Welcome to your Monday open thread. How many of you watched the Oscars? Did you catch the Delaware shout-out from the winner of short documentary? Luke Matheny probably had the best Oscar winner hair of all time.
For some reason the U.S. Media has not covered much about the protests in Wisconsin. In fact, the diversity problem on Sunday shows is getting worse, not better.
Two weeks ago, the Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen noted that the lineup for the Sunday shows were stacked with Republicans and didn’t feature a single Democratic guest. Last Sunday also tilted heavily toward GOP voices. This Sunday the trend continues. Three Sunday shows — Fox, CBS, and NBC — locked out Democratic voices as featured guests:
Fox News Sunday: Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR)
CBS Face the Nation: Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
NBC Meet the Press: Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
CNN State of the Union: Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL), Gov. Dan Malloy (D-CT), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)
ABC This Week: Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ), Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA), Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO)ABC’s This Week, which featured two Democratic voices, did so as part of a balanced four-person panel.
Only one show had a labor leader on. That was Meet The Press, and they added Richard Trumka on Thursday after some intense pressure from critics. Oh, and what a surprise – John McCain was on again. The media just can’t quit him.
The last living US WWI veteran has died. He was 110 years old. He was only a teenager when he served in WWI.
Buckles, who served as a U.S. Army ambulance driver in Europe during what became known as the “Great War,” rose to the rank of corporal before the war ended. He came to prominence in recent years, in part because of the work of DeJonge, a Michigan portrait photographer who had undertaken a project to document the last surviving veterans of that war.
As the years continued, all but Buckles had passed away, leaving him the “last man standing” among U.S. troops who were called “The Doughboys.”
DeJonge found himself the spokesman and advocate for Buckles in his mission to see to it that his comrades were honored with a monument on the National Mall, alongside memorials for veterans of World War II and the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.
Buckles made history when he was asked to testify in Congress on the matter before a House committee on December 3, 2009.
I assume he made history as the oldest person to testify before Congress. Why did it take so long to get a WWI memorial anyway? Was the “War To End All Wars” a forgotten war?