Wigwam Jones

Time for a little political rant. Sorry folks, no photos today.

Last night, whilst driving back to my hootch from work, I was listening to WDET-FM on the car radio, enjoying "All Things Considered," with David Folkenflik and Michelle Norris. As a nominal conservative, you would not think I'd listen to such things, but the fact is, I enjoy a lot of NPR's programming, and if I really had to defend myself to a pack of rabid neocons (as if there were any other kind), I'd say I was gathering intelligence on the liberals. Or something.

On a side note: I've been noticing for a little while now that NPR is slowly becoming the "Global Warming Is Real And We Told You So" station. They do at least three or four 'Global Warming' related stories every week, and they're all told with a grim pleasure that makes it clear they're enjoying what they think of as 'rubbing our noses in it'. Yesterday it was some snail from the mid-Pacific that appears to have gone extinct, due to a decade of longer and longer and hotter and hotter summers. About the only thing they don't come right out and say - but you can draw the line - is "...and it's all George W. Bush's fault!" It's like when a snotty store clerk calls you 'sir' or 'maam' and you know in your heart they're really saying "Up yours, jerk." Same thing, same smarmy tone, same half-concealed pleasure at reporting the impending death of the planet at the hands of the Evil Republicans (tm).

Anyway, getting back to "All Things Considered."

Some of you may have heard of US Army Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his blog, 'Baghdad Diarist' that he produces (produced) for "New Republic" magazine. He is married to one of their reporters. In several entries, he apparently stated that some rather horrible things were done by himself and his fellow soldiers, and what he thought of them. This aroused some controversy, and many conservative bloggers cried 'foul'. "New Republic" has had a reputation of excellence, but has also had a reputation for writers such as Ruth Shalit and Stephen Glass, who were variously accused of plagiarism and making up stories out of whole cloth - both given the sack by New Republic. It is considered to be a left-wing magazine.

So anyway, there has been a lot of uproar concerning this latest donnybrook, and I won't get into whether or not Beauchamp is telling the truth. The New Republic continues to say yes, while some other magazines and sources now say no. Beauchamp himself apparently has had his laptop and cell phone confiscated by the Army and cannot speak for himself at this time.

"All Things Considered" decided yesterday to do a quick piece on the story. The format of the story is that Michelle Norris inverviews David Folkenflik as he reports 'both sides' of the Beauchamp controversy.

It all went fine - Michelle asked the questions and David answered them, presenting a reasonable approximation of both sides of the situation.

Until, near the end, Michelle asked David which side he thought was telling the truth. David pointed out that although both sides had points in their favor, even "New Republic" had conceded that one of the reported stories Beauchamp had written as having happened in Iraq, actually happened in Kuwait. He asked the rhetorical question "It makes one wonder how a person can be confused as to which country he was in when the alleged event took place." David then went on try to say that he thought Beauchamp was probably not telling the truth.

However, as the words were leaving his mouth, Michelle Norris interrupted him, stated "WE'RE OUT OF TIME. I'M SORRY, WE'RE OUT OF TIME!" and dumped the mic.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (repeat for like 15 minutes for full effect)

Oh, Michelle. Your ass is showing. Please, don't EVER pretend you're 'fair and balanced' or that you don't have a strong bias. You didn't want to broadcast David Folkenflik saying that he thought Beauchamp was lying, and you freaked out to stop him from saying it on the air.

I have to say - one of the funniest damned things I've heard in a long time on NPR. Thanks, Michelle, you gave me a hell of a laugh.

Smooches,

Wiggy

PS - ADDENDUM! Someone pointed me at a 'recording' of the interview that NPR has put on their web page. It is not true - this is not the interview that was broadcast. They've cleaned it up - removing at least one syllabobble that was made by Folkenflik early on, when he mispronounced 'soldiers' as 'skoldiers' while talking about the bits of a child's skull that they paraded about on their heads. Furthermore, the entire ending has been doctored quite heavily. The conclusion that David Folkenflik reached and was trying to state (Beauchamp is not telling the truth, presumably) which Michelle Norris was trying so desperately to keep him from saying was cut out and a 'thank you very much' ending was substituted. DISGUSTING!