American Newsreel

As bad as the damage is from Hurricane Katrina (and it is as bad as it gets), the carnage from Mother Nature pales in the face of the vile actions of looters who have pillaged stores throughout the city of New Orleans.

Smashing windows of electronics and jewelry stores, looters have carted off televisions, stereos, expensive watches and anything else they can get their hands on.

Looters are human nature at its worst. Sadly, in such times of emergency, there is little police can do about them. Their first priority must be to try and save the lives of the thousands stranded by the storm.

Our sister site, Capitol Hill Blue, is offering to match the donations of any reader and forward them to relief agencies. We ask that you do what you can to help, either through us or directly to the relief agencies.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll says most Americans believe President Bush should meet with antiwar protest mother Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Dubya’s failed Iraq war.

Don’t count on it happening. Bush is an stubborn, arrogant SOB who seldom does the right thing. He’d rather show his “resolve,” which delights the lemmings who follow him but violates every other code of common sense, decency and logical leadership.

In 40-plus years as a journalist, I’ve seen a lot of the temporary residents of the White House come and go. I used to think Lyndon Baines Johnson topped the list for arrogance and an incapacity to feel anything for the people he pledged to serve but Bush easily toppled LBJ.

Interesting that both of these assholes came from Texas? Like they say, everything is bigger in Texas — even bastards.

A cameraman for Reuters News Service, wounded more than 24 hours ago, is being held captive by U.S. forces in Iraq. Reuters, understandably, is demanding his release.

However, the military says it is “still investigating” and won’t say where they are holding the Iraqi who works for Reuters.

“Reuters demands the immediate release of Haider Kadhem,” Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger said. “We fail to understand what reason there can be for his continued detention more than a day after he was the innocent victim of an incident in which his colleague was killed.”

Soundman Waleed Khaled was buried on Monday after he was hit several times in the head and chest while driving his car, an ordinary passenger vehicle, on the assignment in western Baghdad. Haider Kadhem was wounded in the back.

Yet another black eye for the American military forces in a conflict where FUBAR rules.

Ever notice how much of so-called “news” on network news shows are really just plugs for shows on that network’s entertainment division?

When the fall season starts and the “reality” shows hit the airwaves for new seasons, networks will devote much of the “newscasts” to people who have nothing to do with real news but have a lot to do with those shows.

Castoffs from the CBS “Survivor” series will be interviewed on that network’s morning news program. NBC does the same thing with shows like “The Apprentice,” Donald Trump’s latest fling. So does ABC and Fox with their shows.

In the coming weeks, all networks will parade stars of their new fall series across the screen for interviews during what is laughingly called “news” segments. Even the flagship evening newscasts are not immune. Each night’s newscasts features plugs for the upcoming season.

I watched the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams the other night and the 30-minute newscasts included plugs, in one form or another, for nine shows on the fall schedule. Only seven of the 30 minutes actually dealt with the day’s news.

Want the news behind the news? Try reading the blogs of some of TV’s news personalities. NBC’s Brian Williams blogs on The Nightly Daily, an MSNBC blog that includes not only his observations but that of other newsies for NBC.

Williams is quick to admit mistakes:

On the evening of August 19th, in an attempt to show comparative gasoline prices around the world, we showed the adjusted price in U.S. dollars of a gallon of gasoline in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and showed the flag of Norway (bad). We realized the error too late, and regret the error.

MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann’s blog, Bloggermann is, like its author, both funny and scathing:

Understand this about (Rush) Limbaugh. He doesn’t believe half the junk he spouts. I’ve met him, and had pleasant enough conversations with him, twice - at the 1980 World Series when he was still a mid-level baseball flunky with a funny name, and once in the mid ‘90s at ESPN when he was just beginning his campaign to get a toehold there. He is a quiet, almost colorless man who, if he could be guaranteed similar success in sportscasting, would sell out the sheep who follow his every word - and would do it before close of business today.

You can read about politics in NBC’s First Read or follow Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren’s thoughts on Gretawire.

Guess the newsies, tired of getting thier butts kicked by the bloggers, decided it was better to join than fight.

The Baltimore Sun fired longtime political columnist Jules Witcover by sending him an overnight letter. The cold, callous way the paper dismissed an icon of reporting shows just how far my profession has sunk.

Across the country, longtime journalists face similar fates at the hands of giant media chains that now control the news. At the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, those over 50 are offered early retirement buyouts. I have friends there. All are over 50.

There was a time when experience counted for something. No more. Experience now means higher salaries and the only thing the money-grubbing suits who control the media chains care about is “return to investors,” which means cutting expenses and the quickest way to cut expenses is by getting rid of high-priced talent.

Never mind the sad fact that quality suffers when you send your best reporters packing. Nobody cares a long as the balance sheet looks good in the annual report.

We learned long ago that PETA (People For the Ethicial Treatment of Animals) will do just about anything for publicity, even using a semi-nude model to draw attention to one of its campaigns.

In Des Moines, Iowa, Katy Robertson, an actress from South Africa, posed topless in front of a sign decrying cruelty to circus animals. With chains on her legs and arms and fake stripes placed on her bare back to simulate the whip marks trainers inflict on their animals Robertson says she “exposed a little skin to expose the cruelty to circus animals.” She says, “I’m proud of doing this, and it’s the most worthwhile thing I could be doing.”

What she failed to mention that when you’re an aspiring actress, getting a little publicity for a charitible cause doesn’t hurt even if it means flashing your tits to do it.

While the photo of Robertson isn’t going to be one that young boys take into the john to whack off it does show that PETA is not above titilation to bring out the cameras. And it’s not the first time. The organization has used a nude Cindy Crawford in previous campaigns, although PETA then denounced Crawford after she signed on to model fur. Other prominent actresses and models, have also been all-to-willing to show a little T&A in the name of PR.

An English professor who lives somewhere up north (New Hampshire I think) keeps sending emails complaining about my grammar.

“Your improper use of the English language is a disservice to your readers,” he says. “Bad grammar is the mark of an uneducated mind.”

You got that right professor. I ain’t all that well educated. Might say my graduate and post-graduate work came at the school of real life instead of the ivory tower fantasy worlds where you live and work.

My first newspaper editor used to say “write like people talk. Don’t try to impress me with big words and long, hard-to-understand sentences.”

People don’t talk like Shakespeare. They talk like people. And we the people don’t say “he’s a prevaricator.” We say “he’s a lying S.O.B.”

And politicians don’t talk like people neither. They use big words to hide the fact that, in most cases, they don’t have the slightest damn idea what they’re talking about (yeah, I know. Shouldn’t end a sentence with “about.” That’s why I stuck this in here).

When a politician says “I’m re-evaluating my position,” it really means “damn, you caught me in a lie and now I’ve got to come up with a new one.” When the President of the United States says “we’re making progress in Iraq” he really means “thank God, not as many Americans died there this week.”

Professor, what you call “bad grammar” is what others call “colorful language.”

Call it what you will. I call it the truth and that’s the only language spoken here.

The Washington Post stepped on its dick by agreeing to sponsor a politically-motivated “Freedom March” at the Pentagon, an incredibly stupid move that even its own staffers oppose. Now it’s trying to avoid further embarassment by backing out of the event.

But the damage is done. The Post, like too many newspapers today, is a business first and a business decision was made to sponsor a high-profile event in the Washington area.

Too bad those who run the Post stopped thinking like newsmen.

The death of ABC News anchor Peter Jennings shines the spotlight, where it belongs, on smoking, lung cancer and the other life-robbing diseases use of tobacco can cause.

Like many of my generation, I smoked as a young man. Kicked the habit nearly 40 years ago. Watched my grandfather, a lifelong smoker, die of emphysema, spending the last few years of his life in bed with an oxygen tank, gasping for breath. My stepfather, who smoked, died from the same disease and heart disease killed my wife’s father, a chain smoker.

You don’t need an MD after your name to see what smoking does to the human body. You just need a brain.