Start the Week

How do others get their news? The only time a television news channel gets a look in with me is when I'm at the airport or the gym. I work very hard at ignoring tv news although I wish MTV had the good videos on the same heavy rotation that Sky News gives to their awful video footage.

Yesterday Sky showed the "shock, horror, Marines are beastly to each other" tape every ten minutes if it wasn't more often. I started to watch to see if the pixelations were that scrupulous or if they were going to miss sometimes and show us rather more than is strictly allowed. It's all about the exciting visual. It is not about providing a public service.

Andi, the Queen of all the Blogs she surveys, has a reminder about today's Pushbacking blogger:

"Gunn Nutt hosts the pushback for today, and he writes about something near and dear to my heart - protesting the protesters.

It's important, for the morale of our troops, that the anti-war crowd is countered at every turn. Given the scant media coverage of counter demonstrations, you might not know that these demonstrations take place. Sometimes, the counter demonstrators even outnumber the protesters. Of course, you would have to read blogs to know that. . . .

Tomorrow, Air Force Wife will host an active-duty guest blogger. "

Just a few bits from "Protesting the protesters", read the whole thing here.

"The MSM loves sensational "sexy" stories about corruption, graft, greed, murder and mayhem."

"Every so often their interest will be piqued by some "peace activists" who are receiving negative coverage in the blogosphere or "new media". Take for instance the FreeRepublic.com article by Kristinn Taylor about CodePink's $600K grant to Fallujah terrorists."

"It took Marc Morano's CNSNews article Anti-War Protests Target Wounded at Army Hospital to get some real attention. - August, 25 2005 - The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read "Maimed for a Lie" and "Enlist here to die for Halliburton."...Among the props used by the protesters are mock caskets, lined up on the sidewalk to represent the death toll in Iraq."

You know, that's really unkind to do that outside a hospital.

I'm glad the blogging world is highlighting how appallingly those protestors behave. Wouldn't it be delightful if the news providers did so and were as funny and entertaining as PJ O'Rourke, who has a few things to say about demonstrations in his latest book, Peace Kills:

"Messages ranged from the disprovable (WE ARE ALL PALESTINIANS) to the dumbfoundingly true (TREES ARE NOT TERRORISTS)....what united these people, other than a general loserish quality? Or maybe it was only that. They've made every question a political question, because in politics - as this political demonstration proved - there is no quality control." p.136