Robert, your analysis about the MSM is spot on. I say, let market and tech changes do their work. If the MSM can't keep up, so be it.

Steven Vincent, David Paulin ... thanks much for keeping this in our view. I have a lot of catching up to do in this area. I completely believe Jill Carroll is an Islamist sympathizer and would happily have my tax dollars pay for an FBI investigation of her activities. I know her kind well from the SF Bay Area, including from my efforts to learn elementary Arabic here (and hence mixing with the uber-Lefty Jewish groups and some Palestinian ones). There is an aggressive idealism that makes Western sympathizers like Carroll go to the lengths they go to. I know it; I had it. It dies hard, if at all. A kind of mildew on the soul. Thanks again, to everyone who's been contributing lately.

Pualin's article was sympathetic to Carroll, and his explanation makes sense to me, since I have been freelance most of my life (not journalism, but the lifestyle is similar). I'm sure she was vaguely lefty, but mainly trying to build her career.

Thanks for the post about Lisa and the Foundation, Robert. I got too consumed by United 93 to post that link yet, so I'm glad you are giving it publicity. The Paulin essays are amazing. Reminds me of Mediacrity, another journalism insider blog.

I tried to post a comment and it didn't take, so if this is duplicated my apologies.

Paulin was sympathetic to Carroll and her quest for a journalism career, and his account rang true for me, as someone who has been freelance most of my life (although not in journalism).

I'm sure she was vaguely lefty like most journalists, but I didn't get the impression of an "Islamist sympathizer."

Paulin's essays are amazing, I will definitely link to him. I need to post that interview with Lisa anyway, I just got consumed by United 93 this week. (Also seeing Ayaan Hirsi Ali and others discussing multiculturalism at the PEN festival. I think the international lefty literati are starting to wake up a bit. Just a bit.)

Thanks for the update, Yehudit. The lefty literati waking up? My gut says it's more like stirring in their sleep. re Ms. Carroll's "quest for a journalism career", I by calling attention to the ambition and ruthlessness required to get a journalistic toehold "over there," David Paulin is trying to let us see her in the broadest possible light. She must have several tough and admirable qualities, though politically I do not give her the benefit of the doubt. I hope more emerges from her directly, and from him and others on this subject.

Fasten your seatbelts, this is going to be long and I apologize in advance:

I'm hoping maybe the Jill Carroll incident and the whole discussion about freelancing will open a lot of people's eyes to what really is killing the MSM and severly damaging our country as a whole. It's something called "greed."

For years, the MSM has been a monopoly in the worst sense. It's been sloppy, slow, unhearing, uncaring, uneducated, and unwilling to innovate. It could get away with it because it was a monopoly. But this is a really interesting time in history, because we're actually seeing the slaying of a monopoly by something other than government legislation for the first time in more than a century.

I know this will fly in the face of what many people who read this blog believe, but greed is much more responsible for the decline of the MSM than any political leanings. I mean imagine if CBS news or CNN were very conservative. Believe me, we'd still give each political story the short shrift we usually do, and then move on to our usual diet of meaningless celebrity and street crime stories. I mean look at FOX News; sure they may give you what you want briefly on Israel and terror stories, but then they spend just as much time on Jessica Simpson and car chases, etc. That's NOT because we think these stories are that important; it's because they're easy to "cover" and they give us a guaranteed audience. In other words, it's greed. Look, I've worked in TV newsrooms for 12 years. I've seen unfair liberalism, conservatism, anti-religious stuff plenty of times. But every single day, every single hour, I've seen greed. Greed that led to a bad product for our customers. I'm glad bloggers are helping to bring this down, but it's the quick and informed nature of what they write that killed us, not their politics.

The fact that we use freelancers in hot spots is just another example of greed-induced laziness. And yes, most of corporate America does similar stuff with workers. It's led to rampant outsourcing and illegal immigration.

And make no mistake, greed is undermining our war on terror and the very future of this country. You know I'm all for profit, but there's got to be a limit on what we say we're going to take now so we can have more in the future... and so we can have a future. Our greed for oil and
gas-guzzling cars is a pretty direct fundraiser for terror groups. Our lust for bigger houses, bigger cars, and bigger food is fueling a huge debt that is giving China a mortgage on our country. (I love when people complain about profiteering and they get accused of being "Socialists"... yeah, well let's see how much profit your kids get to make when they're working in a Chinese-controlled labor factory in 20 years).

Students of history must be taken aback by our growing similarity to the Roman empire. We're becoming a nation of fat, greedy idiots with barbarians, (terrorists) at the gate. We better wise up or those barbarians will conquer us too.

I know we want to blame our problems on liberals or conservatives, but every time we do that we enable the greedy forces that are really leading us to ruin. I mean we can talk all day about how different Democrats and Republicans are, but at the end of the day they both feed at the same corporate trough. How different can they possibly be? At least the Republicans have told us for years they're pro-corporate, which helps them look less hypocritical in elections. So they're winning and the Democrats are being "forced" to basically be the party of anti-Bush or anti-war. Of course, the real ticket to victory would be for them to stand up for middle and lower middle class Americans, but that would offend their corporate masters.

We don't need to break up the corporations or raise taxes. We need to enforce a little corporate responsibility, reign in our debt, and ask the American people to cut back just a little bit on gas and water. Right now the only elected leader I know of who comes even close to promoting these ideas is NY state attorney general Eliot Spitzer, who almost certainly will be our next governor later this year. Of course, he's public enemy #1 on Wall St. and in the GOP, and the Democratic party is trying to distance itself from him a bit because he may spook big corporations from making donations. Oh, and he's been a big crusader showing how many U.S. corporations support Islamofascist regimes. For that alone I fear for his life.

Of course, there are plenty of murderers and killers out there, (Islamofascists for one), who are motivated by blood lust and not greed. But there have always been barbarians. It's when the good and not-so-good-but-not-murderous people get so greedy that these killers are ENABLED. You know why Neville Chamberlain didn't stand up to Hitler? Was he a Jew-hater? A weakling? Perhaps, but one thing we DO KNOW is Chamberlain had a huge personal investment in several German companies in the 1930's. Something tells me that played as big a role as anything. Thank God he got pushed out and was replaced by a real ideologue like Churchill. I'll take an ideologue over a greedy guy any day.

Let's look at Saudi Arabia. 9/11 was a Saudi operation, through and through. Does the Saudi Kingdom hate Jews and Israel? Of course. But not as much as it loves its oil riches. So the Royal family pays off the Wahaabist killers who promise to leave them alone in return.

Five years after 9/11, Saudi Arabia's ruling family is richer than ever. That means the Wahaabists will get more of a cut. That means they'll arm more of their fighters to kill us in Iraq. And on and on and on. Imagine if Hitler had the lion's share of the world's oil deposits in 1933. We'd all be dead now.

Frankly, I'm sick of anyone who blames our nation's ills on some kind of political philosophy like conservatism or liberalism. It's a ridiculous premise and one that's destructive. Being patriotic means giving somethings up for the sake of this great nation. We're going to win in Iraq if we get a little less greedy. We're going to break Saudi Arabia's bank of terrorism if we get a little less greedy. We're going to end China's nuclear weapon bargain bin sale if we get a little less greedy. Those bloggers who tell the truth on the net for basically no money... they're an example of how a little less greed can lead to greatness. Sure, they want to make money too, but the truth is more important to them. Good.

We can all join in this battle or we can keep blaming each other. It's your choice.

Tamara:

Thanks so much. I don't think the MSM can keep up. They prove it every single day.

Jeremiah:

No doubt Jill Carroll leaned left, how far is obviously open to interpretation. It does seem quite clear that Carroll is one of those unfortunate Westerners who got all warm and fuzzy about Arab culture and so-called Arab hospitality--and ended up paying the price for her naivete.

Robert, Yehudit, and others:
Of course I strive to be harder on myself, first, than on anyone else. Carroll's story, like Vincent's and others, hold more than just interest - they hold value, if they and we are smart and tenacious enought to bring it to light. May I recommend Who Killed Marla Ruzicka?.

Jake: Your long comment was well worth reading. Thanks.

Getting by with a little help from my Seraphic friends. - J.

Sorry about the lame link. Marla Ruzicka - folks may know - was a Code Pink lefty who went to Iraq to do good things, did some, independent of most lefites and in cooperation with the American military. She was killed by homicide bomber: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17933

Deserves a place along Steven Vincent in our memory, I think.

Jake:

Very interesting post. Long. So I'm not going to try and respond to all your points, points which you have brought up many times before. However, I do want to raise one small flag here for I believe it's signifigant.

You wrote:

"We're going to win in Iraq if we get a little less greedy."

Ah, if it were only that simple.

That's not how we're going to win in Iraq. Not even close. We're going to win in Iraq when several things converge at about the same time.

1. When the terrorist funding from Iran, Syria and Saudia Arabia is choked off.
2. When the terrorists in the Sunni Triangle are isolated from the general population and starved to death.
3. When the Arab propaganda machine is no longer given legitimacy, i.e. we must start treating Al Jazeera for exactly what it is: just a vulgar anti Semitic terrorist eloctronic organization. Just because their anchors wear nice suits doesn't make them any less dangerous than OBL--their hero.
4. When we are given a free hand to build enough medical clinics and schools in Iraq so the Iraqi people have a model for what their society should move towards.
5. When this ridiculous trial of Sadaam is brought to a speedy end and he and all his cousins and in-laws are publicly hanged. Slowly.
6. When the Democrats start hating the terrorists more than they hate George Bush.
7. When every single Arab monarch fears for his throne not because of The Muslim Brotherhood, but because of the march of Democracy.

Robert:

I think I can show how "greed-abatement" can lead to achieving all the goals you listed:

1. When the terrorist funding from Iran, Syria and Saudia Arabia is choked off.

Okay, that's an easy one. These countries only real export is oil. Remember just a 3% drop in American consumption would cause oil prices to crash.

2. When the terrorists in the Sunni Triangle are isolated from the general population and starved to death.

Let's get some more troops to do it! Not only from the US, but the rest of the world. But war is expensive. And while our European "allies" are sitting this out for political reasons and to spite us, they're also shying away so they can save money. We need more U.S. troops in Iraq too, and anyone who thinks keeping taxes low and our corporate leaders happy isn't a big reason why we don't have more troops there is kidding himself.

3. When the Arab propaganda machine is no longer given legitimacy, i.e. we must start treating Al Jazeera for exactly what it is: just a vulgar anti Semitic terrorist eloctronic organization. Just because their anchors wear nice suits doesn't make them any less dangerous than OBL--their hero.

Yeah, but al Jazeera does so much of the dirty work the US news media doesn't want to do or pay someone else to do! Need "news" from the Arab world? Well, just check al Jazeera's satellite feed. (BTW, the al Jazeera guys are always more than willing to give out free video on the satellite feed). You get the point, a little real reporting from American reporters on the scene goes a long way. But even when we do go to the hot spots, we use freelancers and locals who may or may not be trying to be fair.

4. When we are given a free hand to build enough medical clinics and schools in Iraq so the Iraqi people have a model for what their society should move towards.

We need more troops to do that. See #2

5. When this ridiculous trial of Sadaam is brought to a speedy end and he and all his cousins and in-laws are publicly hanged. Slowly.

What? And take away one of my best joke sources? Where would Letterman and Leno be without video of Saddam's latest outburst? Out of business.

6. When the Democrats start hating the terrorists more than they hate George Bush.

Well, that won't happen because Bush is the only issue they can tackle and still continue to do nothing and get corp. sponsorships. Someone ought to tell the Dems Bush ain't running in 2008.

7. When every single Arab monarch fears for his throne not because of The Muslim Brotherhood, but because of the march of Democracy.

Not gonna happen when they almost all have so much oil money and just enough smarts to use that money to stifle dissent. $3-a-gallon gas goes a long way to killing democracy.

Robert & Jake,
I'm curious to know your opinions of reducing our dependence on Mid East oil by switching to the 85% Ethanol fuel. I admire both of your knowledge on world issues and I'd love to know what you think about this.
Thanks,
Rachel

Rachel:

I lived in "Ethanolstan" for a year; aka Decatur, IL, home of Ethanol king Archer Daniels Midland. You couldn't get gas at any of the local stations that wasn't ehtanol based. Ethanol is cheaper and is a much more reliable resource, BUT all Americans should know that it is still pretty expensive to refine and you don't get great mileage from it.

I'm all for alternative fuels, but the real solution in the short term, the next decade or so, is conservation. No one wants to tell Americans to cut back, but let's face it, we all probably do a lot more driving than we need to. Add to that the epidemic of obesity in this country and you can see how far a little more walking will go.

Unfortunately, all we're hearing about solving this problem is baloney. The Democrats claim the oil companies are gouging... not really. The Republicans say we can solve everything by drilling for more crude in Alaska and elsewhere... hogwash. The price of crude, even at this record high, accounts for only 65-70 cents of the $3-a-gallon of gas we see now. The cost of refining is adding $1.80 or so, and the rest is taxes. So, in other words, even if crude prices crash to $20 a barrel, we'll still be dealing with $2.30 gas. Yes, we could bring down the cost of refining by building more refineries, but they'd still be at the mercy of hurricanes, etc. AND which one of us wants a refinery in our neighborhood?

We simply need to cut back a little to choke off our addiction to this resource that happens to be controlled by the worst people on the planet.

Thanks Jake for your insight regarding conservation-

Perhaps it's one more reason for people to become a Sabbath observant Jew - we refrain from using a car at least one day a week :)

have a great day,

Rachel :)

Rachel:

I will take issue with my friend Jake here. The high price of oil simply reflects the economic laws of supply and demand. There is more demand than supply at the moment. It would help a great deal if we were to drill in Alaska. It would not solve all out problems, but it would help. We only get 12% of our oil from Saudi Arabia, don't forget. To solve our energey problems we have to do several things at once.
1. Conserve.
2. Drill new domestic oil fields.
3. Develop other forms of energy--however this will take many, many years.

There is no one simple solution.

Dear Robert,

Thanks so much for your reply - I do appreciate it! I know that solving this problem is a long haul, but I'm hoping in my lifetime to see us majorly weaned off from mid-east oil...ok maybe it's a pipe dream (no pun intended!) but it's a nice thought :)

I hope you have a great day,
Rachel

Rachel:

You are very welcome. Have a lovely Shabbos.