Coming
Clean
 For
those of you unfamiliar with the
wonders of Mike Rowe he has a little
television show on the discovery
Channel called "Dirty Jobs".
It's the odyssey of one man seeking
out and performing the worst possible
jobs on the planet (like, for example, pig
slop processing). Lots of larfs
are to be had in the process. Most
definitely check outable.
-----------
 Yeah,
I know. This
is my second News Corporation
comic in a row but I just
happen to think this story
is kind of important. Rupert
Murdoch and his little
pals are, after all, turning
out
to be
the kinds of people
who will
seemingly stop at nothing
in order to blackmail a
government or crassly take
advantage
of a little girl's death.
And now it seems like the
most senior police officer
in England in involved
in the scandal. How comforting.
This
not what the news is supposed
to do. It's supposed to
report the facts in order
to make us better citizens,
not
abuse its power
in order to propagandize
or sensationalize the information
in order to sell more pimple
creme.
This problem is not just
limited to foreign newspapers
as I am appalled by what
passes
for news in my local paper.
Dallas, Texas, my home
town, is a city populated
by over
2.5 million
people and they are daily
subjected to obvious right-wing
slant disguised as news.
The Dallas Mornings News'
little
trick
is to
give the right-wing side
of
the story the first 3/4
of
the story and then
print
the facts in the final
few column inches.
Cheap.
Foul. Dirty.
There is a solution. It's
way past time that individual
cities
begin devoting modest amount
of tax dollars to an electronic-based
news
system
as the
for-profit, dead-tree based
model is failing, both
as a business venture and
as a reliable organ of
information. With proper
public oversight
an interconnected web of
such open-source news outlets
would make national and
local
news
relevant and trustworthy
again.
This is almost a no-brainer.
A city the size of Dallas
could implement a twenty-reporter
crew for less than $2 million
a year. That's a single
tax-dollar per person.
The news could
then be sent electronically
to residents at almost
no cost. And lest you think
iPad-like devices would
cost too much it already
costs $300 a year to subscribe
to my local paper. This
is doable, folks.
----------------
 On Saturday
night Beloved Girlfriend
whipped-up some
broiled
portabella mushrooms for
our supper. Slapped on
a bun with slabs of provolone
cheese it was a treat that
couldn't be beat.
Afterwards we sat down and watched "The Man From Nowhere",
a thoughtful though frightfully violent
gangster flick from South Korea. It was so good we
really hope that no American director gets his hands
on the rights as they'd completely fuck-up the remake.
It's streamable on Netflix, with subtitles, so look
for it.
On Friday we watched the animated "Rango" on Blu-Ray
and, I'm sorry to say, this one's not going into the
Permanent
Collection.
To put it simply, it was sort of like eating a gold-plated
Twinkie.
Really
pretty,
though
weak in
the nutrition
department.
I admired the fact that they attempted
to insert a little poetry into a mainstream animated
feature but it just muddied an already unsteady
plot.
=Lefty=
------------
 "We're
going to have a relentless focus on creating jobs." -
John Boehner, February 10, 2011.
The following is #54 in a list of accomplishments by
the GOP since they gained control of the House in 2011.
None
have yet to result in one, single new job.
(54) 7-18-2011: Not only does the GOP continue to insist
on slashing federal spending, which will cost
jobs, jobs and
more
jobs, but
now they want to hack
the Constitution.
For the entire list of GOP futility, click
here.
------------
 And
what manner of lie is Fox News spewing today? Why talk
about the phone-hacking by their parent company when
they can complain about all that terrible
phone-hacking going on out there. Huh? What?
Click here to help Drop
Fox from your cable system.
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