As someone who occasionally follows the agit-prop activities of Bill O'Reilly, if only to gauge the proximate bottom of gullibility in the Fox news crowd, I tend to perk up when there is something that might be grist for further ridicule of Bill O. Well, folks, today's tidbit could prove to be quite a dilly,  as Fox Reality TV is coming out with a show with quite the Halloween theme. And, as the news chatter shows will not hesitate to tell you, Halloween has become the second biggest shopping event holiday--behind Xmas!  But, the Fox Reality TV folks may well have presented Bill O'  with someone so popular that "Culture Warrior" Bill O may have a hard time telling the show's star to shut up! (For the Halloween star's name, jump)

While the eyes of the world are focused on rumors of war in Iran, it should not go un-noticed that the US is also coming into the fourth year of what chickenhawk extraordinaire Bill O'Reilly has dubbed the "War on Xmas (Ed. Note: slightly edited to drain some of the propaganda content). Fear-monger Bill O, which media watchers have found to issue insults every 9 seconds or so, is moving to the season where his grazing pattern for topics of insult since Xmas 2004 has been the artifically created "War on Xmas."
  The casual diarist would be forgiven for falling into a high dudgeon expression of snarkery. (Follow Father Xmas down the chimney, s.v.p.)

I recommend The Aeneid, specifically the death of Dido.
    What makes this of current interest is that the press seems at a loss for a proper way to cover the grief of people suddenly caught up in the tide of events.
    In Columbine, mention was made of grief counselors to comfort the survivors. In the World Trade Center attack on 9-11-2001, grief counselors were mentioned, and some months later I remember reading a jarring report that post-event measures of the effectiveness of grief counselors, which was that their effect was nil. The massive grief of Katrina was given shorter shrift by TV than seemed warranted. (Jump)

There is at least one positive by-product of the trial of Irving Lewis Libby (a.k.a. "Scooter" to friends, "Germ Boy" to office back-biters for promoting the smallpox vaccine, and "Dick Cheney's Dick Cheney" to the (vestigial) investigative press). And that is that even a reading public that can read at the level of the average fifth-grader now understands more clearly that the Bush 43 administration lied the US into a war with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. And, as a result of that war, more then 3,500 US soldiers died, tens of thousands were injured, perhaps 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed (Lancet article, many of them civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thanks to whistleblowers and Sy Hersh, the Abu Ghraib photos make it clear that US soldiers were involved in torture in Iraq (Exercise your jump option here).

The terror stories about the alleged "plot" at JFK airport have been given a critical eye in two previous diaries, so right off the bat I will note that I intend to cover some ground not already covered there. For some biting skepticism, see "Notice a Pattern here?" by ClammyC, and "I'm planning to blow up LAX," by Goldy at Horse's Ass.
  The issue that concerns me, on giving the matter some second thought, is the outrageous lack of balance in mainstream TV, cable, and print coverage. The major news organizations have research staffs, and there is abundant information in the public record from the government and media watchdog groups for the mainstream press to have put together news reports that bore some semblance of fairness and decent context.
   The stenography is just too overpowering. (Speed jump ahead.)

The low ratings for Katie Couric have sparked a chorus of doomsayers for Katie's "career move" from A.M. TV at NBC to trying to fill the shoes at the CBS anchordesk formerly home to Bob Schieffer, Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, etc. Rathergate.com has been bold enough to predict that the axe might fall as soon as May 25, 2007, as the ratings from the latest sweeps are felt throughout Madison Ave.
  The purpose of the diary is to simply note that prediction, and have mediawatchers see if it actually comes true.
  Since the media loves the horserace aspect of the presidential race, it is with a sense of poetic justice that we here recount the bare bones of the current ratings horserace of newscasts at the Three Blind Mice (jump over the desk, please)

From an old soldier's point of view, the contrast between the two heads of state are actually glaring: Queen Elizabeth II actually has more combat military experience than George W. Bush, a fact that should prove embarrassing to the apparant chief executive if the press (or even the blogs) were to point it out--especially with the intensity of tabloid-style swiftboat campaigns.
  As a young lady, Elizabeth served in World War II in the Women's Auxiliary of the Territorial Services, sort of a counterpart to the WACs in the US (jump).

In the wake of the dust-up of Don Imus' racist remarks against the Rutgers Women's basketball team, a number of people showed themselves predictably tone-deaf on the race issue. Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, and other bats in the right-wing cave remained characteristically upside down and without light, opting to distract the discourse to hip-hop music or other topics, lest their own records on the race issue become subject to too much sunlight before an angry public. And some politicians got a little stuck to the fly-paper, like the sinking ship of the John McCain campaign, and the curious waffling of John Kerry, not directly refusing to go on the program.
    But almost lost in the background noise is the extremly curious, unprovoked, attack by New York City Mayor (Jump the Hudson River here!)
   

Over the past 10 years, summer vacation trips have centered around camping, canoeing, fishing and whitewater rafting in the Upper Delaware Basin, particularly the 50 miles along the upper Delaware river just northeast of Port Jervis, N.Y. Besides being very beautiful by itself, the historical signs posted along the river somewhere revealed that this area gets enough rain, snow, etc., to supply fully 10 percent of the nation's water. Which is why the Upper Delaware is one of the important sources of water supply to none other than the Big Apple, New York City.
   So after the mid-term 2006 elections, with the hard-won victories of Democrats, I was hopeful that Democratic policies would at least begin to reverse some of the extremely negative policies under the Bush Administration--including environmental ones (gamble with a jump!)

This investigative diary is prompted by Kos's earlier diary about Disney asserting ownership of, of all things, Santa Claus (Disney's War Against Christmas, 12-18-2006 17:36:32 PST). As everyone knows, culture chickenhawk Bill O'Reilly waxes Homeland Security bright Orange at this time of year, at the very thought that someone would commit a cultural felony against the culturally-dominant feast of Xmas. In an effort to be fair and balanced, it seemed that this news hook offered the perfect opportunity to look at a genuine point of a real war--one of patents, copyrights and trademarks.
  First, if you missed Kos's excellent post, or are a little fuzzy on the details and are too full of Xmas eggnog to scroll back, here's the thumbnail sketch. A mature man, age 60, (Jump, Rudolph! Jump, Dasher!)

Fans of the novel Catch-22 recognize the character Milo Minderbinder as the one who specialized in the black market in illegal goods of World War II; trading goods amorally, with the "enemy" and allies equally; whose first loyalty was to making a buck, regardless of which side was making the deal, or even which product provided the profit. This seems to be the most appropriate metaphor with which to frame the context for the grand larceny being committed, IMO, under the auspices of the self-styled "Iraq Study Group."
  The options in Iraq are obvious even to beginning students of chess--the military situation in Iraq is at a stalemate. (Unless W. decides to drop nuclear weapons on insurgents and masses of more-or-less innocent civilians). But the commercial media reports also ignore (Jump!)

Considerable ink has been spilled in the advertising world about truth-in-advertising. There are rules about what companies, particularly drug companies, can or can not say in ads. Their claims have to be backed up by research, the drugs must be efficacious for the use claimed, etc. Even the somewhat more slippery world of advertising of consumer goods still has to have some basis of fact to make the claims they make in their ads, enough to pass muster with the Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration, or the equivalent "watchdog" for the industry.
   That being said, let us now contemplate the use of the term "all volunteer army." Everyone knows that not everyone is a volunteer. Yet people who are supposed to be dedicated to accuracy--editors, journalists, copy editors, pundits, and press watchdogs-- (jump)

(NJ-08) House Congressional District 08 is home to Paterson, NJ, Passaic, and parts of Essex County (where Newark, NJ is). Dem Bill Pascrell Jr is considered far and away the front runner (there are a few Sandoval signs in the district), so it's considered a relatively safe seat for Democrats. Nevertheless, Pascrell sits on one of the Homeland Security subcommittees, and since 9-11-2001 happened just across the Hudson River from NJ, the issues on his committee assignments hit a real nerve with his local NJ constituents. A lot of us think that Congressman Pascrell's diligent attention to duty on homeland security will be a much-needed asset in Congress, particularly as the FBI has said that the stretch of NJ between Newark Airport and NYC ranks as the most dangerous  (jump)

(NJ-Sen) Just sticking to the debate schedule, I tuned in to WABC-TV for the second scheduled installment (not live per TV station restrictions) to be totally surprised--Repub Senate Candidate Thomas Kean Jr. at the last minute refused to participate live in the debate!
   As a NJ voter, who reads the local papers, I was still surprised--I didn't see anything in the local papers about this--and of course since the "debate" is pre-taped, this should have been news at the time of the taping.
   Even better, in the first few minutes of the now one-sided debate segment with TV news reporter Diana Williams (who's asking tough questions, so no one's tossing softballs here) asks about the charges in Kean's ads (jump!)

(Il-House). House Speaker Denny's Hastert's troubles over the Congressional Page scandal are bad enough on its own merits to warrant Hastert stepping down immediately, IMO. But if others need further convincing, as apparantly they do, it may be helpful to hark back to the record of earlier speakers, to provide some more perspective.
    The references I cite here come from the marvelous book Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century, by John A. Farrell.
    Stick with me below the jump for a few passages that seem worthy of mention, in light of Hastert's handling of the Congressional Page sex scandal, and Hastert's efforts to retain power:

(NJ-Sen)  This morning was one of the TV debates in the hotly-contested race for the NJ Senate Seat. The debate pitted appointed US Senator Robert Menendez, who replaced Jon Corzine as Corzine won NJ Governor, against Repub candidate and current NJ State Senator in Trenton, NJ. The debate was not live, per the decision of the networks (not the candidates). But there were enough fireworks to show off Repub candidate Tom Kean Jr's. trademark stumbling and bumbling style, and a parade of mis-statements from the Repub side to give independent voters who hadn't read anything about the issues a clear choice between the two candidates.
  Of course, I am a partisan Democrat, so root for Menendez. But trying to look at it through the eyes (jump!)

(Il-14) One of the big reasons that the Congressional Page scandal now engulfing House Speaker Dennis "Denny" Hastert is important is that, if the president dies or is incapacitated, the mantle of command falls first to the Vice President (now Dick Cheney), and then, if that doesn't work, the Speaker of the House (i.e. Denny Hastert). If rumors of war with Iran are correct, then this question assumes a more-than-academic importance, as incapication could easily include periods of time for which the president and vp could well be alive, but for reasons of security may not be able to communicate through the normal channels of government.
   More below the jump.

I am a partisan Democrat. But the following information comes from the non-partisan site called OntheIssues.org. For those following the key Senate race in New Jersey between Dem. Senator (appointed) Robert Menendez and Repub challenger Thomas Kean, Jr. (Emphasis on the Junior), this might be helpful in talking to your independent voters.
   My major contribution here will be in presenting the results of Kean Jr.'s and Menendez's positions on several issues side by side.
   Stick with me below the flip (jump!)