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"The Takeaway" Becomes the Throwaway (Updated)
The Radio and Internet as news source have certain faults. When I read something stupid, offensive,slanderous or all three in print media, I can turn it to good use: I can use it to clean windows, or pickup hairballs, or place under the kitty litter box to catch the odd bit of miss-placed poop. In any of these cases, I can get exercise by rolling it up, throwing it at the wall with all force screaming Tarzan-like at the top of my lungs. It's a simple matter to unfold it again, use it to pick up something stinky (with the by-line strategically placed),and toss it into the refuse. I can't do this with radio or with the bytes of information on my monitor.
Today I woke to this on The Takeaway The headlines:
My Response in the comments went like this:
IF you write over there, why not paste add your remarks to the comments here.
Updated: the transcript is now posted at The Takeaway website. Read and glower.
Today I woke to this on The Takeaway The headlines:
And here's the Puff Paragraphcongress and lawmakers healthcare reform
On the Frontlines of Health Care Reform
By John Hockenberry, Amy Holmes
Guest: Dr. Bill Frist
Wednesday, July 29 2009
Listen to so you know "know thine enemy"--but fortify yourself with nerve pill or a shot of your favorite liquid alternative first.Health care has been on the top of Washington's agenda for weeks now. The U.S. Senate is still battling it out and with the August recess looming, it is unlikely that the national health care debate will end any time soon. For a closer look at the way the Senate wages war, The Takeaway talks to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. As the Republican leader from Tennessee, Frist had a front row seat to health care debates. And as a heart surgeon, Frist had first-hand knowledge about the practice of medicine and the intersection of health care, insurance, and medical practice. He also has just written a book called A Heart to Serve: The Passion to Bring Health, Hope, and Healing
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My Response in the comments went like this:
So when are you going to bring Howard Dean, MD and HIS speechwriter to the conversation? And when are you going to bring in someone who actually knows something about the National Health Service in England to answer Frist's slanders? Slanders they are. Those of us with friends and relatives in the U.K. know they are slanders. Those of use who have been in the company of travelers needing care know this is a slander. I know it is a slander. I'm one of those travelers. Whatever reputation the Takeaway has for a lack of bias hangs on your response to this issue. I'm not hopeful.
Posted by amike, 7:02 a.m. Wednesday, July 29 2009
I'd love to have a bunch of TPM-ers join this over at the Takeway. Find one of Frist's lies, take it apart, and speak truth to power. You might want to investigate the ethics of having one of the a conservative speechwriter applying lips to a guest interviewee's nether parts. Some of you are very very good at this sort of thing.IF you write over there, why not paste add your remarks to the comments here.
Updated: the transcript is now posted at The Takeaway website. Read and glower.
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Amy Holmes, no thanks.
July 29, 2009 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just thought some ethical journalists might spot a bit of conflict of interest when a former employee interviews her boss--especially when that former employee is a guest co-host. So which came first the chicken or the egg? Did Hockenberry bringon Amy to lure Frist on, or was a condition of Frist coming on the hiring of his former speech writer. Smells just a bit, either way.
July 29, 2009 9:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
That says it all for me. Thanks.
July 29, 2009 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
That last paragraph in your selection says it for me. I've been taking student groups to England since 1981 and I have relatives who settled there at the same time my relatives came here. The last trip over I developed crystals in my bladder (how is that for too much information?). My host called the local G.P. I was seen within an hour and a half (half that time was spent driving to his surgery) I was diagnosed, my fears were eased (one doesn't like to see blood down there), and I was back home with the group. Total cost to me? Nothing. Followup visit the next day? Again, no cost.
My Uncle Albert had his second hip replacement at 85 after his first one wore out. He had to wait a little over three months, and in the meantime received physical therapy and medication for pain. Zero cost.
My very best friend in England turned 80 this year. I've known him and his 76 year old wife for nearly thirty years, during which time he's had two heart attacks--a stent put in for the second one, and his wife has had a "spot of cancer" as he called it. In May this year he was hospitalized four times for a gastrointestinal problem and the last hospitalization led to major surgery. He's home, and back typing cheery letters. Cost to him? Nothing. Without NHS I'd be one friend short, and I don't have enough of them to spare.
July 29, 2009 9:21 PM | Reply | Permalink