Sunday Morning Talk Shows

Photo by Omar Omar

I tried to watch some of the network talk shows this morning.  "Tried" is the operative word.  I just could not do it.  When Rep. Issa said he was going to investigate ACORN, the new Black Panthers and something else, I was stunned.  The commentator just let him rattle on, not even pointing out that ACORN no longer exists, the new Black Panthers consists of 2 men or that  maybe there were better ways to spend the taxpayer dollar.  I turned the television off.

I came back to my TV after giving my ailing cat fluids under the skin.  I got to listen to Republicans and pundits say that corporate taxes are too high.  Another misleading statement, not qualified by the commentator. Tax rates may be high, but they have little to do with what a corporation pays in taxes.  Most pay far less than the not corporate citizens, i. e. human beings.  The solution offered by the pundits was to raise personal tax rates and lower corporate tax rates.  That way the taxes of the poor and middle class can support the corporate welfare state that Republicans and conservative pundits wish to continue..  I turned off the television again.

Is it so hard to have a commentator who could at least know enough to be able to point obvious fallacies?  Or have commentators been co-opted into believing that they must simply provide a platform for politicians and pundits to utter whatever misinformation they desire?. Are they simply constrained by their corporate owners or so terrified of losing their jobs that all we get is inanities from them?

Gender Bias

I have watched, listened to and read the various pundits expounding on why Senator Hillary Clinton is treated with less respect than Senator Barack Obama because she is a Clinton, not because she is a woman. Or because she was the front runner, so deserved less consideration. All I can say is stuff it. I have been there, done that.

I could give years of discrimination experience from the time I entered college until today. I have been told that a man who did not meet the qualifications of the job for which I met every qualification had been hired because he needed the job and I would not fit in with the small faculty (all male). Of course, this was told mein confidence. I have been by my host that the only reason I was interviewed was because they needed to have a woman interviewed, but I understood: a woman would never make it at the plant (big oil company). The list goes on. I quit science when I could no longer stand the hypocrisy. I had one professor tell me I was the most brilliant student that he had ever taught thermodynamics, but he would only write a letter of recommendation for me if I promised that I would never seek a position in his laboratory. He could not stand the thought of a woman in his lab. I promised because I did not want to have anything to do with the man. He did write a very good recommendation.

McCain lost any chance of my support when he laughed at the "bitch" remark. I bet he never thought of his lobbyist friend as a bitch. Barack Obama turned my stomach when he spoke of Hillary's moods. Too often, he is condescending. He has two daughters. How does he want them to be treated when they are adults?

The media annointed Obama and dissed Senator Clinton. The television pundits are the worst about gender bias. They use terms to refer to Senator Clinton that they would not use to refer to a man that did exactly the same thing. Senator Clinton is "playing the victim", while a man is "on the defensive", etc. MSNBC is perhaps the epitome of this male chauvinism. MSNBC should stand for "males superior no bitches capable."

A strong, African American male is perceived as less a threat to the status quo than a strong woman because African Americans are a small percentage of the American population while women are more than half the population. We are a nation that devalues women and their contributions. Today, the discrimination is more subtle, but just as real. Young women just don't realize it, so they will vote for Obama.

I plan to vote for Senator Clinton.

Photo by marcn