I have held off commenting on Keith Olbermann’s suspension from MSNBC, figuring another shoe would drop eventually. I just didn’t know whose shoe. Lee Fang at Think Progress is on to something, I do believe.
The Mahablog
Politics. Society. Group Therapy.
Wow. They found a worse executive than Zucker. Gee, weren’t plenty of Fox correspondents basically candidates in the recent election?
Time Warner, who I worked for for years, was bad enough. Comcast is worse. Cablevision is somewhere in between. But then, in truth, they all suck, and are all money-grubbing, scum-sucking leeches who make a fortune off the PUBLIC airwaves and ‘right’s of way.’
I didn’t see Rachel’s show last night, but Steve Benen wrote about it this morning. Here’s part of what she said:
“Rachel explained, “Let this incident lay to rest forever the facile, never-true-anyway, bull-pucky, lazy conflation of Fox News and what the rest of us do for a living. I know everybody likes to say, ‘Oh, that’s cable news, it’s all the same. Fox and MSNBC, mirror images of each other.'”
you can read the whole thing here – http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/
If you’ve never read WaMo before, please bookmark it. It’s one of the best, and Steve Benen is one of the hardest working bloggers I’ve ever seen.
So, I’ll use Rachel’s comment as consolation. Though why the suits at MSNBC drew the line with him and not Pat “The brown people down” Buchanan and “Cup o’ Schmoe” Scarborough, who gave donations to Republicans, is still beyond me.
I guess, as it ever is, was, and evermore shall be – IOKIYAR.
Ooops! I accidentally cut off the main point that Rachel was making. Here’s the rest of what she had to say:
“Let this lay that to rest forever. Hosts on Fox raise money on the air for Republican candidates. They endorse them explicitly; they use their Fox News profile to headline fund-raisers. Heck, there are multiple people being paid by Fox News now essentially to run as presidential candidates. If you count not just their hosts but their contributors, you are looking at a significant portion of the whole lineup of Republican presidential contenders for 2012. They can do that because there’s no rule against that at Fox. They run as a political operation. We’re not.
“Yes, Keith’s a liberal, and so am I, and there are other people on this network whose political views are shared openly with you, our beloved viewers. But we are not a political operation. Fox is. We are a news operation. And the rules around here are part of how you know that.”
(One down and how many more to go.) American justice has become an oxymoron. You remember justice, the underlying democratic principle that we all stand equal before the law, that we are all equal in the eyes of the law – which is why the human figure of justice is blind folded, isn’t it?
Olbermann’s ‘crime’ resulted in suspension without pay. The Wall Street thugs who ripped thousands of Americans off were not only not suspended, they were rewarded with multi-million dollar bonuses.
Wonder if the Supremes will pass judgment on this.
I happened to catch a little of Bill-O the other day (Olberman commercial break) and he and his buddy Bernie (everyone’s out to get me) Goldberg were whining about msnbc’s coverage of the election and how it was so partisan (Pot meet Kettle), anyway Bill-O flippantly makes the remark that once the new owners take over the “silliness” over there will be ending. So? Welcome to the total control of corporate media, we are fucked!
…..Bill-O flippantly makes the remark that once the new owners take over, the “silliness†over there will be ending. So? Welcome to the total control of corporate media, we are (ugh…screwed!)
Even my antidepressents cannot do anything for the depression I’m about to get. Does anyone think that the merger will be contested? I am crawling up the wall of optimism looking for a tiny spot of hopefulness………………….
……….nope, can’t find one.
They just waited long enough for us to become inured to Rupert’s presence and ownership of major media before making another move. It is like the rightward-ever-rightward shifting of the Republican Party. If they get far enough toward the extreme, even the middle ground will be far to the right.
Here’s a little poem about this last election I just wrote. It’s not polished. But please let me know what you think:
BLACK SUN
no prophet
either blind or sighted
foretold the coming of
the black sun rising
no sayer of sooth
no sage
no seer
and when the black sun rose
and was brighter than the last white sun
it was said by many
we’ll tolerate no black suns here
we’ve only had white suns
where did it come from
how could it be black
can we make it set
we want our white sun back
the crops which under the white sun
had shriveled and withered
grew back slowly
a blossom there
a small green spear
but many people still said
we’ll tolerate no black sun here
and since no prophet
neither blind nor sighted
had foretold the coming of
the black sun rising
no sayer of sooth
no sage
no seer
and so the people asked if it was real
sure it looks like a sun
and it shines like a sun
and took a devastated land
and from above gave it some life
but even so didn’t this black sun
make you want your white sun back
we knew that sun
where it came from
and every morning you were
sure that it would rise
on the opposite side from where it set
but this black sun
yes dawned in the same place
and sure its bright
but how do we know
what kind of rays well get
and so the people of the land divided
some looked at the black sun
and saw no difference
and still other saw that
maybe its a better one
the same dawn
just different
but others said
yes things may be growing
but it could be faster
if only we had a white sun back
lets see what we get
when we make this black sun set
and then well make it clear
we’ll tolerate no black suns here
and every prophet
blind and sighted
foretold the sign of
the black sun waning
every sayer of sooth
every sage
every seer
agreed that
most people had made it clear
they’ll tolerate no black suns here
PS: It looks like the formatting’s off when I copied it here, so where you see a stray line, it usually belonged to the couplet above it.
gulag …I like it! Very nice.
Black Sun: “sure that it would rise
on the opposite side from where it set”
That’s a fine poem c u n d gulag, But:
“You realize the sun don’t go down It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round” – Wayne Coyne
When you say that the black sun was brighter than the last white sun…Is that figurative or literal?
Swami,
How could the Black sun be brighter? Impossible, the dark sun is not even entitled to the white suns orbit. When the white sun circles our earth, every thing is brighter the white sun casts a purposeful light. When the black sun circles shadows are drawn, the light sits the wrong way, it costs too much, who the fuck does the black sun think he is?
How could the Black sun be brighter?
Because it’s not as dense?
Swami and uncledad,
Thanks. And the comments – LOL!!!
I’m gonna tweak it some in the next few day, see what happens – if anything. I just write this stuff for myself and a handful of friends.
You got it cundgulag. Reminds me of what I recently posted: When “We’ve got to take our country back” rings in my ears, I hear “Get the black man out of my White House.”
And uncledad – Indeed, who does the black sun think he is. Everyone knows there’s nothing worse than an ‘uppity nigger.’
I’m sending out a special spiritual portion of love to Mitch McConnell. What an absolute scumbag! It’s a sickening experience to watch that little beady eyed wimp reveling in his new found glory. Openly advocating the infliction of untold suffering upon the American people solely to advance his political purposes and secure a strangle hold on the hope for a better tomorrow.
McConnell thinks he’s so cute with his little quips to the Heritage foundation..” We’re gonna put them on a diet”…But the reality is that there isn’t a single person in the halls of Congress who are going to be effected by McConnell’s diet plan. They are all millionaires or very close to it..Nobody there is hurting and none of them will be effected. It’s us common folks who are just trying to survive who will be the recipients of McConnell’s scorched earth politics to bring down Obama even if it costs hardship and misery to the American people. I hope God intervenes and smites McConnell with a gruesome infirmity.
Swami,
It’s amazin’, ain’t it?
Bitch is STILL the MINORITY LEADER in the Senate! The same as Monday, 11/01/2010. It’s just that he has another handful of thumbs. But some of these may be ‘unopposable,’ so he may have already been smitten with “a gruesome infirmity.” And yeah, I was hoping for leprosy, too.
c u n d gulag:
Great art comes from the expression of deep emotions affecting the artist…while you were expressing your emotions in poetry, I was sitting here wondering why I am so blocked in expressing my feelings through my paint brushes. What a fabulous poem. May I have permission to print it for my own edification?
I too love the comments about your poem, what a group of hilarious, high spirited people you all are…not only am I addicted to this blog, but my spirit needs the nurturing of the wonderful wit and humor that helps all this bad medicine not kill us all. A most grateful imbiber of your artistry…
And yeah, I was hoping for leprosy, too.
I was thinking maybe a rectal prolapse would be sufficient… 🙂
Kathleen,
Please feel free.
I’d love to see what you paint when you pick up your brushes.
we’ve only had white suns
where did it come from
how could it be black
can we make it set
we want our white sun back
Wow! Gonna need to make more room on my fridge for that poem!
Keith returns tonight; he makes a bunch of money for MSNBC.