NPR -- National Pro-Abstinence Radio

This past Monday, NPR spotlighted a new pro-abstinence book by one Dr. Lindsay Marsh, despite the fact that not a single review of the book seems to have appeared anywhere in the mainstream press. As a matter of fact, even the "editorial reviews" which appear on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble's landing pages for the book were transparently written by Marsh herself.

No one, apart from NPR and a few "Christian" blogs, appears to have noticed the author's existence. Yet there she was, on National Public Radio, promoting not only her book but her "Worth the Wait" program -- make that "ministry" -- and her new line of abstinence-friendly clothing!

Not a word about her NPR appearance in the blogosphere, as of Thursday evening. Somebody needs to fight through the stench of federal abstinence funding and find out how Dr. Marsh's "ministry," and a story no one else thought worth reporting, got selected for coverage on NPR .

The Handwriting ....

... is it on the wall for 2008?

Dictionary of Hokum

Newage -- noun, rhymes with sewage. Usage: His bookshelf was covered with newage.

Peter Guralnick, Meet Lester Maddox

He's lurking over here, behind Elvis.

Straw House, Meet Cruise Missile

"The notion that Republicans -- and not Democrats -- are responsible for Iraq is the straw house in which all Democratic prospects for 2008 abide."

Ubiquitary

Ubiquitary (n) -- Term employed to denote collective round-the-clock media coverage of the death of a non-entity, often raised to celebrity status by the media itself, with endless replaying of the same footage, and eulogizing commentaries on the significance of the non-entity by other non-entities. See Falwell.

It's All On A 'Need to Know' Basis

Roll Call, citing "Congressional sources," reports that news of last Friday's FBI raid at the home of GOP Rep. John Doolittle "began to creep through leadership offices Wednesday afternoon, despite the fact that it had taken place days earlier. It does not appear that Doolittle made any attempt to personally inform House Minority Leader John Boehner."

No Conflict of Interest in Old Boy Network, Says Old Boy

Craig Crawford has produced what must be the most transparently self-serving commentary yet to surface in the Don Imus scandal:

For the past three years I've been a guest on "Imus in the Morning" nearly 70 times. I don't get paid for it and we have no off-air relations (not even a single conversation outside the show), so I feel no conflict of interest in rising to his defense.

So he's been on the program "nearly 70 times," plugging his book, his column and himself as a pundit. What possible conflict of interest could there be in Crawford's wanting to preserve his access?

Alexander Cockburn "In Depth" on C-Span2

Alexander Cockburn recently sat for three hours on C-Span2 (watch it here), only to be pelted with call-in questions about 9/11 conspiracies and Mitt Romney's chances.

It is a rare event for any radical commentator to be asked to appear on TV, even C-Span. You certainly can't expect to see an Alexander Cockburn on CNN. When the networks invite you to "Meet the Press," they don't mean the radical press; they seldom invite even a mainstream investigative reporter to sit among the talking heads, and they really don't want anyone to talk "in depth" about anything.

The problem for any real journalist who appears on TV is that practically no one in the medium's vast audience has ever seen or heard of him; many of Cockburn's callers had trouble believing that anyone who appeared "on the air" did not hold either conventional or conspiratorial positions. They appear to expect everyone to be a Democrat, a Republican, or a crackpot. Anything else is "outside the debate."

Cockburn's wit (and his unfailing courtesy) bore up well under the nuttiness and tedium. He patronized no one and offered sage advice to a 16-year old caller who described herself as a "cynic."

He was rewarded for his patience with a sharp reminder from his host that Thomas Friedman, whose views Cockburn refreshingly dismissed as not worthy of serious analysis, is after all a "best-selling author."

The ultimate insult came later, however, when a conservative blogger who watched the show described the horror of realizing that such an "intelligent looking fellow" is a "liberal."

Even that was not the stupidest thing to be found on the Internet lately. That honor falls to Stratfor's George Friedman -- who invokes a ghastly neocon theory of 'Geopolitics and the U.S. Spoiling Attack' to conclude that, although "we do not dine with the great ... there is an underlying order to U.S. foreign policy that makes the apparent chaos of policymaking understandable and rational."