First Cuppa Coffee – Monday, March 19th, 2012: Bigger Than Watergate Edition

The little boy who cried wolf…  It’s been my experience over the years that any time any body claims to have possession of a news story that’s “bigger than Watergate”, you’d better get the bullshit meter out and running.  Such is the case with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Maricopa County law enforcer who is leading a widely disdained investigation into the authenticity of President Obama’s birth certificate. He told the Arizona Republic last week that the media is purposefully downplaying birthers’ efforts as part of a conspiracy “bigger than Watergate.”

Then there’s the conspiracy to eliminate golf…  Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz (R) wants us to understand that a vote for him is a vote against Agenda 21, a dangerous United Nations plan that takes aim at the American economy – and American freedom – in the name of environmental reform.  Cruz wants us to understand that that this Agenda 21 thingie has the backing of liberal financier George Soros, who seeks to to bypass Congress and the American people, handing over power over vast areas of the US economy to unelected UN bureaucrats who will abolish “unsustainable” environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads.  In reality, Agenda 21 is a twenty year-old non-binding resolution which speaks largely at a very high level of generality about reducing poverty and building sustainable living environments. The United States is one of 178 nations that signed onto this non-binding agenda during the Bush Administration.

The “there” that’s there in San Diego…  Obviously the forces of evil were aligned against our City’s quest to become the nation’s Top Tourism Plantation.  First, the dude who made the Kony 2012 YouTube sensation drank too much over-hopped homebrew in beautiful Pacific Beach and started dancing (Video) down the street naked, or something because the pressure was too much.  Hell, we didn’t even know the guy was from San Diego…  And then there was the dude that the news media have labeled as the “spokesman for the Tea Party” who was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping  and rape. One really can’t blame the media for missing last month’s Tea Party press release announcing his hiatus from the group for personal reasons. Or maybe we’re just not on their mailing list…

Going Soft on Santorum….  Presidential wannabe Rick Santorum had the crowd all worked up at a rally in Arlington Heights, Illinois this weekend that was disrupted by two men kissing each other.  The crowd was ready for this, raising the level of Santorum spirituality by chanting USA! USA! until the spit swappers stopped swapping and left the stadium. See, that good old USA! chant has lots of uses, just like Sarah Palin taught us…  Commenting on the fact that Santorum and Gingrich both now have Secret Service protection, Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown quipped to Conan O’Brien; “in Santorum’s case I think it’s the first time he’s actually ever used protection.”  We don’t know if there was any connection or not, but on Sunday Santorum came out swinging at the Obama administration, which he says “seems to favor pornographers over children and families.”

Real Journalism… Radio Host Ira Glass devoted his entire one hour edition of NPR’s This American Life yesterday to explaining and apologizing for misrepresentations of fact that occurred during a January broadcast about Apple’s manufacturing facilities in China. And then he capped it off by interviewing two NY Times reporters who have done unchallenged reporting on conditions in China. Here’s the transcript. Short version: Hey folks, we screwed up, here’s how we found out, here’s what we did about it, and we’re sorry.

Unreal Journalism… Any news media that fails to remind us today, as the war drums of the neo-cons are beating in the background for the next war with Iran:

March 19, 2003 – U.S. and coalition forces launched missiles and bombs at targets in Iraq including a “decapitation attack” aimed at Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other top members of the country’s leadership.