Drawing My Own Conclusion...

From Salon.com:

When "The Simpsons" stunned viewers Sunday night with an opening titles sequence created by the elusive, infamous Bansky, it was the unlikeliest pairing of pop culture, art and cultural criticism until the Kim Kardashian-Barbara Kruger cover of W magazine hit newsstands two days later.
The clip, easily one of the darkest, most despairing piece of animation to come down the pike since "Grave of the Fireflies," kicks off with a bird carrying a dead rodent through the Springfield skies – and then it turns grim. Sure, the theme music and the sequence of events stays true to the show's familiar themes – Bart cheekily writes "I must not write all over the walls" on the chalkboard, a Krusty billboard gets a little Banksied – but as the family takes its place on the couch, the action pulls away to an Asian animation sweatshop. How hellish is Banksy's vision of how "The Simpsons" gets made? It makes a real sweatshop look like Club Med. Children dip animation cels in toxic waste while rats carry off human bones. Birds are wood-chippered into Bart Simpson dolls, hauled off by tragic pandas. And do you even want to know how they put the holes in your DVDs? Chained up unicorns.
It's a stunning indictment of harsh international working conditions and animal cruelty, a provocative statement on the show's reputed practice of outsourcing its animation to South Korea, and the most effective ad for Klonopin ever created. That the sequence would go viral faster than a case of mono on a Flava Flav-themed reality show was never in doubt. And sure enough, by Monday, if you didn't have a friend who had forwarded you the clip, you likely just didn't have a friend.

The Simpsons, of course, airs on Fox--the broadcast network. And I'm fairly certain this opening sequence was a better piece of reporting on the realities of offshore, sweatshop labor than anything the corporate shills at sister cable network Fox News Channel have ever produced.

Still, though, if you want to make a real statement, Mr. Groening, stop outsourcing your animation and do the damn job here.

I'm Drownin' Here...

Grab the popcorn, Sean...

Sean Hannity Gets Dumber Every Day.

Even Bernie Goldberg Notices That Sean Hannity's Head Is Up His Own Ass.

According to Newshounds, Hannity's interpretation of the Politico piece he was citing was about as accurate as the other disinformation that he routinely pulls out of his ass:

The Politico article Hannity was evidently referring to is clearly (although not to Hannity) reporting that the snipers could not shoot without Obama's authorization -- not that Obama was required to give authorization:

The exact details of the shooting remain murky. The snipers fired after all three pirates became visible on the enclosed lifeboat where they were holding Phillips, a Navy official in Bahrain told reporters -- giving the snipers the chance to kill all three at once, so that none would be left behind to harm Phillips.


Obama's involvement in the decision to authorize lethal force was legally required, officials said, because it was a hostage situation, not combat, and unrelated to the already authorized U.S. effort against Al Qaeda and other terror groups, officials said.

"It's not a combat operation, so the lawyers wanted to ensure this was done right," said a second defense official. 

Baracknophobia.

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"F*** It! We'll Do It Live!"

     I posted a great little Letterman bit earlier lampooning the right wing's obsession with Barack Obama's use of a Teleprompter.

     Web scumbag Matt Drudge--often the table setter for the mimics on the right--kicks off the latest Obama Teleprompter fixation, highlighting the "giant TV monitor" from tonight's press conference: 

     Next--via a screenshot from part-time Drudge editor Andrew Breitbart's TV venture--the idiots on FOX News waste valuable airtime on the mundane:    
     

     And the AP's Ron Fournier--who once signed off an e-mail exchange with Karl Rove by declaring, "(b)ecause I'm on your side"--joined the echo with this sneakily snarky piece of on-message copy. It was picked up by--yup--Breitbart TV and linked on Drudge. 

     Of course, Teleprompters are an everyday tool for public people in a wide variety of mediums; from lead singers in rock 'n roll bands to TV anchors to, yes, the President of the United States.

     In keeping with the right-wing's obsession with inanimate objects and as a public service to future media people everywhere on how not to use the device (and strangely never aired on FOX: The Source for All Your Teleprompter News!©), here once again is then-Inside Edition meathead Bill O'Reilly with an enraged, sociopathic abuse of proper prompter etiquette: 

Maybe Rupert Is Paying Them A Bonus Based On Crazy.

     Since its inception in the mid-90's as a Drudge-driven, anti-Clinton, GOP content provider, FOX News has been home to the craziest mother******* on TV.   Even their name is fake; FOX doesn't do news--they do right-wing talk radio in front of cameras.

     The most recent addition to their stable of the unstable is Glenn Beck, whose ratings have skyrocketed, thanks to the FOX News base audience: a motley collection of broadly-drawn paranoid conspiracy theorists, racists and paramilitary types. But I think the addition of Beck is causing fellow FOX imbecile Bill O'Reilly to lose whatever's left of his mind.

     Two O'Reilly items, both from ThinkProgress. 

     First, here's O'Reilly on Death Squad Dick Cheney's reported assassination ring and its potential effect on journalists with whom O'Reilly--and Cheney--disagree; then, a prime example of an O'Reilly flunky's harassment of a blogger with whom O'Reilly disagrees--here and here.

     I know that Glenn Beck's ratings must be a huge threat to O'Reilly, who has long been the FOX News numbers leader. O'Reilly seems to be joining Beck--and Sean Hannity--in cranking up the crazy meter in the Obama Era. 

     And here I'd thought they'd already pinned the needle.  

Be Kind--Rewind.

FOX News, forgetting about the existence of videotape and the Internet yet again:

Hey, Steve Doocy! Your Replacement Is Here!

Future FOX News morning personality Keenan the Lip-Synching Kid submits his audition tape to Roger Ailes.

Thanks to Videogum.com.  

Glenn Beck Needs Help.

Yet another hysterical premise and more melodramatic tears from a clearly deranged Glenn Beck.

Victoria Jackson Orbits FOX News.

     I blogged about not-of-this-earth Victoria Jackson a while ago, after she read the definition of "socialism" at a sparsely-attended freakfest on the Santa Monica Pier. I had a picture of her on that post to which I was directed from the L.A. Times website, but the guy who shot the photo--an anti-stimulus, "Tea Party" wingnut--threw a tantrum and I removed it. 

     The reliably out-there FOX News happily invited Jackson back to Sean Hannity's show, where a soapbox will always be available for the feebly deranged:  

WWJD?

I mentioned Glenn Beck in the previous post, but that was before Hunter on Daily Kos alerted me to Beck's "We Surround Them--The Unveiling."

Really, I couldn't make this shit up. Glenn Beck is actively pitting neighbor against neighbor in his idea of an ideological steel-cage death match, I guess.

Check out this idiot's opening salvo:

Do you watch the direction that America is being taken in and feel powerless to stop it? 

Do you believe that your voice isn’t loud enough to be heard above the noise anymore? 

Do you read the headlines everyday and feel an empty pit in your stomach…as if you’re completely alone? 

If so, then you’ve fallen for the Wizard of Oz lie. While the voices you hear in the distance may sound intimidating, as if they surround us from all sides—the reality is very different. Once you pull the curtain away you realize that there are only a few people pressing the buttons, and their voices are weak. The truth is that they don’t surround us at all.

We surround them. 

So, how do we show America what’s really behind the curtain? Below are nine simple principles. If you believe in at least seven of them, then we have something in common. I urge you to read the instructions at the end for how to help make your voice heard.

I'm not going to put Glenn Beck's nine principles on my blog. I won't even list seven of them. You can click on the blue link above and read 'em for yourself.

Just don't drink anything at the same time or it'll squirt straight outta your nose. 

High Ratings On The Low Road.

Surprise, surprise, surprise! 

From the Los Angeles Times:

     Before Glenn Beck started his new show on Fox News in January, he sat down with Roger Ailes, the network's chief executive, to make sure they were on the same page.
     "I wanted to meet with Roger and tell him, 'You may not want to put me on the air. I believe we are in dire trouble, and I will never shut up,' " said the conservative radio host.
     But before Beck could say anything, Ailes shared a message of his own: The country faced tough times, he said, and Fox News was one of the only news outlets willing to challenge the new administration.

     "I see this as the Alamo," Ailes said, according to Beck. "If I just had somebody who was willing to sit on the other side of the camera until the last shot is fired, we'd be fine."
     That couldn't have suited Beck more. In making the jump to the top-rated cable news channel from HLN, where he had a show for two years, he hoped to alert more people to one of his consuming fears: that the government's handling of the economic crisis is ushering in an era of socialism.
     "Look in your rear-view mirror; we just passed France," he said. "I think our country is on the verge of disintegration."

     "I look at the ratings every day shocked," Beck said on a recent afternoon, sitting shoeless in his Midtown office as snow pelted the Manhattan skyline behind him.
But he believes he knows why viewers are tuning in: "People know in their gut that something's not right. They're not getting the truth." (Editor's note: Beck surely is referring to FOX News viewers, right?)  
     A similar challenging tone can be heard across Fox News, which has embraced its role as an opposition voice to the new administration. The network's pundits have incredulously questioned President Obama's fiscal policies, while its correspondents have dogged stories like the White House plan to oversee the 2010 census.

     Network executives vigorously dispute the notion that the channel has a conservative slant. Although its popular prime-time commentators may be largely on the political right, the channel plays it straight with its daytime news programming, they argue.

     It's the media's job to question authority. But FOX just makes stuff up.

     There was a time that I'd click over to FOX for a few minutes to get a feel for their daily talking points. I don't do that very much anymore, simply because I can never get that time back. But it's important to know what media outlets are reporting, so I'll catch a little of their bullshit online somewhere after hearing about it elsewhere. I still can't get that time back, but now there is less of it being wasted.  

     I used to say that if I came upon Sean Hannity in a California crosswalk, I wouldn't stop. Add Glenn Beck to my front bumper, too.