The Road Home

The Road Home
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Friday, November 8, 2013

Where Do I Get My News?

News. What is news? At one point in my naive life, I actually believed that the three mainstream TV sources really gave objective news. And at one time, I think they did, either that, or age changes
the way a person sees things. Now, don't get me wrong, if there is a major natural disaster or something of that nature, then I believe the initial reporting by the major TV news medias is accurate and fair. But since modern day news of the three biggies appears to be just one giant opinion and this opinion, in my humble opinion, has now just turned into a mouthpiece for the government. But, that is still where the vast majority of people get their daily dose of news, which is why part of the reason this large group of people appears to be so grossly misinformed about their surroundings. 

I don't care who wins Dancing With the Stars. I'm sure that there is some tremendous talent there, but why is it on the news? And I don't care who is having whose baby. This is not news. Both of these afore mentioned items are just distractions to keep the populace from focusing on what is actually happening around them. So, my question is, "What is news?" And, "Where do you find what the news is?" 

A slightly different slant here, but a number of years ago, and this is going to sound a little odd, I took a class in college about great literature and poetry. One day I came across this piece about a child
getting milk from it's mother's breast, and it was by some guy named McCartney. There was no death date. It was a beautiful work. Then it dawned on me that this was Paul McCartney of the Beatles. I had probably heard the song Lady Madonna, several hundred times, not by choice, because I never did like the Beatles. But what dawned on me was, it's not that I didn't like the music, I didn't care for the medium that it was presented in - the jumping around, the long hair - it's just not my style. But the poetry was beautiful.

So, where is this leading? There are news sources out there, that I don't care for at all. I'm not going to name them here. But sometimes it's difficult to separate the presentation of the news and what the person is actually saying. Okay, one example. There's a guy down in Austin, Texas named Alex Jones. On occasion I will read a
column of his. Most of the time, it is a good story, but I just cannot bring myself to watch him on the internet. Many of you probably liked the Beatles. Many of you probably like Alex Jones. That's why we have Ford and Chevrolet. Nobody is right or wrong. I just like more peaceful quiet news.

Okay. So much for the long spiel. Where do I get my news? 


I like a fella named Chris Martensen. He has an interesting website. Most of it is free, or you can pay a fee and receive a deeper analysis about financial events. He has a wide variety of guest authors and speakers.

News? For just everyday general news I go to Fox News online. A little warning here. Fox News can get a little sexually graphic for my taste. As far as, main stream type news, these are the people I shop with. 

ol' remus at the Woodpile Report has a different perspective and an intellectual flair that is not found in today's writings. He shares other people's news and writes a weekly opinion. I find his site to be entertaining and enlightening. His opinions can be very thought provoking.


Another  thought provoking site is James Wesley Rawles' SurvivalBlog. His is a daily blog about various topics and is well, well worth a look. He is also an accomplished author and his books have a survival type theme. He has a nonfiction book titled How To Survive the End of the World As We Know It. I would recommend that everyone read this and buy a copy for a friend. We are reading it again, right now.


Patrice Lewis at Rural Revolution has a more down home approach about opinions involving the family. She writes a successful weekly article for World Net Daily. We have been reading Rural Revolution for a number of years now. Patrice might have an article about cleaning the cow's stall or how society is dying from lack of family structure. Her site is one I highly recommend. Pleasant, thought provoking articles - maybe not always pleasent, but thought provoking.


James Howard Kunsler is an interesting, up-tempo type Northeasterner. Here in the South we call them Yankees. He also has a number of novels out that are adult themes with adult language. His books deal with society after a collapse. I have read all of his current books. He also wrote a nonfiction a few years back about peak oil called The Long Emergency. I would recommend this as a good foundational book. He has an interesting blog and puts out a Monday morning opinion piece. His website is not necessarily one you share with little children. But if you are an adult, and you don't mind some adult language, he writes a very good Monday morning read.

To round off my news media choices, local newspapers and online TV sites finish off my sources. Here in southeast Oklahoma we read a news site from Oklahoma City, where our state capitol is, that covers most of the local political news. 
So, this is where I get my news. Sometimes it's hard to separate what's real and what is a lie, or as some politicians say 'mis-spoke'. The inspiration from this post came from a reader that asked where we get our news. Hope this helps.

We'll talk more later. Frank

7 comments:

  1. Surprisingly, the BBC radio news is much more objective than American news reporting!

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  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Fiona,

      I am sorry. I accidentally deleted your comment about StratFor. Would you please repost it? Again, I am sorry.

      Fern

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  3. Fern, Fiona is trying to recuperate from her heart attack on being deleted. That has never happened to her before, except from me. Seriously, though, that happens. The fingers can be quicker than the brain. On to Stratfor (that stands for Strategic Forecasting). They are out of Austin, Texas. A bunch of College professors and other "experts". They try to give unbiased and factual forecasting and observations. They have two free e-mails weekly: Geopolitical Weekly and Security Weekly. And they have occasional posts on "hot" topics. For full access to their full site and all their posts, it is expensive (to me). I think they have a $129 "special", normally $349. The two weekly posts are quite good and informative and give a lot of insight into the how and why of things happening. And their forecasting is not perfect, but factually based and usually is spot on and well ahead of the mainstream media. We enjoy them immensely.

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    1. We hope Fiona makes a full recovery. Frank has subscribed to the Chris Martensen site for a number of years. He mentioned it in this post. As to Chris Martensen, there is a free side and a paid side. Thank you for the Stratfor site. Frank will certainly investigate it.
      Fern

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  4. Greetings,

    This is a quick note (again) for the thoughts and information you share on your blog…the links to the different news sources that you frequent was helpful.

    I mentioned using a pressure cooker in my last email for the purpose of saving energy and more efficient way of cooking over a gas flame. That said, we purchased an 8 quart stainless steel Presto pressure cooker from Wal-Mart’s online store for $64 (Including shipping). The book “Cooking Under Pressure” was recommended to me by a family that has been cooking with a pressure cooker for years. They are proponents of pressure cooking for the flavor, which makes sense beings the pressure forces the seasoning from being on the food to being in the food. I am looking forward to start using it…I am one of those that likes to read and research before I start something new.

    With regards to food grade containers (five gallon buckets), it may be helpful to know that Lowes sells them for under $5.00 each. The lids are not Gama type, however they are an adequate option for long term food storage. If you live close to a Lowes this is a good deal because the cost of shipping can be cost prohibitive when buying buckets and lids online.

    Again, I appreciate your blog…it challenges me to keep guard from being sucked into the normalcy bias…deception.

    Blessings to you!

    Dan

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    1. Dan,

      Thank you for reading. We hope you find some useful information here. And thank you for the information about pressure cooking. It is an interesting option. We have bought many bucket at Atwoods. They have the best prices in our area.

      Best of luck,

      Fern

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