The Spider and the Fly
Mary Howitt

Will you walk into my parlour?” said the Spider to the Fly,
‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I’ve a many curious things to shew when you are there.”
Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne’er come down again.”

continued here

Have you watched the presidential debates. Did you see the last one?

Did you see the web the spider wove?

Yet here at To Be Right! we have a prediction, The Death of the Main Stream Media.

It’s over, I think.  The main stream media is dead.

(Insert Ding Dong song from Wizard of Oz here.)

By 2003, the scourge of the Internet – these creatures known as “bloggers” – started appearing in large numbers.

By the 2006 election, there were a few news stories about how the Internet was having an impact.  The dinosaurs at ABC, NBC and CBS were mumbling about “social media” though none of them knew what it was.

Between 2006 and 2009 the main stream media – called “MSM” by blogger types – was losing ground, and losing it fast.  The term “Lame Stream Media” became a regular part of the vernacular. I forget who coined the term. Michelle Malkin? Bernie Goldberg? (continued here)

There is much merit in his post, but is Harry right? Are we seeing the end of the death of the main stream media? That depends upon us. We provide the market that revels in watching spiders eating flies.

We get what we vote for. When we go to the polls, when we vote for politicians, and when we spend our time and our money; we vote for goods and services, including news and entertainment. So will John King, that elite media spider, stop asking inappropriate questions? That depends upon us.

In 2006, I wrote a series, What is the proper business of our government? In the third part, we considered the constellation of special interests that works to keep us misinformed.

In a democracy, the primary function the People is to vote. This function requires that the People educate themselves about how their government works, the problems of the day, and the qualifications of the candidates for public office. If the People fail to vote properly, then the likely problem is that they have allowed themselves to become misinformed.

What would cause the People to be misinformed? Here is a list of what I think contributes to a misinformed American People.

• Public School System -The public school system is the primary institution that educates the People. This system is government owned and operated. Because politicians control the funding, the public school system is run for the benefit of the politicians, not the People.
• Commercial News Media – The commercial news media provides the People information on current events. This information is “free” to the People. Advertisers pay the cost. As a result, the focus of such media is gaining audience attention, not education.
• Public Television and Radio – PBS and NPR receive extensive government funding. Thus, much like the public school system, PBS and NPR operates for the benefit of politicians.
• Politicians – The typical politician seeks elected office by making promises to various organized political constituencies. The politician serves as an advocate. He or she gathers contributions and spends whatever it takes to get the People’s vote.

(from here)

The Commercial News Media is only one institution within the constellation that seeks to dominate and control the information we receive. The Commercial News Media is not even the principal institution; it is only the most flamboyant. Because it indoctrinates us when we are young, instilling within us many of the assumptions we use in our daily lives, the Public School System provides the principal danger.

So long as we allow our children to be indoctrinated by a system run by politicians, politicians will use that system to help their special interests instill their values, their beliefs and their ideas within our nation’s children. So long as we allow children to be indoctrinated by a system run by politicians, as adults they will remain susceptible to the misinformation provided by the Commercial News Media.

The New Republic leads the pack with TNR Exclusive: A Collection of Ron Paul’s Most Incendiary Newsletters. What makes TNR different is that they actually have copies of the purportedly bigoted stuff in Ron Paul’s newsletters.  Some of the stuff probably does qualify as bigoted. However, what Democrats call bigotry and actually constitutes bigotry is part of what it takes to make a Democrat. So we need to take what TNR calls bigotry with considerable skepticism. Too often in the eyes of the judgmental merely having a serious discussion on certain subjects, such as the correlation between race and cultural attitudes towards educational achievement, makes one a bigot. Nonetheless, because people of the same race tend to live and grow up in the same communities, such correlations do occur.

In ‘Racist newsletter’timeline: What Ron Paul has said, The Christian Science Monitor does not take a stand. It simply reviews what I guess we are suppose to take as the changing character of Ron Paul’s response to the “racism” expressed in his newsletters.

Showing a bit more courage, an article in The Daily Caller defends Ron Paul saying The Ron Paul newsletter controversy is a textbook liberal smear campaign.

No one in the media really thinks Ron Paul is a racist or a liar. In fact, they know he isn’t. They ask him about the racist newsletters over and over again in order to smear him by association. That’s how the textbook, liberal, race-baiting smear works. Whether the “target” (to use Alinsky’s terminology) is really racist or not doesn’t matter. Accomplishing the goal, which is to destroy the target’s character for political reasons, is what matters to the left.

To counter the smear, the author asks to consider what we know about the news media and the man himself.

So is Ron Paul a racist? Well, if the only proof is that newsletter, then logic dictates an answer of no. All we can say Ron Paul made a dumb mistake. That pretty much makes him just like the rest of us.

While the people running to be our president may be high intelligent and competent, none of them are perfect. So each of them have done things which we can and perhaps should find objectionable. Nonetheless, smear campaigns designed to make a mountainous out a molehill fault serve no purpose except to confuse and distract us. Therefore, Conservatives must focus on each candidate’s policy positions and record. We ask ourselves whether we like where each of the candidates stand on the issues. Then we must examine the commitment and competence they have demonstrated. Unfortunately, when it comes to providing such information, the lamestream news media provides very little help.

In fact, we need to remember what happens when listen to the news media and take its advice without thinking. We get the people we currently have running this country.

Shaun Kenney posts intermittently. So it is easy to miss one of his posts. That can be a mistake.

So sayeth the Huffington Post, ergo it must be true…

Noting a “rising sense of frustration” at the worldwide economic recession, Pope Benedict XVI said that a more just and peaceful world requires “adequate mechanisms for the redistribution of wealth.”

…

The message laments that “some currents of modern culture, built upon rationalist and individualist economic principles, have cut off the concept of justice from its transcendent roots, detaching it from charity and solidarity.”

Authentic education, Benedict writes, teaches the proper use of freedom with “respect for oneself and others, including those whose way of being and living differs greatly from one’s own.”

Fun with excerpts? Of course, Catholic News Service picked up a much different tone coming from the Holy Father: Read more….

As Shaun Kenney illustrates, unless we go to the source, we will find it difficult to understand where the Catholic Church stands on various issues. Fortunately, we live in an era when going to the source is easy.

Shaun Kenney provides a link to the Pope’s 1 JANUARY 2012 message, EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN JUSTICE AND PEACE. If what the Pope has to say is important to you, make certain you read his words unfiltered.

In elections, what the news media seeks to do is frame the “debate”. So how will the race for the Republican Presidential nomination be framed?

“Have you ever been accused, sir, in your life of harassment by a woman?”

In Virginia, we have seen these nonsense before. When George Allen ran the U.S. Senate in 2006, The Washington Post ran story after story about one word, “macaca”. Now we have two words, “sexual harrassment”. When reporters are Liberal, they will always try to put some kind of monkey on a Conservative.

A loyal and devoted reader of POLITICO.

H/T to ON MY WATCH – the writings of SamHenry. See Who Is Behind the POLITICO “Bomb” That Cain Once Harassed Women?

When I perused POLITICO‘s “big story” today, Herman Cain accused by two women of inappropriate behavior, I just felt shame for my country. Except when there is actually some EVIDENCE, there is no excuse — NONE – for putting our leaders through such torment.

Look carefully at POLITICO‘s “news story”, Herman Cain accused by two women of inappropriate behavior. Search it for hard EVIDENCE. Is there even one shred of EVIDENCE?

Then consider these two idiomatic expressions. Which best fits POLITICO‘s article?

blowing smoke

Where there’s smoke there’s fire

Do you think POLITICO is blowing smoke? Then make a point of not having anything to do with businesses and organizations who advertise with such a disreputable news source.  Here are some of them:

• United Healthcare
• Bank of America
• Solar Works of America
• freightrailworks.org
• securefamily.org

Think of it this way. If someone is willing to advertise with a news organization that is so loosey-goosey with the truth — so willing to risk smearing the reputation of an innocent man with innuendo and gossip, why should you believe their advertisements?

How has Herman Cain responded? Here is a news article that his website links to. 

Below is what Cain has on his website.

Inside the Beltway media attacks Cain

Fearing the message of Herman Cain who is shaking up the political landscape in Washington, Inside the Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain.

Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.

Since Washington establishment critics haven’t had much luck in attacking Mr. Cain’s ideas to fix a bad economy and create jobs, they are trying to attack him in any way they can.

Sadly, we’ve seen this movie played out before – a prominent Conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics.

Mr. Cain — and all Americans, deserve better.

Herman Cain-

Frankly, except for one thing, I think Cain has it exactly right. So long as we are willing to have anything to do with POLITICO‘s sponsors, we don’t deserve any better.