JABbering Stooge

It turns out that author, comedian, and radio host Al Franken came to Austin yesterday to launch Air America Radio’s latest station KOKE 1600 AM (seems somehow appropriate given Bush’s alleged cocaine use as a Skull and Bones fratboy).

The local fishwrap, the Austin American-Statesman, covered Franken’s visit in a rather unusual way. They devoted about 15 paragraphs of the Metro & State section to the story, but made it sound like Franken’s show was the only one being brought to the Austin area, as opposed to the whole freaking station (formerly a Spanish news/talk station) changing format to host the liberal radio network.

And then there was this strange tidbit dropped into the middle of the story:

Franken engaged in a heated go-round with the token conservative guest, John Fund, a columnist and editorial board member of The Wall Street Journal. (emphasis mine)

Rush Limbaugh is far more known for screening to allow only two types of callers on: 1) sycophantic "dittoheads" who cream their collective pants whenever Rush lobs ad hominem tactical nukes at anyone committing the thoughtcrime of expressing an opinion to the left of Torquemada, or 2) caricature "libruls" that the Oxycontin Junkie then claims are exemplar of ALL liberals (all the better to delegitemize anything one’s opponents say).

Question: Will the Statesman, in the interest of being "fair and balanced," write a story on Rush that stealthily slams him for the tactic described above, or will they, by their silence, subscribe to the "It’s OK If You’re A Republican" (IOKIYAR) philosophy that most of the mainstream "librul" media has?

One thing’s for sure, though: I have a new station to program into my car’s radio.

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Mar. 15, 2005 11:36 AM)

CNN has the story right here.

I’m sure the theocratic fascists have their collective panties in a bunch right about now, ranting about how this will be the downfall of America. Of course, they’d be completely missing the irony in Our Glorious Leader the Most Holy George W. Christ constantly blathering about freedom being on the march abroad while the American Inquisition fights to restrict freedom here at home.

Of course, this is the same American Inquisition that seems to have no problem with gay men - so long as they’re Republican shills pretending to be journalists.

Note: In the time since I originally posted this, the CNN link has gone dead. However, I did manage to find another link to the story at MSRNC.

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Mar. 15, 2005 9:32 AM)

Note: This is the first part of a two part editorial series on the whole Jeff Gannon/James Guckert scandal. I plan to submit it in as many places as I can.

The “Liberal” Media Doesn’t Get It (Part 1)

If there was ever a story that ought to put to rest the lie that the media has a liberal bias, it ought to be the ever-evolving story about Jeff Gannon. A male prostitute with fake journalism credentials and tax evasion problems is allowed to get within knife-throwing distance of a sitting president and ask softball questions that have nothing to do with honest journalism and everything to do with naked partisanship. Under any other circumstances, given the media environment of “news as entertainment,” this has all the makings of a juicy story worthy of at least a modicum of coverage – a sex scandal, a national security element ripe for fear mongering, and indications of illegal activity by the executive branch.

Instead, what we get is more in line with “did those evil liberal bloggers violate Jeff Gannon/James Guckert’s privacy?” as the story is quickly buried on page Z 269. That at least was the message when Gannon/Guckert appeared on the February 10 edition of Wolf Blitzer Reports – Blitzer acted more like a guidance councilor comforting Gannon from “those mean, nasty liberals” than a journalist seeking the truth.

Question: Where was Wolf Blitzer’s comfort for the Chuy’s manager who carded Jenna and Barbara Bush when members of FreeRepublic.com posted her contact information for harassment purposes?

Howard Kurtz, ever eager to cover up blatant examples of pro-Republican bias in the media, declared that it is very easy to get a daily press pass – you just have to show that you are a credentialed member of a valid media outlet that regularly publishes news items. I’d love to hear Kurtz explain how Gannon was able to get a press pass a month before “Talon News,” which Gannon supposedly wrote for, even existed, especially given that Helen Thomas has been ostracized for asking tough questions and Sara McClendon was denied access for three months in 2001, also for asking hard questions.

Most recently, Democrats in Congress in a rare show of backbone, introduced a Resolution of Inquiry regarding Gannongate, yet not a peep is heard about it on NBC, CBS or anywhere. Apparently, the media has decided that you’d rather hear about what a sick, twisted pervert Michael Jackson is.

And l’affair Gannon isn’t the only place where the media has done everything in its power to protect President Bush. Gannon apparently had access to a secret CIA memo involving Valerie Plame – the same Valerie Plame who Robert Novak illegally outed as a CIA agent. Yet the “liberal” media is silent on the issue – Dan Rather’s sloppily researched story on Bush’s National Guard service received far more attention than the Plame outing.

Imagine if you will all of the above happening under a Democratic president – a fake journalist is given unprecedented and potentially felonious access to the White House, asking softball questions that ridicule the opposition and leaking secret memos to friendly pundits. The “liberal” media would jump on the story like a pack of dogs on a three-legged cat, and the Democrat’s presidency would collapse like a house of cards.

When you connect these dots, its clear that the media is actively manipulating what you see and hear in order to promote the idea that Republicans are infallible – its those evil Democrats who need watching. And the worst thing is, they’re getting played for suckers, as I will detail in my next editorial.

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Mar. 4, 2005 5:05 PM)

Does anyone think that NHK (One of the major Japanese television studios) might sue the producers of esuvee.com over copyright infringement due to the similarity between NHK’s "Domo-kun" and the animal/beast that "personifies" the SUV?

For comparison, Domo-kun looks like this:

while the "esuvee" is captured in this image:

Or am I the only one who sees the similarity?

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Feb. 28, 2005 6:07 PM)

So last night I was driving over to a friend’s house after I got off of work, when I just happened to hear a report on KLBJ (I think the "LBJ" stands for Liberal-Bashing Jingoists - they syndicate the Oxycontin Junkie, Laura the Unloved, and Neal "High Priest of the Church of Agitprop" Boortz) that said that four of the state-level Democrats who were defeated in the 2002 midterm elections are suing the Texans for a Republican Majority PAC for illegal use of corporate campaign cash.

Forgive me for my ignorance, but why did it take KLBJ (and the ABC news wire that they get their feed from) this long to report it? The Austin Chronicle mentioned this bit of news in its January 7, 2005 edition. Surely they couldn’t have just been sitting on this news and waiting for an opportune time to release it (say when no one was watching)?

Edit: For some good reporting on TRMPAC and other Texas political scandals, go to Clean Up Texas Politics.

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Feb. 28, 2005 3:18 PM)

FAUX News is at it again. This time the blatantly pro-Republican news organization has released a poll purporting to claim that "there is widespread agreement that Hollywood is out of touch with Americans" - to the tune that seven out of ten Americans think that Tinseltown doesn’t "share their values."

I bring this up because I heard it mentioned on KLBJ’s morning drive show, where one of the commentators, former APD Sergeant Sam Cox, suggested that the average gross of films these days was down and that this might have something to do with it, bringing up the example of Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of the Christ."

Now, assuming for the sake of argument that a) Fox hasn’t been oversampling Republicans the way Gallup tends to, and b) that today’s films low box office grosses are indeed a result of the feelings represented in this poll and not simply a reflection of Hollywood following the RIAA’s example of mass-producing formulaic derivitives of proven successes, what would satisfy these hypothetical Americans? Movies about "heroic Christians" bombing "Satanic" abortion clinics or butchering suspected homosexuals? Flicks featuring Muslims being stuffed into the ovens of our own Auschwitz as flag-fondling "patriots" leer at them? What?

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Feb. 25, 2005 11:33 AM) 

According to CNN’s web site, Kansas’ Attorney General Phill Kline obtained permission last October from state District Judge Richard Anderson to plumb the medical records and sexual histories of abortion clinic patients who are either under 16 or who had abortions after 22 weeks (which is illegal in Kansas). Two of the clinics involved are appealing to the state supreme court in an effort to block this apparent fishing expedition - a tactic that has already been tried by former U.S. Attorney General John "Lost to a Dead Man" Ashcroft. The new spin line that Kline is trotting out is that this intrusion into women’s medical privacy is necessary to "prosecute child rape and other crimes in order to protect Kansas children."

Question: If Kline is being true to his word, why isn’t he pursuing less intrusive methods to get the same job done? For that matter, why isn’t he pushing law enforcement to be more responsive to reports of statutory rape?

Follow-up: If Kline, who according to the state’s Attorney General web site is a member of the Republican Attorneys General Association, has ulterior motives, how long will it be before he leaks the names and locations of the clinics in question to terrorist organizations such as the Army of God and Operation Rescue, if he hasn’t already?

Note: In the time since I originally posted this, the CNN link has gone dead. However, thanks to The News Blog, I found a New York Times link to the story (registration required to read).

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Feb. 25, 2005 10:53 AM) 

Okay, so this post won’t be ranting about how the "Librul" Media is ignoring Gannongate, focusing instead on how those mean "librul bloggers" are "violating Gannon/Guckert’s privacy," or how David Horowitz is trying to quash intellectual diversity on college campuses (apparently, Horowitz wants only pro-Republican goodfacts taught in our institutes of higher learning). There will be plenty of time to discuss those issues later.

Instead,I would like to point you in the direction of a site that my Data Structures professor pointed the class towards last semester. I’m sure the computer nerds in the crowd (all two of them) will be able to get a few grins out of it. So enjoy hearing about how "Every OS Sucks."

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Feb. 22, 2005 at 7:40 PM) 

Howdy everyone. Welcome to the JABbering Stooge weblog. As the description says, I’m just one lone shmuck mouthing off about the world around me, but maybe something good will come out of all this.

For starters, I’d like to discuss the direction and focus of this blog.  While I see it as an opportunity to experiment with stream-of-conciousness style writing, I fully intend on devoting a large portion of my commentary to politics, particularly as they pertain to the growing threat of theocratic fascism that’s developed in this country.  Through it all, you’ll learn about the foibles of a struggling computer scientist trying to find his blue-stater way through his native Texas, the reddest of the red states.  We’ll laugh, you’ll cry, I’ll kiss five bucks goodbye, and in the end we will all learn something from it (I hope!).

(See original post on the old blog here - originally posted Feb. 22, 2005 at 4:13 AM)