Odds and Ends

Is there anyone on TV with worse manners than Hardball’s Chris Matthews? Is there anyone more egotistical, more self-serving and self-absorbed? Maybe Charlie Rose, but that horserace is too close to call. Chris Matthews can’t wait for his guests to stop their nonsense so he can talk. All opinions other than his are nonsense. He’s an equal opportunity interrupter. Whether you’re a head of state, a panelist or some poor moke the producers pulled in to add color, Chris Matthews will step on your lines and not allow a complete thought to escape your lips. He usually interrupts to say a funny. He rarely is funny. No one gets a greater kick out of Chris Matthews than Chris Matthews. He ended his latest show by suggesting that if TV watchers feel their news shows are biased they should switch the channel. Find a news show that is biased in the other direction, he counseled. It’s up to the viewer to ferret out the truth. It’s up to us to weigh the information and arrive at an analysis of what is going on in the world. It’s true, all news shows are biased. But if everything that filters down to us is bullshit, then how do we arrive at the truth, you silly hyper fast-talking conceited twit? Answer me that. The MSM--whether left-biased or right-biased--only gets managed news coming out of the White House. Weigh the information? A ton of crap weighs a ton. And it’s crap. And what about Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) the new Senate Democratic leader? I’m getting a bad feeling. I had gone off the previous Minority leader,Tom Daschle (D-SD) way before the South Dakotans handed him his hat. Who or what stole his spine, I’m not sure, but in every instance during the last four years when the Democrats needed a strong voice, Daschle caved. Now Harry Reid is pushing for the Republicans and Democrats to quickly pass the intelligence bill. He is urging the President to get tough and demand that Congress pass the bill. Surely Harry Reid has been around long enough (he is beginning his fourth six-year term in the Senate) to realize the Prez doesn’t want the bill to pass, House Speaker Hastert doesn’t want the bill to pass, the Pentagon doesn’t want the bill to pass. Why is Reid maintaining the fiction that the White House is pushing for passage of the intelligence bill? The White House thugs don’t want the bill to pass. It’s obvious. Reid bothers me because he’s a Mormon. Whoa! Before you give yourself a wedgie, read up on the Latter Day Saints Mormon religion. It’s bizarre! A good biography of Joseph Smith who founded the religion in 1830--he said the Bible’s Garden of Eden is in Missouri--can be found at: www.lds-mormon.com/jsmith.shtml. And for all their hawking family values and HUGE families and father knows best, the divorce rate in Mormon Utah is 4.3 per 1000 (the national divorce rate is 4.1 per 1000). And child abuse in Mormon Utah is 8.13 per 1000. Reid is against abortion. And you can’t get a straight answer out of him about how he REALLY feels about Roe v. Wade. Also, he likes Justice Antonin Scalia. Yikes! At least Reid says the Supreme Court’s Clarence Thomas is a fool and a bad Justice. Other oddments.... Turns out that Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan was even worse than we thought. The man who was a defensive back for the Arizona Cardinal’s football team and who decided to fight a war rather than do battle on football fields died in Afghanistan last April 22. It wasn’t long before reports that he was killed by friendly fire hit the news. The December 5th Washington Post ran a story on the real story. And it’s maddening. Once again, the Pentagon would rather protect its own than tell the truth. Although Pat Tillman never shirked his duties and he fought bravely, the Pentagon burnished the tales of his last hours in order to downplay the fact that he died because of military errors and because raw recruits were firing their guns wildly. Pat Tillman deserved better than to be treated like a Pentagon-fabricated Jessica Lynch lie-of-the-week war story. The Pentagon’s only interest is in protecting itself and maintaining the status quo. The White House can only keep its crimes hidden by protecting the Pentagon and maintaining the status quo. Pay no attention to anything the Bushmaton says. He’s programmed to tell the truth only if it supports a lie.