WTF Is It Now?!?

Dumberer and dumberest
Why Americans are ill-informed and why Bush loves it that way

The American people may not all be as sophisticated as, say, Brit Hume, but they're smart enough not to sit still while someone force-feeds them a daily dose of b.s. Why even bother tuning in for McNews when you know it's all lies? It's no surprise that statistics show 270 million of us don't play along, whatever our reasons. Some of us are blissfully apathetic, others too dumb to realize how bad things are. But that still doesn't satisfactorily explain these 270 million people -- nearly 10 times the number who do tune in.

I suggest that a large, and growing, core of that vast majority are not tuning in because they've become completely disenchanted with the media and political system. Further, they are finding more reliable places to get their news besides a daily newspaper that offers 4.5 pages of it or a TV newscast that rewords White House press releases. The old huckster's adage works: If people aren't getting what they want (in this case, honest journalism), they seek it elsewhere.

- - from Alan Bisbort's column.




Mad cowboy disease
"Well, my message is that -uh- what your loved one is doing is the right thing for the country. We -we- are called upon to defend the United States of America. I take that oath and every soldiers (sic) take that oath and -uh- on 9/11 our world changed. And we realized this country is vulnerable and we better do somethin' about it. And the best way to secure the homeland is to get the enemy before he gets us."

- - War deserter/lying phony pReznit Privilege takes a break from partying to talk with the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services, 8/03.




Gassing his own people
According to last week's report from the agency's own watchdog, the White House began pressuring EPA scientists to soft-pedal their concerns days after the World Trade Center towers collapsed. Political considerations trumped credible scientific concerns. The draft EPA news release for Sept. 13, 2001 warned that "even at low levels, EPA considers asbestos hazardous in this situation." But by the time it passed through the White House, it soothingly declared that this "short-term, low-level exposure is unlikely to cause significant health effects." Another draft, for Sept. 16, was similarly rewritten to say asbestos levels were "not a cause for public concern."

- - from the LA Times.