Shroud of Turin; Matt Lauer's teleprompter thinks Jesus died in "one A.D."

I already knew that in order to host the Today Show, one had to pass some sort of atheist litmus test. It became obvious long ago that individuals could not rise to the top of the MSM/DNC food chain without some degree of hostility to (or at least ignorance of) Christianity.

But I did not know that ignorance of history is a requirement also. Nor did I suspect that basic math (addition, subtraction, counting, etc.) is "frowned upon" as well. I have often suspected that network teleprompter writers believed that history began only with Vietnam, but I never knew how literally true this suspicion was.

On Good Friday, March 21, Matt Lauer's teleprompter featured a segment on the Shroud of Turin, the alleged burial shroud of Jesus.

Shroud of Turin

















There is a question as to how old the Shroud is, with some scholars believing the Shroud to be a Medieval hoax (about 600 - 700 years old), while others believe it was used for Jesus' burial (shortly after Jesus' death on the cross). Without taking sides in the dispute, I note only the questions that Matt Lauer asked one of the experts. While I don't remember the exact question, the question was prefaced with the assumption that the Shroud may have originated in "1 A.D." Lauer repeated "1 A.D." a second time moments later.

Even a moment's reflection would reveal that Jesus could not have died in "1 A.D." Jesus lived about 30 years. His death is generally recognized to have occurred between 29 A.D. and 33 A.D. Even if one did not know when Jesus died, his death could hardly have occurred in "1 A.D." He would have been only 1 year old at that time. If Lauer's teleprompter assumed that Jesus was born in "1 B.C." or "zero" (there was no year "zero"), then how would we number the years in which Jesus was alive?

In fact, the year "1 A.D." marks the year of Jesus' birth, not his death. "A.D." does not mean "after death" as we supposed when we were five years old. It means Anno Domini - in the year of our lord. The phrase is Latin [not the language spoken by people in "Latin America," but the language of ancient Rome and its subject territories].

I am not trying to make a case here, as these facts are well established and commonly recognized. I am simply trying to point out that these questions should have occurred to Lauer as he was reading "1 A.D." on his teleprompter. But I am beginning to suspect that we have only begun to plumb the depths of MSM/DNC ignorance.

A Katie Couric/Matt Lauer mad-lib

I was never a big fan of mad libs, but Katie Couric and Matt Lauer gave us all an opportunity to play the mad lib game with their Thanksgiving day Macy's parade broadcast. The following is the Breitbart account of NBC's failure to mention the balloon that went off course and injured two bystanders:

During its live coverage of the [1] annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, NBC did not tell viewers that [2] a giant balloon had caught on a street lamp and injured two sisters.

At the point in the broadcast when [3] the "M&M's Chocolate Candies" balloon was supposed to have crossed the finish line, announcers Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and Al Roker stuck close to their scripts and the network ran footage of [4] the balloon from last year's parade.

emphasis and numbers added

One can replace the highlighted portions with the following phrases, and the story would be equally true. The numbers on the list below correspond with the numbers in the parade story above.

1. war
election
economy


2. thousands of terrorists have been killed
Democratic candidate committed a gaffe
the leading economic indicators were up for the sixth months in a row


3. something positive happened in Iraq
the Democrats were imploding
the stock market was rallying


4. Cindy Sheehan
Vietnam
some homeless person


Just pick the items from the numbered list above and insert them into their proper place in the parade story. I will try to think of more examples later.

Laura Bush and Matt Lauer

Much of the blogosphere has reacted negatively to Laura Bush' interview with Matt Lauer this week on the Today show. Laura Bush stated that the conservative criticism of Harriet Miers was based on sexism. Typical of the response has been that of Peggy Noonan:

Sending Laura Bush out to make her first mistake as first lady, agreeing with Matt Lauer that sexism is probably part of the reason for opposition to Ms. Miers, was embarrassingly inept and only served to dim some of the power of this extraordinary resource.

I am not defending the nomination. I have made my thoughts clear here and here. Nor am I defending the use of the sexism card. But I am suggesting that the use of the sexism card was unintended by the White House. Bear with me here. The transcript of the quote appears at Big Lizards:

Lauer: Some are suggesting there's a little possible sexism in the criticism of Judge [sic] Miers.

Laura Bush: That's possible. I think --

Lauer: How would you feel about that?

Laura Bush: That's possible. I think she is so accomplished that... I know, I think that people are not looking at her accomplishments and not realizing that she was the first elected woman to be the head of the Texas Bar Association, for instance, and all the other things. She was the first, uh, woman managing partner of a major law firm. She was the first woman hired by a major law firm, her law firm.

emphasis added

I don't think Laura Bush intended to make that accusation. I think Matt Lauer threw in a suggestion and the first lady went with the flow.

Understand what Matt Lauer and the rest of the MSM/DNC anchors and reporters really are. They are not journalists as we understand that term. They are skilled propagandists. They are shills for one political party and one extreme ideology. They are the most skilled propagandists in existence. Their sole function is to promote their agenda in a way that does not lose their audience or reveal their bias.

Their role is more partisan than that of any trial lawyer. A lawyer (1) openly advocates his client's case and (2) is somewhat constrained by the law. But MSM/DNC interviewers can pretend to be objective. They have as much experience in extracting admissions from witnesses as any lawyer. They do it live in front of millions of viewers every day. That is all they do - advocate leftist ideology, hide their advocacy wioccasionalnal with occasional head fakes into pretend objectivity, provide assistance ("softballs") to friendly witnesses who share their advocacy goals, extract admissions from those who are not so cooperative. Only those who can accomplish these tasks under the microscope of the television camera are clever and fit enough to ascend to the position of Today show host.

By contrast, George Bush (by virtue of our ever expanding federal government) is concerned with items such as policy, fundraising, the economy, education and every other area that affects our lives. He is not single-mindedly devoted to propaganda.

Laura Bush is a mother, teacher, librarian and first lady (in no particular order).
She has never devoted her life to propaganda.

Laura Bush is no match for Matt Lauer. If Matt Lauer wants Laura Bush to say that Miers' opponents are sexist, she will say that they are sexist. If Matt Lauer wants to turn Laura Bush against her husband's base, she will be helpless to resist. Matt Lauer will hijack Laura Bush' mouth and use it as a weapon against conservatives just like the terrorists used American planes to destroy lower Manhattan.

This analysis does not excuse Laura Bush or the White House. When the White House sends a Laura Bush into the den of an MSM/DNC lion, this result is inevitable. It is the inevitable result of George Bush seeking help from the MSM/DNC in a fight against his own base.

When you get in bed with a dog, you wake up with fleas. We now have to wash off the fleas, fumigate the bed and rid ourselves of MSM/DNC tactics. I think it is time for George Bush to stop fighting his own supporters stop seeking help from the MSM/DNC and take Peggy Noonan's (and others') advice.

The MSM/DNC hates George Bush no less than they did several weeks ago. George Bush will need his supporters more now than ever. I ask George Bush to withdraw this nomination and unify his supporters once more.