White House v. Fox News

A friend recently made me aware of a poll NPR is conducting in regards to the White House's war on Fox News. Other media networks have recently begun to support Fox News, referring to it as a "sister organization" (NPR). With whom do you agree, the White House or Fox News? Vote here.

Nixonian

Obama Building An Enemies List

White House Escalates War on Fox News

By urging other news outlets to side with the administration, Obama aides officials dramatically upped the ante in the war of words that began earlier this month, when White House communications director Anita Dunn branded Fox "opinion journalism masquerading as news."

On Sunday, Fox's Chris Wallace retorted: "We wanted to ask Dunn about her criticism, but, as they've done every week since August, the White House refused to make any administration officials available to 'FOX News Sunday' to talk about this or anything else."

The White House stopped providing guests to 'Fox News Sunday' after Wallace fact-checked controversial assertions made by Tammy Duckworth, assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in August. Dunn said fact-checking an administration official was "something I've never seen a Sunday show do."

"She criticized 'FOX News Sunday' last week for fact-checking -- fact-checking -- an administration official," Wallace said Sunday. "They didn't say that our fact-checking was wrong. They just said that we had dared to fact-check."

The last time I checked, we were fighting a war abroad. And I somehow, oddly enough, found that war to be far more important than stifling news networks.

Another Best Day of My Life

I was in Mass Communications & Society this morning when a classmate mentioned a movie she'd recently watched on TV. The Navy must have sponsored it, because she said it was inundated with Navy clips and commercials. While she was talking, my friend Tyler leaned over to whisper something.

Tyler: Join the Navy.
Me *half-whispering, half-singing*: See the world!
Tyler: . . . You've been brainwashed. Stop digging those trenches and get out of that bunker.

And then, later Tyler was referring to our professor as "an army of one," for various reasons. So I told him that, "It's 'Army Strong,' now. You need to update your slogans."

Also, I'd like to mention that I'm truly batting a thousand in that class. Today we handed in our media experience papers. We had to attend media events (which included watching movies with friends) and then write papers on audience reactions and elements of style. My first paper was about "The Bank Job," which was fairly easy since it was all about sex and action and heists and all that jazz. I wrote about "An American Carol" for my second essay.

I'd like to mention that this post is going to be absolutely random in terms of content, and I'm also so incredibly ecstatic that I have the feeling that nothing I write past this point will make any sense.

I started writing the above after I returned to my dorm (around 11:00), and within the hour and a half that's passed since then, I've been making all sorts of calls because . . . I'm going to go to NYC tomorrow to the filming of the Glenn Beck program! Floyd (who organized the tea party two weeks ago) called me to ask if I wanted to go (of course I wanted to go!) and then I had to call my parents to get a ride home, and then Floyd asked if my dad wanted to go, and then I had to rush my thesis off to my Women in the Middle East professor, and now I've got to pack because my mom is picking me up at 3:30, right after Chinese. Wow. I think I might die of happiness. Or nervousness. Or both. I seriously could not stop smiling the entire time I walked to my professor's office.

Glenn Beck, The 9-12 Project & Tea Parties

I must admit that tonight was the first night I watched Glenn Beck -- my dad has mentioned him a few times, and today at the coffee shop one of the guys asked me what I thought of Glenn Beck. Tonight's show gave me a very good first impression of the man.

I thought the above video clip, the opening segment of tonight's show (a re-run from yesterday), was very inspiring. I feel that many Americans -- but not all -- have forgotten what happened on September 11, 2001. The love of our nation and the fear and anger we felt that united us then has since dissipated. And while some Americans are content to be blissfully ignorant about what is happening in our nation, in our government, many are dissatisfied.
If you are dissatisfied and wish this nation was as united as it was on September 12, 2001, then I challenge you to check out The 9-12 Project and live the 9 Principles and 12 Values.

I mentioned tea parties in an earlier post. Fresh Tea Daily provides information on various tea parties to be held on Tax Day (April 15) in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Judging by the comments on the page, I can only assume that there will be many more tea parties organized in smaller towns and cities! Unfortunately, I will be in classes on the fifteenth, as it is a Wednesday, so I will most likely not be able to attend one of the tea parties, one of which may be held in my city (though I think it would be quite an experience, and I look forward to becoming more involved in politics).