can you hear me now?

I went up to my parents house for Mother's Day. Sadly, my father wasn't much help as far as dinner etc. went, but that isn't that surprising. What surprised me was that he didn't think the latest NSA eavesdropping scandal was a big deal. Maybe it was because he listened to the erroneous media reports that say they are only collecting the number and length of calls (billions and billions of them). Or maybe because he was swayed by that sham Washington Post snap poll, which has been refuted by the USA TODAY one which asks more accurate questions and get a totally different result (51% disapproval of the program over 60% want an investigation and oversight). The establishment media really tried to kill the story on Washington Week, my saying it was no big deal and it will actually hurt Democrats (BOOO! Go away oversight, or probing minds!)

Meanwhile, there were lots of stories this weekend how about pissed off (and rightfully so) the LDS Church is about the media coverage of Warren Jeffs. Appearantly, the media can't tell the difference between a small break-away sect and a mainstream religion of millions of Americans. There are lots of people out East that still think LDS folks have plural wifes, even though the practice has been baned since 1890. The images on channels like CNN Headline News use the FBI most wanted picture of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs with the Salt Lake Temple superimposed in the background. This isn't just lazy, it is dishonest misleading and bigoted. The President of the LDS Church used to work in their PR department, so he knows how bad this looks and he and his team are trying to scream as loud as they can about this crap.

I say, welcome to the party, LDS Church. The media have been oversimplfying to the point of misleading the public for a long time, and their main whipping boy has been the out of power party (the Democrats since 1994). It seems now the leaders of the LDS Church have been good about clearing up the media and social myth that a Good Mormon can't be a Good Democrat, so maybe they will help bring attention to the braindead East-Coast Establishment, too-many-cocktail-weenies Traditional Media.