Thursday, January 15, 2015

You Are What You Eat`

Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida

I like the old saw, "you are what you eat."  But I like it with twist.  Instead of what I take in with my mouth, I measure myself on what I take in (and put out) by eye and by ear.   It would be fair to call me a news junkie.

[Editor's note: I just reread this post and it might sound pretentious to some.  I'm not trying to be pretentious or condescending, but I don't know how to write it differently.  Apologies in advance.]

Here is a list of the sources that I check every day (in chronological order, because that is my daily habit to listen to these things in strict order)

Of all the sources above, the Wall Street Journal is the most professional IMHO, and the NY Times is the most biased IMHO.  Fox News Daily is also biased, but not as bad as the NY Times.   I judge bias more on the basis of what the news organization chooses to ignore, than by what they say.  Drudge Report headlines are fun to scan, because again and again what I read on Drudge becomes front page news in all the mainstream media three days later. 

Other things that I consult regularly, but not daily are (in random order):

SCOTUS oral arguments work wonderfully to put me to sleep.  So do Federalist Society panel discussions.  Lawyers are very long winded.

Lots of people trash talk Fox News or The Intercept.  I hate being told what to think.  When there is something controversial, I read it first hand and make my own opinion.  I try to follow the advice of William F. Buckley Junior.  He once said, "I spend my time reading what my opponents have to say.  I already know what my side says."   IMHO, we all should follow Buckley's advice.

I'm not much of a joiner, but below are some organizations of which I am a present or past active member. I am not, nor have I ever been a registered member of, or a donor to, any political party.  Ditto for Libby {except that Libby once registered Conservative, and got nominated (without her permission) and I think elected to an Albany County NY supervisor's seat. But she never took the seat, and she never registered with a party again}.



I also spend about 30 minutes per day writing posts for this blog and another 30 minutes commenting on online forums and about 60 minutes per week writing Op Eds for national newspapers (which almost never get published)

When we are out at sea and cut off from Internet and Radio, I listen to podcasts that I have downloaded to my phone before departure.  I can hold 30 hours of podcasts on my phone.

[Some people say I spend too much time on the computer.  To that, I say raspberry.]


Posted by at 5:30 AM

2 comments:

  1. brigantine1/15/2015 10:08 AM

    You realize of course, that 6 companies control 95%+ of all news media in this country. (I'm not sure of the exact percentage. I've seen numbers that range from 95% to 97%) At this point, even NPR and PBS have become suspect as purveyors of the "corporate" agenda.

    A truly balanced perspective on how we are doing as a country would need to include European, Asian, Middle Eastern and Russian news sources. Bottom line is, we are lied to every day. There are things going on in the world every day, that we are not being told about, because it does not suit the corporate agenda.

    But hey, we know all about Justin Beaver's latest zit and all the fear porn they can throw at us.

    Life is good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Neuse River Sailor2/18/2015 2:01 PM

    You might like Naked Capitalism:

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/

    They have a tremendous daily links selection

    ReplyDelete

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