Remember the Peter Finch character in the 70's movie "Network"?  You know the veteran newscaster Howard Beale who created a stir when he was let go.  Well, I too am "mad as hell and won't take it anymore" from the Mainstream Media.  This malady I dub "acute oh smite us media" is sweeping us normal Americans in epidemic proportions and shares some features with the common pediatric middle ear disease, otitis media.

The infection can smolder and dull your sensibility as it confuses the kiddo's ability to discern and interpret what he hears.   When it flares, pain and insomnia result.  Is this reminiscent of your response to the mainstream media's blind allegiance to political rhetoric as their mainstay, only occasionally embellishing the agenda with facts?  Well I for one am confused and losing sleep over the reporting from Iraq throughout the present conflict.  It is widely reported that most big outlet reporters  rarely venture out of Baghdad's view and often depend on stories brought back by locals, only to write from the safety of their high rise hotels.  You've heard on my program and others, and read in blogland the huge divide between what happens in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq.   Not to mention the glaring discrepancy between troops' accounts of the reality they live and the imagined drama the 'journalists' report.  Loss of clear hearing...and vision? If you depend on the network news or big print media for your eyes and ears abroad, you definitely have chronic "oh smite us media".

My latest exacerbation of the chronic form of this epidemic hit me like bird flu when I read the AP report of yesterday's congressional hearing over the Dubai Ports World bid for management of some terminals at 6 of our nation's out of some 2 dozen ports worldwide.  It read: "Red Flags go up over Port Deal".  Of course there is much much more to the story.  While the Coast Guard did raise some concerns, ultimately they were satisfied there was no national security risk.  Instead of reporting: "Coast Guard final judgement OK with port deal", the elite wireservice chose to editorialize unabashedly against W.  But that's doin' what comes naturally to the modern MSM, isn't it?

The media germ surfaced recently in the peacock's David Gregory scolding White House spokesman Scott McClellan for Cheney's "late" reporting to a local newspaper of an incident absolutely irrelevant to his job description.  Another strain appeared in Monday's Washington Post kooky story on research purporting to prove that when Hillary's face was digitally hybridized with various candidates' mugs, voters rated them more desirable than the original.  Even crazier was the finding that adding instead a touch of McCain resulted in lower ratings.  All this proves just how virulent the media elite virus is; it will stop at nothing to press its leftist agenda. If we the people don't fight back, the "oh smite us media" may overwhelm. 

There's two ways to deal with medical  otitis media.   Either (and sometimes both) broad spectrum antibiotic or placing tubes in the ear drum to drain the infection are appropriate.  We need both for "oh smite us media".

First I propose a financial boycott of all media that editorializes in the name of news reporting.   Start patronizing and supporting the conservative blogs, compendium websites, periodicals and broadcast outlets.  Next, write your congressmen and the White House and urge that they resist exclusive access by powerful news conduits.  Why can't your local beat reporter get an occasional interview?  We've given too much credence and too many subscriptions to the big guys, that's why.  Passing constitutional term limits would go a mile towrds discouraging the tabloid style sound bite frenzy we now tolerate.  These are all potent measures for a painful infection, but it's high time we ask for better, objective journalism.  We're smarter and more engaged than they give us credit for.  Shout and be heard,  or the infection will spread and kill our country, one citizen at a time.