Rand Paul was preparing to voluntary board an aircraft in Nashville today when the scanner being used by airport security was triggered. He was then referred for a secondary inspection in which a pat down would need to be conducted.
He refused because he’s a dick and political opportunist who saw a chance to concoct a controversy he felt that would violate his personal liberty to do whatever the hell he wants with no regard to national security.
He initiated the process of walking away so he could focus on exploiting the incident to get the most attention out of it. He was then informed he couldn’t leave that area because when law enforcement are investigating suspicious activity in a timely manner it’s not in anyone’s best interest to allow the suspicious individual to just do whatever the hell they want.
The situation has since been resolved and Rand has been safely returned to his perpetual temper tantrum headquarters. Although he was late for a speech at the March for Life. Thankfully the participants found a way to soldier on without him
The event gave his dad a chance to bitch about the police state that exists in his mind, so at least the family will have something to toast to next tuesday.
The TSA has clearly and correctly stated that he was not detained, but the senator is sticking to the story his daddy stitched in his underwear which were never removed.
This isn’t right, but it’s what it is. I’ve resented breast cancer research since January 2007. That’s when my dad called to tell me his prostate cancer had returned and it was terminal. Of course I don’t want to see some sort of cancer competition, and all cancer research is good. However, the awareness of different cancers (as well as other diseases) is lopsided, and I think I know why.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and breast cancer’s wheel is a stone cold screecher. Breast cancer’s victims, survivors and loved ones are just natural organizers. They’re more apt to join support groups, hold walk-a-thons and marches and paint everything with a bar code pink. EVERYTHIING.
For a long time I’ve thought what men need is for their daughters and sisters and wives to start making some noise. Everything happens for a reason, perhaps this issue is the reason so many of us girls are journeyman nags. People with prostate cancer tend to be guys like my dad. He grew up during the depression, served his country just missing WWII, came back and, despite his talents at drafting, took a temporary job carrying mail that lasted 30 years because he had a family to provide for. Unlike most other cases he had a surprising addition to that family at age 49 who saw him as her favorite person who ever lived and always will.
He ignored chest pains in his sixties to not worry us. It caught up with him but he survived. I think we all figured that when his time did come it would be his heart to go, but in 2000 he couldn’t protect us from his enlarged prostate anymore (ok, that sounds weird). After being treated for that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
He had surgery and a course of radiation and the cancer was nearly eradicated. For 7 years the cancer was kept at bay with some sort of hormone shot that gave him hot flashes, which is hilarious.
Dad and Charlotte on her 1st birthday and his 79th.
As I mentioned, in January 2007 it came back, and he passed away in February 2008. He still didn’t really complain and tried chemo to buy himself some time… to buy us time. It just bought him 3 months of dying. The chemo wasn’t worth it, but those 7 years of shots were. During that time he saw my nieces grow to be great young women, walked me down the aisle, met my children (my daughter was born on his birthday), saw me finally get my shit together in general and a million other moments my family will always cherish.
Those years are priceless and wouldn’t have been possible without prostate cancer research. These guys deserve better. They take care of us until can’t. It’s time for payback.
Reacting to rumors of an alleged affair Sarah Palin may have had over 20 years ago, the gist of Tyson’s remarks were regarding the legendary endowment of black men. You know, like how black men’s penises are so large they would actually rearrange a white women’s internal reproductive organs during intercourse. He said Sarah had “met the womb-shifter”.
The Daily Caller published the above-linked short, straight-forward article which was clearly a disgusted reaction to Tyson’s comments. Well, to most people. The Daily Caller faced immediate and bizarre outrage from many Palin supporters. The same geniuses that freak out any time The DC says anything remotely critical of Palin. They took the article to be endorsing Tyson’s comments. That’s when The DC added the disclaimer that’s now at the beginning of the article. In my opinion, that was their only mistake.
Besides misinterpreting the tone of the article, the armchair critics seemed to think the story wasn’t news at all. Those of us that hung around for the first week of journalism school know that there are set criteria to determine newsworthiness, and what interests you specifically and caters to your personal sensibilities isn’t one of them. The Tyson piece falls under at least 4 of them. It was news, and it was reported properly.
This controversy is an ass-troversy (not my best wordplay). The truth is that every time The Daily Caller runs a slightly negative Palin story her supporters completely freak out. The cherry on top of this crazy sundae is that this was in no way anti-Palin.
Over 2 years ago Playboy published a hate-f*** list of conservative women. Google it. Tyson’s comments and the dude that wrote the Hate-f***’s comments were equally disgusting. The Playboy “article” was extensively covered on the right in much the same manner that The DC covered Tyson’s comments and resulted in the article being eventually taken down.
These people are as dumb as The Daily Show audience thinks Sarah Palin is. They made a WAH!-mountain out of a molehill, undoubtedly providing the DC with increased traffic and Mike Tyson and whoever’s radio show this was a week’s worth of free publicity.
And that’s why I quit blogging about politics.
*Someone on twitter asked me if I think Dan Riehl, Greta Van Susteran and Tammy Bruce were dumb since they’re leading this clusterschtup. The answer is yes, for years now.
*The more I think about it womb-shifter was pretty clever for Tyson.
I just returned from the kindergarten ice cream social at my daughter’s new school. The only way this episode of Louie could have been more uncomfortable is if it had been an actual episode of Louie.
For some reason we had to bring my daughter’s school supplies to this thing. We schlepped everything but the poly side load-whisker cleaner, which I can’t find and refuse to buy, down there. First we found the class lists to see who her teacher will be. Then what happened?
Oh, there’s a table with people huddled around it. That must say what happens next. Abort! Abort! It’s covered in sign up sheets. I made eye contact and said the only word I would say out loud the entire evening, “No.” I am empowered.
What the hell, we’re goin’ in. I theorized that we were now supposed to find her classroom and drop off these damn supplies that I had to make trips to 3 different stores to acquire. And I’m wandering and I’m muttering and I’m clearly clueless. You know that PSA that was on after every episode of Celebrity Rehab for awhile where someone’s making a screaming face but no sound is coming out. They’re internally crying for help if only someone would notice… that was me wandering around a building I’ve never been in before with 200 people I’ve never met (but they all seem to know each other and even think this is a fun experience) looking for the complete stranger whose care I’ll soon be leaving my child in.
We’re in, but it’s just more of the hallway. Lots of people milling and feigning interest in whatever the hell this is. WHAT DO I DO WITH THESE DAMN SUPPLIES? I know finding the designated receptacle for these damn supplies is my ticket outta here. There are nametags on the table. Shit, she’s supposed to know how to read her name. I have no idea if she does. I’m not a good mother. Mulligan, Trenton, Cassidy… are these first or last names? Charlotte!
We drop and run. We pick up a flyer… another stinkin’ flyer! This one’s about the next scheduled event. This is the worst scavenger hunt episode of Louie ever. I feel bad for not being the kind of mom that can stand this crap and has some clue as to how to behave. She’s still getting ice cream. She doesn’t care.
This post is about the Casey Anthony case, but it’s not really about the Casey Anthony case. It’s about the coverage of this case, cases like it, cases nothing like it and the cases we never hear about.
There seems to be some confusions about what is newsworthy. Those of us that have actually taken an intro to journalism class understand that there are established criteria to determine what is newsworthy. A story only needs to meet two of them. The Casey Anthony trial met the criteria of timeliness and human interest. It was newsworthy.
The saturation of coverage in this case was clearly ridiculous because that’s what the public wanted. This was no different from everything from political scandals to Lindsey Lohan to the new phenomenon of reality stars and people being famous for being famous. Perhaps the most under-covered story by the media is that the media is a business. Content is determined by ratings, website stats and readership numbers because those numbers determine the price of ad space. You must know this. Google ‘Tiger Woods’, click on a story, scroll to the comments and you’ll inevitably find comments that the story never should have been written in the first place. “Who cares? Don’t we have better things to worry about? Bla, bla, bla.” As if they didn’t know what the story was about when they clicked on the headline, and they don’t understand the simple concept of website traffic. Nancy Grace was trending on twitter last night because people who were fed up with the over-coverage expressed it by essentially live-tweeting HLN until midnight. But I’m the dumbass.
It’s like trying to find a McCain primary voter. He won, so we know a lot of people voted for him, but they’re nowhere to be found. They should probably stay missing for their own good. I submit that those who protest the loudest about these stories becoming entertainment are the ones most entertained by it. Stewing, snarking and feigned outrage is our newest pastime.
The throngs of voyeurs camped outside the courthouse were sick, but someone who could watch Cindy Anthony breakdown emotionally, then physically or learn the most basic and horrific facts of what happened to this child and not be moved is just as sick. We still don’t know what happened to this child. I won’t apologize for thinking she’s entitled to the truth being told.
I understand being annoyed that FNC, CNN, MSNBC or the networks were abandoning coverage of stories like the debt ceiling to solely cover this trial, but Nancy Grace, Jane Velez Mitchell and TruTV (aside from their reality shows) are by definition crime and punishment reporters. What else would they be talking about? And frankly, political junkies, we just came off of Weinergate. Spare me your above-it-allness, and watch your step getting down off that horse.
Change the channel or demand they change. This is the new media. It’s capable of covering whatever you’re interested in as in-depth as you want, but you have to let them know. You have to demand it.
WHY THIS CASE AND NOT THAT ONE?
Which brings us to the perennial discussion of why only rich, white missing or murdered people get coverage. It’s valid, but I believe exaggerated. I definitely don’t think it’s because reporters and the general public are purposely disregarding low-income and minority victims. Income definitely isn’t the main factor in peaking the public’s interest. Caylee Anthony, Jessica Lundsford and Dylan and Shasta Groene all came from lower-income families.
I think what makes them these monster stories is that they start out being the frantic search for a missing child. If we would have known Caylee Anthony was dead from day one it wouldn’t have been a big story. The key to finding missing children is media coverage, just ask Ed Smart. If you have a missing child you’re gonna go in front of any camera that will have you. I certainly don’t want to take that resource away. At best Elizabeth Smart would be an imprisoned bride to her abductor instead of the impressive and inspiring young woman we see today without the media coverage. Shasta Groene would be dead.
Of course there are missing children whose stories don’t get the coverage they should. The way to remedy that isn’t to not cover Caylee Anthony or Elizabeth Smart or to only talk about the issue when those stories are in the news. The key is for the concerned public to follow underreported cases through. Almost every missing child gets an Amber Alert nowadays. It’s really easy to sign up for wireless amber alerts for your area or follow Amber Alert on twitter or Facebook. If you see a story fizzle out before a case is resolved, then say something. If a story is getting too much coverage STOP WATCHING IT and definitely stop tweeting about it.
WHY DO CRIME STORIES MATTER?
The same reason any regretful incident matters, so we can try to understand it in hopes that it doesn’t happen again. If the sensationalism bothers you I recommend Investigation Discovery over TruTV. It’s not as timely, but for the most part they focus on telling a victim’s story and deciphering why it happened. Their talking heads are fewer and not so damn noisy.
As human beings it’s also worthwhile to bear witness to the victim’s story, especially if it’s a victim that suffered in silence during their life. For a truly aware and engaged person these macabre stories offer valuable perspective. That perspective leads to gratitude and compassion. I believe that is a good thing.
When the rise and fall of James Frey occurred in 2006 I was infuriated… with everyone but James Frey. I’ve always wanted to address it, but it hasn’t been timely until now (my writing was limited to grocery lists in ’06). Here’s some background:
James Frey wrote a book, A Million Little Pieces, based on his journey through drug addiction and recovery. He didn’t write it as a memoir, a novel or a self-help book. He just wrote a book… that someone wanted to publish. They published it as a memoir. As far as I’m concerned this was his only mistake. He should have spoken up about the genre… I guess.
Oprah read it, and then made it one of her book club selections, which is like a Pulitzer for writers that want to actually sell books that people will read. He was golden.
It really is a great book, next to no one disagrees with that to this day. His apparent contempt for punctuation alone earned my eternal thanks, and it got me through what I now see was a touch of postpartum. (I knew I was supposed to want to hold my baby, but I didn’t want to hold my baby, but I knew I should hold my baby, so I forced myself to… with my baby in one hand and A Million Little Pieces in the other to fend off the boredom.)
I can remember thinking that I hoped no one thought every detail true and every line of dialogue verbatim. That would have been impossible, and obviously you would change the names of people you were in rehab with.
Guess Oprah didn’t know. I think the frat boys at The Smoking Gun knew, but didn’t care. Turns out he did change names, dramatize dialogue and rewrite some of his own truth (I wouldn’t be surprised to learn “own truth” is a phrase owned by Harpo). Oprah defended him until she didn’t. Frey found that out when he returned to her show for what he thought was a “discussion about truth in America”. His publisher, Nan Talese, appeared with him. It turned out to be the “James Frey is a lying liar Mc-liarstein” show. The Smoking Gun guy was on, but I can’t remember if it was live or memorex. I clearly remember video of a hodge-podge of people like Maureen Dowd and Joel Stein (yeah, the clip show dude) scolding him… on tape. The court of Oprah offers no right to confront your accuser. And with that the American literati exiled the leper, talent and looking at the big picture be damned. Here are his takes on the truth and the aftermath:
He had a couple of bad months at work, then he wrote Bright, Shiny Morning, a novel. In my opinion, the most original book I’ve read, possibly ever. It’s a series of vignettes, some with conclusions, with the main character and common denominator being Los Angeles. I couldn’t put it down and still think about some of the characters in that book today.
I’m not sure how interested I am in his upcoming gay Jesus book. He’s not a theologian, and I’m not a masochist, but I also think religion has made a mess of things. We’ll see.
Since the CBC clip, Oprah has seen fit to forgive and apologize to him as only Oprah can… in a 2 part interview on her way out the door, in which Oprah does most of the talking. Whoop-di-do. I caught the tail end of it yesterday. There was an “I’m sorry” and a hug initiated by Frey. You’ll have to take my word for it. I don’t link to Oprah, and I know better than to lift video clips from her site.
I guess it’s nice of her, but the damage is done. The James Frey narrative in this country remains that he made up a bunch of lies, published them as truth and Oprah caught him because he’s a bad, bad man.
