Thumb's down for the NBC anchor

A few weeks ago, while perusing the television dreck (i.e. channel surfing), I paused a moment to watch Rachel Maddow- one of the newsy type shows that I will watch and even then I watch it knowing she is subject to corporate censorship as she depends on sponsors to stay on the air. This particular day Rachel was in Louisiana doing the journalism gig on the oil volcano that was just making it into the public eye although it had been spewing with ferocity since the 20th of April. (note: since the first days of the spill the numbers went from 42,000 gallons of oil per day to 200,000 gallons per day to the most current lowballed estimate of 56,000  BARRELS of oil per day and that assumes that April 20th was indeed the day the leak began). In an attempt to fill in time Brian Williams News anchor and managing editor of one of the Big Three mainstream news shows- NBC Nightly News. As Rachel spoke with him about the disaster, he gave his cheerleady comment that the experts that were on the field leading the cleanup efforts knew the most about the problem- that's why they're doing the job they are doing- because they are the experts.

Just makes me want to weep! They know best! They are so good that we should be happy they are the ones in charge- even though they are the ones who caused this in the first place.

But that wasn't the end of his words of wisdom to the peons who were watching the destruction of the gulf, he went on to add in his rivaling a Buffalo Jill tone (paraphrased) "The men who are hired by the White House to advise the president on financial matters are often criticized for having come from the banks but these are the men that KNOW- these are the men that understand the financial institutions from the INSIDE."

OMG! So you, Brian Williams, are going to sit there in that seat of honor as a guest for Ms. Maddow  and advocate for the men who have aided and abetted the financial sting of the century- and made sure it was legal while at the same time praising the people who are destroying the gulf coast? Mind boggling. You, Mr. Williams, are either as dumb as the people you generally talk to (and you might recall you are on the Rachel Maddow show NOT on NBC nightly news when you speak to people like their television numbed robots who barely know how to use their remotes) or you think you are as smart as the crooks that committed these crimes --and I am inclined to think that is the case. 

But here is the Big Problem with Mr. Williams little hypothesis that the oil volcano and the financial meltdown can only be handled by those who understand "The Business"-- they, the bankers and the oil industry and big business..., have gamed the system. They have made the rules and they made them so that they will benefit from them. They are like the cheaters we all remember from when we were kids-- you know That Kid? The one who got all the kids in the neighborhood gathered round to play his new game and then he gave his lengthy specifications until the disgruntled parishioners finally jeered, "Ah come on, let's just play the game." So the game is afoot and the future Monopoly creator watches over the game like a Hawk after dinner. Sensing the possibility of losing the game a New Rule is suddenly shouted out. There is some disgruntlement but the game continues until yet another... and another... new Moment of Concern causes That Kid to call out a new rule to adjust the game back in his favor. It's not that the game is so complicated or requires only the smartest kids to understand them, it's simply that That Kid adjusts the "rules" so that he is always going to win.

When we were kids we all knew what this was: It was called CHEATING.

And cheaters are not going to do anything but continue cheating until they are shut down. The way to solve the problems on Wall Street and with the Oil industry is to clean up the rules and enforce them- we will never figure out how to play their game because they will keep changing the rules so they will win.

The interesting difference between the game That Kid, the neighborhood cheater, developed is that eventually the kids in the neighborhood figure out they can't win and quit playing. We just keep playing...