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Mike Rowe gets dirty with Rupert Murdoch.

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Coming Clean

mike roweFor those of you unfamiliar with the wonders of Mike Rowe he has a little television show on the discovery Channel called "Dirty Jobs". It's the odyssey of one man seeking out and performing the worst possible jobs on the planet (like, for example, pig slop processing). Lots of larfs are to be had in the process. Most definitely check outable.


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rupert murdoch phone scandalYeah, I know. This is my second News Corporation comic in a row but I just happen to think this story is kind of important. Rupert Murdoch and his little pals are, after all, turning out to be the kinds of people who will seemingly stop at nothing in order to blackmail a government or crassly take advantage of a little girl's death. And now it seems like the most senior police officer in England in involved in the scandal. How comforting.

This not what the news is supposed to do. It's supposed to report the facts in order to make us better citizens, not abuse its power in order to propagandize or sensationalize the information in order to sell more pimple creme.

This problem is not just limited to foreign newspapers as I am appalled by what passes for news in my local paper. Dallas, Texas, my home town, is a city populated by over 2.5 million people and they are daily subjected to obvious right-wing slant disguised as news. The Dallas Mornings News' little trick is to give the right-wing side of the story the first 3/4 of the story and then print the facts in the final few column inches.

Cheap. Foul. Dirty.

There is a solution. It's way past time that individual cities begin devoting modest amount of tax dollars to an electronic-based news system as the for-profit, dead-tree based model is failing, both as a business venture and as a reliable organ of information. With proper public oversight an interconnected web of such open-source news outlets would make national and local news relevant and trustworthy again.

This is almost a no-brainer. A city the size of Dallas could implement a twenty-reporter crew for less than $2 million a year. That's a single tax-dollar per person. The news could then be sent electronically to residents at almost no cost. And lest you think iPad-like devices would cost too much it already costs $300 a year to subscribe to my local paper. This is doable, folks.

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the man from nowhereOn Saturday night Beloved Girlfriend whipped-up some broiled portabella mushrooms for our supper. Slapped on a bun with slabs of provolone cheese it was a treat that couldn't be beat.

Afterwards we sat down and watched "The Man From Nowhere", a thoughtful though frightfully violent gangster flick from South Korea. It was so good we really hope that no American director gets his hands on the rights as they'd completely fuck-up the remake. It's streamable on Netflix, with subtitles, so look for it.

On Friday we watched the animated "Rango" on Blu-Ray and, I'm sorry to say, this one's not going into the Permanent Collection. To put it simply, it was sort of like eating a gold-plated Twinkie. Really pretty, though weak in the nutrition department.

I admired the fact that they attempted to insert a little poetry into a mainstream animated feature but it just muddied an already unsteady plot.

=Lefty=


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john boehner"We're going to have a relentless focus on creating jobs." - John Boehner, February 10, 2011.

The following is #54 in a list of accomplishments by the GOP since they gained control of the House in 2011. None have yet to result in one, single new job.

(54) 7-18-2011: Not only does the GOP continue to insist on slashing federal spending, which will cost jobs, jobs and more jobs, but now they want to hack the Constitution.

For the entire list of GOP futility, click here.

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Fox News Lies!And what manner of lie is Fox News spewing today? Why talk about the phone-hacking by their parent company when they can complain about all that terrible phone-hacking going on out there. Huh? What?

Click here to help Drop Fox from your cable system.


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Mike's Youtube Vault
"The Rhythm of Life"


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Today's amazing mystery comic is:
EQ COMICS

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Raging Pencils is a dirty conceit of:

Mike Stanfill, Private Hand
Mike Stanfill, Private Hand
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www.privatehand.com


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DailykosCrooks and LiarsThink ProgressTalking Points Memo
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Today's Google Chow.

Mike Rowe typing at a News Corporation desk.

Rowe: Hi, I'm Mike Rowe. And this... is my job.