Inside my Head….. I Guess
Once a cable news morning talk show host has made comments basically saying Americans are, “marry other species”, Fox News realizes you may have gone over the line.
But wishing death on U.S soldiers captured by our enemies and accusing them of desertion, is still okay? Damn, Fox News sets such high standards.
Is this how low the Republicans are willing to go? Is this how desperate and leaderless they are? A congressman elected by a district of American citizens has to grovel and pled with a loudmouth Jacobin with a microphone, after Gingery told off Limbaugh. Where is the dignity? Pathetic! I don’t care if you are a member of congress who is liberal, centrist, conservative; Democrat, Independent, or Republican; the idea that any member of congress, a Representative whose power emanates from the people goes to a talk show host with hat in hand pleading for forgiveness is pathetic.
Now this move is obviously political. Gingrey is from a district in the state of Georgia that is staunchly conservative. And well some of his voters might not be happy with the what he said, it is humiliating that anyone would in the words of Rush Limbaugh basically “bend over, grab the ankles, and say “have your way with me”.
Here is what Gingery said earlier this week:
“I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach,” Gingrey said. “I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell.
Now more than ever, we need to articulate a clear conservative message that distinguishes our values and our approach from those of liberal Democrats who are seeking to move our nation in the wrong direction. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, and other conservative giants are the voices of the conservative movement’s conscience.
If this is the face of the GOP, it is a face only a mother could love.
Talking Points Memo reports that the still embattled Minnesota Senate Candidate Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) who is still ensnared in a legal battle with Democratic opponent Al Franken, appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Show may have been channeling fellow Minnesota lawmaker Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), claiming he needs money from “Good Americans” to win his legal battle for the Senate seat from Minnesota.
I would love to know what his definition of a “good American is”.
“Sean, this recount is an expensive proposition. Al Franken’s got George Soros, he’s got MoveOn.org. I need just good Americans to contribute,” said Coleman (emphasis his own). “ColemanForSenate.com, http://www.ColemanForSenate.com. It’s an expensive proposition. Don’t let George Soros, MoveOn.com or the far left buy this race.”
So “bad Americans” need not apply.
Fox News resurrecting the prejudices of the antebellum south and spreading them by airwaves since 1996? Look on the ticker of this video, the words that move across the screen at the bottom from Fox News’s New Year’s Eve coverage that I found posted on Raw Story. Fox Personalities like Bill O’Reily often denounce blogs like the Huffington post for hate speech. But will the network apologize for airing a racist statement like “Lets Hope the Magic Negro does a good job”? The phrase “Magic Negro” is a reference to a parody song originally played by Rush Limbaugh and more recently distributed on a CD by former Tennessee state Republican Party Chair and candidate to be the Party’s National Chairman Chip Saltsman.
Talk radio is a medium of ten perceived as being dominated by white Anglo-Saxon straight males mostly of a conservative political persuasion. Their program content often caters to either conservative politics, Christian programing, or a combination of the two which have sometimes become more enmeshed in recent years.
But in Texas of all places, there is one Muslim social Justice figure who is starting to find a niche in talk radio.
Here is a story from the Lone Star Iconoclast:
Sipping green tea across from The Lone Star Iconoclast at a Starbucks in Dallas last week, Hadi Jawad scratched his head. He didn’t know what to make of this lack of news. To him, the new verdict was huge. The jury found all the defendants guilty on all counts for basically giving charity to children in Palestine.
“I would have thought that the outcome this verdict in the second trial, the retrial, would have made national news. It didn’t. The first one did. This one is regional. It’s in this area. It didn’t make New York or LA. That’s startling. You’d think it’d make big news,” he said.
The retrial had been more “intense” for Jawad than the original one. He spent up to three hours each day outside of the building with Hungry For Justice (H4J), a group working in support of the five defendants outside the Earle Cabell Federal Court Building.
“I didn’t miss a day. We had a totally different action going on. We probably served 5,000 meals there during lunch. We fed the homeless. We did this whole action the two months we were out there,” said Jawad.
The local glossy city magazine wagged its finger at H4J’s feeding program. A writer with D Magazine said the H4J support group had exploited the Dallasites that are homeless in order to manufacture more sympathy for the defendants. Jawad, of course, disagreed.
“I’m not giving them a sandwich for free and say, ‘Stand over there and hold this banner.’ I’m not doing that. I told them what the issue was and why they are getting this food, and if you want to stand in support, we’d appreciate it,” he said.
Jawad knows how this game is played, though. The 56-year-old Pakistani immigrant (reared on the Shia side of Islam) has been an active advocate on social justice issues all his adult life. In high school, he organized an effort to clean up the campus’ dilapidated restrooms. In 2004, he co-founded the Crawford, Texas Peace House. And three weeks before the latest HLF verdict, Jawad entered the radio business seeing the need to bring the voices of American Muslims to the airwaves.
Jawad’s hour-long radio show “American Muslim Voices” can be heard on KMNY 1360 AM Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. This opportunity came four months ago with the help of his friends at the upstart Rational Radio , a progressive talk radio station in North Texas. In fact, last year he had introduced the station’s founders, Tunde Obazee and Dave Clifton. Obazee’s wife, Kelli, later approached Jawad for program ideas catering to the local Muslim community.
Indeed it seems this old medium that previously and in many ways still is monopolized by the mostly white conservative male Rush Limbaugh or James Dobson. And although it by and large still is, talk radio as a medium seems to be undergoing a transformation, much like the rest of American society. More woman are gaining a voice in talk radio. African -American and Latinos are gaining more prominence in the medium as are gays. Liberals too are creating their own patch in the radio landscape as well.
Famed radio and tv personality and award winning author Studs Terkel, died yesterday at the age of 96.
Terkel was known for his seventeen books that were largely interviews where people opened up about such things as race, hope, their jobs, life, and even World war II. Terkel was also an actor as well, with one of the first television shows, “Studs Place” and did radio voices for series as well. However in the 1950s his career suffered as well as a result of his liberal political ideology amidst the McCarthy driven red scare.
Terkel was born in the Bronx New York in 1912 (he famously stated that it was the year the Titanic went down and I came up”) and came from humble beginnings.
Through his style of interviewing and works which he called “oral Histories” which involved a great deal more listening then acting, Terkel armed with some questions and a tape recorder was able to allow people both famous and prominent as well as the disadvantaged and ordinary to open themselves up and paint a true more complex representation of America. By reaching into the inner depths of themselves show us all a little something about the experiences that face us all as both individuals and society. His works regarding history and entertainment which he approached with great care but also a buoyant humor will endure. A near century’s worth of history was in that man, and he will no doubt be missed.
CHICAGO (AP) — Studs Terkel, the ageless master of listening and speaking, a broadcaster, activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose best-selling oral histories celebrated the common people he liked to call the “non-celebrated,” died Friday. He was 96.
Dan Terkell said his father died at home, and described his death as “peaceful, no agony. This is what he wanted.”
“My dad led a long, full, eventful, sometimes tempestuous, but very satisfying life,” Terkell, who spells his name with an extra letter, said in a statement issued through his father’s colleague and close friend Thom Clark.
He was a native New Yorker who moved to Chicago as a child and came to embrace and embody his adopted town, with all its “carbuncles and warts,” as he recalled in his 2007 memoir, “Touch and Go.” He was a cigar and martini man, white-haired and elegantly rumpled in his trademark red-checkered shirts, an old rebel who never mellowed, never retired, never forgot, and “never met a picket line or petition I didn’t like.”
“A lot of people feel, ‘What can I do, (it’s) hopeless,'” Terkel told The Associated Press in 2003. “Well, through all these years there have been the people I’m talking about, whom we call activists … who give us hope and through them we have hope.”
The tougher the subject, the harder Terkel took it on. He put out an oral history collection on race relations in 1992 called “Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About The American Obsession,” and, in 1995, “Coming of Age,” recollections of men and women 70 and older. More>>>
The criticisms and heat continue to mount on Conservative Talk radio personality Michael Savage, following his July 16 remarks on his nationally syndicated “Savage Nation” talk show where he said amongst other things that a child with Autism is usually ” a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out”.
Savage, although embattled, has persisted in defending his remarks, by saying that although Autism does exist, a corrupt nexus between psychicans and the pharamacutical companies designed to get children hooked on drugs such as Ritalin.
Now not only are people are people calling for his show to be pulled off the air and for him to be fired by the Talk Radio Network, which carries his show. Several major sponsors have already pulled their ads and distanced themselves from Savage and his controversial statements. (H/T to Andrew Sullivan for this latest update on the Savage madness).
The conservative shock jock’s comments sent shock waves through the autism community. Parents and autism activists staged rallies in protest in New York and San Francisco
“We are here to call for the firing of Michael Savage. For his truly hurtful, outrageous and inaccurate statements,” said one protester.
And the backlash didn’t stop there. Sponsors of Savage’s radio show, such as AFLAC Insurance and Home Depot, have pulled their advertisements. Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus gave $25 million for the creation of Autism Speaks, in 2005, and sits on the group’s board of directors.
Despite the outcries and some sponsors being lost, the Talk Radio Network continues to stand by Savage.
An interesting post was also written on a blog for U.S News and World Report about Savage;’s remarks, and how Savage’s take on the issue contradicts the scientific facts.
The long effort by Sirius to buyout XM was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday. Still don’t know if this is a good thing. On one hand, one company now will corner the market on satellite radio. However, as the proponents of the merger have said in the past both old technologies such as Cds and terrestrial (classic old non-satellite radio) as well as newer technologies such as the ipod, Internet radio stations, and the such do provide a form of solid competition, to an industry that in many ways has yet to really catch fire with the public. However, it would still be nice to have a little legitimate competition in the field of satellite radio.
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators formally approved the merger of the nation’s only two satellite radio operators Friday, ending a 16-month-long drama closely watched by Washington and Wall Street.
Sirius Satellite Radio’s $3.3 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings will mean 18 million-plus subscribers will be able to receive programming from both services. Executives say it will mean huge savings that will lead to a first-ever profit for the relatively nascent industry.
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to approve the buyout, with the tiebreaker coming Friday night from Republican commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate.
Tate had insisted that the companies settle charges that they violated FCC rules before she would approve the deal. The companies agreed this week to pay $19.7 million to the U.S. Treasury for violations related to radio receivers and ground-based signal repeaters operated by the companies.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin confirmed the final vote Friday night.
The approval appeared to hit a glitch Friday when a dispute surfaced between the chairman and Tate over the violations, but differences between the two were quickly resolved, and the approval went forward.
Here are some more questions and explanations about the merger on the XM satellite radio site.
Reports that a majority of members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) now approve of the merger, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission have reached a tentative deal to approve the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., FCC officials said Wednesday.
Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate is expected to cast the final and deciding vote on the deal shortly, the officials said, after details are resolved on several outstanding enforcement issues. In exchange for her vote, Ms. Tate and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin have been negotiating with the companies to pay upward of $20 million in fines for violations regarding tower locations and power limits, people close to the negotiations said.
The companies are valued at $7.5 billion combined.
The deal will allow Sirius to make a big marketing push at holiday time, traditionally a big selling period for satellite radio. Within three months, the company is expected to have new à la carte radios on the market. These will allow consumers to mix and match 50 or 100 radio stations from the two services
Still I don’t know whether to view this as further consolidation and concentration of the media in fewer hands or as a solid business deal that doesn’t threaten diverse media. By the way I am a Sirius subscriber.
Conservative Shock jock and Autism denier Michael Wiener, also known as Michael Savage.
Usually I don’t like to get on and blog about outrage sparked by some shock jock or tv host, who makes provocative comments that are either made to garner attention, but I make an exception here.
Michael Wiener, better known the listeners of his conservative Nationally syndicated talk show as Michael Savage, has been known before to enter fields with often outlandish and course remarks. In 2004, his MSNBC weekend talk show was canceled after he told a caller that he hoped that they would “get Aids and die”. He has sounded off and made fiery statements against Gays, called liberalism a mental disorder, said those who speak out in the war on terror should be jailed, and has made various offensive remarks against Muslims, immigrants (particularly Mexicans), and other groups.
But now the Conservative shock jock has entered that familiar territory when he called Autism “a fraud” and that autism “in 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out.”
The following is a bit of the transcript of a June 16 broadcast where he made the remark, as documented by Media Matters.org.
Now, the illness du jour is autism. You know what autism is? I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is.
What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, “Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.”
Autism — everybody has an illness. If I behaved like a fool, my father called me a fool. And he said to me, “Don’t behave like a fool.” The worst thing he said — “Don’t behave like a fool. Don’t be anybody’s dummy. Don’t sound like an idiot. Don’t act like a girl. Don’t cry.” That’s what I was raised with. That’s what you should raise your children with. Stop with the sensitivity training. You’re turning your son into a girl, and you’re turning your nation into a nation of losers and beaten men. That’s why we have the politicians we have.
Thats great. Going after children that have a mental disorder that they were born with and that cause those afflicted to face daunting challenges every day. What next is he going to call Cancer a scam? Maybe that quadriplegics are just wheel chair bound because they are too lazy to get up?
What a loser. Autism is very real and it is a disorder that in a variety of ways affects as many as 1 in every 150 children born.
Since then the autism community has responded. Here is how the Autism society of America reacted in a statement.
This week, talk show host Michael Savage made inaccurate and derogatory comments about autism on his radio show, calling the condition “a fraud” and the result of a lack of parental discipline. Mr. Savage’s unsubstantiated comments reflect the misconceptions of over 50 years ago that autism was caused by “refrigerator mothers” or unemotional parenting, which have been completely disproven by the scientific community. Autism is a neuro-developmental medical condition that requires early identification and lifelong treatment. For over 40 years, the Autism Society of America has worked tirelessly to educate people on the nature of autism spectrum disorders, the services and support families need, and the tremendous potential of people on the autism spectrum. We are dismayed that these grossly inaccurate remarks would be aired in any platform, much less on a nationally syndicated show. We will continue to work with families, people with autism and the broader public to raise awareness of autism spectrum disorders.
Here are some facts on Autism.
Michael Wiener, (Savage), ladies and Gentlemen, proof that Darwinism can work in reverse.
Parents and advocates for the disabled have also reacted with strong protests and some have even called for his firing from the Talk Radio Network. One station in Mississippi has already cancelled his show over the remarks.
But Wiener, I am sorry I mean “Savage” last night responded to the protests and criticism of his comments on his website, and remains unrepentant.
My comments about autism were meant to boldly awaken parents and children to the medical community’s attempt to label too many children or adults as “autistic.”
Just as some drug companies have over diagnosed “ADD” and “ADHD” to peddle dangerous speed-like drugs to children as young as 4 years of age, this cartel of doctors and drug companies is now creating a national panic by over diagnosing “autism, for which there is no definitive medical diagnosis!
Many children are being victimized by being diagnosed with an “illness” which may not exist, in all cases. Just a few weeks ago doctors recommended dangerous anti-cholesterol drugs for children as young as 2 years of age! Without any scientific studies on the possible dangers of such drugs on children, corrupt doctors made this controversial, unscientific recommendation.
Increasingly, our children are being used as profit centers by a greedy, corrupt medical/pharmaceutical establishment. As the brother of a severely disabled person who suffered and died in a New York “snake-pit” of a “mental hospital,” I know first-hand what true disability is.
To permit greedy doctors to include children in medical categories which may not be appropriate is a crime against that child and their family. Let the truly autistic be treated. Let the falsely diagnosed be free.
In the same broadcast in fact before the comments cited above, he called autism “a fraud, a racket, and went after minority children with asthma. Really classy.
SAVAGE: Now, you want me to tell you my opinion on autism, since I’m not talking about autism? A fraud, a racket. For a long while, we were hearing that every minority child had asthma. Why did they sudden — why was there an asthma epidemic amongst minority children? Because I’ll tell you why: The children got extra welfare if they were disabled, and they got extra help in school. It was a money racket. Everyone went in and was told [fake cough], “When the nurse looks at you, you go [fake cough], ‘I don’t know, the dust got me.’ ” See, everyone had asthma from the minority community. That was number one
MY TAKE: One point, Savage does raise an interesting issue about children being misdiagnosed and over medicated. But nonetheless his comments were heartless and offensive. After all, he said 99 percent of kids with Autism are brats. In other words, they somehow brought this on themselves, and that the existence of Autism is a myth pushed by a craven nexus between the pharmaceutical and medical industries for profit.
I am torn on whether this lunatic should be taken off the air or not. If the Talk Radio Network fires him, he looks like a martyr of free speech for his misinformed and moronic listeners. If you hire Michael Wiener, you know what you are getting. A Xenophobic racist, homophobe who cares nothing for people and who would probably thought Schindler’s List was a feel good comedy. Besides he may be stupid, but even stupid speech is protected. However there have to be standards. The rest of the radio and broadcast community needs to know there are standards and that facts matter. Also, he is on the public airwaves and the Talk Radio Network may want to consider whether it is worth it to continue being associated with this jack-ass who stoops so low and peddles so much disinformation.
Boxothoughts 