You know something that's a lot like torture? TORTURE

2:56 PM me: NPR ombudswoman, Alicia Shepard, who was on Talk of the Nation defending herself against critics like us, just said that it was the job of a responsible news organization to give both sides of the argument and give them equally.

2:57 PM Wow. Boy does that sound wrong.

I thought a journalists responsibility was to find out the truth and report that.

2:58 PM Does the local reporter covering a disaster say, "Well, the story is that management says nothing happened and workers say the factory exploded."? I think the reporter should, you know, report about what happened!!!!

3:02 PM Manny: yeah

3:03 PM me: She writes, "I am shilling for NPR to practice journalism based on putting out reliable information, to the best of its ability -- without taking sides -- so the public can make its own informed decisions."

Again, no mention of such asides as facts or truth

3:05 PM http://www.npr.org/ombudsman/ She keeps refering to her 30 years of journalistic experience as if that

made her defense of bad journalism somehow more credible

14 minutes

3:20 PM Manny: yes, it's all so horrifying I dont know where to start

them? the times?

3:24 PM me: I was in the car in almost physical pain because as I realized what I was listening to I wanted to hear it exactly so I could bitch about about it to you accurately, but it was horrible to hear someone saying those things and I wanted to jump through the radio and punch her.

Manny: is this torture, beeyatch?

Is it?

Dude, they killed 100 people

is waterboarding torture?

Is everything else they were doing?

3:25 PM How do people end up dead if its just harsh interrogation

me: exactly. How would you define me shoving my fist down your throat right now? Some would call this delicious just desserts and others might called it a seriously deserved ass whooping.

3:26 PM Manny: I don't care of Dick and his daughter call it "fluffy puppy tickles."

me: The choice is between enhanced interrogation (read, we tortured their asses) and, ummm, torture.

Manny: you're all monsters

me: yes

3:27 PM Manny: I like greenwald's line: practices that the U.S. government has called torture when done to Americans

me: exactly. Or, how about we call it "doing horrible, ineffective and unjustifiable things to people"

3:28 PM Manny: umm, people we just kinda picked up off the street somewhere

me: and "largely for the purpose of assuaging public opinion and making people imagine that they might somehow be safer in the hands of...torturers"

3:29 PM the tortures

the torturers

ha

Freudian slip

these people are sort of like tortures to me

10 minutes

3:40 PM Manny: yes

they did it

npr let it happen

they know it

me: exactly

Manny: same with the times

same with pretty much everyone but freakin dan froomkin

3:41 PM me: this is what happens when addicts don't know they have a problem, everything is lies and self justification

fortunately, it's totally self destructive

you just have to hope they don't kill too many people on their way down

Manny: what would they be addicted to, in your analogy? being self-important douchebags?

3:43 PM me: basically, yes

3:44 PM they are addicted to a way of being that is self-important and adrenaline rush filled with big big highs and that keep compensating for the lows (until, of course, you bottom out and fail to keep existing--that is crash your car or in this case, the whole premise of your industry)

22 minutes

4:07 PM Manny: they just think they're really awesome

and they go along to get along

and criticize anyone who threatens that

7 minutes

4:14 PM Manny: Also, its well known by now, they changed the legal definition of the word

4:15 PM Why do tyhat, ubless what you're doing meets that definition?

50 minutes

5:05 PM me: why indeed

because you are full of shit and you and everyone knows it but everyone profits as long as no one says elephant

Are republicans "conservative" the same way the taliban is?

2:16 PMMe: A buddy of mine (not PJT, the reporter here) wanted us to talk about this: http://trueslant.com/pjtobia/2009/06/29/obama%E2%80%99s-afpak-envoy-says-opium-eradication-policy-%E2%80%9Cleast-effective-program-ever%E2%80%9D/

2:17 PM Manny: can't we just convince lindsey lohan and sam ronsen to use all those drugs?

me: That would be awesome. While that is totally obviously terrible, and a clear failure of media attention is represented here, I would rather talk about this:

2:18 PM http://trueslant.com/pjtobia/2009/06/30/the-taliban%E2%80%99s-mark-sanford/

2:19 PM Manny: i saw that

naughty

2:20 PM me: very

and now he's dead

2:21 PM republicans wish they could be conservative like the taliban

do you think it ever occurs to them that it's bad?

2:22 PM Manny: its only bad when allah does it

when it's jesus, it's ok

me: of course

some additional thoughts on feminism related topics

1:04 PM Me: So, I showed my buddy the packaging girlhood blog, and his response was to send it out to a couple of people with the following note:

"this is a link from gabe about various companies coercing girls to want to have certain things and look a certain way. not a new idea, but perhaps the influence is getting younger and younger. . . ."

while he is right that adds reach younger and younger, I think there is a broader point here: The adds get better and better.

1:05 PM Journalism may be losing ground but selling bad ideas and negative ways of being is still a growth industry in this country. True in politics, journalism, and toy sales.

28 minutes

1:34 PM Manny: funny

i mean, not

1:35 PM me: ha

---

2:01 PM me: On an unrelated note, my wife sent me this: http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=06&year=2009&base_name=ask_a_feminist_is_it_sexist_we

2:02 PM Manny: funny

We did that

I mean, I did

me: many many people do

we did not

2:03 PM no engagement ring, no presentation

val is very clear about what is important and what is stupid

not to mention secretly offensive

2:04 PM Manny: i didn't get the ring till later

but i did have a surprise, repeat ask

2:07 PM me: repeat ask?

2:08 PM Manny: we talked about getting married, and then I asked seperately, a second time

me: ah

right

2:09 PM there is something to be said for effort and ceremony

Let us not pretend that we are the smartest people making these arguments

12:50 PM Manny: Michael Nielsen hits our points:

"Another example of the immune response is all the recent news pieces lamenting the death of newspapers. Here’s one such piece, from the Editor of the New York Times’ editorial page, Andrew Rosenthal:

'There’s a great deal of good commentary out there on the Web, as you say. Frankly, I think it is the task of bloggers to catch up to us, not the other way around… Our board is staffed with people with a wide and deep range of knowledge on many subjects. Phil Boffey, for example, has decades of science and medical writing under his belt and often writes on those issues for us… Here’s one way to look at it: If the Times editorial board were a single person, he or she would have six Pulitzer prizes…'

This is a classic immune response. It demonstrates a deep commitment to high-quality journalism, and the other values that have made the New York Times great. In ordinary times this kind of commitment to values would be a sign of strength. The problem is that as good as Phil Boffey might be, I prefer the combined talents of Fields medallist Terry Tao, Nobel prize winner Carl Wieman, MacArthur Fellow Luis von Ahn, acclaimed science writer Carl Zimmer, and thousands of others. The blogosophere has at least four Fields medallists (the Nobel of math), three Nobelists, and many more luminaries. The New York Times can keep its Pulitzer Prizes."

12:52 PM me: now that is on point

12:53 PM Manny: Why would I pay an idiot like Andrew Ross ("there are no successful unionized companies") Sorkin to interpret the economic news for me, when I could get the real skinny from, like, an actual economist

12:55 PM "I wonder if Andrew Rosenthal and his colleagues understand that someone equipped with an RSS reader can assemble a set of news feeds that renders the New York Times virtually irrelevant? If a person inside an industry needs to frequently explain why it’s not dead, they’re almost certainly wrong."

12:56 PM http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/?p=629

12:57 PM me: Ha. The problem, here, as we've noted, is in part nostalgia.

Going back to the previous point, t's totally amusing that the accolades valued are those given by journalists for journalism (basically, art prizes) and not by smart people for being smart and right about things

1:01 PM Wow, that Neilsen piece is a serious piece of writing. no joke at all

1:02 PM that is some on point analysis. let's just hire him to gchat with us

my crush

3:53 PM Manny: gabriel loves amanda marcotte

23 minutes

4:17 PM me: who is that again?

Manny: pandagon

4:18 PM me: right

I do heart her

well, we continue to be wrong all the time

-->This is us on the Franklin senate race from this morning

me:

2:27 PMWOAH DUDE: From CNN--"Minnesota's Supreme Court has declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of the state's disputed U.S. Senate race."

2:28 PM really? do you think they'll give up finally? of course not. More law suits must be forthcoming, right?

2:31 PM Manny: I don't think the plan is to win the lawsuits

I think the plan is to keep filing them

2:32 PM me: indeed

2:33 PM Manny: run out the clock

cost Al the first three years of his term

2:35 PM me: more than that, it costs the dems their majority

2:37 PM alright, taking the dog at. ttyl


-->And this afternoon:

4:37 PM Manny: Norm's done

me: ?

4:38 PM Manny: coleman

he conceeded

after just the 6 months

wus

me: wow

4:39 PM he is a wus

6 minutes

4:45 PM Manny: http://www.slate.com/id/2221857/?from=rss

4:46 PM me: well, we were totally wrong this morning

Manny: yes, I should have taken into account the fact that coleman is a pussy

no excuses

we knew he was a wus before

4:47 PM I just thought he was doing it for the party

4:48 PM me: I thought the party was running the show. Apparently the republican party can't run anything.

a final comment on torture

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/the-confusion-of-msm-journalism.html