You won't believe this

Army of Dad retrieved the mail for me Saturday evening and all I can hear is "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" as he's walking in the door. Then, a big evil grin spreads across his face as he smiles and hands me the mail.

On top of the junk mail, bills, magazines is a form letter adddressed to me BY NAME from:
AL FRANKEN
free press action fund
POBox whatever
Commieland, MA 01061

On the front I get this:
Free Sticker Enclosed!

Oooh, ahhh. Rubbing down the goosebumps.

Then, this little tidbit:
Corporate media is hurting America.
Aaaargh. Ouch. Owweee.

Ok, I get the feeling this is either going to make me laugh hysterically or hurl. Inside the envelope is a SASE addressed to the Free Press Action Fund and a little comment: Using your own stamp means more money for media reform.

Ok, I think, at this point, hurling is the more likely result from this exercise.

There is a little newsletter in here from the Free Press Action Fund and a "personal" letter from the desk of Al Franken. It is all a ploy to get me to give money to them under the premise of saving the Fourth Estate from being overrun by corporations who don't care about journalism, but only the bottom line. One quote form the newsletter:
We're witnessing a steady rise in shoddy journalism, low-budge/lowbrow entertainment, skyrocketing cable rates and the near extinction of local news.

I agree with all of those things, but not for the reasons they cite. They claim that "media moguls control the newsrooms, but have abandoned responsibility to provide the people with balanced coverage, careful fact checking and reasoned analysis."

I agree with the second part of that. I think the media is giving in to lazy journalism and trying to act like they are so much more educated than the general public that they need to TELL us how to think and be damned with the truth and/or balance. I also think the bottom line does drive these folks to hire straight-out-of-college journalists who don't know shit about real life and they fire the folks who have larger salaries (not that I'm bitter or anything because that happened to me, but I digress.)

But, they're saying that the corporate people are giving in to outside pressures to produce crappy journalism. I think it runs both ways. There are crooked columnists on both sides of the political fence, unfortunately.

But, again, I digress. Was just funny that I got a letter from Al Franken. And just so you know why I think I got it, I subscribe to Columbia Journalism Review. I won't be renewing it. For this reason as well as they're obviously slanted political leanings. I was hoping it would be an independent look at the state of journalism today, but alas, it is about as fulfilling as a Bertie Bott's earwax flavored every flavor bean.