Month: April 2005

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…

Only the Lame and Witless Need Apply

Trish

Outstanding analysis of Bush’s latest pick for undersecretary of state for public diplomacy (longtime drink-the-Koolaider Karen Hughes) in a recent Media Week, which I just got around to reading. Before he wowed us with the stunningly bad Bolton nomination, the MSM gave Bush a pass on Hughes, the article said.

‘He’s playing for his place in the history books,’ seemed to be the big theme on the Sunday morning talk shows.

If his place in the history books is “most self-delusional president,” then those pundits are clearly right, because the appointment of Hughes proves nothing more than the fact that Bush doesn’t understand diplomacy and never will. For Bush—and for Hughes, who played a major role in both of Bush’s presidential campaigns—diplomacy means staying “on message,” even when that message is being undercut by facts and common sense. That’s a good strategy within the U.S., because our media is so cowed by this administration—and so starved for access to the administration’s key players—that it seems unwilling to seriously challenge anything coming out of the White House, lest that access be withdrawn.

The rest of the world’s media are not so cowed… Somehow, I don’t think the threat that Condi and Rummy won’t come on and do interviews is going to stop Al Jazeera or Al Arabia from running the latest Abu Ghraib photos…

Before it uses advertising and public relations as part of a worldwide diplomacy effort, this administration needs to understand the basic rule of marketing: even the flashiest ads can’t sell a lousy product. In this case, that lousy product is our foreign policy.

True that!

Mel W. Martinez?

Trish

The Memo is having at least a passing effect on the polls for Mel Martinez. It’s also exposing him as a chip off the old “Take no blame and retaliate hard if criticized” Bush block that put him in office. The St. Petersburg Times reported what it’s like to be Mel these days.

After a spate of public criticism and humiliation, Sen. Mel Martinez vowed to sit down and talk about his mistakes and possible changes in how his staff operates.

But on Friday, a day after a new poll showed he has lost favor with voters, Florida’s freshman senator said he won’t talk about it, he just wants to get this episode behind him.

“I don’t intend to dwell on it,” Martinez said… “We’re learning from it and we’re moving on.”

What happens if you’re one of his goons and you talk to the press has a familiar ring. Oh yeah, it’s pure W.

Several Florida supporters who got reassuring calls from Martinez’s staff said they were reluctant to talk about their conversations because they feared they would be shut out of the senator’s inner circle.

Also eerily familiar is Mel’s ability to flip-flop without irony, especially on accountability.

Earlier this week, Martinez and his staff indicated he would sit down and talk about the memo following reviews by his office and the Senate Rules Committee. “I’m waiting to do it right,” he said.

By week’s end, Martinez did not want to talk about it. His spokeswoman Kerry Feehery said there was nothing more to say.

No, there couldn’t possibly be any questions left, especially when you read the Times’ recap of Mel’s version of the events.

Martinez said last week that he had not known that a senior staffer wrote a controversial memo explaining how Republican members of Congress could exploit the Terri Schiavo case. Unbeknownst to him, he said, the memo ended up in the pocket of his suit jacket and he handed it to another senator without realizing what it was.

Makes perfect sense to me. No questions.

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.

Just Us Sunday

Trish

FRC ad for Senate Democrats are still trying to avert the nuclear option (blocking every last bit of Republican legislation). They are asking nicely that Bill Frist pull out of a telethon to fan the flames of ignorance and Christian fundamentalist righteous indignation.

According to Reuters, the telecast is

organized by Christian conservatives that portrays Democrats as “against people of faith” for blocking President Bush’s judicial nominees…

Frist aides said he had no plans to withdraw from the event, scheduled for April 24 and billed as “Justice Sunday.”

The telecast may come just days before a Senate showdown over Republican threats to change the chamber’s rules to ban procedural hurdles known as filibusters that Democrats have used to block 10 of Bush’s judicial nominees while helping confirm 205 others.

Wait. It gets worse.

Organized by Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group, the telecast is to being offered to churches and Christian radio and television networks nationwide, a spokesman for the group said.

A flier for it includes the message: “The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and now it is being used against people of faith.”

Personally, I think Democrats like Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid, who are urging Frist not to do this bad thing, should instead continue the successful strategy used to fight the fake Social Security crisis: ignore it. If Republicans scream and sputter and no one takes the bait, they are left running back and forth, mouthing both sides of the “debate.” Works for me.