Laura Ingraham subbed for O'Reilly last night, so no Talking Points Memo. However, O'Reilly had pre-recorded a segment with Julie Newmar, better known to us bat-fans as Catwoman from the 1960s TV series 'Batman'
Now, very little real time was spent on the actual interview, but I'll forgive them that. They did show a lot of Julie Newmar's work both from Batman and from other material she had done before Batman.
Former Iran Contra Colonel Oliver North wins the award this time for saying that Barack Obama was wrong to look at talking to Iran and quoting John McCain who said that "...you can’t have these kinds of unconditional, no preconditions discussions with despots and dictators..." This from then guy who co-ordinated sales of American weapons to the military of Iran!
Dishonourable mentions go to William Kristol, whose memory seems to be failing and his research non existant, and also to Rush Limbaugh, who tried to do rebuttal on Barack Obama by slamming an 1996 online essay about the Great Depression, written by someone who was a tenth grader in 1996!
CNN and MSNBC are amongst the news sites and networks covering the news that Senator Edward Kennedy (Democrat: Massachusetts) has a malignant brain tumour, according to doctors treating the senator at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
The news has overshadowed the primaries in Kentucky and Oregon today, where a total of 103 delegates are up for grabs. If Barack Obama manages to win a majority of those delegates, he'll be so close to the winning line that Hillary Clinton will have to admit defeat.
But my thoughts and prayers are with the family of Senator Kennedy and the whole Kennedy clan. I wish Senator Kennedy all the best.
Okay, so this feud between Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann has now exploded all over the internet. Both TV Newser and Inside Cable News are all over this story, and especially the article written by Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post. Newsbusters has the story as well, Murdoch's US newspaper, The New York Post has also weighed in and not surprisingly, Olbermann Watch has spun the story so hard, that they think they're about to acheive orbit!
Unfortunately, none of them have hit the target! Most of them get close, but like a bad marksman, they cannot hit the bullseye! They haven't realised what has really been going on. Allow the TruthSeeker to explain.
Bill O'Reilly has made a career at Fox News Channel out of presenting himself as part of some no-spin zone. In reality, he's spinning the items in his show to favour right wing thinking, not necessarily the Republicans, but right wing thinking in general.
Like most people who have a conservative/right wing mindset, Bill O'Reilly is incapable of admitting he ever makes a mistake. It is part of the conservative/right wing mindset to blame someone else for their error, even when it is their fault exclusively, they will blame someone else, just because they refuse to ever blame themselves.
You will occasionally see or hear an apology from some conservatives for some of the really dumb things they have done, but not every time, and in all the times I have watched Bill O'Reilly's programme, I don't think I've ever seen him issue an apology on his show.
Keith Olbermann on the other hand, when he has made a mistake on air, has apologised on air. In fact, he's even awarded himself some bronze medals in his "Worst Person In The World" segment for doing so. The Bill O'Reilly equivalent would be to see Bill call himself a pinhead in his "Pinheads and Patriots" segment, for something like the "Malmedy" incident when he got the details mixed up twice! But there was no apology then, just an attempt at a get out of jail free card! And Bill O'Reilly has never called himself a pinhead.
Now, I said most of them got close, but kept missing the reality. Here's why.
The New York Post rightly pointed out that...
"...Olbermann walked out of MSNBC years ago in a huff after also blowing up at ESPN, so TV insiders are curious if this recent behavior is a sign that history will repeat itself."
But, they also say that...
"...Olbermann recently encouraged management to oust the cable channel's lone conservative, Tucker Carlson, and it's also no secret among producers that Olbermann refuses to introduce Dan Abrams' show, which follows his own."
Those statements cannot be backed up by any independent source. Also, please note, that the New York Post belongs to the same News Corporation that Fox News Channel belongs to, so if there was a definite dirty tricks campaign eminating from Fox, the New York Post would be an obvious outlet.
Now to Inside Cable News, which is one of my favourite blogs, and Spud, who runs that has a lot of respect from me, for going against the corporate spin that eminates out from the corporate news operations in New York and DC. But this time, he's missed the mark. His commentary on the Washington Post story began thusly:
"...The problem for NBC is that Bill O’Reilly has become as adept and skilled at distorting and misrepresenting NBC and GE as Keith Olbermann is at distorting and misrepresenting O’Reilly and Fox. It was all fine and dandy for NBC when it was just O’Reilly and anything Murdoch getting beat up. But now that it’s a two way street, NBC is whining."
This sounds like something out of an O'Reilly Talking Points Memo, or something Fox News' anti-Keith Olbermann specialist John Gibson might come up with. Spud fails to mention that Bill O'Reilly has always been adept and skilled at distorting and misrepresenting people, organisations and companies he didn't like. But from what I have seen of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Keith hasn't misrepresented anything Bill O'Reilly has said. In fact, he's been very specific with quotes from the mouth of Bill O'Reilly himself. Bill O riles against what he sees as "hate speech from the left", but rarely ever touches on the mass of right wing hate speech that comes out from people like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and many other right wing talk show hosts and columnists continue to spout on an almost daily basis.
And by the way, Keith Olbermann is the only so-called "left wing loon" that Bill O'Reilly never has mentioned by name, on air. Not once. Yet he's happy to name the likes of Rosie O'Donnell, Al Franken and many others. Instead of directly challenging his opponent, he shoots all around him, at every other target possible closely associated with Keith Olbermann, hoping that one of those damages Olbermann too, but as before, like a bad marksman, he keeps missing the target. He needs to refocus on dealing with Keith more directly, then he'll look like less of a coward.
Basically, Bill O'Reilly can stop this feud immediately, by stopping lying to his viewers. He can stop the distorting, the misrepresenting, and start dealing in facts and truth, not lies and spin. His so-called "No Spin Zone" is spinning so fast, the centrifugal force inside it must be close to fatal levels!!!
But as I pointed out earlier, those of a right wing mindset, will never admit they've made a mistake, so Bill O'Reilly and his so called "No Spin Zone" will end up spinning so fast that it will end up destroying The O'Reilly Factor and Fox News with it.
Today on CBS News's Face The Nation with Bob Schieffer reviewed the myriad of political upstaging and weirdness that we had seen in just the past week, even though it felt like a year's worth!
ABC News in Australia is reporting that an opposition frontbencher in Australia has suggested that regime change could actually be a workable option in the wake of the military regime's rejection of foreign aid workers and experts.
Whilst it may have been two weeks since the cyclone hit that caused so much damage and death, I'm not sure that that is the appropriate time to be talking about regime change, whilst so many of the country's citizens are struggling to survive. I agree that the thought has to be on the table, but I don't think now is the time to be dealing with it.
Bill O'Reilly has a habit of saying things in a way that if you were to read it yourself, you'd think it sounded neutral, but Bill O has a way of making it sound anything but. In this case, it's Obama vs Bush & McCain over the issue of negotiating with Iran.
Bill O'Reilly continues his vengeance against 'race-baiters' and especially continuing to target Dr Boyce Watkins at Syracuse University. He then follows this up with referencing an op-ed column in the Boston Globe.
Thursday's winner was General Thomas McInerney. Who? Well he's a retired general who apparently is on the board of several companies who do business with the Pentagon, and is apparently a military analyst for Fixed Noise! (I have to agree with the Third Doctor Who when he said that he thought 'military intelligence' was a contradiction in terms!)
Dishonourable mentions go to House Minority Leader John 'Bonehead' Boehner, who accused Obama of describing Israel as a constant sore, despite the fact that Obama actually said that the issue of settlements in the Palestine/Israel war was a constant sore, not Israel itself.
Here on Viewpoint and on TruthSeeker, I do my best to hold politicians, pundits and columnists to account. I also at least do try and highlight when they get it right too. But there is a blog out there that aims to point out every famous hypocrite, be they politician or celebrity.
The trouble is, I think they're a little over-zealous with their hypocrisy-hunting. That or it's a poor excuse to focus on pretty female celebrities, who do seem to be the so-called main offenders according to Deceiver.com.
For instance, a recent post about Heroes cheerleader Hayden Panettiere referenced Murdoch rag The Sun and a story about rumours that Hayden is a lesbian. Rather than try to deny it, she went completely the other way...
She said: “That’s fine with me. If I’m going to be linked with someone, I could do an affair with Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba or Charlize Theron.
“And Kate Beckinsale is gorgeous. There are so many beautiful girls.”
Well, I can't disagree with her, but I can disagree with Deceiver, and another blog they reference, IDontLikeYouInThatWay.com, who say...
"Her publicists have already tried the Lolita thing, now there are "rumors" that this chick is a lesbian. So basically, they are trying everything they can to turn Panettiere into a sex symbol. In reality, the only thing that might work is a growth spurt and some thigh exercises."
I think that's very unfair, as she is a very sexy looking lady, in a girl next door kinda way. Deceiver are no better...
"...the only reason she’s obnoxiously propagating this titillating tidbit is that she wants you to picture her making out with women who are way, way hotter than she is, and hope it rubs off on her a little."
Oh come on. Are you seriously trying to tell me that this a cynical ploy to make her seem sexier? Kinky Gerlinky has some very sexy pictures of Hayden in a lovely blue dress and thigh high leather boots, and Booted Up has more pictures of Hayden looking very pretty and very sexy in boots. Boot Lady Teri, who runs the blog and Bootlovers.com, which the blog is associated with, even manages to congratulate Hayden on being a well behaved, decent young lady.
I think she's hot enough to not need any publicist to try and up her hotness. No, this is much simpler than that. What Hayden is doing is ending a rumour by not taking it seriously and laughing with it. And because Hayden has not become the next Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan in the celebrity disaster department, these blogs, like Deceiver, are using every last excuse they can to criticise her and print her pictures.
Sorry, but this is easier to see through than a window! I don't make a habit of criticising blogs without reason. After all, most blogs are just ordinary people writing down their opinions, or keeping a diary of events and thoughts, and I'm pretty much the same. I respect the differences in opinions, with the proviso that there is a factual basis for their opinion. Opinions just for the sake of opinions is not something I do, and is definitely not something I like other people doing. But it has to be said, when the truth is that visible, that obvious, and so well established by many other celebrities over the years doing the exact same thing, dismissing a rumour by laughing with it, you've gotta wonder whether the writer of that blog post has an ulterior agenda at work, and I strongly believe they do.
Like most tabloids and celeb-obsessed magazines, these celeb-obsessed blogs are looking for any excuse, however flimsy, to highlight certain celebrities, because they believe, rightly or wrongly, that covering those celebrities will get them readers. I do understand that certain stories will get readers flocking to a blog, I experienced that myself with the recent Austrian Incest case, which brought more readers onto the blog than ever before. But unlike the celebrity obsessive blogs, I look for the stories I want to cover, and if that means I get plenty of readers clicking through to the blog, even better.
Deceiver by name, and deceiver by nature. Deceiver.com flatters to deceive.
Bill O'Reilly adds yet another Worst Person In The World award to the continually growing collection. He must have over 300 gold, 600 silver and 400 bronze medals from Keith Olbermann over the years.
Dishonourable mention goes to Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, who complains that the media has been biased towards Barack Obama, then follows that by saying "We're not complaining." It would seem to me that Hillary Clinton and her campaign are sounding more and more like Republicans every day.
Keith Olbermann has done one of his most emotional, heartfelt and loudest Special Comments yet on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
I think at the end of the piece, he was a split second away from releasing an F bomb that would have truly exploded very loudly and been heard around the world.
Crooks and Liars and MSNBC of course have the transcript.
Why do one story once when you can do the same subject repeatedly and really reinforce your point, even if it is wrong. It's the old idea of if you repeat something often enough, people will accept it as fact.
He even sends another producer-monkey to do an ambush!
Friday night's gold medal winner (the medals aren't real gold, just gold foil covered chocolate!) was the big boss man himself at Fox News, Roger Ailes. The reason: firing a 24 year old production assistant who happened to say on-air to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, that she'd voted for him and she knew he was going to win. Compared to some of the much more ringing endorsements that Fox used to put out for St Rudi of 9/11, that seems a little bit hollow.
Special mention goes to the other big dog of Fox News, ratings big dog Bill O'Reilly for the story I mentioned over on TruthSeeker. No surprise at all that Keith Olbermann called BillO out on that one too.
BillO's latest memo on Friday night (he's slipping, he's only done 3 memos this week!) was to those people who he called "race-baiters". By his definition, these are people who cry "race" at the slightest hint of even a racial overtone.
Calling Washington Post columnist and contributor ot MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann Eugene Robinson a race-baiter, is really just another way at sniping at Keith Olbermann. Sniping at Keith's bosses at NBC Universal and GE haven't helped matters, so Billy boy tries a new tactic. He goes after those contribute to the show. Make the guest analysts seem lousy or biased and you smear Keith by association, or at least that's the idea.
In point of fact, all the Bellow-full of Bluster is doing is making himself look bad, but of course, he doesn't see it that way. In his eyes, nothing could make him look bad.
It was two years ago today that I made my first entry into the world of Blogging with my original Viewpoint blog over on Geocities. Because it was my first blog, I wrote about absolutely anything that interested me. Previously, I had run a TV ident site on there, called Ident City, which has recently been relaunched in the blog format. Viewpoint however was much more generic. The sub-title that I gave the blog was "Random Thoughts about Life, The Universe... and other strangeness."
Times have changed since then, and so has Viewpoint. The blog has adapted into much more of a news and media commentary blog, with a side angle though in some of the more interesting aspects of life. The sub-title for the blog got shortened, and technically added to the title at the top of your browser window. It sums up the blog still, even though most of the posts relate to events in the news and to the wide and wierd world of the media.
Various common titles keep cropping up and have become very much a part of the blog. "Viewpoint Extra" is where I follow up on a particular story with more information. "Viewpoint Original" is a post about a subject that is not in the news, but a piece of original reporting from myself, and "Viewpoint Special" tends to be a special commentary on a particular subject. Most commentaries from me follow one very particular rule. Report the story first, then comment on it. My Viewpoint Specials don't follow this rule, usually because there is so much reporting on it, that a commentary is all that is needed.
Viewpoint also has made use of various other types of posts including roundup posts, where I link together various news stories from around the net. Sometimes they are all related to one story, where others have been mixtures of stories from all around the net.
In the days, weeks and months to come, I will continue to bring you the real news and sensible commentary on the issues and stories of the day. I will also highlight those who say silly things and make ridiculous commentaries without thinking about the consequences.]
Stay sharp!
In a follow up to my previous post about Hillary Clinton's presdiential campaign, two stories to bring you. The first comes from NBC's Today show where Andrea Mitchell reports on the differences between the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Whilst Huffington Post reports that Hillary's husband, former President Bill Clinton, has switched his allegence from his wife to Barack Obama.
I'm afraid I hear The Dead March being played at Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters.
Thursday night's honours went to Cindy McCain, the wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Unfortuantely it was not for the revelation on the Today show that her tax returns would not be revealed, but for the statement, made in that same interview that McCain would not be running a negative campaign against Obama. I got news for you, Cindy, he already has!
Dishonourable mention goes to Dick Morris, who channeled Ann Coulter in using an oblique Manchurian Candidate reference against Obama, which given the fact that John McCain is a Vietnam veteran and former POW, leads me down the line of the pot calling the kettle black.
By the way, the interview Cindy McCain gave on the Today show, which they labelled an "Exclusive" is also here.
I've said it once or twice, but Bill O'Reilly and I do not see eye to eye on a lot of things. But I do agree with Bill O on much of what he says in his latest Talking Points Memo, Wednesday night on the Factor. Obama, to all intents and purposes, does indeed have the nomination locked up, and deep down, Hillary Clinton knows it.
I also agree with Bill when he says that the Obama vs McCain race will be intense. And indeed, race will be a factor.
As for VP nominations, I think Barack Obama could do a lot worse than having New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, as his running mate. As for McCain, it is likely that either Senator Lindsay Graham or Senator Joseph Lieberman, the so called "Independent Democrat", will be his running mate.
Wednesday night's winner was E. D. Hill of Fox News Channel. Funnily enough, according to Wikipedia, her real name is Edith Ann Tarbox! You know, Miss Hill, you could have gotten away with using the name Edie, instead of tunring it into meaningless initials!
Dishonourable mention goes to right wing water carrier Rush 'Limburger' Limbaugh, who's "OperationE Chaos" backfired so spectacularly, that he changed his tune and said he wanted it to do that! Is there a Republican in the US who can actually say "sorry, I made a mistake" and then just go oops and get out of the way for a small amount of time, say about 2 years???
It was back on May 2 2006 that Silvio Berlusconi resigned as Italian Prime Minister. Today, he and his cabinet have been officially appointed, again.
This makes it Italy's 62nd post-WW2 government. And since WW2 ended in 1945, 63 years ago, this makes Italy one of the most politically unstable countries in Europe.
This is the third time Berlusconi has been PM, and again, just as the last time, because he owns MediaSet, and as PM is responsible for appointing some of the top management at RAI, there is a permanent conflict of interest.
Berlusconi's two previous times as Prime Minister could best be described as mixed. HIs May 1994 election as PM only lasted until January 1995, due to political squabbles within the coalition. His election in 2001 lasted much longer than the previous one, almost 5 years in fact. But the MediaSet/RAI issue dogged his tenure and towards the end of his premiership, investigations into him managed to bring in Labour minister Tessa Jowell and her husband into the controversy.
How long Berlusconi will last this time, only time will tell, but you can be sure of this: He will do everything he can to stay in the spotlight, and he will use RAI and MediaSet to do that. He did it before, and unquestionably, he would do it again.
And now, from Viewpoint, an extra special commentary on the Democratic nomination process.
On Tuesday 13th May, the continuing saga of the Democratic Party nomination process moves to West Virginia. A week later, Kentucky and Oregon. June 1st sees Puerto Rico voting before June 3rd ends the process in South Dakota and Montana. A total of 217 delegates up for grabs.
There are a total of 795 super delegates in this process and so far, 529 super delegates have declared. That leaves 266 super delegates to be declared. Overall, a total of 483 delegates available to Obama and Clinton. Obama only needs 181 delegates whilst Clinton needs 330.
Whilst the maths might say that Clinton can still win this, common sense must be kicking in soon. Clinton needs a combination of pledged delegates and super delegates. Obama mathematically can win the nomination without another super delegate, although in reality, he will need super delegates too. Obama is that much closer to the line and Clinton must realise that soon, the numbers will be against her and there will be no way for her to win.
Hillary Clinton, give up this fight now, you will lose it, without question. What's more, you will have almost single handedly destroyed the Clinton legacy by not knowing that now, IS the right time to bow out. Your chances of winning are slim and you risk doing more damage to the party than anything else. If you truly care about the fact that the Democrats MUST win in November, you should bow out now gracefully and give yourself a chance in 8 years time, to become the nominee again.
I do have a habit of looking for the unusual and the bizarre on the web, and I often go my own way politically. One of the more unusal things I have found on the web is web sites belonging to political parties who are shall we say minor parties. One such party in the UK is The Imperial Party.
Thomas Davison is offically the party's founder and leader, and whilst some of the basic ideals sound fine, once you get to the details, it all falls apart like a house of cards.
“Respect, Honesty, Integrity, Manners, Fair Play”
Sounds almost likeable doesn't it? But read on a bit further...
"...Our party wants back our right to freedom of speech for England and the English People and to reintroduce Christian values into our lives."
Christian values? I wouldn't go shouting that out too loudly, the "Christian Right" isn't exactly the more popular political voice with good reason. I was taught Christianity was about tolerance and forgiveness, two things that I do not see a lot of in the "Christian Right".
"...We will revoke all unnecessary ‘harmonisation’ laws forced on us by the E.U., and revert to Britain’s traditional systems of measurement and practice."
Does this mean you want to take us back pre-decimalisation? Back to before 1971? Why not go the whole hog, and make that a pound is 100 shillings and a shilling is 100 pence. Instantly, you'd reduce the price of the average home from £222,256 to £2,222.56, making house prices much more affordable!!!
"...congestion on the roads will be eased by new lorry-only toll roads for goods vehicles, expanding the breath of our major motorways..."
Lorry only toll roads? In case you hadn't heard, toll roads don't work. They force traffic onto smaller roads, increasing pollution and noise. And as for expanding the breadth of the motorways, everytime lanes get added to a motorway, they fill up just as quickly as the last time they were widened, you can't go on widening forever.
"...Under an Imperial Party government there would neither be tax-avoiders nor tax-victims. A single flat income tax of 25% will keep the treasury full and could reasonably be met by all sections of society. "
Hmm, that's a good idea, but I'm not sure you could keep the single tax rate that low. I'm more inclined to believe it would have to be around 30% or higher to fund the plans of the Imperial Party.
"...With the Imperial Party controlling Westminster, all over-60s will be entitled to exemption from council tax, heating bills, television licences, road tax, bus and tram fares and road tax. Special reduced-rent housing for over-60s only will be built for those who want it, and care homes should and will be provided free as part of the NHS. All pensioners requesting it will receive a liveable, non-means-tested pension, and we shall restore the link with earnings for those as yet not retired. Within a few decades, our Personal Added Tax (PAT) policy will ensure that pensions will remain sustainable and that there will be no ‘crash’."
This doesn't read too well. It looks like it hasn't been costed properly, and the sums just don't seem to add up. The retiree population is growing every minute as we all live longer lives. I'm more inclined to believe these policies will make the crash happen much quicker rather than preventing it. Very populist sounding, but they don't stand up to scrutiny.
"...We will institute ‘new business panels’ across the country, to which those wanting to start a new business may present their commercial ideas; if considered likely to be commercially viable, such new businesses would qualify for grants to help them achieve success."
Again, another great sounding idea, but the reality is you'd be creating regional versions of the BBC show "Dragon's Den". You're going to have an awful lot of disappointed people who won't learn great lessons in life because they tried and failed their own business. Some of these lessons can only be learned the hard way, and preventing people from learning them does not help their personal or business skills development, and I speak from experience.
"... Britain’s economic success and prosperity depends on Her businesses being beneficial to Her; we would ensure all British businesses remain in British ownership, no more the 49% of any business being allowed to fall into foreign hands."
One word describes this beautifully. Protectionism!
"... BBC to end their supposition type news and relay actual news and end the license fee, eventually to be sold off to commercial enterprise as it no longer a neutral , unbiased and independent body."
'Supposition type news'? Do you even know what you're saying? You're saying the BBC does not report facts. And as for ending the licence fee and selling off the BBC, you may as well destory it , for that is what will happen anyway if you sell it off.
"... Police officers to go back to patrolling the streets and given more powers to question and retain suspects, anyone found carrying a gun to be given hard labour for life."
Now how do you juxtapose that with...
"... We reject the creeping Police State being stealthily imposed on us..." Hmm?
You either don't want a police state, or you do, you cannot have it both ways.
"... Speed camera's and traps to be discontinued they are only a means to raise money for local government."
Excuse me, this keeps getting spouted by various political parties. How about some proof, that they are ONLY a means to raise money and NOT a way to catch offenders as they should be caught, in the act!
"... We will reinstate marriage as the basis of the family unit, we will make it harder to divorce; children need both parents who live together."
Erm, hate to break this to ya, but there has never been an official government line on what is a family unit. And whilst I agree that children need two parents who can get along well and live together, a household where the parents don't get along is NOT a good place for a child to grow up. Yet by your policies, you would force families that don't get along to stay together because of the children. Again, you can't have the penny and the bun.
"... All unemployed people to be given training at government centres in needed usable skills, if no work available in area, government will employ person on minimum wage until other work found."
Oh dear, talk about a bloated government. Another idea that sounds good, but hasn't been costed properly.
"... We will end overseas hand-outs. All charity moneys to go to UK causes."
I'm sure Oxfam and the Disasters Emergency Committee will love you guys!!!
This is what I meant when I said that some great ideals are let down by unpractical, uncosted, unworkable policies. This is the 21st cetury now, not the 19th Century!
Bill O'Reilly basically gloated about his interview with Hilary Clinton on Monday night's Factor. But as usual, he couldn't help but stick a few jibes in at MoveOn.org.
Funnily enough I checked MoveOn.org, and surprise surprise, there is no campaign on their site against Hillary Clinton. I think Bill O substitutes the word "liberals" or "progressives" with the term "MoveOn.org and their ilk", to make them sound less reputable and make the Democrats seem less electable.
The reality though is that the words of many Republicans make them and their party seem less electable everytime I hear them. The Republican Party and the conservative movement seem to heading further and further into radicalism and extremity, and that brings them closer to parties like the British National Party and the National Front, and that cannot be good for political discourse, not just in the US, but around the world.
Rush "Limburger" Limbaugh takes the top spot in Monday night's Worst Person In The World on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Honourable mentions going to Steve Doocy's son and William Kristol.
Nobody should be able to get away with thinking that a mayor of major city looked more like a shoeshine boy.
Finally a new competitor to Sky has emerged in the UK. Freesat is a BBC and ITV joint venture designed to provide a subscription free alternative to Sky. Currently with around 80 channels, and more coming on stream soon, Freesat looks like a decent competitor.
All the major channels from BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and S4/C are there with Channel 5 expected to follow soon. News channels are well represented with BBC News, AlJazeera and EuroNews, whilst movie channels are also well represented with the two True Movies channels plus Movies 4 Men. Unfortunately sport is not currently represented on Freesat, but with a currently expected 200 channels expected to be available soon, Freesat could well provide the alternative to paying out a monthly subscription to Sky or Cable that many people have been looking for.
The Daily Telegraph in the UK has listed the 50 most influential political pundits in the US. Crooks and Liars looks at the list with some degree of dismay. Nicole Belle who wrote the post probably didn't know that the Daily Telegraph is the UK equivalent of the Washington Times in political stance.
The full list runs like this, with political viewpoint added...
50 - Rachel Maddow (Lib)
49 - Mary Matalin (Con)
48 - Paul Krugman (Lib)
47 - J. C. Watts (Con)
46 - Mark Levin (Con)
45 - Fred Barnes (Con)
44 - Jeffrey Toobin (Ind)
43 - Paul Begala (Lib)
42 - Bill Bennett (Con)
41 - Mark Shields (Lib)
40 - Tony Snow (Con)
39 - Dee Dee Myers (Lib)
38 - Michael Barone (Con)
37 - Eugene Robinson (Lib)
36 - Newt Gingrich (Con)
35 - Joe Trippi (Lib)
34 - Howard Kurtz (Ind)
33 - Roland Martin (Lib)
32 - William Kristol (Con)
31 - Juan Williams (Ind)
30 - Peggy Noonan (Con)
29 - Ron Fournier (Ind)
28 - James Carville (Lib)
27 - Pat Buchanan (Con)
26 - Arriana Huffington (Lib)
25 - Michael Savage (Con)
24 - Laura Ingraham (Con)
23 - Mike Allen (Ind)
22 - Dick Morris (Con)
21 - David Gergen (Con)
20 - Joe Klein (Lib)
19 - Donna Brazille (Lib)
18 - Frank Luntz (Con)
17 - Andrew Sullivan (Con)
16 - Glenn Beck (Con)
15 - Bill Maher (Lib)
14 - Chuck Todd (Ind)
13 - Keith Olbermann (Lib)
12 - Bill O'Reilly (Con)
11 - Stephen Colbert (Lib - portrays a conservative)
10 - Mark Halperin (Ind)
09 - David Brooks (Con)
08 - Jon Stewart (Lib)
07 - Tim Russert (Ind)
06 - Matt Drudge (Con)
05 - John Harris & Jim Vandehei (Ind)
04 - Rush Limbaugh (Con)
03 - Sean Hannitty (Con)
02 - Chris Matthews (Lib)
01 - Karl Rove (Con)
Can't say I agree with this list. Rove could hardly be described as influential, he's only been a pundit for a few months. Both Olbermann and O'Reilly should rate higher, but that's just my opinion.
"Coultergeist" is back, and winning the usual awards, such as Countdown's Worst Person In The World.
Well done, Coultergeist. At least you managed to keep Bill O'Reilly off the top spot.
When someone says the name "Boris Johnson" to me, lots of things come to mind. His untidy, unruly mop of a haircut is one. His unerring ability to gaffe even the simplest issues is another.
Now, as well as being an MP for Henley at the Westminster parliament, he has been elected as Mayor Of London. His style is known to be eccentic, almost buffoon-like in its eccentricity. A perfect example of this is a comment that was written in a column in the Daily Telegraph in 2004.
"There is absolutely no one, apart from yourself, who can prevent you, in the middle of the night, from sneaking down to tidy up the edges of that hunk of cheese at the back of the fridge."
What brought that line out in the article? Who knows, who cares! Boris's eccentricity and buffoonery are legend, as is his ability to gaffe. Indeed, The Hindu in India, in refering to the election of Boris used the headline "Gaffe-prone Johnson is London Mayor". Amongst the many times he has gaffed are the following...
"...The proposed ban on incitement to “religious hatred” make no sense unless it involves a ban on the Koran itself..." from his Daily Telegraph column in 2005.
"...Yes, cannabis is dangerous, but no more than other perfectly legal drugs. It's time for a rethink, and the Tory party - the funkiest, most jiving party on Earth - is where it's happening..." from his Daily Telegraph column in 2001
"...Look the point is ... er, what is the point? It is a tough job but somebody has got to do it..." upon being appointed Shadow Arts Minister in 2004.
"...I can't remember what my line on drugs is. What's my line on drugs?" During the 2005 UK General Election.
His opinions on people seem to change too. Witness the following quote from 2003 on US Presdient Bush from an editorial in the Spectator.
"...The President is a cross-eyed Texan warmonger, unelected, inarticulate, who epitomises the arrogance of American foreign policy..."
But he wasn't so vitriolic against him in his book "Have I Got Views For You"...
"...Not only did I want Bush to win, but we threw the entire weight of The Spectator behind him."
Now we have a buffoon, running the capital city. The term "political circus" has never been more apt. London is about to become a circus with Boris as a ringmaster in clown's makeup! It could be that Boris's gaffing between now and the next General Election might actually put a dent in David Cameron's plans to be PM. The Conservatives may have won the Battle Of London but they might lose the war as a result. Only time will tell.
Well, about ten minutes to midnight, and the results are finally announced at City Hall. With no single candidate getting over 50% of the vote after first preference votes were counted, it was down to Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone, and despite Ken picking up more second preference votes than Boris, the gap after first preference votes had been too great to make up, therefore, Boris Johnson is the new Mayor Of London.
The capital city, will be run by the biggest buffoon in UK politics.
I'll prove my point in a later post.
With all 159 councils having declared in the Local Council Elections, it's time to review the results and analyse them.
It's not really surprising what the headlines are. Conservatives gaining 12 councils and 256 councillors, Labour losing 9 councils and 331 councillors. The media is refering to the losses for Labour as huge. Maybe in pure terms of numbers, losing over 300 councillors sounds like a lot, but in analytical terms, it's not nearly such a massive loss.
Remember, this is not 1 election to a governing body, but 159 elections to 159 different governing bodies, in these cases, local councils. When you do the maths, you realise that one average, Labour has only lost the equivalent of just under 2.1 councillors per council. Certainly not anywhere near as impressive sounding is it?
The Conservatives are trying to claim a major success. Yet, there are enough negatves out there for me to suggest that their 'major success' is somwhat tempered. Look through all 159 results and you see some really striking ones.
In Burnley, the council had been pretty much split between LibDems and Labour with Conservatives and BNP way back. However, the gainers from Labour's misfortune this time was not the Conservatives, but the Liberal Democrats who took control of the council with 23 seats to Labour's 12. Neither the Cobservatives (6) nor the BNP (4) gained out of Labour's misfortunes. For David Cameron, the failure make any kind of move in Burnley must be seen as somewhat of a failure.
In Colchester, which had been a Conservative council, albeit only briefly for less than a year, the Conservatives lost seats and lost control of the council. The Conservatives lost 5 seats there, with Labour actually picking up 4 seats, and the LibDems the remaining seat.
Coventry also went against the grain, with just 1 seat out of the 18 seats up for election changing hands, but it went from Conservative to Labour and with it, the Conservatives lost control of the council.
In St Albans, the Liberal Democrats took control of the council, despite the Conservatives having the better performance and gaining 3 seats, compared to the LibDems gaining only 1. But that 1 seat was sufficient to give the LibDems control and rather took the shine off what looked a good performance.
In Oxford, the Conservatives only had two seats on the council before the election. By the end of the night, they had none at all, wiped out. In Sheffield too, the 1 Conservative councillor there lost his seat, and the party is not represented on the council at all.
Add to this councils like Adur, Barrow in Furness, Brentwood, Burnley, Castle Point, Cheltenham, Daventry, Fareham, Kingston-upon-Hull, Manchester, Mole Valley, Rochdale, Runnymede, South Tyneside, St Helens, Stoke-On-Trent, Stroud, Swansea, Swindon, Thurrock, Wallsall, Watford, Waveney, Winchester, Woking and Worcester where the Conservatives failed to gain any seats at all, and it does somewhat take more than an edge of the Conservatives "major success".
There are also councils like Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Gateshead, Gwynedd, Knowsley, Liverpool, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxford and Sheffield where the Conservatives haven't even got a single seat on the council, and councils such as Bridgend, Broxbourne, Colchester, Coventry, Derby, Eastleigh, Gosport, Huntingdonshire, Ipswich, Leeds, Oxford, Purbeck, Reigate & Banstead, Sefton, Sheffield, Slough, South Lakeland, Southend-on-Sea and Stratford-On-Avon where the Conservatives suffered losses rather than gains.
Now how major does their success look? It looks rather patchy to me.
On Thursday night's edition of the Factor, Bill O managed the truly incredible feat of linking the Reverend Jeremiah Wright with former left wing radio talk show host, comedian and writer Al Franken. These links are getting more and more tenuous, even more tenuous than a Radio 4 link!
What I find particularly galling is the way he talks about the hate business being good for Wright and his church, yet conveniently forgets about all the money Fox News and their hatemongers, including BillO and Sean Hannity, make. "Fair and balanced"? I think not.
He's done the Trifecta! 3 days on the trot for Bill O'Reilly as Countdown's Worst Person in the World.
If it hadn't been for Monday, he'd have run the gauntlet!
BBC News is reporting two men who tried to blackmail a member of the Royal Family have been found guilty of blackmail at the Old Bailey.
We still don't know who the 'minor royal' was the centre of the claims, and we probably never will, but I don't really care. This was pure greed at work. Trying unsuccessfully to sell the story to the papers, then trying to blackmail the royal in question. Greed is never good, no matter what Gordon Gecko said in "Wall Street".
MSNBC are amongst the many news sites at the moment reporting the death in Flordia of Deborah Jeane Palfrey. If the name rings no bells, then go back to last year, when the DC Madam scandal was dominating the political headlines in Washington. Republican Senator David Vitter from Louisiana was one of the more high profile names that got caught up in the scandal, but others did not escape scot-free either.
An official at the State Department, Randall Tobias, who was director of foreign aid programs, resigned his post after being caught in the scandal.
Of the usual blog sources that I follow, only Huffington Post has anything on the story currently, with one source suggesting that Deborah Jeane Palfrey suspercted she might be "suicided". She said she would not commit suicide, and if she was ever found dead, it was likely to have been murder. Now, whether this was paranoid ravings, or something closer to the truth, I'm not sure we'll ever know, because the Republicans, and the rest of the DC political establishment would love nothing more than to see this story buried.
I know that a lot of you are coming here for more information on the case of the Austrian man, Josef Fritzl, who kidnapped his own daughter and fathered seven children with her.
EuroNews is reporting that Fritzl is alledged to have threatened to kill his incestuous family with poison gas if they tried to escape.
France 24 reports that prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for Fritzl. Although incest and rape carries shorter sentences, they're trying to establish a manslaughter case against Fritzl for the death of the seventh child.
Radio Netherlands Worldwide is reporting that police are asking for information from Fritzl's neighbours in the town of Amstetten.
RTE News is reporting that police are looking into possible links between the incest case, and the case of a murdered teenager in 1986 that has remained unsolved.
SwissInfo is reporting that Firtzl pretended to be his own daughter, in a phone call to his own wife back in 1994.
CNN reports that a tenant in Josef Fritzl's house claims that Fritzl's son was often seen entering the secret basement, an area that Fritzl said was off-limits to his tenant and indeed to his own wife.
All in all, much more information is coming out and we'll try and keep track of it here, as it develops.
Well, you know what's been on my mind recently, now tell me what's on yours. It's over to you...
BBC News: Austrian Police have revealed that DNA evidence has backed up the claims that an Autsrian man fathered 7 children with his own daughter.
Commentary: My viewpoint on this is already posted here, but I note the considerable international interest in this story. Most newspaper commentary on this has been predicatbly horrified, whether the paper is politically on the left or the right. The more horrifying thing to me, is not so much that it happened, more that it actually went undetected or untraced for so many years. I find it difficult to believe he handled this entirely on his own. I also find it difficult to believe that his wife knew nothing about it. I hate to say this, but I'm sure there is more to come in this story, and it will not make nice reading.
BBC News: New reseach suggests about half of all Polish and Eastern European migrants who have come to the UK since 2004 have returned home.
Commentary: In a related story, BBC News also reports that a farmer near Peterborough takes on lots of Eastern European migrants to pick fruit and veg at a wage of £7-an-hour. Locals didn't want the job with one person quoted as saying, "...I'd prefer to sign-on than do that." This is what gets me riled up. Some of these lazy people would rather do nothing for a week and earn just £60.50, rather than do 30 hours work, and earn over 3 times as much, before deductions. It's shameful that people are not willing to work for more money than most retail workers get.
MSNBC: US presidential candidate Barack Obama has denounced his former pastor over public comments Reverend Jeremiah Wright has made recently.
Commentary: As the race for the Democratic nomination stretches on towards the convention, you have to wonder if the current situation is hurting the Democrats or the Republicans more. Sure, John McCain may have the Republican nomination sewn up, but the Democratic candidates are dominating the headlines and as the old saying goes, there's no such thing as bad publicity.
BBC News has an article about the fine line between porn that is kinky and porn that is illegal under a new law, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, that will get its final reading this week.
The new law defines extreme pornography, which will be declared illegal under the new law as...
This law has been drafted in a hurry, rushed through, not properly considered, and an overreaction. This law makes criminals out of consumers, rather than producers, which still applies by the way in the 1959 Obscene Publications Act.
There is no way that any government should be interfereing in people's private lives. Censorship is a no-no.
BBC News is reporting that Brazillian football star Ronaldo has been caught up in a sex scandal with three cross-dressing prostitutes.
I must be one of the few people who finds this obsession with famous people and sex scnadals boring. What people do in their private time and away from their jobs is not public business, and we should just let them live their lives.
BBC News is reporting the quite horrific story of an Austrian man, who is now 73 years old, who kidnapped his daughter some 24 years ago, and then fathered children with her.
Quite honestly, I think the whole story is shocking, and needs no hyping at all. Though I do imagine the tabloids will overhype it as they usually do.
Well, now we know the truth, and whilst I was partialy right in terms of the intent behind the video, the actual thing it was promoting was quite different to what I imagined it to be. Who would have imagined that Chanelle's partner in the video, was a furry puppet!
Incidentally, this is being reported by the Daily Star and other newspapers as showing that Chanelle is game for a laugh and happy to poke fun at the celebrity lifestyle, including her own.
My take on that is much more cynical, I'm afraid. It proves to me that Chanelle and her team knew all to well, that the timing would make great promotional capital for her reality TV show and her first single, the video I posted previously. I feel that Chanelle is much more saavy than other so called D-listers, and perhaps, just perhaps, she might just make the C-list yet. It'll take time, but she seems to be putting the work in. We'll see if she fades from view when the new housemates come into view, or whether she has more staying power than some others.
Once again, I touch on a territory that I don't tend to deal in. This time, it's the world of celebrity sex tapes, which seems to be quite a popular line in the tabloids. But this one... well, you tell me.
Chanelle Hayes, who was a contestant in Big Brother 8 in the UK, has a new reality TV series airing in the UK and Ireland on VH1 called "Chanelle: Wannabe Popstar". Her debut single, I Want It, is released on 18 May. But the video is already doing the rounds on the music TV channels.
So, with all this happening in her life, what do you think gets uploaded to YouTube? A Paris Hilton-style, night vision-esque production of a 'sex tape'.
It's not that we're not used to seeing her with very few clothes on in provocative poses. She's practically a contract babe for the Daily Star, she seems to be in the paper most days in some pose or another wearing very little. It's either very cynically timed by her management to coincide with her music and relaity TV projects and garner more publicity, or it's very cynically timed by some ex-boyfriend out to destroy her. I know which one I believe.
On the YouTube page,the video is titled "Who Is That?", and the "user" who uploaded this is called "ohnoshedidnt90". They only joined on April 18th 2008, the day the video was released and exactly a month before the single is released. I don't know about you guys, but I smell a rat, or should I say, a viral.
This looks like nothing more than an attempt at viral advertising for her single. After all, the girl in the sex tape wears exactly the same outfit that Chanelle does in the bedroom scenes of her music video. The bedroom also looks very similar, although it appears to have been shot from a different angle. I'd go so far as to say this is a piece of viral advertising shot on one of the sets that her video was shot on. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am here.
I rarely get involved writing about the latest advertising campaign for such and such a product or service. For a start, there are simply too many of them, I'd never to talk about anything else. But one campaign recently has drawn my attention, and indeed, drawn my contempt too.
It's the campaign for the new Citroen C5, under the tagline, "Unmistakably German".
*Sigh* How stupid do they think we are? The word "Citroen" is a French word, and Citroen has always been a French-owned company!
Citroen is about as German as Hamburgers!
The ads, and the making of them are at the website for the Citroen C5. It re-inforces just how out of touch the advertising industry is with real people. They think they have to be clever and try to mentally outwit us in order that we don't think we're being sold to. Let me tell you, I work and have worked for a long time in the retail industry, and I find that the opposite works best. If you're upfront, honest and straight forward, it tends to work better than trying to outwit them.
Time for a reality check, methinks.
MegaStar reports that actresses Scarlett Johannson and Natalie Portman, who recently teamed up on "The Other Boelyn Sister" and apparently became best friends there, are both to make their directorial debuts in a new film, called "New York, I Love You", which is a collection of short stories based in the city of New York.
Now, I like watching these two on screen, but it will be interesting to see how their directorial debuts will be recieved. It's obvious that both are planning for a future behind the camera after they feel they've done what they can in front of it, so good on them.
What's happened in the world today that makes you want to vent your spleen? It's over to you...
I thought it was about time I brought this one onto here. It's the movie that I am most interested in this summer. Edward Norton stars as Dr Bruce Banner alongside Liv Tyler and Tim Roth in The Incredible Hulk. Here's the trailer.
Plus, a little something extra...
This widget not only contains the trailer, but also a special behind the scenes video which tells you more about how the filmakers decided to pitch this film version of the Hulk.
They're hoping this will launch a possible Hulk film series in a way that the 2003 Ang Lee movie couldn't. There was nothing wrong with the Ang Lee movie in terms of staying true to the comics and the character, but since most people who'd had any experience with the Hulk had come across him in the 1970s live action TV show which had starred Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, the fact that it was so far removed from that whole surrounding meant that whatever fan base the TV show had built up, wasn't transferred to the Ang Lee film.
With this film being re-imagined more along the lines of the old TV show, with some comic-book elements kept in, they're hoping to combine the best of both worlds in one film, and it'll either be a great success cos it will put it off spectacularly well, or it will be a big flop because it will have failed miserably. It's not easy to combine two worlds into one like that, and I hope they've done it right.
What have you spotted on the net that deserves highlighting? What's got your blood boiling? These posts are designed for you to tell me about anything that is on your mind. So, over to you.
Do you remember the old 1983 song from the Weather Girls, It's Raining Men? Released in the UK in August 1983, it reached the dizzying height of Number 73, before being re-relased in March 1984 and reaching Number 2!
I say this because of a video that is on You Tube. I will link to it, rather than embedding it, because it is SO crap that it makes the people Simon Cowell insults on American Idol and other so-called 'talent' shows look like pros!
Out of tune, out of sync with each other, discordant, and that's just the good points!
This piece of pro-McCain idiocy not only butchers a perfectly good piece of music and turns into politically biased mush, but proves conclusively that the concepts of parody and satire are completely lost on conservatives. This comes across as a pure attack video with nothing redeeming about it.
If you think your ears can stand the pain for 2 minutes 35 seconds, then go ahead. Otherwise, save your sanity! And to be honest, would you defend any of these three at a Sanity Board hearing???
Oh and perhaps they ought to consider when they choose clothes for their next bluescreen bonanza, not selecting clothes that disappear in the chromakey!!!
If I could have rated it a minus score, I would have!
When an op-ed piece in a newspaper starts like this...
"It is apparently better to be a terrorist than a law abiding citizen."
...you do wonder where the hell the piece is going to go after a line like that. This line appears in an op-ed in The Jerusalem Post! It is a piece written by a former Palestinian terrorist, who was the subject of an article, also in the Jerusalem Post, which surprisingly claimed that this guy was a terrorist whose bombing history can't be found.
I will say little more, other than enlightening, and well worth the read.
The Wall Street Journal Online is reporting that Katie Couric could be on the verge of departing from CBS. The Journal reports that CBS executives are under pressure to cut costs on the programme, and the biggest target there is Katie Couric with her contract reportedly worth $15 million a year.
If she were to leave, who should get the anchor duties? Well, Harry Smith, longtime CBS News anchor, but like Katie mostly for morning programmes, has proved himself a more than capable anchor when he has substituted for her. The only other feasible alternative from within CBS News is Russ Mitchell, who anchors the Sunday edition of the programme. Can't say I see any other reasonable alternatives from outside of CBS News.
TV Newser has more on this developing story.
It was back in August 2006, on the eve of the Connecticut Primary to decide the Democratic Party candidate for Novermber 2006's upcoming Congressional Election, when Joe Lieberman's campaign announced that his site had suffered a "denial of service" attack and had been taken offline.
Lieberman blamed supporters of rival candidate Ned Lamont for organising the crash via denial of service attacks.
Well, Crooks & Liars reports today that the FBI office in New Haven, Connecticut has concluded that there was no denial of service attack, but that the server was "...overutilized and misconfigured..."
I doubt that Lieberman will remember any of this though. He's moved on to be "Chief Corrections Officer" on the John McCain Republican campaign!
A couple of years ago, I was struggling to try and update a site that I had been trying to work on for the better part of 8 years. I'd had enough of spending hours coding a single page, only to spend a few more hours touching up that coding when things went wrong.
So I scrapped the site and started a blog. That blog was Viewpoint, which is what you are reading now. But now,I have relaunched Ident City as a blog. I will be posting on Ident City about UK television and any other television related news I find.
Stay tuned.
Spud has brought back the Inside Cable News blog, rebranded as ICN 2.0. It's at a new address, which I have put in the links in place of the original.
I'll be keeping an eye on the RSS feed as usual, and if Spud is good on his word, he'll be probably getting regular links from this blog.
Welcome Back, Spud.
BBC News is reporting that the election in Zimbabwe maybe over very soon. The US Embassy has confirmed that American, French and British Ambassadors in Harare have been summoned for a meeting, and there have been many reports throughout the day about possible talks going on between Zanu PF and the MDC, with South Africa thought to be involved as a mediator, although there have been flat out denials of this by some of the parties said to be involved.
All this information comes with the usual warnings, that because there is no independent media in Zimbabwe, and no foreign news agencies are allowed to report from there, there is no independent verification of these reports.
The US Embassy is also saying that President Mugabe is due to give a broadcast sometime between 1900 and 1930 GMT. As I write this, it is currrently 1823 GMT.
This could be a very interesting evening. We'll keep a close eye on this one, and keep you updated.
I turned on Capital Life earlier to listen to the music, and all I found was silence. The scrolling message on my DAB radio says, "We're sorry, but Capital Life has closed down. Thanks for listening to the station over the past few years."
So, just as Global buys GCap, Capital Life closes. I used to enjoy that station. Oh well, Capital Life's demise might be a good thing in the long term, but confidence in DAB is low. What with 4 Digital being put back until November, it seems that a lot will be on the shoulders of established stations. Is there no-one with the guts to try something new on Digital 1? I guess we'll see in time.
Last night, was another special edition of Countdown, on NBC. And as usual, it featured some of the MSNBC regular features, such as Worst Person In The World. The Bronze, for the third edition in a row, went to WalMart, who own Asda in the UK. They've sued a former employee who was broadsided by a semi, and claimed over $400,000 in compensation which was being used to provide 24 hour care for her, since she was brain damaged as a result of the broadsiding. WalMart sued and won in court a claim for all the money this woman had in the world. I understand that Keith will continue awarding Bronzes every night to Walmart until they atone, which they should do VERY quickly, since this is generating tons of negative publicity for the company.
Silver went to Rush Limburger, I mean, Rush Limbaugh, and former Clinton advisor Dick Morris got the gold. Check out the video below.
I've discovered that a local TV station in Witchita, Kansas, broadcasts a channel online 24/7. KCTU's internet channel is different from the broadcast channel, but it does show one thing. If a small local TV station in Witchita can sort out broadcasting 24/7 on the web, why can't some other TV channels do the same?
This all came about as a result of the station losing their affiliation with ION Television, originally known as the PAX network. Kudos to KCTU for a fine idea, well executed.
The Daily Star's headline "Posh Gets Leathered" got me interested earlier. Victoria Beckham is not known for wearing much leather. In fact, it was somewhat of a surprise when she turned up to the Spice Girls press conference in what looked like a PVC bustier and leggings.
Well, she's back in PVC again, only this time it was treated to look like leather. There was no way you could have leggings that tight made from proper leather. In fact, the Daily Mail called it correctly by calling her "PVC Posh".
I'm certainly not a fan of Victoria Beckham, but certain style choices always interest me, and the fact she chose PVC not real leather is interesting. Perhaps the fetish styling of PVC and latex remains a favourite amongst celebrities, rather than real leather.
Today, French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in the UK for a state visit, with his new first lady. at the same time, a photographer has released a nude photograph of Carla Bruni Sarkozy from around 15 years ago.
The photograph can be seen on the sites of the Daily Star and Daily Mail. There's no need for me to post the picture here directly, both links, if you choose to visit them, will show you the photograph. I could go off on one of my usual rambles about press intrusion, or about the price of fame, but there is more than that here.
I suspect that the photographer involved is making somewhat of a political statement rather than purely selling a picture. Nicolas Sarkozy is not a popular figure in France these days, largely down to his affair with Carla Bruni. The most recent poll puts his approval rating at just 37%, which is well down on his early approval ratings just after his election.
It'll be interesting to see if the Carla Bruni situation is as damaging for Sarkozy as Iraq has been for "Dubya".
Crooks and Liars some time ago reported that the Heritage Foundation website had a clock counting up the days, hours, minutes etc, since the expiration of the so called Protect America Act.
Well, having just been back there myself to check, I can report that it's still there, still counting, and still wrong. On the Widget it counts the number of days etc, "Since Congress Let Emergency Surveillance Powers Lapse." I think these people need reminding that a version was sent to Bush's desk, and he brought out the veto pen, since it didn't include immunity for the actions of the telecoms companies, actions that Bush refused to confirm happened, even though his VP did confirm it.
If these powers were SO vital, he should have accepted the bill that was sent to him, and then separately negotiated with Congress for the Telecoms immunity. But since he DIDN'T accept that bill, it was BUSH, not Congress who let the powers lapse. Nothing more than pure petty politicing, yet again.
To say I am angry about this story would be putting it mildly. I am sickened by the actions of those who thought they could intimidate a local news reporter and scare her off a genuine news story, because the reporter happened to be black.
The reporter's name is Charmayne Brown, and she works for CBS-affiliate WSPA News Channel 7. Another news crew from NBC affiliate WYFF News 4 was also on the scene, and like WSPA's crew, they were covering a local story in Union, South Carolina about a murder of an elderly man in Spring Street in Union. The murder victim's grandson had been charged with that murder. It turns out, two of the people who attacked Charmayne, were relatives of the man charged.
Here's the video, courtesy of YouTube. But be warned, I do not believe that this video is suitable for anyone with a nervous disposition.
To me, this is media intimidation, or an attempt at it, with racial undertones at the very least, if they're not overtones. Both WYFF and WSPA report this story, and WSPA anchors Amy Wood and Tom Crabtree have both blogged about this story. I totally agree with Amy. You attack one journalist, you attack us all. We are supposed to be impartial observers, but I happily put my usual impartiality aside for this. I hope these people get the full weight of the law down on them. They have made for themselves more enemies around the world than you could ever possibly imagine.
The attackers names have been released by local police. So, Trina Vinson, Tousha Smith, Billie Taylor and Ronald Harris of Union, SC, you are today's Worst Persons In The World.
Adult move star Jenna Jameson is fronting a new campaign by PETA, wanting people to "Pleather Yourself" by wearing plastic-based alternatives to Leather.
Now, I've no problem with the idea of wearing plastic, I have PVC trousers myself. But they seem to be so caught up in animal rights, that they haven't figured out that more plastic leather clothes also equals more damage to the environment. You see, Plastic is derived from Oil, and since we are running out of Oil reserves, as well as the plastics themselves being quite damaging if left to attempt to rot, you see just how a single minded approach to an issue can fail to see something just as bad.
"... By choosing pleather, you are keeping the fun alive and helping animals! What could be better?" How about leaving a planet for our children and grandchildren to actually live on?
Okay, so he's finally gone. Eliot Spitzer has finally decided the time was right to resign his post as New York Governor. Lt Governor David Paterson takes over. So I thought the time was right to use some video highlights from whatever sources were available.
First from MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, how Keith reported the story Monday, and fair play to him that he did report it.
And then from Tuesday's Countdown, the Worst Person award, which does relate... just!
Now, some of the Breaking News coverage from Monday's MSNBC daytime news cycle.
Next, the Monday announcement from Eliot Spitzer, that was long on reterick and short on detail.
Next, more coverage from after the announcement.
Now, fast forward to today, and the announcement from Eliot Spitzer of his resignation.
and finally in our video roundup, MSNBC analyses what happens from here on in.
The most interesting thing about this whole affair is just how little Eliot Spitzer has said. He's given very little detail about the allegations, and it would seem that he is preparing to face justice and probably serve time, so he is avoiding saying anything that would damage any defence he can come up with.
We'll keep our eyes on the video screens and let you know what else we find in this story.
This is a pretty big story in New York, and to be honest, in my view, this is a pretty big story overall. New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is reported by the New York Times website to have been involved in a prostitution ring. According to the report, he was caught on a federal wiretap meeting up with a high-price prostitute at a hotel in Washington, in relation to a ring, the Emporer's Club VIP, that was broken up last week.
So far, Eliot Spitzer has not indicated that he intends to resign, but sources have told WCBS TV in New York that Spitzer could resign as early as Monday evening and was not expected to continue as Governor. If he does, until the state constitution, The Lieutenant Governor, David Paterson, would serve out the rest of the term, and the post of Lieutenant Governor would be vacant until the next election in 2010.
This is big news, and to be honest, if he doesn't resign, it will be very damaging for Democrats in New York in upcoming elections, not just the Governor's race but other elections including possibly the 2008 Presidential race. By geographic association, if nothing else, this might also damage Hilary Clinton's chances if she doesn't distance herself signifcantly from Spitzer.
I am nothing if not a realist. In the many years that I have been
following the media, I've seen the them do a lot of silly things. But
the way industry insiders such as Ralph Bernard have recently talked
down DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) digital radio is almost nothing
short of deliberate sabotage. Thankfully few others have gotten in on
the act, though DAB does have its problems. But then, so does GCap, the
company Ralph Bernard worked for. So maybe, it was telling that Mr
Bernard did everything he could to hide GCap's problems behind the
façade of a DAB crisis. After all, almost all of GCap's radio stations
broadcast simultaneously on analogue AM or FM and on DAB Digital Radio.
But now, a group of analysts have bought into this façade and are trying to suggest that there is a real crisis
in DAB, a crisis that - by the way - doesn't actually exist except in
the minds of bean counters who are looking for profit all the time. The
name of this group of analysts: Enders Analysis. Now, this analytical
organisation has tried to claim that in fact DAB is about to become the
next Betamax!
First of all, the analogy is way off the mark. DAB is not in
competition with FM, or AM, or even DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) which
is fairly new on the scene. If that were the case, then LW would
probably have been closed off years ago. Secondly, to look at how long
it takes for something to bed in to the public consciousness, you only
need to look at VHF/FM. The band was opened up in the 1950s, but it
didn't become popular to listen on FM until the 1980s. Even when Radio 1
had to hand over 1053 and 1089 AM to commercial radio in the 1990s,
there were still plenty of people to convert over to listening to Radio 1
on FM.
The report's writer then goes onto suggest that DAB's financial health is looking grim by saying:..
"With three of the largest radio groups having reduced their
commitment to the DAB platform in recent months, their stations having
been replaced by a mix of ethnic, religious and non-commercial
broadcasters, the future health of the DAB platform must be under
question."
I really think this guy needs to wake up and actually do a little
research. There are other issues at work here than just DAB. First,
Yes, GCrap GCap is closing stations, not because DAB is a failure, but
because of their own lack of confidence in both finances and in
broadcasting itself. Remember they tried to sell off 9 stations as a
bundle, that they felt were "non-core stations". They failed,
miserably. GCap's Gold Network is in danger of collapsing. The whole
network of 40 stations gets less than 1.5 million listeners, with some
stations doing incredibly pathetic numbers. Gold's Plymouth station
gets a mere 7,000 listeners. It's because the product being offered,
whether by DAB, FM, AM or online, is one that people think is not up to
scratch. It doesn't mean the platform will fail.
Virgin Radio may have closed one digital only station and put the
brakes on launching another, but that again has little to do with DAB.
SMG, who own STV and Grampian as well as Virgin Radio, are trying to
sell Virgin Radio, but again, there are few interested parties. It's an
attempt to make the Virgin Radio company more attractive to possible
investors. It's got nothing to do with any possible failure of the DAB
platform.
People were saying similar things about Digital Terrestrial
Television when On/ITV Digital collapsed in 2002. I remember it well, I
was reporting on it at Transdiffusion. Now, with Freeview as the
base of the platform, the platform is thriving. Commercial Radio went
into the platform without looking at how long it takes to establish one.
They were looking for a quick 5-year or so turnaround to profits,
rather than the 15-20 years it takes to properly establish a new radio
platform.
DTT went from being a commercial platform to being a public service
platform and has thrived. DAB needs to go down the same route and it
won't as long as GCap are in charge of national and local multiplexes.
GCap's Digital One and Now Digital are the DAB equivalent of ITV
Digital. The daft thing is, this moronic writer of this report, whose
name is Grant Goddard, also referenced the ITV Digital debacle!
"Ofcom faces a public outcry if the DAB platform were to fail, with
owners of the 6.45 million DAB receivers sold to date demanding a refund
of their purchases (remember ITV Digital?)."
Yes, I do. As I mentioned earlier, I reported on it, first hand, you
can find the articles over in Bitstream on EMC, along with those of some
of my colleagues who also reported on it at the time. And in all
honesty, I do not see how over 6 million people would demand refunds for
something that they HAVEN'T subscribed to, but just bought a piece of
equipment for. Believe it or not, there are still ITV Digital digiboxes
out there working, albeit not brilliantly, but they are working, just.
But the most moronic statement of them all has to be the one that
follows:
"Channel 4 is faced with the task of imminently launching a brand new
DAB multiplex in the middle of a snowstorm around the future of the
whole platform,"
A 'snowstorm' that has been created predominantly by two people.
GCap's Ralph Bernard and Enders Analysis's Grant Goddard. Channel 4 got
a taste of running a digital radio station in the recently demised
Oneword, and it obviously didn't put them off because they chose to bid
for a new national multiplex. And they won. 4 Digital group's stations
represent the freshest ideas for DAB ever. All Digital One seems to
have done is trotted out the same old tired sound, time and time again,
and Joe Public is bored with it. With the growth in online listening,
listeners can tune in to stations the world over, and find the cream of
the crop.
Sadly for commercial radio, the UK's best stations are run by
the BBC. British commercial radio barely flickers across the online 'dials' at all. But stations in the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe
are all providing a far superior product to almost anything we have here
in the UK. The reason is simple. Whilst our commercial radio stations
have cut back content to the bare bones of music, commercials and news,
other stations across the world have upped their content levels and
because of this, are able to take advantage of the Podcast medium, which
out of necessity, has to be speech based.
DAB as a platform is not at fault. It's the stations themselves that
have shot themselves in the proverbial foot. Yes, we've lost a number
of radio stations on DAB, but they've closed because their business
plans were not realistic, in much the same way that a multitude of
stations have closed on digital television, not because of the platform,
but because their business plans were not realistic, not designed for
the new digital broadcast environment that exists these days. And
because they aren't making money as quickly as they want to, they want
to abandon a broadcast platform. And you, Grant Goddard of Enders
Analysis, are actively encouraging them with this piece of anti-DAB
propaganda!
The report reads like the kind of hit job that I would expect from
Fox News covering a Democrat, rather than an analysis of DAB. It has so
many inaccuracies, that I have detailed and more, and come to so many
erroneous conclusions, that I have to consign this report to the only
file where it seems to fit in. The waste paper bin!
