Archive for the ‘media’ Category

Keith Olberman dying on the (Amazon) vine

Posted: August 20, 2010 by datechguy in amazon reviews, media
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One of the things that I’ve noticed in my time in the Amazon Vine program is the idea of the program is to generate buzz for a book that may nor may not sell otherwise.

When Sarah Palin’s book was due out, it was not available in the vine program, Michelle Malkin’s books don’t show up there, nor Glenn Beck or even Ann Coulter’s, the more established the personality and/or author the less the chances their book will be available via Vine.

Yesterday I got my Amazon vine e-mail. I didn’t have a chance to check it out when it first came since my son came home from the hospital that night, but when I did see it I noticed that Keith Olberman’s new book Pitchforks and Torches: The Worst of the Worst, from Beck, Bill, and Bush to Palin and Other Posturing Republicans due out in two months was on it.

Olberman is MSNBC’s headliner, he is on during their 8 p.m. hour. He is one of the loudest voices of the left with the megaphone of a nightly TV show 5 days a week. Yet his book as of this moment is ranked #56,905 in Books a mere places behind The Road to Serfdom Volume 2 of the Collected works of F. A. Hayek

but lets not be unfair here, it is #33 in Books > Nonfiction > Politics > Political Parties lets see what is ahead of it at this hour:

At #30 Conservative comebacks to liberal lies by Gregg Jackson who I have never heard of. It was released a month ago.

At #28 Liberalism is a Mental Disorder: Savage Solutions by Michael Savage released (April 12, 2005) .

At #7 Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama’s Radical Agenda: Paperback edition by Sean Hannity (March 30, 2010)

At #1 & #2 Sits Give us Liberty, a Tea Party Manifesto by Dick Armey that came out Tuesday. The Hardcover is #2 and the Kindle edition is number two, but since it just came out lets finish with an older book

Mark Levin’s Liberty & Tyranny sits at #4 (Hardcover), #5 (Paperback) and #26 (Audiobook) This book came out in MARCH of 2009

None of these books were available to me on vine.

Even funnier is that unless you go down to that 4th level He doesn’t even show up, go up one level to Politics instead of political parties and Hayek is #3 & 53, Laura Ingram is #6 & 29, The Federalist papers are #13, Tea Party Manifesto is #14 & 50, Glenn Beck has books at #21 & 96, Malkin is at #22, mark Levin is at #96 and Pam Geller’s new book is #75, it was NOT available on Vine.

Pam is a spectacular woman and an American treasure, but she is nowhere near as well known as Olberman, yet his book is on Vine and her’s is not. Her book is at #2,516 a mere 54,299 spots ahead of Olby.

Maybe MSNBC should consider hiring Pam instead.

Bazinga!

A thought on the AP story that deserves its own post

Posted: August 19, 2010 by datechguy in culture, media
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I was speaking to a police officer a bit ago and he said something that frankly never occurred to me. When dealing with accused criminals and the like police officers remember that their convictions only reflect what they have been “caught” doing.

This is in fact what has happened with the media. It’s not that the media hasn’t played us for their own purposes in the past, it’s that now we know about it.

A mantra of the left is that in the 60’s our naivete concerning government was lifted from us, the truth is that naivete about the media is what the internet and the web and blogs has been destroyed forever.

How we use this knowledge is up to us. Hopefully we will use this perception better than the left perception did.

Update: I can’t help but visualizing the AP head editor asking the question: “Can we call it a Tallywacker?“

The most significant part of the AP “guidelines” story

Posted: August 19, 2010 by datechguy in internet/free speech, media
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Is that not too long ago, this would have happened behind the scenes and we would never know about it.

How many times has AP & Reuters decided to “manage” the news in such a way to steer a story without our knowledge?

If you never understood why the internet is so important, and so HATED by those in power or who want power, this is exactly why.

BTW AP if your guidelines are the lead story on memeorandum, you are doing something wrong

Update: Doug Powers wants suggestions.

Update 2: Orwellian yes, also likely business as usual.

Taking: “It’s all Bush’s Fault” to a new level

Posted: August 18, 2010 by datechguy in Blame Bush, internet/free speech, media, opinion/news
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If you want to make a list George W. Bush’s friend and allies in the media it likely doesn’t include Maureen Dowd, Eugene Robinson or Peter Beinart. Yet the three of them seeing their hero Barack Obama floundering over the Ground Zero Mosque and the democrats on the defensive over their support of it expect George W. Bush to save the day:

There’s a new argument emerging among supporters of the Ground Zero mosque. Distressed by President Obama’s waffling on the issue, they’re calling on former President George W. Bush to announce his support for the project, because in this case Bush understands better than Obama the connection between the war on terror and the larger question of America’s relationship with Islam.

President Obama has spent most of his term in office bashing George W Bush and blaming him for everything except the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. The democratic strategy for 2010 has been blame Bush, now they are waiting for him to save them.

President Bush has politely refrained from critique of the current administration, I can’t see him bailing out these people who will not show any gratitude for it, even if he was so inclined. Does that mean that they will blame Bush for any political problem caused by Obama’s statements? Well DUH!

Memeorandum thread here.

Update: Corrected some spelling mistakes

Update 2: I absolutely love Doug Powers headline at Michelle Malkin’s site

Ground Zero Mosque Supporters Beg Greedy, Lying, Human Rights Violating War Criminal to Join Their Crusade



Update 3: I could copy and paste these headlines all day:

To save Obama, Left cries out for … George W. Bush?

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