PSoTD

From BostonHerald.com:

Host Sean ``Hold the P. Diddy'' Combs boldly claimed at the top of the show that anything can happen. Unfortunately, little of what did happen was particularly spectacular regardless of how much water poured down or how many flames shot out of the stage. The acceptance speeches were a yawn, the patter painful, the commercial breaks interminable and even the audience in reaction shots seemed listless.

I dunno, I must be getting old. This is the 22nd one of these, and I probably haven't watched any of one since Clinton was in his first term. Who is watching it?

You have until September 5th to submit your ten candidates for this list to XPN.

Here are my ten, although not necessarily in this order:

Hounds of Love - Kate Bush
Abbey Road - Beatles
George Winston - December
The Who - Quadrophenia
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Graham Parker - The Mona Lisa's Sister
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Roger Miller - Classics

This list could easily have 7-8 new candidates from me if I were asked this question in a month.

Where is the American news media on the subject of avian influenza, and what America is doing to prepare for it?

Most people in America are ignorant of the risk currently being watched by scientists. Bloggers are posting about it, considerably posting in some places... but there's nothing in the broadcast or cable news, really, other than some very very general tidbits.

There's no hard hitting investigations or questions... or anger.

Why isn't there at least one major news media person who nightly is screaming WHAT DOES THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION HAVE TO SAY AND DO ABOUT AVIAN INFLUENZA, AND WHAT SHOULD AVERAGE PEOPLE BE DOING ABOUT IT?

Where the fuck are you on this issue, Wolf Blitzer? What the hell are you doing, Joe Scarborough? Lou Dobbs, can you drop your daily anxiety construction about immigration and cover this topic hard every day instead? Are you all waiting until you've completed building your stockpiles of oseltamivir and surgical masks? What are you waiting for? When will this story get anywhere near the coverage of Natalee Holloway before it's too late? Don't you have a responsibility to prepare Americans so that they can prepare themselves?

Because it may be too late now. And you're hurting America by your lack of coverage of the story.

So...

How long is the national media going to systematically underreport this story?

The stuff that passes for editorial logic or punditry these days is a sad commentary on the state of our education system. Nathan Tabor's putridity at Renew America is a case in point. You can look at it here if you want.

After reading this "article", I can think of no greater indictment of the quality of Pat Robertson's Regent University than the fact that this guy somehow received a Master's degree from them.

Update: I see that Sadly, No had some chuckles over Tabor's capabilities as well.

Now that's a reporter...

First Lady Lou Hoover, wife of President Herbert Hoover, refused to speak to reporters, wanting to keep her life personal. One reporter, Bess Furman, found a way to get close to her. A group of Girl Scouts visited the White House on Christmas Eve 1930. The reporter borrowed a Girl Scout uniform, tucked her hair under her hat and walked into the White House with the girls. The Secret Service never noticed anything unusual as the troop met with the President and First Lady.

So... what kind of disguise would a reporter have to wear to talk to John Bolton these days?

We were just talking about this last night. It's been almost two years. We were wondering what was happening in this case.

ERIE -- The FBI seized letters written by a convicted rapist and interviewed his ex-wife as part of their investigation into the death of a pizza deliveryman killed when a bomb locked onto his neck exploded, according to a published report.

Janet M. Ponsford, who now lives in Aitkin, Minn., told the Erie Times-News for Wednesday's editions that the FBI also took shoes belonging to her ex-husband, 58-year-old Floyd A. Stockton Jr., who is now serving a rape sentence in Washington state. She said the FBI wanted the shoes and letters "to compare things to."

Ponsford, who said she was married and divorced from Stockton three times, said he is mechanically inclined, can be violent, and "likes to doodle."

Those characteristics generally fit the FBI profile of a man who wrote a nine-page letter that directed pizza deliveryman Brian Wells to rob a bank.

Of course, we're all likely to get a big update of this story very shortly...

The second anniversary of one of Pennsylvania's most bizarre unsolved mysteries has caught the attention of Geraldo Rivera.

Rivera and his crew were in Erie on Tuesday and Wednesday taping interviews for a Fox News Mystery special to air next month, called "The Pizza Bomber Mystery."

The special will focus on the death of Brian Wells, 46, a pizza delivery driver who was killed when a pipe bomb locked onto his neck exploded on Aug. 28, 2003.

Rivera's report will likely air Aug. 20 or 21, Parks said.

The Washington Post.

Defense Department puts together the "America Supports You Freedom Walk" and looks for co-sponsors.

The Washington Post doesn't blink. Co-sponsoring and promoting the newest 9/11-decorated propaganda plan.

Shameful lack of independence.

American Friends Service Committee offers a handy way for people to try to remind the Post management that it seems inappropriate.

Originally spotted at Sandhill Trek

To somebody I guess...

Now here's a guy who needed a break from work. He was getting rubbed over pretty well - finally - by the WHPC. And the attitude - the "We both know you're a wipe but I still need you to answer my question" approach of some of the reporters came through loud and clear in July:

July 29th

Q Don't take me on like I don't want to talk about it. That's ridiculous. You want to make your statement, make your statement. I was asking you a specific question on a specific issue, and don't try to turn this into a screed about the media.

July 28th

Q I'm asking you a specific question. The two sides are getting together privately. Why don't you admit that?

July 27th

Q Isn't that weird that for a position so important, there's so much documentation out there that you all wouldn't even look at?

July 21st

Q If you want to make the record clear, then you also did make comments when a criminal investigation was underway, you saw fit to provide Karl Rove with a blanket statement of absolution. And that turned out to be no longer accurate —

The sponge which is the White House Press Corps could hold no more. Incredulity and disbelief dripped out during each day's questions.

The Bush vacation is working well for Bush and the George W. Bush Republican Party. When was the last time you heard the name "Karl Rove" on the evening network news? Quite a change from July.

Guess how many days Karl Rove was a topic of conversation at the Press House Gaggle in July. Just guess.

Thirteen. Those translated into news stories and coverage.

The question is, when Bush finally comes back to the office, will the White House Press Corps sponge be full still, or will the time away from McClellan have squeezed out most of the necessary skepticism these reporters should have?

are suicides.

Of the 100 people a month killed by guns in Pennsylvania between 2001 and 2003, most took their own lives, according to a report released Thursday.

Suicides accounted for 2,112 -- nearly 59 percent -- of the 3,588 firearm deaths in the state during the three-year period -- far more than assaults, accidents or any other reason, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council and the state Health Department said in their report.

This is slightly over the national average of 55 percent, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over 16,000 Americans committed suicide by gunshot in 2001.

"It is a silent epidemic" that gets less public attention than other societal problems, said John Gavazzi, a clinical psychologist in Camp Hill, speaking for the Pennsylvania Psychological Association.

Criminal violence and gun accidents are often well-publicized, but news organizations generally do not cover suicides out of respect for the privacy of the victims' families.

It is unfortunate for grieving family members, but perhaps news organizations are going to need to cover suicides more actively so people other than mental health professionals can focus on the problem. That doesn't mean horrible pictures or up-to-the-point-of-death replays, but it does mean reporting the means of suicide. Suicide by gun is suggested to be much more of an impulse act than suicides by other methods, and is more strongly associated with suicide in those suicides without psychiatric illness.

In order to figure out ways to save at least some of the 16,000 people who will kill themselves by gun each year, that information needs to be publicly provided - and the repetition of the act has to be understood. Only then can lawmakers and the public get a grip on what, if anything, can be done to reduce the occurrence of suicide by gun.

I know, it's shallow of me. Don't act surprised. Who, during his/her experience in film or television or stage in the 1950s, do you think is the sexiest by your standards today?

If you're looking for some research material, there's here, here, here, and here.

Tegan and Sara are an addictive listen. I've had them on my CD changer in the car for a couple of months now. Hope they come out to our area again sometime soon, would like to see them in concert.

Thanks for helping them out, Neil Young...

Starting August 8th.

Did I see that wrong, or does MSNBC's promo for the show include a picture of Cosby and Bush standing next to each other - the kind of posed picture that you usually see taken with Bush and some sort of ardent Republican admirer?

She's from Fox.