Author: Jon Ponder

The Murdoch Challenge: Prove Fox News Is Biased

Jon Ponder

Rupert Murdoch:

We don’t agree with that. We are fair and balanced and we challenge anyone to show FOX News has any bias in it. People appreciate it for a number of reasons: it’s better presented, it’s more entertaining. We are first with the news. We beat CNN time and again on every big story. The major networks have been openly biased to the point of being very leftist. That’s different from being middle-of-the-road. I don’t call myself a conservative. I call myself an independent.

New Mandatory Minimum Law for Pot Possession Set to Pass House This Week

Jon Ponder

For those of us who keep wondering when the American people will wake up to the GOP over-reaching, maybe this is it:

Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner [who served as a “manager” during the Clinton Impeachment] has launched his next assault on freedom. The full House Judiciary Committee is set to vote as early as next week on H.R. 1528, which creates a new group of mandatory miniumum penalties for non-violent drug offenses, including a five year penalty for passing a joint to someone who’s been in drug treatment.

That’s right: Passing a joint to someone who used to be in drug treatment will land you in federal prison for a minimum of five years.

The “Defending America’s Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005” (H.R. 1528) was introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) on April 6, and it has already passed out of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

The one thing we know for sure is that jailing pot heads would only serve to jam more nonviolent citizens into our over-crowded prisons. What is fuzzy about this is how a joint-passer would learn the rehab status of the recipient of said joint. Every pot smoker would have to learn to ask, “Dude, have you ever, like, been in rehab?”

Even if you don’t care about legalizing pot, the US leads the world now in the percentage of its citizens in prison. Please visit the Marijuana Policy Project site and send an email to your Congressional representative to tell them you are against sending more nonviolent offenders to jail over something as silly as passing a joint to rehab graduate: Go HERE to send an email to Congress.

UK Libel Trial against Schwarzenegger Could Keep Him in Witness Box in ’06

Jon Ponder

The fifth paragraph in this story from SFGate.com article about the libel case brought against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by British TV talker Anna Richardson, right, caught my attention:

Unless the governor wins a late judicial reprieve or reaches an out-of-court settlement, he may find himself spending part of the 2006 election year — his re-election year should he choose to seek another term — in a witness box, answering questions under oath before 12 British jurors and a bewigged judge.

The article says that the Gubernator and his staff have tried everything in their power to quash the suit, however an expert on the British legal system, who also knows the Governor, says it now comes down to a choice for Schwarzenegger: “He’s going to have to fight this here or he’s going to have to capitulate. My expectation would be that he would come and fight it.”

Richardson was one of six women who came forward in an LA Times article published a week or so prior to the Recall election to reveal that they were sexually assaulted by Schwarzenegger. Reaction to the article in the MSM and rightwing radio was hard and swift – the article was painted as spurious agitprop from the liberals at the Times. (I know people who voted for Schwarzenegger because they “were convinced” the article was unfair, even if the allegations were true.)

The Richardson incident has proven to be the most durable allegation in the article. It happened in December 2000, when Schwarzenegger was in London to promote his film, “The 6th Day.”

According to her account, Schwarzenegger, who had behaved as a “perfect gentleman” in her previous interviews with him about his films, kept staring at her breasts during the 2000 interview at the Dorchester Hotel.

“I went to shake his hand and he grabbed me onto his knee and he said, ‘Before you go, I want to know if your breasts are real,’ ” Richardson told the Times. She said they were real and looked around for help, and “at that point, he circled my left nipple with his finger and he said, ‘Yes, they are real.’ ” Then, she said, he let her go.

When asked for a response to the charges during the Recall campaign, Arnold’s spokesman, Sean Walsh, referred reporters to a studio flack named Sheryl Main – you gotta love that! – who told a completely different story.

According to Main’s account, as quoted in the Times, Richardson stood up after the interview, cupped her right breast and said, “What do you think of these?” She then sat on his lap and was immediately escorted out.

Richardson’s suit does not focus on the groping incident but rather on the reporting of it. She’s suing the two flacks over their comments to the Times.

The response from Schwarzenegger’s lawyer is classic: “Arnold Schwarzenegger did not make any of the statements that were attributed to his aides. He didn’t ratify or authorize the statements.”

Right. Well, then. That settles it. Flacks in the employ of the movie star and his studio were just popping off, making wild, untrue and libelous statements without his knowledge. Happens every day, I’m sure.

But not in this town…

Arnold vs. the Nurses: ‘He Sees Women as Completely Subservient’

Jon Ponder

This, ladies and gentlemen – I do mean Democrats – is how it is done. The LAT ran a front page profile today of Rose Ann DeMoro, the executive director of the California Nurses Assn., a 60,000-member labor union that has been giving Gov. Schwarzenegger hell, of late.

“He was on a roll, he was unassailable, and people told us we couldn’t take him on,” said DeMoro, sitting in a fourth-floor conference room at the association’s brick headquarters here. Two Schwarzenegger bobble-head dolls, one labeled “Governor Girlie Man,” roosted on her desk. “We take extreme credit for his poll numbers dropping like a rock,” DeMoro said.

Schwarzenegger’s once-soaring approval ratings have indeed plunged, and his sweeping proposals to revamp state government have stalled.

He can’t seem to attend a fundraiser free of boisterous union protesters, with chanting nurses often in the front ranks. And one of his favorite lines for diminishing his opponents — “I am always kicking their butts” — has come back to haunt him, thanks to angry RNs mobilized by DeMoro.

Although she was never a nurse – she used to organize for the Teamsters in Hollywood – during DeMoro’s 12 years heading the association, the union has defied labor-movement trends by tripling its membership, according to the Times article.

In her battle with the governor, the tide turned when Schwarzenegger egged on the nurses, and unleashed her fervor for street-level activism. “When Arnold attacked those nurses, he just fell into a trap, and there’s no doubt the nurses outflanked him,” said Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican strategist in Los Angeles.

DeMoro brands Schwarzenegger a “bullying” sexist. “I think he sees women as completely subservient,” she told the Times.

Education Dept. Clears Itself of Wrongdoing in Pundit Payola Case

Jon Ponder

Okay, nothing to see here, folks. Move along, move along :

Senior Education Department officials showed poor judgment in hiring conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to promote agency programs, a department investigation found Friday.

However, the department’s inspector general said there was no evidence of legal or ethical violations. (Empasis added.)

The department paid $240,000 to Williams, a commentator with newspaper, television, and radio audiences, to promote President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” law. The deal was part of a $1.3 million contract the department had with Ketchum, a public relations firm.

Williams, who is black, was hired to conduct “minority outreach” about Bush’s law by producing ads with then-Education Secretary Rod Paige. Records show Williams was also hired to provide media time to Paige and to persuade other blacks in the media to talk about the law.

“We did find that department officials made some poor management decisions and exercised poor judgment and oversight,” the inspector general said. “As a result, the department paid for work that most likely did not reach its intended audience and paid for deliverables that were never received.”

The fact this story broke on a Friday afternoon is a major clue that there’s more here than meets the eye. It is illegal for the government to create propaganda, for one thing.

What is unsaid about the scandalousness of this payout is that Armstrong Williams, who is nothing but a tool of the Republican Party, was paid nearly a quarter million dollars in taxpayer funds to do and say things he would have done and said without being paid.

Bottom line is, this investigation accomplished nothing – except to demonstrate the skill and remorselessness with which this administration tells its lies. The cost of this purported investigation by the Education Dept. – and no doubt it’s in the millions – should be added to Armstrong’s $240,000 when the costs to the taxpayers in the scandal are aggregated.

Lone Voice in Red State Legislature Speaks Out

Jon Ponder

Just came across this profile in the Richmond Times Dispatch from last month of Del. Adam P. Ebbin, right, the only openly gay member of the Virginia legislature.

In his first term, the legislature has dealt with a slew of anti-gay measures coming from all fronts:

The House Transportation Committee approved a license plate that would have read “Traditional Marriage.” The Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee deliberated a proposal that initially sought to ban the adoption of children by homosexuals. The House Education Committee heard a bill that attempted to bar “gay-straight alliance” groups in public schools.

“It’s kind of unusual,” said Ebbin, who is completing his freshman term as the legislature’s first openly gay member. “But by the same token, if we’re going to have all this stuff, I’d rather be here.”

While those bills ultimately failed, another measure that generated emotional debate overwhelmingly passed both the House and the state Senate: a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex unions by defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Ebbin, 41, is described as soft-spoken and not given to theatrics, but the onslaught of hate bills into the legislature has forced him to speak out.

His first floor speech came two weeks into that session when he delivered a passionate plea against a resolution urging Congress to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would essentially outlaw gay marriage. Last year, the assembly banned same-sex civil unions. This year he spoke poignantly against the state marriage amendment and the adoption ban.

…Ebbin doesn’t rise to speak often on the House floor, but when he does, colleagues listen. “I think I’ve made my position pretty clear and I’m happy to have other people, other progressives, take on the debate,” he said.

“If there’s a bill about something that you know about, or you think is wrong and you think you can enlighten people, it’s natural,” he continued, to offer your insights. People often ask Ebbin how he tolerates what some perceive as an atmosphere of animosity.

“We’re all courteous to each other and collegial to an extent,” he explained during a recent interview in his fifth-floor office at the General Assembly Building. “Sometimes, though, the more you hear certain arguments, it is difficult to understand where people are coming from when you hear the more outlandish and vitriolic statements.”

The profile is lengthy and interesting. Read it all…

Sponosor of Tenn. Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Accused of Infidelity and Hypocrisy – by His Wife

Jon Ponder

The Nashville Tennessean reports that Brigitte Suzanne Miller is suing her husband of 15 years, Tenn. state Sen. Jeff Miller, right, for divorce, accusing him of having an affair with a woman in Nashville.

She said family members saw her husband with the woman at a Martina McBride concert.

This would hardly be news if Sen. Miller, a Republican, hadn’t been the sponsor a constitutional amendment aimed at –

“solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman.” The state Senate approved Miller’s marriage protection amendment Feb. 22. In addition to defining marriage as ”the historical institutional and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman,” it also would forbid state recognition of same-sex marriages.

The senator has “vehemently” denied any inappropriate marital conduct.

“He is very hypocritical, fighting for the sanctity of marriage and not keeping his own,” Mrs. Miller, said in a report in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

But here’s the clincher, when the amendment was being legislated, Miller stopped an attempt to include a constitutional ban on adultery.

Olbermann Says Hosts Do Not Usually ‘Coach’ Guests

Jon Ponder

Over at TV Newser, cable news insiders wrote in to defend Sean Hannity for coaching his guests on how to deliver talking points. Hannity’s defenders say the women were very nervous, and Sean was just trying to help them focus.

Balderdash, says Keith Olberman in an email:

“Sorry, ‘most hosts’ do not give ‘media training’ to guests before a broadcast. Conceivably, you might calm down a nervous guest by going over the topics in advance, or telling them stories of the commonality of nervousness. But that’s not what the tapes indicate Hannity’s doing: he’s telling them how to avoid questions by his own co-host so that their story — true or false — goes unchallenged. It would be considered journalistic fraud, if Sean Hannity were a journalist and not a propagandist hack.”

Bush’s Sex Appeal Rated Very Low in Poll

Jon Ponder

Bush's Sex Appeal Was Rated around 2 PercentReuters is reporting more bad polling news for Chimpster. He did not fare so well in Esquire magazine’s “Global Survey of the Female Species,” in which women worldwide were asked to rate the President’s sex appeal.

He may be leader of the free world and Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” but a new international survey of women makes certain that President Bush is far from being the sexiest man alive.

In a recent online poll conducted by Esquire magazine, 11,000 women in 15 countries were asked to rate Bush’s sex appeal on a scale of one to 10, and America’s commander-in-chief failed to register much more than a two.

Women in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands were the harshest judges of George W.’s sexual allure, giving him an average rating of 1.4 each, Esquire said in its survey released earlier this week.

By contrast, Indonesian women were the most generous, giving Bush an average score of 2.2; American women found their president slightly less appealing, rating him a 2.1

The fact that he even got a 2.1 makes me suspect ballot tampering. The PR demands to know – what did Peggy Noonan know about the balloting, and when did she know it?

Hannity Caught on Tape Coaching His Guests

Jon Ponder

Hannity Gives You the FingerAnother open mike and another rightwing message-meister caught showing how propaganda gets made. Faux News host Sean Hannity was caught on tape coaching guests on his March 31 show, instructing them the tried and true GOP technique of staying on message no matter what.

The guests were two nurses who had tended the late Terri Schiavo who were brought on the show to say that Schiavo – whose cerebral cortex had filled with fluid 15 years before she died – was actually fine, not brain dead at all. (This alone should give us pause about the quality of professionals in the nursing industry today.)

“Just say, ‘I’m here to tell what I saw,'” Hannity can be heard instructing his guests. “No matter what the question, ‘I’m here to tell you what I saw. I’m here to tell you what I saw.'”

Hannity adds helpfully: “Say, ‘I’m not going to be distracted by silliness.’ How’s that? Does that help you? Look into that camera. Look at me when I’m talking.”

On the air, [One of the “nurses”] performs beautifully. “I don’t have any opinions or judgments. I was there,” she declares

After the segment ends, Hannity gushes off the air to the nurses: “We got the points out. It’s hard, this isn’t easy. But you did great, both of you. Thank you, guys. Those nurses are powerful, aren’t they?”

The story was broken last Saturday by the great Harry Shearer (who was referred to on C-Span this morning as “an investigative comedian”) on his weekly public radio extravaganza, LeShow.