THERE WAS THIS FORUM IN WASHINGTON YESTERDAY

Made up of journalists...left leaning journalists, speaking out on the cancellation of the news in this country. More specifically, why we hear wall to wall nonsense about runaway brides and whether or not jacko is more than a nickname ( if you follow my lead ). Or even more mundane bullshit about other celebrities like Paris Hilton...if you want the scoop on her, may I suggest the South Park episode that nails her to the wall
better than any news channel could ever dream. Why?
Because Paris and her ilk, in my opinion, are cartoons and by virtue of this, can only be exposed by other cartoons...like South Park, before you think I'm crazy...they get skewed by cartoonists so accurately because they are not news. They are celebrities, objects of entertainment best dealt with by people involved in the entertainment business. Like the guys at southpark, who have a much broader brush to expose shill shuckster drunken sluts like Paris (seriously...watch the episode ) .
Unless it was me that knocked up Brittany, I could give a shit what extra dancer/rapper type has been tagging her as far as the news is concerned. If he kills her in a jealous rage over Justin whats-his-name, that's borderline news.
That surfer girl that got her armed ripped off by a shark last year? That's not news...that's the chance you take occupying the same water that has creatures capable of ripping your arm off living in it.
That guy that cut off his own arm after getting lost and falling victim to a boulder? Nope...not news. That's just what happens when you hike alone in a dangerous area.
And while we are being beaten over the head by these stories, the real news passes by.
The torture of prisoners at gitmo and abu-whatever. The desecration of the KO-ran (which, by some twist of fate is surfacing again ) . The Downing street memo. In other words, the truth about whats going on in the world while we are inundated by stories about Paula Abdul fucking some contestant on american idol and how exactly did Oprah lose all that weight is being ignored or glossed over or buried in back channels.
If the media wants to focus on entertainment, fine...I like a train wreck just like the other guy, to hear the shit on celebrities is fun and vouyeristic. I enjoyed watching Paris suck that guys dick...it was funny, plus she doesn't know the first thing about giving head judging from the video. You'd think that someone like her could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch...but no...I've seen people at oktoberfest eat corn on the cob more erotically than Paris blew that guy...seriously. And furthermore, why do we judge celebrity on the ability to publisize sex acts? Thanks Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee...oh, and yeah, Brett Micheals. These two bitches have made a killing off of being lowlife sluts in a political environment that frowns on this kind of behavior and even legislates to censor high school cheerleaders. Explain that one...please.
There's entertainment and then there's news.This shit is entertainment, or in the loosest of definitions "social commentary".
Back to the forum.
Al Franken kicked things off, and while I respect his politics, he is an entertainer first and foremost. I don't doubt his sincerity, but I have a problem with the routine. He used a line in his statements that I heard him use on his radio show on air america not a week earlier and ( I think ) more than once. He likened the number of WMD saddam had up to the start of the war to how many he had...which was none. It got laughs on the show and it got laughs at the forum. Was he shooting for laughs or trying to make a point? I think he was trying to make a point, but his detractors would surely say otherwise.
To Al I would say that's entertainment...why not say " Saddam did not have any WMD's and our government lied to us" ... simple and to the point, no funny needed here.
It's really simple...This is news defined, something I learned in high school journalism...WHO...WHAT...WHERE and WHY.
Another Airamerica person spoke...Randy Rhodes...she was eloquent and heartfelt about establishing standards for what is news, one of the most interesting things she said was that according to a recent poll about free press in the world , the US was 29th...29th!!! The biggest exporter of democracy and freedom in the world ranks 29th in regard to free speech.
There's a simple explaination for this...the biggest exporter of democracy and freedom in the world is lying to it's own people and everyone else.
And it's becoming clear.