Quotes From Around Yon Mediasphere

Network is certainly not the greatest movie ever made, and I would never argue that it achieves any lasting impact as a work of art. Its style is flat (like most television programs, appropriately enough), and you'll hardly remember any of the visuals. Still, it remains my favorite film because I don't believe a better script has ever been penned. Network is, of course, nothing but a series of monologues – all either yelled, screamed, or bellowed -- but the words themselves capture every dimension of the human experience, from the fear of death to the "corrupt comedy" of modern life. Some have argued that despite the prescience of the film (it certainly predicts the rise of tabloid television), it is a dated curiosity that no longer holds any relevance. But more -- much more -- is at work here than a bombastic satire of the decay of television programming. At bottom, Network is the angry, uncompromising blast against the decline of the individual. In the face of corporate hegemony and the commodification of everything from abstract ideas (freedom, justice, rebellion) to human sexuality, the vibrant, vital, dangerous lone man in the wilderness is nearing extinction, if he hasn't already met his end.

-- MATT CALE

For all the cost cutting that has traumatized the newspaper industry this year, profitability is falling far faster than sales, suggesting that deeper cuts may be necessary if the industry is to sustain its traditional operating margins.You never know what nuggets congressional investigators will uncover when they set off on official inquiries.

-- ALAN D. MUTTER

Last week, we learned that while investigators for the House Oversight Committee were looking into the 2004 death of Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former NFL player whose story was promoted by the White House before it was revealed that he had been killed by friendly fire, they discovered that top political aide Karl Rove had exchanged emails with the Associated Press' Ron Fournier on the day the news of Tillman's death broke.

In one email, Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this?" Fournier responded: "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight."

That sign-off, which seemed to indicate an allegiance between the two men, raised hackles all over the Internet. . . .But Fournier, now the wire service's D.C. bureau chief, shrugged off the embarrassing revelation, conceding only: "I regret the breezy nature of the correspondence."

Of course, Fournier wasn't simply being breezy. "Have a great weekend" -- that's "breezy."

Instead, Fournier was declaring sides.

-- ERIC BOEHLERT

The Star-Ledger in New Jersey just broadcast its first live, daily noon news show on the web and I’m delighted to report that it bears no resemblance to television. That was the point.

-- JEFF JARVIS

The level of ignorance about John McCain that exists in the American public would be astounding if we weren't hearing "war hero" and "great American" used every time McCain's name is mentioned. Just how I had Morning Joe on for five minutes, and in a segment with Mort Zuckerman decrying the campaign's placing of McCain in ridiculous situations, such as grocery shopping with a young mom while wearing a full suit and tie, to show what a regular guy McCain is.

And then Scarborough said something astonishing. He said that they were feeding into his earpiece "Don't be mean to John McCain." He then defended himself by saying that he's not being mean to McCain, he's berating the campaign for putting him in these situations. Then he went off into the required litany of "war hero" and "great American."

-- JILL

Last night on the O'Reilly Factor, the O'Reilly said, "It is not a stretch to say that MoveOn is the new Klan." Similarly, it is not a stretch to say that Bill O'Reilly is the new Father Coughlin. Actually, the difference between the two statements is that O'Reilly pretty clearly is the heir to the Coughlin tradition (including smearing his opponents with laughably conspiratorial slurs), while MoveOn is more the heir to Dungeons and Dragons tradition, or possibly the BBnet tradition.

-- EZRA KLEIN

Both of us--Blue Girl and myself--struggle every day to find the time and the bandwidth to blog. In my case, I use Verizon's FIOS system and I have tremendously reliable and fast Internet access. I personally wish I didn't use Verizon for my Internet and wireless provider--I have tirelessly advocated against retroactive immunity for them and I was damned sorry that it happened. In Blue Girl's case, she doesn't have ready access to a broadband infrastructure, and that's a crying shame. She has to fight to get on, fight to stay on, and more than once she's had to ring me up and give me what she's got and what I can do to finish things up for her.

Never feel sorry for us--we do this because we would do this no matter what. We're here to stay, we battle everyone and everything, and we fight like maniacs against the bullshit, the sleaze, and the just plain batshit crazy. We have our rewards and our families know the deal. We have great support networks.

However, we will bash the living shit out of purity trolls. If this were a perfect world, we certainly would not have anything to do with corporate malfeasance and we would be green, local, and self-supporting. We'd do this like a co-op, probably. We'd never link to suspect blogs or outlets, we'd even recycle the recycled paper we saved from the trash and put into a recycling bin.

Until such time as the United States gets a Federal Communications Commission that makes free, unlimited broadband a right, not a pipe dream, like it goddamned should, fuck purity trolls.

-- WARREN STREET