The debate over the propriety of intelligence-gathering by the Bush administration is complicated, and the programs themselves can lose their secrecy (and effectiveness) the more they are debated. The media aren't monitoring the debate. They started the fight by blowing the lid off the NSA activity in the New York Times, and they're pushing the fight day and night, clearly coming down against Bush, that arrogantly unconstitutional rogue. When given a choice between more information about our intelligence-gathering methods and less safety, or less information about our intelligence-gathering and more safety, which do the public choose? The public tends to... continue reading
The new year's TV sensation is unmissably Fox's "American Idol." How big? Bill Carter of the The New York Times reported the show's executives have been "startled into silence" at the 2006 numbers. It's a juggernaut, widely viewed by all age groups. Two years ago, I sat down to watch an episode, not because I wanted to (I certainly didn't), because I felt the professional obligation. I confess: I was hooked. It was dramatic, it was hilarious, it was heartwarming, it was professional - all the things that make for good television. Sadly, this year, you can add another descriptor:... continue reading
If you thought Teddy Kennedy's pratfall over Samuel Alito's membership in a conservative Princeton alumni group was embarrassing (quoting magazine satire articles as if they were real), you should see what ABC's "Nightline" tried to pull last week. The subject was the ethics of judicial travel. As investigative reporter Brian Ross explained in the middle of the piece, "Justices at all ends of the political spectrum take plenty of these trips to lots of nice places, all paid for by somebody else." But this was no expose on justices "at all ends of the political spectrum." It was a shameless... continue reading
Turn on a pop radio station today and you're likely to get an earful of stupidity. I don't mean the kind of innocent dumb pop song of the old days. I mean songs that glorify lust and greed, stupidly. One of the biggest radio hits right now is Nelly's song "Grillz," all about the goofy new rapper trend of "grills," diamond-encrusted dentures over a full set of teeth, like the one worn by his rapping partner on the song, a white "artist" named Paul Wall. At its low point, Nelly urges the audience to "rob da jewelry store and tell... continue reading
This year's Martin Luther King Day celebration was a wild and woolly collection of left-wing blather. In Washington, showing remarkable feats of amnesia that he was ever vice president in a corrupt administration, Al Gore gave a speech claiming President Bush was a law-breaking president and his illegal actions a threat to the survival of our democracy, an extraordinary accusation for even this man to make, given the same policies were executed by the Clinton-Gore administration. In New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin announced that God wanted New Orleans to be a "chocolate" city again. When challenged that this might make... continue reading
It's become a cliche to note that the Golden Globe Awards voter pool is an extremely small clique for such a big-buzz awards show. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) boasts "about 90" members, many of them Europeans. But their influence over the Oscars, and then the culture, is enormous. And what they are asking us to celebrate, with increasing regularity, are standards that echo the decadent culture of Old Europe, in love with illicit sex, drugs, dysfunctionality - and even anti-Western political weirdness. In addition to George Clooney's supporting actor award for his conspiracy-theorizing, anti-war-for-oil flick "Syriana," the Best... continue reading
Since November, the media have carried Rep. John Murtha around on their shoulders like a conquering hero for his opposition to the war in Iraq. They've thrown around the words "war hero" like clowns throwing candy at a parade. Murtha was broadcast far and wide attacking Vice President Cheney for his five deferments from Vietnam, suggesting these chicken hawks don't like any suggestions about how to fight a war. If Murtha were a Republican accusing a Democrat like this, we know what would happen. The so-called nonpartisan, objective, "mainstream" media would either (a) totally ignore him as an irrelevant, obscure... continue reading
Just as the twelve days of Christmas were ending, as millions of Christians celebrated the sacred mysteries of the virgin birth of a messiah, NBC was preparing for a birth of an opposite kind: a new TV series mocking Jesus as just another amusingly clueless televised sidekick. The new show is called "The Book of Daniel," which is first and foremost a tired carbon of the outrageously dysfunctional suburban family shtick, but with the twist that this time, the Fool is played by Our Lord. Episcopal minister Daniel Webster is hooked on Vicodin and sees Jesus Christ regularly. His wife... continue reading
You can just feel the media's euphoria over lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleading guilty to fleecing clients and throwing goodies at legislators. Overnight, Rush Limbaugh could play an audio montage of various anchors and pundits proclaiming it was the biggest scandal to hit Washington in decades. Everywhere you turned, it was "huge," of "historic proportions." Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz called it "potentially delicious." The joy was reminiscent of old Post editor Ben Bradlee's line about Iran-Contra: "We haven't had this much fun since Watergate." This scandal is big - no questions about that. But by what measure is this... continue reading
It is a rite of passage for some TV critics to take stock of the worst of the past year's television. Entertainment Weekly Online, no nest of prudes and scolds, has compiled its own list of the "ten moments that made us squirm the most." Some of them were the kind that might be missed by most on pay cable. On HBO's miniseries "Rome," a woman convinced her lesbian lover to seduce her own brother as part of a plot to destroy Caesar. On HBO Signature's serial-killer drama "Epitafios," the show's star killer opened his victim's mouth with hooks and... continue reading