In which Russert is shocked

Media Whores Watch

Bob Somerby runs a website called The Daily Howler which is not to be missed. It should be daily reading for everyone who cares about the state of our politics and journalism in this country. He details the way our top people in front of the cameras or writing the top stories are afraid to ruin their positions by angering the people they are having cocktail parties with. And what could ruin their position? Actually doing some journalism. Yesterday's edition of the DH had an interesting section on Tim Russert, and his treatment of Nancy Pelosi on the latest "Meet the Press" Pelosi, you may have read a week or two ago, finally stated what has become painfully obvious to anyone with two eyes and a functioning cerebrum: that Bush is an incompetent leader, that he is dangerously incompetent, and that we have to get rid of him. Not much of a revelation.

But Russert had to act the part of the offended courtier. He was shocked, SHOCKED, to hear Pelosi say such a thing. Go read what Somerby has to say.

Primates Watch

As primates, we as people unfortunately respond to dominance and submission cues and establish heirarchy in our relationships and social systems. I say it is unfortunate, because those cues can be warped toward bad ends. Republicans, especially hypocritical, bible-banging, power-mad Republicans, have learned to act like they are winners. And Democrats have to overcome not only their hideous ideology but also that aura that Republicans have wrapped themselves in (and that the media is constantly reinforcing). This isn't a partisan thing - I pledge my allegiance to any group of politicians who can work to not treat my fellow citizens like crap - but right now it looks like that is the Democrats. The Republicans have been totally co-opted by this group of immoral moralizers.

More on dominance relationships later, and thanks to Melissa for digging out her psychology texts for me to read about some old research.

Blog Watch

I may have mentioned the site before, but Slacktivist is one of the most interesting blogs out there right now. It is run by Fred Clark, who I am proud to say works at one of our local papers here in DE. He is a real Christian (by that I mean someone who has somehow figured out that Jesus' message was not "rob from the poor to feed the rich"), and often writes about religious matters, and of course how they play out against national, and sometimes local, politics. He is also taking a painful, page by page journey through a critique of "Left Behind" to show how ridiculous, poorly written, and hollow it is. That keeps me coming back for more.