Among some of the sillier comments the politics threads have spawned (What could I possibly know because I’m “only” a comic book writer. And George W. Bush is only a failed businessman and Ronald Reagan was only an actor and Harry Truman was only some haberdasher, because one aspect of someone’s life completely dictates all other aspects, right?) there was a fairly reasonable question as to my news sources.
It’s eclectic. I read Newsday, the NY Daily News, Time, Newsweek, watch CNN, the Daily Show. But the one I’ve come to find the most informative is a magazine called “The Week.” Quite simply, it’s a weekly news magazine that beautifully sums up everything of major importance that’s gone on in the previous week, presenting viewpoints from all sides in brisk, even-handed fashion. I strongly recommend subscribing to it if your local newsstand doesn’t carry it.
PAD
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UBER-PATRIOTISM AND ATOMIC SHEEP. I think a great man once wrote, that while that people can never distinguish between the concept of being entitled to an opinion rather than being entitled to an informed opinion. Just because we think something is true or correct doesn’t mean it is. But if you tell them what they think has not been researched or well thought out, they scream that they have the right to an opinion just like everyone else. But to me a worthless opinion is like holding a fist full of sand; it means nothing whether you have got it in your hand or not.
This seems like a good place to drop this quote:
“Beware the leader that beats the drum of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor. For patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.”
Gaius Julius Caesar
Uhm…..don’t want to seem like a complete idiot. But, what is a haberdasher?
haberdasher
\Hab”er*dash”er\, n. [Prob. fr. Icel. hapurtask trumpery, trifles, perh. through French. It is possibly akin to E. haversack, and to Icel. taska trunk, chest, pocket, G. tasche pocket, and the orig. sense was perh., peddler’s wares.] 1. A dealer in small wares, as tapes, pins, needles, and thread; also, a hatter. [Obs.]
The haberdasher heapeth wealth by hats. –Gascoigne.
2. A dealer in drapery goods of various descriptions, as laces, silks, trimmings, etc.
I would recommend the Economist for everyone who wants to stay up-to-date and well informed on world events. It’s a little pricey (thanks to my boss for picking up the tab) but worth it.
May I recommend World Press Review?
The URL is http://www.worldpress.org, but I subscribe to the print magazine because I want to give them the money, about $27 per year for 12 monthly issues. They’re worth it.
It’s a compendium of news articles from outside the United States. For each story, a variety of sources are included.
The only thing you don’t get on the URL is the editorial cartoons.
Everyone has a right to their opinion. Everyone does *not* have a right to have their opinion taken seriously or respected; for that, you have to back up your opinion with facts and reasons.
It’s also sad that so many posters resort to ad hominen attacks and accusations of being misinformed or ill-informed just because they disagree with someone. People can disagree and argue while remaining civil.
Well, some people…
What about America’s Finest News Source [tm]? Heh. It’s a cornucopia of the most insightful and intelligent misinformation you’ll ever find.
No, I’m not being entirely serious.
My opinion is that the world is indeed flat. I would ask that everyone pitch in a few dollars to send me around the world so I came make my own informed decision.
LOOK for me in this months issue of the Advocate. The gay and lesbian magazine.
PAD, you don’t read the Times? Surely you at least read it for Frank Rich’s weekly screed against whatever it is that’s bothering him but that has nothing to do with the arts. 🙂
As much as I wish it were otherwise, even after the Times lost so much credibility, I rely on it for news I can’t get elsewhere and an impressive group of o-ed writers.
If it’s not on the Daily Show, it’s just not worth knowing about.
Bush, Reagan, and Truman all had (in Bush’s case, ave) legions of advisors. You know, people who can explain things to you that you don’t understand.
The week is a publication by the people who brought you maxim. It’s sixteen people who read all of the newspapers and magazines for you. Interesting concept, but it is 3rd hand information, but it does check it’s sources which is important. The economist is the most intelligent magazine on the racks. Pick it up David! Also the daily show should be an important part of anyone’s daily life.
If it’s not on the Daily Show, it’s just not worth knowing about.
Amen.
Travis
Permit me to recommend some sites to visit:
http://www.jpost.com
http://www.jewishworldreview.com
http://www.yesha.org
http://www.etzel.org
http://www.zoa.org/
http://www.hadassah.org/
http://www.danielpipes.org/
http://www.victimsofarabterror.org/
http://www.jamesbowman.net/
http://www.andrewsullivan.com/
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/
http://www.theatlantic.com/
http://www.michaelmedved.com/
http://www.yadvashem.org/
http://www.spectator.org/
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/
http://christianactionforisrael.org/
http://www.commentary.org/
http://www.wsj.com/
http://www.barrons.com/
http://www.usatoday.com/
http://www.camera.org/
http://www.factsandlogic.org/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
http://www.netanyahu.org/
http://www.wiesenthal.org/
http://www.oneplace.com/
When I want to recommend some sites, I want to recommend some sites! Heh heh heh. 🙂
I get The Week, it is excellent. Nicest thing is that I get it free from Freebizmag.com
It’s also sad that so many posters resort to ad hominen attacks and accusations of being misinformed or ill-informed just because they disagree with someone. People can disagree and argue while remaining civil.
I totally agree…
Moloch’s quote of supposedly Julius Caesar is actually an internet hoax that fooled Barbara Streisand as well as others. Lots of those going around – not that I disagree with the thought.
Here is a link to The Week:
http://www.theweekmagazine.com/
It’s funny that you mention this magazine, as I had never heard of it til about a week ago when they sent me a solicitation. I was thinking about giving it a try, and probably will now that I have some confirmation of it’s worth.
“Weekly World News” is the only paper you need.
Yeah, for those of us who want to read that Elvis gave birth to the transplanted love child of Saddam Hussein and an alien.
Just a reminder the National Missle Defense Shield is over 18 months behind schedule! Plus he wants to deploy just before the election in 2004 even though the spending on the project ($50 billion) is for the next six years. What about that folks? This nitbit has been ignored but money is still being wasted on it. Don’t you people have an economy to worry about?Information from New Scientist. Politics is in everything and therefore if you can read and analyse you can make a constructive point no matter where that point falls on the political barometer
Yeah, for those of us who want to read that Elvis gave birth to the transplanted love child of Saddam Hussein and an alien.
Oh, come now Luigi Nova!
It is within those hallowed pages that I learned that JFK is indeed NOT dead, but a telepathic vegetable who is the ambassador to all alien delagations and lives in the Jungle Room Recreation in the basement of the White House 😉
Er, that’s Luigi Novi, actually…
heh, heh… Sorry…
” Bush, Reagan, and Truman all had (in Bush’s case, ave) legions of advisors. You know, people who can explain things to you that you don’t understand.”
If you don’t understand something, why are you running to become its leader? This reminds me of a lady who was hired to be a supervisor in a section where I worked (she was a friend of the manageress … which explained a lot) and the first thing they had to do was hire someone else to explain the work to her. So why not hire the latter to be the supervisor right off? As it is, the one who had been picked for the job was – no surprise – terrible at it.
And that’s a big part of our problem where our society is run by career politicians whose main skill often lies in getting elected, rather than actually running or understanding things.
” Just a reminder the National Missle Defense Shield is over 18 months behind schedule … the spending on the project ($50 billion) is for the next six years. This nitbit has been ignored but money is still being wasted on it.”
“Wasted”?
Some day, maybe not for a hundred thousand years. Maybe by next year. Some big hunk of rock will come calling from out there. As at right now we have no way to keep from going the way of the dinosaur should this happen. I’m all in favour of the Star Wars project on the basis that tracking and intercept technologies which may be developed to hit incoming warheads just might help with that big rock. Because once we spot it coming in, it will likely be too late to start doing the development work to stop it or knock it off course.
And to be completely off topic, Peter, I can NOW answer the question from the letter I had published in Supergirl. NO, Oscar the Grouch does not wear pants. Or at least he didn’t prior to 1989 when one of his bodies was given to the Smithsonian.
And here’s The Week’s comics connection – Martha Thomases (formerly of DC) introduced me via e-mail to Matt Caldicutt, one of the editors there who’s planning a NY bloggers’ conference in August and wanted some names from me of area bloggers. Doubly glad now that I gave him yours, Peter!
C’mon everybody… the ONLY paper worth reading is the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS!! Who knows what that wacky BatBoy is going to do next? Stay informed people- the rampage of evil alien Elvis clones could be striking YOUR hometown next!! *snicker*
… just a quick thought here… it dawns on me that as I surf to this webpage on a daily basis and read thru the comments and postings of my fellow comic/sci-fi/fantasy brethren, that this community is quite above the norm in so far as intelligent conversation is concerned. It strikes me as quite amusing and slightly sad that most people I talk with who hear about this genre generally assume that we are a bunch of “geeks” who live in an imaginary world and don’t venture into the “real world” that they live in.
Seriously folks- how many times have you had to justify your reading habits to somebody who was quick to cast judgement upon them.. only to try have an intelligent conversation with that person later on and receive nothing but mental-reruns of the latest MTV-ideologies as their response?
Makes you wonder about the correllation of imagination to intelligence… just food for thought here.
A good leader has strong advisers but ultimately the decisions are his alone to make. Good advisers usually represent the extremes of certain interests and positions (economics vs. foreign policy and so on). It’s up to the leader to balance those concerns (this works in politics and in business).
The book RFK wrote about the Cuban Missile Crisis is a good example of this. One of my major concerns about Gore during the election was that he reminded me of every bad boss I ever had — he intensely micromanaged everything down to the campaign buttons.
Oh, come on, now. Let’s skip all this boring stuff and get to what’s really important here. How’s the CAT doing??
Starwolf said:
” Just a reminder the National Missle Defense Shield is over 18 months behind schedule … the spending on the project ($50 billion) is for the next six years. This nitbit has been ignored but money is still being wasted on it.”
“Wasted”?
Some day, maybe not for a hundred thousand years. Maybe by next year. Some big hunk of rock will come calling from out there. As at right now we have no way to keep from going the way of the dinosaur should this happen. I’m all in favour of the Star Wars project on the basis that tracking and intercept technologies which may be developed to hit incoming warheads just might help with that big rock. Because once we spot it coming in, it will likely be too late to start doing the development work to stop it or knock it off course.
Um, the National Missle Defense Shield isn’t designed to be a space-bound entity that could concievably catch asteroids. It’s a purely land-bound boondoggle.
Some day, maybe not for a hundred thousand years. Maybe by next year. Some big hunk of rock will come calling from out there. As at right now we have no way to keep from going the way of the dinosaur should this happen. I’m all in favour of the Star Wars project on the basis that tracking and intercept technologies which may be developed to hit incoming warheads just might help with that big rock. Because once we spot it coming in, it will likely be too late to start doing the development work to stop it or knock it off course.
Or we could just send Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck up to stop it…
The Week is a fine magazine. First launched in the UK it’s published by Felix Dennis’ company who also produce Blender and Maxim. The ones that Peter will ahve picked up are the american editions, but there is also a UK edition.
The story goes (in a book by Napolean Hill) that a newspaper once called Henry Ford an idiot because of his lack of knowledge about a number of things. Henry sued for defamation, and the newspaper decided to prove their claim by asking Ford a number of questions in the trial.
Ford’s exasperated response was that he had a box on his desk with a number of buttons on it, each of which buzzed a person on his staff; if he encounted a question that he didn’t know the answer to, he could press a button and get the right answer.
Heh heh… gosh, that Ford fella sure was dumb… 🙂
“Um, the National Missle Defense Shield isn’t designed to be a space-bound entity that could concievably catch asteroids.”
I know that. But, as I wrote above, some of the technologies could be APPLIED to that. Albeit with some modifications. Still beats developing everything from scratch. “tracking and intercept technologies which may be developed to hit incoming warheads just might help with that big rock” <— Remember? If you’ve got precise enough detection and prediction that you can reliably hit a warhead in full flight, a chunk of rock the size of a football field isn’t so impossible any more. Your shot just needs more range, that’s all. Spotted far enough away, a few small shots just might be enough to make it miss where you’d need one BIG boom close up.
Peter,
I would suggest adding Black Tail magazine to your reading list. As great as those other publications you cited may be, they don’t really offer adequate insight into the mind of today’s young nude black woman. At a price of only $59.95 per year for 12 issues, Black Tail is truly a steal, if for no other reason than this month’s revealing look at the Iraq situation through the eyes of Sinnaman, the lusty busty stripper who will milk you dry in under two minutes flat. So put down that copy of Newsweek, and read Anna Quindlen’s inane ramblings some other time, because 19-year old pørņ sensation Misty Mason is waiting for you, you sexy Hulk novelizationist, you.
-Dave O’Connell
Peter,
I would suggest adding Black Tail magazine to your reading list. As great as those other publications you cited may be, they don’t really offer adequate insight into the mind of today’s young nude black woman. At a price of only $59.95 per year for 12 issues, Black Tail is truly a steal, if for no other reason than this month’s revealing look at the Iraq situation through the eyes of Sinnaman, the lusty busty stripper who will milk you dry in under two minutes flat. So put down that copy of Newsweek, and read Anna Quindlen’s inane ramblings some other time, because 19-year old pørņ sensation Misty Mason is waiting for you, you sexy Hulk novelizationist, you.
-Dave O’Connell
If you don’t understand something, why are you running to become its leader? This reminds me of a lady who was hired to be a supervisor in a section where I worked (she was a friend of the manageress … which explained a lot) and the first thing they had to do was hire someone else to explain the work to her. So why not hire the latter to be the supervisor right off? As it is, the one who had been picked for the job was – no surprise – terrible at it.
It would be nice if it worked that way, but the ambitious are not always the best skilled. Its not that unusual really. Legislative staffs draft legislation for her bosses, speech writers draft unoriginal words for politicians. Geck, any book you’ve read by some famous was most likely ghost written.
No one one can do it all. Everybody needs a little helping hand now and then.
Tony: Seriously folks- how many times have you had to justify your reading habits to somebody who was quick to cast judgement upon them..
Luigi Novi: I don’t think Peter or anyone else here is “justifying” their reading habits. The topic of where Peter gleans knowledge from came up, and he is merely answering it. I mean, this is a discussion board, after all.
Just because we think something is true or correct doesn’t mean it is. But if you tell them what they think has not been researched or well thought out, they scream that they have the right to an opinion just like everyone else. But to me a worthless opinion is like holding a fist full of sand; it means nothing whether you have got it in your hand or not.
That, of course, is just your opinion, which you’re entitled to.
That, of course, is just your opinion, which you’re entitled to.
I’m sorry. My bad. That should read,
“That, of course, is just your opinion, to which you’re entitled.”
Today I saw Bush give a speech on tv and he used the word “gooderer” 4 times in a row. When did the election go from choosing a President of the United States to a just a Resident for the White House?
Peter, nobody is trying to say your information is falty. The only reason some people don’t like hearing about politics from Famous people is basicly this: I’ve never heard of any person change their political views just becuase a celebrity gave their opinion.
I am in no way saying you can’t give your opinion, but just becuase you think you have a good argument doesn’t mean that it’s going to get through to everybody. Becuase we also have good arguments ourselves. We have our own opinions – and sometimes we might not be able to express them correctly or in a civil manner doesn’t make them effective to ourselves.
Does anybody really go into a political argument or discussion and not come in armed with their own views?
Just don’t get mad about people questioning your info. The only thing those people are sick of is the fact they too have access to the same info – and their opinions just are not going to change becuase you gave your opinion.
Discussion is good – but don’t assume people are going to agree with you based on logic. Logic, especially these days, can get very subjective – not to say the least about their being many points of view as to politics. Just becuase yoy might see it logicly, doesn’t mean the next person over will. Your logic is diffrent from mine: and thats what forms opinions. Diffrent points of view on life.
Krap Speaking of the Daily Show… (slams laptop and runs to TV to watch the Daily Show)
Spanny,
I asked that same question about Bill Clinton. Remember all the stuff about how Bill was “just a regular guy”. He like McDonalds and had the “Aw, shucks” look down very well. People said how great it was to have a regular guy as President.
I suppose I’m an elitist, but I don’t want just “anybody” as the President. There’s a reason you want leaders, so they can lead.
I’ve got a comment about having a leader who’s an expert on a given subject vs him hiring someone who is.
Where exactly is this person in today’s society? For president, he’ll need a doctorate in labor management, mechanics,and military theory in order to lead our military; ones in both macro AND micro economics; certainly a legal degree in civil law, copyrights, business, and of course he’ll need one in constitutional law; he’ll have to be an expert in foreign affairs with each of I couldn’t guess how many countries.
Or he could hire the people who are. Henry Kissinger was probably have made a lousy president, but was certainly much needed by Nixon during that period in history.
Heh heh… gosh, that Ford fella sure was dumb…
Yep, Hitler-loving anti-Semitic facists don’t come any smarter than Ford.
C’mon everybody… the ONLY paper worth reading is the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS!!
I must admit, I was quite shocked to see that Saddam and Osama came out on the cover of some tabloid front page this past month.
I mean, who knew???
The best U.S. newsmagazine, by far, is IN THESE TIMES:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/
Peter would like it, if he hasn’t seen it already.