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Glen, Oprah, The President

Trash Talk of Titans

fraud? Oprah?

Glen Beck Accuses Oprah

J'accuse

you know it's a habit of media types to 'trash' other media types. They call each other 'frauds'. They say someone is a 'stenographer'. Which was kind of humorous in a perverse way and I understand the humor but I don't think it is funny, sad really, dehumanizing.

As much as I love Michael Hastings I was disappointed in him in that he was such a zealot which means that he tended to wordbomb foes. He even used the term 'sort-of enemies list', which to me was cute, in one sense, but juvenile in another.

Yes, the demonization of foes. That is what it is.

In the case of Glen Beck saying that Oprah is a 'fraud', at least it is qualified in one sense what he says. She is a fraud not in the sense of Bernie Maddof being a fraud, I suppose is what Glen is meaning. Because Oprah really does have the goods.

So what she wanted 'special access'? That doesn't mean she was going to go and ask for goodies. She certainly doesn't need them. So is she a fraud because she wanted to have the president's ear? If she bankrolled his campaign, and gave him support, doesn't the Chicago political system require (I am doing a cultural study) that she has some face time with the guy? So is she a fraud for wanting something for her money?

If she went up to him and started saying things like 'I'd like you to do such and so thing', does that make her a fraud? You don't get things done without being able to get help. People can't help you if you don't tell them what you want them, or need them, to do. Maybe Oprah was just going to ask Mr. O'president to do some good things. Like she could have had him do . . . something good.

I can't imagine what it is but I can imagine that it would be something wonderful and new and not tried before. It would be a maverick idea and it might possibly a very good one having come from Oprah.

Or . . . if she 'has the presiduck's ear' and she is telling him about things of foreign policy for the betterment of our world stature, is that selfish? If she has insight into issues and wants to be a trusted adviser, well we all like her. And we trust her sense of empathy. She certainly is able to feel the pain of others. So if she were going to have the 'ear' of the people in Washingtown, maybe she'd say something like "Gosh, can't you kick up the funding on Breast Cancer research." or "Day care for kids could be improved if we . . . " or "Here are some topics in the humanities and arts that would be a good thing to suggest for fourth grade curriculum" or other such topics of work-aday government, the kinds of things that all people can agree or disagree, and not make it a blood feud fight.

Or if she went in for advocacy. She could say whatever it is that needed to be said. She may have some projects that she feels benefit society greatly and she would like to have the president, or anyone, listen. So she thought she was buying access?

Did she think she was buying access? Probably not. Did she think she was doing the historic thing of supporting the first progressive part banker-child president with a very good tan who is sympathetic to the 'out' cast? Well Barry is the first . . . Banker grandchild president. Oh, maybe not. Here I am trashing Barry when I wanted to be trashing Glen.

I want to trash Glen because that is what he expects from me. He probably will never see this and he probably isn't going to care what I have to say. He tends to be absolutist, a lot like Oprah. He is like the Oprah of the Right. He started his own network. And now his rival, the Oprah network (which is for a different demographic) is being trashed by him. And he is doing it in a way that really just rankles me.

I like Glen. He's a true believer. And I admire how he tries to speak the truth.

But when I see him posed against a flag and acting like he's got the main-line to the truth, and that people like Oprah are 'hypocrites' for wanting to have the ear of the people she bankrolled . . .

What else did she expect. She must have felt like she had won too.

Oprah would have been a better choice for president. She is a little too important to put out their as a straw-dog candidate who will end up on the (metaphoric) burn-pile of History as being one of the worst presidents ever. He will be out there in the weeds of time, that antique thing that is curious when re-observed years later, a trinket from a future season of American Historical Pickers: tales from the political festerbogs of the long ago. This leader, if he goes even more rouge, and he continues in his scoffing-burghar ways (probably it isn't really him. He's just a figurehead, a titular leader and prompt-screen reader without any intellectual capacity to solve problems. He is an expert at reading lists of blame.

We have no evidence that this president, himself, has ever really felt any shame for his obvious failures. The Seal Team that blew up. The Health care mock-up beta that they put out there as a shame. The NSA brickwork in the dessert. The debacle of shutting down war monuments that don't need to be opened in the first place, that are like the Kingdom of God that descends from on-high with the gates permanently open, the promise of the coming age of peace and prosperity that the Christian Bible talks about.

Oprah, she is a capable woman. She really is at the helm of her empire. And it is hers. She runs it. She owns a lot of it. She treats her people well. She gives great potlatch. She is well-loved.

So what about the other O? He is well loved too. He gives a lot of things away but it isn't potlatch because it isn't his stuff that he gives away. He treats the people who work for him well. Except that he needlessly hassled many people during the government shutdown by closing things that normally don't need opening. Obama let his administration go on with petty tyrannical, control freak, 'do as I say, not as I do' behavior. They seemed to be a parody of bad governance, but they were really doing it! Putting up gates where there are no walls, at a place that has no need to ever be closed. All of this almost in view of the White House. What a bunch of tools.

Does the president own the country like Oprah owns her media conglomerate? No he does not. So the things he wants to give away are not his: the 'free' health care, that makes us all slaves to the state without privacy with all of our medical secrets given away to the highest bidders on the aftermarket that seems to be there; the secret audit lists, government for the agency, by the agency and of the agency. Such things do not survive long term scruteny. They do not sustain themselves. They get cast out of the garden of necessary government.

And so now Glen Beck has to come in and trash Oprah for being a hypocrite. He takes the word of some associate who might indeed think of the Quid pro Quo (something for something) payback that political support usually buys. But is this really the way the Oprah thinks? She might listen to people who think like this, let them give off the record interviews, but she doesn't have to take the advice given by these advisers.

And so now she'd like to call the president and suggest some things that might improve life here in America. And the president's people aren't letting her get through. After all she did for them. But is it her saying it? Or does it have to be underling of hers, or possibly it's just more misinformation. The 'media' isn't reliable anymore. The government and the political institutions don't give out good data. Reading the news is an exercise of weeding through the agenda that grows around every story like a Kudzu vine to try and ascertain the shape of the tree or building underneath, the real news.

So is it news that the Obumber administration won't take Oprah's calls? Yes it is. Is it OK for Glen to trash Oprah. OK because he can say and do what he wants. Does it help anything for Glen to trash Oprah? Probably isn't helping anything.

In a normal world Glen would have a line to Oprah and he'd call her himself on air and ask her a polite and direct question about what's up with the interview that says things that seem to paint Oprah differently than people expected. In a normal world there wouldn't be such a large firewall between the voices on the Left and the voices on the Right.

So, Oprah, Glen, make it a normal world. Bridge the gap. Stop the trashing.

In any case I doubt that Oprah will say or do anything that accuses Glen of being wrong, at least not in public. What she does in private? I can't know that. I hope that they at least talk to each other. Maybe she can call Glen directly? She doesn't need to donate to his campaigns in order to talk to him. I am sure if she calls Glen will take the call. And they can even do it off the record.

And Glen: don't trash too hard one of the saner people in the media. You might not like Oprah's politics but you know that you love her and most of her causes. She might seem ridiculous at times, being overly generous and with a wanderlust that seems silly. But she does embrace the spirit of giving. And she does give a lot of people hope. And she follows through.

Oh, I've made her into a saint. I shouldn't do that. Nor should I demonize her.

And as for Obama: maybe he just didn't know she was trying to call? He is surrounded by people who isolate him from reality and do not let him have an unfettered view of the world. They make decisions that I am sure he doesn't even know about.

Can this president be redeemed? If I am talking about his soul the answer is (of course) always 'yes'.

Can this presidency be redeemed? Only if the president wakes up and un-hypnotizes. Only if the president stops allowing ideological incompetence to rule the day. Only if the president suddenly acquires the sympathy and empathetic nature of, say, Oprah or Glen. Only if he became their humanistic pupil. Only if he could embrace and fulfill the things that Oprah and Glen could agree on, and implement those things and not the things that he is compelled to implement (his fantasy about taking over the health-care industry, really just a sociological wreaking-ball).

Yes, this president is an agenda parrot, fully puppetized to the point that he talks about things that he should be in control of, like the national spy agencies, as if he has nothing to do with it. Meanwhile there may be people around him illegally accessing the databases that are supposed to be for the security of the public and using them to create enemies lists. That narrative will continue until the barbarians who make enemies lists are held to account. That narrative will continue until the hench-o-crats who use such lists to harass political opponents are brought to justice.

So, Glen, Oprah, are there things that you can agree on about that? Isn't it time to create a coalition to promote security agency auditing? Doesn't this necessary facility of government, to stop creeps from creeping their creepiness, ie: spy agencies, doesn't this necessary facility have a requisite level of auditing for oversight to keep in check those who might misuse the system? Can't you people come together and work in union of the issues of importance that you can agree on? Or are you afraid of the list makers too?

oct 23, 2013

According to Laura Ingram, who I trust to monitor the leftist media, even some of the more liberal pundits are skewering administration Secretary of Health and Human Services Sebelius. According to Ms. Ingram, Andrew Sullivan 'lacerates' Sebelius and says "she failed" and asks "And when will she be fired."

wow

Read Laura's Column here.

Full moon over the Lamoille Delta, at the Rt 2 Causeway. I vote a spot near here for a Journalist's Memorial.

Oct 3, 2013

Please visit my DEMOS

  

  Was it really you,
    Danger man
 in your beautiful suit
     on Church Street
  that night with the full moon
 looking right at me.
    smiling, I could see you
    studying me
 you looked so out of place
     a fashion beast
 looking for release
   I thought
 Oh, don't judge that young guy
     for thinking he needs to dress up
 he must
   work for the media
 write stories, read the news, 
    comment on things for a fee.

 Danger Man are you Danger Angel now?
  I'm still not convinced that 
           you really got on that ferry.

 RIP MH

In the AIDS Grove at Golden Gate Park. The day of the Bay To Breakers, May, 2011

Style means more than just rules

'Love Solves everything, so simple.' page:

Very Many Hearts

How can I capitalize this website?

But keep it with high integrity?

I know how to make pages and content, I do not know how to make money on these pages. I need to learn about marketing!

    Praise the Lord just because you love Him!

Praise the Lord!

The light of the moon
The sound of hte sea
The scent of the rain
The factory

Do you remember when you said you love me true?
Because I still do.
And I'm still in love you.

Do you remmeber you said you'd be true?
what am I to do?
I'm still so in love with you.

The light of the moon.
The guys in their trucks.
Sudden snow fall
and the trucks get stuck.
And there's a sound from the other side of the wall
It was building all Fall
And the scent of the wind.

Do you remember what we used to do?
We used to go there too.
I'm still way in love with you.

And then when the night came
 it was time for the dancing
and the sound of the band
 inside of the factory
 on the shipping floor
ball room dancing
by the giant door
and the guy's new trucks
their wives and their kids
and the folks from upstairs
dressed all in their finery
in the Fall.

So do you remember 
when you said you love me true?
Because I still do
I'm still so in love with you.
     

I got nothing more