This and that

A few collected tidbits from around cyberspace:

Quote: "As a voracious consumer of news regarding current events and politics, it occurred to me this week that to a person of sanity and sound reason, listening to and reading the coverage of what is going on in our nation and world today is so far removed from reality, historical experience and logic as to be the product of a journalist reporting live from the bottom of that rabbit hole in Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. We regularly hear from people considered leaders by many, uttering the most incredibly nonsensical things with a straight face, fully expecting the rest of us to believe them. Indeed, often these things are uttered with such seemingly powerful sincerity that even the sane begin to question themselves."

I can relate.  Meanwhile, even in San Francisco, they're able to notice that those 'leaders' don't care for much close scrutiny these days:

The Obama White House’s restrictions on media access to its fundraising events makes a mockery of its claim to be the most transparent administration in history.
If anything, there is almost a Nixonian quality to the level of control, paranoia – and lack of credibility – this White House has demonstrated on the issue of media access to President Obama’s fundraisers.
Bay Area reporters will not be allowed inside the W Hotel today when the president meets with hundreds of contributors paying $7,500 or more to attend. Only Washington-based journalists were allowed in the pool – continuing a disturbing trend by this White House to severely limit access to fundraisers. Even former President George W. Bush, hardly a champion of transparency, allowed local reporters to cover his fundraising events.
Fundraisers are not private events in this post-Watergate era. Contributions are a matter of public record, and the public has a right to know what is being said to and by the president. Local journalists are better positioned than their Beltway brethren to recognize who is there – and why.

Of course, even if the press were allowed into the inner sanctum, there's no guarantee the majority of their customers would pay much attention or show much understanding.  After all, current protests are demonstrating once again the pathetic lack of historical knowledge among the more vocal in our land: