Summary: A scathing, informative chronicle of the Bush administration's failures in Iraq, yet one that speaks with compelling plausibility of all the missed opportunities to turn things around. Former U.S. diplomat and ambassador Peter Galbraith has been deeply and personally involved with the affairs of Iraq for over twenty years.…
I was recently provided with a copy of Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sells Wars, Spend Election’s, and Destroy Democracy, by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney. Written in 2005, this book is a great way to get an historical perspective on the state of journalism in America. “How bad have things gotten?” you might ask.
Our media system has become so dysfunctional that it repeatedly shows its willingness to stenographically report the Bush administration’s spin as truth “while rejecting expressions of reality as manifestations of partisanship that must be balanced with more spin.” (Page 4) The authors write that the media is a “lumbering and lazy media” that is ideally suited to the whims of “Karl Rove and the thousands of other paid liars.”
Our media system is so bad that American political discourse has become “meaningless.” There is no better way to exemplify the bankruptcy of the media system than the March 2003 press conference at which George Bush was not challenged by anyone in the Washington press corps with regard to the preemptive war he was about to launch. The members of the press “asked him not a single probing question about the flimsy case that had been made for war, nor its likely costs, nor about anything akin to an exit strategy.”
The authors argue that our elite reporters no longer show passion for truth, but rather passion only for access to those who wield power. Reporters for major media outlets have become …
Here’s a good way to save yourself $23.95: Don’t buy The Secret. It’s not that I’m against secrets in general, it’s just that I want to spare you from wasting your money on a hot new book called “The Secret,” a book that has hit a new low in shallow, self-absorbed and insipid hype. There is almost nothing in this book worth reading, which is a pretty amazing thing to say about a a book that is featured prominently at Borders and other large bookstores. It’s has even become the number one best selling hardcover advice book according to the NYT. And why wait to make it into a movie? Truly, why wait?
I don’t know much about Rhonda Byrne, the author, or her gaggle of “great writers, leaders, philosophers, doctors, and scientists.” Byrne presents an unlikely image of a sage. She attempts to strike a pensive blonde pose on that the inside flap, yet obliviously presents herself as strained, contorted and out of her element. Much like her book. Or am I too contaminated by the shallow, self-absorbed and insipid hype that one finds wrapped in that beautifully designed book jacket? Truly, the book jacket is gorgeous, though you would get equally helpful advice (perhaps more) by trying to “read” a Persian rug.
You’re impatient, though. You want the goods. Here they are: What can you say about a book based on the following premise: “Everything that’s coming into your life you are attracting into your life. …
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) [Thanks go to The Quotations Page for this one].
March 14th, (3/14), is International Pi day for a somewhat obvious reason. Visit this old site to hear Pi spoken in French (or many other languages) to hundreds of digits, plus links to much pi stuff. Here's the wiki for pi day. Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day 1879,…