Category: Media

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Don’t they know what it means to Tea Bag someone?

There is this “movement” going around by rich white guys who hate change and drawing on their peons of bigots, religious zealots, and freaky militia types to protest “high taxes” and “run away” spending by the current administration of President Obama. They will be holding tea parties across the country and asking people to “tea bag” Congress – by sending them a tea bag – to harken back to the Boston Tea Party during the American Revolution. Besides being a silly protest, not to mention the funny of using “tea bagging”, it shows how inept the conservatives are and how they can’t even come up with any new ideas.

Fox News – you know the guys who are looking out for the common man – is hyping the tax protests to take place on April 15th.

Today, in our time, we need to make a similar point in the face of arrogant power. And you can, too, on April 15, when millions of Americans will gather in peaceful protest across the country, protesting against the evils of over-taxation and its wicked handmaidens, over-spending and over-regulation.

If you visit the Web site of Tax Day Tea Party, you will find plenty of information on how and where to get connected to a tea party–or how to start your own tea party.

Plenty of big names will be involved, ranging across the country. Glenn Beck will be in Texas and Newt Gingrich will be in New York City. Sean Hannity will be in Atlanta. Neal Cavuto will be in Sacramento. And many, many more–FOX News and FOX Nation folks will be providing full coverage.

Tea Parties: A Great Part of American History–And America’s Future

Of course it is a silly protest.

It is protesting the rise in taxes of those who make more than $250,000 a year. Under Obama’s plan, that segment is the only one who will see their taxes go up. But don’t let the facts get in the way of the thick heads at Fox and their peon fans.

They still think it is cool to claim that there are high taxes or run away spending but I wonder where they were when Bush demolished a budget surplus he got in 2001 and ran up a huge deficit.

Also the people at Fox and their fans still haven’t offered any evidence that “we” pay too much in taxes or that spending is running away. They just don’t like Obama and his plan. It is a simple protest against a Democrat.

What does this say about conservatives when they lose at the ballot box and they talk about “revolution”, “tea parties”, “taking the country back”, “gun ban”, and on and on and on – instead of figuring out why their message failed to gain them votes in 2008. It is a bit childish to me.

No one has proven that taxes are too high, have never offered any comparison, or why anyone should care.

I also like how people’s brains turn off when they think “tax cuts” will solve the economic crisis we are in when they didn’t help in the first place and may have actually led to the crisis in the first place.

They need to grow up and take some ownership of the problem and work on REAL solutions and stop crying in their pillows.

These “protesters” also have a problem with talking about tea bags:

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Advertising Unknown Outcomes

Recently I have seen commercials on TV from a particular cancer treatment center. I have no particular view point on advertising medical treatment because I see it all the time – from Doctors, Hospitals, drug companies, and other medical items. But the commercials from this treatment center just seem a bit off to me because it seems to imply they can do something that may not be possible – curing you of cancer.

The commercial starts with a woman telling her experience at a hospital and finding out they had cancer. In the two I’ve seen the women basically say “The Doctor comes in says you have cancer and leaves…” and they tell how bad they feel and how they want to do whatever it takes to beat the cancer. The implied message is the hospital or doctor they get the news from doesn’t want to help.

The first commercial I saw had the woman continue with her story by say she went to the treatment center and was given all kinds of tests and exams and she asked her new doctor how long did she have to live. She tells the camera that the doctor said she had no expiration date and he couldn’t tell just by looking at her.

Here is the text of the story that is on their website (I redacted the name of the patient, doctor, and hospital):

In July 2001, Peggy was told she had stage IV pancreatic cancer and to go home and get her affairs in order. In this video, Peggy talks about how she found hope and healing at treatment center

“After three days of testing, I looked at [the Doctor] and I said “How long do I have?” And he looked at me and said “Peggy, we did a lot of tests on you and I never saw one thing stamped on the bottom of your foot that said you were going to die in two months. You have no expiration date. That is in hands way above mine.”

It’s really unbelievable how one doctor can tell me I have two months to live, and then I got to [the center] and they offered hope.

This treatment center is making an implied promise to “cure” people of cancer.

I know that sometimes compassion is missing or in low supply in the medical field but I find it hard to take a medical facility telling a patient that if you use us you have a better chance to not dying from cancer.

I just don’t think more compassion or telling patients what they want to hear – rather than the truth – is good business especially for someone with cancer. I also don’t think any hospital or Doctor would not do everything to treat cancer if they can. If they didn’t then one could claim malpractice.

Cancer isn’t some monolith disease where one fix takes care of it – if it were then there might not be any cancer in the world. Sometimes treatment works, sometimes it works for awhile, and sometimes it doesn’t work at all. The outcome is based on the cancer, the person, and how soon it is discovered.

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Republican Treason?

How come when people on the left side of the aisle even questioned Bush policies the Republicans and their pundit class complained it was treason – with full coverage from the media, yet when certain Republicans and their pundit class are calling for the overthrow of the government – the media class is very silent?

Who is really treasonous?

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There really are two Americas

While writing about the current economic melt down, I’ve mentioned that the douchebags on Wall Street that ran the economy into the ground operated under different rules than what we regular Americans do. The fact that the bankers want the taxpayer to pay for their toxic assets for a value more than the paper they are written on should be a clue. Columnist David Sirota points out even a more obvious example and one that seems to have removed the rose colored glasses from the masses, who have acted like they’ve never noticed this before. His column talks about the foundation of business – the contract.

Last month, the same government that says it “cannot just abrogate” executives’ bonus contracts used its leverage to cancel unions’ wage contracts. As The Wall Street Journal reported, federal loans to GM and Chrysler were made contingent on those manufacturers shredding their existing labor pacts and “extract(ing) financial concessions from workers.” In other words, our government asks us to believe that it possesses total authority to adjust contracts at car companies it lends to, and yet has zero power to modify contracts at financial firms it owns. This, even though the latter set of covenants might be easily abolished.

A government of men, not laws

That’s right. Contracts to pay bonuses to the douchebags who ran the economy into the ground were off limits while there is nothing wrong in throwing out labor contracts as a condition for automakers to get a loan.

Sirota also mentioned this double standard applied to mortgages:

Congressional Republicans have long supported the laws letting bankruptcy courts annul mortgage contracts for vacation homes. Those statutes help the shower-before-work clique at least retain their beachside villas, no matter how many of their speculative Ponzi schemes go bad. But for those who shower after work, it’s Adams-esque bromides against “absolving borrowers of their personal responsibility,” as the GOP announced it will oppose legislation permitting bankruptcy judges to revise mortgage contracts for primary residences.

It was equally unfunny when some talking head on CNBC recently noted that you couldn’t get anyone to run the financial industry for less than $250,000 a year. He forgot that the ones making that cash didn’t do a good job of it either. That’s why they are trying to snooker us into a bad deal on those toxic assets.

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Death, Narcissism, and Celebrity

This past week three famous people died. Two were film actors and the third was a person who was only famous because they had been on a reality TV show. I have never understood the general obsession people have with celebrities, especially the celebrities who are famous for nothing more than being one. I have known people and seen people who are so into themselves that they want to be famous but I have never understood why. What I do know is the obsession with celebrity is not healthy and not discriminating in this obsession is even worse. It can get plain silly at times.

I remember when I was kid delivering newspapers. On my route was this one house where they worshiped Elvis. There was every kind of Elvis item in the known universe both inside and outside the house. They also had a mini-alter in their car. I thought that was overdoing it.

This past week showed what happens when that house with the Elvis shrine gets blown up in the media.

Ron Silver and Natasha Richardson passed away. Silver was a good character actor who could move effortlessly between drama and comedy. Richardson came from a family of great actors in the UK and she carried on the family ability. Her passing was due to a tragic accident and I did feel bad for her family just as I did for Silver’s friends and family.

The third celebrity to pass away was well known in the UK for appearing on a reality TV show. She died from cancer which is never a good way to die since it is causes such pain and suffering. The reaction to her death, however was on par to the one when Silver and Richardson passed, which just didn’t seem right to me.

The prime minister said he was “deeply saddened” by the news.

“The whole country has admired her determination to provide a bright future for her children.

“She will be remembered fondly by all who knew her and her family can be extremely proud of the work she has done to raise awareness of cervical cancer, which will benefit thousands of women across the UK.”

PM leads tributes to Jade Goody

This was the same woman who caused a fire storm when she was on the reality show that made her famous by making nasty racist comments about another “player”. Yes, the woman’s death was tragic but the Prime Minister gave a statement? That’s like if President Obama gave a statement of condolences if the Naked Cowboy had passed away.

But Doug, what about the media frenzy when that guy landed the plane in the Hudson River.

You see, I think there is at least 3 levels of celebrity.

Level 1 are those people who pay their dues through some skill or job that is mainly for public consumption. For them fame comes to them for doing a good job. These people are actors, writers, sports figures etc…..

Level 2 are those people where they happen to be in the right time and right place and fame happens. They aren’t seeking it and after a period of time it fades. The pilot who landed in the Hudson is one of these people. The soldiers who raised the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II are others of this level.

Level 3 are people who have really nothing to offer in defense of their fame other than the media focusing on them for whatever reason. They haven’t worked and paid dues to earn it. They seek it out or play along with it or think they deserve it. Paris Hilton comes to mind as does the woman who died in the UK I mentioned earlier. Some other recent ones are a majority of the people who tried out for American Idol and won’t accept they have no real talent. Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (aka Joe The Plumber) is another of this level.

There is nothing wrong with being famous per se. If you want it and work for it and it comes to you – great. If you take short cuts or think you deserve it then there is a problem. I think we have way too much of this media created celebrity.

I was one of four or five people who spoke at my high school graduation and in my speech I remember having a bit where I said you might see my picture on the back of a bestseller I write. At the time I did think I would write a bestseller and be famous. I have never thought that I deserved it and have not really worked hard enough to do it, so that idea is less likely to happen than it was twenty years ago when I made the statement.

Do we really need to spend time wondering if some level 3 celebrity is or is not on drugs or might be married or whatever happens to normal non-famous people.

If you think it is important then you may need to reconsider your priorities because as Bill Murray said in the film “Meatballs” – It just doesn’t matter.

It really doesn’t.

As I said I admired the work of Ron Silver and Natasha Richardson, but never once did I think their passing was on the same level as if one of my family had passed away.

That wouldn’t be healthy.

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