TIME Encourages us to 'Thank' Ben Bernanke

Photo courtesy of here.

I understand that TIME picks their "Person of the Year" partly based on who has had the most impact, but look at this subheading from TIME's accompanying article (emphasis mine):

The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker. Thank the man who runs the Federal Reserve, our mild-mannered economic overlord

Thank him? David Sirota sums up my feelings nicely:

Ben Bernanke fell down on the regulatory job in the lead up to the Wall Street meltdown. He acknowledged this in front of Congress. He then tried to clean up his mess by handing his banker friends trillions of our taxpayer dollars. The result of his regulatory failures and then massive bailouts has been a destructive recession, 10 percent unemployment and debt as far as the eye can see.

Sorry, but Bernanke won't be getting a Christmas card from me this year.

Jon Stewart on the Resurgence of the "Birther" Movement

Remember during the Presidential election campaign when some people began advancing the notion that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States? Well, they are back and the "birther" movement is madder than ever:



Notice how Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) gets booed when he defends the fact that President Obama is an American citizen? I also enjoyed how the crowd erupted into a spontaneous recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance after Castle wouldn't agree with them that Obama isn't an American citizen. Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction.

Jon Stewart, fresh off a victory as "America's Most Trusted Newscaster" in a TIME magazine online poll, devoted a segment to the birther movement last night on The Daily Show. While a debate over what the TIME magazine poll means for journalism in America is a topic for another entry, the underlying points below the birther segment are kind of sad if think about it. tristero put in nicely over at Hullabaloo:

Until the so-called news media stops providing access to jokers like the birthers, then the best news reports in America will be produced by a professional comedian.

and as you can see by the following clip, not only is the so-called news media providing access to the birther movement, some (like Lou Dobbs) are actively advancing their claims. It should be no surprise that a media who is having problems establishing if the President was born in this country, is the same media that helped lead this country into a war.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Born Identity
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
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