The media is in a sad state. It’s bad enough that they mostly suckle at the teat of corporations and are either unwilling or unable to challenge this administration. Today it just got worse. You see today a CIA agent admitted they were spying on reporters from ABC News. If they’re spying on ABC then they more than likely spying on every other news organization they can stink their teeth into. Well except for Fox, they’re such good little soldiers.

If there is one positive thing about this it is this, maybe the media will get its pecker back and start going after this administration. I’m not positive that they will but I can dream.

Let’s see a war fought on false pretenses, wiretapping without warrants, phone records collected without a warrant, troops at the Mexican border and spying on the media. Can you smell that? That’s the smell of your freedom burning. Yes friends we are on the downward spiral.

But I want to talk about the media so excuse my little departure from the subject. Let me offer some opinions about what is important currently in the news and what is gossip and distractions. As always you may disagree and you are free to.

First up is anything involving those rat bastards at the NSA. It was the NSA that oversaw the wiretapping and phone records scandals. It was the NSA head Gen. Hayden who didn’t know that the 4th Amendment had the term “probable cause” in it. It was the NSA that told the Justice Department that they lacked the necessary clearance to investigate it. So the NSA is worthy of keeping an eye on. Also remember that the NSA is to protect us from foreign threats not spy on US citizens.

Iraq is also worthy of my interest. We have troops they being killed. Their government would be a total failure if it were slightly more successful. So Iraq remains worthy of observation.

Iran is another situation worthy of monitoring. Iran was always more friendly to terrorists than Iraq. Yet we did nothing. Now Iran is pushing towards having nuclear capability. I’ve said my peace about this in the past so I won’t dwell on it. I will tell you this if you think Iraq is a quagmire Iran would be a great deal worse if we attacked them.

Let me mention something that as far as I’ve seen has gotten next to no coverage in the mainstream media. Divine Strake, which was recently postponed due to a lawsuit, will take place in the Nevada desert. They will detonate 700 tons of Ammonium Nitrate fuel oil, which is the equivalent to 593 tons of TNT. They are testing bunker busters, which are bombs designed to destroy underground targets. If you read the official line on this they are making it sound as if they are merely testing conventional weapons. There is almost no way in Hell that is what they doing. You see we have no way of delivering a 700-ton payload. This has to be a test to determine the size of nuclear warhead necessary. Iran’s nuclear sites are underground. We are testing weapons to penetrate underground targets. Do you see the connection? Divine Strake is most worthy of vigilance.

Immigration is a fascinating one. I know having secure borders is important. But wasn’t it important back on September 12th 2001? Why is it now such an issue? I know HR 4437 started all this. And a worthless pile of crap that resolution is. Let’s put all the humane people that offer comfort to those in need in jail. We are such a fine Christian nation. Anyway this issue bears watching because you just know Bush is going to screw up. He wants guest workers and the military to seal our southern border? Can’t have both. He also wants infrared cameras and drones. Oh good we can so count Mexico as another lost ally.

Forgive me but I must veer off course here for another second. Do you want to know why Mexicans are heading up here? It’s because the USA has screwed over their economy. Yes sir we sure have. Thanks to NAFTA we have flooded the Mexican market with cheap produce crippling their farmers. All those brutally low paying factory jobs we sent down to Mexico have wandered off to China. So there you have it. They’re desperate and I doubt a fence will stop them.

Also putting troops on the border is an awful idea. How long before we hear of Mexicans being gunned down in the desert or as they try and cross the Rio Grande? They military is not a police force. Do not try and use them as such. Now back to regularly scheduled programming.

The Duke rape case is a non-issue to me. It’s a local story. Let’s leave it at that. Why is it even on the national news? Is it because the suspects went to Duke? How is that more interesting if then say, a group of fishermen did it? Is it because they were on the lacrosse team? Did you even know Duke had a lacrosse team before this story broke? Could you tell me how lacrosse is played or name a lacrosse player? It’s not national news so I ignore it.

I largely ignore anything pertaining to the bird flu. Why? Do you remember SARS? How many did that kill? See where I’m going with this? You should survive the bird flu quite easily.

I posted this because I watch a lot of cable news, but about half the time I feel like it makes me less aware rather than more. So I’ve learned to be a picky bastard when I watch. I’m the same way when I read the paper or listen to the radio. You have to learn to filter. Otherwise you’ll end up like that old James Brown song, “Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothin’”.