As IF Times

link Can John Kerry top Hillary Clinton as secretary of state? – The Week.

The notion that Hillary Clinton is deserved of praise and admiration for her term in office as Secretary of State is like a parent at their 10 year old’s music recital jumping to rapturous applause after a tortuous 3 note rendition of Amazing Grace.   At best, it’s tone deafness and at worst, it’s revisionism.   Other adoring parents will likely join in with the swooning admiration of the special and talented performance.  On the other hand,  passers by outside the school could easily mistake the sounds as cats being made into violin strings.

The state of journalism has devolved into the more commercially successful direction of being fans  and apologists for favored politicians and news-makers.   Like Joan Rivers at the Oscar red carpet parade, politicians are treated as celebrities known as much for their shoes, their hairstyles and their dates rather than for any genuine talent for their jobs.  “Hillary! Hillary! Was that an Armani pantsuit you were wearing while watching the Benghazi riots?”  Or, “How do you stay so slim after logging all those flight miles?”   Some may remember years ago a “celebrity” by the name of Rula Lenska, internationally known and acclaimed actress that no one had ever heard of.   She did a number of Alberto VO-5 commercials and was billed as famous….well,  for being famous.

Hillary inherited that mantle from Ms. Lenska.  Hillary became “internationally known and acclaimed diplomat”.  During her time as Secretary of State, there were constant photo ops of Hillary de-planing in some area of conflict in the world, or huddling at some microphone laden meeting tables with goofy looking politicians.   If nothing else, at least these goofy politicians took the time out from their life and death conflicts for these photo ops.  How often do you get to meet with a rock star? “Hey, Mohammed, turn on channel 5, I’m on TV with Hillary Clinton!”

But after the staged photo ops and earnest speeches, the fighting typically resumed and mayhem continued.   She used the same playbook as the ex UN secretary Kofi Annan who was famous for his standard line of “both sides must show tolerance” especially as it applied to one sided conflicts.   If absolutely nothing at all of significance was resolved because of Hillary’s term in office, that would be acceptable, since the bar set for political fixes is low anyway.  But the fiasco that was Benghazi, the subsequent fake narrative explaining the incident and the kabuki-like congressional questioning should give real journalists pause before they anoint her as a rock star politician.

It’s as if you took your car into a mechanic who then allows it to be vandalized and destroyed but then explains it away by talking about the features of the new Corvette.  Journalists today allow that kind of misdirection and obfuscation so politicians are not held accountable by their actions.  Just the other day, Hillary was interviewed jointly with the President on the hard hitting news show, CBS’s 60 minutes.  It may as well have been Ryan Seacrest doing an exit interview on an American Idol contestant.

Diplomacy can be a tough gig and as described by Will Rogers, it consists of saying “good dog” until you can find a rock.  It means offering all kinds of empty platitudes and obsequious praise to tyrants and nincompoops, so the ability to speak elliptically is a desired talent.  On the basis of that skill-set, Hillary is indeed the Mick Jagger of politics.

link Stephen Fry: Women don’t really like sex. What would he know, ask feminists | Mail Online.

As they say, opinions are like, well, you know, the thing that everyone has one of.  I won’t pretend to vouch for the veracity of Mr. Fry’s comments since of course, I don’t really know.  While it’s certainly possible that being gay confers upon him some special insight on the wants and needs of women, notably in the area of fashion, it’s a stretch in the area of sexual pleasure.  Certainly, it’s hard to argue against his views in the case of say,  Michael Moore or Mick Jagger.  However Warren Beatty or George Clooney may have divergent views and perhaps we should hear their opioions.   What’s most interesting about this article is, who cares what Stephen Fry thinks and how does his opinion get any press?

In a world of 3 billion plus people, how does an effete whatever he is manage to grab the attention of media which then broadcasts his wisdom for all to consume?  Has this person attained some great feat of discovery?  Does he have a history of providing grist to the collective  intellectual mill.  How did he manage to attain such sage status with his pronouncements that people would stand up and take notice?  Apart from his circle of merry men, who has even heard of this guy before?

The article describes Mr. Fry as ” the cleverest man in Britain” and “one of the country’s most famous homosexuals”  !!! 

Really? How does one get to such an exalted position in society?  Was there a contest or was it simply by selection of his peers? Are there courses you can take in school to prepare yourself for the running for such a position? How does one rise from the pool of merely clever men to the being the cleverest?  Not just the cleverest, but the most famous homosexual as well! 

How does the media decide that such a story is even newsworthy?  Like most newsrooms, I imagine that meetings are held in the mornings to discuss the contents for the coming day.  The war in Afghanistan.  Earthquake in Haiti.  Volcano in Indonesia.  Elections in the U.S.  Riots in France.  But wait!! There’s a proclamation by Stephen Fry! Stop the presses! 

Historians will one day dig up old archives representing glimpses of our society hundreds of years from now.  Among the pieces of old newspapers will be stories of Stephen Fry, one of the sages of his time whose pronouncements were heeded by all.  Da Vinci, Ben Franklin, Marconi, Gandhi and Mother Teresa, mere footnotes in the archives of history.  The evidence will show that the really avant garde thinkers of our time were gay since their opinions were sought after on every aspect of daily living.  Come to think of it, he compelled me write about him.  Boy he IS clever.