I had the opportunity to attend the local Raleigh, North Carolina “tea party” protest during a break in my busy schedule. While I am highly supportive of smaller government, less taxes, fiscal responsibility, and all that jazz, I was more interested in seeing what level of turn-out there really was (without the possibility of any inaccuracies in counts provided by the local or national media). A lot of people there had the right idea — doing something practical to make a real change. A few folks, though were a bit mislead. The most was a person who screamed something to the effect of “Thank God for Fox News!” at the end of the event. For this person, I recommend watching the following video, Outfoxed, with an open mind: 

In addition to the claims brought up by this documentary, I could mention others that have rubbed me the wrong way in the past. 

I know a lot of people will find something offensive about “Outfoxed.” I know, since I’ve been told that I hate America, spit on veterans, and that I am a secret member of the left-wing because I believe in getting to the truth of the matter rather than walking a party line or taking the easy way out by blindly accepting things based on appearances alone. And, more often than not, those making these ridicuouls claims were “informed” by hours-upon-hours of watching Fox News.

Anyway, there’s no requirement that people be open-minded, feel comfortable enough with their own deeply-held beliefs to question their own assumptions, etc. Apparently, a lot of folks who’ve drank the Fox Kool-Aid claim Fox News and their associated properties to be an “alternative” media outlet. Just remember, news is a biz and the goal of businesses is profit. Moreso now-a-days, news is becoming wrapped in slick marketing and public relations techniques specifically designed to drive you to a particular point-of-view.

But if it makes you feel better, you can believe whatever you want to believe. Who am I to change your reality? Hmmm, but then again, who is Fox News, and who are they to change your reality?

H/T: Daily Paul

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about global warming, particularly since it’s seemed to be one of the coldest winters I’ve experienced since moving to North Carolina. I had hoped that I had left the snow and rough driving conditions back in the Midwest when I made what I thought would be a permanent escape to warmer weather year round. I’ll probably need to go farther south, that is, much farther south.

It just happened that a global warming rally was supposed to be happening during the recent blizzards that have hit the South and the East Coast. Fox’s Neil Cavuto took this opportunity to interview one of the activists associated with the rally. My struggles with the weather made me much more apt to watch something like this and much less offended by Cavuto’s over-the-top mockery.

For the most part Neil Cavuto is a clueless ideologue dick, but in this interview he has a good point on the marketing. All protests in favor of global warming should occur in the hottest months of the year. It helps to draw in people who don’t understand the cyclical nature of local and global warming and cooling patterns. Better yet, the summer months increase the chances that there will be a major hurricane somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico that you can use to garner more attention for your claims, never mind the fact that hurricanes typically happen in the summer months and can get quite big without the benefits of a climatological crisis.

As far as I’m concerned, neither side is helping me out. If it’s getting warmer, why am I not seeing it? If theres nothing to global warming, why is it so damn cold? Nobody’s saying how we should survive these alleged conditions. All I want is to be safe and warm. I guess I’ll ignore the snow outside, stay in and put an extra blanket on top of me.

I have never been a big fan of Glenn Beck. I’m not sure why. Usually I get really turned off by media people when they are dicks to people who bring up libertarian ideas. My first time seeing him was probably one of these moments. Today, I saw him on TV treating Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project extremely flippantly.Of course, you be the judge:

Apparently there’s something weird about legalizing a substance that grows naturally and has legitimate medical uses. Beck brought up (again) that he’s a recovering alcoholic. Yeah, I get it — you can’t control your drinking. That has nothing to do with what other people would do with their lives. Also Glenn Beck lost control of an interview that was supposed to be about taxing weed; the change to make fun of potheads was just too tempting for a person with an admittedly addictive personality. Anyway, stuff like that could be why I’m not a big fan of his.

I’ve been getting a more negative tone from folks across the blogosphere who’ve been commenting on Glenn Beck. A lot of folks are mentioning there’s been some sort of change in what he’s doing, like he’s become more sensationalist and alarmist. I think I’ve figured it out — he’s changed since moving his television show from CNN’s Headline News to Fox News. Today, I suddenly realized that he’s the incarnation of Howard Beale. This is probably what happened when he was first escorted into a meeting with the Fox big-wigs: