NPR blamed for "exaggeration" of right wing "scholar"

This is maddening (4.00 / 2)

And all the Republican engineers who work at Redstone Arsenal, Marshall Space Flight Center and Research Park ought to be mad about it.  Why them in particular?  Because this rightwing doofus drove through the area where the roads to those workplaces converge on I-565 -- on a Sunday morning for Gawd's sake -- and declared that it was a lightly used, 14-lane "lake of asphalt."  False on all counts.  He should drive through there any weekday during the morning or afternoon rush hours -- definitely not lightly used, but then it isn't 14 lanes either.

Nit: Challen Stephens is a he.  It's impossible to tell just from the writing. 

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Jan 23, 2009 at 21:49:59 PM CST

I just saw this. Interesting. So, yes, what do Mad. Co. *Republicans* think... (4.00 / 1)

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 . . . about the prospect of all that "pork" going to North Alabama?  Do they oppose President Obama and the prospect of money flowing into the area to give a boost to a flagging economy?  

 I hope all Republicans will from this point on cease and desist using I-565, seeing as how we now know it's just so much of an example of Democratic Waste.

bg
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by: BenGoshi @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 07:24:16 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Correct (4.00 / 2)

Because this rightwing doofus drove through the area where the roads to those workplaces converge on I-565 -- on a Sunday morning for Gawd's sake -- and declared that it was a lightly used, 14-lane "lake of asphalt."  False on all counts.  He should drive through there any weekday during the morning or afternoon rush hours -- definitely not lightly used, but then it isn't 14 lanes either.

He should be forced to sit in the lake of asphalt at 5 PM on Friday.

Saying it doesn't make it so. -Your mother

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by: Huntsville Villian @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 08:03:51 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Any right-wing doofus who wants to discredit government spending to stimulate the economy (4.00 / 3)

Should not ever, ever mention Huntsville, Alabama.

Huntsville has benefited from a series of Federal Government stimulus programs since the 1930s.  First there was TVA, then Redstone Arsenal/Huntsville Arsenal, and finally NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Huntsville unemployment averaged 3.6% through 2008, while Alabama average unemployment was 4.7% and national unemployment averaged 5.6%.  So after all these years, it's still working.

 

"The War in Iraq is not the disease. The War in Iraq is a symptom. Arrogance is the disease" - Bill Richardson

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by: herding old cats @ Fri Jan 23, 2009 at 23:23:26 PM CST

You know what I'm tired of? (4.00 / 2)

I'm tired of the media giving right wing doofus's a platform. It's this fair and balanced Faux News bull crap.  As former Vice President Al Gore said, the truth isn't fair and balanced.  It's like having someone on air debating if  the earth is round or flat.  It's got to stop.  It's the media. 

 

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)

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by: Redeye @ Fri Jan 23, 2009 at 23:47:13 PM CST

[ Parent ]

No, it isn't just the media (4.00 / 2)

The rightwing folks have built and funded a large network of foundations, centers and other think tanks that provide the media a ready source of "experts" to discuss almost anything under the sun.  Of course, they come with a built-in bias to the right.  That's why the right made that investment.  The left has not made the (considerable) investment of money or effort required to build a similar system.  Until we value and encourage young progressives and give them a place to work where they can earn a decent living, our experts will always be outnumbered by theirs.  We've been outplanned and outspent for 30 years and there's a need to make up some of that ground.

The media is often lazy, but we deserve some of the blame for not making sure there are easy to find experts with a progressive point of view on any topic.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 00:34:17 AM CST

[ Parent ]

True experts often have a Progressive view. However ... (4.00 / 2)

Amen mooncat!  The right wing's funding fathers to the present webs of distortion and distraction get lots of bang for their buck.  From the American Enterprise Institute all the way down to the clowns at the Alabama Policy Institute, the wingers tap into tons of outlets,  Wingnut welfare is certain yet they often impress me. 

Progressives have one an advantage in that we often don't require to pay for our experts.  Facts do have a liberal bias after all.  The trouble is that truth isn't always as easy to sell to the masses as that marketed to the masses.

As scholars, journalists, etc., young folks on our side generally have to earn their way.  We have few if any sweet private gigs for them to build their egg.  Many on the right flow in and out of the think tanks and patronage jobs to land some nice paying jobs provided for them by the swells. 

With the GOP having the executive branch for most of the last three decades young nutters have had jobs ready made for them.   I know Bu$hCo loyalists were sent to Iraq to reconstruct according to Friedmanite thinking while the common in the ranks were killed and maimed.

Also, the Corporate media is a reality.  The case of Dr. Roberts offering balance is a perfect example of how the media feels required to give the nutters a platform.  NPR has been under the gun so long they often go out of the way to make sure the Corporatists get some air time. 

Finally, Challen sure sounded like a hen rather than a rooster.  When you assume you ...

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by: Captain Plaid @ Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 09:23:37 AM CST

[ Parent ]

It is easy to find experts wiht a progressive point of view (4.00 / 1)

The problem is they don't want experts with a progressive point of view anywhere near a TeeVee screen or a radio microphone, or on a panel.  The progressive point of view is muzzeled.

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)

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by: Redeye @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 18:58:05 PM CST

[ Parent ]

It's somewhat easier than it used to be (0.00 / 0)

But it's not nearly as easy to find progressive "experts" as conservative ones.  The conservative ones come in clusters within think tank organizations funded by a large network of conservative donors who invested for the long haul.  They support the "research" of the experts so they can be widely published -- very important for an "expert" and they even make lists of "experts" and areas of expertise available to media outlets and journalists.  It's easy to find a conservative expert.  Progressive "experts" on the other hand, typically have to find some way to make a living in the real world and don't have a sugar daddy to make it easy for them to publish 8 papers a year on the benefits of universal health care or progressive tax reform.  And no nice lists complete with contact information distributed to the media, either.  We're doing a little better than we were, but not nearly as well as we need to.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 21:44:45 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Progressive Voices (4.00 / 2)

Think about mooncat, on the local front,  every election cycle we can expect the media to trot out the same  "political analyst" and "experts" without calling any names they are on the faculty at Calhoun Community College and Athens State University.   Alabama A&M University and Oakwood University have Political Science departments too.

When is opinon from LiA ever quoted in the media?  The only time I can remember is when WHNT(Blackout)  featured a report when someone posted Nicholas Sparks face book page illustrating his youthful indescretion:).  The media can find a progressive voice if is suits their purpose.

I maintain there are plenty of progressive voices out here, the media just doesn't want people to hear them.

 

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)

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by: Redeye @ Tue Jan 27, 2009 at 08:54:05 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Maybe never. Two reasons. (4.00 / 1)

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One, local papers/stations don't want to give any credit to the blogosphere as, in the eyes of the Dead Tree/TV, this would lend credence and credibility to a medium that threatens their very existence.  A spurious viewpoint, but it is what it is.

Two, most of us are anonymous or quasi-anonymous.  Of course, many or most of us have an accessible email so that if anyone really wanted to contact me, they could (so the anonymity argument's kind of silly).  Also, whether or not anyone here is actually quoted is not the issue:  the views, opinions, assertions made here are rather easily verifiable, or easy to discredit, with a few minutes "digging".  But doing that "digging" is something the Trad Media seems to abhor these days.  Oh, sure, they'll often "dig" to find out a "scandal"; but digging and researching to verify, say, my assertions made about the Fair Pay Act are not something with which they'll ever bother:  too much work.  

bg
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by: BenGoshi @ Tue Jan 27, 2009 at 09:24:56 AM CST

[ Parent ]

PS Progressive Voices (4.00 / 1)

Case in point, remember The  Bad Doctor Smear?  What progressive point of view was presented?  What conservative point of view was presented? I rest my case.

I report you decide.

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)

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by: Redeye @ Tue Jan 27, 2009 at 09:27:13 AM CST

[ Parent ]

The pundit wars (4.00 / 1)

For a couple of decades, conservative pundits like George Will (he's not the worst by a long shot) have been making stupid pronouncements in an authoritative tone so that the Kool-Aid sinks in slowly, almost against the will of the listeners.  Here's his latest loopy opinion -- more Americans are eating at McDonalds, thus the free market economy is healthy.

   

 

Now here's what happens if there's a clean, articulate expert on the left to counter the smart-sounding wingers:

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 16:31:04 PM CST