My Morning With NPR

Ok, so I yearn for intelligent talk radio in crystal clear FM reception for my long morning commute. I stumbled upon Columbus' public radio station not too long ago. The programming features the usual nationally syndicated shows that are the staple of public radio everywhere. Shows like "All Things Considered" aka (All things distorted), Market Place, Morning Edition etc. I know the names, as they haven't changed much since I last listened to public radio regularly, Cokie Roberts, Karl Castle, Bob Edwards, the heavy hitters of NPR and PRI radio. These journalist reporters have been around a long time. The packaging is the same too, human interest stories with sound effects, think a story on some homeless dude in San Francisco. Before the actual story begins you hear in the background a bus moving away from the bus stop, maybe a siren from an emergency vehicle, then you might hear the subject of our story hit a crack pipe or chug a pint...or then there might be the sound of birds drowned out by a tractor before a story on some family in Africa that doesn't have the good sense to move where the food is and instead fight a war over the few grains that are left to pound into grit for dinner.
I actually enjoy listening to straight news with an in depth angle, I have learned much from NPR and they often produce high quality bits that are better by far than the local AM news, weather and sports station. The drivel is the same though, today as I listened,I found myself yelling at the smooth disembodied voice of the reporter droning out of my speakers. The first time I yelled, I didn't think too much much of it but by the time I had been on the road for an hour, I realized I was having a full on discussion with my radio. I had been screaming at nearly every story I heard.
It does not seem to be one story with a liberal bent that gets my goat, I am an independent after all and try to be open minded. it is the relentless pounding they give the listener, with stories as varied as manufacturing in China all the way to puppies born to a rare breed of Dachshund in Missouri, it just does not matter the subject matter, there is a "green" angle to it, and a "conservatives suck" tinge. Somehow the stories are all delivered to make one believe that somehow, giving my rare Dachshund recycled paper chips to lay on at night will save the world from itself. Or that because I am a fat, rich American and buy stuff from China that I am contributing to the mass extinction that is imminent from greenhouse gas.
This morning I learned that the U.S. EPA denied a request by the California legislature to impose restrictions on carbon emissions that are much more strict than the national law requires. The EPA was right to say no, and I found myself shouting "Good" when some whiney milqetoast was crying about how California was ready to make a stand and make a difference in the world with their uber green carbon emission laws. Fuck him, and fuck California, maybe the rest of the nation should just give the west coast enough rope to hang themselves after all. Go ahead and pass your ridiculous law but don't come crying to me when your economy fails for all the illegal folks working on your farms and all the industry has left because they cant afford to comply with your carbon restrictions.
The straw that broke the camels back (no offense to PITA or anyone who loves camels) was a story on the 2008 presidential candidates. A woman in Iowa was praising John Edwards for "taking a stand against large corporations". She didn't mention anything specific, just that being against big business was a good thing. She was dead serious and stated she would support Edwards for his firm and committed stand against big business. That was it, I yelled a string of choice oaths at the radio and switched the station back to the static and pablum of the local news, weather and sports, station. Those large corporations pay my salary, all that "big business" is what keeps the economy in general afloat. I like my salary, and I enjoy having a job and if John Edwards wants to damage my gravy train then fuck him and the horse he rode in on. (oops sorry if that offended any horse lovers).
I am done with public radio for awhile, I feel bad for the types of folks that listen to this stuff everyday and do not have any other reference to reality. To them what they hear each day is reality and that is too bad. The person who buys this type of journalism in total, is a person who is hopeless, feels bad about being an American, wants our nation to grovel and feel guilty about being powerful and rich. This person thinks they can make a difference in their dying world by buying a Prius. This person is sad, and guilty and pathetic.
My world is not dying, I choose to work hard, burn gas, eat fat, buy stuff and be happy about it.
There is nothing wrong with social responsibility, there is nothing wrong with trying to conserve the environment, there just has to be some sort of balance and I am not sure I have to feel like the bad guy.
It is four days till Christmas, I am off to be a consumer and I wont feel guilty about it at all.