The wonders of NPR

So I'm driving into work today, listening to the local National Public Radio (NPR) station. Yes, yes, I know, I should have known better, but while I detest their news coverage (for reasons that will become apparent), I like their little profile stories. Such as the one this morning about bull frogs taking over desert lands in the southwest. Fascinating stuff. Really.

In any event, at around 7:30AM I'm listening to the news. The bad part of NPR. Ugh. And they speak a reason why I detest their news. Seems someone tried to assassinate Afghanistan President Karzai (link to MS-NBC story, NPR doesn't post their stories). What's remarkable, in my mind, about the NPR report was the wording. Someone tries to shoot Karzai and "several people were injured when his American guards returned fire."

The entire tone, the entire way it was presented, was as though the only reason anyone was hurt was because those damn, vicious American lap-dog bastards defended themselves and the person they were responsible for. How freakin' dare they!

Then there was the story about that enormous car bomb found in Israel, coming out of the West Bank and headed for who knows where. The television news story I saw when I woke up said the car's driver and passenger ran away, but were caught. NPR says they got away. Which is it? Of course, this is the nature of reporting and trying to figure out who has a story that's closest to reality. CNN's story, for instance, doesn't say one way or the other.

Last (thankfully) was the NPR report on how the Arab world is opposed to the US taking any military action against Iraq, because the real problem in the region is the Palestinian issue and those evil Jews in Israel. Darn. Typical story, everything is our fault, because Israel is another one of our lap-dogs. Why do these people insist on condemning the one democratic government in the region, and giving all the despots a pass? If the Palestinians are so desperate -- and I don't doubt that they are -- why don't some of those despotic regimes kick some money? The Saudi prince who recently visited President Bush, what was his travel budget, something like $80+ million per day? (Damnit, can't find the link yet.) I bet the Palestinians could use a few days worth of the travel budget.

Ah well. Obviously, however, I need to listen to the news from somewhere other than NPR. Lovely little stories, though....