Violence Against Women - Media Bias Edition

I was listening to an NPR report on John Boehner a couple days ago.  The reporter was insinuating that Mr. Boehner's leadership was lacking because he could not compel the GOP caucus in the House to support bills that his office was bringing to the House floor.  The example used was the recent continuation of the Violence Against Women Act.

The final bill passed in the House by a vote of 286 - 138.  Only 87 Republicans voted for this version of the bill.  Other Republicans had issues with the bill that ranged from questions of Constitutionality with regards to expanding tribal law enforcement authority beyond tribal members to ideological issues with providing abortion services to rape victims.

For the record, I think the Constitution matters.  Questions regarding Constitutionality matter.  I do not know if their concerns were fully legitimate as I have not studied the issue with any depth.

Also for the record, the GOP needs to get off the anti-abortion wagon.

Back to the issue of Mr. Boehner's leadership, I find it curious that he is being criticized for bringing a bill to the floor that passed the House and was signed into law as this is being typed.  He is the Speaker of the House.  He is not the Speaker of the GOP in the House.  Mr. Boehner's position exists to serve every American. 

So he brought a bill with bi-partisan support to the floor for a vote.  That is is job.

Isn't bi-partisanship something we want?  Or does bi-partisanship only count when the GOP is caving to a Democratic initiative?

Can You Hear The Hate?

Probably not.

During a recent interview on NPR, ESPN's Howard Bryant made an analogy between the remorseful cyclist Lance Armstrong and a theoretic spokesman for the NRA.

I mean, I think the big problem that I had with listening to Lance over the last couple of days was how controlled – how much he was trying to control this confession. That someone had put out a very funny tweet in my timeline that other day that said, "With this much remorse he could be the next spokesperson for the NRA." I mean, it was really that controlling. And I'm listening to this, and I'm thinking, he's not sorry at all about this.

But when a listener later went to the NPR website to get the transcript, the offensive remark had been scrubbed.....er...edited.

Just imagine if this had been Fox News instead.....

Media Antics - NPR Edition

I was listening to the Diane Rehm show last Friday.  There was a discussion about defense priorities and relations in the Middle East and southern Asia.  There was a part of the discussion where the panelists were discussing future troop strength in Afghanistan and a number of options were presented.

One of the panelists suggested that Mr. Obama would probably work towards the middle option.

The asshat of the panel chimed in with "As he does on every issue."  A classic example of why Ms. Rehm needs a staff "truth detector" for her program.  Whenever things get a little....thick, shall we say....the "truth detector" would fire off a klaxon or two to let the audience know that the discussion has significantly deviated from reality.

'Cause the reality is that while Mr. Obama has taken a centrist position on some issues, he has taken some pretty leftist positions on others.  Health care comes to mind.  Deficit spending and taxation are also areas where he is well left of the center of American political opinion.

I genuinely enjoy listening to NPR.  Mostly.

But it is instances like this that make me not only want to end federal subsidies for NPR, but to levy confiscatory taxes on the organization so we can recoup the money wasted on them in years past.

Popular Science Fiction & Fantasy

Some time ago, I posted something on Facebook about a then current poll being conducted by NPR to determine the 100 best books in the science fiction and fantasy genre.  I let the poll fall from my concerns and moved on.

It happens.

Serendipitously, I ran across the following graphic that presents the results of the poll.

Click the link and enjoy!

There is one deceptive aspect of the poll.  Some of the books listed are really series.  Some of the series are trilogies....or longer....rather than being discrete books.

One disappointing result is that the "Fire and Ice" series came it as high as it did.  I am currently working through that series.  Mostly, because I was able to purchase the first four books as a set for about one third of the cost of buying them separately.  It isn't a bad series.  It doesn't rate to be the fifth best book/series either.

In any case, the above chart provides a good starting point for those that have not delved too deeply into the realm of science fiction and fantasy.

Another Piece Of Invaluable Information

Terry Gross of Fresh Air interviewed author Michael Lewis yesterday.  Mr. Lewis has written a book about the people that made millions, perhaps billions, from the recent stock market collapse.  He started his book, "Big Short", in an attempt to understand why these people has such a different perception of the market than was the case for the rest of Wall Street.

The interview is quite interesting.  One facet of the story that I thought was fascinating was that all of the people Mr. Lewis studied had attempted to warn Wall Street in one way or another.  They were ignored and the rest is history.

I continue to find these kinds of stories interesting.  There is no single cause for the 2008 collapse.  As we continue to learn more about what really happened and why it happened, we continue to find a variety of causes the confluence of which resulted in our current economic difficulties.

A cautionary note, I don't endorse Ms. Gross or her program "Fresh Air".  I spend a great deal of time screaming at my radio whenever I am listening to her show because of her lack of curiosity regarding some subjects and her outright bias regarding others. 

She occasionally has a gem of a program.  This is one of those occasions.