Category Archives: mainstream media

In today’s U.S.A., Ellsberg would be deep-sixed


Regarding a convergence of stories about truth tellers: Last week I watched The Most Dangerous Man in America (2009), about Daniel Ellsberg’s decision to shred the web of lies spun by government officials in their successful effort to pursue full-scale … Continue reading

Posted in history, mainstream media, New York Times, Occupy Wall Street, police state | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Li’l Tom’s big lie about Walmart and women


Some Hollywood stars like to lend their names to noble causes. Other stars, more down to earth, prefer using their celebrity to pad their bank accounts. From Huffington Post, an exceptionally shabby example of the latter: Critics are calling out … Continue reading

Posted in globalization, Great Recession, history, humor, liar, mainstream media, The New Depression, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Obama’s Penny pal (the rich take care of their own)


It’s no secret that six members of the Walton gang — the Walmart Waltons — have more wealth that the bottom 40 percent of American households. This is up from the 30 percent more they enjoyed in 2007, before the … Continue reading

Posted in Great Recession, history, mainstream media, The New Depression, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hitler’s food taster tells all


Margot Woelk, 95, recently confessed to having worked as a food taster for Adolph Hitler in his war headquarters, Wolf’s Lair, in what used to be East Prussia. She told the Associated Press that her job, like most jobs, had … Continue reading

Posted in cruel and unusual Texas, history, humor, Iraq war, mainstream media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

American exceptionalism, in a nutshell


Spokespersons for the U.S. military often refer to anti-American combatants as “bad guys,” as if opposition to U.S. foreign policy is the same as immorality. As if killing on behalf of the U.S. government makes you exempt from bad-guy status. … Continue reading

Posted in Iraq war, life in the big city, mainstream media, Obama, terrorism | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

NY Times to Denmark: Work harder, for less


From a weirdly negative front-page story about Denmark in the Sunday New York Times. In 2012, a little over 2.6 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 were working in Denmark, 47 percent of the total population and … Continue reading

Posted in Great Recession, humor, mainstream media, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ding dong! Maggie’s dirty deeds live on


From a 2004 column in Daily Mail on what happened to the working class in Britain after Margaret Thatcher’s successful crusade to kill the miners’ union: … What the [coal miners’] strike represented to us was a set of values … Continue reading

Posted in economic collapse, history, humor, mainstream media, pop music, The New Depression, unemployment, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

When life feels like ‘Groundhog Day’


I was biking through a school-free drug zone, on my way to a temp job, cultivating bad habits. Not overtly bad habits — Marlboros and meth, and so on — but rather those drab little habits meant to ensure the … Continue reading

Posted in economic collapse, humor, Iraq war, life in the big city, mainstream media, movies, Philadelphia, pop music | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘The Next Day’ a surprise gift to Bowie fans


David Bowie’s low visibility in recent years led to rumors he might be dying, or simply too bored to record again. At some point, he got over his ennui, if that’s what it was, and began working on The Next … Continue reading

Posted in arts, humor, mainstream media, pop music, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Cruising mean streets in the popemobile


The mainstream media love big, easy stories — natural disasters, inaugurations, papal elections. The election by the College of Cardinals of Jorge Bergoglio was a softball lobbed right over the plate, and the media knocked it out of the park. … Continue reading

Posted in fiction, mainstream media, movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments