A blonde woman, tears running down her face, looks into the camera and pleads, “Why did the Mormons do this to us?”

In a crowd of what I presume are gay activists (and not film goers), a young man sobs so hard that he has to be comforted by a female friend.

–

A bulldyke (I’m guessing) stares out at the viewer, her despondent face sopping wet.

And one of the stars of the film, a pretty gay boy (and ex-Mormon) named Tyler Barrick – who seems have been inspired by Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born – clings to his husband and bawls, “I can’t believe that people could hate us this much!” Really?  I can.

Judging from these nuggets, 8MP signals a new tactic (and new low) in the gay crusade to redefine the traditional meaning of the word “marriage”: frantic blubbering.   The filmmakers, all of whom are gay and most of whom boast street creds from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, seem to think they’ll win hearts and minds with a showy flood of tears.  They won’t.  The LGBT M.O .may have switched from rage to rue, but it’s still missing the mark.

Also irksome about this two-minute pity party are the vexing, tiresome questions it raises for independent gay people who don’t go in for Fire Island, Atlantis Cruises, zero-percent body fat, or mass approval: What’s wrong with this picture – and Why don’t I buy it?

The vast majority of Americans – many of them minorities, and many of them gay - simply believe a child’s best shot at a good life starts with a mother and a father, two consenting people of opposite sexes who can actually reproduce in the first place.  This belief has nothing to do with denying same-sex love, or equality, or rights.  It simply has to do with the basic, biological reality of conceiving and raising children.

Don’t get me wrong:  I’m continually thrilled and inspired by my fellow gays’ ability to build amazing lives, communities, and families for themselves, especially in the face of monumental adversities like AIDS.  And there is something truly heartwarming about the sight of two committed men (or women) reaching beyond themselves to care for a child (or two, or three).  Many gay people make exemplary parents.  We are, after all, human too (for those of you who think otherwise).

But the traditional definition of family remains sacrosanct to most Americans, and has since long before the Stonewall Riots brought gay rights out of the closet.  There’s nothing wrong with trusting in the conventional notion of the nuclear family, just as there is nothing wrong with being openly gay.  These two belief systems need to learn to COEXIST, as the bumper stickers say.  And that requires a two-way street.

“But Spain allows gay marriage – and that’s a Catholic country!” So what.  Spain doesn’t have three hundred million people living in it.

8MP promises to reveal details of a secret, “orchestrated campaign” by the Mormon Church to nefariously ban same-sex marriage across the entire USA.  Okay.  So remind me again what isn’t an orchestrated campaign?  When I see a montage of young, good looking, able-bodied homosexuals wracked with sobs because a church doesn’t approve of their lifestyle – Duh! - that strikes me as a campaign of emotional blackmail on a pretty grand scale.

To lend their conspiracy theory a malevolence it otherwise wouldn’t have, the filmmakers flash images of: George W. Bush (a.k.a. Evil Incarnate) shaking hands with a Mormon honcho; a young gay man bloodied in a riot (”I’m surprised I’m not dead!”), and a lesbian (I think) being led off in handcuffs (just in case you forgot you’re living in a police state).  And no piece of regressive – excuse me, progressive - propaganda would be complete without opportunistic prophecies of “the demise of our democracy!”

It’s true that Mormons, who comprise a measly two per cent of California’s population, managed to raise nearly half of the $22.8 million collected in support of Proposition 8 without drawing a lot of attention to themselves.  That’s modesty for you.  But contrary to popular mythology (and wishful thinking), that doesn’t mean the Church of LDS is the new Nazi Party.  As with the gay community, there is more diversity (of thought) among the pasty-faced followers of John Joseph Smith than meets the eye.

Just as all Muslims are not terrorists, all Mormons are not homophobes.  At the height of Prop 8 hysteria back in October 2008, The New Statesman reported that thousands of LDS believers demanded that their names be removed from Church records so they would not be associated with an organization perceived as being anti-gay.

“It’s been a very divisive issue,” said LA-based Mormon bishop Robert Bennion, who has an openly gay brother (with whom he is very close).  “It raises a lot of questions to which there aren’t a lot of crystal clear answers, and almost everybody feels like you have to be on one side or the other….  In my mind, it’s possible to be in favor of Proposition 8 without being anti-homosexual.”  Again, this is a war over a word.

For contrast, note the choice of words in this thoughtful comment left on an anti-Prop 8 website by a pro-gay marriage activist:  “I was going through the list of [Mormon] contributors and… I noticed that two people have died since making their donations, so I suppose that puts us up by two.  Every little bit helps!”  How many hearts and minds do you suppose he won that day?

8MP appears to be more of an anti-Valentine to Mormonism than a rational case for gay marriage (i.e. payback time for the filmmakers, including Oscar-winning Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black, who narrates).  After all, Mormons are, like the stereotype of Christians, devout white devils, the scapegoats of the age, the new boogeyman of post-9/11 America.

But as Jonah Goldberg posed to his fire-and-brimstone liberal readers:

“If opposition to gay marriage is morally indistinguishable from Jim Crow racism, anti-Semitism and the like (as so many of you say), why on earth aren’t you screaming bloody murder at Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid and the other Democratic politicians who run the US government?  Surely, they matter more than a few Mormon donors.  Why aren’t they bigots even though they hold the same fundamental position as Mormons?”

Thank you.

Meanwhile, where is the liberal rage at the world’s most extreme cadre of homophobes, the Islamic supremacists, whose “orchestrated campaign” against LGBT people goes far beyond preventing them from exchanging vows?  In 8MP, gay protesters display signs decrying “Christo-Fascists” - their oh-so-narrow comfort zone.  Mohammed-Fascists?  Off-limits.  Why?  Well, for one thing, those totalitarian bigots might actually respond.  And we wouldn’t want anyone to lose his or her head – literally – would we?

Unable to imagine a world in which Sarah Jessica Parker might not receive any more GLAAD awards, these short-sighted American whiners suffer glamorously for the camera, tears running carefully down their clean shaven (mostly Caucasian) cheeks.  Because in the Oprah-cized USA, victim-hood is power, and feelings are weapons.

The LGBT community will never be satisfied with civil unions now that the “marriage” seed has been planted – which is too bad since a recent Pew Research Center poll showed that a huge majority of Americans approve of allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into legal agreements that would bestow many of the same rights as married couples.  As a matter of fact, in the past year alone, support for civil unions has grown significantly among folks who oppose same-sex marriage.  Right here in the knuckle-dragging USA.

That sounds like progress to me.  But true to form, gays aren’t likely to give up the drama.

Should lesbians and gays who want to make a home and raise kids be discriminated against from the federal level down?  Of course not.  Should committed gay partners enjoy the same benefits as married heterosexual couples?  Absolutely – and as far as I can tell, in a growing number of states, they do (and if they don’t, trust me, they will).

So why am I defending the Mormons?  To crib from Flip Wilson, the 8MP trailer made me do it (which may indicate how effective the movie will be when it finally opens).  In the meantime, this is America, not Iran – create your own rules, and move on.  And if you really want to get married, nobody’s stopping you from going to Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or Vermont – or to Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, or Wisconsin for the same thing minus the “m” word.

When the day comes that Barack Obama puts down his golf clubs to repeal DOMA – and gay marriage passes by vote in all 57 states - great!  Until then, can’t we all just get along?

Back in April, Vice President Biden uttered dire warnings about catching Swine Flu in subways and commercial airplanes.  Per the usual pattern, the White House quickly apologized for “Amtrak Joe’s” remarks.  But now, just a few months later, the President also has declared a national emergency.  The H1N1 is spreading, and instead of 120 million expected doses, only 11 million shipped last week. In a few weeks, the vaccine may become widely available, but it hasn’t yet.  Even the Obama children reportedly haven’t received the vaccine (although I hope they get immunized if that’s what their family decides).  

Balboa Park, The United States of America

Personally, I think the Swine Flu hysteria is a bit over-hyped.  But on the other hand, I’d rather not get sick if I can avoid it.  This year is particularly important for my family because my wife is pregnant with identical twins.  That type of pregnancy comes with risks already, and the H1N1 can be rough on expectant mothers.  So, after doing our research, we decided she would get immunized at the first opportunity, which was this past week.  In the process, we saw one possible future outcome of health care “reform” – rationing. 

The H1N1 vaccine made its limited debut this past weekend in Southern California at a few government-chosen distribution centers.  Near us, in Balboa Park in Encino, people lined up on the Friday starting at 3:00 a.m.  By that afternoon, the daily supply had run out.  So, at my wife’s (very strong) recommendation, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday and dutifully got in line.  The park was still dark outside when I arrived, with just four people camped out ahead of me in blankets and beach chairs.  As daylight broke, the line grew.  

By 8:00 a.m., the line was across the park and my wife and our little daughter showed up.  My wife and other expectant mothers were hoping for a version of the H1N1 vaccine prepared without the “controversial” preservative Thimerosal.  (There’s a movement that suspects Thimerosal causes autism.  From what I’ve read, there’s no link, but I understand why concerned parents, if given the choice, would rather not risk it.  Anyway, I’m no doctor, so I’ll leave the debate to our distinguished medical specialists (like, uh, John Kerry, Chris Dodd and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.). 

Shortly after 8:00 a.m., word got out that only 60 doses of Thimerosal-free vaccine were available.  That is, just 60 doses for all pregnant women across the entire San Fernando Valley (which has a population of over one million).  Expectant mothers were told to get out of line and head to the back entrance. The park staff were admirable and helpful.  They tried to organize a new line, but there was no formal system and with only 60 spaces available, people were tense.  One lady with a particularly obnoxious and uncouth sense of entitlement got a coveted spot near the front of the new line, but that apparently wasn’t good enough because she went on to berate the busy staff for not making her the very first.  Other women were turned away after waiting for hours, and were told to try again the next day.  Borderline chaos. 

 By 9:00 a.m. when the immunization center finally opened, 60 expectant mothers were queued up.  (If you’re wondering, yes my wife got in because I had lined up so early and managed to convince the staff to include her.)  I was back at the other entrance, waiting with my daughter for the regular vaccine… behind us, nearly a thousand other people were jostling in line.  

This is 2009, in a middle-class L.A. suburb, but it looked like a Soviet Union bread line.  I know long waits for medical treatment are not unknown here.  L.A. emergency rooms are routinely overburdened with uninsured people who use the hospital as a basic clinic.  That is a different brand of chaos, and I don’t pretend to know how to fix it.  But what I do know is that my wife and I work our tails off to have private insurance so we can use a private U.S. health care system that is the envy of the world.  But if the government takes over, that choice will probably disappear.  Pelosi, Obama and Reid (oh my!) are dead set on “reforming” the exceptionalism right out of our system.  They’re still pushing a public option that most Americans don’t want, trying to sneak it past us at midnight in thousand-page bills, or tacked quietly onto unrelated legislation.  The revised drafts and permutations each week are endless and numbing.  And the estimated costs, even though ultimately unknowable, are already staggering.  

The Ruling Party’s current brand of health care “reform” is just the latest illness coming out of D.C.  Forget the Bird Flu and Swine Flu, we first have to shake the Pork Flu.  Leaders (from both parties) continue to siphon billions into pork-barrel earmarks.  This past year, they rushed to pass the largest stimulus spending package in history.  Even if massive spending and debt were the cure for what ails us (?), most of the money hasn’t even been spent into our economy yet, and a second stimulus package is already being discussed.  (Expect to see the stimulus money poured into the economy just before the next election cycles.)  On top of the Pork Flu, we’ve been hit with more than 30 cases of CZARS, as well as waves of “Botch-ulism” (botched bank bailouts, a botched Gitmo strategy, botched treatment of our allies and enemies abroad…).  America has a fever (although maybe not the kind Al Gore warned of), but the cure is looking worse than the disease.  Forget one flu vaccine, what will happen when we are stuck with socialized medicine for 330 million people?  Medical treatment will be rationed out under cheerless and impenetrable bureaucratic rules.  People with the means to afford treatment will be denied it for other reasons, such as they are elderly and have outlived their social usefulness. 

Need cancer treatment?  Take a pain pill.  

Dennis Miller has joked, in all seriousness, that Government-run health care will resemble “the DMV with wounds.”  Well, on Saturday I caught a glimpse of future chaos and it is deeply unsettling.  With some legitimately needy people lacking health care, pockets of our system do need repair.  But we have an entire toolbox at our disposal, not just a sledgehammer.  All I’m saying is, let’s slow down a bit and think this over.  Have a REAL dialogue and debate.  And while we’re at it, keep riding on the subways and airlines – they employ hardworking people.

The most rudimentary example is, of course, the pistol in the desk drawer: revealed in Act I, and then in Act II, the gun is used to kill someone.

For an intensive workshop in cinematic setups and payoffs you should screen the Back to the Future series, where setup and payoff are elevated to an entirely new level.

It’s kind of fascinating, watching Obama construct the setup for his Afghanistan policy. He follows a familiar dramatic structure:

1. Anguished self-reflection, all quite public in order to display nobility of character.

2. Striking out at supporting players—Generals Petraeus and McChrystal—for their disloyal behavior.

3. Floating ideas through the court jester, Joe Biden, regarding an alternate—i.e. losing—policy in Afghanistan. The fool is allowed to speak the truth in order to maintain plausible deniability, but actually designed to prepare the great unwashed for a series of radical policy shifts.

It’s all very Will Shakespeare.

But of course this is all a set-up for Obama to do nothing for as long as possible, which is, by the way, doing quite a bit. Inaction on the part of America and her allies benefits the Muslim terrorists by giving them time to recruit, raise funds, regroup, train, and conquer more real estate.

Obama’s next move will be to deploy a few extra troops to Afghanistan, just enough to claim that he’s in the fight, but not enough to shatter his liberal base.

However,  as the body count rises and the tactical and strategic situation in Afghanistan deteriorates, Obama will, in slow motion, bring the troops home, thereby surrendering to radical Islam. And, according to the Democrats, rescuing us from a Vietnam like quagmire.

The blowback will be massive.

1. The Islamists will—rightly—declare victory over the Crusader infidels.

2. Radical Islam will point to a failure of Western resolve in the face of imperial Islam. The propaganda value of this claim cannot be overstated.

3. The Taliban will swallow the entire country and a reign of Islamic terror will spread like the Black Plague.

4. Rapidly, Afghanistan will devolve into a terrorist and drug cartel state, sending out death squads to Europe, North Africa and America.

5. Emboldened, the Taliban will set their sights on neighboring Pakistan, a failed nuclear state ripe for picking. India will be compelled to act or face a nuclear Taliban—dirty suitcase bombs will proliferate—and their non-state Islamist allies, including Iranian proxies. Hamas and Hizbullah.

6. America’s allies will view Obama’s America as an unreliable ally and draw away from America’s orbit.

7. Obama’s fetish for sitting down, in community organizer mode, and yapping away with totalitarian regimes signals massive naivete and weakness. Hence, the Taliban, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela will stomp all over this administration like a rug. The number one rule of geo-politics is: weakness invites aggression.

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Copyright © Robert J. Avrech

This sketch wasn’t aimed at Rahm Emanuel, Joe the Biden, or Tim Geithner… it was targeting the Man himself.  But did SNL really turn over a new leaf?  Nope.  The criticism leveled at Obama was that he is failing to execute the brilliantly conceived left-wing aspects of his agenda as stated in his campaign.  Of course, there is no casting judgment on those ideas and no mention that most of America doesn’t actually support them.

This is a tactic Bill Maher has mastered.  He has repeatedly leveled humorous critique at Obama, but the arguments always hinge around Obama not behaving like the left-winger we thought we elected.

While it was refreshing to see a sketch where Obama is the punch line, Big Hollywood’s massive editorial staff is still unimpressed (and un-amused, but that’s for another post).

We invite you to use the comments to list some of the things Obama has thus far failed to do that would have appeared in the sketch had the writers been more sympathetic to those of the center-right persuasion.

 However, Obama is animated by seemingly crude gestures made powerful by his position.  He and his motivated White House staff, without explanation, used a black painted piece of plywood to cover up the letters IHS (Latin for “Jesus Savior of Men”) when he spoke at a Jesuit University (Georgetown), but while speaking abroad, our president deftly referred to the Koran as “ holy,” a descriptive primarily used by followers who believe in the Islamic faith. Why?

These choices are thoughtful, not thoughtless, and symbolic of current White House ideology. When Obama was simply a candidate, and not yet our chosen leader, he had already attempted to use a circular symbol suspiciously reminiscent of the presidential seal to signify that the prize was all but attained before the fact. It was adolescent pop psychology, symbolic and laughable, but a telling trait that should have warned us that we were dealing with a symbol-holic, and a degree of hubristic thinking that had danger written all over it. 

Human symbols are the glue for his “green” and very radical political testament. It’s humorous to listen to the apologists excuse the appointment of Van Jones as a failure of vetting procedures. Jones is a soul mate, not a soul mistake. He’s a beloved symbol and a disciple who habitually uses the required neo-com radical lingo.  Catch phrases such as “redistribution of wealth” or “redistributive justice” are the common symbolic logos of all of Barack’s brothers and sisters like Carol Browner, Cass Sunstein, John Holdren, and Valerie Jarrett.  

Manipulating words for symbolic effect is an important aspect of Barack’s background skills. He proclaimed September 11th “a national day of service and remembrance” … service first and remembrance second. Service is an unnecessary little addition to that horrible anniversary that we certainly did not need, but for it to precede remembrance in the spoken or written phrase is an affront to our national dignity. Can you imagine every news report mentioning Joe Biden first whenever referring to our national leadership? It would be demeaning to the president.

Obama symbolically and purposefully diminished the real meaning of that day, the remembrance part, for his egotistical linguistic and ideological needs.  In America we don’t have a problem with service, our problem is remembering certain truths that are self evident and remembering those who first enunciated those truths to the astonishment of the entire world.

Obama has traveled that world denigrating his own country wherever and whenever possible; bowing to a Saudi king and listening to communist Daniel Ortega savagely berate the US for an hour with nary a word offered in defense of the American people are just two examples. He also smiled warmly in the direction of Hugo Chavez, a porcine tub of human excrement who happens to be presently allied with holocaust deniers and killers of our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

If Obama treats his own country with such obvious disdain, can we really be surprised by the way he treats new Eastern European allies? Betraying them on the 70th anniversary of the Polish invasion was not a mistake any more than the gift of 25 dvd’s was a mistake. It was for Barack a perfect degree of respect! They will deny it, but reneging on our missile treaty agreement on this specific historical date will always remind us of the harm done to our new relationships,  and of those who so arrogantly chose to abuse symbolic remembrance.

Moments after I heard the news I did a radio interview and predicted that the news media would destroy her in their transparent quest to pave the way for Barack Obama’s historic election. I had no idea just how right that “blink” calculation would be and I certainly never would have guessed that I would become a small part of that story by dedicating my life and fortune to documenting just how unbelievably bad it would get.

The last twelve months of Sarah Palin’s life truly bring new meaning to the phrase “what a difference a year makes.” I strongly believe that no public figure in modern America has ever endured more stress, pressure and unfair scrutiny in a more dignified fashion than she has over the past year (though what George W. Bush tolerated over the last three years of his presidency probably comes in a close second).

On August 28th of last year Sarah Palin was a largely unknown governor considered to be a rising star largely because of her willingness to take on Republicans in a way that had endeared her to Democrats. Today she is an ex-governor wrongly perceived by most of the country and virtually all of the news media as an erratic, unqualified, lightweight and ultra-partisan Republican who can’t even mange her own family. 

What did she do exactly to deserve this unfortunate perception? I have literally gone around the country (screening my film “Media Malpractice” which features an exclusive interview with then Governor Palin) and asked numerous media outlets that question and I have yet to get a remotely sensible answer.

The best I can come up with (oddly, this is hardly ever mentioned when the topic comes up) is that, after having to deal with three or four sittings with a Katie Couric who was clearly out to get her, she did not name a supreme court case with which she disagrees other than Roe v. Wade. Other than that, my documentary proves that every other alleged transgression that she committed has been either blown out of proportion or simply made up by a news media that obviously had both a political and financial agenda against her. When you consider all of the whopper-sized blunders committed by her campaign counterpart Joe Biden, the unfair treatment of Palin does become, at least based on the live audience reactions to my film, rather hilarious.

On top of this, I wish you to consider the unique circumstances Palin was dealing with while she went through the last year, circumstances that a remotely fair media would have considered a remarkably successful and nearly error-free year.

If, in just one spin around the sun, you had given birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome (that even mainstream media outlets would not fully accept as really belonging to you even though there was no other biological possibility), had your unmarried teenage daughter’s pregnancy (and later, her sex life) become fodder for massive worldwide coverage, had your first child sent to Iraq, had your fourteen-year-old, non-public figure daughter become the subject of rape jokes on national television, had your reputation and character destroyed by lies intended to foster the election of a man you knew would forever change/destroy the country you love, were prevented from doing your day job by a group of loser bloggers who lay awake at night (probably under the roof of their parents’ homes) dreaming of being interviewed by Keith Olbermann, and were thrown under the bus by numerous people on your “side” because they decided it was in their self-interest to do so — what are the chances you would not be left in the fetal position in a pool of your own drool?

But instead of cracking under this unprecedented pressure, Sarah Palin has proven her courage (and perhaps wisdom) by simply pivoting. While I disagreed with the timing of her decision to resign as Governor (mostly because I knew it would be misperceived as “quitting” by those who didn’t understand the facts on the ground in Alaska), I know it was done out of intentions that in a just world would be rewarded and not condemned. So far, it has also proven to be remarkably effective. After all, what other housewife from Wasilla, Alaska could have possibly altered the course of the health care debate (and possibly the entire Obama presidency) by simply posting some strong and well-footnoted opinions on her Facebook page?!

So, what have we learned from Sarah Palin’s remarkable year? Hopefully, we have learned a lot.

Among other things, we should have learned…

That surprise announcements can often create more long-term perception problems than they are worth (at least when they come from Republicans).

That to the media if you are a young, good looking, charismatic,  non-white male without a long resume and  are a conservative running for Vice-President, you are an embarrassment to the country. But if you are a young, good-looking, charismatic, non-white male without a long resume and are a socialist running for President, you are the Second Coming.

That the candidate who told the truth the most during the 2008 campaign was Sarah Palin.

That the media is perfectly willing and able to destroy someone’s character simply because it suits their political and economic agenda and will stop at nothing to do so.

That there are far too many high-profile “conservatives” willing to sell out their “cause” to gain favor with the news media and that there is almost no accountability for their treason.

That the left understands that this is a war where “assassinating” leaders of the other side is perfectly acceptable, while the right seems to still think that this is a picnic and that the Sarah Palins of the world grow on trees.

That the only people more threatened by a highly successful and good looking mom than liberal women, are Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, David Letterman and Bill Maher.

That the power of being a celebrity is far greater than the power of being Governor of Alaska.

That the ex-boyfriend of the daughter of the ex-Governor of Alaska can get treated as a media star if it is perceived to hurt a prominent conservative.

That more character was revealed in Sarah Palin over the past twelve months than America probably deserves in a politician.

That August 29th, 2008 was a seminal moment in our politics and media which has changed, perhaps forever, the rules of engagement in a way that may make it impossible for conservatives to ever fully recover and should truly frighten all fair-minded Americans.

If we don’t heed these lessons, then we will deserve what we will inevitably get.

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: Health Care Bill, Nancy Pelosi, USA TODAY, President Obama, Professor Gates, Sergeant Crowley, Joe Biden, Cash For Clunkers, Michelle Obama’s Garden, ACORN, Sean Penn, ABC News, and Jennifer Aniston.

In the weeks following Jackson’s death, the level and scope of coverage was and continues to be mind-numbing. Sure, MJ’s death was tragic, but tragedy doesn’t warrant the widespread disengagement of American media outlets, nor does it permit the dumbing down of pertinent information. To borrow from John Ziegler, the obsessive coverage of Michael Jackson’s death is yet another glaring symptom of the malpractice that is all too common amongst today’s media elite.

It’s no surprise that CNN and others are jumping on the bandwagon. Jackson’s collapse and subsequent death fueled increased viewership and network interest. According to CNN co-founder Reese Schonfeld:

“Jackson’s death brought all sorts of new viewers to the cable news networks, and it’s obvious that most of them turned to CNN. CNN is still seen, by most people who are not news junkies, as the place to turn to for news they really care about.”

Schonfeld went on to say the following:

“It’s unfortunate that the news they seem to care about is the death of an entertainer, no matter how great, when there are things happening in the world that will affect them and their children much more significantly.”

So, Schonfeld is hypocritically rejoicing over increased ratings while his network abandons world events to cover the life of a man who has had and will continue to have little viable impact on society. He’s basically saying, “How tragic that people care about such irrelevant information, but hey – our ratings are through the roof!”

Railing against citizen love for the unimportant, while praising the effect such coverage has over CNN’s bankroll is nonsensical (from a journalistic perspective, at least). And this is only one example. CNN surely isn’t the only network at fault, as plenty of others have joined in and reneged on their responsibility to the American people.

In their classic spirit when dollar signs come into focus, the media abandon reporting the news that actually affects Americans in order to capitalize on the revenues they can expect from their self-perpetuated campaigns, with “All Michael Jackson, All the Time” being the most recent narcissistic example.  Frankly, it’s embarrassing and fraudulent. The Fourth Estate has become the court gesture – and that’s being kind.

But, it’s not only the media who are at fault. U.S. citizens – led by members of my own generation – have continued to fuel the fire. Eric Holder was way off base when he called Americans a “nation of cowards.” What he should have called us was a nation of idiots (please note the sarcasm here, as I’d rather watch MSNBC than give Holder’s comment credence — and that’s saying something).

Many young Americans are so blind to the domestic and international issues that will surely impact their world, that they’d rather fawn over a pop legend they never knew, than confront the important issues that directly impact their lives.  Why expend the energy needed to understand the difference between a deficit and the national debt when you can watch the mainstream media slobber over the advertising revenues they receive from exploiting the death of a former super star? It’s shameful.

CNN and other related outlets should have the nerve to report real news, as should the American people crave the information that will lead to greater transparency and personal betterment. Here are some events we missed out on during the MJ hooplah:

• Vice-president Joe “Gaffetastic” Biden said, “”We misread how bad the economy was,” a statement that should have sent the globe spinning. Instead, it quickly faded as the media contemplated which doctor should be blamed for MJ’s death.
• Calls for a second stimulus began to surface (although anyone who was paying attention to Obama’s budget would have noticed billions budgeted for another potential “stimulus” back in April).
• After the unprecedented connection that was established between Americans and Iranians, the media essentially abandoned the Iranian election story as Iranians continued to fight and protest in the streets of Tehran.
• The media showed wreathes and memorials set for MJ, while American soldiers sacrificing their lives overseas went unnoticed. After all, how would the American people know of their sacrifices without a media body committed to relaying such pertinent information? Lt. Brian Bradshaw died the same day as MJ and his aunt had this to say in response to the media’s outlandish coverage: “Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media. Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week?” Good question.

Beyond my complaining, it is important to note that the media have a responsibility to serve as a check on our government. Each outlet is intended to add value and context to the democratic process. Whether it be inherent political bias or the abandoning of real news for elevated ratings, the media are continuously abandoning the American people. The only question that remains: Is there any turning back?

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: North Korea, Sarah Palin, Tina Fey, U.S. Marines, Afghanistan, President Obama, EPA memos, global warming, Michael Jackson, Joe Biden, Senator Al Franken, Best Buy, and Spike Lee.

Yesterday, Independence Day, Vice President Joe Biden attended a naturalization ceremony at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq.  During the ceremony 237 U.S. servicemen from 59 countries, including Iraq, were sworn in as citizens of the United States of America.  At the conclusion of this solemn, undoubtedly moving and inspirational occasion, and in the presence of his own son Beau (currently serving in the 261st Theater Tactical Signal Brigade, Delaware Army National Guard), this is what the Vice President of the United States had to say: ”As corny as it sounds,” he told the troops, “Damn, I’m proud to be an American!” 

Where to begin?  

OK, if you were really proud to be an American, Mr. Vice President, you wouldn’t find it necessary to preface that declaration with the words, “as corny as it sounds”.  If you were really proud to be an American those words wouldn’t sound corny to you.  Then again, if you were really proud to be an American you wouldn’t be serving under a President who spent his last trip overseas apologizing to the world on behalf of America.  You wouldn’t be serving under a President who either doesn’t recognize or simply doesn’t understand the concept of American exceptionalism.  You wouldn’t, it could be reasonably argued, be a member of the current Democrat Party.     

Joe Biden is known in Democratic circles as a “shoot-from-the-hip” type of guy, which means he’s known for shooting his mouth off on subjects he knows nothing about without the slightest regard for where he is or who he’s speaking to.  You might say that’s his trademark, along with the serial plagiarism and the hair plugs.  Well, yesterday’s outburst was vintage Biden.  It simply never occurred to America’s Number Two (as he’s known around my house) that it might be sort of…oh, I don’t know, moronic?…to stand up in front of hundreds of U.S. soldiers in a combat theater and tell them you think it’s corny to feel proud of your country.  Then again, Biden knows virtually nothing about the military despite his (much boasted-about) service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as any English-speaking adult who’s analyzed Biden’s, uh, “thoughts” on Iraq could tell you.  Like Vice President Dick Cheney (who I’m sure doesn’t think it’s corny to be proud to be an American), Vice President Biden sought and was granted five military deferments during the Vietnam War.  So like Senator Barbara Boxer, who recently scolded a brigadier general for (correctly and properly, as it turns out) addressing her as “M’am”, Biden might be forgiven for the stupidity of today’s remarks on the grounds that’s he’s simply ignorant of military culture. Which I guess would be something else for him not to be proud of.  Then again, it could be worse. Michelle Obama only started being proud of her country about a year and a half ago, and she’s the First Lady! 

But let’s say a reasonable person might, under certain circumstances, be feeling somewhat reticent, somewhat bashful about a full-throated declaration of pride in being an American.  Like, say, after visiting the Bill Clinton Presidential Library or attending a deceased senator’s memorial service with Al Franken or something like that.  OK, fair enough.  Personally I don’t get it, but I suppose that, in some hypothetical situation, the words, “I’m proud to be an American” might strike some hypothetical person as being somewhat corny.  But if there’s one person, in one scenario, who should never, ever feel that it’s corny to be proud to be an American, it would be: 

- The Vice President of the United States.
- Surrounded by hundreds of U.S. servicemen and women.
- Who have just become U.S. citizens.
- In a war zone.
- On Independence Day.
- You stupid moron, you.  

So on this July the Fourth weekend, please take a moment to contemplate the implications of Joe Biden’s casual, unscripted (thus, highly revealing) thoughts on what it means to him to be an American.  And after careful consideration if you still think an arrogant,  grinning, eye-blinking, speech-stealing simpleton like Joe Biden is qualified to be Vice President of the United States–  and Sarah Palin is not!–  I’d love to hear from you in care of this website.  

As for the rest of you: at the risk of sounding too corny, happy Independence Day to you all, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.