’re not Oprah, and few on this site, thankfully, wish to emulate Oprah’s weak minded, anti-intellectual mushiness. Someone has to say the politically unpalatable: these broads are levitating in la-la land.

Updated: Cronkite Dies; News Croaked Long Ago

Celebrity, Journalism, Media, Reason

He reported the news. Nothing but the facts, ma’am. He never pulled faces to demonstrate his exquisitely politically correct sensibilities; he focused on the events, not on himself; he did not promote a brand and an annual book, he wiped a tear once in decades of reporting, and expressed an opinion with the same frequency. He became a personality by default—through the professionalism he evinced and not by cultivating a persona. His political opinions may have been unpalatable, but Walter Cronkite’s professional performance bore little resemblance to the slobbering done by the current crop of cable and TV men and women.

Anderson Cooper, grizzled “newswoman”—who crumbled when the Rev. Wright scandal broke all over his presidential candidate—and cried, “How do we make this go away?”, Don lemon, the Black-In-America disgrace of an anchor, Contessa Brewer, big-faced idiot of the childish, whiny inflection, Obama Boy Keith Olbermann, Hard-for-Obamby-Ball Chris Matthews, FoxNews cleavages for W., Barbara Walters of the “cutting edge” anti-aging reportage and colonic crusader Katie Couric—how dare they claim they are a strand of the Cronkite DNA? How dare they claim to be filling the shoes and following the example of a decent reporter?

But this is precisely what these fools have been doing since Cronkite passed away: cementing their legacy.

The procession of shameless narcissistic, self-aggrandizing and promoting hustlers—these are the news men and women of contemporary America.

Update (July 21): I’m not terribly familiar with Cronkite’s broadcasts, but from the little I’ve seen, he was professional. Those who’re condemning him for his statism and personal politics, of which I’m unaware (and you’d certainly need to know a good chunk of his oeuvre to pronounce on his opinions, as they are not manifest like David Shyster’s of MSNBC are), are in error—exhibiting some categorical confusion and feeble mindedness. For if Cronkite did journalims as one is supposed to, his politics are immaterial. Most journalists are statist. What do you want, a Mencken? But if they stick to their reportorial duties, their personal beliefs should not matter.

‘Audit the Fed!’

Conservatism, Federal Reserve Bank, Founding Fathers, Inflation, Journalism, libertarianism, Republicans, Ron Paul

What I appreciate about Jack Hunter, also a Taki’s Magazine writer, is the way he marries solid principles and a pragmatic approach to politics. Unless a commentator achieves this feat in a consistent, principled manner, he is worthless. Yes, worthless! Some of our readers have been seduced by the habit so many libertarian scribblers have of vaporizing libertarian theory into the ether, while sitting on the fence and playing holier-than-thou when it comes to politics. Worthless as it is easy. Aside from the pleasant Southern lilt, Hunter has a natural knack for cleaving to reality while retaining principles. In ‘Audit the Fed!’ he narrates thus:

“While Bush and McCain were ‘abandoning free-market principles to save the free-market system’ by signing off on an $800 billion Wall Street Bailout, the Republican establishment still treated the truly free-market Ron Paul as some sort of crazy, irrelevant money crank.

It’s amazing the difference a year makes.

As of this writing, every single Republican in the House and over 60 Democrats have co-sponsored Paul’s H.R. 1207 Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which calls for an audit of the Federal Reserve. Given the current economic crisis, it turns out that many legislators are eager to see just how the Fed is able to print new money out of thin air. In the 1980’s, Paul introduced similar legislation with virtually no help from his fellow Republicans. In 2009, the entire party has lined up behind Ron Paul.”

Listen here.