Why TV News is a Joke

This is good for a laugh!

Quotation

For Justice Lewis Brandeis, the formation of citizens capable of self-government was an end even higher than distributive justice.    He wrote:

"It's absolutely essential in order that men may develop that they be properly fed and properly housed, and that they have proper opportunities for education and recreation.  We cannot reach our goal without these things.  But we may have these things and be a nation of slaves."
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Must See TV?

TV Schedule for January 27, 2010:

8:00 to 9:00 PM        Talk about Obama speech; what he might say, should say, could say.

9:00 to 10:00 PM       Obama speech.

10:00 to 11:00 PM    Talk about Obama speech:  what he did say, what he should have said, what he didn't
                                  say.

This waste of time, this misuse of mind, this is what passes for serious discussion leading to an informed public?  I don't think so.

Howard Zinn died today.  America is a poorer nation for his passing.  If you have never heard of him,  don't vote anymore.  Stay home.  The rest of us will be better off.
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Dangling Conversations

from The Duck and Cover Diner
  (home of the Scratch & Sniff menu)

What does he see in that girl?
He says he has a green thumb for shrinking violets.

So that cancer patient support group you belong to, what do you call it?
The chemo-sabes.

While we were walking, people were gawking because you were squawking at me.

Did you watch the Miss America pageant last night?
Yeah, I watched the Keester Parade.

Good people are not always good.  Bad people are not always bad.  A deal isn't always a deal.
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Charles Laughton

At the top of My Blog List (to the left) is a site called About Last Night, an intelligent and literate site that I go to often to see what the provider, Terry Teachout, has to offer.
Today, in a post called A Great Actor Reads, it has the recorded voice of Charles Laughton reading for an audience . 
Please check it out.  In the first one, he reads from Jack Kerouac's book The Dharma Bums.  I was struck by how much the reading reminded me of the Dylan Thomas poem Fern Hill.
What a voice Laughton had!
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Last Words

While rummaging through my desk drawer this morning, I found a tag from a tea bag that I had removed and saved some months ago because I found it humorous.  
The following is printed on the tag:

"Don't let it end like this.  Tell them I said something."
Pancho Villa,
last words
(1877-1923)

Poor Pancho.
 I recall how, in the long ago past, one would see or read the 'last words' of famous people in any number of places:  books, magazines, newspapers, etc.  
Was it the mystery or fear of death that made people hover at deathbeds waiting for some sign that the dying person could see ahead to the other world?
Perhaps they expected a tidy summing up of the dying person's life experiences and they might be given some wisdom, a rule for life.
But I can't recall seeing the last words of anyone who had died since, say, 1950.  I wonder why. 
My guess is either they die so quickly they don't have a chance to speak, or they are so filled up with pain-killing drugs that the mind and speech organs won't work.
Poor Pancho.   Had a chance but was at a loss for words.
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WMD in a BVD

It is official.  The Nigerian jihadist who attempted to blow explosives on a jet liner on Christmas Day has been officially charged with attempted murder using a Weapon of Mass Destruction, said WMD being a piece of explosive hidden in his briefs.
This term, WMD, needs some explanation, some definition.
What constitutes a mass killing?  Is it six?  600?  6000?  6,000,000?
What constitutes a Weapon of Mass Destruction?  An atomic bomb?  Poison Gas? 12 ounces of explosive?
The attack on the World Trade Center killed just under 3000 people.  What was the weapon there?  Was it the airplane?  The jet fuel?  The terrorists?
When we invaded Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction, what were we looking for?
A shoe bomber appears and travellers have to remove their shoes.
An underwear bomber appears but people don't have to remove their underwear.
Do you get my point?  I'm confused.  I don't have any answers to the questions above because I am confused. 
So are the people who are in charge of our security. Does that make you feel safe?
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