Food for thought

From the Milwaukee Shepherd Express Media Musings column by Dave Berkman:

• Nearly every front-page headline following the State of the Union address read something like “President Calls for Effort to End U.S. Addiction to Foreign Oil.” Why then, when the media learned the next day that the Department of Energy’s budget for developing alternative power sources has been slashed, didn’t the following morning’s headlines scream “President’s Promise to Expand Alternative Energy Research Was a Lie”? Do the media accept a role of merely serving as passive conduit for the administration’s bullshit of the moment?

It's problems like this that make me wonder if Journalism is really the career I want to pursue. If I were in the newsroom there's no way I'd keep my mouth shut. Chances are I'd not have a job very long.

The thing is, I didn't listen to the State of the Union. I absolutely cannot listen to that man speak. I get annoyed when store signs have an apostrophe in the wrong place. Listening to him butcher the English language is just something I can't abide. Plus, I hate him and everything he stands for. My approach to politics currently is similar to Don't Ask, Don't Tell (which, incidentally, recent reports have shown that "campaign" cost US taxpayers $364 million over the past 10 years) - If I don't know how bad I can't get so angry. And clearly we were dumb enough to reelect the bastard. I get so frustrated when I get involved in what this man is doing and has done to our country. I mean, it was bad before. But now he's an out and out criminal and no one is willing to do anything about it. It's enough to make me scream. So it's hands off for me.