A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....05-15-03...."Raines Fall, Media Plunges into chaos"

JohnHuang2;Dutchess;Billie | JohnHuang2

[dutchess]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

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"Raines Falls, Media Plunges into chaos"

by JohnHuang2

In post-war BigMediaLand, authorities appeared to be doing nothing to stop the rampant and intractable chaos, the anarchy gripping the turbulent streets. Everywhere you look, turmoil, muddle, confusion, disarray is all you see, the pandemonium prompted by the ignominious fall from grace of Howell Raines, under whose despotic rule BigMediaLand's already battered credibility suffered yet even more humiliation and abuse.

Examples of BigMediaLand chaos and confusion abound:

Under the header, Disorder Deepens In Liberated Baghdad, the Christian Science Monitor reports that "The residents of this capital are growing increasingly impatient with the deepening disorder that is plaguing their lives...after US troops took over the city."

But the previous day the Christian Science Monitor reported that residents of the capital were not growing increasingly impatient with the 'deepening disorder that is plaguing their lives after US troops took over the city' because there is no 'deepening disorder that is plaguing their lives after US troops took over the city' to begin with: Under the header, Efforts to make progress tangible to Iraqis, the paper said "...Face-to-face interactions [between folks in Baghdad and U.S. troops] are improving living standards -- as well as building trust...schools have reopened...attendance rates are rising...improvements are visible. The streets are cleaner. Almost all shops are open..." Gunfire is rare.

Another example of BigMediaLand chaos?

Try this: The Washington Post, under the header, Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team To Leave Iraq, reported Sunday that WMD search efforts in Iraq were winding down, Uncle Sam was throwing in the towel.

The Associated Press, on the other hand, reports WMD search efforts in Iraq were stepping up, no Uncle Sam throwing in the towel: "Pentagon to triple size of team hunting for weapons," blared the AP headline. Reuters reported Monday that "The United States and its war allies are replacing arms inspectors in Iraq with a new, larger team."

The collapse of Raines has left a growing power vacuum in BigMediaLand, 95% of which tenaciously adheres to fundamentalist liberalism. Resentful residents, the *BigMediaLanders* (or presstitutes), were already bitter enough after the swift U.S.-led coalition victory over Baghdad barely a month ago. The loss of Saddam fueled growing frustration among war-battered presstitutes. Many seethe in anger at the dangerous shortage of credibility and integrity -- the veritable food and clean water of BigMediaLand -- and fraying public support in the wake of the deepening Jayson Blair quagmire, whose hideous details precipitated Raines' swift toppling from grace.

The most egregious sacrilege of all: Plundering and looting at BigMediaLand's National Museum, the New York Times, liberalism's greatest treasure. The unbridled pillaging, led by the 27-year-old Jayson Blair, a liberal fundamentalist who repeatedly looted material from scores of sources, has left BigMediaLanders reeling in shock, many in tears.

"That paper was our civilization, our liberal heritage," a BigMediaLander said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "We'll never recover it now." Although the Museum kept its doors closed to ordinary people, BigMedia elitists had full access to the priceless artifacts, the Museum's frozen-in-time liberal daily reportage, conveyed on the pages of the once revered New York Times, journalistic time-warp.

Witnesses said Jayson Blair and other looters daily carried off wheelbarrows-full of material from, say, the San Antonio Express-News, hot-off-Museum-printers, and other material to plagiarize.

Worst of all: The looting, we now know, was actually an insider job, conducted with the full knowledge and acquiescence of Howell Raines, Museum Executive Editor, and his inner circle. Again and again, Museum subordinates warned Raines of Blair's nefarious activities -- the constant looting of material from other newspapers. "We have to stop Jayson from writing for the Times. Right now," urged Metro page editor Jonathan Landman in an email to newsroom administrators a year ago.

Amid the credibility rubble, a chorus of calls for appointment of a new civil administrator to restore order and oversee rebuilding efforts grows louder by the hour.

Frustration across BigMediaLand, now littered with defaced statues and portraits of Howell Raines, intensified over the weekend after Raines' 7,000-word document-dump 'declaration.' The dossier, headlined, Witnesses and Documents Unveil Deceptions in a Reporter's Work, attempted to account for Jayson Blair's weapons of mass disception, how he looted precursor materials from other sources for "Falsification, plagiarism and similar" [WMD production activities]. It was compiled from "A review of articles written by Jayson Blair...by a team of Times reporters and researchers..."

'Day late, buck short,' said most BigMediaLanders.

"Had Raines come clean and put out this report earlier, his fall from grace might've been averted," said a source who knows a source familiar with a source at the Times. Many dismiss the report as a sham, filled with irrelevancies; that Jayson Blair was just the fall-guy and Raines must be held accountable.

To many, the plethora of lame excuses for the looting ring hollow. Some liberals blame slavery, asserting that Blair, who's black, was merely exacting retribution for years of oppression by plantation-owing southern whites.

Wow, what a brilliant explanation, eh? Gee, had no idea Molly Ivans, Doris-Kearns Goodwin, Stephen Glass and Mike Barnicle, who are white aren't really white but black, were merely exacting retribution as former victims of slavery. All three did plenty of looting/plagiarizing, you see.

That said, I don't agree with those who say the Blair case undermines all Affirmation Action. Methinks it re-affirms it.

How so? Well, check out my 'diversity' solution: At the New York Times, you basically have an institution almost exclusively reserved for liars and Clymers, no? Now, where's "diversity" in that? Why not a 5%-10% slot reserved for honest reporters?

Just a thought.

Meanwhile, the string of deadly suicide bombing attacks Monday in Riyadh reminds us all the War On Terror isn't done quite yet.

As of this writing, the grisly death toll has surpassed 30 dead, including 8 Americans.

The attack, the deadliest against U.S. citizens since 9/11, gives Democrats like Sen. Bob Graham of Florida a sense of profound relief -- finally, fodder for the campaign trail! Yipee!

Graham, who's after Bush's job, says Bush is to blame for the bombing; Toppling Saddam, whom captured documents show was linked to al-Qaeda, was a big mistake because Saddam had no links to al-Qaeda, says Graham. Without Saddam ensconced in Baghdad, the world is not as safe anymore. All FBI aircraft carriers, FBI B-52 bombers, FBI jet-fighters, FBI Tomahawk Cruise missiles should pursue one target and one target only: Al-Qaeda. Graham's neat idea was to keep nice guy Saddam in power, avoid diverting U.S. firepower to anything but pursuing al-Qaeda, while diverting U.S. firepower into anything but pursuing al-Qaeda. The Graham Rule: Don't divert scarce resources from the War On Terror to fight the War On Terror. Comprende? Al-Qaeda strike in Riyadh? Invade Lebanon! Okay, don't invade Leanon -- use airpower! Al-Qaeda bombing in Kuwait? Attack Hezbollah in...um...er...Bekka Valley! Or whatever.

Graham, like most Dems these days, is firmly committed to getting things wrong, so rest assured.

Anyway, that's...

My two cents

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[WVNan]

Oh....a Fairy godmother....I mean freeper godmother. I would be honored to be a Freeper godmother for little Phil.

[LadyX]

Wish I lived nearer and we could do all the things we envision as special and wonderful - true sister stuff, in God's wonderful places and spaces.

Guaranteed to chase away those feelings.
We know how to find peace and joy, thankfully, in things of Him...

In the meantime, I hold you and Jack tightly in my prayers.

[WVNan]

Wow! Did you hear that Lady? The kid is a dolphin.

[LadyX]

And what are the names and ages of the other three children?

[WVNan]

Yes, I'm still holding on to my hope that we can meet and spend time together.

[lavaroise]

Well, from the site, about a French guy shuned by the French, and who introduced women to art accademia:

http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=7

Excerpt from the Biography of William Bouguereau, by Damien Bartoli:

"William Bouguereau is unquestionably one of history's greatest artistic geniuses. Yet in the past century, his reputation and unparalleled accomplishments have undergone a libelous, dishonest, relentless and systematic assault of immense proportions. His name was stricken from most history texts and when included it was only to blindly, degrade and disparage him and his work. Yet, as we shall see, it was he who single handedly opened the French academies to women, and it was he who was arguably the greatest painter of the human figure in all of art history. His figures come to life like no previous artist has ever before or ever since achieved. He wasn’t just the best ever at painting human anatomy, more importantly he captured the tender and subtlest nuances of personality and mood. Bouguereau caught the very souls and spirits of his subjects much like Rembrandt. Rembrandt is said to have captured the soul of age. Bouguereau captured the soul of youth.

Considering his consummate level of skill and craft, and the fact that the great preponderance of his works are life-size, it is one of the largest bodies of work ever produced by any artist. Add to that the fact that fully half of these paintings are great masterpieces, and we have the picture of an artist who belongs like Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Carravaggio, in the top ranks of only a handful of masters in the entire history of western art.

Having died in 1905, we can suppose it best that he was not here to see the successful assault on traditional art that turned the art world inside out and upside down in the decades that followed his death. His fate was to be much like that of Rembrandt, whose work was also ridiculed and banished from museums and official art circles for the hundred years following his death. Rembrandt’s reputation wasn’t resuscitated until the 1790’s (he died in 1669) due to the influence of the founder of the Royal Academy in London, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Even as recently as 1910, Reynolds paintings brought higher prices at auction than Rembrandt. Bouguereau’s re-appreciation can rather accurately be traced from about 1979 when his prices at auction quadrupled that year alone, and then was further catapulted by the 1984 retrospective that traveled from the Petite Palais in Paris, to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada and finally to the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford. In 1980 The Metropolitan Museum in New York permanently hung two of his works that been left in storage from early in the century.

Since 1960, his values in the market place have literally exploded, doubling on average every 3.5 years. From works selling for and average $500 to $1500 in 1960, they have accelerated to where in the last three years alone his auction records have been repeatedly broken another 4 times. In 1998 The Heart's Awakening sold for $1,410,000 at Christie’s New York. In 1999 Cupid et Psyche, Enfants sold for $1,760,000 also at Christie’s to be surpassed the very next day at Sotheby’s when Alma Perens owned by Sylvester Stalone sold for $2,650,00. That record only lasted one year until May of 2000, when Charite sold $3,520,000 back at Christie’s. Over the last 20 years his paintings all over the world have been taken out of their crates, basements, storage rooms and attics, dusted off, many cleaned and expertly restored, and today over a hundred museums and institutions proudly have his works on permanent exhibit. Reproductions of his paintings are selling by the millions in poster shops and gift stores world wide, and there is much evidence that they are even outselling the reproductions of paintings by any of the most famous modernists. The definitive full catalog Raissonee on his life and work is being completed my Damien Bartoli and the Bouguereau Committee and after 25 years of work will be published in 2003 or 2004 in time to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of his death in 2005. Since Bouguereau is one of the most important artists in history, we will be regularly adding additional images by him to this site. Besides Mr. Bartoli’s excellent biography below, you can read more about him in the ARC Philosophy."

We wish to express our gratitude to Damien Bartoli for his help in cataloging the paintings in this gallery.

[lavaroise]

And so it is, WVNan is Phil's Freeper godmother. Will let you know regularly. I'm so happy, honor is but mine.

[WVNan]

That's it!!!! The soul of youth! Thank you, lava. I'm happy to learn about this artist. That last portrait is wonderful. I will certainly learn more about this artist. I would like to have a copy of that book when it comes out.

[WVNan]

Pictures.....I will be wanting pictures.

[lavaroise]

OK, the names are a bit complicated, and I will leave their little names out: Rubi, she's 7, Rara's, she's 5 and Zid, he's 3.

[lavaroise]

Yes, a little budha dolphin. He's really nice and chunky. I'll get the pictures digitized and will forward them to you.

[WVNan]

Oh my. You guys have your hands full. Does your wife have all the duty when you are out of the country? That would make her like a military wife. Rubi is in school, yes?

[WVNan]

I'll send my e-mail address by Freep mail so you can send pictures that way.

[Dubya]

Thank you.
Most people who buy a house buy one of the first three they look at when they do buy.
Long day i'm going to call it a night.
Good night all

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[lavaroise]

Does your wife have all the duty when you are out of the country? That would make her like a military wife.

Yes. In the first 5 years of Ruby I was sharing roughly 50% of the duties. Then less than 5%. My wife about blew a gasket or two the firt year she was alone with them, however there was no other choice. Now she has a "well oiled machine" going. Of course, it does not prevent my favorite slave driver from doing research part time. Family is not around either and care is rotated around with my wife's coworkers' whose children she volunteers for at other times. I am not happy about this community set up but that is set to change soon as I get a parenting leave this summer for ... 3 years... can get a part time job anywhere too during the period.

Ruby is now going to private school, Rara's going part time there. Zid is a glue stick, goes with mama to do research and do lectures, and he is special as he had heart surgery and almost went away a couple times.

[lavaroise]

Ah, yes, military wife is an understatement. Slave driver is more like it. My wife is really tough. I simply do not have her endurance. I have stronger muscles but certainly not the droning stamina.

[lavaroise]

Great, I'll send them there. I have to go. It's almost 5 am where I am at and I have not slept.

[jwfiv]

Yes, Nan...I've had a good day...busy, small steps...forward...)

LadyX, the sea is tranquil.

The sun very near the horizon, golden light coming in through my window, hitting the interior flora.

I watched the moon set this morning, pink in the blue just before dawn.

Gonna step out and watch the eclipse happen in a moment...we are in the midst of celestial events...cosmic wheels go round and round...the Lord is on His Throne and I thank Him for all this beauty.

[WVNan]

Thank God for the community of mothers or else your wife would pull her hair out for sure. Ah, a parenting leave. Mr. Mom! Want to bet you'll be taling baby talk within two months? LOL.

[WVNan]

I thought you must be out of country. You always write more when you're all alone. Good night my friend. Sleep well.