The seminal book on media written by Marshall McLuhan was an inspiring and prophetic view of media in the world. But right now it is no longer, The Media Is The Message but The Media Is The Mess. I mostly mean the TV media, cable mostly but not excluding some networks. Where in the entire history of the world could we have found as many morons at one time, who deliver the news or actually deliver their opinions on the news than now? From Wolf Blitzer, gruff, insinuating, ramblings and never asking the right questions and repeating the same set quotes, to Bill O’Reilly’s, total lack of any kind of since of reality bravado, to Chris Mathews’ misogynist rants and really not knowing anything about playing hardball but interrupting anybody that has an opinion that doesn’t agree with his, to Lou Dobbs, the self proclaimed defender of all that America is and should be and really doesn’t know what America is or will be, to Glenn Beck, who is totally incoherent in his ramblings; and that’s just a few of the cadre of the stupendously idiotic news presentation group we have been forced to deal listen to (and I know you can turn the channel or turn it off).

And not to be forgotten are all those talking head pundits that are rolled out to give their opinions and keep getting it wrong on every twist and turn in this political season none of them who have a clue what America wants or needs because they’re too busy reading newspapers so they can actually comment on something instead of going out and investigating the news. Most recently the brave Scott McClellan, who has been burned at the stake by the Republican smear machine, called the media complicit in creating this albatross of a war that we are mired in in Iraq. Complicit to say the least, the news media might as well have tied a bow on everything the Bush administration said and did without investigating the lies, smoke and mirrors that they were presenting.

The news media basically jumped though hoops for George Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest of the Neo-Cons. Katie Couric said she felt pressured to not report negative about what was going on. So, I guess our forefathers created freedom of the press so the press could be pressured not to tell the truth? And it seems to get even worse with each passing day. The other day I was watching a news analyst commenting that some Americans still think Obama is Muslim and went onto say “he will have to prove to them that he is not”. I sat there thinking why don’t you say he is not, you know he’s not, I know he’s not, so why don’t you set the record straight, but he said nothing, just nodded a nod of innuendo. It’s sickening.

And then the recent slanders on Fox news border on full-blown yellow journalism. First they light up the screen with a headline “Outraged liberals say stop picking on Obama’s baby mama!” a racial slur so disgusting if defies reason. And then this episode that reminds me how out of the loop the media really is, a Fox News anchor, E.D. Hill reported that, the Obama’s excited fist bump at his victory rally in St. Paul was “a terrorist fist jab” and then the wonks afterward kept asking what that fist bumb meant and who does that. Haven’t they seen Tiger Woods make a good shot or any athlete celebrate a great moment, do they know what a high five is? It’s excruciating how these people and I’m not saying all of them because as I am writing this it was just announced that Tim Russert died of a heart attack, he was one of the few good ones. Unlike Russert, who represented common Americans by asking the right questions, these days most newscasters and people who comment for the news don’t represent anything but themselves and in doing so make the media and themselves look like the biggest losers of all time…

In this second part of a really bad story about the ongoing quacking by a lame duck president that might prove to be a lesson on how not to be a president or how not to do business as a super power nation when you’re a lame duck, but I digress. It’s been less than a week since the lame duck president quacked about negotiating with terrorists and used the word appeasement to describe such an atrocity as actually speaking to someone. It is only possible to create peace by bombing and killing I guess. But since Bush’s diatribe about the uselessness of negotiations a bright light has been put on America’s power and influence or waning power and influence. Almost in lock step a lineup of American allies announced not letting a day go by after Bush’s denouncement of negotiating with terrorists, that they are doing just that, negotiating with people Bush calls terrorists, the most amazing confession coming from Israel where Bush made his recent remarks, it seems they are actually negotiating with Syria and have been for months with Turkey being the arbitrator. Another ally on the war on terror, Pakistan signed a treaty with the Taliban to stop their terrorist attacks in Pakistan but they can go ahead and attack anybody they want in Afghanistan; and finally the French are in contact with Hamas that will lead to negotiations on the Middle East issue. What next the British sign a peace treaty with Al Queda? This is the current state of affairs and actually a pretty good way for these other governments to do business; it can’t be bad to do the opposite of whatever the Bush administration says or does. The Bush administration is so frustrated with it’s lack of influence now days it’s now wagging fingers at news organizations including NBC and the Israel news media for making Bush sound like a terrorist, and before that labeling Jimmy Carter a traitor for talking to Syria and Hamas. Oh, for the good old days when they could say anything, lie about weapons of mass destruction, Al Queda connections and create a war that was supposed to last a couple of days after “shock and awe”. But now here we are suffering our own shock and awe five years later, the economy going bust and the rest of the world sitting back smirking, and why shouldn’t they, after the horrible way the Bush administration has acted in the last seven years. So let Bush talk and watch the world ignore him or better yet do the opposite of what he says…

It has been up there since 2000 with constant human inhabitation, it has entertained astronauts from 16 countries, it is the most expensive joint human endeavor ever built, costing over 157 billion dollars. In the last six months with multinational contributions the International Space Station has added an expansive lab that is the biggest lab unit fitted to the station and it was created by the European Space agency that includes the workings of 11 different countries. The European Space Agency also launched, Jules Verne, a 21 ton automated robot vessel that will carry tons of experimental equipment, fuel, water, food and other supplies to the station from earth without humans on board. Canada sent up, Dextre, a science fiction like automated robot that will do jobs outside the space station including repairs, observation and other jobs once done by space walking astronauts. Recently, a 48-year-old American woman astronaut, Peggy Whitson, broke the record for time in space at the space station at 377 total days and 192 continuous days. And not to be totally non-exclusive, the international scientific community aren’t the only people to enjoy the benefits of the peace in outer space. Civilians rich enough to afford it can hitch a ride up to the space station, there has been six paying customers so far. The life of the Space Station is supposed to be completed in 2010 and has a working life until 2017. I hope it lives longer and through it all can teach us all how working together in peace in space can be translated to working together in peace on earth…