BlueGrassRoots

Breaking: McConnell on WVLK this afternoon

Just heard that Mitch McConnell will be interviewed on Lexington's WVLK this afternoon at 2:30.

More details and phone # to come. If anyone out there hears anything, please write in the comments.

UPDATE: Yes, Mitch McConnell will be on Kruser's show at 2:30. The station said that he will be taking calls. The number is 859-253-5959. I imagine some of you have some questions to ask him, eh?

UPDATE #2: Will someone please tape the show for me?

UPDATE #3: He's on NOW.

UPDATE #4: Chickenshit bastard wouldn't even take calls from his constituents, how pathetic. He knows both Republicans (immigration, Fletcher/ Forgy people) and Democrats (um... too many to list) would have absolutely ripped him to shreds. So he takes a softball interview from a third rate right wing hack instead. Chickenshit bastard.

Media Czech Moves to W Weekly

Well, as some of you may be aware, I have parted ways with Lexington's Nougat Magazine, for whom I wrote a full page media criticism column in every issue the past 14 months. The publisher's new policy of banning discussion of religion, gay rights and women's rights because they are "controversial" was a little too much for me to take (and this is a self-described Arts/alternative magazine). After I challenged the no gay rights policy (which would be "profanity", in the words of the publisher) with my Holsinger column (which she refused to run), my decision to leave was very easy.

Foreseeing this turn of events, I fortunately lined up a gig writing at W Weekly here in Lexington. W used to really suck, but they've dramatically improved in the last 6 months and there's some genuinely good stuff in there these days. W decided to run my Holsinger column that Nougat censored, and has offered me a regular spot in each issue, if I so desire. And the word on the street is that they actually give you a few bucks for your work, which is kinda considerate. (Nougat never paid me one red penny).

Anyway, my article on Karl Rove's destruction of the Republican Party for a generation to come was published in this week's issue, with a zesty inside cover page 2 spot.

And I'm quite happy to announce that my review of the Yearly Kos Convention will be the cover story for the new issue that  hits stands tomorrow. The people at W have been great (Robbie Clark is the kind of editor that you want), and this whole situation has turned out to work for the best.

Writing a monthly column was frustrating sometimes, as I had to choose just one topic for the month, which was always difficult (yes, the media spreads A LOT of lies, it's impossible to cover a month's worth in one column). Also, it was difficult to write about topics that were very current, as I had to finish my column in the middle of the previous month, meaning that people sometimes read my column a month and a half after I had written it. And while I loved the whole "Media Czech" format, it was a bit constraining, as I wasn't able to branch out into other subjects besides misinformation in the media.

But the old "Media Czech" idea isn't dead, as I plan to break out the old MC occasionally to highlight some egregious MSM lies. Plus, the Media Czech name, which is in parts clever, stupid, corny and sappy, is simply too good to abandon.

And would like to thank the people at Nougat (besides Miki) that were very supportive of me for the past year +, especially the recently departed editor Jennie Leavell. Jennie was the person who accepted my pitch for the Media Czech column, and she was very appreciative of my work the entire time. This column has meant so much to me, as it helped me focus some positive energy in a really difficult time for me personally, and it has managed to open a bunch of doors for me as well. Without this column, it is doubtful that I would have taken over the reigns at BlueGrassRoots when Ben took his LOA. Which means that I wouldn't have had the great experience of working with the Ditch Mitch crew (and being able to meet Jim Pence, a true KY legend). I have also been able to meet/talk with a number of individuals whom I greatly admire (Elizabeth Edwards, Tom McMahon, Sam Seder, Cliff Schecter, Mark Boehlert, Barack Obama???), that I never would have had the opportunity to otherwise.

This was all possible because Jennie Leavell decided to run my column, and I will be eternally grateful to her. (I also thank Lo and Saraya for helping out as well).

Anyway, I'm happy to be writing every week for an audience that mostly includes UK students, as they will play a key role in our politics in the coming year with some big '08 races.

So check out the W Weekly tomorrow or the coming week for my cover story, and keep checking in regularly for my column.

(And buy from their advertisers!!! We must support indie media that doesn't avoid "controversy" like other Lexington magazines)

Democrats? Where are you?

If the Democrats weren't so woefully pathetic at messaging, this story would be plastered everywhere in print and television news for the next week. Sadly, it probably won't. As Republicans continue to spread the "Wait for General Petreus' Report" and "War critics say the surge is working!" false memes, the Democrats continue to sit with there collective thumbs up their ass.

Once again, the only ones on the left doing their homework and working their ass of is the blogosphere.

But maybe Chandler and Yarmuth will hold a press conference tomorrow with local media, highlighting the other officers on the ground who aren't as glowing about the surge? Or that the White House is going to write up the entire "Petraeus Report"?

HAHAHA! Yea right. We can only dream, eh?

DebateSam.com

I've discussed it many, many times, but there is perhaps no other group of "liberals" that are more  incompetent and idiotic than the people who run Air America Radio. First, they managed to let a bunch of inept con men financially back the network, then they decided to ditch all of their best programming in favor of "liberals" like "Lionel", who manage to pull off the rare trifecta of being neither funny or informative, while also bashing liberals who dare criticize AG Fredo.

Any fans of the old Sam Seder Show (the best political show on radio or TV at the time) should check out this link, www.debatesam.com, calling on the bad joke "Lionel" to debate Sam, who's slot he took, on Gonzalez, or anything else for that matter.

I don't think that Lionel actually reads the news at all, so it really wouldn't be a fair fight, but it would certainly be fun to listen to.

Oh, and you can still listen to Sam Seder on Sundays, here. And buy his very funny book, FUBAR, here.

Horne on MSNBC, Standing up for Troops

Lt. Col. Andrew Horne was on MSNBC last night, speaking about the 26-year high in suicides rates among soldiers. It is an absolute tragedy the way our government has treated our soldiers, those willing to give their lives in order to protect our country. From a government that started the war on political calculation and deception, to the abysmal planning and comprehension of the type of warfare our troops would be faced with, to the stubbornness of our president and Congress to admit their errors and set up an exit strategy, to the continual deployment of soldiers for their FOURTH tour of duty already. They deserved better.

And Mitch McConnell has been there rubber-stamping Bush's folly the entire way. Filibustering timetables, and even worse, filibustering the Webb Amendment to give our troops the proper rest and rotation between tours of duty that they deserve. This is what is causing so much strain on our troops. They are continually torn away from their families in order to be thrown into the middle of a religious civil war in intense and confusing urban warfare. The stress this has caused is just staggering. Last year 99 active duty soldiers in the Army killed themselves and over 900 tried to kill themselves.

But Mitch McConnell would rather filibuster legislation to restore proper troop rotation. Sick.

And once again, it's great to see a prominent KY public figure standing up for our troops. Kudos to Horne. I really wish he would have some more help from our public officials.

UPDATE: mikebaily2000 has a diary up on dailykos about Horne, go recommend it!!!

 

UPDATE #2: here's the YouTube link of his MSNBC appearance

(crossposted at DitchMitchKY)

Billy Reed?

I've spent my entire life detesting the writing of sportswriter Billy Reed, a shameless Rick Pitino jock sniffer. Which makes my discovery of his political blog a little confusing for me. He appears to be one of those crazy liberals, who knew?

Anyway, he righteously slams nutjob Stan Lee in one of his recent posts, though I'm a little baffled by some of his tangents on facial hair. But hey, that goes with the territory sometimes in blogtopia.

Chandler Doesn't Rule out Run Against McConnell

"Mr. Give More Spying Power to Cheney and Gonzo Without any Judicial Oversight" is apparently not ruling out a run against McConnell next Fall. WKYT's Bill Bryant brings home the goods.

Very interesting. I'd love to see a poll showing a head to head race of Chandler vs. McConnell. He definitely is in the best position to take him on right now. I bet that poll would be damn close.

I'd also love to see Chandler stand up to Bush's shredding of our Constitution and reckless Iraq policy. The vote on the former (FISA) was just shameless, and his leadership on the latter has been lacking. He had one good vote this spring, but has been virtually silent in terms of calling for a timetable on pulling out of Iraq. If he wanted to draw a contrast of himself with McConnell, who continues to rubber stamp the overwhelmingly unpopular Iraq policy, he'd forcefully advocate a timetable for withdrawal this September.

I'm not going to hold my breath, though.

Meet the Press must see TV

This morning on Meet the Press (9:00 in Lexington), Daily Kos founder and netroots hero Markos Moulitsas takes on DLC head Harold Ford. Ford, while not making tacky campaign commercials from inside his church, is the head of the withering faux-Democrat DLC. Markos, meanwhile one of the take-no-prisoners leaders of the progressive force that has taken back Congress and given the Democratic party more of a backbone. While Markos has helped convince the party that they truly represent the "middle" of America, Ford and Co. continue to try to move the party to the right, a strategy that has failed for the past 13 years.

I look forward to Markos chewing him up and spitting him out.

UPDATE: Wow, that was even better than I thought. Markos was pounding him so bad that Ford threw out the "anti-Semite" card. Truly pathetic. Kos even said that its easy for Ford to control what everyone in his organization says, because there are DOZENS of them. Ouch.

Ford, if you want a softball TV appearance, go on Fox News. If you go up against somebody like Markos, you better come better prepared than you were today.

Here are some clips at Crooks and Liars.

Back From Chicago / YearlyKos

I'm back from the amazing YearlyKos Convention in Chicago, otherwise known to me as "the most wonderful place on earth". I was in Vegas for last year's inaugural gathering, and this year was even better. In Vegas, I was in full "star watching mode", as I basically went to panels to see all of my favorite bloggers in person. This year, my main objective was to learn. Particularly, learn how to build Kentucky's local/state blogosphere into a force to be reckoned with, just like so many others have over the past year.

In many ways, this was a sign of how the blogosphere has matured over the last year. While last year focused on big national blogs/bloggers, 2006 showed everyone the power of state/local blogs and muckrakers. We took back both branches of Congress in large part due to the tenacity, research and general mischief that these new journalists provided. This year's panels were full of their stories, providing a basic "how to" guide for everyone wanting to follow in their footsteps.

Additionally, this year showed how the perception of the liberal blogosphere has changed. While we used to be shunned as the wacky pajama-wearing losers in their parent's basement, we now are respected and feared by Democrats, Republicans and the media alike. 8 presidential candidates knew that we could not be ignored, and showed up for a quite lively "debate" of sorts. Additionally, the right-wing noise machine is scared to death of us, as you could see by Bill-O's colossal meltdown over the past week.

Expect big changes with BlueGrassRoots over the next week. We will be revamping our site dramatically by utilizing the tools that so many other state blogs have used with great success over the past year.

Live from Chicago!

Note to self: before next year's YearlyKos, buy a laptop with wi-fi.

Yes, let me briefly (as I'm charged $2/minute) say hi from Chicago's big blogger convention, which is friggin' Disneyland to political geeks like me.

You know, it's the damndest thing.... people don't like Mitch McConnell here.

talk soon,

The KY Media’s Endorsement of the Anti-Science, Anti-Gay Agenda

(I have absolutely no idea if Nougat is going to publish this column. The ownership's new "no reference to religion or icky gay people" policy is certainly being put to the test by me. I assumed that they would refuse to run it, and it looked like they weren't, but now I'm hearing it will run, though I had to butcher it down to 950 words. Anyway, more of you will read it here than in the soccer mom advertising flyer, so there)

(additionally, if this is published I'd love the fact that I managed to sneak in graphic depictions of injuries from ass rape which will infiltrate the living rooms of these delicate flowers. Be careful what you wish for, editors/publishers of America... a pissed off, stubborn writer can be a dangerous thing)

“This conduct [homosexuality] is anti-social, and it is a pathology. It is a sickness, and it needs to be treated.”

-Pat Robertson

On May 24th, George W. Bush nominated Kentucky’s own Dr. James Holsinger to be America’s next Surgeon General. After serving as the chief medical officer of the Veterans Administration, Holsinger was chancellor of UK’s Chandler Medical Center and most recently the secretary of Health and Family Services under Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

As a prominent Kentucky public figure, Holsinger was overwhelmingly endorsed by both the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Courier Journal. Both Kentucky newspapers wrote glowing and uncritical editorials for him, wishing him an easily confirmation and deriding those as “crazy” that would consider not doing so.

These uncritical endorsements were awarded despite the fact that Holsinger has a past of using junk-science and cherry picking data in order to fit his own fundamentalist religious views towards homosexuality. In 1991, he wrote a “scientific” study of the dangers of homosexuality for his church. The study was highly inaccurate and used misleading data, its conclusions being far outside of the mainstream of peer-reviewed medical research. Additionally, Holsinger has actively sought to discriminate from homosexuals in his private church activities, even founding a church that seeks to “cure” gay people.

Considering the fact President Bush has a disgraceful history of pressuring those in his executive branch to distort, manipulate and ignore well accepted scientific research in order to promote his own political and ideological agenda, one would think that Holsinger’s nomination would throw up some obvious red flags. Additionally, Bush’s tendency to surround himself with cronies and yes men might raise questions of Holsinger’s independence, as he has long been a major donor to the Republican Party and George W. Bush.

But the Herald-Leader and Courier Journal dismissed such rational concerns. Not only that, but both papers followed their endorsement with a series of guest editorials that were blatantly dishonest and full of hated towards homosexuals. Whether this was due to deference for a powerful local official or fear of a backlash from prominent anti-gay bigots in the state is up debate. In either scenario, it was a sad display of cowardice and political expediency in the face of anti-scientific intolerance.

*********************************************

Soon after Holsinger’s nomination, reports of his anti-gays writing began to surface in the media. The major research cited was Holsinger’s “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality”, written in 1991 for the United Methodist Church’s Committee to Study Homosexuality. The paper gave the appearance of a well documented piece of medical research, citing prominent academic sources. However, a close examination of the study reveals intentional manipulation of evidence to fit his preconceived bias against homosexuality, concluding that male homosexual intercourse is unhealthy and unnatural.

McConnell vows to Filibuster any Iraq Legislation

Remember all of that talk from McConnell about "changing strategies" in Iraq this Fall? About the magical month of September marking this "change of course"? Well, surprise, surprise, the Senate Minority leader is already letting it be known that such legislation forcing Bush's hand will made as difficult as possible to pass.

Yes, Mitch McConnell has now vowed to filibuster any amendment dealing with Iraq this Fall. The party of the "nuclear option" is now the party of filibustering any legislation that challenges Bush's failed Iraq policy.

And why, might you ask, does this play into the hands of McConnell, Smith, Coleman and Collins? Well, with the 60 votes required to pass, such Senators in close '08 elections can vote for this legislation, knowing that it might get, say 58 votes. Or, if the vote passes, they can vote to override knowing that the 67 votes are impossible. So it basically will provide an avenue for these cowards to vote for the legislation, knowing full well that it won't pass and Bush will continue to get his way. Meanwhile, they can tell voters in their state that they stood up to Mr. 26% and distance themselves from the Iraq clusterfuck.

The only way to stop this strategy from working is to get enough Republicans with a conscience to vote for changing course in Iraq and getting our troops home. If not enough to override Bush's veto, at least enough to get past McConnell's obstructionist filibuster policy.

Oh, and as John Aravosis notes, requiring 60 votes is called a "filibuster". Mainstream media: start using the damn word, not whatever semantic contortion the Republicans are feeding you.

(crossposted at DitchMitchKY)

DSCC Punches McConnell in the Gut

With Mitch McConnell reeling against the ropes, battered by lackluster approval ratings, a Republican base angry over his immigration performance, protests everywhere he goes, national media attention on his vulnerability in '08, and the rising progressive KY blogosphere, he gets clobbered with another big haymaker.

The DSCC is running 2 ads against McConnell in KY, showing how he has continually enabled Bush's failed Iraq War policies. I'm not sure how widespread these are going to be, but it's a definite sign to everyone in the country that Mitch is vulnerable and this seat is going to be in play. It also shows that the DSCC might be getting some really nice poll numbers on McConnell's approval rating.

Oh, and Mitch? Just like you in your political past, we have absolutely NO MERCY. You better cover up your face.

The Beltway Press is a DISGRACE

Watching this morning's Meet the Press, I have example #23,935 of why the mainstream media pundit shows are mind-numbingly god-awful. In their "no liberals allowed" roundtable, they discussed the Democratic Presidential Primary. Let's look at how many times they mentioned the following candidates:

Clinton: 33 times

Obama: 11 times

Edwards: 1 time

Yes, and in what context was John Edwards mentioned, you may ask? Well, when they explained (in passing) that in Iowa, Edwards is leading both Obama and Hillary in the polls!!! So their entire discussion was of Hillary and Obama as the only candidates, yet the fact that Edwards is up on both of them in the first primary is merely worth a passing mention. I'm not in the Edwards camp just yet (I'll make my decision in 6 months, we still have an eternity), but this is just absurd.

And of course, the ridiculously pathetic David Brooks was allowed on to openly lie on the Libby "commutation" with the typical talking point/dishonesty (The trial was a political witchhunt! Armitage was the real leaker!) without being called out on it.

But I have to give Chuck Hagel some credit for making David Gregory look really stupid and making me laugh. This what Hagel said not too long before they cut away for commercial.

"I do think some of us who hold real jobs now have some responsibility to focus on those jobs.  I think this presidential race got started absurdly too early.  And the media and others are concentrated on Bill Clinton walking in a parade with Hillary and will Bill overshadow Hillary.  I think the country would like to know a little more about how Hillary, and the media would ask her the questions about how she would get us out of Iraq and some of these other questions .... I think someone should be paying attention to Iraq, should be paying attention to entitlements, to immigration reform, some of the things that we should be focused on."

And here was Gregory's teaser right after thanking Hagel:

"Coming next, Bill and Hillary campaign in Iowa..."

Burn.

I have many, many problems with Hagel, but I'd really like to think that he saw Gregory's prompter or cards for the commercial break and decided to throw that in there.

(Diaried at DailyKos, go recommend!!!)

Steve Beshear's Blogger Conference Call

In an effort to reach out to the progressive KY blogosphere, soon-to-be-Governor Steve Beshear (D) conducted a conference call with several local bloggers. The roll call included: Matt, Shawn, Cliff, Jim and I from DitchMitchKY; Jonathan Singer from MyDD; and Ted Shlechter from The Bridge. (there might have been others, fill me in if I missed someone)

Beshear noted that the blogosphere is going to continue to play an important role in KY politics, not just in this year's Governors race, but next year with the Congressional and Presidential campaigns. He felt that this call presented an opportunity to hear some concerns and feedback from us, and the gesture was greatly appreciated by all. Any candidate that wishes to have success in the next 2 years would do well to embrace the post-Bluegrass Report blogosphere.

Steve noted that he was glad he avoided a run-off election in the primary, as the Kentucky Democrats appear to be united on all fronts and in good shape for this Fall. Though polls show him well ahead of Fletcher, he cautioned that we shouldn't be overconfident. Fletcher is sure to raise and spend plenty of money for attack ads, which could always make it a close race. He did note that he plans on raising $4-5 million himself, excluding outside dollars.

Several of the questions and concerns dealt with Beshear's advocacy of "clean coal" as the future of KY's energy policy. Beshear said that he would sit down with leaders from all sides of the issue to reach some kind of common ground; allowing union leaders, environmentalists and industry to meet at the table. He also expressed a desire to enforce regulations on strip mining and mountaintop removal that are not currently followed through on. Additional funding for alternative technologies at universities will also be a top priority. He noted a quite interesting tidbit on the Peabody deal- that Peabody wouldn't even have the feasibility study done for one of its plants until April. Which makes the special session plan a little....shady?

Beshear also talked a great deal about improving Kentucky's economy. He noted that KY's budget is currently woefully inadequate to fund everything that we are in need of. One method of increasing revenue, of course, is his plan to expand gaming. He also criticized the tactic of offering outside businesses tax breaks to move to KY as rather short-sided, in itself. He noted that such companies often move here for a few years, only to leave for Mexico or somewhere else where they can get even cheaper labor. Beshear wants to give small and medium sized independent businesses incentives to stay and thrive here in KY, and he also wants to fund job training programs.

When asked what he would do as Governor in the instance that a bill is passed which prohibits UK and UL from implementing its domestic partner benefits plan, he said that he would veto it. We need to help our universities compete nationally, and having the government impose such a restriction will not allow them to attract and keep our best candidates.

The folks at DitchMitchKY, BlueGrassRoots, The Bridge and MyDD thanked Beshear for setting up this conference call, as it shows a good deal of respect for both the KY blogosphere and grassroots activism. As local blogs in Connecticut and Virginia showed last year, we can have a huge impact on the political scene. We're glad that Beshear and his staff have recognized this new political reality.

(crossposted at DitchMitchKY)

Elizabeth Edwards Rocks Lexington (and chats with me for 10 minutes!)

I’m not really sure how many supporters John Edwards had in Lexington on Friday morning, but I know that he has a lot more now. The line on John Edwards that is making the rounds is that his best asset in the campaign to win the presidency is not his humble Southern background, health-care platform or charm, but his wife, Elizabeth Edwards. After watching her performance during Friday’s Small Change for Big Change event in Lexington, I think that statement isn’t too far off base.

Elizabeth Edwards performed a rather spectacular hour+ Q & A session with over 200 contributors, fans, and potential voters. And due to the online outreach efforts of the Edwards campaign (thanks to Tracy and Amy, via DMKY’s Shawn Dixon) and the southern charm of DMKY’s own Jim Pence, Jim and I were able speak with Elizabeth face to face for roughly 10 minutes before her public Q & A session.

Though the Edwards staff thought we had a decent chance of chatting with her for a couple of minutes, shortly after we entered the venue and set up our cameras (Jim and fellow film guru Erica), we were told that there was no time for an interview. After Jim disappeared for a few minutes to chat up the Edwards folks, he came back saying that she might be doing a short “meet and greet” with some people.

“What’s a meet and greet?”

“I’m not sure”

“I’ve never been to a meet and greet”

“Yea, me neither”

Ten minutes later, Jim pulled me backstage and one of the staff stopped us and asked if we were the guys from DitchMitchKY and told us that we could speak with Mrs. Edwards in a few minutes, but not on camera or on tape. So while all of the slick, dolled up TV reporters waited for Elizabeth to come out for the Q & A, the blogger in ratty Chuck Taylors and ripped pants, and the hillbilly with the Acapulco shirt were whisked upstairs to meet her.

The Bigot Writes an Editorial

Our favorite mustached bigot writes a column in the Courier-Journal about how domestic partner benefits will destroy, I say DESTROY traditional marriage.

I think I've finally figured this out. Correct me if I'm off base here. We have Stan Lee, who obviously has had some issues growing up about his sexuality. In order to defend himself from anyone who might catch on to his sexual confusion, he puts on a lifelong front of virulent hatred of homosexuals, so that no one will question his hetero manliness. But why this fear of something as innocuous as health benefits for domestic partners? As Ned says, the universities are trying to "systematically dismantle marriage in our society". I think what Ned fears is that sexually ambiguous married folk like himself, when presented with the public and visible acceptance of homosexual couples, will be unable to resist their urges. Therefore, waves of such men will be forced to divorce their wives, now presented with the option to follow their repressed sexual urges.

Well, at least that's the only explanation that makes sense to me. Maybe I'm wrong. That, or he's just a crude, hateful and immoral politician that is making political gain by tapping into hatred of unpopular people.

(crossposted at DitchMitchKY)

Self-Censoring a column about Self-Censorship (wtf?)

UPDATE: I should emphasize that I am NOT referring to Jennie Leavell in this post, who is the actual editor and has been quite awesome through all of this. Please don't direct any of this towards her, it is someone else.

Update #2: I've been told that the column will now be published. We'll see. There's been a great amount of pressure put on the magazine in response to this, which I did not ask for, but is nevertheless greatly appreciated. I'll keep you all updated.

If you care to indulge me, let me get something off of my chest about my earlier column on self-censorship in the media and Nougat Magazine (Lexington's supposed "indy-alt-arts magazine", if you don't know that)

As of the time of my writing this tonight, there is a good chance that my editor is going to censor my entire column because of its content. Yes, that would be self-censorship of a column about self-censorship.

Let me go back a bit to explain the context.

About a week and a half ago, I pitched an idea to one of my editors about writing a review about my little visit to the Crazy-Ass Creation Museum.

My editor wrote me back saying that Nougat will no longer make any reference to "controversial" subjects, so they could not do any story on the museum. In fact, she specifically said that Nougat will now refuse to run any article that talks about "religion, gays or abortion".

I replied, "so you're an alternative independent magazine, yet you refuse to even mention women's reproductive freedom, attacks on science and human reason, and the denial of civil rights for an entire class of citizens? ........ Interesting."

She responded by saying that they've tried that "edgy" stuff before, but they're now going to cover safe topics so they can get more advertising dollars. Additionally, she said that since they're starting to mail to one Lexington zip code, they could be sued by someone for "corrupting their children".

I shit you not. wtf???

An additional inside source told me that advertisers will now pay to have fluff pieces written about them in the magazine. So they are basically seeking to become an advertising flyer.

Anyway, at this time I was finishing up my Media Czech column about the 100% false myth that gets repeated over and over again as fact in the media without challenge-- that Saddam wouldn't let weapons inspectors in and that's why we had to invade.

So I scrapped that column. I decided to write the one on self-censorship in the media instead (linked earlier). I considered it a subtle but firm FUCK YOU to my editor.

Anyway, the latest word is that the editor with the most clout is going to refuse to run it, which is just wonderful irony, don't you think? One person within there is going to fight for it, but we'll see how it works out very very soon.

Regardless of how this turns out, how fucking pathetic is it that Lexington has no alt-indy magzine worth a shit anymore? (Shit, we can't count Ace, can we?) And how are we going to fucking fix this problem in Lexington? And keep the Main/Limestone/Vine/Upper block from getting leveled so they can build a fucking hotel??

If you're interested, let's brainstorm, eh?

The (Sort of) Free Press

(Here's my July column for Nougat Magazine)

"The greatest triumphs of propaganda have been accomplished, not by doing something, but by refraining from doing. Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth."

-Aldous Huxley

For the past year in this column, I have attempted to highlight and refute some of the most egregious falsehoods spreading throughout the media. Deliberate misinformation, hypocrisy, and vile hate speech are all too common, and such examples should be drug out and exposed so that everyone can see them. But what is just as important is what you won’t find in the media.

Despite our constitutionally protected freedom of speech and press, self-imposed censorship is all too prevalent in the American media. While journalists do not fear criminal penalties for their work, there are a number of factors that may persuade them to ‘water down’ their product. Wanting to avoid negative publicity for themselves or their advertisers, media outlets may attempt to banish stories which address contentious issues or viewpoints, and instead focus on safer ones.

As recent years have shown, such self-censorship can have chilling results. Clearly, dilution of coverage and commentary can lead to the suppression of community thought on controversial subjects or viewpoints. The media’s fear of reporting unpopular stories or opinions leads to a public that is grossly misinformed on serious matters. The most egregious example of this was found in American media coverage of the lead up to the Iraq invasion.

*****************************

O'Reilly is a Coward

Apparently, O'Reilly plans to devote an entire segment of his show tonight to John Edward's hair. O'Reilly's people asked Edwards to provide someone to defend him and the Edwards camp suggested radio host Ed Schultz. O'Reilly declined and instead will be inviting on one of Fox's many "Democratic Strategists", one of the many useful idiots that come on Fox to criticize Democrats.

O'Reilly continues to be a coward, and he knows where he can stick his vibrator.

Nothing to see here...

It's been 24 hours since Bush said this, regarding the Iraqi government:

"We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation. Twelve million people went to the polls to approve a constitution. It's their government's choice. If they were to say, leave, we would leave."

As of this hour, the AP, Reuters, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC, CBS...hell, every single news service has yet to report this statement.

This statement, inside a press conference full of references to how withdrawal from Iraq would bring fire and brimstone down on America, is apparently not important at all.

The End of Propaganda? Sadly, no.

Count me in as a cynic along with Tom Tomorrow regarding this optimistic statement by E.J. Dionne in his review of Al Gore's new book out today.

"…the larger change is that the very process Gore describes — of propaganda taken as fact, of slogans taken as arguments, of repetition substituting for logic and, yes, of lies and half-truths taken as truth — is now well-recognized. What worked against Gore during the recount and what worked for the administration in the run-up to the Iraq war doesn’t work anymore. That is an advance for democracy and for reason."

I'll have to assume Dionne has never read Media Matters, because this happens every single day. And its not just the typical right-wing hate radio and Fox News doing it.

CNN's relentlessly dishonest coverage of the "oh-so-controversial" Speaker Pelosi's trip to Syria looked like the RNC was producing segments of The Situation Room (complete with the "Talking With Terrorists" slogan on the screen). "The Most Trusted Name in News" also gets my "Media Douchebag of the Month" award for letting its fake "independent, straight-shooting, average Joe" spew blatantly misleading propaganda on Gore and global warming in his heavily promoted special earlier this May.
CNN should really back off on Gore, because the NY Times obviously has dibs on Gore when it comes to making shit up to smear him (see Daily Howler archives).

Additionally, when a guest/pundit says, "timetable for surrender", "if we leave they'll follow us home", and "the Democrats won't fund our troops", how often do you see an anchor/host step in and say, "uh...what do you mean by that, I don't follow your logic?"  (don't hold your breath....that just wouldn't be balanced, now would it? Just get them on the record, Timmeh)

I would at least agree with Dionne that things have improved dramatically since the media skull-fucking of Gore in 2000. We now have Media Matters and the rest of the blogosphere to quickly debunk this crap, but that doesn't always mean that the media will be shamed into altering their coverage, which they still don't for the most part right now (certainly not Chris Matthews, because its painfully obvious that he has no shame.)

At the very least, Media Matters has finally driven Bill O'Reilly clinically insane. Hopefully the Falafel King will be able to stay out of the loony bin so he can continue to explain to us how Emmanuel Goldstein George Soros is to blame for everything wrong in Oceania America.

CNN's Melting Reputation

(Here's my June column for Nougat Magazine, with thanks, as always, to the great work at Media Matters)

"The whole (global warming) thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability."
- Jerry Falwell

Global warming deniers have always occupied a prominent position in conservative media outlets. Whether its Fox News or right-wing hate radio, scientifically deficient pundits have long been able to rail against the wacky liberal conspiracy of the greenhouse effect. Their guest lists often include scientists who either dispute that global warming exists, or concede that it exists, but humans are not causing it.

Such shows always neglect to inform the viewers that these "scientists" are invariably funded or employed by giant oil and coal companies, the source of greenhouse gases and the ones who stand the most to lose. Nor that the overwhelming majority of peer-reviewed scientists in this field have long debunked their claims.

Some even claim that global warming is real, but it's absolutely wonderful. Fox News's Neil Cavuto will invite an economist to cheer on what a positive effect global warming would have on the economy. Why, think of all the new beachfront property? And who needs all that cold weather anyway, when everyday can be like you're staying at a summer resort?

Unfortunately, CNN has decided to throw any reputation it had left into the gutter and give a platform to this misinformation campaign. In a sad attempt to co-opt the ratings success of Fox News, CNN hired right-wing hate monger Glenn Beck to its Headline News lineup. For the past year, Beck has provided a flood of falsehoods on global warming and Al Gore. Such dishonesty culminated in May with the airing of his much publicized hour long special, "Exposed: The Climate of Fear".

The special, which was advertised heavily by CNN and promoted on its primetime shows, was awash in blatantly deliberate misinformation relating to global warming. For a network that prides itself as "the most trusted name in news", it was a sad low point in credibility.

****************************

Appearing on CNN Newsroom to promote his special, Beck claimed that "there are two sides to every debate, and you're not getting the other side of the story" on global warming. If Beck was referring to his own show, he's damned right. In spite of an overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are causing global warming, his viewers have been subjected to one-sided, dishonest coverage of this serious issue.

Let's first look at the makeup of his guest list when discussing global warming. According to a study by Media Matters for America, 17 of his guests have disputed this scientific consensus on the issue, as opposed to only 2 that have agreed that greenhouse gases are heating the planet. As lopsided as those numbers are, it gets even worse when examining who those guests are. Of those "experts" disputing global warming, every single one of them receives funding either directly or indirectly from big oil or coal companies. That seems like fairly relevant information. However, Beck decided in each case to leave out that key detail. Additionally, the two guests believing in global warming were not scientists. In fact, one guest was a PETA activist criticizing Al Gore for not being a vegetarian, an obvious attempt to marginalize the movement as a bunch of tree hugging, vegan hippies.

Air America disaster

Well, the brilliant Sam Seder's 9-12 replacement on Air America had his debut this morning.

Lionel.

Dear Jeebus, it is absolutely awful. I listened to over 2 hours (2 hours of my life that I will never get back, unfortunately) and couldn't take it anymore. I'd say I heard about 2 minutes of political discussion. Well over an hour was devoted to some shock jock controversy that I really couldn't give a fuck about, and it was just repetitive and extremely boring.

Is this what Air America is supposed to be about? How about this- we just firebomb the tattered remains of Air America that have been left by possibly the most incompetent media management the world has seen outside of WKRP in Cincinnati. Raze it to the ground and put it out of its misery.

Then, some intelligent liberals who actually know how to run a radio network can start a new one from the ground up, because the Air America liberal radio experiment has officially failed.

All Facts and No Spin Make Bill-O Go Crazy

The slow and steady psychotic break with reality by Bill O'Reilly that Media Matters has brought on is the most entertaining show on television right now. And to think all they had to do was provide transcripts of his own show. One has to assume that Bill was headed down this sad path inevitably, it just happens that Media Matters got the honor of pushing him over the crazy cliff.

I fully expect his show to become virtually identical to the Two Minutes Hate in 1984, where George Soros takes the role of that nasty Jew Emmanuel Goldstein, who is the master villain of all that is wrong with the world. The only question will become, who the hell would care enough to watch such drivel. Well, besides for its unintentional comedy value.

The Most Important Writer in America...

...is Glenn Greenwald.

The blogosphere is really an amazing phenomenon. No one knew who this guy was a year and a half ago, and now he has really emerged (in my opinion) as one of the few must-reads that we have when it comes to politics. And when I say "important", I of course don't mean that in the sense that he is "listened to" more than anyone else, as that distinction would go to some stupid D.C. fucker like Broder, Brooks or Dowd. What I mean is that no one I know of can compare to him in consistently and thoroughly breaking down the evils of the Bush administration and our bankrupt media. And he should be the most "important" in both definitions.

Thus ends this shameless suck up post. But its true.

Oh, and his new book is out June 26th, can't wait.

Uppity Woman Goes to Syria

Here's my (uncensored) column for the May edition of Nougat Magazine. Enjoy.

“There are things in life that are worth fighting and dying over, and one of them is making sure that (Nancy Pelosi) doesn’t become the Speaker (of the House)”
-Sean Hannity, Fox News 8/29/2006

 A partisan political stunt that undermined American security. A meeting with terrorists that was the equivalent of treason. An uppity woman seeking to politically damage our president.

 This was much of the media’s description of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s diplomatic mission to
Syria in early April. On a two week recess from Congress, Pelosi took a Congressional delegation to meet with top Syrian officials, primarily to emphasize America’s desire for their government to stop funding Hamas and Hezbollah and stop the flow of foreign fighters coming over their border into Iraq. Such dialogue with Syria was advocated by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group last December, in order to bring stability and decrease violence in the region. Polls also show that the 75% of the American public favors such a dialogue.

But the selective coverage of the media did not reflect the reality on the ground. Despite the bipartisan makeup of Pelosi’s delegation, as well as the fact that a Republican delegation met with the same officials 2 days prior to Pelosi, the media solely focused on Pelosi and Democrats. While only reporting on Pelosi, they gave an uncritical platform for those to dismiss the mission as a “partisan political stunt” that was only undertaken to hurt President Bush and give Democrats a political advantage. They further spread the Republican talking point that Pelosi’s action was “unprecedented” and bordered on treasonous, a dishonest and historically inaccurate characterization.

Such dishonest smears towards Pelosi are nothing new. Since she became Speaker of the House this year, Pelosi has been the target of inaccurate and often overtly sexist attacks in the media. While Don Imus’s idiotic remarks where relentlessly bashed, the news media’s own blatantly sexist remarks towards Pelosi, as well as other female political figures, have been ignored

 **************

 Though Fox News predictably mischaracterized Pelosi’s diplomatic mission, the network that led the charge in spreading dishonest talking points was CNN. On the week of Pelosi’s trip, The Situation Room was a hotbed of misinformation. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux repeatedly parroted the Bush administration’s selective criticism of Pelosi, asking if Pelosi’s trip was a “political stunt”, “political theater” or “a big wet kiss to President Al-Assad”. Not only did Malveaux not mention the Republican congressmen making the same trip, she suggested that Pelosi’s actions were “unprecedented”. This is despite the fact that a congressman visiting with foreign leaders has long been common practice. On other CNN programs, coverage of the story was labeled “Pelosi’s Bad Trip” and “Talking to Terrorists”.

 

Air America Idiots

The incompetent idiotic management that drove Air America into bankruptcy have now been replaced by other incompetent idiotic management.

Tomorrow is the last show of the best program on radio, The Sam Seder Show. Sam is an incredibly funny and informative host, who actually did the impossible for me, which is make a radio show a must-listen. My mind-numbingly boring job was made a little less agonizing from 9-12, listening to his program. Air America, at least on XM radio, is now incredibly boring and not worth the money to renew my subscription anymore.

Air America has grown tremendously, so its hard to fathom why they've been such a financial failure. I would have to assume its just incompetent management, which dumping Sam Seder will only exacerbate.

Considering the huge success of Keith Olberman's program, MSNBC might consider hiring Sam Seder to fill part of the vacant Imus slot....no, actually there' no chance in hell. But if they were smart they would.

....also, his book is great.

Loony Loofah Goodness

Bill O'Reilly offically lost his mind on the air yesterday. This is just too hilarious.

SHUT UP!! CUT HER MIKE!!!

Oh, to work for the Falafel King.