12/06/2005

obligations

i'm posting late because i had stuff to do. i just called mike on his cell even though it's almost 1 in the morning because he asked me too. i'm supposed to call elaine as well. you're wondering - what, no 1's got an alarm clock?

they do but they want to be sure that they're up.

which is why they asked me and not c.i. because, honestly, c.i. won't do it. not after midnight. not for this reason.

what's the reason? blogger was acting up and they were doing some sort of update to the program.

you couldn't read any of the blog spot sites. not really.

elaine and mike went ahead and wrote their posts for tonight. they both try to post and get a message that a) tells them their posts are not lost - good, but b) won't go up due to blogger maintenance.

elaine just wanted to go to bed and it wasn't even 7pm. which always means she's had a rough day. i started to do a joke here but i know elaine would be pissed and say 'rebecca, some 1's going to think "oh, they do talk about their patients!" and that might stop the person from getting therapy.' whether totally sane or a complete loon, elaine never talks about the people she treats. but i know her well enough to know that when she's wiped out like that, it usually means a very intense day of therapy giving.

which is the same conclusion c.i. would draw. which is why elaine told mike, 'we've got to call rebecca.' if this were some sport or live event or to hit the road to travel or something, c.i. would honor the request. but for blogging?

c.i. would say, 'oh i'm sorry i forgot' because c.i.'s attitude would be 'they need their sleep and this can wait.'

so they call me and i was cool with calling mike because i know he's up, at the computer, publishing and indexing and then crawling right back into bed. but to be honest, with elaine, i am hestitating.

she won't crawl back into bed if she was so exhausted from doing analysis today. she'll finish publishing. make a cup of coffee. probably tea or cocoa due to the hour. and she'll be up for a few hours.

there is 1 issue that always exhausts her. i know that because in college just studying it would exhaust her. she never has to say (and never has) 'i was talking to some 1 about __ today' because it's obvious to me what it is. (and she never would. she doesn't speak in generalities about it with us lay people.) so i'm thinking, do i wake her or not?

she asked me to. it's after 1 now. she'll be up for a few hours if i do.

i will after i post this. i'll let the phone ring twice. if she doesn't answer on the 2nd ring, i'll hang up.

and i'll also blog about the thing that was on tv while i was getting the snack food ready for tonight. i had finger foods, hot and cold, for guests because we're trying to reach out to every 1 we know on this hideous alito nomination.

and t came by early to help me get everything together because she's such a great friend. she turned on the tv in the living room because she wanted to see some coverage on iraq and asked me if there was 1 i didn't want to watch?

i loathe brian williams as everyone who's read for some time knows. so that leaves out nbc. so t puts it on cbs.

the story, which probably was the lead, was saddam's trial.

the reporter was kimberly dozier who i've never seen before or heard the name of but she was such a kimberly and dozier rhymes with croshere and when i was married and 'fly boy' had to watch his basketball, i'd sit there ranking the players. austion croshere is, or was, a forward for the pacers and he was completely do-able. then. he may not be now. now he may have a bald spot. looked like 1 was about to develop at the back of his head.

like the 1 tom delay has now. i didn't know he had it. but he was the 2nd story. they showed him from behind. head of hair is going bald. has a bald spot at the top of the back of his head. that was worth a laugh.

which was needed because kimberly dozier is a total tool and so is old man bob who really just needs to head shady oaks retirement home already.

what happened at the trial?

if you watched cbs, you had no idea.

they threw news standards out the window.

news standards would have meant treating it as a news story.

instead they went for propaganda.

and this is what's so disgusting, they knew they could.

they knew probably no 1 would call them on it.

because who likes saddam hussein?

i don't. you don't. we don't care about him.

and watching kimberly dozier 'report' and bob ask follow up questions, i realized how awful that was: because no 1 cares, they can do what ever they want.

they don't have to tell the truth.

and maybe that's when you judge a 'reporter' or how.

with a story involving some 1 who's not sympathetic or loveable and has no vocal defenders, do they report the truth or do they use the 'report' to score points?

they acted like 2 little vindictive kids.

here's what happened at saddam's trial today: the defense walked out when ramsey clark wsn't allowed to speak. if you watched democracy now or listened to pacifica, you knew that.

if you watched cbs only, you didn't.

here's what you were told if you watched cbs.

they were making a mockery of the court (bob said something to that effect in his exchange with kimberly). kimberly ridiculed clark for asking for protection for saddam's lawyers.

neither bob or kimberly pointed out that saddam's lawyers have been targeted and 1 or 2 killed.

you didn't get to hear ramsey clark speak because kimberly was to busy telling you her spin anytime ramsey came up in the clip.

she lied and let me put that in caps LIED and said that saddam's half-brother threatened a witness. he had an outburst and made a statement that wasn't a threat. but she knows no 1 will fact check her. she knows the world hates saddam so she can say whatever the hell she wants.

bob knew it too. which is why he felt the need to smear ramsey clark and kimberly was happy to join in.

bob offers that lbj once said that his greatest regret was in making clark attorney general and kimberly runs with it.

uh, gulf of tonkin, bob!

we know it was a lie. we know congress' approval was a lie.

so maybe you shouldn't hide behind lbj when you want to trash?

or maybe you shouldn't take delight in trashing some 1 if you want to be an anchor on cbs - maybe you should move over to fox?

reporters are supposed to report.

t and i were watching that and just disgusted.

you see clowning all the time.

but i don't know that i've seen it so naked on a non fox 'news' broadcast.

maybe it was just knowing that they knew no 1 would call them on it.

who wants to be called 'saddam defender' or 'saddam lover'?

no 1.

so they'll probably get away with what was 1 of the most slanted reports to ever bear cbs' name.

what did ramsey clark say? since cbs never told you, let's go to democracy now:

Saddam's Lawyers Walk Out Of Trial In Protest
Earlier today the war crimes trial of Saddam Hussein resumed. The former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark briefly addressed the court on behalf of Hussein's defense team. He said "Reconciliation is essential. This trial can divide or heal. Unless it is seen as absolutely fair, and fair in fact, it will divide rather than reconcile Iraq." Saddam Hussein's entire defense team walked out of the court after the chief trial judge refused to allow Clark to challenge the tribunal's legitimacy. At one point during the session Hussein and his half brother Barazan Ibrahim chanted "Long live Iraq, long live the Arab state." Then Ibrahim stood up and shouted: "Why don't you just execute us and get rid of all of this!"

the story mattered. it mattered for a number of reasons.

1) it served as a test. when they knew they could do whatever they want, because no 1 would object, would they report the news or would they spin propaganda? the answer is that cbs goes for propaganda.

2) the trial is causing tensions in iraq. that does effect a number of things. but you have no idea why kimberly speaks of the need for the military to guard the court house because every person they did let speak, i'm assuming they were all shia, vouches for their belief.

but if you know even a little bit about iraq, you know that a lot of iraqis see the trial as humiliating. they don't feel that iraq is in charge, they don't feel that the trial is anything but a show trial - due to the americans, not saddam's defense - and they find the whole thing humiliating.

that's news america should be aware of.

instead bob and kimberly thought they could act like 2 little mean girls and spin it anyway they wanted to. it was disgusting.

but don't be surprised if no 1 tells you about it. not because people love cbs evening news but because who wants to point out that even someone as vile as saddam is deserving of accurate coverage? no 1.

let me go try to wake elaine (with 2 rings). after i'll probably call c.i. because it's a different time zone and i want to hear how tonight went.





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