Nathan Tabor Blames The Media

Ken AshfordRight Wing and Inept Media, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

TaborWe are so fortunate to have this goon running for the NC State Senate in our district.  If nothing else, he’ll give us reams of satirable material for a long time to come:

To hear the mainstream media tell it, Katie Couric will be the savior of CBS News.

Oh, we don’t think they’re saying that at NBC.

She’s perky, blonde — and getting blonder by the day. She is widely portrayed as a tough interviewer who manages to exude the sweetness of an Iowa poultry queen.

We’ll have to defer to Nathan’s obvious authority on the subject of Iowa poultry queens. 

Frankly, we don’t even know what an "Iowa poultry queen" is, or how one is bestowed with such an honor.  And we don’t want to know.

The CBS Evening News — which is consistently dead-last in the ratings, welcomes her as a breath of fresh air — the type of lady who can attract the under 35 crowd — even though she herself is pushing 50.

Because as we all know, people only watch the news if the newscaster is the same age as themselves.

But it will take more than a Colgate smile and a cheerleader personality to rescue network news, which seems to specialize in bashing anyone considered patriotic, pro-military, or anywhere to the right of Ted Kennedy.

Right.  The media is always bashing the right.  Like this horrible graphic:Bushworstdisaster

It’s no accident that, during that dark period of American history between the two Presidents Bush, many ordinary Americans referred to CBS as the Clinton Broadcasting System.

"Ordinary Americans" like this guy, posting at the Free Republic:

"Okay, back on topic, the Clinton Broadcasting System should be disenfranchised. But so should NBC. Remember, NBC refused to interrupt Titanic for W news. I was astounded that that Leftie Peter Jennings, of all talking heads, appeared the most objective in reporting the USSC decision."

It wasn’t so long ago that robotic anchorman Dan Rather had to step aside amid the shame of circulating phony documents attacking the credibility of the leader of the Free World. I have never heard a single person complaining about missing Rather and his routine attacks on Republicans.

Well, he’s a robot.  Who’s gonna miss a robot?

Broadcast journalists such as Katie Couric feign concern for the poor and downtrodden, even as they line their personal bank accounts with millions.

Whereas Nathan heroes don’t have concern for the poor and downtrodden while they line their bank accounts with millions.  Tom Delay anyone?

As a viewer, you wonder sometimes if they care at all about slandering an honorable American such as Congressman Tom DeLay since, at the end of the day, they can simply return to their penthouse apartments and gated communities and not have to deal with the hardships in life faced by average Americans.

Yes, Nathan hates it when the media slams Tom DeLay who is, after all, an average American facing the hardships of everyday life Hole No. 3 on a remote all-expenses-paid junket to a Scotland golf course.

Long ago, viewers tuned out and turned off the nightly news. I don’t believe that these former viewers abandoned their interest in civic affairs. I simply know too many baseball dads and soccer moms who are heavily involved in their communities and care deeply about what happens to America.

Nathan lives in Kernersville, NC.  FYI.

And certainly in the wake of 9/11, people are aware of the fact that the troubled people in a distant land can wreak havoc on the American way of life.

People abandoned network news because network news abandoned them.

Or maybe it had something to do with — oh we don’t know — the advent of the 24 hour cable news network?  The Internet?

Or maybe a lot of people stopped viewing the nightly network news because they’re working two jobs and aren’t home during the half hour that it’s on each day.

Jeez, what a moron.

Sure, the networks can try gimmicks to lure viewers back — such as solo female anchors…

A woman anchor is a "gimmick"?  Wow.  Welcome to Nathan’s world, where it’s always 1950.

… letting viewers vote for the stories they want to see…

No, Nathan.  That’s American Idol, not the nightly news.

… and hiring heartthrobs as national correspondents.

Right.  We all remember that disasterous television moment when Brad Pitt interviewed Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.  Don’t we?

But that’s all just window-dressing.

What the nightly news really needs is a dose of reality.

Ah, this should be good.  Like what, Nathan?

It should be produced by people who live in the real world — the world of ten-year-old cars, monstrous medical bills, and coupon-clipping.

That’s right, Mrs. Paige Greenway of Eau Claire, Wisconsin!  Put down the Eau Claire Shopper’s News and catch the first plane to New York right now!  There’s some news shows that need producin’.

The newscast needs to reflect the world that we actually live in — not the conservative hellhole envisioned by Barbra Streisand and the rest of the liberal crowd.

Let’s be clear about this:  Nathan wants the news to reflect the real world of "monstrous medical bills", and not some "hellhole" world.  Because monstrous medical bills are fun!!!

Network news should employ people of real diversity — and that would include people with conservative viewpoints.

So to summarize: 

Employing 50 year old women = gimmicky "fake" diversity. 

Employing conservatives = real diversity. 

Gotcha.

After all, conservatives lead many of our state legislatures, our businesses, and our athletic teams. Wouldn’t it make sense for conservatives to be present in newsrooms as well?

Gee, he’s right.  Wouldn’t it be nice if there was, like, an entire 24 hour cable news network full of conservative commentary?  Some place on your television dial where the news is just rip-and-read from the White House talking points?  Some place run up by a former GOP consultant and advisor like, say, Roger Ailes?

The advent of cable and the ascension of Fox News have permitted viewers to see current events from a different perspective — one not colored by left-wing propaganda. After seeing a bit of fair and balanced coverage, many viewers probably decide they simply don’t want to go back to network-style nonsense.

Fair and balanced????  What’s Nathan been smoking?  EVERY conservative I know acknowledges that Fox is right-wing biased.  They LIKE it that way.  But they are not so delusional as to think it is "balanced"!!!

It will take more than a pretty face for an effective makeover at CBS News.

It’ll take Bill O’Reilly.

It will also take a dedication to the pursuit of the truth, and a willingness to accept the fact that — believe it or not — most Americans love America and don’t want to see their President, Generals, and religious leaders routinely mocked on the small screen.

Unless the President has the last name of Clinton, the General is on the wrong side of the Iraq War, and the religious leader is, well, black.  Then it’s cool to mock them.  In fact, it’s patriotic.

BONUS:  Be sure to check out these other Renew America columnists —

Shorter Doug Hagin:  "Americans are getting stupider.  I know; I used to train bartenders."

Shorter Peter and Helen Evans: "We like to sit around and think about scary things that don’t exist in the real world, and then write about them."

Shorter Bruce Wilson:  "Okay, gay marriage doesn’t technically threaten traditional marriage, but we should pretend like it does."

Shorter Bonnie Alba:  "Guess what I found out?  If you cover each ear with the Bible, it’s possible to block out the sounds of science."

Notice To Eye Contact Wearers

Ken AshfordHealth CareLeave a Comment

Bausch & Lomb Stock Hit by Fungus Outbreak:

Shares of Bausch & Lomb Inc. plunged 17 percent Tuesday, a day after the eye-care company voluntarily suspended shipments of a contact lens solution linked by federal health officials to a fungal eye infection that can cause temporary blindness.

By the way, this is a poorly written headline/lede paragraph, so let’s clarify: 

(1) Bausch & Lomb’s stock ("the capital or fund that a corporation raises through the sale of shares entitling the stockholder to dividends and to other rights of ownership, such as voting rights") plunged….

(2) because Bausch & Lomb’s stock ("total merchandise kept on hand by a merchant, commercial establishment, warehouse, or manufacturer’) got hit by a fungus.

NH Phone-Jamming Scandal Goes To White House

Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

Last August, we noted the scandal in which James Tobin, the RNC’s regional political director in 2002, was on trial for his part in orchestrating a scheme to jam Democrats’ get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002, in New Hampshire.  Tobin and his colleagues retained an Idaho-based call center (named GOP Marketplace) to call Democratic phone lines and hang up repeatedly from 7:45 AM until 9:10 AM in order to prevent calls to likely voters by the Democratic Party.

Since then, Tobin has been convicted for his involvement, but the investigation into the skullduggery continues.

The AP reports that during the course of that day, Tobin and his operatives made several phone calls to the White House.  That’s not, in itself, a surprising thing — it was, after all, election day.

However, as this exhibit to an investigation affidavit shows (PDF format, see p. 3), Tobin called the White House at 11:20 a.m., shortly after Verizon stepped in and shut the phone-jamming operation down.  Tobin and his White House contact (whoever that was) spoke for five minutes.

Do you think the matter was discussed? 

Who did Tobin talk to? 

And what about Naomi?

Light Blogging

Ken AshfordBlogging1 Comment

Well, the home computer died.  Expect blogging to be light for a while until I get back on my feet.

Christians Sue For Right To Be Intolerant

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Sex/Morality/Family Values2 Comments

From the L.A. Times:

Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.

Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she’s a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.

I can relate to the source of her complaint.  In a free society, one should be permitted to have whatever views they want, on any subject.

Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she’s demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy.

With her lawsuit, the 22-year-old student joins a growing campaign to force public schools, state colleges and private workplaces to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies that require college clubs to open their membership to all.

Here’s where she (and the religious right) lose me.  But let’s walk a little further down the road first.

The Rev. Rick Scarborough, a leading evangelical, frames the movement as the civil rights struggle of the 21st century. "Christians," he said, "are going to have to take a stand for the right to be Christian."

In that spirit, the Christian Legal Society, an association of judges and lawyers, has formed a national group to challenge tolerance policies in federal court. Several nonprofit law firms — backed by major ministries such as Focus on the Family and Campus Crusade for Christ — already take on such cases for free.

The legal argument is straightforward: Policies intended to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination end up discriminating against conservative Christians. Evangelicals have been suspended for wearing anti-gay T-shirts to high school, fired for denouncing Gay Pride Month at work, reprimanded for refusing to attend diversity training. When they protest tolerance codes, they’re labeled intolerant.

Their so-called "legal argument", not to mention logic, is fundamentally flawed.  They demand to behave intolerantly, yet then when they behave that way, they whine that they are being labelled "intolerant".  All I can say to that is this:  if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Look, Christian Kids.  It’s quite simple.  You are entitled to your beliefs, however fucked up they are.  You have the right under our laws to express them.  But, as the saying goes, your right to swing your arm ends when it hits another person in the nose.  Get it?

It’s like slaveowners complaining that they don’t have the right to own slaves.  And anyone who tries to take away their slave-owning right is discriminating against them.

"What if a person felt their religious view was that African Americans shouldn’t mingle with Caucasians, or that women shouldn’t work?" asked Jon Davidson, legal director of the gay rights group Lambda Legal.

Christian activist Gregory S. Baylor responds to such criticism angrily. He says he supports policies that protect people from discrimination based on race and gender. But he draws a distinction that infuriates gay rights activists when he argues that sexual orientation is different — a lifestyle choice, not an inborn trait.

Well, I guess it is still debateable about whether sexual orientation is a lifestyle choice.  Personally, I don’t know a single person who chose to be gay — at best, they chose to acknowledge that they were inherently gay. 

But that debate aside, I know one thing is definitely true: one’s religiosity really really is a lifestyle choice.  So if discrimination is okay when it is based on a "lifestyle choice", religious zealots have cut themselves off at their own knees with that legal argument.

Now, more silliness:

By equating homosexuality with race, [Christian activist] Baylor said, tolerance policies put conservative evangelicals in the same category as racists. He predicts the government will one day revoke the tax-exempt status of churches that preach homosexuality is sinful or that refuse to hire gays and lesbians.

Para.  Noid.

And now the money quote:

"Think how marginalized racists are," said Baylor, who directs the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom. "If we don’t address this now, it will only get worse."

Boo-hoo.  Anti-homo bigots don’t want to be marginalized like all them racist bigots. 

I honestly think some of these people have a screw loose.  It’s one thing to dislike homosexuality, but it is entirely different to hurt and discriminate against people who adopt (for whatever reason) a homosexual lifestyle. 

And whatever happened to "Hate the sin; love the sinner"?  This latest movement from the religious right shows an abandonment of that Christian principle.  They want to be able to hate, without facing the consequences of their hatred.

Someone should ship these people to Afghanistan.  I hear the Taliban is looking for a few good men.

Jay Rosen Is Right

Ken AshfordBush & Co.2 Comments

The Columbia NYU journalism professor thinks that the National Journal’s Murray Waas is today’s Bob Woodward.  Read the whole thing.

Waas not only gets the scoop, but he’s accumulated an incredible track record for being accurate.

UPDATE:  Sorry, Jay.  Guess I’m no Murray Waas.

Why Mandisa Got Voted Out

Ken AshfordPopular Culture1 Comment

Here’s the scuttlebutt from Mr. Furious at Shakespeare’s Sister:

The rumor was that she lost the "gay" vote because she made a comment about overcoming addiction and "lifestyles" before singing a gospel song a couple weeks before she was booted. Because everyone knows that only gay guys and little girls watch American Idol. Okay. So then in the post-failure media blitz that every reject goes through (one final hurrah before we never see their losery faces again), she is asked (even by serious, "hard-hitting" media such as The Advocate) – "where did it all go wrong, Mandissa, say it isn’t so, we hardly knew ye," blah blah. And then she gives the usual Christian backpedal, "I don’t hate anyone, I’m heartbroken, it’s a misunderstanding, Lordy mercy, etc." But when asked if she would ever perform at a gay event (as the more talented and much more gracious Kimberly Locke of the "Clay Aiken" season has done), Ms. Madness proclaims, "No, I do not advocate that," or some shit. When asked if she thought a gay person could be cured (a reference to her worship of some author of ex-gay propaganda), she said "I don’t know anything about that." Right. So she is basically telling us that although her pre-song comment had nothing to do with the "gay lifestyle," (something about food addiction) don’t get her wrong, she really is anti-gay. But don’t worry, she hates the sin, not the sinner. Much like I hate the Christianity, not the Christian.

Ultimately, I’m not buying it.  Millions of people vote every week, and I suspect that the gay voting bloc is not significant enough to effect the results (unless the tallies are very close).  I tend to agree with the closing point by Mr. Furious:

Could a few incensed fags topple Mandissa despite all these factors, a good two weeks after her supposed anti-gay comment? Nah. It’s just that her last performance sucked.

Confirmed . . . Sort Of

Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

New York Times:

A senior administration official confirmed for the first time on Sunday that President Bush had ordered the declassification of parts of a prewar intelligence report on Iraq in an effort to rebut critics who said the administration had exaggerated the nuclear threat posed by Saddam Hussein.

But the official said that Mr. Bush did not designate Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., or anyone else, to release the information to reporters.

Good analysis here.

AmericaBlog quips: "A ‘senior administration official’ is leaking anonymously to the NY Times about the Bush leak."

Collapse Of The Christian Coalition

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Play "Taps":

The once-mighty Christian Coalition, founded 17 years ago by the Rev. Pat Robertson as the political fundraising and lobbying engine of the Christian right, is more than $2 million in debt, beset by creditors’ lawsuits and struggling to hold on to some of its state chapters.

The once-mighty Christian Coalition, founded 17 years ago by the Rev. Pat Robertson as the political fundraising and lobbying engine of the Christian right, is more than $2 million in debt, beset by creditors’ lawsuits and struggling to hold on to some of its state chapters.

How To Fail In Politics

Ken AshfordCongress, RepublicansLeave a Comment

Hey, I’m no politician, but it seems to me that if you want your political career to thrive:

(1)  You shouldn’t speak at events sponsored by the Moonies ("Unification Church").

(2)  Assuming you are stupid and do #1, you shouldn’t call Rev. Moon "humanity’s Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent".

(3)  Assuming you are really stupid and do both #1 and #2, you should at least admit it.

(4)  Assuming you are really stupid and do both #1 and #2, but are too shallow to admit it, then you should make sure there are no photos of doing it.

(5)  Assuming you make mistakes #1 through #4, then at least the photograph of you shouldn’t show you pinning a Unification Church medal on Moammar Al Qadhafi.

(6)  Assuming you makes mistakes #1 through #5, you should try to make it such that your indiscretions don’t come out the day after you attack a Senator’s four year-old daughter for having malignant cancer.

Kurt Weldon (R-Pa) – wanker of the day.

Well, Well, Well

Ken AshfordBush & Co., War on Terrorism/Torture, Wiretapping & SurveillanceLeave a Comment

It’s interesting to see who the Pentagon sees as the true enemy:

A high-ranking Pentagon official has been snooping around Hillary and Bill Clinton’s personal financial records, The Post has learned.

The Defense Department big shot recently scoured Sen. Clinton personal financial filings – which are required by Senate rules and publicly available.

The records contain information about her investments and debts, including ex-president hubby Bill Clinton’s income and speaking fees.

U.S. Joint Forces Command Deputy Legislative Director Cordell Francis dug through Clinton’s records a week after news broke last month that Bill had advised Dubai leaders on how to navigate U.S. political concerns over its ports deal, Senate records show.

Francis was required to register his personal data with the Senate in order to access Clinton’s records. The Post reviewed a list of people who had accessed the senator’s documents.

The former first lady serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee. But Francis had no interest in poking around the personal treasure troves of any of the 23 other committee members, records show.

And this Administration asks us to believe that they won’t be snooping on innocent people during its war on terror?

Holy Crap!

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Plamegate1 Comment

Why is nobody talking about this (which comes from the right-leaning NY Sun, no less)?!?

A former White House aide under indictment for obstructing a leak probe, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" on Iraq to a New York Times reporter in 2003 with the specific permission of President Bush, according to a new court filing from the special prosecutor in the case.

Bush okayed leaks of classified info?!?

The source of this information comes from prosecutor Fitzgerald himself, in papers filed with the Court late last night.  It was based on the testimony of Libby. 

This is the first time the President has been placed in the loop (albeit tangentially) regarding the Plame leak.

I-M-P-E-A-C-H-A-B-L-E.  What’s more, this revelation — if it holds true — shows the duplicity of Bush, who has said:

“There’s just too many leaks, and if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is.” [Bush, 9/30/03]

“I want to know the truth. … I have no idea whether we’ll find out who the leaker is, partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers.” [Fox News, 10/8/03]

“I’d like to know if somebody in my White House did leak sensitive information.” [Bush, 10/28/03]

UPDATE:  Ah, it’s starting to get some movement.  Murray Waas is writing about it at the National Journal, and clears it up a bit.

Apparently, Libby received "approval from the President through the Vice President" (emphasis mine) to divulge portions of a National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein’s purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons to NYT reporter Judith Miller.  In the course of this, Libby outted Plame as a CIA agent.

Waas adds:

Although not reflected in the court papers, two senior government officials said in interviews with National Journal in recent days that Libby has also asserted that Cheney authorized him to leak classified information to a number of journalists during the run-up to war with Iraq. In some instances, the information leaked was directly discussed with the Vice President, while in other instances Libby believed he had broad authority to release information that would make the case to go to war.

In yet another instance, Libby had claimed that President Bush authorized Libby to speak to and provide classified information to Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward for "Plan of Attack," a book written by Woodward about the run-up to the Iraqi war.

I think the controversy will lie in this particular paragraph:

Libby also testified that an administration lawyer told him that Bush, by authorizing the disclosure of classified information, had in effect declassified the information. Legal experts disagree on whether the president has the authority to declassify information on his own.

Still nothing on the cable news websites, but the New York Sun website is down (probably from everybody checking out the story).

UPDATE:  Finally, the AP picks up on it (just before noon).  Watch the avalanche.

UPDATE (as of 1:40 pm EST):  Okay, it’s everywhere now.  I like the georgia10 summary at Daily Kos:

Did the President personally authorize the selected release of classified information meant to manipulate public opinion about Iraq? Or did Cheney lie? If Cheney corroborates Scooter Libby’s story, he implicates the President. If he denies it, he calls his former Chief of Staff a liar.

Digby is also thinking:

So we find out today that Bush personally authorized leaking sensitive intelligence information for political reasons.

Explain to me again how we can trust that this President has not used his illegal NSA program to wiretap Americans for political reasons?

VERY LATE UPDATE (posted 4/13/06):  Kevin Drum explains

Yeah, Whatever

Ken AshfordEducation, GodstuffLeave a Comment

Pseudo-science from a creationist website:

"There is no evidence in the fossil record of one kind of creature becoming another kind. No transitional links or intermediate forms between various kinds of creatures have ever been found." For example, "the evolutionist claims that it took perhaps fifty million years for a fish to evolve into an amphibian. But, again, there are no transitional forms. For example, not a single fossil with part fins…part feet has been found. And this is true between every major plant and animal kind."

Real science from real scientists:

Scientists have discovered fossils of a 375 million-year-old fish, a large scaly creature not seen before, that they say is a long-sought "missing link" in the evolution of some fishes from water to a life walking on four limbs on land.

***

The scientists described evidence in the forward fins of limbs in the making. There are the beginnings of digits, proto-wrists, elbows and shoulders. The fish also had a flat skull resembling a crocodile’s, a neck, ribs and other parts that were similar to four-legged land animals known as tetrapods.

The discovering scientists called the fossils the most compelling examples yet of an animal that was at the cusp of the fish-tetrapod transition.