Curtis Dahlgren
Memo to MSM: We need a President now more than ever, FYI
By Curtis Dahlgren
"We need a President." – Richard Nixon, 1960; conceding to JFK despite Chicago vote fraud
"Will you accept the election results?" – Hillary, during 2016 debate, to Trump
TIDES ARE TURNING; SEAS ARE CHANGING. Nihilists are whining, the earth is quaking, and some people are still pining for power.
"GOD must have given common sense by the acre. That must be why people in highly populated areas seem to have so little of it." – RANGE magazine
"There is no such thing as a New York intellectual establishment. It just looks that way from the outside [of it]." – Jason Epstein, Editor; Random House (1970s)
I sit in an office at 244 Madison Avenue,
And say to myself, You have a responsible job, havenue?
- Ogden Nash, 1929 ("Spring Comes to Murray Hill")
"A newspaper may somewhat arrogantly assert that it prints 'all the news that's fit to print.' But no newspaper yet has been moved to declare at the end of each edition, 'That's the way it is . .'" – Sen. Eugene McCarthy
"The city room is an outhouse." – Jimmy Breslin
"Journalism is a kind of profession, or craft, or racket, for people who never wanted to grow up and go out into the real world." – Harry Reasoner
"The press is like the blackbirds in the fall – one flies off the telephone line, the others all fly away; and the other one comes back and sits down and they all circle and come down and sit in a row again." – Sen. Eugene McCarthy
"Journalists have been . . lured out of their normal and proper role and have become, not critics in the aisle, but actors on the stage." – Eric Sevareid
"As reporters, we should stay the hell out of politics and maintain a private position on any issue." – John Chancellor
"Our job is only to hold up the mirror – to tell and show the public what has happened . . " – Walter Cronkite
"Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions." – Edward R. Murrow
"Just report the news; don't encourage it." – conservatives forever
"Hitler said that he always knew you could buy the press. What he didn't know was that you could get them cheap." – Mort Sahl
"There are honest journalists like there are honest politicians. When bought, they stay bought." – Bill Moyers
"Gender-segregated restrooms are one of the last absolute gender divides in our society, and they reinforce from a very early age the idea that women and men are fundamentally different."** – Robert Knight, Washington Times, 3/25/17 (quoting the "Ideas" section of TIME magazine); He says, "Actually, that's been self-evident since the dawn of time and reinforced . . by all major religions and by the surging Hallmark Channel. For TIME to devote space to what amounts to insanity shows why more and more people distrust the 'legacy media'"! Trump's approval rating is much higher than his critics in the Old Media..**
"What is Truth, said Pontius Pilate, and didn't wait for an answer." – Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
P.S. A little poem inspired by Ogden Nash:
Whassup?
From year to year, people are Jekyll and Hyde;
It's a problem of pride deep down inside.
Hollywood has gone and jumped the shark;
Life and Liberty are nothing but a lark.
Who says we can make America great
When the comics on TV stay up so late?
The media snark is getting so dark
You can't see the forest for their bark.
You can tell a liberal, but you can't tell 'em much;
It's not that they're crazy, but they're sure out of touch!
The Donald's a dunce? But Hillary's hot?
If the Tea party's not, the D-party's what?
Great poems aren't made by people like me,
But even a tree knows which way is up. Do thee?
PPS: Most of the news media quotations above are from Barbara Rowes' "The Book of Quotes" (1979). Oh sorry ma'am, but just one more question: If you live in the Big City, are you more impressed by the man-made things than anything else? Many Big City dwellers consider the concept of an Intelligent Designer weird. Speaking of mixed results, my mouse just clicked on "Yahoo" and got two billion, 10 million, plus, results in less than half a second. By a mouse. Now to me that's weird! But not as weird as a brain that thinks it can out-think its Designer.
One might be able to convince the skeptical by saying God is the most highly "evolved" Entity in the most highly evolved Universe (just kidding), but "by night an atheist half believes a God." And there aren't very many atheists in arboriculture, farming, or fox holes. A college kid told his pastor that he had given up believing in God because God didn't answer his prayers. The pastor says:
"How many of God's prayers have YOU answered?"
BTW: In case you didn't notice, this is a re-run of a March 2017 column, but the timeliness deserves a repeat. Sorry to make it longer, but I would only have to add that too much confidence in one's beliefs isn't cool in the Big City. "I think, therefore I am," they used to say; now it's: "I think I think; therefore I think I am."
** Segregated toilets are not the last vestige of the gender "divide"; I think it's Hillary's post-"meno-pausa"l PMS syndrome. FACT: some things are just unique. I can't remember the last time I had a hot flash. I think it was 1957 when Milwaukee beat New York in the World Series.
© Curtis Dahlgren
September 25, 2017
"We need a President." – Richard Nixon, 1960; conceding to JFK despite Chicago vote fraud
"Will you accept the election results?" – Hillary, during 2016 debate, to Trump
TIDES ARE TURNING; SEAS ARE CHANGING. Nihilists are whining, the earth is quaking, and some people are still pining for power.
"GOD must have given common sense by the acre. That must be why people in highly populated areas seem to have so little of it." – RANGE magazine
"There is no such thing as a New York intellectual establishment. It just looks that way from the outside [of it]." – Jason Epstein, Editor; Random House (1970s)
I sit in an office at 244 Madison Avenue,
And say to myself, You have a responsible job, havenue?
- Ogden Nash, 1929 ("Spring Comes to Murray Hill")
"A newspaper may somewhat arrogantly assert that it prints 'all the news that's fit to print.' But no newspaper yet has been moved to declare at the end of each edition, 'That's the way it is . .'" – Sen. Eugene McCarthy
"The city room is an outhouse." – Jimmy Breslin
"Journalism is a kind of profession, or craft, or racket, for people who never wanted to grow up and go out into the real world." – Harry Reasoner
"The press is like the blackbirds in the fall – one flies off the telephone line, the others all fly away; and the other one comes back and sits down and they all circle and come down and sit in a row again." – Sen. Eugene McCarthy
"Journalists have been . . lured out of their normal and proper role and have become, not critics in the aisle, but actors on the stage." – Eric Sevareid
"As reporters, we should stay the hell out of politics and maintain a private position on any issue." – John Chancellor
"Our job is only to hold up the mirror – to tell and show the public what has happened . . " – Walter Cronkite
"Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions." – Edward R. Murrow
"Just report the news; don't encourage it." – conservatives forever
"Hitler said that he always knew you could buy the press. What he didn't know was that you could get them cheap." – Mort Sahl
"There are honest journalists like there are honest politicians. When bought, they stay bought." – Bill Moyers
"Gender-segregated restrooms are one of the last absolute gender divides in our society, and they reinforce from a very early age the idea that women and men are fundamentally different."** – Robert Knight, Washington Times, 3/25/17 (quoting the "Ideas" section of TIME magazine); He says, "Actually, that's been self-evident since the dawn of time and reinforced . . by all major religions and by the surging Hallmark Channel. For TIME to devote space to what amounts to insanity shows why more and more people distrust the 'legacy media'"! Trump's approval rating is much higher than his critics in the Old Media..**
"What is Truth, said Pontius Pilate, and didn't wait for an answer." – Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
P.S. A little poem inspired by Ogden Nash:
Whassup?
From year to year, people are Jekyll and Hyde;
It's a problem of pride deep down inside.
Hollywood has gone and jumped the shark;
Life and Liberty are nothing but a lark.
Who says we can make America great
When the comics on TV stay up so late?
The media snark is getting so dark
You can't see the forest for their bark.
You can tell a liberal, but you can't tell 'em much;
It's not that they're crazy, but they're sure out of touch!
The Donald's a dunce? But Hillary's hot?
If the Tea party's not, the D-party's what?
Great poems aren't made by people like me,
But even a tree knows which way is up. Do thee?
PPS: Most of the news media quotations above are from Barbara Rowes' "The Book of Quotes" (1979). Oh sorry ma'am, but just one more question: If you live in the Big City, are you more impressed by the man-made things than anything else? Many Big City dwellers consider the concept of an Intelligent Designer weird. Speaking of mixed results, my mouse just clicked on "Yahoo" and got two billion, 10 million, plus, results in less than half a second. By a mouse. Now to me that's weird! But not as weird as a brain that thinks it can out-think its Designer.
One might be able to convince the skeptical by saying God is the most highly "evolved" Entity in the most highly evolved Universe (just kidding), but "by night an atheist half believes a God." And there aren't very many atheists in arboriculture, farming, or fox holes. A college kid told his pastor that he had given up believing in God because God didn't answer his prayers. The pastor says:
"How many of God's prayers have YOU answered?"
BTW: In case you didn't notice, this is a re-run of a March 2017 column, but the timeliness deserves a repeat. Sorry to make it longer, but I would only have to add that too much confidence in one's beliefs isn't cool in the Big City. "I think, therefore I am," they used to say; now it's: "I think I think; therefore I think I am."
** Segregated toilets are not the last vestige of the gender "divide"; I think it's Hillary's post-"meno-pausa"l PMS syndrome. FACT: some things are just unique. I can't remember the last time I had a hot flash. I think it was 1957 when Milwaukee beat New York in the World Series.
© Curtis Dahlgren
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