W.J. Astore Five years ago, I wrote an article for Nieman Watchdog with the title, “Networks Should Replace Pentagon Cheerleaders with Independent Military Analysts.” Major media networks rely on retired colonels, generals, and admirals to give “unbiased” and “disinterested” commentary on military matters to the wider public. At the same time, many of these same…
b. traven and Alex Dunn Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media mogul known for espousing conservative causes on Fox News, the New York Post, and other venues, built his empire on reporting the sleazy side of news. His editors specialized in looking down on those caught with their pants down, especially when they were liberal politicians…
W.J. Astore A word that’s symbolic of our growing police state mentality is “lockdown.” I saw today on the news that Indiana University is in “lockdown” due to a suspect on the loose with a knife. You can lockdown a prison. But you can’t lockdown a campus as large as Indiana University in Bloomington. Nor…
W.J. Astore A recent article in the New York Times about how General (Ret.) David Petraeus is being honored by the New York Historical Society featured a word often used to describe Petraeus as well as another retired U.S. general fallen on hard times, Stanley McChrystal. The word is “ascetic.” The American media loved to…
b. traven John Kerry, America’s Secretary of State, has spent the last four months cobbling together a new Palestinian-Israeli peace process charade. To this end, he’s appointed Martin Indyk as his “Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian (Peace) Negotiations.” Why has the U.S. media failed to assess this appointment in any critical way? If Indyk had been Muslim…
b. traven Even Dubya couldn’t get it right. Remember when George W. Bush was fooling us every few weeks with his color-coded “Red” and “Orange” security alerts? They didn’t scare the terrorists, but they did frighten most Americans into accepting another of his assaults against our constitutional rights. Now we see Obama trying the same…
Litsa Binder. Introduction by William Astore. “Peace is our profession” was the official slogan of the U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command (SAC), a goal they were willing if necessary to enforce by thermonuclear weapons and mutually assured destruction (MAD) with the Soviet Union. In the Reagan years, the costly MX intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)…
b. traven That old black magic has us in its spell, that old black magic that we know so well. Yes, that old black magic called SEX! With Anthony Weiner (AKA “Carlos Danger”) and his “sexting” now in the spotlight again we have to ask why that old black magic often works differently for liberal Democrats…
My wife and I recently visited the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass. At the shrine, there’s a simple, moving, memorial to the Sandy Hook children (see photo above). Rarely has the Biblical phrase, “Jesus wept,” been sadder or more appropriate. And the people said, See how much He loved them. Message?…
A sequel to our recent article, Dueling Bumper Stickers I remember making collages in grade school; they were always good fun. I came across this collage of bumper stickers yesterday at the Gypsy Joint Cafe in Great Barrington, Mass. (They make scrumptious sandwiches and salads, by the way.) It’s a representative sample of sentiments that…
The Contrary Perspective 