| Author | Message | ||
     Mustt_mustt Citizen Username: Mustt_mustt Post Number: 573 Registered: 8-2003 |
Say, Did Tony Snow Really Get a New Job? Thank You, Fox News By KONA LOWELL A few years ago a study was conducted by the Program on International Policy (PIPA) at the University of Maryland and Knowledge Networks to gauge Americans' perceptions on the Iraq war and determine their degree of support for it. An amazing coincidence was found. It seems that those who relied on Fox News for their information were more likely to suffer from misperceptions than those who watched other networks! The polling revealed that 48% incorrectly believed that evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda had been proven, 22% that weapons of mass destruction were discovered in Iraq, and 25% swore on stacks of Bibles that world public opinion favored the US going to war with Iraq. In all, 60% of Fox viewers held fast to at least one of these three misperceptions. As you can imagine, support for the war rose dramatically and proportionally according to the degree of misperception. And while I will fight to the death to preserve others' rights to be willfully--and even dangerously--ignorant, too much Fox News might be a bad thing. Here are some warning signs that it could be time to get your news elsewhere: You firmly believe that Saddam Hussein personally flew one of the planes into the World Trade Center and parachuted out at the last second. You believe that all the WMD were secretly shipped to Venezuela. You believe that any country that begins with I-R-A must be bombed into a pre-Stone Age, radioactive pile of rubble, just to be on the safe side. You believe this will cause the surviving inhabitants to love us. You believe that Jesus, like democracy, can be delivered from 30,000 feet or in short, fully-automatic bursts. Your find nothing unusual in a young, athletic woman suddenly dying alone in Joe Scarborough's office, after his premature resignation from Congress amid rumors of infidelity following his divorce. Happens all the time. You would let Joe Scarborough date your sister. You know more about missing white women than any of your friends. You think Brit Hume is handsome. You consider Fox to be living up to their motto, "Fair and Balanced" by allowing Alan Colmes to audit Hannity's lectures. You think Alan Colmes is a liberal. You have named your three children O'Reilly, Hannity and Cavuto. All three are girls. You believe that war in Iraq has been a smashing success. You can't wait to watch other people fight the next one. You believe George W. Bush is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. You think that Jesus could learn a thing or two from George. You would go hunting with Dick Cheney. You would go hunting and drinking with Dick Cheney. You believe Helen Thomas is bin Laden's mother. You cannot understand why "Orwellian" is considered a negative term. You believe Ann Coulter is a voice of Christian compassion and reason and have a poster of her on your bedroom wall, wearing a leather bustier, thigh-high black boots and holding a whip while kicking a kitten. You wish everyone would quit bullying O'Reilly, especially that Jew Al Franken. You have removed the words "loofa" and "falafel" from your vocabulary. Okay, they were never really in your vocabulary, but if they were you would remove them. You find the female Fox reporters extremely sexy. Something about whores with gravitas. You believe that the Palestinians should go back to their own country. You didn't notice that Tony Snow got a new job. You believe Fox News is actually a branch of the United States government. You are right for once. Kona Lowell is the author of The Solid Green Birthday and Other Fables and runs the Dolphin. He lives in Hawai'i and can be reached through his website: konalowell.com | ||
| anon Supporter Username: Anon Post Number: 2713 Registered: 6-2002 |
You believe George W. Bush is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. George Bush is the Holy Grail?????? So Dark the Con of Man | ||
| Strawberry Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 7270 Registered: 10-2001  |
commie b.s. | ||
| llama Citizen Username: Llama Post Number: 786 Registered: 5-2001  |
McCarthyberry! Just what everyone needs to be regurgitated from the darkness of our past. Some people never learn. | ||
| tom Citizen Username: Tom Post Number: 5013 Registered: 5-2001 |
He said "commie." I don't know, kind of makes you feel young again, doesn't it? | ||
| Strawberry Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 7271 Registered: 10-2001 |
The good ole days when The Soviet Union ruled the Carter Administration. | ||
| tom Citizen Username: Tom Post Number: 5014 Registered: 5-2001 |
Where do you get this stuff? It really is entertaining sometimes. | ||
| Strawberry Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 7272 Registered: 10-2001 |
Carter has inveigled himself into so many foreign-policy crises and made them exponentially worse that it’s becoming more and more difficult to believe it isn’t done with purpose. His efforts to defuse the North Korean crisis deflected what had been until then a rather effective strategy by Bill Clinton to use a military threat to stop Pyongyang from producing nukes. After Carter jumped into the negotiations uninvited – violating the Logan Act – Carter’s prestige within his party and the US forced Clinton to accept the ridiculous Framework agreement that allowed Pyongyang to go nuclear within months. Carter has done the same with Haiti as well, and has traveled the globe to support many a leftist dictator or autocrat as long as they opposed American interests. Carter almost lost the Cold War and allowed the start of the Islamofascist terror war during his single term in office. His naiveté in dealing with the Soviet Union, captured perfectly by kissing the jowled cheek of the Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev, led him to believe that worldwide Communism was here to stay and that we could do nothing about it. He also assured Americans that we had nothing to fear from the Soviets, who really weren’t bad guys – right up until they invaded Afghanistan. Even then, his response in boycotting the Olympic Games of 1980 has to remain one of the most embarrassing examples of displayed impotence in our nation’s history. In November 1979, after pulling his support from the Shah in the highly strategic nation of Iran and watching him fall to an Islamist uprising, the same nutcases sacked our embassy in Teheran, an undeniable act of war. Instead of giving an ultimatum for the return of our embassy and the release of our diplomatic staff, Carter sat for 444 excruciating days, doing little except pleading publicly for mercy. He staged one – one! – military response to the crisis months later, which failed miserably. The failure to act not only allowed the rickety Khomeini government to survive, but gave Islamofascism a tremendous boost of prestige throughout the Middle East. It also allowed Iran to become a center for the funding and direction of terrorist activities for the past three decades, a legacy that has finally engulfed us since 9/11. Other administrations have made their own mistakes in remaining blind to the threat of Islamist terror, but Carter played midwife to it and enabled it to survive when he had every opportunity and a perfect casus belli to kill it in its cradle." | ||
| Nohero Supporter Username: Nohero Post Number: 5446 Registered: 10-1999  |
If anyone wants to read the original version of the (somewhat slanted) piece above, you can check it out at - http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/006028.php Along with that writer's other views. As for the substance of the above, I think it's naive to blame everything on Carter and the Iran crisis. After all, after Carter, the Reagan administration actually traded arms with that regime. In addition, Bin Laden didn't come out of Iran, he gained power by exploiting resentment against the regime in Saudi Arabia, and by extension against the United States, which had a military presence in Saudi Arabia. I could go on, but there is plenty of blame to go around. Blaming Carter for everything, actually blinds one to the real causes of our current problems, and therefore keeps us from being able to find solutions. | ||
| tom Citizen Username: Tom Post Number: 5016 Registered: 5-2001 |
It's all part of the right-wing myth of St. Ronald, who saved the world from everything. He writes, "what had been until then a rather effective strategy by Bill Clinton..." How far do you think you'd have to dig to find this same author denouncing Clinton's strategy? It's cute how Carter's two responses to the Afghanistan invasion are immediately dismissed. If Carter had not boycotted the 1980 Olympics, I don't doubt for a second that this selfsame commentator would criticize that choice as well. And how he ignores that the incoming Reagan team undermined any attempts at early release of the hostages. It's all bash the Democrats and history began with St. Ron. Childlike fantasizing for kool-aid-drunk ideologues. | ||
| joel dranove Citizen Username: Jdranove Post Number: 522 Registered: 1-2006 |
Carter was the worst president, bar none. What fraise wrote, or cadged, is all true. What is false is the false hope the carpenter from Plains will just disappear. jd | ||
| Dr. Winston O'Boogie Citizen Username: Casey Post Number: 2138 Registered: 8-2003  |
It's hard to take someone seriously who says such things in such an authoritative manner. A handful of names come immediately to mind who were indisputably worse - Nixon, Buchanan, Hoover, Harding. That's not even counting others whose presidential awfulness is obvious, although their contention for the title of "worst" might be up for debate - Grant, A. Johnson, Coolidge. And of course W, who by the end of his term might be a contender with Buchanan as the worst U.S. president of all time. Carter was no doubt a mediocrity in office, but didn't do the sort of serious damage to the U.S. that some other presidents did. | ||
| Strawberry Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 7273 Registered: 10-2001 |
"Carter was no doubt a mediocrity in office," Carter was a jackass and anyone who disagrees is a jackass. | ||
| Nohero Supporter Username: Nohero Post Number: 5447 Registered: 10-1999 |
"Carter was a jackass and anyone who disagrees is a jackass." Well, at least it was an original thought this time.  | ||
| Strawberry Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 7274 Registered: 10-2001 |
actually, no it wasn't.  | ||
| 3ringale Citizen Username: Threeringale Post Number: 218 Registered: 1-2006 |
I only agreed with one of these. I must not be watching enough Fox Snooze. Citizenship Test These 40 questions have been carefully designed to test your qualifications as a citizen. The test is self-administered, but please be honest. Answer each question with “Agree” or “Disagree.” The more questions you can answer with “Agree,” the better-qualified you are to be a good citizen of 21st century America. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Politicians really care about the people’s welfare. 2. The media really care about truth. 3. Big Business really cares about free markets. 4. Education administrators really care about learning. 5. Neoconservatives really care about freedom and democracy. 6. Generals really care about their men. 7. Medicare has made health care more affordable. 8. The Federal Reserve knows how to manage the economy. 9. The Supreme Court understands the Constitution best. 10. George Bush understands what’s going on in the world better than you do. 11. Good citizens should trust their government. 12. Scientific inventions always make life better. 13. American education aims for excellence and equality. 14. Random body searches of air passengers help stop terrorists. 15. Other countries want to be like America. 16. America is a Christian nation. 17. America only fights wars for freedom and democracy. 18. John F. Kennedy was a great leader. 19. American living standards have always improved and will continue to do so. 20. We fought World War II because of Hitler’s persecution of the Jews. 21. The stock market should always go up. 22. The American who has most resembled Jesus Christ is Abraham Lincoln. 23. Public schools make good citizens. 24. Despite some fanatics, Islam is a religion of peace, as President Bush has assured us. 25. All religions are similar and should be tolerated. 26. Our Constitution establishes the proposition that “all men are created equal.” 27. Our Constitution guarantees a “wall of separation” between religion and government. 28. The Founding Fathers intended America to always be “a nation of immigrants.” 29. We are fortunate that leadership of our nation has been entrusted to a wise, godly man like President Bush. 30. The Civil War was fought to free the slaves. 31. Walter Cronkite is “the most trustworthy man in America.” 32. American soldiers never commit atrocities like enemy soldiers do. 33. School integration in the U.S. since the 1954 Supreme Court decision has been one of history’s great success stories. 34. I watch the evening news and read USA TODAY so I am always well-informed about the world. 35. Affirmative action helps fulfill Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream that all Americans will be judged by the content of their character rather than by their skin color. 36. Mexican immigrants are strengthening America’s family values. 37. The press is always on guard to expose wrongdoing by public officials. 38. Bill Bennett is helping to restore old-fashioned virtues in America. 39. Only the U.S. and Israel, and perhaps Britain, can be trusted with nuclear weapons. 40. Wherever there is a serious social or economic problem, the government should fix it. http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/cgi-bin/wilson.cgi/American%20Empire/Citizensh ip_Test.html?seemore=y | ||
| anon Supporter Username: Anon Post Number: 2718 Registered: 6-2002 |
By that test not a lot of folks are qualified to be good citizens of 21st Century America. | ||
| Dr. Winston O'Boogie Citizen Username: Casey Post Number: 2139 Registered: 8-2003 |
straw, I've told you before and I'll say it again - get yourself a dictionary or thesaurus. "Mediocrity" is a pejorative. I can understand how you might think it a good thing, but trust me, the next time you hear someone use that word, they aren't giving you a compliment. | ||
| Strawberry Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 7275 Registered: 10-2001 |
Whatever it is you think he was as usual you're wrong. Carter was a disaster, a joke, a clown and a disgrace. Nothing mediocre about that. Typical lib, feels somehow he can defend the Carter administration as anything other than what it was. Clinton was mediocre, not Jimmy Peanuts. Just another reason why real Americans laugh at libs. libs are morons. | ||
| Dr. Winston O'Boogie Citizen Username: Casey Post Number: 2140 Registered: 8-2003 |
whatever - if you're reading anything I wrote as a defense of Carter, you're showing once again that the only thing that is dwarfed by your lilliputian vocabulary is your reading comprehension. regardless, those of us who prefer to listen to historians instead of barking heads on Fox News know that Carter was not a good president, but a lot of them were far worse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_U.S._presidents | ||
| tom Citizen Username: Tom Post Number: 5017 Registered: 5-2001 |
To straw, all those things are true because Carter was a Democrat. There are Democrats unborn, destined to be president in 50-60-70 years. They are disasters, jokes and clowns, disgraces all, because they will be democrats. Likewise, unborn Republicans are wise, steadfast, among the best presidents ever (past or present) by virtue of the fact that at some time they will join the GOP. One doesn't have to think very hard -- at all, really -- once you understand the basic premises. You'd think they'd be harder on Buchanan, who left the union in two pieces at the verge of civil war; after all, he was a Democrat, too. | ||
| The Notorious S.L.K. Citizen Username: Scrotisloknows Post Number: 1513 Registered: 10-2005 |
tom- This is the second board where you posted something really idiotic. Drinking too much this weekend? -SLK | ||
| tom Citizen Username: Tom Post Number: 5028 Registered: 5-2001 |
You're right behind straw in the kool-aid line, asking for seconds. What are you anyway, his mother? Let him answer for himself. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider  Post Number: 14516 Registered: 1-2003  |
Thank you for bringing us that piece, mustt_mustt. It gave me a few good laughs. | ||
| notehead Supporter Username: Notehead Post Number: 3331 Registered: 5-2001  |
Straw, I'm guessing your SAT scores were around... maybe 900? Am I right? | ||
| tom connelly Citizen Username: Brightontom Post Number: 56 Registered: 3-2005 |
Carter was the worst, his only salvation was that he didn't rob & steal while in office. | ||
| The Notorious S.L.K. Citizen Username: Scrotisloknows Post Number: 1520 Registered: 10-2005 |
tom- the kool-aid I drink is not nearly as bad as the crack you smoke. My post to you has nothing to do with Straw or his mother, mr. reading comprehension. See Notehead's childish last post and apply to yourself. -SLK | ||
| Strawberry Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 7294 Registered: 10-2001 |
Notehead's talking SAT scores..What's next, memories from his prom?  | ||
| The Notorious S.L.K. Citizen Username: Scrotisloknows Post Number: 1523 Registered: 10-2005 |
Strawberry- I doubt Notey went to his prom... -SLK | ||
| Strawberry Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 7295 Registered: 10-2001 |
Probably hung out with his friends in the woods and smoked pot instead. | ||
| notehead Supporter Username: Notehead Post Number: 3346 Registered: 5-2001 |
Actually, my prom date/girlfriend at the time was Miss Teen New Jersey, and that's the truth. And I'd venture a guess that I knew more about what America stands for back in 1987 than Straw does now. | ||
| Bob K Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 11665 Registered: 5-2001 |
Now I am sure Notes is Joe Izuzu!!! But, I guess there is a chance, although very small, a real Babe could go for one of those sensitive, artistic musician types.  | ||
| The Notorious S.L.K. Citizen Username: Scrotisloknows Post Number: 1526 Registered: 10-2005 |
Yeah Notey, I bet you were a great date whining about GW and all...such a way to woo the heart of a young girl... | ||
| notehead Supporter Username: Notehead Post Number: 3349 Registered: 5-2001 |
Actually, GW wasn't on the radar yet. The major concern at that time was nuclear war, as depicted in "The Day After." Anyway, I didn't need to woo her, she made it clear that she was warm for my form. Hey, I was the lead in school's play AND musical, I was on the track team, I played in a cool band, I was in all the honors courses, I composed music for our madrigal group and for our jazz band, I got to drive my mom's red 65 Mustang convertible, and I had long curly rock-n-roll hair... I didn't realize it at the time, but I was a CATCH.  | ||
| Oldstone Citizen Username: Rogers4317 Post Number: 727 Registered: 6-2004  |
i'm amazed you're heterosexual. | ||
| Bob K Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 11668 Registered: 5-2001 |
Does Pippi know about this? | ||
| Pippi Supporter Username: Pippi Post Number: 2265 Registered: 8-2003  |
that he's heterosexual? Uh.... yeah | ||
| Strawberry Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 7298 Registered: 10-2001 |
no, that he dated Miss Teen New Jersey. | ||
| Pippi Supporter Username: Pippi Post Number: 2266 Registered: 8-2003 |
oh yeah. I knew about that one. we have no secrets. that I am aware of   | ||
| dougw Citizen Username: Dougw Post Number: 833 Registered: 3-2005 |
So Notehead were you whining about Reagan at your prom? |
