Fox News's Witch Hunt

Fox News is an expert propaganda machine and, as such, is also good at demonizing people and forcing qualified, decent individuals to resign from their positions of power.

Their latest victim is Shirley Sharrod, an official in the Department of Agriculture under Obama, who has been accused by right-wind groups of racism. That message was reiterated ad nauseam by their cronies at Fox News and, as a result, she had to resign her post.

The truth of the matter is that the speech that led to accusations of racism is nothing more than a well-edited attack on her person. This is not the first time the right wing machine or Fox News have done something of the sort. On the contrary, many organizations and individuals have fallen prey to their smear tactics and have had to eventually resign or, in the case of ACORN, cease to exist.

Yet, we must admit that there is racism in this situation; only, it is not the racism of which they accuse Sharrod: It is a more concentrated and vitriolic form of the 0ld-fashioned whites-are-better-than-blacks racist stance. More concentrated because it is not the sole example in the last year and a half; more vitriolic because we allow it to happen and 'news' organizations such as Fox News propagate it without the slightest modicum of shame in this day and age. I guess I could call it shameful, too, because it feeds whatever latent traces of racism there are in American society, leading them to amplify and reach the public sphere where they are widely tolerated and touted as manifestations of our democracy.

Of course, this is nothing of the sort. I have said it before and I will say it again: a large chunk of the animosity against President Obama and his policies is a direct consequence of racism in this country. It is unlikely anybody can convince me otherwise. The rhetoric, the actions taken, the condescension with which they refer to the President on many media outlets is nothing more than a return to our shameless past when calling blacks 'uppity' and wanting to 'put (or keep) them in their place' was defended as 'American.'

Aren't we in the same crossroads as 40, 50, 140 years ago? And shouldn't we think before we take our next step into the road of peaceful existence, or into the abyss of hatred and bigotry...?

For more info, watch Rachel Maddow's segment on the issue, as well as the Sharrod's full allegedly 'racist' speech.

'The Lupus of News'

Don't mess with Jon Stewart.

I should start watching this guy regularly again...

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A Portrait of Angry-For-No-Good-Reason Americans

Clearly misinformed people who cannot answer questions on what they preach and purport to defend; a singer sounding like a cat being strangled; a man with a British accent extolling Fox News comedians and spurring on the 'patriotic crowd;' a woman most likely on Medicare fearing she is 'expendable' to the government; another woman calling Glenn Beck 'educational' (I guess bringing a blackboard into your studio will give that impression); a man thinking that Fox News is the only 'fair' medium out there, but then contradicting himself by saying it's a 'platform' for the Republicans Fox News has hired; a Hispanic man with nativist ideas on immigration; another ignorant woman wanting to know if immigrants have cholera....

I'm tired just from watching this thing.... but certainly worth it....

Vox Clamantis in Insanity

So close, Shep! So close! Next time, don't forget to look at the camera and say, 'I'm talking to you, Glenn Beck, and you, Sean Hannity, and all you pseudo-journalistic bimbos on Fox News.'

Arithmetically Challenged Fox News

This picture is worth... 193 percentage points??

(Source: BuzzFeed)

Unfair and Unbalanced

This article summarizes Fox News's misuse of footage and invention of facts in presenting the network's propaganda for the year we're about to close.

Free Press & Conservatives

Apparently, they don't match.

At a forum of sorts called Values Voter Summit, an MSNBC reporter gets harassed by audience members.

But wait, there's more! Two for the price of one: they do the same to a Fox News reporter who seems more compliant than his MSNBC colleague with the unreasonable requests to leave and stop reporting.

(Source: TPM)

Sensible O'Reilly?!

Is it by genuine changes in him, or by sheer contrast with greater species of loons like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh that he is making sense?

First, he admits that Fox News is 'center-right,' which flies right in the face of the 'fair and balanced' network they always shove in people's faces.

Then, he comes out for public option... no, not just in a heated moment; he's calm and composed as he describes the public option he wants for the American people.

Has he gone full circle and become, by his own efforts and ever-growing insanity, a voice of sanity in the network? Or has he merely been displaced by Beck?

And What Are You Watching?

According to this poll, 12% of those polled watch Fox News, 15% watch CNN, at 6% watch MSNBC on a daily basis. The numbers are slightly different for weekly and monthly viewership.

The numbers also appear to show a geographic bias. Fox News appears to be extremely popular in the South and extremely unpopular in the Northeast. MSNBC reverses that trend. CNN seems to be the more mainstream one, as well as the most trusted source of news overall. I don't know why... they kinda suck. And we all know how I feel about Fox News.