The MEDIA really has been covering the 2008 Summer Olympics intensely. And since everyone has short attention spans and bad memories, no one realizes that these same themes and coverage have been present for every Olympics. It's a copy editor's dream- just plug new names in the same old retreaded stories.
Take an Olympic athlete posing in Playboy. Or a hot female athlete. Who cares? Many former Olympic athletes have profited because of their fame, including announcers. There are many beautiful female athletes today. What difference does it make it athletes are hired because of their looks?
And...I hate to sound like a cynic, but a woman is a woman. We're not going to be seeing anything we haven't seen before. Been there, done that. Yawn. Pass.
Lin Miaoke lip-synched the REAL singer, Yang Peiyi because Yang's teeth aren't perfect!
C G I Footprints
I promised I wouldn't cover the 2008 China Olympic Opening Ceremony. But I couldn't resist...only because my co-workers were GUSHING about this great ceremony.
The little girl that the world fell in love with was FAKE. The real girl won the contest fair and square but wasn't good-looking enough.
To fill empty seats during the actual games, the Chinese have been drafting large numbers of yellow-shirted 'fans', who clap and cheer equally for opposing teams.
Read here about how China tricked the world. Shame on all of you for giving China the benefit of the doubt.
By the way, I *know* how it's easier to stage fireworks, and how fireworks really did go off" "The faked fireworks were actually set-off at the stadium, but because of potential dangers in filming the display live from a helicopter, viewers at home were shown a pre-recorded, computer-generated shot" blah blah blah blah.
I know what The Apologist says, "28 footprints outside of the stadium were actually lit and real - only the *shot shown on TV* was fake". I find it ironic that many technical oriented people LOVED the ceremony and will defend deception for eternity. If you want to waste time or energy defending it, or minimizing it, or lecture about how China is really good for the global economy blah blah blah blah go right ahead.
F A K E
"After several tests, we decided to put Lin Miaoke on the live picture, while using Yang Peiyi's voice. The reason for this is that we must put our country's interest first. We had to make that choice. It was fair both for Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi…. We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance."
The Wall Street Journal has been running an anti-Obama campaign, this time focusing on his height and weight proportion.
Here are excerpts from the article, note how the WSJ is making the news, not reporting it. Notice how they printed quotes with their leading questions.
...in a nation in which 66% of the voting-age population is overweight and 32% is obese, could Sen. Obama's skinniness be a liability? Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique just might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them.
"He's too new ... and he needs to put some meat on his bones," says Diana Koenig, 42, a housewife in Corpus Christi, Texas, who says she voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary.
"I won't vote for any beanpole guy," another Clinton supporter wrote last week on a Yahoo politics message board.
...According to Sen. Obama's Chicago physician David Scheiner, the senator works out regularly, jogs up to three miles a day when he can, and has "no excess body fat."
Dr. Scheiner didn't disclose his patient's exact weight, but medical observers estimate that the 6-foot-1.5-inch-tall senator appears to weigh at least 10 pounds less than the roughly 190 pounds that the average American man of his height weighs. The Obama campaign declined to comment for this article.
...While most voters don't base their decision on physical appearance alone, a candidate's height, weight and overall look can play a big role in what Americans perceive as "presidential," says Thomas "Mack" McLarty, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.
...During a July family appearance on "Access Hollywood," Sen. Obama's 7-year-old daughter, Sasha, revealed that her dad doesn't like ice cream or sweets. "Everybody should like ice cream," she said.
Any mainstream news article that actually quoted a Yahoo message board post to use as "evidence" should lose any "credentials" they have. Observe how the writer uses quotes around "no excess body fat", so an overweight reader would get insulted and disbelieve it. Obama's daughter's quote is being used in the same context. The WSJ article is pretty much a hack job that doesn't accurately express any trend or perception.
To show you have truth is stranger than fiction, here was the Onion video from last year, predicting this:
Rachel Hoffman, NOT to be confused with the DailySkew's own Dr. Richard Hoffman
ABC and 20/20 asks "Are Pot Users Criminals?" I guess in this post-9/11 world we live in, that question seems valid to millions of people, kind of like "Are undocumented immigrants illegal?"
You see, the last time I checked drug use without a prescription was illegal.
I happened to catch this on 20/20 last night, after driving over [censored]. I thought this article was a good follow-up to your post on the ill-effects of smoking marijuana.
Here's my take: the 20/20 presentation makes it seem like a 1/4 lb of marijuana and six ecstacy pills is okay to have, and that the police were excessive in threatening her with felony charges -- even though she had been busted once and was on parole for a year!
The police chief looked extremely nervous, getting grilled on national television. On television, nervousness = incompetent liar.
Not being smooth on TV doesn't make you a liar or incompentent.
Everyone is blaming the police for sending her out on that botched sting. I agree that they come off as cops from Hazard County, BUT ... what about HER?
It's funny, when Brian Ross mentioned she was a College Graduate, he made it sound like it was the equivalent of being an Elementary School Graduate. "She's just a College Graduate."
Boy, how standards have fallen. Excuse me, but I'm not buyin'.
She was perfectly capable, as a 23-year-old ADULT, of calling her lawyer and getting legal advice. She was perfectly capable of reading whatever agreement she had signed, and seeing whether the deal to avoid jail-time was legit (assuming she even signed anything -- she's certainly smart enough to not just go with the word of a police officer from Leon County with no written documentation, as a College Graduate).
Instead, here we have another 23-year-old desperately hanging on to her teenage years, refusing to 1)grow up, 2)take responsibility for her actions, and 3)go to jail for four years.
She wanted a get out of jail free card. Well, she's not jail ... but if she had done what any sane, normal college educated person would have done, she would not have gone to some park alone to meet with two black men to buy drugs AND a gun. She would be alive today.
Excuse me, but I don't feel sorry for the purple-floppy-hat-girl. The police were jerks, but she had a choice -- she could have spoken with her lawyer. She could have read the agreement.
You will not be seeing the actual prayer note in this post, nor will I tell you what was on the prayer note. Nor will there be a link to the story. The reason is that prayer notes in Jerusalem's Western Wall should never be read or taken by anyone. It's a personal message from the person to God. Not only is it sacrilegious and forbidden in Jewish tradition, but it may be (or rather should be) illegal. In the U.S., it's possible there would have already been laws that granted ownership of the Wall and its prayers to someone or something. The prayers are NOT discarded garbage, which can be taken, read, and published.
Yeah, Vulcans, I doubt there's a written law against it in Israel, but the newspaper should not have run it.
The Israeli newspaper's name is Maariv. Since the New York Post ran the "story", I can only assume the Maariv has as much class as the Post (none).
I'd like to think Obama truly had a spiritual experience with God, and didn't think someone would steal his prayer. But with politicians, you just can't ever tell (yes, I am a cynic). That being said, he was victimized in this case, regardless of his intentions.
1) Biblical scholars using the historical-critical approach of the New Testament's Book of Revelation have known for centuries that the book doesn't try to predict the End of Times in the 21st century, and has absolutely nothing to do with American politics. When the book says that "the time is near"- it was being literal. That "near time" has long passed. One credible theory is that the book is about the Roman tyrant Nero.
2) The term "antichrist" (plural or singular) only appears 5 times in the Bible. John wrote that antichrists deny "that Jesus is the Christ", "the Father and the Son", and would "not confess Jesus came in the flesh." One antichrist denies the Father and the Son. Paul calls a similar person a "man of sin" (or "son of perdition"). Paul describes his characteristics: he will be sitting in the temple, working all kinds of counterfeit miracles and signs, and doing all kinds of evil. Many later evangelical traditions like to link that one antichrist mentioned in Paul to "Satan", "Serpent", "Devil", "Lucifer", "The Antichrist", etc. As comic book fans know, that term is called a "retcon"- retroactive continuity. Serious historical scholars know that such "prophecies" were concerned about the immediate future, and did not try to "predict" a Democratic Presidential candidate in 2008.
3) The MEDIA has been treating Obama like a Messiah because of his high charisma and the novelty of him being an African American candidate. His overseas visits are being covered more than any other candidates in modern times. I couldn't care less if he stands in front of the Temple of Hercules for a great PR photo. There is nothing mystical or magical or...frankly important about him.
4) It would be POLITICAL SUICIDE for him to tamper with organized religion, denounce God, try to replace Jesus, or proclaim himself a Messiah or God.
5) EVERY candidate, president, or world leader has been equated with the so-called "The Antichrist" (a myth). Do a search.
6) Obama loves to be viewed like a savior. He loves the imagery. Some of his supporters are very fanatical, like a cult. People enjoy projecting their beliefs and feelings on him. Millions of people really believe his "CHANGE" gimmick. And that's fine. That's fine. But they will be apologizing about him soon enough, when those changes don't happen.
Lou Dobbs has been the voice of the Middle Class for years now, and I just wanted to give him some props here.
First, let me list what some of his critics are saying:
"Dobbs also systematically ignores or discounts the benefits of trade and outsourcing to the U.S. economy and workers. Free trade is a working family's best friend, delivering lower prices, more choice and better quality to shoppers by protecting them from potential domestic monopolies."
"Sadly, Lou Dobbs has become the Dan Rather of financial journalism. He thinks he knows the truth before actually investigating a story and he latches on to whatever documentation he can find, no matter how questionable, that seems to support his thesis."
"Dobbs has failed to present mounting and persistent evidence of anti-Hispanic racism in anti-immigration groups and citizen border patrols."
"Mr. Dobbs argues that the middle class has many enemies: corporate lobbyists, greedy executives, wimpy journalists, corrupt politicians. But none play a bigger role than illegal immigrants. As he sees it, they are stealing our jobs, depressing our wages and even endangering our lives."
"So Mr. Dobbs was flat-out wrong [about illegal immigrants carrying leprosy]. And when I spoke to him yesterday, he admitted as much, sort of. I read him Ms. Romans’s comment — the one with the word “suddenly” in it — and he replied, “I think that is wrong.” He then went on to say that as far as he was concerned, he had corrected the mistake by later broadcasting another report."
"On the air, he boomingly assails the upper management of corporate America for its “outrageous” greed, pay packages, and corruption, its opposition to increasing the minimum wage, its hiring of “illegal aliens,” its ties to “Communist China,” and its eagerness to send American jobs overseas."
" You might expect that sort of McCarthyesque description from Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh or some other famously right-wing provocateur on Fox or talk-radio. But Lou Dobbs, on CNN? Night after night, under the rousing headline "Broken Borders," the distinguished-looking 61-year-old instructs his growing audience that illegal immigrants import deadly diseases, rampant crime and international terrorism; they live off welfare, destroy public schools and burden hospitals; what's more, most haven't even learned to speak English. Dobbs declares, our lawmakers are doing nothing about it."
And now here's my take:
Dobbs is the one of the few well-known and members of the mainstream MEDIA that actually speaks up and holds journalists, news networks, corporations, government, and both parties accountable for their actions.
Yes, he's a populist. Yes, he's an Independent now. Yes, he is tired of the lies and scams. Yes, he's not buying McCain or Obama.
No, he's not a racist (I think his Hispanic wife would be shocked). He's just one of the few CNN anchors who dares to say the phrase "illegal aliens" instead of "undocumented immigrants". He, like me, believes that someone who is in a country unauthorized IS illegal, and needs to be deported.
Lou STEPS on toes every night because the Party Line says that outsourcing and China are GOOD.
Lou hates Democrats and Republicans now, so you can imagine how party members hate the fact that CNN gives him a lot of air time.
Lou has the LOOK of a distinguished conservative. He SOUNDS like an authority figure. He is mighty influential. And that pisses a LOT of people off- especially high-brow intellectual economists, who can't stand his populist views or ideas. Lou is neither left wing nor right wing, and the fact that he can only be labeled a "crusader for the Middle Class" enrages many commentators.
Lou wants a shake up for the U.S. He doesn't believe in L.M.E. (Lazy Man Ethics). I enjoy having Lou on in the background because his stories are made in a way that is accessible for mainstream audiences. When he rants and raves, people can take him a bit more seriously than some other very popular radio talk show hosts.
Lou attacked all the news networks, including his own CNN, for over-hyping Obamamania's International Tour (tm) while McCain's coverage when he went overseas was virtually non-existent. Lou said the reason was to increase rating and circulation (to make profit).
Another controversial magazine cover will be released July 21st- this time The New Yorker will release a "Politics of Fear" story, with a Barack and Michelle Obama terrorist cover, which satirizes right-wing fears that have been pitched by some extreme conservatives.
People are already protesting the satire, because the cover is being taken out of context already on message boards.
Since I notice some of DailySkew readers don't get parody or satire, let me explain The New Yorker'scover:
Many right-wing Christian GOP Rush Limbaugh-listening extremists truly believe that the Obamas are black militants, Muslim, and un-American. Heck, even Hillary Clinton and her followers believed it, or at least forwarded e-mail spam saying as much. So the picture you see on the cover of TheNew Yorker does not mean that the editors believe that Obama is a terrorist spy; they are reflecting the character assassin jobs that some right wingers have been selling all year.
Tony Snow, 53, died after a long battle with colon cancer. He was best known as President Bush's controversial selection for White House Press Secretary, spinning the company line, but having previously made critical comments about Bush prior to being hired.
President Bush said: "America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character. It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work."
Tony Snow was a intelligent and creative conservative, and had stints with NPR, FOX News, The Rush Limbaugh Show, and The O'Reilly Factor.
As Bush's official spokesman, it was hard to separate fact from fiction with his press briefing propaganda spins, but he was an excellent and sharp worker in whatever he did.
Before Tony Snow is exalted into a saint, I do want the record to show how liberals hated him being Bush's Ministry of Propaganda.
I'm sure a fool like Keith Olbermann (he should have stuck with ESPN) will run a teary-eyed tribute to Tony Snow this weekend. MEANWHILE, take a look how Olbermann covered Snow:
Well, it's official, C-Rod (Cynthia Rodriguez) is going to turn A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) into D-Rod.
The divorce papers will be filed in Miami-Dade County today.
Both have retained high-price divorce lawyers, all coming out of A-Rod's pocket. (Ya gotta love modern day America where the husband pays for he AND his wife's divorce lawyers, right?)
Anyway, the story gets more MEDIA attention than it should have. People want to know the details. People want to know about the soap opera drama, and how Madonna and Lenny Kravitz are involved in all of this. Rumor is that Madonna's managers like all the publicity she is getting because she has a tour coming out.
The New York Yankees players don't care, with the caveat of them being sure that A-Rod's production will not decrease on the field.
For all of you armchair psychologists, scientists that like to predict market trends and apply logic to economics or human behavior, take a look at Alex Rodriguez. All of his life he was concerned about image and money, and yet in recent years his reputation has been sullied by his cheating ways, the way he walks out on teams for more money, and now he stands to lose half (or more!) of his fortune. The man just had another kid 3 weeks ago. Talk about irrational.
And for those who want to judge C-Rod and A-Rod, or make fun of A-Rod for being illogical or unable to manage his personal life (he happens to be the most productive baseball player on the field), you'd probably be best to look hard at your own life, and the life of family and friends; you'd certainly see how human behavior is most illogical.
And here is another dose of Perspective (tm), Babe Ruth was just as "bad", and is still regarded as an icon. But since A-Rod comes off as being arrogant, ruthless, and a prima dona (and Babe Ruth was known to be generous and down to earth) the MEDIA has a field day with digging up the dirt.
Heck, it sells papers and gets hits on the Internet.
The one he made about the artist formerly know as Pacman Jones.
During an on-air conversation about the arrests of suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Pacman Jones, Imus asked, "What color is he?"
Told by Warner Wolf that Jones is "African-American," Imus responded: "There you go. Now we know."
Imus' arch-enemy Al Sharpton said:
"I find the inference of his remark disturbing because it plays into stereotypes. We will determine in the next day or so whether or not his remark warrants direct action on our part."
The MEDIA hates Imus, and says that he is stupid for creating controversey again. Me? I'm kind of hoping that everyone will get tired of his comments and just ignore him, and not make a major newstory every time he speaks about race.
I believe in freedom of speech. I believe that water cooler talk should be on the radio, I do. It's real. I may not agree with it, but it's real.
I have no idea what Imus meant, but PACMAN Jones (sorry Adam, your PR man may want to rebuild your image by removing your nickname, and ESPN may recognize the change, but I will not) deserves no apologists.
It's amazing...both Pacman Jones and Don Imus have been HATED by the MEDIA, but the MEDIA will take the side of Pacman because they are afraid of being labeled as racist.
Until the United States stops practicing its old double standard (white people can't say jack about black people, men can't say anything about women, etc.) this story is a NON-ISSUE to me. Either hold everyone accountable and practice a zero tolerance to racial talk or don't hold anyone accountable, and cease to report this as "news".
RFK Assassination Was Sirhan Alone? Sandy Serrano Conspiracy
DailySkew contributor R.A.W. managed to get his hands on an old newspaper from 1968 that was in his late uncle's attic this weekend. Attached is a copy of a particular article that we both found very interesting.
It seems like the history books and MEDIA have sold to us that Sirhan Sirhan was not part of a greater conspiracy, and acted alone, without any accomplices. They would like us to think he was a madman who was a lone wolf.
However, Sandy Serrano not only reported her eyewitness account that night to the LAPD, but her story was carried by nationwide newspapers, and the BBC and NBC.
Sandy was a 20-year old youth volunteer for Robert Kennedy, who reported that she saw a woman and man running downstairs. Earlier in the night she had seen a young woman in a white dress with dark polka dots walking up the back stairway of the Ambassador hotel, with two men-one was wearing a white shirt and a gold sweater, the other looking dirty and out of place, short, and with bushy dark hair (Sirhan Sirhan). Shortly after hearing what she thought were backfires from a car (it was RFK getting shot), the woman and one of the men came back down the stairs, in an excited fashion, speaking loudly. Sandy said:
She practically stepped on me, and she said, "We've shot him. We've shot him." Then I said, "Who did you shoot?" And she said, "We shot Senator Kennedy." And I says, "Oh, sure." She came running down the stairs, very fast, and then the boy in the gold sweater came running down after her, and I walked down the stairs.
The police told Sandy to CHANGE HER STORY. Smells like a total COVER-UP to me and R.A.W.:
The Pinellas County Sheriff who runs the jail where Nick Hogan was being held on May 9 (before he was transfered to prison) decided to released a taped conversation between Nick and his divorcing parents- Hulk Hogan and Linda Bollea. (Personally, I think jails should NOT release taped conversations to the MEDIA.)
"I have to get out of here. I can't deal with this for eight months. They put me in a crazy ward. If I knew I was going to be in a windowless cell by myself, I would rather have gone to trial. It's so much worse than you could ever imagine. This is like a state prison. I'm all by myself"
DS: Which tragedy is worse: the Burma cyclone (could be up to a million dead), the Chinese Earthquake (18,000 and counting), or the plains tornado (26 people in the Southwest US).
LL: China! [My ex] was supposed to go there, and now he can't.
DS: What about Burma?
LL: What's Burma? Where is it? Is it a place?
DS: Cyclone Nargis...Myanmar (Burma). Near India/China, relatively.
LL: Oh, well, I read their own government doesn't even let us help them.
DS: Uhmm...
LL: ...besides the earthquake in China, look at the pictures of the people faces. It horrible. It just came out of nowhere.
DS: ...And a cyclone gave villagers advanced warning? 80,000 were wiped away instantly...
LL: It is horrible, but not as horrible as China.
DS: How about the tornadoes?
LL: That's bad too.
DS: Worse than China?
LL: Maybe equal.
DS: Worse than Burma?
LL: Maybe. Yeah. I don't even heard of Burma.
DS: Not even from Seinfeld?
LL: Who?
DS: Elaine's boss...nevermind.
LL: When did cyclone happen?
DS: {Sigh}...I told you about it last week.
LL: No, you didn't.
DS: How about yesterday?
LL: Oh, okay. That why I don't know.
DS: But when you told me about China yesterday, I mentioned the cyclone, and you said it didn't matter.
Sources said 200,000 people have already died or are dying due to the cyclone and flooding. But the figure could rise to 500,000 because of disease and hunger if Burma's army rulers continue to block outside aid. The dead bodies are causing disease.
Again, because the MEDIA is blocked from truly covering this story, the United Nations and countries of the world are just letting the death toll increase every day.
Of course, the disaster struck on Saturday when Cyclone Nargis created waves up to 20ft high, which wiped the town of Labutta – population 80,000 – off the map.
So, get this- The Today Show's "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" segment featured the Seychelles Islands, and he said how it is a great vacation spot. The NEXT thing you know, everyone on the Net is searching for information about it, especially Praslin, the island Matt Lauer was at.
Observation #1: Why should we care about what Matt Lauer (formerly of PM Magazine in the 1980's) says? "Television personalities", "anchormen" and "hosts" have no real authority.
Observation #2: The Seychelles Islands was settled in 1609. it's been around for a while. Matt didn't discover it! It's a great vacation spot, especially if you don't mind having any security (it's vulnerable to terrorist attacks on U.S. tourists). You can also hunt sharks and tortoises there if you'd like.
Observation #3: Do you need to go all the way to an obscure section of the Indian Ocean, when you can go to Hawaii or the Bahamas and do the same thing?
Observation #4: Next thing you know your partner is going to want to go there $$$$$$$$$$.
Observation #5: This is how "common knowledge" gets started.
Dr. Phake Well, it looks like Dr. Phil's run is over. Millions of people retrieve their hotmail everyday, and saw the splash page MSN.com ran today, which put the final nail in this quack's coffin.
This fraud became an overnight celebrity thanks to housewives all across the world who want advice about how to be happy and stop eating.
Dr. Phake has been a walking parody of himself for years, and he has recently got involved in controversies. The bottom line is that he just wants your money, and is a publicity hound, just like everyone else who claims to be a "TV personality". If only life was so simple as Dr. Phil's cliched "solutions" (catchphrases):
What in the hell were you thinking?
I've been doing this over 30 years.
Are you nuts?
You choose the behavior, you choose the consequences.
How's it working for ya'?
This is going to be a changing day in your life.
You cannot change what you don't acknowledge.
Are you kidding me?
I want you to get excited about your life.
Children are very perceptive.
Get Real.
What did I do!?
If it's happening now, we're gonna deal with it now!
Get a life.
We're gonna start putting some verbs in our sentences.
This relationship needs a hero.
If You Dont Like It, Then Hit The Door... ...Lady!
Just shut up!
Respect my audience.
Order your XXXXXXL large "I Love Dr. Phil" T-Shirt today Shipping and handling: $8,359.99
Tens of thousands of message board posters and bloggers (or maybe one sock puppet, heh) criticized ABC News' coverage of the Hillary Clinton vs Barack Obama debate.
ABC's moderators actually asked for a pledge that the nomination loser would be the vice presidential candidate and whether each candidate thought the other could beat Republican John McCain.
The first three issues raised were about the Honorable Rev. Jeremiah Wright; the "controversial" comments that Obama made about guns and religion and rural Americans; and Clinton's lie about sniper fire in Bosnia. Obama was asked about why he hasn't worn an American flag pin on his lapel, and his relationship with the Weather Underground.
These issues were raised before Iraq and the economy came up.
The reason is because the MEDIA wanted to cash on on current hot topics. And let's face it, Obama not wearing on American flag pin on his lapel IS A HUGE SUBJECT OF CONVERSATION AT WATER COOLERS ALL AROUND AMERICA.
The MEDIA asked the candidates WHAT WE WANTED TO HEAR ABOUT.
For those who are still skeptical, I refer you to a DailySkew partner, ONN, who predicted this last year:
So, what did we learn from the Virginia Tech Massacre?
1) The MEDIA will cash in on whatever they can. 2) American school systems are STILL in need of reform. 3) Society will never change unless each of us hold each other to better standards, starting with parents raising their children the correct way. 4) Nothing.
Thank you for being newsworthy, Carmen Kontur Gronquist.
Thank you for putting me back at the top of the Izea RealRank Top 1% again, Carmen Kontur Gronquist.
For the last couple of days, since you got kicked out of office, there has been a renewed interest in the Carmen Kontur Gronquist photo that was posted on myspace a while back.
You see, like most Oregon mayors, you kept out of the spotlight, and were a complete unknown until you posed in lingerie and posted it on myspace. It became a national story a while back. I got some decent traffic then. Then you got kicked out of office this week, and I got around 3,500 hits Thursday by Internet perverts who want to see the Carmen Kontur Gronquist photo.
Some things amaze me:
1) That people can actually spell "Carmen Kontur Gronquist" or something remotely close to it. 2) That the entire world is searching for "Carmen Kontur Gronquist photo", and 3,000 of those netizens wind up here, especially since Google knocked me to PR0. 3) From the smallest towns in Hicksville, USA, to Latin American Populist countries, to the coldest spots in the former Soviet Union, to Asian countries, people have been searching for Carmen Kontur Gronquist since she got kicked out of office.
Not that I'm complaining. On the contrary, thanks for the hits, Carmen Kontur Gronquist. I broke my all-time Izea Real Rank championship for one night at #106! For one day, I was champ again, after being written off at #989. Of course, it's only downhill from here, but that's okay. I made the comeback, no matter how brief. I did it! I won! For one day only, but I still did it!
Stephen Kazmierczak, 27, opened fire on a crowded Northern Illinois University lecture hall....
Yawn. Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. I really am.
Perhaps I'm tired of the MEDIA reporting or ranting about another campus or mall shooting, like it was a nuclear attack. Perhaps I'm tired of psychological experts, friends, and family telling me how bright the shooter was. Perhaps I'm ashamed of being an American when politicians lower the flag, and everyone starts asking "WHY?" and cries on TV. Perhaps I'm tired about reading about a mentally deranged suicidal sociopath who was off his medication. Perhaps I'm tired of politicians rushing to create sterner gun control laws and a more fascist state, when in, fact this is a social issue, which needs to be stamped out at the family level. Perhaps I'm tired about The Powers that Be doing nothing to prevent this from happening. But I'm most saddened that everyone (including myself) is used to this story, that it loses its sense of tragedy: "Oh, another school shooting. In other news, Vladamir Putin called Hillary Clinton an idiot."
And the big news in the entertainment world is that former Hollywood prostitution ring madam and tax evader Heidi Fleiss was arrested for drug possession Thursday morning. Her drugs did not have a perscription. Her passenger John Owen had weed. Heidi Fleiss is sooooo 1990's, it's a wonder how she still gets MEDIA attention.
Yet another craigslist crime was busted. This time, an enraged wife named Ann Marie Linscott was arrested for posting a classified advertisement for a hitman to assassinate her husband's mistress.
And once again, craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster (CEO of what??? All he does is host a message board and sell t-shirts) responds to another craigslist crime via E-MAIL and says:
"Out of 550 million classified ads posted over 12 years, this is the first such incident that we're aware of. But again, the ad itself was generic, and we're not a party to subsequent private e-mail communications."
Founder Craig Newmark was not reached for comment.
In other craigslist news, police have arrested a man pretending to be a jewelry broker, who has been writing bad checks to scan thousands from sellers. Remember, craigslist doesn't have any affiliations with PayPal to secure any transaction.
In Ohio, police responded to 4 ads, and busted prostitutes, who also had drugs on them. One of the escort's drivers, told police some inside information: he said that the woman charged $200, and gave him 2/3 of the cash, which he split with "someone else". So, this woman- who is like a slave- only made $68.
A group of teens in Queens and Long Island, NY posted ads pretending to sell cars for tens of thousands of dollars. When potential buyers went to meet them with the money and to pick up the car, they were robbed.
Recently, someone posted a woman's name, and phone number of craigslist, and pretended she was a prostitute on a fake craigslist post. She was not- she was an ordinary citizen. She had to get her telephone number changed because men would call her at all hours of the night looking for sex.
So...what can you do to stop craigslist?
1) Quit defending it. Quit acting like regulation is undemocratic or fascist. craigslist has shown that this type of free, unregulated, anonymous system is too powerful in the hands of the people. craigslist should have mandatory registered e-mails, PayPal, fees for posting ANY ad, NO sex ads, and complete moderation. Quit calling Damian Hospital and Tony Vahl anti-Americans for wanting to protect YOU, your family, and children from the horrors of craigslist.
2) Get the facts, and spread the word, and boycott craigslist. <---That site is against human trafficking and child slavery, which runs rampant on craigslist. (Keep in mind, I only tackled U.S. craigslist. Each country has it's OWN craigslist problems.)
3) Understand when the craigslist founders donate to charity, they report it to the MEDIA so all the good craigslist does comes up in the search engines. The donations help with craigslist's positive PR. But local law enforcement knows all about craigslist.
Using advanced imaging software at Tashman Technologies, I was able to turn the Mars photo upside down. As you can see, our "Martian" is not 3-D at all. It's probably a shadow, rock, or different colored soil, or a combination of all three.
You can thank the DailySkew for changing your Perspective (tm).
MEDIA Swiped Joker Killed Heath Ledger from DailySkew
I had to laugh this morning when I read the NY Daily News headline:
Jack Nicholson warned Heath Ledger on 'Joker' role
I did a spoof article yesterday about it just to mess with the comic book geeks that were writing comments. I even put in the article that it was an "ambiguous" statement from Nicholson. He could have been referring to drug use or being in Hollywood, or ANYTHING, for that matter. (Let's face it- Jack Nicholson is always smashed, tipsy, or just plain stoned, so who knows if he even remembers what he meant.)
Heck, I am no journalist, so I had to laugh out loud when I saw an actual newspaper spin the same angle that the Daily Skew did.
The difference, of course, is that a daily newspaper with a circulation and Internet viewership in the millions ought to have more journalistic integrity.
Once again the DailySkew is the place to be read posts about current trends, and trying to predict the MEDIA's ploys to capitalize on situations.
Well, this is photo of the surface of Mars allegedly from NASA or the Chinese, depending on your news source. So many people are laughing about this, and saying it is:
1) An alien 2) Big foot 3) Osama bin Laden 4) A rock 5) A shadow
Anyway, I have no comment on it. But right now I'm leaning toward it being an optical illusion- we can see whatever we'd like. It's a cosmic Rorschach test.
What I DO want to share with you, though is the ORIGINAL COMPLETE photo. The "object" is at the bottom left of the image. Seems like our depth perception is being toyed with by only looking at the cropped image that all of the MEDIA outlets are showing.
From: Dr. Hoffman To: DailySkew.com Re: Heath Ledger
I understand that the death of Heath Ledger has stirred up some controversy on your site. I thought I'd apply my skills to the problem, and assist in clearing up any misinterpretation of the facts. Here are some revealing quotes from a thisislondon.co.uk article, with my expert comments in brackets. You be the judge:
In Perth, his home town, Ledger's father Kim read out a statement in which he insisted the death was an accident.
Surrounded by his ex-wife Sally and their sobbing daughter Kate, he said: "We confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda."
He went on to describe his son as "a down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving and selfless individual who was extremely inspirational to many." Kim continued: "Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life that few had the pleasure of truly knowing him."
[Apparently, he was an Enneagram type four or six.]
"I last spoke to him the night before he died. He said he could not see me that night but really wanted to meet me the next day. He made me promise that I would call him in the morning and wake him up. I tried. Little did I know that his soul had already left his body," Film director Shekhar Kapur said.
He added: "He was one of the most gentle, most honest, most caring, and most compassionate persons I had met."
[Mr. Ledger did not own an alarm clock, and he clearly did not want to sleep late that day.]
