We are exceedingly thankful for all of the guests who appear on News New Mexico, and particularly appreciative of the ideas of three-time Emmy Award winner Rob Nikolewski of Capitol Report New Mexico. This week Rob gave us ideas for some very special holiday thank you messages. Let's explain. We enjoy watching and reading news and news programming produced by people who fall all along the so-called philosophical spectrum.
And in our feedback e-mail boxes we tend to catch flak from people who fall all along that spectrum. If you think of yourself as a “liberal” or a “conservative,” rather than an independent committed to best practices, you might think we often express somewhat contradictory opinions at News New Mexico. Let us illustrate. In December we have spent a fair amount of time asking everyone to take a long look at current practices that are failing. Here are some examples:
First, we think the U.S. approach to the war on drugs is a colossal failure. Second, we think pretending the U.S. doesn’t already have gays in the military who are dodging bullets and roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan seems unrealistic. And third, we often wonder aloud on the airwaves about the wisdom of imposing death penalties. With these thoughts in mind, and just when we think we will never get relief from the right side of the so-called political spectrum, along comes a reminder from our own Senator Jeff Bingaman. Bingaman hails from the so-called far left. And apparently Bingaman and other thoughtful progressives want government to be in charge of the expression of thoughts, particularly as they apply to news commentary. According to Bingaman, our show needs to be “balanced” or else we need to be taken off the air via what he touts as the correct application of the “Fairness Doctrine.”
Jeff Bingaman |
This curious position leaves us wondering if Bingaman wants the News New Mexico staff to go out and round up a few people who will say: the war on drugs is working, gay speech should be suppressed and/or bashed, and the death penalty should be the law of the land no matter what. We are confused Senator Bingaman. Can’t we simply offer our views and then hope we can attract a following of listeners to support them? We need more guidance here. And speaking of the self-appointed thought police, we got great Christmas gifts from Keith Olbermann and Jeanine Garofalo this week. In these two, we have people that proudly trumpet the so-called “progressive movement” and its way of thinking. Here is a little background on our Christmas presents from Olbermann and Garofalo. It was the spring of 2009 when we first began to truly benefit from the valuable thinking instructions provided by both of these intellectual giants.
Janeane Garofalo |
We were told in no uncertain terms, that anybody who criticizes President Obama is a racist. In fact, Garofalo said, “It is racism, straight up.” And as Garofalo offered this invaluable intellectual counseling, the deep-thinking Olbermann was seen and heard nodding and affirming her assertion with several injections of....“That’s right!” Strangely, Olbermann’s career has not exactly skyrocketed since the spring of 2009. His TV ratings remain mired in the basement pooper. However, in December of 2010 Olbermann has finally risen to a new level of distinction. Olbermann has become the nation’s number one intellectual buffoon. Now "why" you ask, would we offer such a stinging rebuke of Keith? It is simple, "straight up." This week Olbermann was seen and heard on MSNBC harshly and repeatedly criticizing President Obama. At one point Olbermann characterized the president as similar to the infamous Adolf Hitler appeaser, Neville Chamberlain.
Keith Olbermann |