What's in a Name?

So, I'm driving home today, listening to NPR (they do some pretty interesting stories during the 5 o'clock hour). But, I got a sad reminder of just how childish members of the press can be.

Reporting on this last press conference before the Prez heads off to vacation (again?), this reporter mentioned him at least 35 times, sometimes several times in the same sentence. Interestingly, though, I never heard the words "the President" or "President Bush" in any of those references. "Mr. Bush" was his nomenclaturistic choice. I noticed this interesting slight about 7 years ago, after "Mr. Bush" was elected president "by the Supreme Court". All this time, I was cautious about pointing this out, so as to avoid being branded paranoidal or conservative schlep. But when a five minute report solely about the President of the United States never refers to the man whose sound bites are being reported on as anything other than "Mr. Bush", I think it conclusively confirms my suspicions. Not only is it rude, whether you like the man or not, but it is also piss-poor journalism, and sounds very choppy.

I'm just saying...

Pander Bears

Some stories just combine elements to form the perfect pun. Take this one, for example:

Hillary, Obama, Brill Boy Johnny Ed, and the ragtag groupies of the AFL-CIO all conversed on Soldier Field in Chicago. All of them claiming to be the voice of the "working man", as unionists like to call themselves (although whether that actually constitutes a misnomer is still up for debate). Two of them clamoring for a reference to the beloved Bears, on whose grass they have trodden to pander, pander, pander. (You see the pun now? 'Pander'...'Bears'... huh? huh? Aw, c'mon, I thought it was good.)

And pander they did. With no real plans to set forth to improve conditions, they instead praised the renovation of the great stadium in which they stood, for the jobs it created. While I have not seen a transcript of these references, I feel quite confident that they did not credit the businessmen whose vision and money funded said renovations. I'm sure, however, that they did call attention to those workers who were not permitted to even bid on the project, as they decided to not pay dues to the AFL-CIO gestapo.

America's Got Talent Deficit Disorder

I don't know exactly why I watch this particular show. I guess because I don't have attention deficit disorder, so I can sit for long periods of time watching drivel like this, where I am told by a washed up actor/singer, a Brit who paraded her defunct family and loser hubby in front of millions of Americans, and another Brit who wouldn't recognize real talent if it was right there... on stage... before.. his... uh, yeah, exactly.

Great acts pop up now and then, only to get shoved aside for the strange and freaky side show that will wind up performing in high school assemblies across the nation.

That every one of these shows is judged by a Brit or Italian, and originally ran on the BBC, only serves to prove my assertion in the title of this post.