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MOST_TRUSTED_NAME


                                        June 11, 2007

By chance, I've watched
some CNN twice in the          DROPOUT
last few months.



  During round one, there
  was endless celebrity
  drama about that funeral         Sorry I don't
  for the rich bimbo.              remember her
                                   name already.     I made the mistake
  But at least this                                  of commenting to
  was intermixed with                                a freind that I
  some information                                   thought it was
  about the                                          crazy they were
  Scooter Libby trial.                               spending so much time
                                                     on that silly story.
     The people I was visiting
     had more interest in the                              I was treated to
     second story than the first.                          a blow-by-blow
     (When the conviction finally                          summary of the
     came through, they got the                            woman's life,
     word over the phone, not                              each line made
     via tube.)                                            into a question
                                                           with the prefix:
     It seemed a shame to me                               "Did you know--".
     that they didn't have        SWORD_OR_SHIELD
     access to any better                                     It appears that
     media than this, living                                  it's a terrible
     out in the boonies...                                    tragedy to
                                                              never find true
        I asked (sarcastically) if CNN                        love in spite
        had covered the Seymour Hersh                         of your piles
        accusation that the Bush                              of cash.
        administration had been
        funding some AL Qaeda groups                          (Never finding
        lately, in their zeal to find                         true love if
        Sunni's to back against the                           you're flat
        Shites in Iraq.                                       busted is
                                                              presumably
                                                              okay.)


   Round Two:

Over a month later, I decided
to setup my laptop at an
odd lunch counter joint
("Chinito" on Mission near Chavez).

They had CNN on.  I sat with my
back to it, but occasionally got
interested in it in spite of my
self.

At one point: The blond bitch of an
announcer in fawcett curls was
shaking her head in disbelief that
the courts didn't buy into the idea
that the president can jail swarthy                  (Maybe she wants
fellows named Ali (with black                        Coulter's job?)
mustaches!) without any evidence.

                Another "anchor" (apt name, that)
                asks a probing question: how many
                people are refusing to return
                after Katrina, because they "don't
                trust the mayor or the governor".

                   Actually, as I          (Because after all, we know
                   understand it,          it was all the *local*
                   they're not             goverment's fault, nothing to
                   returning because       do with FEMA or the Prez.)
                   the local
                   government doesn't
                   want them back:
                   it's a golden
                   opportunity for
                   gentrification.




A no confidence vote on the
Attorney General is
repeatedly labeled "the
*drama* going on in                 Would it be too much trouble to
Washington".                        review why someone would
                                    want Gonzales out of there?
They introduced it with Orrin
Hatch calling it "political            How about asking some one in
theater".                              Congress besides Orrin Hatch
                                       what it's about?



However, on the plus side,
they were willing to be
"critical" of Bush:

"Is Bush a Lame Duck?"

It's a *terrible* thing that
he can't get his way on that
immigration bill...

They also did a bit making
fun of Bush's European tour,
finishing up with a               It left me wondering
"Carefully choreographed          about his itinerary:
event":                           did he just skip the
                                  countries where he's
   "Where is the                  likely to be arrested
   love?  Albania!"               for war crimes?



I was impressed that they covered
the "Risky Strategy" story: the US
is arming Sunni factions in Iraq.

Probing question asked of General
Somebody: "Doesn't it bother you at
all that in funding these Sunni
groups in order to combat Al Qaeda,             Wait a minute...
you're giving money to people that              to combat "Al Qaeda"?
have recently been killing US                   But, "Al Qaeda" is
troops?"                                        a Sunni group!
                                                How, in *this* day
General Somebody:                               and age, can anyone
                                                suggest we went into
  "well you know we                             Iraq after Al Qaeda?
   can't kill               Yes: "we            Al Qaeda wasn't operating
   everybody, we have       can't kill          in Iraq until after we
   to make some deals       everbody".          *got* there... the US
   for convenience                              actions are apparently
   and they may be            It sounds         directly resulting in a
   short-lived."              like a line       *spread* of Al Qaeda!
                              in a Ted
                              Rall cartoon.

Back to the good old
"realpolitik"... after
all, it's always worked
so *well* in the past...
                                       "You're watching CNN, the
                                       most trusted name in news."

                                       And that's what I'm afraid of.

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