I happened to tune in AM talk radio yesterday to see how they were dealing with their pain regarding McCain winning South Carolina. Rush Limbuagh said that if John McCain were to win the Republican nomination he would not vote come November because it would be between two Democrats. Of the other hand Sean Hannity did a turnaround.
With much press of late - some from conservative talk show hosts themselves - that Right-wing talk radio is on the run, Sean Hannity began his show with a reasonable monologue sounding like a reasonable Republican. He said there is something to this idea that we cannot just go on and on reducing taxes forever and ever. That if the entire world and the majority of American voters are concerned with Global Warming, perhaps it is time for a little give and take concerning the environment. He covered a few more issues and ended with a very nice speech that perhaps rounding up, jailing and deporting 12 million Mexicans needs a bit more compassion and common sense added to the issue.
I didn't think that much of it as it was not a Democratic or Liberal speech, but more of a pragmatic view of how things have changed since the last Presidential election. Just some common sense to keep the GOP from going from Hegemony to the trash heap of history. Not so his callers though. Wowzer!
They screamed, hollered and cried calling him a sellout, a traitor, on drugs, crazy and on and on. Finally a woman called and said, "Sean, you gotta be kidding!" He laughed saying he was amazed how long it took for his callers to realize that he was just being silly and sarcastic! Not realizing that when views get as far out of whack as Hannity's, sarcasm no longer works, he went on to screech for ever lower taxes, the myth of Global Warming, building the longest and highest fence in history and the police rounding up 12 million Hispanic families to be jailed and deported the day before yesterday.
So what is going on with these guys?
It is a two parter. First is to play the straw man argument that word is they are going out of business because of their hardcore -never give and inch- conservative ideology. That is not what is being said, but rather, like the Religious Right they have lost their political power and gravitas not their audience, their share or their revenues. Only by becoming reasonable would they lose that.
Their audience is made of three demographics, represented by Grover Norquist's no taxes for the wealthy, Ted Nugent's militia, racist, gunloon crowd and Pat Robertson's American brand of the Taliban. All on the run and madder than ever.
With changes coming, these groups will need even more of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage to confirm what wonderful human beings they are, for without that reinforcement, they may snap and start shooting. Staying the course is in the best interest of the talk show hosts, their audiences and America.
Secondly they are hoping that their candidate, Mitt Romney - who has enough money of his own to hold on past the primaries until the Republican Convention come August - will generate a delegate fight on the floor and steal the show.
The love of a good woman’s scolding has landed a Japanese man in a a heap of trouble!
Lacking a live-in scold, he phoned directory assistance 2,600 times between June and November….all because he liked to be scolded by female operators who obviously didn’t share his passion
While those are a lot of calls, phone Ripley’s now!
Japanese media said he is suspected of starting his habit in 2004 and calling more than 10,000 times.
The unemployed 37 year old, who – surprise ladies, is single, would whisper “darling” as he attempted to start up a conversation, then pleaded with the operators not to hang up.
Operators nicknamed him the “Don’t hang up” man. His calls were late and night and usually exceeded 200 per night, most operators in Japan are still women. I am still trying to figure out how to get a live person for assistance here in the US of A. (sans scolding).
He confessed to police that he was lonely and “Would go into ecstasy when one scolded me”
I still say that many American men do not know what treasures share their hearth and home.
Sadly, he was arrested Tuesday in Tokyo on charges of obstructing the business of service operator NTT Solco, part of telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone…a gigantic corporation with no romance in their steely hearts I might add.
Lonely Japanese man calls directory help 2,600 times: police
A year ago it was understood that Rudy Giuliani would be the Republican nominee for President. Rudy did not follow the rules of running for President because he thought he knew better, like all good fascists.
If you’ve ever been tied up in traffic wondering why the cell phone user next to you in intently staring at his phone, juggling a latte’, and driving with his knees, be happy you can see his hands.
Soon you’ll have little reason to ask what is so important. Let the chips and bumpers land where they may. Likewise, those who would like to see a law on the books which requires a headset in the hopes of avoiding some accidents by avoiding a bit of distraction, will be thrilled to know that not only will there not be laws about such things, but their fellow motorists will be busy flipping back and forth through favorite porn sites! I’m wagering those might be just a bit more distracting than his previous search for numbers in his address book, or online game.
Porn and profits go together like the proverbial horse and carriage, and American companies aren’t about to be left behind. When they looked up and realized that pornography on cell phones in Europe will be at $1.5 billion by 2012 with the global market reaching $3.5 billion in 2010. I presume they felt there was a great deal more money to be made by providing distraction for your
Friends, neighbors, and fellow drivers – than in simply helping those lost in the cereal aisle by enabling them to make a call home….I assume that is a nation-wide phenomenon?
North America generated just $26 million last year. It must make them weep in contrast to the haul Europe is making.
Some phone carriers shied away from porn sales. For example, Canada’s second largest phone company Telus Corp. withdrew a mobile porn service after complaints from hundreds of customers and criticism from the Catholic Church.
We won’t be following Canada. We mainly only tell them what to do, not follow their lead for cryin’ out loud!
This IS good news for those waiting for the realistic sex automatons to become available at Costco at a reasonable price, and phone companies have realized you’ve got to give the people what they want. They did recently tell us we are a nation with ADD, can this be a good combination?
New phone systems being built by google have pledged to support any type of mobile software.
American carriers had been concerned about offending customers, and the difficulty of keeping underage children from enjoying the expanded services. In spite of these concerns, they won’t be able to be left behind, and those who do not wish to push porn, can at least allow their customers to utilize it…and so the die is cast. I leave it to others to decide whether we are becoming an even more isolated country.
Original Reuters title Porn to Spice up Cell Phones
Well, so much for the Democrats talking about meaningful issues! It will now be the media presenting us only with the horse race, who is the Blueist Meanie, what Bill is doing and what she's wearing. And even more sadly, we wake up next Wedsnday morning with a contested convention and this crap going on for another 6 months!
This is a wonderful year for Democrats. Our party is blessed with the most impressive array of primary candidates in modern history. All would make superb presidents.
By now you may have read or heard that our cousin, Caroline Kennedy, and our uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, have come out in favor of Sen. Barack Obama. We, however, are supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because we believe that she is the strongest candidate for our party and our country.
While talk of unity and compromise are inspiring to a nation wary of divisiveness, America stands at a historic crossroads where real issues divide our political landscapes. Democrats believe that America should not be torturing people, eavesdropping on our citizens or imprisoning them without habeas corpus or other constitutional rights. We should not be an imperial power. We need health care for all and a clean, safe environment.
The loftiest poetry will not solve these issues. We need a president willing to engage in a fistfight to safeguard and restore our national virtues.
We have worked with Hillary Clinton for 15 years (and in Kathleen's case, 25 years) and witnessed the power and depth of her convictions firsthand. We've seen her formidable work ethic, courage in the face of adversity and her dignity and clear head in crisis. We've also seen her two-fisted willingness to enter the brawl when America's principles are challenged. Her measured rhetoric, political savvy and pragmatism shield the heart of our nation's most determined and most democratic warrior.
She has been an uncompromising and loyal ally for each of us in our battles to protect the environment and to promote human rights around the world and juvenile justice in America. Hillary is a problem-solver, listening to people and then achieving solutions by changing attitudes.
Her transformational leadership was on display when she ran for the Senate seat in New York that had been held by our father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. She faced rabid, heavily funded attacks from the far right and the challenge of prevailing in traditionally Republican upstate New York. Traveling with her, we watched admiringly as she persuasively articulated an inspiring and unifying vision rooted in American values and history. Then, through patience, hard work, leadership and political acumen, she transformed many of those rock-solid conservative counties into solid Democratic strongholds.
We look forward to working beside her in the general election as she uses those same talents to change once rigid opinions and political affiliations across the nation.
Like our father, Hillary has devoted her life to embracing and including those on the bottom rung of society's ladder — giving voice to the alienated and disenfranchised and working to alleviate poverty and injustice, while urging that we cannot advance ourselves as a nation by leaving our poorer brothers and sisters behind.
She's been an equally effective champion for human rights and for women's rights, a worldwide cause that will profit enormously by her elevation to the presidency. She has worked for peace in Northern Ireland and fought to bridge religious, racial and ethnic divides from Bosnia to the Middle East to South Africa. She has shown a rare understanding that American values can only be exported by moral leadership, by a strong home economy and by a detailed understanding of the history and cultural backdrops of the nations we engage.
She understands, as our current administration does not, the uses of power. The world, she says, is hungry for U.S. leadership but will not accept our bullying. She knows the difference and will re-establish America's lost prestige and moral authority.
Hillary Clinton's political career has been centered in comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable and reminding Americans what it means to be American. As a young lawyer, she focused on children's issues and legal aid. As first lady of Arkansas, she brought health care to rural areas and helped reform the state's lagging education system.
As first lady, she courageously took on health care reform. When a massive propaganda campaign by Big Pharma and the radical right derailed her efforts, she didn't give up. She helped create the nationally acclaimed Children's Health Insurance Program. That kind of persistence in pursuit of our highest ideals is the brand of leadership America now requires. Inspirational leadership comes in many forms.
Seldom has history confronted America with such daunting challenges: a catastrophic foreign policy that has cost us our international leadership and aggravated the threat of terror; a misbegotten war that is squandering precious American lives and treasure; a health care system that leaves millions of Americans without coverage; irresponsible corporate power that is corroding our democracy and outsourcing our jobs, aggravating global warming and other environmental crises and reducing our economy to shambles.
We need a leader who is battle-tested, resilient and sure-footed on the shifting landscapes of domestic and foreign policy. Hillary Clinton will move our country forward while promoting its noblest ideals.
Obama supporter Governor Kathleen Sebelius is given the Democratic Response to Bush's State of the Union. Robotic, dull and boring to be sure, but it's that naive "lets all play nice please" crap that has me wondering, hopefully, if the Obama campaign knows damn will what a pile of bullshit that is and is only using it to play the game. Barack Obama has to understand that if he wins the nomination he will be on the receiving end of millions of Republicans, millions of times worse than what Bill Clinton and the Hillary campaign did to him. He did not take the tap well which gives me pause on how he will react to a truly racist, slanderous, personal STOMPING and GRINDING.
Anyone who believes that the Clintons' are being unduly mean to Barack Obama has only to wait until the GOP machine gets its rabid bloody fangs into him to realize what a powderpuff derby it has been compared to what will come if he wins, to which he is naively ill prepared. All this crap about changing and everyone getting along is the craziest thing I have ever heard.
It’s starting to feel a bit
like 1992 again. A Bush is in the White House, the economy is a mess,
and there’s a candidate who, in the view of a number of observers, is
running on a message of hope, of moving past partisan differences, that
resembles Bill Clinton’s campaign 16 years ago.
Now, I’m not sure that’s a fair characterization of the 1992 Clinton
campaign, which had a strong streak of populism, beginning with a
speech in which Mr. Clinton described the 1980s as a “gilded age of
greed.” Still, to the extent that Barack Obama 2008 does sound like
Bill Clinton 1992, here’s my question: Has everyone forgotten what
happened after the 1992 election?
Let’s review the sad tale, starting with the politics.
Whatever hopes people might have had that Mr. Clinton would usher in
a new era of national unity were quickly dashed. Within just a few
months the country was wracked by the bitter partisanship Mr. Obama has
decried.
This bitter partisanship wasn’t the result of anything the Clintons
did. Instead, from Day 1 they faced an all-out assault from
conservatives determined to use any means at hand to discredit a
Democratic president.
For those who are reaching for their smelling salts because
Democratic candidates are saying slightly critical things about each
other, it’s worth revisiting those years, simply to get a sense of what
dirty politics really looks like.
No accusation was considered too outlandish: a group supported by
Jerry Falwell put out a film suggesting that the Clintons had arranged
for the murder of an associate, and The Wall Street Journal’s editorial
page repeatedly hinted that Bill Clinton might have been in cahoots
with a drug smuggler.
So what good did Mr. Clinton’s message of inclusiveness do him?
Meanwhile, though Mr. Clinton may not have run as postpartisan a
campaign as legend has it, he did avoid some conflict by being
strategically vague about policy. In particular, he promised health
care reform, but left the business of producing an actual plan until
after the election.
This turned out to be a disaster. Much has been written about the
process by which the Clinton health care plan was put together: it was
too secretive, too top-down, too politically tone-deaf. Above all,
however, it was too slow. Mr. Clinton didn’t deliver legislation to
Congress until Nov. 20, 1993 — by which time the momentum from his
electoral victory had evaporated, and opponents had had plenty of time
to organize against him.
The failure of health care reform, in turn, doomed the Clinton
presidency to second-rank status. The government was well run
(something we’ve learned to appreciate now that we’ve seen what a badly
run government looks like), but — as Mr. Obama correctly says — there
was no change in the country’s fundamental trajectory.
So what are the lessons for today’s Democrats?
First, those who don’t want to nominate Hillary Clinton because they
don’t want to return to the nastiness of the 1990s — a sizable group,
at least in the punditocracy — are deluding themselves. Any Democrat
who makes it to the White House can expect the same treatment: an
unending procession of wild charges and fake scandals, dutifully given
credence by major media organizations that somehow can’t bring
themselves to declare the accusations unequivocally false (at least not
on Page 1).
The point is that while there are valid reasons one might support
Mr. Obama over Mrs. Clinton, the desire to avoid unpleasantness isn’t
one of them.
Second, the policy proposals candidates run on matter.
I have colleagues who tell me that Mr. Obama’s rejection of health
insurance mandates — which are an essential element of any workable
plan for universal coverage — doesn’t really matter, because by the
time health care reform gets through Congress it will be very different
from the president’s initial proposal anyway. But this misses the
lesson of the Clinton failure: if the next president doesn’t arrive
with a plan that is broadly workable in outline, by the time the thing
gets fixed the window of opportunity may well have passed.
My sense is that the fight for the Democratic nomination has gotten
terribly off track. The blame is widely shared. Yes, Bill Clinton has
been somewhat boorish (though I can’t make sense of the claims that
he’s somehow breaking unwritten rules, which seem to have been newly
created for the occasion). But many Obama supporters also seem far too
ready to demonize their opponents.
What the Democrats should do is get back to talking about issues — a
focus on issues has been the great contribution of John Edwards to this
campaign — and about who is best prepared to push their agenda forward.
Otherwise, even if a Democrat wins the general election, it will be
1992 all over again. And that would be a bad thing.
We often think of the bottom tier of Presidential candidates as sour grapes, but they all serve an important purpose in our election process. Whether it be immigration racists like Ron Paul or Tom Tancredo, somber New Deal progressives like Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards, or a fundamentalist nutcake like Mike Huckabee they bring to the forefront issues that the cosmetically ordained candidates cannot. In this case Fun Nut candidate Mike Gravel says what no top tier candidate (or the mainstream media for that matter) can. Religion does not belong in our political process, PERIOD.
It isn't because of Barrack's true grassroot organization, or real world polls where the Democrat always scores far beyond the consistently mid-single-digit support of the Congressman from Texas. This time its personal; and there are quite rational reasons why Ron Paul is running scared:
"We are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers." Houston Chronicle 23 May 1996 Page 33
In documented writings straight out of Ron Paul's 1992 political newsletter:
Under "Terrorist Update" -- how fast black males can run after they rob you. RE: Rational Thinking -- only 1 in 20 blacks holds sensible political opinions. On Washington DC -- 19 of 20 black males are semi-criminal or entirely so.
Exact quotes covered previously at RACKJITE.COM but now include a link to source
I have been trying to write something funny about this extreme media hyped fight between Obama and the Clintons, but after seeing this clip I realized it couldn't be done any better than Samantha Bee did here! I bow to Ms Bee. Here! Hear!
Perhaps the most serious problem we face is not between Republicans and Democrats but from the Fourth Estate which since the advent of CNN in 1980 has moved THE NEWS from a service to HYPE NEWS as a purely profit endeavor, exaggerating everything to any extreme to gain share from the other guy. There is no longer a Chet, Dave or Walter we can trust.
There is something about Mitt... Something very wrong which is hard to place. Words that come to mind are robotic, soap opera doctor, plastic, cream cheese, straight, silly, cloistered, witless... But perhaps for me the problem is Mitt is a doppleganger for the most corrupt crazyass TV Preacher of all time, Robert Tilton.
While the media hypes the water balloon fight between the Democratic front runners, the GOP is in a gloves off slash and burn self destruct mode on talk radio which is not reported, except surprisingly now, by conservative radio talk show host Michael Medved. This just may be the first thing I ever agreed with on AM talk radio!
The big loser in South Carolina was, in fact, talk radio: a medium that has unmistakably collapsed in terms of impact, influence and credibility because of its hysterical and one-dimensional involvement in the GOP nomination fight.
For more than a month, the leading conservative talkers in the country have broadcast identical messages in an effort to demonize Mike Huckabee and John McCain. If you’ve tuned in at all to Rush, Sean, Savage, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager, and two dozen others you’ve heard a consistent drum beat of hostility toward Mac and Huck.
In other words, the talk radio jihad against Mac and Huck hasn’t destroyed or even visibly damaged those candidates. But it has damaged, and may help destroy, talk radio. USA Today Story
If you have missed what has been happening on the AM dial of late, it is Rush Limbaugh and company going ballistic because their proclaimed candidate to save America from Democratic Socialism and Slavery, Fred Thompson, failed and fizzled. This group of hard core conservatives have not only been trashing both McCain and Huckabee so hard it makes the Obama/Clinton fight look like a wet cotton ball fight, but they are attacking each other for backing McCain or Huckabee. So with Rudy on the slide, Rush and company are now left with only flip flopping Mitt Romney to hold the conservative banner, which only frustrates them further.
Who would of thought that the demise of Right-wing radio would have been brought on by Right-wing Radio infighting?
The New York Times endorsed Hillary Clinton on experience and command of the issues, but it was their endorsement of Republican John McCain which contained the following much deserved clubbing of Rudy Giuliani that made the news. Primary Choices: John McCain
The real Mr. Giuliani, whom many New Yorkers came to know and mistrust, is a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police power. Racial polarization was as much a legacy of his tenure as the rebirth of Times Square.
Mr. Giuliani’s arrogance and bad judgment are breathtaking. When he claims fiscal prudence, we remember how he ran through surpluses without a thought to the inevitable downturn and bequeathed huge deficits to his successor. He fired Police Commissioner William Bratton, the architect of the drop in crime, because he couldn’t share the limelight. He later gave the job to Bernard Kerik, who has now been indicted on fraud and corruption charges.
The Rudolph Giuliani of 2008 first shamelessly turned the horror of 9/11 into a lucrative business, with a secret client list, then exploited his city’s and the country’s nightmare to promote his presidential campaign.
I happened to tune in AM talk radio yesterday to see how they were dealing with their pain regarding McCain winning South Carolina. Rush Limbuagh said that if John McCain were to win the Republican nomination he would not vote come November because it would be between two Democrats. Of the other hand Sean Hannity did a turnaround.
A year ago it was understood that Rudy Giuliani would be the Republican nominee for President. Rudy did not follow the rules of running for President because he thought he knew better, like all good fascists.
If you’ve ever been tied up in traffic wondering why the cell phone user next to you in intently staring at his phone, juggling a latte’, and driving with his knees, be happy you can see his hands.
The big loser in South Carolina was, in fact, talk radio: a medium that has unmistakably collapsed in terms of impact, influence and credibility because of its hysterical and one-dimensional involvement in the GOP nomination fight.
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