Fox News is Biased? Who Knew?

After you wipe the sarcasm off your screen, read this snippet courtesy of Juan Cole at Informed Comment:
Also credit to ePluribus Media

Murdoch was asked if News Corp. had managed to shape the agenda on the war in Iraq. His answer?
"No, I don't think so. We tried [...] We basically supported the Bush policy in the Middle East...but we have been very critical of his execution."

Let me repeat this: "We Tried!"

After hearing this confession, how can anyone ever again take seriously Fox News or any of Murdoch's other instruments of bias? How can News Corp. continue to pretend that they are "fair and balanced?" How can any other media company exhibit the slightest expression of respect or patronization

That's a confession and outright lie all in one concise sentence, Rupert. The only way you've been critical of the execution of the war is by criticizing Democrats......Nevertheless, the admission is quite breath-taking for Fox...

Juan riff's on those quotes in a way that resonates deeply with me, and I suspect, with the vast majority of our local party members. The snippets:

"Murdoch's remarks are a good reason for which the news conglomerates should be broken up so that a wider range of views can be published..."

and the "money shot":

:Murdoch's media have done more to cheapen American values and drive the country toward fascistic ways of thinking than anything since the McCarthy period in the 1950s. The airwaves belong to the public, and this man only licenses them. When will the public take them back and use them for purposes of which Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin would have approved?"


on edit, there's more on this subject here

Note: I've looked back at a few posts and realized that I tried to get more than one thought/topic at a time into them. I think it's confusing, sooooooo
I'm going to leave this post as a single subject and I'll post more on another "single subject post later.

Little help here.....

Does anybody remember the name of our 7th CD rep to the DNC?

Let me know.

We never noticed...

How many knew that our national party was holding it's Winter Meeting last week?

I kept seeing these statements about the primary candidates appearing on the network and cable news channels and appearing on the blogs too but I didn't actually realize that these statements (and subsequent assessments) were taking place at the DNC WINTER MEETING.

"Live Blogging" from the winter meeting has been taking place at MyDD. Jerome Armstrong is doing a fine job of summarizing the statements from the candidates and also giving us a feel for how the crowd is reacting to the candidates and their presentations.

One bit of irony from the meeting comes to us from Joe Biden's presentation to the meeting. Of course, he does his normal "mea culpa" for his "inartful" remarks about Barak Obama but even at that, his speech is described as "dour". The irony is that the brohahah over Biden's remarks as they were spun by the media is exactly the gripe that bloggers have had about the shallowness and banality of mainstream media in America and what passes for "political discourse".

Click the link to read the whole blog. But here are a few of Jerome's highlights:

On Governor Bill Richardson: Though he went noticeably over the soft seven-minute time limit, he kept the audience with him -- not just because he had suppoerters strategically located throughout the hall but also because he gave a very good speech. It's not be enough, in and of itself, to get him into the top tier of candidates, but it may just have gotten him on that path. (note: later on in another post, it's speculated that Richardson is one of two candidates with the potential to break out of the "second tier". Vilsak is the other one)

On Governor Tom Vilsak: . Not a bad speech, and in fact what he had to say was fairly good. But his delivery wasn't terribly energetic and he didn't really connect with the crowd, which he probably needed to do in order to break out this weekend.

On Senator Chris Dodd:When Dodd said, "let me conclude", there were a few scattered claps by the partisans for other candidates.

On Senator Barak Obama: I'd sum up the Obama presence at the DNC winter meetings by saying he's got a bipartisan message which relies upon a decentralized organization.

On General Wes Clark: The imminent candidacy of Clark is upon us. His intro song is "Stand my Ground" by Johnny Cash. Wesley Clark has his support on the netroots, and its fairly deep and established. (note: he goes on to say that Clark's candidacy is "up against the wall" in a sense in that he has to show strength early or it's futile)

On John Edwards: His transformation from his last, more traditional campaign (David Axelrod, who now does Obama, did Edwards media narrative), to a grassroots, issue-based
campaign plays to the sweet spot of liberal Democrats actually voting in the primaries. After his speech, Edwards becomes the first candidate to go out into the crowd and mingle after his
speech

On Dennis Kucinich: Yea, he's mostly been right about Iraq, but this is a vanity candidate that doesn't deserve a second chance.

And I know you've been waiting for it, on Hillary Clinton

I'm convinced more than ever (probably due to Mark Warner dropping out) that Hillary's candidacy has stronger machinery support than any of the others. At one point, I saw Harold Ickes squeeze up next to a DNC member in the aisle, grasping him at the shoulders, pulling him close, LBJ-like, the guy reluctantly starts to nod before getting the slap on the back, and it's onto the next one.

Some of my impressions from "the cheap seats" out here in Rural Wisconsin are actually being born out. Among them is that Hillary's campaign has the most money and money buys staff, publicity and eventually an organization....she will be a formidable candidate. Biden, Dodd and Kucinich? They should be taken aside and told the truth. They are "second tier" at best and should get the hell out of the way for candidates who really have a shot at the nomination.

A more troubling bit of information comes from Glenn Greenwald over at Unclaimed Territory. His post details the appearances of Edwards and Clinton at the AIPAC meeting in New York. Here's what's troubling as Glenn describes it

Then, the Sun emphasized how vital it was for presidential candidates to attract contributions from New York Jewish groups generally, and how such contributions (as is true for all interest groups) are available only to those candidates who support those groups' so-called "pro-Israel" agenda:
A Democratic political consultant who worked on President Clinton 's re-election campaign, Hank Sheinkopf, noted that the Aipac dinner always draws a parade of politicians.

New York is the ATM for American politicians. Large amounts of money come from the Jewish community," he said. "If you're running for president and you want dollars from that group, you need to show that you're interested in the issue that matters most to them."

And, according to the Sun, what do presidential candidates have to do in order to ensure access to "the ATM for American politicians" -- the "large amounts of money from the Jewish community" in New York? What is the "issue that matters most to them"? Belligerence towards Iran:
Indeed, how to deal with Iran is likely to be the next majority foreign policy conundrum the 2008 presidential candidates face.While Mr. Edwards and Mrs. Clinton have different positions on how to deal with the Iraq war, each has used harsh language on Iran.The Sun also highlighted how vital (what it calls) "the circuit of influential Jewish donors" is to Hillary Clinton specifically:
Mrs. Clinton, who has opted out of the public campaign financing system, has tapped into the circuit of influential Jewish donors for years and has strong support in the community. A spokesman for Aipac, Joshua Block, said yesterday that the senator and former first lady has "an extremely consistent and strong record of support on issues that are important to the pro- Israel community.""She is an extraordinary leader on those issues in the United States Senate," he sai

So....this then becomes "the house that Jack Built"...in American politics.

You need mega dollars to run

Those have the money also have "issues"

To get the money from those who have it you need to make their issues YOUR issues.

If you get elected, THEIR ISSUES which you have made YOUR ISSUES become NATIONAL ISSUES.

NATIONAL ISSUES BECOME POLICY

They never give up, do they?

The most far-reaching and scientifically valid study of global warming was released this morning in Paris....and it's devastating...and even a bit depressing. But the global warming deniers (sort of like holocaust deniers) never give up...no matter how overwhelming the evidence, they've got to find some way of casting doubt and creating confusion.

So just who are they and how do they do that? The Guardian has the story.

Here's a snippet too.

Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

American Enterprise Institute? Now where have I heard that name before? Oh yeah, the Guardian helps us out a little bit

The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.

That's also where Cheney goes to give his "scare the crap out of 'em" speeches. It's one of Bush's favorite audiences and the media likes to play those speeches and presentations as if they are given to neutral or even thoughtful audiences...they aren't...it' political incest at it's best.

And now, petro dollars are being offered as bribes to buy one more last gasp of credibility to the deniers....to offer one more "hail mary" ....

Money....dollars...to blind us from AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

...sigh....

We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!'"

Molly Ivans, January 11, 2007

Some quick updates

Spent a chunk of the afternoon meeting with Jen and learning how to update the WoodCoDems.com website...we're making progress but a lot of it will depend on my "learning curve"...(flat jokes anticipated)...

Incase you need to get over there, here's the linky-thing. We talked about a number of changes we can make to the page....(some have already happened) but look for more as we go along.

Some other things:

I'm sure all our Wood County Delegation joins in mourning the passing of the Great Liberal Columnist (and Humorists) Molly Ivans. It was just a few days ago that the public learned that the Cancer Molly had fought off last Summer came back (as she put it )" with a vengence" and had spread throughout her body. Molly was wonderful. I will miss her work very much. The Rude Pundit summed it up better than I can...click on the link for a wonderful tribute to Molly and our other recently lost friend, Art Buchwald. The picture of Molly at the left was taken from her Obit in The Austin Statesman


Rest In Peace, Molly......

In the political gossip Department(s)

The Mayor of San Francisco , Gavin Newsom, (a recent Democratic hero?) admitted to having an affair with a staffers wife today....As Bob Hope used to say about political scandals...."With Republicans it's always about MONEY, with Democrats it's always about SEX" . In the grand scheme of things this is probably a "non-story" but it's probably enough to undo any National Political Aspirations Newsom may have....the pic at right is from Yahoo and shows Gavin and his wife in happier times.... the picture below is the lady he had the affair with.....interesting of course but BREAKING NEWS!?



Al Franken is running for the Senate....we all expected that of course but the news has been leaked like crazy today even though Franken had said that there wouldn't be any announcements until after he leaves Air America on February 14. How do you feel about that? I have somewhat mixed emotions although, I would probably vote for Mickey Mouse if it meant getting sleazy Norm Coleman out of the Senate. Comments are most welcome!

Did anybody catch Joe Biden on The Daily Show with Jon Stewert last night? Biden had announced his candidacy for the Democratic Nomination earlier in the day and then proceeded to insult Barak Obama, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Shirley Chisholm and another black politician by refering to Obama as the first African-American to run who was "articulate" and "clean"......I understand that when Biden personally called Al Sharpton to apologize, Sharpton started off the conversation by assuring Biden that he "takes a bath every day." Marty Kaplan at Huffington Post put it in the most humorous way I've seen

Stumbling badly out of the gate, Sen Joe Biden (D-MBNA) will be put down, it has been learned. "We've tried everything," his trainer said. "Plugs, blogs, GaffEx, repunctuation, Jon Stewart -- nothing's worked. At this point, it's the humane thing to do." Spin doctors believe that the new injury proved intractable because it fractured the same joint weakened twice before, in the Kinnock Derby and the Hill-Thomas Stakes.

roflmao

comments????

So THAT'S what that was all about...

In case you missed it, there was a panic about a bunch of unidentified, unattended boxes left all around Boston yesterday and it ended up with a minor terror alert....

but what it really turned out to be was a Marketing Campaign for the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a bizarre (but occassionally very funny) cartoon show on the Comedy Network's "Adult Swim" segment on late at night. Cartoons are childish but the humor is VERY adult. (Hence the name "Adult Swim") The publicity stunt outraged the Mayor who has threatened to have the creators arrested or at least charged. Here's a good recap of his "outrage"

Here's a http://rising-hegemon.blogspot.com/ including the offending characters..(scroll down to The Foreigner Belt was blinking red )

I have to confess that I was "hooked" on two of the Series shown on Adult Swim. The first was a fascinating animae called Cowboy Bebop and the second (actually by the same producers/writers) was Sumari Shamploo. That's a depiction of the three main characters from "Shamploo" at the left. Although a lot of Japanese Animae writing seems to center on mythological figures and wildly bizarre post-apoloclyptic scenarios, these two shows were remarkably well written and had complex characters and interesting plots. Of them all, I think I enjoyed Shamploo the best but it was only 23 episodes and then ended with no hint that there could, or would, be any kind of sequel.

That anybody would cause a terror alert because of some half-assed cartoon marketing campaign says something about the world we live in....and I'm not sure I like what is says....