Do you have that queasy feeling that when we’re showered with blather about something like bailing out Detroit the real story is running beneath our feet like a vast underground river?
The Democrats say that with 240,000 jobs jobs at stake and God knows how many ancillary jobs we can’t afford not to bail out Dopey, [...]
The CNN crawl this morning declared the Flip-Flop Wars. Barack Obama had changed course about campaign finance, deciding not to limit himself to a federal contribution, and John McCain had decided offshore drilling is okay after all.
The more important issue is the press’ mindless acceptance of the received boobism that changing one’s mind, one’s [...]
Acting in its usual role as the national mind the press has decided that the rising fuel price is bad news, end of story. But it may be just the beginning of a much more important story.
Since the end of World War II we have built a society predicated on cheap gasoline. The suburbs sprawled [...]
How disheartening — for Americans and everyone else — to see all three wannabe presidents acting like schoolyard goons, backbiting, pandering to the worst instincts of the media and ideologues. How disheartening the media in their preference for the shallow.
The media are fond of speaking of right-wing and left-wing ideological bases, but they have [...]
(This is the transcript of Hot Copy No. 40, Del Marbrook’s regular podcasts for The Student Operated Press)
The most frustrating aspect of journalism is its daily failure to challenge society’s assumptions.
When television reporters say General Motors or Ford have decided to downsize, they say something like, “Heavily unionized General Motors announced a plan to downsize [...]
Since the end of World War II it has been gospel in the United States that all development is good. It creates jobs and fuels consumption. It’s never rapine, bad for the environment or corruptive of the public weal.
Farmers sell land to developers, developers lop off the tops of mountains for resorts, concrete spreads, [...]
Books have been written about why Americans vote against their best interests. I approach the question through the offices of my failing cook top. Leafing through Consumer Reports, it’s apparent to me I must spend at least $700 to replace it decently. That got me to thinking about all the other little marvels in [...]
Read More... The news that General Motors, reporting a record $722-million fourth-quarter loss, is offering buyouts to all 74,000 of its unionized employees suggests to me that we need to talk about what nations are for.
Are they for getting out of the way of global corporations? Except when it’s necessary for the sons and daughters of [...]
It’s often said Americans’ favorite fast food is the burger. I don’t believe it. I think it’s herring, red herring. I think the electorate these days hardly ever sees a diversionary tactic it doesn’t want to swallow in a single gulp.
You name it, the mythological connection between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and 9/11, single-payer national [...]
An extraordinary phenomenon in which a hostage begins to identify with and grow sympathetic to their captor. Named for an episode that occurred in Stockholm in August, 1973 when an armed Swedish robber took some bank workers captive, held them for six days and stole their hearts.
Does this definition of Stockholm Syndrome sound familiar? Could [...]
Read More...