No Commentary Necessary

From the Register's background story on the Jetseta Gage kidnapping, rape and murder.

At some point in the mid-1990s, Jetseta Gage's mother, Trena, and James Bentley connected while talking on CB radios. After Trena's son, Ian, was born in July 1997, she suspected James, who lived in Quasqueton, was the father. A court-ordered paternity test proved he was not.

Okay, You knew I couldn't resist. I will comment on the story itself. I thought that Jordan and Jacobs piece was very strong.

Bergergate? Nah... nothin' to see here

But hey, he was doing it for a good cause. Anything to protect the Clinton legacy and to keep Chimpy Hitlebush-bush-hitler-hitler-hitler from being reelected.

The price: a $10,000 fine and no jail time.

If a Republican were caught doing something like this, the press would be lit up like a Xmas tree.

I'm Nonplussed...

... as I find myself agreeing with Rekha Basu. Rekha has a very reasonable piece about parental notification, (no silly... no she's not advocating notifying you if your 14 year-old daughter is getting an abortion - I'll assume she's still against that) the public schools and sexual predators.

I was expecting a pro-forma, progressive, politically correct apologia for Trena Gage. I was pleasantly surprised.

29 Does Some Digging

And finds another disturbing parenting techniques hidden in a story on the horrors of (scary Phantom of the Opera organ music) the minimum wage. (scary Phantom of the Opera organ music)

Oh, what the hell Mikey, I'll bite... Let's ignore for the moment that Ms. Charbonneau proved to be a mom who enabled her hopped up meth head boyfriend to beat her little boy nearly to death... (And yes - boring old me - I'm mad at the mom again.)

Question: Is the original QC Times story "straight reporting", opinion or...

(scary Phantom of the Opera organ music)

something else?

Congratulate me... I'm engaged!

...in a comments exchange with "Mikey" from Named Pipe. (cool blog name, BTW!) He's taken upon himself to defend the MSM and The Des Moines Register in particular. I've done much writing today - but it's all here- sparring with Mikey.

Sadness. Bitterness. Anger. Disgust. Opinion!!! This comment thread has got it all baby!

In the words of Cake

Somebody's got to say it all.

Don't blame society. Don't blame DHS. And it ain't poverty people. Blame that sorry, worthless sack of procreating protoplasm Trena Gage, who's now expecting everyone to feel sorry for her.

Once again, it's a good thing that I'm not philosopher king, as the punishment I would meet out to Ms. Gage would surely be unconstitutional.

It Speaks Volumes...

...but more about the Terri Schiavo insanity going on at The Corner than Rev. Jackson's credibility and motives.

Just check this out:

Kathryn, I yield to no one in my appreciation for the Rev. Jesse Jackson's cynicism, but lookit, have there been any other Democratic party figures of his stature who have taken a clear and firm moral stand on Terri Schiavo's behalf? There's no percentage in defending Schiavo's right to life for Democrats, but Jesse Jackson is there.

If you're finding yourself on the same side as the Rev. Jesse when he's on his regular beat - making hay on troubles and human tragedy - uh, I think it may be time to reevaluate your own stance on the issue.

This is more than politics making for strange bedfellows. This is more evidence of a fundamental realignment and the growing uselessness of the old Left Wing / Right Wing dialectic. Both sides want to use big government to intervene in the personal lives of individuals when they think it's the right and moral thing to do.

Once again, a plague on both their houses.

Why Do We Need Blogs...

... to supplement and keep and eye on the MSM?

No need to look further than this joker.



You can almost smell that odd MSM combination of fear and contempt from neophyte - I'm sorry... "fledgling" - columnist Ken Fuson in today's Register. Crap, all of that money for J-School down the toilet!

Long distance call to Vieques, Puerto Rico: "My God, Rekha!!! What'll we do??? Those bloggers have stolen the keys and the meds and the f-ing lunatics will be running the asylum if we don't... don't... uh, don't... Okay, I'll calm down. Yes, I'm listening. Okay... yeah, I got it. Just stick to lame attempts at satire, ad-hominem pompous attack, reductionist redirection, strawmen and the same old tired liberal elitist claptrap. Thanks Rekha, see you next week. Say hi to Rob for me."

A frightened but fair minded fledgling columnist's tutorial to his readers on blogs and bloggers:

Perhaps you have not heard of blogs. The name derives from a combination of "blather" and "logorrhea."

Oh man Ken... that's rich. Very witty indeed. I can really see the work you put into that.

This has proved to be a boon to people who apparently are (A) unemployed, (B) independently wealthy, or (C) no longer content to wait on hold to get their daily fix of attention from a radio talk-show host.

I personally am gainfully employed, am not independently wealthy and have not spent more that a couple of hours of my life listening to Rush or any other right-wing talk radio. I mostly - God help me - listen to NPR.

Let's put it another way: You know those people who like to write letters to the editor? A blog allows them to write letters all day long, on any subject they choose, without worrying about having the profanity removed or having any of their lunatic rants checked for accuracy.

"...those people who write letters to the editor..." You mean your readers who give a damn enough to respond...? Profane lunatic ranters...

Careful Ken, your disdain is showing.

Seriously son, (hey Ken, you don't mind if I come right back at you with an equally condescending tone, do ya...?) not even a nod in your piece to the real journalistic work being done by bloggers from across the political spectrum? You don't have to look far. Hell, I'll pick one example from today. Look at this and learn something.

As for accuracy... Either you haven't done your homework, you're dishonest or you're just not too quick on the uptake. Any fact-based piece on any blog with any kind of readership gets fact checked mercilessly the very day it's published.

And many confused citizens eventually conclude that it's easier to watch "The Price is Right" in their underwear than try to stay informed. (Emphasis mine)

Now you see, don't you. Those damned bloggers are confusing our poor, bonehead, li'l Abner/Daisy Mae, cretinous, Midwestern, middle-class citizen-readers.

That's right, we're making it hard and driving those frustrated dunderheads away from current events to watch daytime game shows.

We're also trying - in our humble way - to make it harder for cub columnists to cop such a superior attitude so quickly out of the gate.

Welcome to the opinion page of the Des Moines Register. Courage Ken... courage.

Update: Kris from Random Mentality chimes in:

Okay, enough is enough, Mr. Fuson. Pajama (or in your case, underwear) jokes aside, are you being deliberately obtuse or simply lacking the fundamentals in research for your column.

.Ouch!

Also check out 29 and Joe at Roth & Co..