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Tuesday, August 31, 2004
I listened to this evening's RNC speeches while doing some touch up painting in my office at home. Not as glamorous an assignment as the boys in Bloggers Row (why do I think of strip clubs everytime I hear that?) have perhaps, but we all have our role to play.
Ahnold was Ahnold. What he says doesn't matter as much as the way he says it, although tonight's speech had plenty of content to match his charisma. A- Hearing the Bush twins pathetic attempts at self-deprecating humor (could not they find someone to write some decent lines for them? Give us a ring next time girls and we'll talk.) was painful. The less we hear from these two the rest of the way, the better. D- Laura was Laura. Plain-spoken, modest, and nice. And boring. She's a wonderful woman and makes a great First Lady. But a headline speaker she ain't. C+ Other that Ahnold, a rather unimpressive evening. I still wonder why they stacked McCain and Rudy on the opening night, instead of saving Rudy for Wednesday. I'm sure that Zell Miller will do a bang-up job, but I can't imagine that he'll be able to approach the rhetorical heights reached by Giuliani. Tomorrow night will tell. Labels: Politics-National (02-04)
Is apparently all the same to the Star Tribune editorial board. Last Friday we noted the story of a couple of College Republicans being manhandled at the Minnesota State Fair by union goons wearing t-shirts that read "Laborers For Kerry". We predicted that the Strib's stable of columnists who normally would be all over such crushing of dissent would not deign to cover this particular example. And they did not. But today the Strib editorial board did weigh in with a piece titled Bad and dumb/Political news to grimace at:
The Minnesota standard of spirited but nonviolent political disagreement was violated during John Kerry's visit to the State Fair Thursday, when three or four men, at least one wearing a "Laborers for Kerry" shirt, roughed up two College Republicans from the University of St. Thomas. The students were wearing costumes that resembled giant foam "flip-flop" sandals. One man was caught on camera elbowing a student in the head. An observer said he saw pushing, hip-checking and bumping that went on for 10 or 15 minutes. State Republican chairman Ron Eibensteiner asked state AFL-CIO president Ray Waldron for an apology. That should come from the perpetrators themselves -- and Waldron and other leading DFLers should publicly condemn this dangerous conduct. The scuffle at the fair could easily have become a melee causing serious injury, and turning peaceable people off to politics. Kerry supporters have plenty of ammunition for a war of words with Bush backers. Those at the fair, and outside the convention hall this week in New York, should recognize that if they resort to fists instead, they'll lose. We heartily applaud the Strib's condemnation of this event, even if it wasn't quite as adamant as we would have preferred. They seem to be more worried that the "scuffle" could have injured bystanders and left people with a bad taste in their mouths about politics, instead of focusing on the despicable nature of the assault itself. But no matter. If this would have been all that the editorial concerned itself with, it would have been quite appropriate. But this was not the case. In fact the ugly incident at The Fair was the third and last item that the Strib editorial came down on. First and foremost in the sites of their criticism was the Stalin/Hitler/Tojo/Jenjis Khan/Mussolini of our times; David Strom from the Taxpayers League of Minnesota: Proving that it lacks appreciation for both state culture and history, the Minnesota Taxpayers League is asking State Fair-goers to sign a petition supporting renaming Olson Memorial Highway for the late President Ronald Reagan. The group would also tear down statues of Depression-era Gov. Floyd B. Olson at the Capitol and on his namesake highway, which runs through the north Minneapolis neighborhood in which Olson grew up. The League condemns Olson, a Farmer-Laborite, as a "socialist," and on issues such as utility ownership, the label fits. But Olson was also a patron saint of the shared asset that Minnesotans prize most -- quality public education. His promotion of a new tax -- a state income tax -- dedicated to paying for schools helped lift this state out of the depths of the Depression. Rather than taking Minnesota down "the failed path of socialism," as the League's David Strom said, Olson put this state on a path toward prosperity that pays huge dividends to this day. Surely Reagan can be remembered without denying Olson the honor he deserves. Now you may not agree with the Taxpayer League's idea to change the name of the highway. But it is an idea they feel should be debated in the public forum. They haven't forced anyone to accept their idea; they have done nothing illegal or untoward to promote it. They just brought it up. And isn't that what freedom of speech and democracy are really all about? You have an idea about something you think would be good for the town/city/state/country that you live in. Using the proper public channels, you seek to convince others of the worthiness of your cause have your idea implemented. It's called politics. Since it's a petition drive, you could call it grass roots politics. If the Strib editorial board disagrees with Strom's proposal (and they haven't met one yet that they haven't) they could pen an editorial explaining why they oppose it. But to lump the Taxpayer League's drive to change the name of a highway in with a couple of Union thugs using violence to intimidate their political opponents and branding them collectively as "bad and dumb politics" is outrageous. Outrageous, but not unexpected. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
City Page's "Best Villian" of 2004 is certainly living up to his name:
David Strom, CityPages' 2004 "Best Villain of the Year" and President of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, today charged that the weekly newsmagazine is probably violating federal law with a promotion they are running at the State Fair. Part of the CityPages "Young Voter Project" is chance at a trip for two to Iceland and tickets to a 5 day music festival in exchange for a promise to vote this November, or in exchange for registering to vote. TITLE 42 , CHAPTER 20 , SUBCHAPTER I-A , Sec. 1973i, subchapter C (how?s that for a mouthful?!) of the United States Federal Code specifically prohibits paying or accepting payment for voting, or registering to vote. Violating that law could result in a $10,000 fine and/or 5 years in jail. The CityPages promotion sure appears to violate the law, and the Secretary of State should look into ending the promotion before the feds swoop in and jail the staff of that fine weekly. "I'm sure that CityPages has nothing but the finest intentions, but there is little question that their promotion violates federal voting laws. I hope that Secretary Kiffmeyer intervenes before the FBI does!" said the "Best Villain of 2004," David Strom "At least they aren't giving cigarettes away for voting as happened in Wisconsin!" Strom quipped. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
In the last couple of weeks, James Lileks has taken shots at the latest fashion offerings from Marshall Field's, both in his Daily Bleat and in his Backfence column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Today, in the Strib's letters to the editor, he receives return fire:
I chuckled while reading James Lileks' column in the Aug. 21 Star Tribune about the 'tragedy' of fall fashion. The column stated, in short, that this year's fall fashion is a tragic, tasteless hodgepodge of decade-straddling garbage. Tragic? That's a mighty strong word to use when discussing the lighthearted topic of fashion. In my opinion, it would be quite sad if fashion trends remained stagnant every season and disregarded the influences of the past. The truth is, nothing stays the same in the world of fashion. Those in the fashion arena, or those who are just into fashion, thrive on change -- whether it's a subtle nuance or an all-out overhaul, we're always looking to freshen up our wardrobe with a trendy new item or two. For those of us who embrace fashion and all its transformation and variations, it's thrilling that the trends of today pull from numerous eras, and flaunt an eclectic mix of formal with casual, new and old, luxe and kitschy. From the proper, buttoned-up looks of the '40s to the laid-back, bohemian styles of the '60s and '70s, today's fashion trends -- in my opinion -- represent a fantastic medley of decade-spanning styles. It comes down to this: Fashion is fun, and it's not to be taken so seriously! We use fashion to express ourselves and our creativity. We can be daring with a few trend-forward pieces paired with classics, or we can fully embrace the fluctuating, ever-evolving forum that is fashion by wearing a head-to-toe, statement-making ensemble. The beautiful thing is that it's completely up to you. JoAnn Young, Minneapolis; Marshall Field's trend expert. Hear that James? Fashion is fun! Now march yourself down to Marshall Field's, pick up a pair of bell bottoms, and lighten up. Labels: fashion
The Warrior Princess, by day, is a 3rd Year law student and fast rising star in legal circles. She puts her considerable research talents to use on the Star Tribune, Jim Boyd, and the potential for a defamation lawsuit against them.
Happened to be at the Fair Saturday in conversation with Scott "the Big Trunk" Johnson and Hugh "the Prince of Pronto Pups" Hewitt when Scott unveiled an advanced copy of his rebuttal to Jim Boyd's smear piece in last week's Star Tribune. Shocked and amazed at Boyd's article, Hugh noted Hinderaker and Johnson (H & J) probably have an actionable defamation suit on their hands. I did a quick search of current case law to try to figure out their chances. Jim Boyd's column would be defamatory if it caused enough harm to "lower the community's estimation of the individual or to deter others from associating or dealing with the individual." Weissman v. Sri Lanka Curry House, Inc., 469 N.W.2d 471, 473 (Minn.App.1991). In Jim Boyd's two columns addressing H & J, he referred to their piece as "fraudulent" and to the Powerline duo as "smear artists" who "take the art of slime-throwing to levels of immorality seldom seen". In Mr. Boyd's estimation, their "deliberate smear" of John Kerry did not rise to a level of discourse worthy of the Star Tribune editorial page. He accused H & J of knowingly disseminating false information, not only besmirching their personal honor but also their professional reputations. I leave it to the reader to hypothesize whether or not this rises to the level of defamation as defined by the courts of the State of Minnesota. When an injured party is a public figure, as are H & J, beyond the regular elements of a defamation claim, (which probably wouldn't be in question in this case) a successful claim must prove the offending party made the false statements "with knowledge that the statements were false or with reckless disregard for the truth." Weinberger v. Maplewood Review, 668 N.W.2d 667 (Minn. 2003). Boyd called H & J's piece "fraudulent," yet as pointed out in their rebuttal did so in a "remarkably fact-free" fashion. Maybe Boyd has some secret crib sheet completely exonerating Kerry that he fails to share with not only his readers, but also the Kerry campaign. If Boyd does not, then it would seem he is in quite a bind. Either Boyd maliciously accused H and J of fraud knowingly and willfully seeking to defame their character without cause, or his visceral reaction to the sight of Kerry being skewered before his eyes led him to recklessly ignore the facts clearly communicated in H & J's article. Either way, it would seem Boyd's actions amount to actual malice, making him liable under the tort of defamation. Maybe the Star Tribune recognized the merits of H & J's original piece, and printed H & J's rebuttal against Boyd's wishes out of a sense of fairness and accuracy. Maybe they printed the rebuttal because their legal department informed them the first amendment doesn't protect journalists who maliciously slander those holding opinions not their own. Whatever the case, at least in this wannabe lawyer's opinion, they better hope Hinderaker and Johnson let bygones be bygones, because that would be one ugly case for Jim Boyd and the Star Tribune. I agree, the Star Tribune could have their hands full if Hinderaker and Johnson aren't satisfied with their make good overtures. We encourage the Powerline duo to consider their options very carefully before letting bygones be bygones. The Star Tribune's editorial page arrogance needs a cold slap of reality. Plus, we encourage anything to distract Hinderaker from planning his defamation lawsuit against the Elder for this. Labels: Legal matters
Joe Carter from the evangelical outpost submits the following SAB:
Political pundit, who went to school in Massachusetts, Hugh Hewitt... and ...Political putz, who ran the state of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis. Labels: Separated At Birth Monday, August 30, 2004
Vox Day sends a letter to the Star Tribune, pointing out the ridiculous nature of Jim Boyd's claim that:
"Now comes their second piece. I could do extensive line-by-line analysis, but I will not. It would take space I do not have." To which Vox says: Considering that the digital bits available at www.startribune.com should be more than adequate to fulfill Mr. Boyd's no doubt copious needs, and to which his piece in the paper could easily refer, this sounds suspiciously like empty words. Also, is "Moonie paper" an acceptable religious slur now? My AP Stylebook wasn't clear on the preferred term. But maybe Jim Boyd is right. Maybe they don't have space to spare at the Strib, what with the daily State Fair pull out sections, CJ's monthly gossip columns, and intriguing stories about towns in other states named Minneapolis. So in the interests of bridging the partisan divide, we are offering Jim Boyd space here at Fraters Libertas. Free space. As much as needs, when he needs. It will be a bit of a sacrifice for us. We're going to have spike a forthcoming piece by JB Doubtless calling for the merger of Applebee's and Wal-mart. And Atomizer's long-awaited final installment in his meal preparation series called "Atomizer Does Lunch (or how I ended up in the ER trying to make a peanut butter and 'nana sandwich)" will have to wait for another day. Space is no longer an issue Jim. You've got all you need right here. We now anxiously await your "extensive line-by-line analysis." Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
Russ Vaughn, who served with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam, was kind enough to e-mail this beautiful verison of a Kipling Classic. Enjoy:
(With apologies to Mr. Kipling and the British Army) Johnny went public with 'is boasts, an' 'ero without fear, 'Til sudden like the Swifties say, "We got a turncoat 'ere." The Libs they just ignored 'em, sayin' "Ah, it's all a lie!" Then Johnny's outted by their ads an' to myself says I: Oh it's Johnny this an' Johnny that, 'e's the 'ero of the day. But it's wait now, Mr. Kerry, what's that record really say? The horns are loudly blowin' boys as our band begins to play, An' it's goodbye, Mr. Kerry, as they blow your arse away. Johnny goes to Cincinnati sober as a man can be, An' they give ol' George a "Bravo Lad!" but John no sympathy. They give 'im plain their message, sittin' silent in the 'alls, That when it comes to fightin' men, they know oo's got the balls. For it's Johnny this an' Johnny that, but wait, he might 'a lied From the platform of his campaign train an' on the Boston tide. His ship is on the tide, my boys, his ship is on the tide, An' it's plain as day she's sinkin' boys, because the turncoat lied. Yes Johnny mocked our uniforms that guard you while you sleep. He cheapened all our medals throwing his upon that heap; An' rustlin' up his phony troops, he led them for a bit, Until his aspirations and theirs no longer fit. Now it's Johnny this an' Johnny that, an' Johnny how's yer soul, In that brave front rank of 'eroes as our drums begin their roll? The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll, An' they'll keep right on a rollin' boys, 'til we chuck 'im in the hole. We make no claim as 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too, But 'onorable men an' warriors fightin' once agin for you. An' if your 'ero's record, our charges soundly taint, That's what we're tryin' to tell you blokes, your 'ero ain't no saint. For it's Johnny this an' Johnny that, an' "Check him out, the Loot!" Was 'e the "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot? Now it's Johnny's turn to prove us wrong, an' make us all out liars, By signin' that one eighty form an' puttin out the fires. Oh it's Johnny this an' Johnny that, 'e's the 'ero of the day, But it's hold on, Mr. Kerry, what's that record really say? The horns are loudly blowin' boys, as our band begins to play, "Cheerio, Old Man," to Johnny and blows his arse away. Labels: Politics-National (02-04)
No, he wasn't at Lambert Field with John Kerry. He was at the Minnesota State Fair on the Northern Alliance Radio Network on Saturday. Actually he was on all the live AM-1280 broadcasts that day, including the Tax Payers League with David Strom and Rabuse on the Right. When Hugh's pimping a book, you can't keep him away from a live mike, whether he has been asked to appear or not. About that little incident involving Cathy Wurzer and Hugh at the MPR booth, we shall speak no further. Let's just say that Eric Eskola can do more with that scarf than just make a fashion statement.
During the third hour of the NARN show, we presented Hugh with a few additional honorary titles to add to his already sagging mental mantel place. Official representatives were on hand to honor Hugh on the air with his titles and honor Generalissimo Duane with plenty of free food samples. Henceforth Hugh will be known as: The Master of Fudge Puppies The Prince of Pronto Pups And The Sultan of Scotch Eggs Hugh wanted the moniker of "Ambassador of Pronto Pups", but this was Minnesota, not California. It was our show, not his. And so he is the Prince of Pronto Pups. He also took a few moments to strap on his Minnesota Commissioner of Hockey crown and take a few questions about the sport:  It's not the yellow tuxedo, but seeing Hugh in a hockey helmet is probably the next best thing. Of course he utterly failed to coherently answer even the simplest of hockey queries (For example: What is icing?). Hugh should familiarize himself with the rules of the game as well as the World Cup of Hockey, which starts today and includes games at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul later this week. It may seem incredible, but I daresay that Hugh knows more about wine (he is the state sommelier for California) than he does hockey. If not for a few logistical issues, I would have also arranged for a special event involving Hugh and his title of Minnesota's Master of the Horse. Maybe next year. Or maybe we can change Hugh's title to Governor of the Goat. It's more fitting anyway. After our Scotch-infused conversation on Saturday night, I actually felt a bit sorry for Hugh (especially his wallet) and so will probably go easy on him for the next couple of days. Or at least the rest of today. Maybe just the rest of the hour... Finally, I was also able to continue my work on my on-going photo serial called "NARN Hosts Eating On The Job". Hindrocket from Power Line joins Mitch Berg in the gallery of regrettable food consumption. I hope to catch King next week with his favorite Fair fare; fried tofu on a stick. Labels: State Fair
The gentle, tax subsidized bard of the Prairie, Garrison Keillor has another temper tantrum published, this time in something called In These Times. New adjectives to include to the burgeoning list of hate rhetoric include:
... paranoid Roosevelt-haters, the flat Earthers and Prohibitionists, the antipapist antiforeigner element. ... a legion of angry white men who rose to power on pure punk politics And this breathless chunk of a catharsis: The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong's moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt's evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we're deaf, dumb and dangerous. I assume this Keillor screed is officially comedic hyperbole, exaggeration for humorous affect. No doubt it's based in his darkest, worst case suspicions, but he doesn't really believe it, does he? In particular, his weird preoccupation with the alleged financial status of Republicans, is that really who he thinks we are? I met dozens of folks at the Fair this weekend, both at the Patriot Broadcast center and at the Taxpayer's League booth (in the lower grandstand), and none of them fit these descriptions. They're just good hearted, middle class people, seeking to get greater control over their destinies as they pass through this world. People, by the way, who would be thrilled to make in a year what Keillor pulls down in a week. His Public Radio salary, by the way, paid by those same, good hearted middle class folks he now calls brownshirts in pinstripes, Lamborghini libertarians, and corporate shills. Corporate shills, this coming from a guy whose entire career and decadent lifestyle is based on taking people's money via the force of government. His littany of insults, from an objective distance, read like a nervous breakdown. As a long time, occasionally chagrined, but usually entertained listener to Prairie Home Companion, this is just sad. The man is desperately flailing about trying to hurt people, trying to draw blood, no longer even attempting to use his considerable talents to entertain or persuade. He's turned into an elitist Don Rickles, but without the basis of self deprecation. Rickles act was as a throbbing blood blister of a human being, his hateful persona built up to a point that it had to be spewed in all directions, tainting everything he saw. It was undeniably funny, but only because you knew Rickles didn't believe he was better than anybody else. But Keillor's using the same insulting approach, in hyper-erudite fashion, in an attempt to show his superiority to those he insults and to affect an negative consequence on those same people. It's pathetic and also the definition of hate rhetoric. By the way, you'll hear nothing like it from conservative radio hosts, like Rush, Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, or any of the regulars on AM1280 the Patriot. OK, you might occasionally hear something similar like that from Michael Savage. That tells you the level Keillor is now operating on. But at least Savage isn't on government run radio. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
Okay, so most of this 2002 piece by Gary Larson is more generalized Strib-bashing. But if you look closely enough you will find a reference to our favorite deputy editor:
A deputy editorial editor here alleges Bush's 'political methods' are the very equal of Hitler's. [Sept. 25, 2002 {Ed. note:no link available}]. Such over-the-edge stuff is business as usual. In 1998, after it dismissed Clinton's misdeeds as 'ethical lapses,' this paper labeled Kenneth W. Starr as 'the greatest threat to the republic' [Aug. 18, 1998]. Down is up, up is down? Just how Orwellian does it get? Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
It appears that the idle speculation that Saint Paul and I engaged in last week was quite accurate. Jason Lewis is returning to the Twin Cities to appear at a special AM-1280 The Patriot (or Partiot as we like to call it) election event with Hugh Hewitt. On Sunday October 3rd, at the Downtown Hilton in Minneapolis, they will be giving a blow by blow analysis of one of the presidential debates as it happens. Get your tickets now while they last.
Labels: Events Sunday, August 29, 2004
Long day yesterday. We did the first NARN broadcast from the Fair, and had a lot of fun with Hugh, Generalissimo Duane, and Mike Nelson. After quaffing a couple of well deserved post-show beers, Saint Paul, Atomizer, JB, and his gal wandered over to the DFL booth to catch a speech by Al Franken. It was quite simply the worst political performance I've ever seen. If this guy is the best they've got, the Dems in Minnesota are in deep trouble.
Home for dinner with my wife and then over to Jasperwood for a night of good ol' fashioned fun. Drinking Scotch, smoking ceegars, and talking 'bout the state of the world. It don't get much better. Much more later on all this later. Today my wife is running the 5K Milk Run at The Fair and then another NARN show at noon so I gotta cruise. Check out Plastic Hallway for some nice pics from yesterday's action. Labels: State Fair Saturday, August 28, 2004
The championship team from Thursday night at Keegan's, sans Mrs. K:
 Trial lawyer Bill Koster, his daughter Maggie, and Bridget Nelson. Labels: Trivial Pursuits
If you're wondering what all this hype over the Minnesota State Fair is about, check out our much talked about photo essay from last year. Not while you're eating though.
Labels: State Fair Friday, August 27, 2004
Larry e-mails to agrue that this is his favorite Laurie Coleman picture. Not bad, but it's hard to beat the classy look of the cocktail hour pic. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. (In case you're curious, I am not working today and have been sitting around in my boxers surfing the 'net on my laptop all day. God bless America!)
Labels: Politics-Local (04-05)
...in John Ashcroft's Amerika? Funny that the Strib's account of John Kerry's visit to the Minnesota Star Fair yesterday didn't mention this (excerpt of a letter from MN GOP Chairman Ron Eibensteir to Ray Waldron, President, Minnesota AFL-CIO):
Even during the most heated political battles, Minnesotans have always prided themselves on a nonviolent and civil political discourse. That is why I was shocked to learn that during John Kerry's visit to the State Fair today union members wearing "Laborers for Kerry" t-shirts physically assaulted two College Republicans. These two college students were peacefully assembled to express their points of view, which is every American's right. What is even more troubling is the fact that this is not the first time that we have seen these tactics from union officials, and DFL and Kerry campaign supporters. Thugs supporting a candidate using violence to stifle their opponent's freedom of expression at a politcal event? Sounds like the kind of outrage that Nick Coleman, Doug Grow, and Kim Ode of the Star Tribune would be all over doesn't it? I can't wait for their columns this weekend, denouncing this despicable behavior. Yeah, right. This weekend, the Northern Alliance Radio Network will be broadcasting live from the State Fair on both Saturday and Sunday from noon until 3pm. And we will not be shy about approaching the DFL and union booths to engage in reasonable debate. It sounds like we might have to be prepared for more than just a verbal smackdown if the actions of these union goons yesterday is representative of the approach of Kerry supporters. Be sure to tune in for all the fun on AM1280 The Patriot here in the Twin Cities or via our internet stream. Labels: State Fair
We gotta figure out how to get invited to cocktail hour at the Coleman's:
 Labels: Politics-Local (04-05)
And the archives of Hugh in his yellow tux continue to emerge.
James has uncovered this picture of Hugh stepping out for a smoke during his prom. Meanwhile, Richard thinks he's found the tux itself. Kevin at Cadet Happy, may have the real deal here. Robert e-mails to give us idea what seed art Hugh (like the pic of Senator Wellstone on the left side of the page) might look like. Tim chimes in via e-mail as well: I didn't think you could pull it off, but you did manage to get Hugh's prom picture. Nice work. Did he ask the bearded lady to the prom? Did his dad loan him the little clown car, and did he take all of his friends and their dates to the prom? When he got to the prom, did he do the mime bit pretending he couldn't find the door? I could go on, but it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Finally, Cameron at Way Off Base (I wonder who came up with that clever name) has discovered a list of names that Hugh was referred to at his prom: Ol' Yellow Stain The Ohio Yoke'l Big Bird Butters Little Mary Sunbeam Take It Off! You're Blinding Me! Put It Back On Before Your Pale Skin Burns Out My Corneas! The Dividing Line Legal Pad Dandy Lion Pee Diddy The truth cannot be supressed for long. The picture must be released. Labels: Ralphie
You know that old line about how "the acorn never falls far from the tree"? A bunch of BS I tells ya. How else do you explain last night's trivia results at Keegan's Irish Pub?
For the record, we did not win. But, we also did not lose to Hugh and his "all-star" team. Both of our squads struggled mightily and finished in tie for third place, far out of the money. I could go on and on about the poor quality of some of the questions and the questionable judging of the answers (to paraphrase something Lileks said last night, "there's only one President frickin' Clinton!). There were three questions that we answered correctly, but were scored as incorrect because our responses weren't "complete" enough. And it was not exactly easy to concentrate last night either, what with the constant interruptions from standers-by wanting to meet us, get our autographs, or take a picture with us (do you think that might have had something to do with having Mike Nelson on our team?). But we are not sore losers or boastful winners (okay, we're a little bit boastful). We wish to salute the victors, Team Koster. Yes, Team Koster, the dominant force from Keegan's Tuesday Night trivia competition was slumming last night and showed up to mingle with the Thursday night crowd. Team Koster consists of Atomizer's father, his sister, and the straw that stirs the Koster cocktail, his mother. She is the undisputed Queen of Trivia. You doubt me? How many woman in her age group (over thirty) would know that the group Mud Honey coined the term "grunge"? That is simply scary. Team Koster was bolstered by the addition of Mike Nelson's wife Bridget, which left Saint Paul and I to wonder if, in addition to not having the right Koster, we might have chosen the wrong Nelson for our squad as well. Another impressive performance was turned in by Chumley Wonderbar and his collection of Northern Alliance misfits (Captain Ed and Mitch Berg). They claimed second place last night besting both us and Hugh's hotshots. We've had the pleasure of having Captain Ed and Mitch participate on the Fraters team in the past, as well as the distinct displeasure of being tied by a team led by Chumley. Which leads me to conclude that while Ed and Mitch are both solid contributors, Chumley is the X-factor. We look forward to matching wits with Chumley again in future trivia nights at Keegan's. Labels: Trivial Pursuits Thursday, August 26, 2004
Yesterday, Atomizer said, "I know a good fight when I see one." And you know what? He's right. This is turning out to be a damn good one.
It began on Sunday when Star Tribune editorialista, Jim Boyd unleashed a savage, frontal assault on the noble gents at Power Line over a piece they had published that dared question John Kerry's stories about his Vietnam service. Boyd expected to use the Star Tribune juggernaut to roll over his opposition with little resistance. But this time Boyd seriously underestimated his opponent. For not only did the Power Line crew repulse Boyd's assault with extreme prejudice, they launched a devastating counter-attack of their own. They then challenged Boyd to take the field against them in a showdown at the Minnesota State Fair. But Boyd had enough at that point, and went to ground. He refused to respond to their call for battle, and burrowed deeper into the earth, despite numerous efforts by the Power Line forces to engage him. On Monday I sensed an opportunity to strike at the exposed flank and so submitted this letter to the editor of the Star Tribune: Perhaps if Jim Boyd wasn't so busy selectively cherry-picking the arguments presented by Scott Johnson and John Hinderaker that he claimed to be fact checking and scurrilously attacking the characters of both men in his editorial that appeared in Sunday's paper, he might have found the time to address the key component of their argument that has yet to be rebutted. There is no evidence anywhere, other than John Kerry's own words, that he was ever in Cambodia at all, be it Christmas 1968 or January 1969. There is nothing to support the various claims that he and/or his official historian, Douglas Brinkley have made over the years that he was running guns to anti-communist rebels there, dropping off SEALs for clandestine operations, or delivering CIA agents in exchange for charmed chapeaus. The issue is not John Kerry's service in Vietnam. Rather, it is the tall tales that he has told since the war about his time in Vietnam that seek to create a larger-than-life heroic persona in order to further his political ambitions. I was disappointed, but not surprised that it did not see the light of day at the Strib. It usually takes about ten attempts to land one letter in the Strib. As Wayne Gretzky used to say. "You can't score if you don't shoot." But I was surprised yesterday, when I received this reply from Jim Boyd himself: Hey, Chad. How do you know there is nothing to support that? Or do you really mean there is nothing you've seen? And how could you see all? Here's a challenge for you: I served for a year with an Army outfit named U.S. Army Field Activities Command in Washington. I'll give you a week to find ANY mention of it anywhere. I'll give you two weeks to find out what it really was. I'm not making it up. my DD214 says I served there. My point: It was a secret agency doing secret work in secret places. Also, did you see this: John O'Neill of Swift Vets, in a taped 1971 conversation with President Richard Nixon: O'NEILL: I was in Cambodia, sir. I worked along the border on the water. NIXON: In a swift boat? O'NEILL: Yes, sir. I'm not making that up either. It comes from Fox, the Hannity and Colmes show, as well as CNN's Newsnight with Aaron Brown. John O'Neill in a taped 1971 Oval Office meeting with President Richard Nixon. After the beating he had taken at the hands of the Power Line boys, Boyd was apparently so desperate for a victory, any victory to raise his sagging morale that he was willing to crawl out of his hole for a moment and take a pot shot at a unknown letter writer. But once again, he miscalculated. For this letter writer was not just an isolated crank on a solo sortie, and Boyd ran smack dab into the meat grinder once again. With Boyd finally in the open, the big guns at Power Line unleashed a withering barrage: But I'm a state of the art Google searcher, so it took me about a minute and a half to respond to Jim Boydot's challenge. The U.S. Army Field Activities Command does not appear to be a super-secret organization, as Boyd suggests, given that the official, publicly-available Dept. of the Army account of the year 1973 notes that: "Pursuant to the action to terminate area intelligence collection activities, the U.S. Army Field Activities Command was disestablished in November 1972 and its remaining responsibilities assumed by the 902d Military Intelligence Group." Another reference to the supposedly hush-hush Field Activities Command can be found here. No doubt if you Googled for another five minutes, more references to the Field Activities Command would tumble out. What is striking to me about this exercise is the spiritual kinship between John (pocketa-pocketa-pocketa) Kerry and Jim (pocketa-pocketa-pocketa) Boyd. Apparently Boyd, like Kerry, envisions himself as a sort of Secret Agent Man. Boyd alluded--vaguely and irrelevantly, of course--to his own Vietnam doings in castigating us as fraudulent, lying smear artists, and, like Kerry, he seems to think that his own Secret Agent Man status gives him a license to slander others while conferring immunity against any response. In that context, it is easy to see why Boyd rises so readily to the defense of Kerry's fantasies. Boyd harbors fantasies of his own. That wasn't, of course, the epistemological problem that the Trunk posed. But it doesn't take a philosopher to figure out that when there is no record of Kerry's being ordered into Cambodia; Kerry's crewmates say they were never in Cambodia; Kerry's boat was unsuitable for secret missions to Cambodia; no CIA man has come forward to confirm the story of the Magic Hat; there are no documents suggesting that Kerry was ordered into Cambodia; Kerry's journals don't say he was in Cambodia; and the last entry in Kerry's journal depicts him looking wistfully over at the Cambodia border and wondering what is on the other side--well, as I say, you don't have to be an epistemologist to conclude that Kerry was never in Cambodia. They were aided by their sharp-shooting readers sniping at Boyd as well: More google searching would find you this link. Check out Wyatt B. Kirby's bio: "Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Officer in the Army Field Activities Command with assignments in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Washington, DC. During 1970-1972, he was Chief of Operations, G3, 525th Military Intelligence Group, supervising HUMINT collection in the Republic of Viet Nam." I'd bet Mr Kirby could provide some interesting information on the "Field Activities Command." Boyd is a putz. But I can do even better. The commander of the Field Activities Command was Col Alfred W. Bagot. Google rocks. And: Well here's a link. See page 52, second paragraph from the bottom. The link above was the first return on the search "Army Field Activities Command" in Google. Took about 30 seconds, to get Google up, copy the phrase, get the return and click on the page. Most of the week is left. Here's another link that suggests that the Army Field Activities Command ran Army Intelligence agents overseas. As to the second part of Boyd's challenge -- what his old outfit really was -- it appears, based on the material in the second link, to have been involved in internal security within the military, defense department and affiliated organizations. Obviously, Boyd is lacking in Internet skills or he wouldn't have issued this challenge without Googling it first. A person working at a newspaper not knowing how to Google? Imagine that. Next, Steve from Double Toothpicks joined the fun with a volley of his own: Boyd's view rather typifies the postmodern pragmatic view of truth. Skeptical of information authorities and of absolute truth itself, the postmodern mind becomes subject to all kinds of conspiracy theories and what used to be called 'kooky' ideas. The X-Files tells us that "The Truth Is Out There," code language for this absurd claim: since we can't absolutely deny that alien abductions take place, the government must be covering them up. This view of truth ignores a maxim that has stood well the test of time: extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. If Kerry really ferried CIA men into Cambodia, then his is the Super-Size burden of proof of this extraordinary claim. Finally, my latest salvo in response to Boyd's e-mail: Jim- Thanks for the response. I know you're a very busy man, what with the ducking of debates and all. I had hoped that you might see fit to actually publish my letter, but I suppose hoping for any semblance of balance on the Strib editorial pages is wishful thinking. If I understand your position correctly, you would argue that if John Kerry claimed he paraglided into Hanoi and trimmed a strand off Ho Chi Minh's beard it would be up to me to offer evidence that could conclusively disprove the claim. Otherwise I would have to accept it as fact. An interesting approach to say the least. As to your challenge, here's what found in a few minutes of research (with a little help). The commander of the Field Activities Command was Col Alfred W. Bagot. It appears to have been involved in internal security within the military, defense department and affiliated organizations. And it in 1973 it looks like it was dissolved: "Pursuant to the action to terminate area intelligence collection activities, the U.S. Army Field Activities Command was disestablished in November 1972 and its remaining responsibilities assumed by the 902d Military Intelligence Group." I am sure that I could find much more detailed information if I had the time (and the inclination). In two weeks I could likely have an multi-page article available on it, which your paper would no doubt refuse to print. If I'm not mistaken, John O'Neil was serving in Vietnam in 1970 when U.S. forces invaded Cambodia. That makes it quite likely that he was indeed in Cambodia, but does nothing to further John Kerry's claims to have been there in '68 or '69 (depending on which story he's now going with). I look forward to hearing from you again. Regards, Chad I'll keep you updated on further communications from Boyd. But I wouldn't count on any. Boyd's strategic position is precarious. He has so been battered and bludgeoned that he has fled the field of battle, beating a hasty retreat. New forces seem to be springing up almost hourly to take shots at him, while allies are few and far between. He may hope that local lefty bloggers will join the fray on his behalf, but he will soon learn that they're not good for much in battle except carrying the Strib's water (sorry-couldn't resist). Meanwhile, the rest of the Northern Alliance waits in reserve, ready, if needed, to deliver further crushing blows. At this point I don't think they will be sent in. Boyd is no longer a viable force as evidenced by his latest witty rejoinder, directed at those criticizing Kerry's 1971 testimony to Congress: What relevance this entire issue has to a presidential election 33 years later is, frankly, beyond me, but to my mind Kerry's testimony reflects enormous courage and conviction on the part of a young veteran just home from war. (Sigh) This time we'll simply let Boyd's word speak for themselves. If he shows up on Saturday, the hostilities will most certainly be resumed. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
The trivia challenge at Keegan's tonight should be monumental. With the squad of Hugh Hewitt-recruited ringers arrayed against us, we knew it was going to be tough. This picture shows exactly how tough.
Yes, that earnest, horn rim spectacled young man is Michael Medved appearing on the CBS game show "Scholarquiz" in 1964. On a championship team, according to his bio. It seems he's been preparing his whole life, in hopes of one day defeating Fraters Libertas in the public forum. Well, to quote John Kerry, from his original draft of his acceptance speech, "commence with your efforts!" Sure, Medved may excel with hoity toity categories such as Poetry and Literary Heritage and Long Division. But this ain't the Scholarquiz. This is Irish pub trivia, aimed at the unwashed masses. And that's us (or at least it's the Atomizer, who's been preparing by refusing to shower all week). All the memorized Walt Whitman verse in the world isn't going to help the Hewitt All Stars when it comes to knowing what Marge Simpson's maiden name is. And that stuff, we know. Come to think of it, Hewitt team member James Lileks knows that stuff too. Damn, advantage negated! Here's hoping Frater-for-a-Day Mike Nelson is a Sex and the City fanatic, because we generally get screwed on those questions, and they may be our only hope. By the way, Mike Nelson (yes, THAT Mike Nelson of MST3K fame) is now blogging. And he's stumbled across a way to generate revenue without resorting to those annoying Blog Ads: I have decided to post my own pictures and a diary in the hopes that strange men will be motivated to send me cash, cars and, instead of jewelry, please, audio visual equipment. Rest assured, there is nothing untoward about this arrangement, nothing implicit. It is a simple transaction wherein I post things and you send me stuff. The trivia starts tonight, 9 PM at Keegan's. Be aware, this isn't a feature match. The public is encouraged to bring their own teams (max of 4 people) to challenge us all. Although we sternly discourage the attendance of teams of strange men motivated to give Mike Nelson things. If you're coming, you better arrive early. Space may be short, and believe me, you don't want to miss it. Labels: Trivial Pursuits
Today is the kick-off of the Minnesota State Fair.
 It also marks the beginning of a run of activities and events that guarantee that the next eleven days will be insane. Here's a quick look at what's in store (all times are CST): Today 5pm-8pm Hugh Hewitt broadcasts live from The Fair. 9pm-??? Trivia showdown at Keegan's Irish Pub. Hugh will be on hand along with Michael Medved, James Lileks, and Michael J. Nelson among others. I even think Chumley may stop by. Here's how some guy named Doug envisions it: I have images of Medved sipping Mogen-David from a tiny glass, Hugh nursing a Miller-lite, Lileks drinking coffee and looking longingly at the Fraters table which is over-flowing with top-shelf martinis, pitchers of dark beer, and tequila shots. Naturally, I'll be gravitating toward the Fraters. They've already taken out smoking in Minneapolis. Booze could well be next. It's our civic duty to make public displays of our affection for the stuff. Out of towners like Hewitt and Medved (and hometown suck-ups, like Lileks) do not appreciate the urgency. Tomorrow 12pm Hugh and Jay Larson will be waxing and buffing cars at Bobby and Steve's Autoworld on the corner of 35W and Washington Ave in Minneapolis. 5pm-8pm Hugh Hewitt broadcasts live from The Fair. Saturday August 28th 9am-12pm Taxpayers League Live with David "Playa" Strom and Rabuse on the Right broadcast live at The Fair. 12pm-3pm Northern Alliance Radio Network broadcast live at The Fair. Guests on Saturday include Michael J. Nelson, James Lileks, and some guy named Hugh. 5pm Hugh's book signing at the Barnes and Noble at the Mall of America. Sunday August 29th 9am-12pm Taxpayers League Live with David "Playa" Strom and Rabuse on the Right broadcast live at The Fair. 12pm-3pm Northern Alliance Radio Network broadcast live at The Fair. Saturday September 4th 9am-12pm Taxpayers League Live with David "Playa" Strom and Rabuse on the Right broadcast live at The Fair. 12pm-3pm Northern Alliance Radio Network broadcast live at The Fair. 4pm-??? The second Minnesota Organization of Bloggers gathering at a beer garden (TBD) at The Fair. Sunday September 5th 9am-12pm Taxpayers League Live with David "Playa" Strom and Rabuse on the Right broadcast live at The Fair. 12pm-3pm Northern Alliance Radio Network broadcast live at The Fair. Mark your calendars now. Line up the babysitters, kennel the pets, and lock up the liquor. The next two weeks is going to be a wild ride and you don't want to miss out on all the fun. Labels: State Fair
Regarding my post yesterday on the political implications of professional wrestling, a couple of astute observers of the scene have chimed in.
First, John Hawkins from Right Wing News has an insightful post on the lessons politicians can learn from professional wrestling crowds and their reactions to various hyperbolic characters (a description that equally applies to grapplers and campaigning politicians). Excerpt: ...wrestling fans, particularly American fans tend to be very nationalistic. You will never go wrong talking up America or waving a flag around. Furthermore, the WWE made a big show of supporting the soldiers in Iraq. On the other hand, there's no easier way to gin up "Heat" than to trash the US as villains like the Iron Sheik, "The Russian Bear" Ivan Kolov, and the latest annoying foreigners, La Résistance (they're French, but shocker there, I know) have proven. Application: If you can point out to people how people like Ted Rall, Michael Moore, & Noam Chomsky trash America, you will permanently turn people off to their ideas. I also received an email from Josh Almas, a professional wrestling aficionado. He applies the skills of a journalist and historian in this fascinating look at the background of the wrestler JBL and his political implications. I just read your article on WWE superstar John 'Bradshaw' Layfield (JBL) and it's possible reflection on the Presidential race. As a Republican and an avid pro-wrestling fan (I hold a BA in History and Political Science, and have traveled the country to attend WrestleMania (the super-bowl of pro-wrestling) each of the last four years), I thought I'd point out a few things. Overall I was impressed by your analysis, and researching, a lot of bloggers wouldn't have done the research to find out that Layfield has a background as an investment analyst for CNBC, or the details of his termination. Although Layfield's time with CNBC was short-lived, he had previously served in a similar role with Fox News Channel for a much longer period of time. However there were a few points in the article that contained mistakes and I thought I could shed some light on these points. Taking it from the beginning MFSM recounts Layfield's use of the phrase "God Bless the United States of America" to end his speeches. MFSM is correct that this phrase has been met with great hostility from audiences. However, what he fails to inform you of, (or perhaps was unaware of himself,) is that fact that Layfield uses this type of language when performing before crowds in Canada. Such was the case this past week when JBL used the phrase at a show taped at Hamilton, Ontario. Prior to using the "God Bless" phrase as a sign-off JBL had riled up the nationalist fervor of the Canadian crowd by referring to Canada as America's "little sister," saying he was better than them because he was from the United States, and saying that they shouldn't boo this because, "we protect you." Insulting Canadians and playing up to anti-Americanism in Canada just like goose-stepping in Germany, is, in wrestling vernacular, referred to as "cheap heat." Layfield in his is no stranger to this practice, his Buchanan-esque anti-immigrant railings were a part of his character when he was feuding with Mexican-American WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero. Now that he has moved on from this feud with Guerrero, JBL only pulls out the anti-immigration part of his character when performing in areas with large Hispanic populations. When performing in the Northeast he emphasizes his Texas heritage, but when performing in Texas he proudly proclaims that he now lives in New York City and had to leave Texas to become wealthy. This reliance on "cheap heat" stems largely from the fact that Bradshaw is generally not liked by the fans (and by not-liked I mean not only in a "we don't love him" way, but also in the "we don't love to hate him" way). Never an accomplished singles-wrestler JBL was given his new character and immediately pushed into a headlining role this past April, due to the departure or injury of an astonishing number of main-event superstars. The fact is in the eyes of most fans JBL as a main-eventer has been a huge failure. WWE continues to push him, and has even made him WWE World Champion because they simply don't have much of a choice right now on Layfield's Smackdown! brand. You cite an article by Phantom Lord talking-up the potential of the gimmick to be a success. I have never read anything by this particular columnist before, but know he is not one of the more well-respected wrestling columnists currently writing on the Internet. However since that column was written in mid-April most of the potential seen by Phantom has not been realized due to general fan disinterest for the character of JBL. (Interestingly enough, Phantom also gets it wrong on the other new gimmick he discusses, "Special" wrestler Eugene Dinsmore. While JBL has floundered as a main-eventer Eugene quickly was embraced by the fans, and although he was intended as an under-card wrestler recently found himself in a main-event feud with Triple H, who due to his status as Vince McMahon's son-in-law always is able to attach himself to the WWE's hottest stars.) A couple other notes to touch on. The mock political commercial that MFSM references is a pretty accurate portrayal except for one huge problem. The commercials targeting Foley had nothing to do with John 'Bradshaw' Layfield. They were part of a storyline between Foley and Randy Orton, those commercials even ended with a "Paid for by friends of Randy Orton" tag. WWE, much like Major League Baseball is divided into two distinct leagues, referred to as brands; Raw, and Smackdown! Each brand has its own TV shows, announcers, referees, title belts, and wrestlers with very little cross-over between the two brands. Both Orton and Foley are a part of WWE's Raw Brand, while Bradshaw is a part of Smackdown! Moreover, the fake ads in question ran in December, when JBL was still beer-drinking Bradshaw of the APA (a gimmick which actually did last for the better part of five years). The description of the ads is accurate, however, and it is worth noting that the program between Foley and Orton was instrumental in building up Orton's character to the point where he has just recently won the World Title for the Raw brand, and is in the midst of turning face (becoming a good guy). Although Bob Mould did indeed spend a period of time as a writer for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and WWE did indeed buy WCW in January of 2001, Mould has never, to the best of my knowledge, been employed by WWE. The last word in WWE writing is and has always been Vince McMahon, and while McMahon does indeed employ a team of writers lead by his daughter Stephanie, the buck stops with him. The JBL push in particular has been identified by insiders as something of a pet project of Vince's. (Hence the top of the card status despite general fan apathy, nobody could back that type of a push except the boss.) But I don't think this is a part of some project by McMahon to advance liberalism. While he has never publicly announced his political affiliation, the North Carolina born-and-raised McMahon certainly doesn't look like a Democrat to me. Consider that this past December McMahon personally led a WWE tour to perform live for the troops in Baghdad. Additionally a quick search on the Federal Campaign contribution database through Newsmeat, shows that both Vince and Linda McMahon (Vince's wife and WWE CEO) have generally, though not exclusively, supported Republican candidates. In conclusion, while I more than anyone, would love to be able to draw political understanding from the world of pro-wrestling, I think that JBL is not such a case. If anything I would say that it just goes to show that the concept of an Evil Capitalist Republican wrestler isn't nearly as hated as WWE bookers seemed to think it would be. Wow. I'm confident in saying that ends the debate about what the JBL phenomenon really means. Now Man From Silver Mountain can go back to watching WWE Smackdown! with an untroubled mind. I wish all controversial issues were so easily resolved. (Easy, in that someone else did all the work). Maybe we can get Josh to investigate this whole Kerry in Cambodia mess and get that solved once and for all. Until he does, you can catch more of Josh's work at his home site and he's involved with another site called ewrestler.com. Labels: Politics-National (02-04) Wednesday, August 25, 2004
I know a good fight when I see one. This one is so good that I can no more resist jumping headfirst into it myself than I can a full half gallon bottle of Bombay Sapphire.
That's why I found myself Googling our local rag's editorial page editor, Jim Boyd, rather than addressing the invitations for my upcoming wedding. I'm sure that the lovely Atomizerette will understand. What I found, via an old Matt Welch post, was this nugget penned by Boyd back in 2002 regarding some negative criticism directed his way: I'm not talking disagreement, which is a given in the business we're in; I'm talking outright attacks on our integrity, our intelligence, our professionalism. It's wearing, and that, it seems to me, is its goal: To intimidate into submission -- or at least into submissive silence. Now, is it just me or is Boyd decrying the same sort of tactics he used in this piece published by the Star Tribune this past Sunday attacking Powerline's Hinderaker and Johnson? The only difference in this case is that the "submissive silence" is now coming from the 800 pound gorilla holding the truncheon. And the silence is deafening. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
There has been a lot of focus on a single burning issue lately...an issue that could be easily cleared up if the man at the center of the maelstrom would simply release the pertinent documents to the public. There has been obfuscation, denials and outright pig-headedness on the part of this individual and while some bloggers have succeeded in scratching at the surface, the truth is still out there.
Wait no longer, friends. After a lengthy bargaining session with a home economics teacher in Ohio, I present to you now a photograph of Hugh Hewitt dressed for his 1974 prom. Yikes!!! That's quite the outfit. Hugh's date was one lucky girl. By the way, Hugh's old home ec teacher told me that he was quite skilled at the art of macrame while in high school. In fact, she said that he was her most gifted student. Or did she say "special"? Labels: Ralphie
Somehow I missed the news of the passing of a real red-blooded American. Paul Neal ("Red") Adair, firefighter, died on August 7th, aged 89
(from The Economist-subscription required): From the crater that was Kuwait City's airport, Mr Adair surveyed the scene. The horizon was filled with one continuous fire. At the core of the wells the temperature was 3,000°F, or about the heat needed to melt steel. On the ground, 50 feet away, it was still close to 1,000°. The fires were often not shooting up straight from the wellhead, but spewing out in all directions. Mr Adair and his men donned their overalls, discarded their plastic hats in favour of aluminium, and set about doing their job. "Red", by the way, was then 75. In retrospect, Mr Adair--never wanting in confidence or cockiness where fires were concerned--thought Kuwait had been easy. "We put all the fires out with water, just went from one to the next." In fact, he reversed the flow in the oil pipes, pumping the nearest sea ("the Adriatic" as he blithely supposed) into the oilfields and saturating the ground with water before capping the wells. His 76th birthday found him joyfully moving the giant valves into position with a crane. In the end, he put out in nine months a conflagration that was expected to burn uncontrollably for three to five years. I can still recall the awe-filled respect that I felt for Red as a kid, after watching a documentary chronicling his exploits. This guy put out some of the most dangerous fires in the world for a living. And he did it with bravado, creativity, and confidence that marked him as an American original. Today people talk about having a "can do" attitude or "gettin' 'er done". Red Adair did much more than talk. He did whatever had to be done to put out the fire, to finish the job. R.I.P. Labels: Obit
Chumley opines on The Fair, the return of Jason Lewis, and a radio show that's taking baby steps.
Labels: State Fair
The credibility clock continues to tick for two prominent media types who persist in ducking challenges.
Jim Boyd from the Star Tribune can talk the talk (as he did in a Sunday editorial ripping the gents at Power Line), but he cowardly refuses to walk the walk and appear in a live, on-air debate at the Minnesota State Fair. Meanwhile, the Hugh Hewitt camp is in full damage control mode as the "Long Carbine of Yellow" still declines to release his 1974 prom photo. Given Hugh's cover-up and stubborn stonewalling (he did work for Nixon didn't he?) David from Pittsburgh suggests an alternative to the actual photo: I wouldn't wait for Double-H to cough up the photo. Why not commission the Wellstone artist to render Hugh in sweet, delicious yellow corn? He's already been called "Kernel" Slanders. And if he doesn't like it, he can just eat it. James Phillips, from the Fraters West Coast Research Bureau Northern California Office, has been doing some digging as well and has uncovered previously unpublished photos of Hugh wearing the infamous yellow tuxedo. More recently he appeared with the First Lady and Peter Beinart:  And then there is this shot of Hugh at his high school prom sitting in to jam with the band:  The truth is out there Hugh. You can't hide from it. Release the photo now or I'm sure we'll see many more archives start emerging from the woodwork. Labels: Media-Local (02-04), Ralphie
For the last few weeks, our correspondent Man from Silver Mountain has been getting nervous about the upcoming Presidential election. He's a Bush supporter and he thinks things are looking bleak. But it's not the polls that bother him. It's not news from Iraq or updates on the rate of job creation or even the endorsement by Bright Eyes that haunts him. What has him near despondency is what he sees while watching professional wrestling.
Apparently there's some guy on WWE parodying a rich Texas Republican and the crowd hates him. MFSM comments: An update on my theory that W will lose because bad guy wrestlers are imitating him. One was wearing a suit and a cowboy hat, complaining of high taxes and ending his speeches with the phrase, "God bless the United States of America." The people boo him and throw things at him. The plot has developed to the point where he is now pretending to take out advertising to smear his opponent. The ads are a parody of a well known Bush ad campaign. The "ad" starts like this (Mick Foley is his opponent and the name of the show is Hardcore): "Mick Foley claims to be a Hardcore legend. But let's look at the facts: Mick Foley . . . " It goes on to accuse Foley of various non Hardcore legend offenses before concluding with: "Mick Foley claims to be a Hardcore legend. But in reality, Mick Foley is a little p-word." I'd personally like to see W use that last line in his advertising. Foley himself was on Air America's morning show this week. It is kind of funny to hear pro wrestlers talk about their scripts. He claims to have actually dreamed up the smear campaign against himself. He also pointed out that politicians have been stealing from wrestling for years. "CNN's Crossfire is really just an old wrestling interview." Does MFSM have reason to worry? Professional wrestling is an excellent barometer of the mood of the middle and lower socio-economic strata. And I've never heard of a wrestling crowd turning on a true blue, flag-waving son of the South. Could this be evidence of a growing anti-Bush backlash among the blue collar heartland? Short answer, probably not. Remember, this is professional wrestling we're talking about, where the crowd reactions are played like a Duane Alman guitar solo. Google research shows the much hated cowboy hat wearing wrestler in question is a masterfully conceived and well executed heel (heel, in pro wrestling parlance, meaning predetermined villain). He also happens to be the WWE Champion of the World. Goes by the name JBL or Bradshaw. Real name is John Layfield. His history: John Layfield first appeared as Justin Hawk Bradshaw in the mid 1990's as the tag team partner of Barry Windham in The Blackjacks. Bradshaw was then 'sacrificed' by The Undertaker and became an Acolyte, alongside Faarooq and shortened his name to Bradshaw. After this 'dark side' gimmick, he turned face as a cigar-smoking bar-brawler. This gimmick was an evolution of the Acolyte gimmick and continued his teaming with Faarooq as the Acolyte Protection Agency (or the APA). Their motto: "We need beer money." Based on that timeless, universal theme, it's hard to believe that gimmick didn't last. But Layfield has moved on and his current shtick is based on being an obnoxious rich guy. According to some observers, it is an act that could become a ratings bonanza: Despite what others are saying, I think [WWE Chairman Vince McMahon] has struck gold with him. Here you have a big bad republican capitalist who happens to be a wrestler. It's a thing of greatness. The skit last night where he offered $1,000 to a kid who could wax his Limo's hood in a minute brought me back to my childhood and the good old days of The Million Dollar Man screwing over someone at the last second so he didn't have to pay them. That my friends is great heelwork and because of that, it's going to be a very good year for JBL. So JBL's persona isn't so much playing on ideology, as it is playing on the issue of class (and classlessness). This is a time tested rasslin' crutch. Making him a Republican is a new wrinkle, which leads me to wonder if the promoters of WWE may have a political agenda of their own. Or maybe it's the bias of the script writers. Could this story line be the product of former Twin Cities punk legend, now liberal activist and professional wrestling script writer, Bob Mould? If you're going after the arrogant RICH in this political season, you wouldn't necessarily have to make him a Republican. Making him a hypocritical Massachusetts aristocrat, who wears lycra shorts with a daisy zipper and blames his body guards for every loss he suffers would seem to work just as well. You could even have him flip flop between being a heel and being a hero, depending on the situation. It would be brilliant satire. Making Bradshaw a Republican does have one thing going for it - accuracy. John Layfield is a Republican in real life, scheduled to appear the Republican National Convention next week. He's a successful investor, author, and former investment analyst on CNBC. Although that last position was terminated early based on this episode, during a match in Germany: Three weeks after announcing it had hired WWE wrestling bad boy John "Bradshaw" Layfield as a financial analyst for the network, CNBC said yesterday it was shocked to learn that JBL was in fact a WWE bad boy and it sacked him for doing the Nazi goose step and stiff-armed salute during a World Wrestling Entertainment match in Munich. In Layfield's, defense he was in his villain character, doing a routine guaranteed to rile the Teutonic masses to rage (at least we'd hope it would profoundly offend them). Desperate partisans on the Left may latch onto this as supporting evidence in their Bush = Hitler quest. But they'd be wrong. According to the Washington Post, Layfield's persona is based on a Bush opponent from the 2000 election: "Most of my promos are straight out of Pat Buchanan's run for election. That's where I got it from -- preaching against immigration, the fact that they're teaching in Spanish in public schools, and I say 'Spanish' with a despicable look, like I want to throw up. I got all of this from Pat Buchanan." All things considered, it probably doesn't make sense to have this guy showing up at the Convention next week. There's already a bad precedent set with Pat Buchanan antics at Bush nominating conventions. Labels: Politics-National (02-04)
Russ writes to Senator John McCain:
Senator McCain, I begin this missive with an embrazo, as we call it here in Texas, for your service to our country, as a warrior, as a prisoner of war and as a United States Senator. You have served far better and endured far more in the service of America than most men will ever do. For that, this old sergeant salutes you. That said, as a Vietnam ground combat veteran, I must take issue with you on the situation of John Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans. You have labeled these men "dishonest and dishonorable," and that, Sir, is nothing more than your opinion based on no direct knowledge of the events they dispute. For you to so condemn these men publicly, without any firsthand knowledge of John Kerry's performance in their midst and under their professional observation, is unfair to them and all veterans who share their view that John Kerry is unfit to command. Who was best qualified to evaluate you as a naval aviator, those senior officers who flew with you or the enlisted men who serviced your aircraft? Who had the experience, training and knowledge to make a professional military judgment of your performance in the air, the trained naval aviators on your wing or the enlisted flight crew back on the carrier? Certainly the enlisted men were vital in performing the mission but observing and rating your performance was not their role. It is my understanding that you originally shared our animosity towards John Kerry, but during your senatorial service, you came to know John Kerry more personally and chose to forgive him for his labeling you a war criminal. That you are able to forgive a man even though he had denounced you and your fellow aviators as you languished in North Vietnamese prisons, with your captors using his testimony to try to break your will, is truly commendable. I admire you for your ability to turn the other cheek. However, I must point out that your forgiveness of John Kerry is purely personal and imposes not one iota of obligation to forgive him on those of us who still consider him contemptible. You carry no mandate to speak for us. Your personal feelings are yours and yours alone; but, emphatically, you do not speak for us. You spoke up to defend your friend and your friend has turned your words into talking points. It is truly reprehensible how the Kerry campaign and the mainstream media are hiding so cynically behind your condemnation of the Swiftvets, using your statement as an excuse to dismiss their claims as baseless, smear politics. Honestly, Senator, did you really intend to provide this kind of cover for those who are so desperate to prevent the truth from coming out? With all do respect, since you weren't there to observe John Kerry first hand as were these Swiftvets, may I humbly suggest that the honorable thing for you to do, is to stay out of this fight and allow them and us to have our voice. Moreover, there is one thing you could do to level the playing field: acknowledge that you have no true knowledge of events the Swiftvets describe and that your immediate condemnation of these men was premature. Call on the mainstream media to investigate all parties fairly and determine whose version of events is true. I understand John Kerry is your friend, but that places him neither beyond accountability nor above the truth. You have a unique ability at this moment in America's history to make a difference. You have long been a dutiful warrior and servant of the people. Please, do your duty now. Russ Vaughn 2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division Vietnam 65-66 I would request that all who agree with the sentiments expressed here copy this letter and send it to: Labels: Politics-National (02-04) Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Last week on his nationally syndicated radio broadcast, I believe during a segment where he was running down women for the pace at which they play golf, Hugh Hewitt mentioned that he had recently unearthed a prom picture from the 70's that featured him wearing a canary yellow tuxedo (and this is a guy who likes to pretend that my nickname is "Peeps"? I believe the psychological term "projection" applies here). Since radio is not a visual medium, the full impact of this intriguing image was lost on his many faithful listeners. As a service to those listeners, I have made numerous requests on their behalf (through the proper channels of course) to have the photo released for wider public consumption. Unfortunately, the mighty Hewitt Empire has so far stonewalled all attempts to give the public what they want and rightly deserve to see.
I now believe that our only recourse is to start a campaign asking, nay demanding that Hugh release this photo immediately. Hugh's continuing refusal to produce the photo leads one to wonder just exactly what is he trying to hide here. What is he so afraid of? Unless, and only unless, the photo is released, lingering doubts about Hugh's character will continue to build in the public's mind. The resolution to this matter requires a simple act on Hugh's behalf to restore our trust and faith in him. The truth shall set you free Hugh. Join me in asking Hugh to reveal the truth (no matter how ugly it may be) and release the photo. You can contact Hugh via e-mail at: hhewitt@hughhewitt.com Or you can call his talk radio show which airs from 5pm-8pm CST at 1-800-520-1234. Or, if you live in the Upper Midwest, you can come out to the Minnesota State Fair and see Hugh broadcast live this Thursday and Friday. Whatever method you use to communicate with Hugh, just remember to keep the message short and clear. Demand that Hugh release the prom photo now. The whole world is waiting. Labels: Ralphie
Regarding the Elder's rumor mongering about Jason Lewis, I actually heard Hugh Hewitt mention on his show a couple months ago that Jason and him are planning to do an appearance together in the Twin Cities sometime before the election (Hugh's comments were to the affect of "I ran him out of town once and now he's back for more..."). So, it's more than a rumor.
I must admit I was confused by the Patriot promotion. I knew Jason was coming and knew that's what the commercial referred to. But I couldn't figure out what the music was about. I concluded that the connection with Huey Lewis was Jason Lewis's well known fondness for all things classic chloroform rock related. (And from his WBT promotion page, I see "Beatle Bumper Fridays" are alive and well in Charlotte. A ratings bonanza to be sure, for where else can one hear the Beatles these days?) I found it curious to see a Jason Lewis penned editorial appearing just yesterday in the Star Tribune. Why would a Charlotte, NC resident take the time to opine on the urban planning policies of little Lake Elmo, MN? Most likely, it is masterful promotion on his part, keeping his name in the public imagination in advance of his appearance. He's using the Star Tribune editorial page for his advertising, the magnificent bastard. Or could something more dramatic be at work here than just a one time appearance? Would the Patriot really spend all this money and effort on promoting a guy a year gone from the scene and prominent only because he worked for their competition? Letting my conspiracy instincts run wild, I wonder if this event could be the announcement of a regularly scheduled Jason Lewis presence on AM1280. Their afternoon line up (Prager, Medved, Hewitt) is well set already, so I can't imagine him squeezing in there. And I can't imagine a talent of Lewis's caliber agreeing to work evenings again, so that's out. But, what about a show for the mornings? The Bill Bennett program isn't yet fully ensconced and is dreadfully boring besides, fully deserving of the axe. (Listening to Bennet a couple of days ago, for some reason they were playing a clip of Alice Cooper's 'Schools Out'. He said "interesting song for the former Education Sectretary." Then followed by assuring us: "that comment is intended be a little levity this morning.") Since Jason has only been at WBT for a year, it doesn't seem likely his contract would be up so soon, thus allowing him to move back to Minnesota. So maybe something less than a full-time program is in the works. Something of a syndicated nature perhaps. Maybe an evening, or more likely, weekend replay of the Best of Jason Lewis? I don't have any inside information (nobody tells me nuthin'), but it sounds plausible. If Northern Alliance Radio wasn't the runaway hit of the summer I might be getting nervous about our future prospects. But since there are hours and hours of time being used for reruns on the weekends, I welcome the possibility. Remember, you heard it here first. Unless I'm wrong, in which case forget I said anything. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell?
Last Saturday, while slaving away at the palatial AM1280 The Patriot studios, I heard a new promotion for an upcoming station event that left me dazed and confused. After hearing it a couple of more times yesterday, I think I have finally figured out what was going on. And now I will share it with you. Don't blame me if reading any more of this leaves you groaning and rolling your eyes. The promo talks about a "long awaited return" and says that someone is coming back to town for a special political event. It never mentions any names, but during it there are three or four different Huey Lewis and The News songs playing. My initial thought was that the group was going to be playing a concert sponsored by the station. But Captain Ed informed me that Huey Lewis was a John Kerry supporter, a fact confirmed by Derek from Freedom Dogs. Hmmm... (WARNING: Possible Spoiler ahead) This can't be confirmed yet, but there is a rumor that former local talk radio host Jason Lewis (currently toiling away in Charlotte, NC) is coming back to the Twin Cities in October for a special presidential debate event with... ...everybody's favorite nationally syndicated talk show host, Hugh Hewitt. Get it? It may just be idle speculation, but I theorize that Hugh Hewitt plus Jason Lewis = Huey Lewis (sigh) I warned you. You can't say that I didn't warn you. Almost sounds like something that the guy at Plastic Hallway would come up with, doesn't it? Labels: Media-Local (02-04), Ralphie
Hindrocket at Power Line looks forward to crushing dissent at the RNC:
In 1968, I thought it was terrible that protesters were getting beaten up. This year, I'll probably join in if I get the opportunity. Too bad fellow Power Line colleague Scott Johnson is not attending. Talk about a guy who knows how to crack some heads. Labels: Blogs-Local
That when you've lost eight in a row and you're eight games down on August 24th, your hopes for a division title are as good as crushed . Remember Hugh, there's no crying in baseball.
Labels: Baseball Monday, August 23, 2004
According to an e-mail from Joe, O'Flahertys is home to the finest Sunday night trivia competition in all of New Orleans. Sounds like an excellent road trip for the Fraters squad. As soon as we get that sponsorship deal worked out with Keegan's...
Labels: Trivial Pursuits
In this corner we have the personification of the old media. Plodding, unaccountable, unresponsive, stubbornly stuck in the past, and unwilling (and probably unable) to adopt to the rapid changes overtaking the playing field. But also arrogant, cocksure, and dismissive; relying on its institutional gravitas (increasingly diminishing) to shout down those who dare to dissent. It still believes that it alone wields the power to open and close discussion on what it deems to be newsworthy. And if some upstarts should come along to challenge its rule, all it need do to win the day is to selectively cherry pick elements of its opponents arguments (without ever addressing their key contentions), slander their names, and assert facts without any supporting evidence in an editorial in the all-important Sunday newspaper.
That whole controversy over Kerry's Vietnam service? No need to discuss it further. For now that JIM BOYD from the Star Tribune has spoken on the matter, nothing else need be said. Jim and his fellow editorialistas will have the final word on the subject you see, and the rest of you can now just move along to something else. The funny thing is that it don't work that way anymore. Because now, in this corner, we have the challengers, the tip of the new media's spear. Fleet of foot, agile, flexible, and constantly changing and adopting as circumstances warrant. Independent, aggressive, and questioning; they almost fall over backward to cite sources and correct errors. They don't accept the media status quo. Rather, they challenge old media and seek to hold it accountable. They create new avenues for discussion and break the old media's stranglehold on the issues in the public forum and how long they stay in the spotlight. Jim Boyd likes to think that his position at the Strib allows him the last word in his argument with Scott Johnson and John Hinderaker from Power Line. But the good ol' days of the all powerful paper are gone. Just because he says it's over, don't mean it's over as evidenced by the devastating response to Boyd that appeared on Power Line yesterday. I would love to see the two sides meet in a live, on-air debate at The State Fair, as John and Scott have proposed. It would be a old media vs. new media showdown, which I believe would vividly demonstrate the gap between them. When the C.S.S. Virginia steamed into Hampton Roads and laid waste to the wood-sided Union ships, it showed that the age of the ironclad had arrived. When the Polish cavalry was torn to shreds in a futile charge against German tanks in 1939, it showed that the age of the horse was officially over. If Jim Boyd would dare show his face at The State Fair, I daresay that we would see similar results. It's been over twenty-four hours and still no response from Boyd. The whole world is watching and waiting (well at least Vox Day, Mike at Cold Fury, Dave at No Illusions, the Puddle Pirate at Brain Shavings, the Leather Penguin, Bunker Mulligan, Joshua from The Conjecturer, Jim at zmetro, and our own Saint Paul are) to see if Boyd rises to the challenge. Say what you will about the Polish cavalry, but at least they had the balls to take the field. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
Senator Wellstone, immortalized in dried corn kernels at the 2003 MN State Fair ...
and the immortal Lon Chaney, as the Phantom of the Opera. Labels: Separated At Birth
I'm not sure if I've ever seen someone personally attacked in the Star Tribune the way the Powerline guys were on Sunday. In an editorial by Star Tribune editorial staff member Jim Boyd, the distinguished John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson are referred to as frauds, smear artists, and immoral slime throwers. In addition, there are contemptuous of democracy, unintelligent, and surrogates of the Bush machine.
He went on to say they were "freelance racists, hobby cops, misanthropic frat boys, lizardskin cigar monkeys, jerktown romeos, and ninja dittoheads..." Actually that last part is Garrison Keillor's description of Republicans in general. But I'm sure in Jim Boyd's eyes, these terms equally apply to the Powerline duo. And these assertions are no less absurd than the invective aimed at our Northern Alliance colleagues. As this election season progresses, I think weere going to have to get used to the fact that this is how Democrats respond to any substantive issue that threatens them - with childish name calling and hysterics . But, as I heard John O'Neill say to an interviewer this weekend, 'you know you're not over the target unless you're receiving some flack.' The gents from Powerline have responded to Boyd and have invited him to debate these issues face-to-face, LIVE during an upcoming Northern Alliance Radio broadcast from the Minnesota State Fair. Since Boyd referred to them as frauds, I think he owes it to them to show up. It's what any professional journalist, and frankly what any real man, would be compelled to do. Jim Boyd's professional credibility is on the line with this one, not to mention the institutional reputation of his employer, the Star Tribune. Are they interested in substantive debate on the issues, to the benefit of all Minnesota voters? Or are they only interested in hit-and-run-and-hide cheap shots? We shall see. Along with Powerline, we encourage you to email the responsible parties at the Star Tribune, Jim Boyd and editorial section editor Eric Ringham. boyd@startribune.com eringham@startribune.com Let them know your feelings on Boyd's piece and how interested you are in hearing a full debate on this issue at the Fair. Labels: Media-Local (02-04), NARN (04-05)
W. Thomas Smith Jr. looks at the fighting in Najaf and what it says about the future of Sadr in a piece at NRO:
"It appears to me that in April and May we killed the best and brightest [of the Mahdi army]," 1st Lt. Brian Suits of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division in Najaf, said during a radio interview with talk-radio host Kirby Wilbur on Seattle's KVI radio, last Thursday. "What al Sadr is doing now is sending in the guys who are left behind to make a statement. He's running out of guys. The guys he has are frankly running out of motivation. There are ill-prepared and ill-trained. They are beginning to question their authority. I think they're saying "wait a minute, you told us that God was going to guide our bullets, but we haven't killed one American soldier in our area and we are dying left and right here." There is also good news on the combat performance of at least some of the Iraqi units fighting there: Asked if Iraqi national military forces and police are measuring up to their U.S. and British allies on the battlefield, Suits said, "I've been in combat with these guys over the last couple of days, and I was as wary as anyone else. I saw their performance in the first Gulf War, but they have since coalesced into an effective force. I'm not lying. I'm not propagandizing. I'm not delivering a message someone else said. I have confidence in them being on my left or my right. They will go forward. They will close with the enemy. They will fix him. And they will kill him. They do not retreat. They do not cower. They support each other. They drag their wounded out of the line of fire. And I have confidence that these guys will be able to defend their country because they are doing it now." Last week Hugh Hewitt linked to a letter at The Green Side on the situation in Fallujah. And while it was not a very rosy assessment, it did offer some hope on the capabilities of the Iraqi government forces: We also have an entire battalion of Iraqi Special Forces soldiers who have stepped forward. We have trained these guys and they are a different breed of cat altogether. Many are veterans of the Iran Iraq war and are hardened. They don't necessarily love us but they now have a bond with the Marines and operate jointly with them everyday. They shake their head at the hesitancy to resolve Fallujah and are willing to fight inside the city. It will be a very tough fight but in the end I just don't see how we can move forward as a coalition, or Iraq as a fledgling country, while this festering sore remains open. Clearing out Fallujah and mopping up Sadr's rabble are critical steps for the future stability of the Iraqi government. Having the Iraqis do it themselves (or at least play a key role in the operations alongside US forces) will go a long way towards speeding the day when they truly will be able to control their own country. Labels: Iraq
A trip just isn't a trip without the company of the little man with the big head. 2004 has been a busy year for our Ralphie. He's been sited all over the Upper Midwest. He's traveled from the dusty soccer fields of Chihuahua, Mexico to the bustling city streets of Shanghai, China.
And now he's gone Dutch as well.  Ralphie was in Amsterdam checking out the sites and sounds around the harbor area. You can see the city's main train station in the distant background. He also spent some time wandering through the pedestrian friendly streets of the city and its many picturesque canals. Although Ralphie's main interests in life revolve around hockey, washing down Cheetos with Diet Coke, and trying not to break his glasses, he also finds time for the finer things. While in Amsterdam he was able to sneak in a visit to the Rijksmuseum, which houses an impressive collection of art masterpieces from the Golden Age of Dutch history. Here he relaxes by the pool outside the museum. Where will Ralphie pop up next? Well, he can't make any guarantees, but I'd say there's a fighting chance you might be able to find him at the upcoming Minnesota State Fair. It is the place to be this time of year and I believe that Ralphie's hero and mentor will be making an appearance there as well. Labels: Ralphie Sunday, August 22, 2004
Official Fraters Appalachian correspondent Scott H. e-mailed us on Tuesday with a disturbing report on the crushing of dissent in John Ashcroft's Amerika:
My computer is down back home in my tar paper shack in Huntington, WV so, I crossed the river and am sitting in the Ashland, KY public library. I have been here five or six times now because of my ^&*#&$ computer. Anyway... The Mr. Van Driessen looking library guy (who makes great pains to roll his eyes at my variety of College Republican shirts) was spotted giving the Fraters site a good once over the last time I was here. I consider it mission work to always leave the screen on an evil conservative site when I leave the confines. I figure any municipality that launched Billy Ray Cyrus and any number of Judds should be grateful for the gesture. Anyway... I wasn't sure if there was some chemistry or what but he had a real smile for me today. Come to find out... that was a smirk of victory. The site is no longer available to the viewing public of the tri state area. At least not at this liberal outpost of inclusionary, big tent, First Amendment blah, blah, blah everything else they say. So, I goes to Van Driessen's boss and ask him if I can view gay porn from these computers. He tells me in a conspicuously loud and very proud of himself voice: "This is America, Sir. And until your President tells us otherwise, we can still do what he like". My reply of... "I just can't do what I like then, huh?" leads to further discussion. Long story short, I can pick up a copy of a complaint form on Friday. Just as we were about to dispatch a Fraters Quick Reaction Squad appropriate for the situation (JB and Atomizer in a '77 Malibu Classic with a case of Bombay Sapphire, a shotgun, and several sticks of dynamite), Scott reports that the shining beacon of freedom is once again available in Ashland: I am back at the library. I was able to get to the site today. A few questions of the staff lead me to believe that it was a one time thing. "A bad decision that was not sanctioned by the library" as one chickie put it. Thinking back on it. I'm not sure that the world missed you here. I mean... this is a library in the middle of Appalachia! This place is emptier than a Scottish pay toilet. -Larry Burns Wherever the voices of the downtrodden are thirsting for liberty (or a cold beer) we are needed Scott. And we'll be there. Busy-bodied lefty librarians be damned. Labels: Fraters Inc Saturday, August 21, 2004
Big, big doings on the Northern Alliance Radio Network this afternoon:
Hour 1 - Kerry in Cambodia/Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Talk. A lively discussion featuring two of the blogosphere's superstars of reporting on this issue, Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters and either John Hinderaker or Scott Johnson of Powerline (it doesn't matter which, they're interchangeably stellar). Hour 2 - You've seen her on Fox News. You've read her on World Net Daily, National Review Online, the New York Post, and on her blog. And now she's all ours for one full hour. It's sexy right wing interment diva Michelle Malkin. She'll be talking about her new book and commenting on all the hot issues in the news. (Including what jerks Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman are.) Hour 3 - featuring the Great Right Hope of Twin Cities. Yes, a genuinely conservative (he'd say classically liberal) voice in a Twin Cities newspaper. It's Craig Westover, the new editorial contributor to the Pioneer Press. We'll be talking about bias in the media, his path from letter to the editor writer to a by-lined media insider, and about the REAL story behind Mitch Berg's quixotic, inspiring run as the Libertarian Party's endorsed candidate for State Treasurer a few years back. It all happens today, from 12 - 3 PM (Central). In the Twin Cities you can hear it on AM1280, the Patriot. Worldwide, catch it on the Web - link on the right hand side of this Web page. (Web stream made possible by the fine folks at the Taxpayers League.) So clear your schedule, mow that lawn tomorrow, tune in, kick back, and enjoy. It's going to be WILD! Labels: NARN (04-05)
Doug from Colorado writes in with sharp criticism of my post on women's suffrage from Wednesday:
"the pressure was immense at 32.28 millibars" - Really? The standard pressure at 23000 meters (approximately 75000 feet) is 34 millibars (See this chart for details.) "After a full day of fiery speeches...." - Dang, tough boys, those politicians; a full day of fiery speeches in the "Space-Equivalent Zone" Though I suspect that anoxia could account for quite a bit of the, shall we say, atmosphere in most political settings. 8-) Yes, Doug, a clever analysis. But what you failed to account for was the transverse Doppler effect of the prevailing northerly cold front moving into Western Tennessee on August 18, 1920. For if you would have corrected for this in your Van Allen conversion of the squared hypotenuse of the cumulonimbus ratio, you would have obviously seen that I don't know what I'm talking about. Yes, Doug is right. (There I said it, are you happy now, Doug?) Upon further review, 32.28 millibars of pressure is appropriate for the atmosphere 14.2045455 miles above the Earth. Directly above Nashville, TN that is! But that pressure is not immense and I accept Doug's rebuke on my accuracy. Lesson learned, never drop in a Steve Cannon joke without properly researching the science behind it. For those unaware, Steve Cannon was a huge radio personality for decades in the Twin Cities. A member, no less, of the prestigious Pavek Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame (located in the holy city of St. Louis Park, MN). Back in the 70's and 80's he did a show called the Cannon Mess on WCCO. Every time he read the weather report (which, given WCCO's format, was like 6 times an hour), he'd say the temperature, the humidity, and "the pressure is immense at 32.25" or whatever it happened to be at the time. (Thanks to Doug, all these years later I find out he was quoting pressure in inches of mercury NOT millibars). I surmise the "pressure is immense" line was a reference to the sports casting cliché about the pressure being immense for the players at various times during a game. Cannon delivered that line hour after hour, year after year, and, believe it or not, it was always funny. Not LOL funny, but genuinely, reliably amusing. Something about the juxtaposition of the context of the word pressure and the fact he'd include an obscure and meaningless meteorological statistic in the weather report, combined with his straight forward delivery, equaled enduring comedy magic. Come to think of it, Canon's schtick has to be the stylistic inspiration for most of the routine of the Joe Soucheray "Garage Logic" show on KSTP. He uses multiple self created cliché lines per hour. Including the weather-related "more proof of global warming" after the the daily high and low temperatures are read. I never thought of that before, but it's obvious. Speaking of being overly derivative of Cannon, we had such an incident a few weeks ago on Northern Alliance Radio. We had correspondent Chumley Wunderbar on, reporting on his recent travels to San Francisco. When he started using a voice reminiscent of a stereotypically flamboyant denizen of that fair city, I accused him of ripping off Backlash LaRue (a Cannon voiced character). Reviewing Cannon's page from the Museum of Broadcasting , I ran across this picture. (Left to right, Morgan Mundane, Backlash LaRue, Steve Canon, and Ma Linger.) I think this proves Backlash LaRue was the first alternative lifestyle host in the history of Twin Cities radio. Cannon, amusing and a pioneer for gay rights. No wonder he's in the Hall of Fame. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
Reader reaction regarding my recent post on the the Star Tribune's blatant distortions about the defeat of Max Cleland. First, James Phillips from Folsom, CA:
I've got nothing to add to your "Mythmaking at the Star Tribune" post, notwithstanding the fact that I have been drinking. I just want to say that your simple straight-forward post would make wonderful journalism. The "Saint Max" myth has been vexing me since he got his ass righteously whipped. I could understand an honest argument about whether or not homeland security employees would be allowed to be organized labor, but the Dems won't engage in that argument because they are pansies see (told you I'd been drinking). Seriously, I think the Dems know in their hearts (I'm a Republican lawyer, so I would not know about having a heart) that most Americans would value safety and security over union membership. Thus, they must canonize St. Max and lie about his defeat. I agree with James, he has been drinking again. And he's right about Cleland, the Democrats cynical exploitation of him is almost as bad as what they're doing to poor Patty Wetterling this campaign season. Have these people no shame? (No!) Local writer Gary Larson also writes in on this topic: Nifty item you did on the Conrad de Fiebre's ill-premised opinion showing up in his Max Cleland story. Reveals (again) the partisanship of this reporter in the ol' Party organ. I complained civilly, rationally, to the new Reader Rep about de Fiebre's stating falsehood as "fact," without, of course, any response from her. Not that I expected a correction. I did a column in March about how Strib tail-twisted truth to make it appear the "Rs" are "questioning" Cleland's--and Kerry's-- patriotism, when that's simply not the case. It's a canard, a myth de Fiebre repeats. So, you see, the Strib is merely up to its old tricks, except now on its news pages as well, courtesy of Conrad de Fiebre instead of Deputy Editor Boyd. How tawdry. But then, we knew all that, didn't we? Cheers! Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
Celebrity blogger Bill Tuomala achieves a dream. Number one (and number two) for the Google search string "first word of Wooly Bully." Our congratulations go out to Bill. And we send him our link to help reinforce his position at the top spot for as long as possible.
I know how difficult it is to retain primacy on the information super highway. Back in March, we achieved a dream by getting the number one Google reference for the distinguished former US Senator, and composite pressboard retailing king, Rudy Boschwitz. But it was for one brief shining moment, as we now languish at number 2. Interestingly, we're also number 2 if you spell his name wrong. In commiseration for our fall, Bill sent along this Boschwitz factoid: I'm sure you remember that Boschwitz's stores were originally called Plywood Minnesota. But the outlet in Grand Forks was called Plywood Dakota. I did not know that. Labels: Blogs-Local Friday, August 20, 2004
Break out your "Best of Europe" CD and get ready to crank up "The Final Countdown". Ladies and gentlemen (and readers of Plastic Hallway) IT IS ON. The long awaited showdown is almost here. We are now less than a week away from what very well might someday be known as the "Bleedin' at Keegan's." Okay so it ain't the Thriller in Manila. You try to find something that rhymes with Keegan's. Other than vegans that is.
Anyway, the important thing is that next week talk radio maven Hugh Hewitt is finally going to be forced to put his money where his mouth is. Hugh will lead an "all-star" team of trivia competitors into Keegan's Irish Pub to face off against the vaunted Fraters squad. Rumor has it that Michael Medved and James Lileks will be teaming up with Hugh (and answering 99% of the questions for him). We don't have any of those fancy Ivy League-schooled, book learnin' types on our side, but we are proud to announce the addition of Michael J. Nelson to the Fraters trivia team. We may not have the intellectual fire power of Hugh's team, but we won't be lacking for wise cracking commentary come next Thursday. And we're much better looking. Mark your calendars. Thursday August 26th commencing round about 9pm. Keegans Irish Pub in Nordeast Minneapolis. Folks you do not want to miss this one. It is goin' be huge. Labels: Ralphie, Trivial Pursuits  On Wednesday my wife and I were at the Xcel Energy Center (home of the Minnesota Wild) with fellow Frater Saint Paul, Ed from Captain's Quarters, and Mitch Berg from Shot in the Dark. We were attending a rally for President Bush. Accounts of the event have already been provided by Ed, Mitch, and Derek from Freedom Dogs. I don't have a heck of a lot to add to their recollections, so instead I've elected to provide my views on what went down in the form of grades. Let's begin with the MC, talk radio hostess Laura Ingraham. From what Laura has said on her show, I gather that she didn't get much notice for this appearance. And it definitely showed. She seemed ill-prepared, unfocused, and at times downright confused. It didn't help that the sound system made her voice sound extra screechy. She is also not a naturally funny person. Her attempts at humor fell flat and she was generally uninspiring. Hewitt, Prager, and especially Medved could have done a much better job. I also found it odd that was she was never formally introduced. It was just assumed that we would all know how she was, and, judging by the reactions of people around me in the crowd, that was a faulty assumption. Grade: C The opening invocation was short but sweet and didn't offend those of the non-Christian persuasion unlike the long-winded prayer dirge that opened the second day of the MN GOP State Convention. Grade B+ St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly merits a spilt score. On his political gamble to back Bush I give him an A-. On his performance on Wednesday I give him a C+. Charisma thy name is not Randy Kelly. Memo to the doofus from the College Republicans: You are trying too hard son. Way too hard. Take off the "power" tie, unbutton your shirt, and stop with the histrionics. Grade: C- In fact he should spend some time watching Colonel Joe Repya. The man is the real deal. He spoke from the heart and he spoke with passion. Plus great visual aids with Bush and Kerry bobble heads. Grade: A- You're the Republican Party. You're having an event for the President. In St. Paul, a city where you desperately need to broaden your appeal. So when the time comes for someone from the local Bush/Cheney campaign team speak you choose a business owner from the wealthy suburb of Edina? Huh? Despite the speaker's assurance that the Edina vote was safely in the Bush column (whew-I was worried about that one) this was a terrible call. Why not put a blue collar guy from St. Paul up there? Grade: D+ Congressman John Kline did a fine job in the time he had. I think by the time he spoke the schedule was off and he had to rush a bit. Still overall he performed well. Grade: B+ Congressman Mark Kennedy brought some emotion to the event with the touching story of an Iraqi woman who visited him in Washington DC to learn about democracy. Grade: B+ Congressman Gil Gutknecht on the other hand was pathetic. And I'm ain't just talking about that silly excuse for a hair piece either. In a time when Republicans are trying to focus the electorate on the big issues of the day (the war and the economy) Gil chose to discuss four of the most trivial issues imaginable. And after we had just been told that Bush was a strong leader because he didn't base his decisions on opinion polls, Gil cited survey after survey showing that Americans supported the meaningless issues he was pushing. Gil from the Simpson's could have given a better speech. Grade: D-- Norm Coleman got the crowd out of their seats (those who had seats that is) with his list of ten reasons to vote for Bush. It wasn't a perfect performance, but even when Norm is not 100% he's still better than most. Grade: A- And finally the big guy. W. I had been expecting a boilerplate twenty minute stump speech and so was pleasantly surprised when Bush's talk lasted nearly forty-five minutes. For the most part, I was buying what he was selling. Bush laid out the best post-invasion justification for going to war with Iraq that I've yet heard from him. I looked over at Captain Ed a couple of times during it, and we nodded in agreement that this is what voters need to hear over and over, from now until November. Bush also delivered a strong message on ownership and responsibility for all Americans. These are areas that I believe are critical in appealing to those Americans who consider themselves liberal, but tend to lead conservative lives. And he made me very happy by mentioning Social Security reform and how important that issue is for the younger, post-Boomer generations. There was some overlap and returning to previously discussed issues during the speech, and, with a bit of editing, he could probably have trimmed five minutes out without losing any context. But overall I was quite impressed with the man and his message. Grade: B+ The big question is, was it worth it? Worth the half-day of vacation that I took from work? Worth the wait outside to get in? Worth standing for close to five hours with no relief for my feets? Undoubtedly yes. Labels: Politics-National (02-04)
Nick Coleman attended the rally for President Bush on Wednesday. He must have slipped in after the Northern Alliance crew, because we were keeping an eye out for him as we stood in line to get into the Xcel Arena. We would have settled for any bald, surly, Peter Yarrow looking guys, wearing a Mao cap, sneering, skulking in the shadows. But none were to be seen and our sarcastic jibes and pointed criticism of his body of work were reserved for each other's ears alone.
Today Nick wrote a standard column about his attendance at the rally. Full of outright lies, distortions, ridiculing of religion, glorification of himself as a man of the people, and including his uncanny ability to find alleged misery in the brightest of settings. It really deserves to be taken apart bit by bit, but I can't do it. Why, you may ask? Because I am a victim of the most insidious plague to hit this town since Gopher Women's Basketball Fever a few months back. Yes, I too am suffering from the early stages of Nick Coleman Fatigue. It's an affliction described by Sarah Janecek, in the Star Tribune on Wednesday, as: "There's some degree of fatigue to these columns because they're such a hassle to read." That's a strategic edit of Sarah's real comments, which were actually geared toward what the Star Tribune called, in conjuction with the Bush visit, "campaign fatigue". But Nick Coleman Fatigue is real. Ask anyone who slogs through his windy, delusional, self-satisfied prose three times a week and they'll tell you, they'e got Nick Coleman Fatigue. They get tired, irritable, and despondent. In advanced cases, their hair starts to fall out, they grow a paunch, they quit paying their Marshall Fields credit card bills on time, they start sneering, laughing and their own jokes, and start driving around homeless shelters in their luxury cars, looking for misery to exploit for their own edification. If they were writing columns of their own in this state of mind, they'd probably read a lot like Nick Coleman. Which makes me wonder if Nick Coleman himself is the first victim of Nick Coleman Fatigue. (And it makes me wonder if his wife, Laura Billings of the Pioneer Press, is the real cause, the patient zero, of this epidemic.) Based on the genuine and sustained excitement on display inside the Xcel on Wednesday afternoon, Nick Coleman Fatigue is a much greater threat to the mindsets of Twin Cities residents than anything associated with the Presidential race. Star Tribune, let this serve as notice. You're making us sick. Deal with Nick Coleman, before it's too late. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
The Warrior Princess responds to Vox Day's anti-suffrage arguments:
As FL's unofficial token female, I felt a need to respond to the women's suffrage post. How ironic, but not surprising, that women gained the right to vote because a man didn't have the balls to stand up to his mother. To Vox and other likeminded individuals who think women being able to vote has been bad for the country, you show me a generation of men who act like men (for my definition see Eph 5:25-33) instead of pansy mama's boys, then we can start talking about relinquishing our right to vote. Labels: Culture
Another Thursday night, another night of pursuing trivia at the hottest Irish Pub in town, Keegan?s in Minneapolis. And another victory was had. But not by us. Despite the cameo appearance of the lovely and talented and brilliant Warrior Princess on the squad, we finished well out of the money. Hans (sans Franz) and his party of trivia mercenaries showed up and showed us up. They surpassed our trivial abilities on this night by a full 10% (22 to 20, out of 25).
Based on this extraordinary accomplishment, Hans is clearly clearly a brilliant guy. Not surprising, since he's a weapons officer in the United States Navy. Hans is a St. Paul boy, currently on leave from his post on the destroyer USS Lassen, stationed in San Diego. After his win, Hans was good enough to come over and introduce himself as a loyal Fraters Libertas reader. Which was the least he could do, given the fact he literally took the free beer out of our desperately parched mouths. But we?re always glad to meet the readers and to support our brave men in the armed forces. Hans is returning to the Lassen this week. According to him, they?re soon to establish home port in Japan and he?ll be serving an extended tour in the Pacific theater. No doubt the Lassen will be keeping an eye on the North Koreans. Knowing a capable officer and gentleman like Hans is on board makes me feel all the better about that situation. Especially a capable officer and gentleman who also knows what the name of the youngest sibling on ?Party of Five? was. We wish Hans good luck and to keep us posted on what happens over there, as I know all of us would like to read about it. Other folks, active duty military or not, looking for a grand time on future Thursday nights, come down to Keegan?s. Meet the Fraters. And in the rare occurrence that you manage to Beat the Fraters, in addition to glory, a free beer may be yours. Labels: Trivial Pursuits Thursday, August 19, 2004
Just listened to the now weekly audio brawl between Hugh Hewitt and Peter Beinart. It is interesting to hear such diametrically opposed viewpoints go head-to-head. But since each have their own agendas, and each are unwilling to stray from their plans, it degenerates pretty quickly into a babbling cacophony of stray talking points.
I blame Beinart, of course. It's HH's show, and Beinart should understand he has to address what Hugh wants to talk about, for as long as he wants to talk about it. Either because of his stubbornness or because he hasn't prepared for Hugh's topics, Beinart refuses to do so and we get the desperate squawking routine--today for two entire segments. Beinart's shrill, whiny delivery doesn't go over well when he's calmly, amicably discussing the issues. But when he's agitated, it gets to frenzied chihuahua howling levels. My advice for Beinart is to get a sense of humor. Even if he insists on digging his heels in, most of these discussions could still be productive, and easy to listen to, if he'd accept Hugh's persistence in a good-natured fashion. I think Hugh's predatory prosecutor?s instincts kick in every time Beinart starts desperately thrashing about. A little genial laughter would ease the conversational vise grips a little bit. I don't know a single liberal in the media capable of genial, good-natured laughter, so perhaps I'm asking the impossible. One more observation--I heard Beinart directly rip off George Will today. In the discussion of Iraq and Najaf, Beinart dropped a line about the new Iraqi government being illegitimate because it didn't have a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. I'm paraphrasing of course, but his specific seleciton of words immediately brought me back to the Will column I read earlier this week: If it is the prime minister's will, or that of Iraq's embryonic democratic institutions, to conduct with insurgent factions negotiations that strip the Iraqi state of an essential attribute of statehood--a monopoly on the legitimate exercise of violence--the U.S. presence will swiftly become untenable. Shrill, whiny, agitated, and prone to ripping off others without attribution. I never thought I'd say it, but I miss Joshua Micah Marshall. At least he wasn?t prone to ripping off others without attribution. UPDATE: What a sweet relief it is to hear the dulcet tones of Scott Johnson coming through now. Labels: Media-National (02-06)
Regarding my recent criticisms of the Associated Press, Henry from Edina (or Uh-dee-nah, as Laura Ingram pronounced it yesterday at the Bush rally), writes in with an insider's account/history lesson on how wire services do business:
The insidious thing about the Associated Press is that it's a commune of the newsroom, which is a factual observation, not a statement of opinion. The AP is a cooperative of which the various news media are members, not subscribers. At one time, UPI was a major competitor--before it went on life support a couple of decades ago, but UPI operated under a tremendous handicap--it was an always-money-losing operation of the Scripps-Howard chain. When newspaper profits began slipping from obscene to huge, Scripps-Howard cut and ran. I had the good fortune to begin a media career in the Omaha and St. Louis bureaus of UPI in 1961-1963. I don't know how AP bureaus work today but--in them thar olden days--they fed off galley proofs from the local newspaper in which they--and most often UPI--were housed. We, at UPI, had to dig for each and every one of our facts. Okay, confession time, we'd pull text from the Omaha World-Herald and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but made enough calls to legitimize our baby and we certainly rewrote anything we lifted. AP probably is indispensable, doing for news what Yellow Freight does for cargo, moving around a lot of stuff. Most news on the wire is inconsequential politically and serves as a report of what's going on around the country--fires, traffic fatalities and so forth. I believe AP would like to think it handles politically oriented news the same way, but it appears not to do so. It's a damn shame that its editors are failing to keep "grandma's" reporters from doddering into the left lane of news traffic. Keeping them on the straight and narrow would be such a public service. Labels: Media-National (02-06)
In conjunction with President Bush's appearance in St. Paul yesterday, the Democratic party brought in Max Cleland for a counter rally, of sorts, at the State Capital. Star Tribune reporter Conrad Defiebre reminds us who Cleland is. As you read this, bear in mind, it is a news article, not an editorial:
Cleland was defeated for reelection two years ago amid attack advertising that equated him with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. This year, Bush backers have suggested that Kerry faked the wounds that won him three Purple Hearts. I'm not aware of any responsible party claiming Kerry faked his wounds. The main accusation, by the men he served with and the men who treated his wounds, is that they were too minor to be reasonably considered for a Purple Heart. But I'll ignore that for now. What I'd like to address is the Cleland story. A myth perpetuated by the Democratic party and now dutifully retold, and exaggerated to an absurd new level, by a reporter, writing a news article, for the Star Tribune. A good debunking summary of the myth is provided by Rich Lowry of National Review. And note, he's debunking the original Democratic strategy of accusing Republicans of "questioning Cleland's patriotism." The Star Tribune's Defiebre has personally super-sized the accusation, to Republicans equating Cleland to bin Laden. (Definition of equating: "to make, treat, or regard as equal or comparable.") A better debunking of this charge is provided by our old friend, the Associated Press. This article was published by the Macon (GA) Telegraph during the Cleland - Saxby Chambliss race (October 11, 2002) and states: The ad, sponsored by Republican Rep. Saxby Chambliss' Senate campaign, doesn't directly compare Cleland and the rogue leaders but alleges the senator isn't telling the truth when he claims to support some of President Bush's efforts in the war against terrorism. The ad's primary focus is Cleland's position on legislation creating a homeland security department Bush is seeking. Although Cleland supports one version of that bill, he says he won't support the president's preference without an amendment guaranteeing labor rights for federal workers. Cleland himself is quoted as saying: "To put my picture up there with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden and insinuate I'm not fighting hard enough for national security, I just find that this is an incredible low in Georgia politics," Cleland said. He's not saying the Republicans questioned his patriotism or equated him with bin Laden. He's angry at the actual substance of the ad, which is criticism of his voting record and the imagery used to help deliver that criticism. Through the partisan rhetoric mists of two years, we come to the real controversy of this ad - the use of fighting terrorism as an issue in a political campaign. The wounds of 9/11 were much less healed in October of 2002. Much less so than today. Back then there was a prevailing, wishful mindset that we're all in this fight against terrorism together. And no one could be criticized for anything they did when it came to the fight, even if their actions were proving to be a hindrance. But that's exactly what Saxby Chambliss did. In pointed fashion, he called out the fact that Cleland was subjugating the fight against terrorism (note, he equated terrorism with a picture of bin Laden) to protect a special interest group (big labor). To quote, the now distinguished Senator from Georgia, Saxby Chambliss: "Georgians deserve to know - all Americans deserve to know - why Max Cleland is more concerned with protecting federal bureaucracy, rules and regulations than creating a department that can respond effectively to future threats of terrorism," Chambliss said. It was an entirely legitimate point of criticism and a powerful one with the voters. Chambliss upset the incumbent Cleland, 53% - 46%. And Democrats have been seething ever since. The primary reason for their rage was (and remains) the permanent lifting of the veil of silence. They could no longer could hide their partisan, and often times damaging, activities with regard to fighting terrorism, from criticism. Now, two years later this rage has evolved in the form of a Star Tribune reporter, writing about the Presidential election, telling the readers that Republicans have equated a crippled war hero with a terrorist. Unbelievable. In theory, it is impossible to have perfect objectivity reporting. One's perspective is necessarily tainted by life experience, education, episodes of indoctrination, now deeply ingrained in one's psyche. What you see is necessarily filtered through these lenses. Fine, perfect objectivity is a myth. But, I'm not looking for perfection. I'm looking for a good faith attempt at an unbiased presentation of the news. Is that so unreasonable? With the tiniest bit of effort in this regard, reviewing an artcle, keeping in mind the potential that it may unfairly swayed by a political bias (a review that could be done by the reporter or any number of editors) I don't see how that characterization of Cleland could ever get published. That is the primary problem conservatives have with the Star Tribune. It's not merely the endemic bias produced by their insular liberal culture. This we can deal with. The real problem is the wanton disregard of the basic standards of journalism and the absence of effort to even try to be fair. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
Florin Carcu awoke last Friday terrified that something dreadful was about to befall him. He was right:
A superstitious Romanian, who refused to leave his house throughout Friday, the 13th of August to avoid bad luck, died after he was stung by a wasp in his kitchen, police said. Now, I'm not here to say that Mr. Carcu overreacted to a childish superstition. On the contrary, I think that the poor man under-reacted. If I ever wake up with the nagging feeling that I'm about to suffer some horrible and undeserved fate, the absolute last setting I would place myself in would be the kitchen. Think about it. The kitchen is full of all sorts of unpredictable hazards...like the drawer full of knives, the gas cooktop with the leaky valve, the dozens of toxic cleansing liquids under the sink and the cabinet stuffed with precariously stacked cookware. One misstep in there and you?re lying on the floor in a pool of bleach with a cast iron saucepan on your head and a meat cleaver protruding from your abdomen while straining to suck the last few molecules of oxygen out of the room before your house ignites like a gasoline soaked Roman candle in a forest fire. No thank you. I'd prefer to spend my last hours of cowering madness curled up in my own bed with a half gallon of gin, a carton of smokes and a pointed stick. No dangers there. Labels: Domestic Tranquility Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Whiny Brits. I managed to get across the bridge at Arnhem in about ten minutes. Sure, there wasn't a horde of SS troops at the south end throwing sheets of lead at me when I made my crossing, but it was raining. Pretty hard I might add.
Last Friday I left Veenendaal about 3pm and headed east to Arnhem. Mitch Berg had suggested that I drive from Eindhoven to Arnhem, following the road that British armor and American paratroopers battled on in their unsuccessfully effort to link up with the British paras in and around Arnhem. But my schedule did not allow for it, and so I took a direct route to the town. On the way I stopped by the impressive Airborne Museum at Oosterbeek, about six kilometers west of Arnhem. The museum is housed in the former Hartenstein Hotel, which became one of the last holdouts for the Brits as their perimeter was slowly, but surely squeezed by German forces during the fighting.  Close to the museum you find an arch dedicated to the airborne troops as well as a monument.There is also a military cemetery not too far away. If you have a chance I recommend checking them all out, especially the museum. And the infamous John Frost bridge at Arnhem of course. No journey would be complete without a trip across it. Labels: History, The Netherlands
Let's Talk About the Right of Citizens of the United States to Vote Not Being Denied or Abridged on the Basis of Sex, Baby
It was 84 years ago today. The place was Nashville, Tennessee. The date was August 18, 1920. Under conditions of stifling heat, oppressive humidity (and, as always, the pressure was immense at 32.28 millibars), the General Assembly of the Volunteer State met in special session to consider a matter which would alter the course of American history.
After a full day of fiery speeches, acrimonious debate, and a delightfully catered lunch, they voted, and by a one vote margin became the 36th state of the Union to ratify the 19th Amendment to the United Sates Constitution: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. The decisive vote was cast by one Harry T. Burn (R-Niota). The first term congressmen, at 22-years-old, was the youngest member of the Assembly. He initially voted "aye" to table the measure (which would have ended debate and effectively killed ratification). This motion ended in a tie. Then, immediately following, during a hurriedly organized vote on ratification, he changed his stance and voted "aye" for it to pass. And so it did, thanks to him, at 49 - 47. In the Tennessee Assembly House, according to reports: Pandemonium prevailed. Women were screaming, weeping, singing. They threw their arms about each other and danced in the jam-packed aisles. Suffragist legislators tore off their yellow boutonnieres and threw them in the air to meet the gentle rain of yellow rose petals floating down from the galleries above! Later when asked why he changed his stance on the measure, Harry T. Burn said: "I know that a mother's advice is always safest for her boy to follow, and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification." With that reasoning, Tennessee became the final piece needed to achieve a 3/4 majority of ratifying states. One week later, on August 26, US Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification, and the face of the American electorate changed forever. And, according to Vox Day (read this and keep scrolling up), sent our nation into a death spiral of tyrannical encroachment from which it will never escape. We're not sure how Vox is celebrating today's anniversary. We hope to see some commentary later today. But before publishing anything, we advise him to consult with his mother first. Labels: History
Hugh Hewitt has mastered the art of the "Big Lie"; a propaganda tool usually attributed to Joseph Goebbels (probably incorrectly) that follows the maxim that it's easier to tell a big lie than a small one. Over the years Herr Hewitt has concocted many such Big Lies about me in his never-ending effort to slander my "good name". Here are just a few of the dozens of libelous claims made by Hugh:
- That I am a drunk, homeless bum living on the streets. - That I live in the basement of the my Mom's house. (Note that there is no consistency in Hugh's prevarications.) - That I go by the nickname "Peeps". - That I am a figure skater who sometimes competes in pairs competition with James Lileks. - That I eat dozens of powdered donuts each day and my body resembles said powdered donut. - That I live on a farm and listen to Hugh's show while milking cows. - That I am a liberal Democrat who supports Ted Kennedy. (This is one of Hugh's more common lies used against many others.) - That I am a professional Pee Wee Herman impersonator. - That I am a professional Cher impersonator. - That I am being medicated for various psychiatric conditions. - That I am a single loser incapable of getting a date. These are just a sampling of the many, many lies that Hugh has sought to spread about me on the national airwaves. They are of course all untrue. But, since Hugh has the forum of his nationally syndicated radio show to spread them, they tend to be believed by many of his listeners. The latest trumped up charge brought by Hugh is that I am a huge fan of "American Idol", Clay Aiken in particular. I missed hearing this bogus claim when it was broadcast, but Hugh was "kind" enough to let me know via e-mail that he had once again sullied my reputation. And it led to this e-mail from Terrie at Everyone Is Entitled To My Opinion: I understand that you are a Clay Aiken fan, according to Hugh Hewitt, as am I. I have published my first political post at my web log, which can be found here and includes my humorous reflections on the Kerrys, Hugh Hewitt, and Tim Russert. If you have the time and inclination to search my archives, you will find articles about Clay Aiken and American Idol. Although I do not share Terrie's fondness for Clay or "American Idol", I do appreciate a sharp-minded analysis of the media, which Terrie offers up: The Dennis Miller show on CNBC and Special Report with Brit Hume on FNC are must "C" TV. Their multimedia equivalent is Hugh Hewitt, whose radio show and web site are touchstones for center-right conservatism. Hugh is the hub of the blogosphere that is responsible for the deconstruction of Kerry's Cambodia fable. His new book If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat is on my birthday wish list. I live in Hugh?s home territory, but our local station KRLA delays the third hour of his broadcast for three hours. Why? So they can carry Michael Savage during drive time. Savage does not fit in the same lineup with influential thinkers William Bennett, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt. Influential yes. Honest? Not when it comes to yours truly. When you hear Hugh start talking about me, just remember to take it with a Labels: Ralphie Tuesday, August 17, 2004
We here at Fraters HQ were somewhat skeptical when we heard the news that Patty Wetterling, mother of a youth who was abducted near St. Cloud some years ago while riding his bicycle (and never seen again) was going to run for a congressional seat in the Sixth District.
Skeptical, as in we yelled "WTF? What does she know about politics?" When she announced her candidacy, she said she would make a good pol because she, you know, cares more than Republicans about, you know, things. And the libs love a victim. And who is more victimized than a mother whose son was abducted in broad daylight while he innocently played with his friends? Yes, we were skeptical. But we did not give her a proper introduction to the sometimes nasty world of amateur political hackery known as blogging. However, upon hearing news from our cigar-chomping, minority-rights-denying friends over at the state GOP that Wetterling has been endorsed by Emily's list, the time has come. As you know, Emily's list is a group of whacked-out lesbians and other other misfit womyn who have never met an abortion they didn't like. Abortion on demand for twelve-year-olds? Yes! Abortions paid for by the government? Hell yes! Abortions at any time during pregnancy! You betcha! Abortions up to the ninth year of life? Why not? They actively promote, sanctify and worship abortion. The other day I saw one of them walking around with one of those I HATE BABIES AND ENJOY HEARING OF THEIR VIOLENT DEMISE t-shirts that have grown so fashionable in certain parts of Minneapolis. So now they have endorsed Wetterling, but she won't come out and tell the good people of Minnesota where she stands on important issues that Emily's List loves like partial-birth (also known as complete-death) abortion and has failed to fill out a survey from the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life detailing her positions. So we want to know, Patty, why is ripping a kid out of a uterus and killing him so different than ripping a kid off a bike and killing him? Labels: Abortion, Politics-Local (04-05)
The technical problem has been solved and pictures from my recent journey to The Netherlands are now available. But instead of throwing them all up at once, I've decided to post one a day. Or at least one theme a day.
We begin with the floating Gay Pride Parade in Amsterdam. I told you that it wasn't always pretty. Now you can see for yourself:  A closer (and even more disturbing) look can be found here. Amsterdam is a fun city to visit, but you might not want to stay at the YMCA. More tomorrow. No more parade pics. I promise. Labels: The Netherlands
David submits the following SAB for your consideration. Actor Dustin Hoffman pretending to be a lady in the film "Tootsie" and billionairess Teresa Heinz Kerry pretending that she could be the First Lady?
 Labels: Separated At Birth
Via the Kerry Christmas in Cambodia story and our efforts to find out why the local press isn't covering it, we've learned a couple of new things about the media. (And if this stuff was widely known already and I'm exposed as a naive hayseed, then so be it).
First, it's completely acceptable for reporters to cut and paste verbatim items from other sources (in this case, the AP) and dump it into their own articles, without direct attribution. I had no idea this was going on, but according to the reporters in question, it is standard operating procedure. How many other professions allow this to occur? Besides maybe academia, I don't know of any. And I'm envious, since this marvelous short cut to actually working isn't available to me. Secondly, the researching efforts of the mainstream media (at least the Pioneer Press) are pathetic. They can take weeks to unsuccessfully find background information that's widely available elsewhere, via common sources. The common thread between these two points seem to be laziness. Reporters blindly rely on certain resources to do their jobs for them. And when they fail (AP Wire copy, Lexis/Nexis), the story, and the facts, are lost forever. Although I suspect these are more often ills of smaller papers and less commonly afflict the more ambitious news gathering engines at the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. These issues have resulted in some great reader emails, all of them offering helpful advice to the gang at the Pioneer Press on they can do their jobs better. Vicki Gowler, if you're out there, listen up: Regarding the Pioneer Press's inability to find the Kerry 1986 speech in the Congressional Record, Brad from Iowa points the finger at Lexis/Nexis: I spent the better part of two hours the other day trying to track down Kerry's speech - the one Glen Reynolds posted- on my firm's Lexis/Nexis database access. I wanted to find it so I could read the entire speech so as to get the context he was talking in. Especially since he was using the example to try to influence votes in the Senate to defeat a proposal of President Reagan's. But I could not locate it. I used many variations of key words, as per the Reynolds post and no luck. I don't think it is on the Nexis/Lexis website. I have a guess as to why Lexis does not include the speech. It was related to a defeated amendment to the Resolution that was eventually passed. I have reviewed the CR-Digest for 3/27/86. It notes the Senate passed SJ Res 283, relating to Central America pursuant to the International Security and Development Cooperation Act of 1985 (Nicaraguan Resistance Assistance), after taking action on amendments proposed thereto. The cite for this is 132 Cong Rec S 3564. There were 7 amendments to the SJ Res 283 that day. By 33 yeas to 67 nays (Vote No. 48), Sasser-Gore Amendment No. 1718, in the nature of a substitute was rejected. Cite 132 Cong Rec S 3584. I ran both the cites mentioned above, as well as the cites for the other 4 amendments. None appear in the Lexis database. Lexis apparently does not include 100% of everything in the CR. Interesting to note that Al Gore sponsored the amendment that Kerry spoke on. If the Pioneer Press was relying on Lexis Nexis for their research, they now know it's not a comprehensive resource and they may have to consider other options. Brad from Colorado has some more questions about reporters? use of Lexis/Nexis: Just read your most recent posts. A couple of questions have been brewing in my mind for quite some time with regard to reporters and research: Is there a restriction most news organizations have when it comes to use of Google? Are those organizations in some way contractually obligated to using Lexis/Nexis as a sole Internet database for research purposes? I consider such an exclusive agreement unlikely. But their failure to use Google as a primary resource is very strange. If they're not contractually forbidden to use it, their reason for not doing so must be an appalling lack of awareness or pure laziness. That is, they've always used one resource in the past and they see no reason to try something new. Jim writes in to tell us that Google isn't the only alternate resource that could be used by reporters: The craftsmen at the Pioneer Press are probably justified in blaming their tools if they use an inferior product like Lexis/Nexis for their online research. A quick search in the Congressional Record database on Westlaw (a homegrown, longtime nemesis of Lexis/Nexis) retrieves the full text of 132 Cong. Rec. S3564-02, containing Senator Kerry's delightful Christmas fantasy. Another tip for the Pioneer Press, expand your horizons and go with local heroes Westlaw next time. Finally, Kent has some other tips on successful media researching: It's possible that they're looking in the wrong place. Vicki Gowler's email says ?I know the allegations center around Kerry testified before Congress in 1986, but so far our KRT researcher can't find anything in congressional testimony records to that effect.? In fact the statement was not made in "testimony", but on the floor of the Senate. It's possible the "KRT researcher" (they have only one?) has been diligently poring over the archives of each Congressional committee looking for such "testimony" for the past week and coming up empty. But as Glenn Reynolds found out, finding a Senate floor speech is a relatively easy matter. Interestingly, the same day that you posted the correspondence between "The Kernel" and Vicki Gowler, the Pioneer Press' sister Knight Ridder publication in Kansas City published this article dealing specifically with the Cambodia allegations. But it also makes the same mistake, quoting Kerry "in 1986 at a Senate committee hearing during a debate on U.S. policy toward Central America." There are other minor quibbles with the KC Star story, but on the whole it's a reasonable article on the substance of the allegations specifically about Cambodia, rather than a smear piece on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Unfortunately, the story was buried on page A10. I glance at the Star every day, and Saturday had a chance to read it in more detail than usual, but still missed that story until I saw a blog reference to it. Yesterday, the Kansas City Star's Reader's Representative had this to say: "The Star had been waiting for credible sources to move stories over the news wire, which is how most of the news about national politics gets in the paper. When these sources were slow to act, editors felt they had to."She says Scott Canon wasn't assigned the story until Friday, and it was published Saturday. So much for Vicki Gowler's "the next week or two". Reviewing today's Pioneer Press, there's still no coverage of the story. The clock on their credibility continues to tick. Labels: Media-Local (02-04), Politics-National (02-04) Monday, August 16, 2004
"Light rail? Why, yes, I do indeed support it. I mean, I'll be able to WALK from my house to the stop and ride to my little urban heart's delight. As a strong supporter of the community's diversity, I imagine I will take it downtown to experience all the city has to offer.--just make sure it doesn't affect me negatively in any way, matter or form."
That pretty much sums up the attitude of the losers who are incensed that people they don't know are parking on their streets to take the light rail. "I just stare at people to get them not to park," said resident activist Gina Palandri, who otherwise enjoys light rail. With a hawk's fatal exactness, Palandri can pick out which cars belong to "the regulars," a k a light-rail users who park on her block every day. This hostile, braying crow went as far as putting up signs saying, "DON'T LIVE HERE? DON'T PARK HERE!!!!!" I say to hell with people who live in the city. If you sign up for a house in Minneapolis (and I suppose I exclude those lucky enough to be double-income, professional class Tangletown residents who can afford to avoid most of these problems) then you willingly sign up for crime, filth, small old over-priced houses, crappy schools, a disgustingly leftist political environment, high taxes AND you must also suffer perhaps the worst indignity of all: strangers parking on "your" street. You signed up for it. It shouldn't come as a shock that people smart enough to live outside the city park on your street to use the light rail for those rare times when it is actually necessary to go to the city (like sporting events, scoring meth). You loved the idea of OTHER PEOPLE paying for something YOU would actually get to use and now it's coming back to bite you in your big backsides. So please, if you are in the area of 38th, 46th or 50th streets, please park your vehicle on the street. Preferably an SUV with a "W" sticker on it and a NRA Lifetime Member badge. Then wait for the angry little witches to come flitting out of their caves. It'll be a hoot! Labels: Transportation
The Kerry Christmas in Cambodia story seems ripe for a song parody. But Man from Silver Mountain writes in to tell us, it's already been done. By the Dead Kennedys, back in 1980. From the album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, the snotty, anti-establishment classic, Holiday in Cambodia.
Not all of the lyrics apply to John Kerry, but some of them come awful close. Imagine, if you will, the officious, Senatitis suffering voice of John Kerry reading these lines: It's a holiday in Cambodia It's tough kid, but it's life It's a holiday in Cambodia Don't forget to pack a wife Your a star-belly sneech you suck like a leech You want everyone to act like you Kiss ass while you bitch so you can get rich But your boss gets richer on you We're still checking Lexis/Nexis to confirm if this was actually in his 1986 Senator Floor statement. Please bear with us in the mean time. Given the Pioneer Press standard, we may need a week or two to nail this one down. Labels: Music, Politics-National (02-04)
It is the repeated contention of John Hinderaker of Powerline that the Associated Press is the biggest source of liberal media bias in the country, Because its stories are picked up and disseminated through thousand of media outlets, they have the potential to affect more news consumers than any individual newspaper.
I think John is exactly right, and the influence of the AP appears to be even more widespread than even he has speculated. Because, not only do newspapers reprint properly attributed Associated Press stories. Newspaper reporters also use verbatim excerpts from AP stories in their own reporting. And sometimes not even bothering to mention their wholesale "borrowing" of someone else's text. (Which makes me wonder how much actual reporting is even done by these guys.) That seems to be the cause of the identical twin paragraphs on the Swift Boat Vets I noticed from the Dallas Morning News and Star Tribune over the weekend. Each of the writers of those articles did email me back. The Star Tribune's Bob Von Sternberg cites AP as the direct source of this paragraph. And the online edition of the article does include the qualification: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The reprint of the Dallas Morning News article (in Sunday's Pioneer Press), contains no such qualification. In his email, the reporter (David Tarrant) explained the paragraph as: "standard background information, based on widely reported facts. But such information is necessary to provide context so readers can make their own judgments." Maybe so, but lifting the identical text of someone else's reporting and publishing it under your own name (even if you include a vague qualification at the end) seems a little bit more than reviewing "standard background information" to inform one's own reporting. If the background information itself is assumed to be so dead on accurate (do any of these guys even bother to verify it?), and phrased so perfectly, I wonder why the local papers even bother to rebrand it with a local reporter's name. Just print the AP story and forget the pretense that a local guy is on the case, providing his unique judgment to the story. The fact that reporters being published in ostensibly competing newspapers are surreptitiously cribbing from the identical source, and not even bothering to change the prose, just seems kind of sleazy (in addition to lazy). Talk about media consolidation and the silencing of dissenting viewpoints. At least when Clear Channel buys up multiple radio station in a market, they don't make a secret out of it. I think it's time to take back the media. End the tyranny! Break up the AP! Labels: Media-National (02-06), Politics-National (02-04)
I'd like to think my psychic powers were in overdrive when I predicted the Pioneer Press would eventually cover the Kerry Christmas in Cambodia story with a dismissive article dripping with skepticism and criticism of the accusers throughout. Because, amazingly, in the Sunday Pioneer Press, I found that exact article. But I know that one doesn't need psychic abilities to predict the behavior of the mainstream media when it comes to reporting on political matters.
One does need patience and a keen eye though, because the article wasn't easy to find. It was buried deep in the A section and off page 1 of their Web page. And no one from the Pioneer Press actually wrote the article, it was picked up from the Dallas Morning News. And it actually doesn't even mention the C-word (Cambodia) at all. The closest we get is this soft shoe description: The group behind the attack, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, has accused Kerry of everything from exaggerating claims to earn medals and Purple Hearts to having his own film crew capturing future campaign footage during his tour in Vietnam almost 35 years ago. But reading through it, you'll see it is indeed dismissive and hostile to the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth. Parts of it gave me a sense of deja vu. No, this wasn't my psychic muscles flexing themselves again. The deja vu was based on the fact that I had read parts of this article before. Just yesterday, as a matter of fact, in the Star Tribune. The first similarity I noticed was this description of Swift Boat Vet John O'Neill. As written by Bob Von Sternberg on Saturday in the Star Tribune: In the book, longtime Kerry nemesis John O'Neill accuses him of distorting his war record for political gain. And as written by Bob Tarrant in the Dallas Morning News: The book, "Unfit for Command," is co-authored by longtime Kerry nemesis John O'Neill, a Houston lawyer who followed Kerry as commander of Patrol Craft Fast 94. I suppose it's possible that's a coincidence. When you're trying to subtly undermine a man's credibility, there are only so many words in the English language to use for a particular set of facts. Although I think using "chronic Kerry cat caller" works even better than "long time Kerry nemesis". My charitable instincts faded when I came across these characterizations of chronic Kerry cat caller George Elliot. First, Von Sternberg in the Star Tribune: One, retired Capt. George Elliott, reportedly recanted his accusation that Kerry did not deserve his Silver Star. But after the Boston Globe published a story quoting him as saying he withdrew the charges, the Swift Boat Veterans released an affidavit in which Elliott swore he stood by his accusation. But in 1996, Elliott had been quoted in news reports praising Kerry's actions as courageous. Now, Tarrant in the Dallas Morning News One member in the ad, retired Capt. George Elliott, reportedly recanted his accusations that Kerry did not deserve his Silver Star. But after the Boston Globe published that, the Swift Boat Veterans released an affidavit in which Elliott swore he stood by his accusation. But in 1996, Elliott was quoted in news reports praising Kerry's actions as courageous. An article in two different papers, credited to two different writers, and an entire paragraph nearly identical in content. What is going on here? Is one guy plagiarizing the other? Are these guys working off the same template? Ripping off the same wire service copy? Am I naive to believe that articles attributed exclusively to different individuals should contain original content? If so, I guess that would make their reporting the equivalent of paraphrasing the Encyclopedia Britannica for your school report on the sperm whale. I hope that's not the case, as it would tend to diminish the high regard which I hold newspaper reporters. Inquiring emails shall be sent to both parties. Updates as events warrant. Labels: Media-Local (02-04), Politics-National (02-04) Sunday, August 15, 2004
Yesterday, we reported on the inability of the crack Knight Ridder research staff and Pioneer Press Editor Vicki Gowler to find appropriate documentation for John Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia remarks in the Congressional Record. (A task most sentient beings could accomplish in minutes via Google). Our reader T.R. writes in with a possible explanation:
The reason researchers were and are unable to source the Kerry Cambodia speech through Lexis/Nexis is that it isn't in their database. There are references to it in the index version, but it was either omitted originally, deleted, or hidden. Even after finding it on "another database", and searching specific language and citations, I was unable to pull it up on Lexis/Nexis. [Glenn] Reynolds did what any reporter could do and went to the hard copy Congressional Record for his digital image, but he mistakenly attributed the original discovery of the actual document posted at Tom Maguire's site to a Lexis/Nexis cut and paste. It was not; the header on the original digital document reads: 132 Cong.Rec. S3564-02 and the Cambodia reference is on page 75 of 333 -- it is not on Lexis/Nexis and therefore most reporters will not find it. Perhaps that's what one of the Kerry staffers meant when the "Christmas in Cambodia" story was raised and told Democrat vetters that "it had been taken care of." I'm not saying they had a hand in obscuring the text of Kerry's speech; they may have merely searched for it themselves and were remarking on their good fortune. I don't have Lexis/Nexis access, so I cannot verify these claims, but they sound plausible. Especially that part about reporters being too lazy to look at original sources and instead relying exclusively on their traditional crutches. And when that doesn't work, well, I guess there's no story. Anyone out there with Lexis/Nexis who is able to refute or support these claims, please let me know. Labels: Media-Local (02-04), Politics-National (02-04)
The John Kerry Christmas in Cambodia story has become a mature, well established and well researched news item over the past few weeks. This is largely due of the efforts of a few key members of the blogosphere, most prominently the Northern Alliance stalwarts, Power Line and Ed Morrissey over at Captain's Quarters, and our friend and radio mentor Hugh Hewitt.
The mainstream press's lack of coverage of this story has verged on Sergeant Schultz "I see nothing" level comedy. Following the lead of the New York Times and Washington Post, neither of our local newspapers has given much coverage at all to the story. The Star Tribune addressed it yesterday, but only in the context of "campaign salvos" launched by Republicans, not as a news story worthy of coverage on its own merits. This article, by Bob Von Sternberg, characterizes the allegations by Swiftboat Veterans for Truth as a Michael Moore-like attack, inspired by a "long time Kerry nemesis". It also emphasizes John McCain's denouncing of the SVFT ad campaign and dutifully repeats Democratic party's recent attempts to undermine the credibility of Kerry accusers Joe Corsi and George Elliot. The Star Tribune's strategy of covering the story, indirectly and only by casting a skeptical eye on the accusers, mirrors the newspaper coverage in Denver, as analyzed in this column from the Rocky Mountain News. The Pioneer Press doesn't even go that far, as evidenced by this key word search of their Web site, they've yet to publish a single reference to the story. Inquiring minds, like our reader The Kernel from Eagan, aren't willing to let them off the hook easily. The Kernel sent me his recent email string with Pioneer Press editor Vicki Gowler, on why her paper has yet to cover this story: ------------------------------------------------------ From: (The Kernel) Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 8:40 PM To: vgowler@pioneerpress.com Subject: christmas in cambodia This has been all over the blogosphere since last Saturday and was breaking news by Carl Cameron on Fox News Monday. I haven't seen anything in your paper. Last night MSNBC (Scarborough Country, at least) picked up on it. When is Knight Ridder going to pick up on this deception? And when are you going to report on Kerry's "magic hat"? Check out the Washington Post on that. I just renewed my subscription, but I am having some second thoughts. Let's go. Its a big story. Why aren't you covering it . It goes to the basic credibility of a presidential candidate. Get on it or lose me!!!! ------------------------------------------------------ From: Gowler, Vicki To: (The Kernel) Sent: Friday, August 13, 2004 10:58 AM Subject: FW: christmas in cambodia Thanks for asking me about this issue. Our Knight Ridder Washington Bureau is working on a story. It's turning out not to be a simple task. Several other news organizations have tried to offer stories about the issue, but the stories are not as thorough as we think they should be. For example, I know the allegations center around Kerry testified before Congress in 1986, but so far our KRT researcher can't find anything in congressional testimony records to that effect. We have Joe Galloway, the best war correspondent in the country, working on the story, and we hope to have a story in the next week or two. We think it's important on this issue to get it right, not just report unverified allegations. I hope this explanation helps. Vicki Gowler ------------------------------------------------------ From: (The Kernel) To: Gowler, Vicki Sent: Friday, August 13, 2004 8:48 PM Subject: Re: christmas in cambodia Thanks for your reply. It's great to hear that Knight Ridder is careful about it's stories. Just to help your crack reporters out, they don't have to review all 1986 entries to the Congressional Record to find Kerry's comments. I can help your sleuths who cannot find the correct cite. The date was March 27, 1986. Will this give them the ability to beat the 2 week delay you referenced? For many reasons, Galloway is not the right guy to do this story. You can do this from St. Paul and post it throughout the organization...its not that hard to figure out. The facts are very clear. I, a lowly CPA with some command of the language, can get this done for you by Monday. Are you game? ------------------------------------------------------ Bravo to the Kernel for keeping the pressure on them. But, so far, that's the end of the correspondence, so it looks like the Pioneer Press is not in the least bit game. I have to give some credit to editor Vicki Gowler for at least responding to the original question (I guess that goes to show how powerful a threat to cancel a subscription can be - conservative readers take note). But the content of her response is pathetic. One of the biggest and best funded newspaper chains in the country needs 2 weeks (and counting) to run down an issue that anyone with a basic level of Googling skill can do in a matter of minutes. Regarding Kerry's comments on Christmas in Cambodia while in the Senate, the crack Knight Ridder research team "can't find anything in congressional testimony records to that effect." The Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds, found it and published it during his spare time in a single evening. It's right here, from back on August 8. And repeated again, here on August 13. The ease of finding this makes me wonder if Gowler and the research staff has even heard of the Internet. Or heard of other modern inventions like the IBM Selectrix and carbon paper. Also, Gowler's claimed interest in making sure they "get it right" and in avoiding "reporting unverified allegations". Luckily, Woodward and Bernstein didn't have such impossibly rigid standards, or dear old Dick Nixon might still be revered as a great President. And did Knight Ridder take weeks and weeks of intensive investigation and soul searching before printing a single story on the allegations surrounding the ridiculous George Bush AWOL story from earlier this year? I can't definitively prove that either way (the Pioneer Press's one week limit on archive access prevents it). But since I don't have a crack research staff and weeks and weeks (and counting) to prove it, I'll go with my instincts and memory and say "NO". Check out this Neal Boortz editorial for more contrasting of the media's handling of the various Kerry and Bush service record allegations. I'll take a wild guess here and predict that the Pioneer Press's exhaustive, month long investigation, employing a professional research staff and "the best war correspondent in the country," produces, at most, a dismissive article with skepticism dripping from the lede and criticism of the accusers saturated throughout. Then they can say 'we covered it.' Time to moveon.org. In the mean time, while they've been on square one of the story for weeks and weeks (and counting), and desperately trying to erase the outlines of even that square, guys like Ed Morrissey and John Hinderaker have uncovered and published substantive new aspects to the story a half a dozen times (and counting). On this story, the Pioneer Press has exposed itself self as encompassing the worst aspects of modern mainstream journalism. They're hopelessly biased, in full denial, and embarrasingly slow. Labels: Media-Local (02-04), Politics-National (02-04) Friday, August 13, 2004
Regarding my post yesterday on Newt Gingrich's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, reader E.J. writes in with his thoughts, specifically on the potential for Chinese complicity in terrorism:
Great summation. I think, however, that a careful review of Chinese military doctrine on asymmetrical warfare would help clear up the anomalies obscuring our enemy's true identity. The "terrorists" are just the first line, intended to tie us down long enough for the Communists to catch up on the technology curve while we're out stomping down grass fires. Further, it is not that our friends across the aisle, the Democrats, are not "up to it" as you say, but rather that they are "in on it." The enemy is the same as always; there is nothing new in the arena. It is just that now we are assaulted from within and without, and by some of our own people. Or do you really believe the assistance Clinton gave China in missile technology, nuclear codes and so forth was just an "accident?" That he just "bobbled" Islamic extremism? That 9/11 "just happened?" Gingrich's assertion that it might take til 2070 to eliminate the scourge afflicting us these days may prove conservative, assuming we survive the decade. The Chinese believe the battle can be won without firing a shot, and given the myopia and apathy of the electorate these days, they might be right. My paranoia fully extends to accepting the possibility of terrorist connections (present or future) with the Russian and/or Chinese governments (or as George Patton might call them, "the god-d*mned Bolsheviks!"). But I am not willing to accept Democratic party complicity in a conspiracy. No, I don't believe 9/11 and the rise of Islamic extremism as a threat to US security "just happened". Instead, they were the result of wishful avoidance of difficult problems and the inability of individuals (and parties) to muster the will to preempt threats during a era of decadence. It's the same phenomena Craig Westover characterized yesterday as: The fault was not that people couldn't imagine hijacked planes being used as weapons. Some did. The failure was the inability to imagine that such an event could actually occur. If one cannot accept the reality of a threat, it is impossible to avert it - as the rubble of the World Trade Towers testifies. Over on Vox Popoli, in a piece entitled "Some Republicans ARE Nazis," Vox Day chimes in on this issue with some Gingrich criticism of his own: Since Gingrich believes the war on method will last until 2070, this definition of "temporary" is apparently a Clintonesque one meaning "longer than you will likely live." In other words, once gone, they're gone forever. I would rather lose a city or three than sacrifice "all civil liberties" and live in a military dictatorship - I thought the whole point of being Americans was that we were willing to make sacrifices for freedom, not of it. Isn't sacrificing the nation's freedom in order to save the nation tantamount to burning the village in order to save it? What are we hoping to save? A nation of frightened serfs slavishly grateful to their feudal protectors? Bah - what are sheep if not for slaughter? Read his entire post, there are some very provocative statements, to say the least. Provacative, bordering on OUTRAGEOUS. And do you know what I have to say to him in response? Tune in to tomorrow to Northern Alliance Radio to find out. Vox will be on at 2 PM, Central time. Locally, you can hear it at AM 1280 the Patriot, and world wide via the Web stream (link available at the right hand side of this Web page). And if you don't trust the Northern Alliace crew to properly refute the man (or properly support him), please call in and let's hear what you've got. Intelligent, public affairs radio may never be the same again.
Okay, so it ain't exactly the U.S.A. beating the Soviets at the 1980 Olympics, but it's still a pretty sweet victory for a country that deserves something to cheer about:
In its first Olympic competition since its country was shattered by war, Iraq upset star-studded Portugal 4-2 on Thursday in a gritty, come-from-behind victory that set off cheers and celebrations among some 200 fans. "This victory will be received with happiness by my people, who have suffered through much," said Iraqi coach Adnan Hamad, whose countrymen were already taking to the streets of Baghdad, lighting up the night sky with streaks of celebratory gunfire. Labels: Soccer
This letter in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune has me pig-biting mad! I'm so enraged that the engorged blood vessels in my neck have seriously and, I fear, permanently reduced my ability to see the floor!! What this man has to say is deplorable...unfathomable...improbable!!! Read it yourself and tell me you don't feel the same way:
His hate is just fine Unless there's more than one James Lileks running around, the author of the Aug. 12 commentary is the same guy who is a regular on right-wing hate radio--AM 1280, The Patriot. I'm confused: Is his message that all hate is bad or only when I don't hate the same things that Lileks does? Stephen Young, St. Paul. If only I had known that there were two James Lileks "running around" out there I could have had BOTH of them outside staining my deck!!!! The one I've been dealing with has been working at a snail's pace...always with the witty comments and sarcastic remarks. Did I mention the endless cigarillo breaks? One thing's for certain, tomorrow morning I'm gonna round up both of those Lileks characters and get the two of them out here to finish the job. I will have them leave their sense of humor at Mr. Young's doorstep first, however. Lord knows he could use it. (Don't forget to listen to this Saturday's installment of "right-wing hate radio" on the Northern Alliance Radio Network. The two Lileks will be listening...and so should you!) Labels: Media-Local (02-04) Thursday, August 12, 2004
Craig Westover is one of the two Great Right Hopes of the Pioneer Press. He, along with Mark Yost, has been hired to bring what editor Art Coulson described as:
Someone who brings a different perspective to the table, who doesn't just duplicate what we already have. Last week I expressed guarded skepticism that these new hires might not be as good as advertised. But I'm happy to say that my concerns were not justified. At least not for today, because Westover delivers a knockout on on the Pioneer Press editorial page. He's got an opinion piece on the Metropolitan Council, the Twin Cities culture of political progressivism, and creeping fascism. Excerpt: Despite patriotic waving of the red, white and blue and the political rhetoric of individual rights, intellectual and political power in America today practices the "higher objective" of social justice--an admirable goal, but when it mutates into practical politics, it's just another cobblestone on the unimaginable "road to serfdom." Political progressives question no extension of government power if its stated aim is relieving poverty, preserving the environment, safeguarding public health, creating opportunity or promoting equality. Theirs is a simple and appealing message. And it's false. And although political progressives can't imagine themselves as dictators, that is precisely the direction they are heading. We need look no further than the recent news for evidence. Click on over and read more, it's outstanding stuff. Forgetting the fact that I agree with his political perspective, Westover is enjoyable to read just for the skillfulness of his prose. He's a legitimately good writer. Pioneer Press, my congratulations go out to you. It's an excellent start. Now go out and find six guys (or dolls) just like Westover and we can really start to embrace you. Labels: Media-Local (02-04)
The lovely and insightful Cathy in the Wright has gotten a hold of some pictures we thought were out of circulation. They were taken a few years ago, when the Fraters Libertas were naive, upstart bloggers, doing anything for money and just waiting for our big break in the business. Now that we're established media celebrities, it is a little embarrassing. But what the heck, we worked hard for those washboard abs and rippling biceps.
Cathy's sleuthing also yields a candid shot of Powerline's John Hinderaker. This is him relaxing, immediately after the Northern Alliance Radio broadcast last week. I warned him that drinking a gallon of Carlo Rossi during the broadcast might not be the smartest idea. But you know how these personal injury attorneys are, there's no telling them anything. Labels: Blogs-Local, Fraters Inc
Last night I watched a replay of the House Intelligence Committee's 9/11 Commission hearings on CSPAN. Testifying, were Ed Meese, some guy I've never heard of named Larry Thompson, and Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich was in great form, speaking knowledgeably and persuasively about the terrorism threat and the ability of the federal government to organize itself to effectively counter it. His enthusiastic endorsement of the Commission's findings, particularly for the creation of a National Intelligence Director post, eases some of my concerns that the Commissions recommendations were nothing more than bureaucratic paper shuffling. However, most of his comments were aimed at trying to get the House members to understand the scope of the threat we face, and to inspire them to be more aggressive in taking preemptory action. The former history professor gave his sobering estimate that the war against terrorism would last until at least 2070. And he said it was to be a hard fought, bitter campaign throughout, with the potential for massive US losses. His opinion was that we're not doing enough at this time to identify and eliminate threats. In terms of resources needed to fight, he asked the Congressmen to look at the US government expenditures and societal reorganization during the first the years of the Civil War, the first years of American involvement in WWI, the first years of WWII, and the first few years of the Cold War. He gave actual time periods to study for each example (I forget what they were), and I assume he was referring to the higher costs associated with the uncertain beginning years of a major conflict, as opposed to those associated with the winding down of hostilities. At one point the issue of circumscribed civil liberties came up and Gingrich's response was that it had to be a balancing act. He rhetorically posed the question, if there were reliable information that a terrorist nuclear strike on Washington DC was scheduled for inauguration day next January, would he favor the temporary retraction of all civil liberties in the country. Given the threat to the survival of the US government and the loss of over a million people, his answer was "unquestionably, yes". He then posed a counter scenario. In the course of steeling the country for the new threat, in the crafting of legislation and regulations, would he want protection of civil liberties for US citizens to be incorporated throughout? His answer again, "unquestionably, yes". He summed up by saying (I'm paraphrasing from memory), 'in protecting the very survival of civilization of North America, I do not want to lose the United States.' Which I interpreted as his desire to save the US Constitution during this dangerous, brutal, century long war. Throwing more shock into the system, Gingrich reiterated that stateless terrorists aren't the only threat we face. He emphasized the need to keep an eye on the Russians and the Chinese. He made specific, repeated mention of recent Chinese research into electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weaponry. This report from the Heritage Foundation, summarizes the situation. And I'll never accuse Heritage of burying the lede after reading this opening sentence: A nuclear-generated electromagnetic pulse "is one of a small number of threats that has the potential to hold our society seriously at risk and might result in defeat of our military forces." If our enemies acquire such a weapon, that is an entirely plausible outcome. It would happen with a low level nuke being detonated in the atmosphere above the desired target, be it our military overseas or the Continental US. Given the bomb's altitude, no individuals would be immediately killed, but all electronics would be permanently fried, thus eliminating our conventional war fighting advantages. The Heritage description of how it might occur: A Scud-type ballistic missile launched from a vessel in U.S. coastal waters and detonated at an altitude of 95 miles could degrade electronic systems across one-quarter of the United States. A more powerful missile launched from North Korea could probably deliver a warhead 300 miles above America--enough to degrade the electronic systems across the entire continental United States. Obviously, stopping the proliferation of this weapon is as important as stopping all of our favorite WMDs. But that may be even harder than we think it is (and none of us thinks it's easy). We may not be dealing with merely stopping individuals with bad faith and malicious intentions. State sponsored proliferation would be almost impossible to stop and I got the sense that Newt was strongly hinting the Chinese are suspect in this regard. The Heritage report includes this corroborating (or perhaps the original source) paragraph: The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the rise of powerful non-state actors, and the evolving strategic relationships with countries like China and Russia have made the threat more difficult to assess. In reality, the U.S. simply cannot rely on the old tools of deterrence to compel threatening regimes not to attack the United States or its interests. As demonstrated on September 11, 2001, the Cold War deterrent of massive retaliation does not work. That last statement puts John Kerry's recent comments in bold relief: Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. Concisely phrased, that is Kerry's position on the war on terror, massive retaliation as deterrent. Say what you will of Gingrich's politics, he accurately describes the razor's edge our elected officials will have to face in the years to come. I was somewhat heartened to see that Gingrich held the rapt attention of members of both political parties during this hearing. Let's hope something got through to them. Unfortunately, my personal observations tell me our elected officials, especially the Democrats, are not up to the challenge. Newt himself said, if there is another incident in this country, on a scale meeting or potentially far exceeding the horror associated with 9/11, the country will ramp up and reorganize itself for war. The key question is, can the government ramp up before that happens, and prevent that horrible incident from ever happening?
Friday night Minneapolis/Saturday morning Amsterdam. I caught maybe two hours of shuteye on the eight hour flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. Back with the prols in coach this time around. The food was decent, my seatmate provided good company, but it ain't bidness class by any stretch of the legs. Spoiled I guess.
Interminable wait at the baggage carousel. We shared it with an Iran Air flight from Tehran. Odd to consider that one day soon we could be at war with the same people I was standing next to watching the belt go 'round and 'round. However, from outward appearances at least, most of them were likely not staunch backers of the mullahs. Very "Westernized" in dress and look. Most of the women wore make up and were not covering their noggins. The teenage boys sported Nike athletic apparel. Can you love the culture and yet still hate the country? I didn't know which rental car company my reservation was with (a minor detail), but happened to make a lucky guess by hitting Avis first. Given a choice of three models, I opted for the largest and ended up with a two-door hatchback that only a sustainable-living lefty could love. The Avis clerk gave me directions to my hotel in Amsterdam, which proved to be flawed. Coming off two hours of sleep, driving lost through a strange city in a foreign country wasn't exactly my idea of fun. But, what choice did I have? I ended up driving all over the narrow, congested city streets doing my damndest to avoid hitting the ubiquitous cyclists and trying to keep out of the way of the trams. Whenever I came to a stoplight I attempted to consult maps of the city, but I never had a chance to get my bearings. And so I drove on, trusting that instinct and chance would lead me to my destination. Eventually they did. By 11:40am I was checked in and settling in to my quaint and cozy room. Despite the lack of sleep, I was determined to adjust to the local time as quickly as possible, and so, after a quick freshening up, I was on the march. Coffee was my most pressing concern. After securing a dose of the precious fuel of life (quick aside--you know that you've passed another stage in life when the first thing you seek out in the early afternoon is a cup of Joe instead of a glass of beer), I strolled to one of Amsterdam's many canals to stake a claim to a spot to view the parade. Parade? What parade? Why, the annual gay pride boat parade of course. This is a major event in Amsterdam (in 2003 over 200,000 turned out to watch) and I figured it was a perfect opportunity to get a taste of the flamboyant (never was there a more appropriate descriptor) side of the city. And what a taste it was. I had no idea when the parade was going to kickoff, but I saw people gathering just before 1pm and figured I should grab a place and hunker down. It turned out that I was hunkered for over two hours as the parade started at 3pm. It gave me the chance to watch the disparate crowd assemble. Boats of all shapes, sizes, and seaworthiness prowled up and down the canals seeking out the perfect spot to tie up for parade viewing. Cigarette boats to dinghies and everything in between. And I mean everything. The only people wearing life jackets were very young children (By the way, Amsterdam has more bikers per capita than any city in the world. And NONE of them wear helmets). Moreover, the concept of a maximum capacity on boats appeared quite foreign. Everyone drank and the majority smoked. Mostly they puffed on Marb Reds, but a few chose the more exotic herbs as well. Your typical Minnesota nanny-stater would have been aghast at the blatant disregard for personal health and safety. I loved it. It was like Mardi Gras in Venice. Combine the embrace of hedonistic sexuality and complete lack of any moral restraint of the Castro District with the embrace of sloppy drunkenness and complete lack of fashion restraint that you find in Wisconsin and you have an idea what this event, nay spectacle, looked like. Needless to say, it was often not pretty. I am having difficulties transferring images from my digital camera to my laptop. Otherwise, I would subject you to pictures of the bawdy GLBT bacchanalia that cruised down the canal. Every gay cliché that you could image was on display. Most of the "floats" featured barely clad men dancing to God-awful, ear-thumping dance music. There were more Village People songs than you could shake a nightstick at and even an appearance by VP impersonators. Cross dressers, transvestite divas, twinkle- toed fairies, leather boyz, muscled macho men. You name it. They were there. The fairer sex wasn't left out of the action either. Unfortunately, they weren't the long-legged lipstick lesbians that lick their way through the erotic fantasyland of 99.99% of heterosexual men. They never are, are they? Instead, I was "treated" to floats featuring middle-aged, shorthaired mannish dykes (insert joke here about dikes in Holland) desperately trying (and usually failing miserably) to find some sense of rhythm, as they awkwardly bobbed to the same pulsing dance beat. Their floats were simple, unimaginative, and elicited little or no crowd reaction. Gay gals might want to have fun, but it's the boys who really know how to put on a show. After an hour or so of watching the procession of water-borne rainbow rump shakers, I had more than my fill of "pride". Plus the sun was beating down, I was parched, and had become increasingly annoyed by the throng of pushy people ten deep behind me. I hate crowds. For that matter, I hate parades. Considering those facts, I consider it remarkable that I was able to last as long as I did. It was time for a change of scenery. And beer. Hello Heineken Experience. It was a self-guided, very interactive brewery tour. One of the exhibits physically demonstratesd what it feels like to be a bottle of beer going through the bottling line. Almost like a real world Duff Gardens. The three beers that I downed there didn't hurt none either. This set the stage for me to catch a two-hour nap back at the hotel. I capped off the day with a late night dinner at a canal-side Brazilian restaurant. It was quite a way to get introduced to the city. Amsterdam is not for everyone. With its decriminalization of prostitution and soft drugs and open acceptance of homosexuality, some probably consider it a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. But, if it is a city of wickedness, it is an orderly one. Moreover, it's hard not to like a city with an attitude that seems to be "What the f***?" Just to be on the safe side though, I didn't look back as I drove out of town Sunday afternoon. Labels: The Netherlands
John Manley at The Torch analyzes the fighting in Najaf and how it is linked to the June 28th transfer of sovereignty:
The recent revival of Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's violent insurgency has been framed by some as evidence of a worsening situation in Iraq, but it is no such thing. The fighting that rages in Najaf offers the opportunity to finally close a hole in Iraq's security that has festered for months. If and when this is done, though the burden of the fighting will have been carried largely by coalition forces, the victory will be in part the product and reflection of the strategic shift brought about by the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi government. Labels: Iraq Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Long time friend of Fraters, Gary Larson takes on Garrison Keillor's new book Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America in a biting piece at Intellectual Conservative:
Such neurotic knee-jerk hatred of anything conservative is designed, likely, to delight the smirking elites -- e.g., leftist Academia and Big Media. But Keillor's animus, staged or not, goes beyond bemused satire for elitists, into unintelligible guff of the Theater of the Absurd. For example, urban-based First Responder (EMTs) are exclusively "Ds," he asserts in Homegrown. They're compassionate good Samaritans all, rushing to save people, as indeed they do. Republicans, well, they let people die in the ditches in their "wealthy" far-flung suburbs. Get the drift? Hate is the subtext, class warfare his game. Clever. Keillor seems consumed now by partisan hatred, tilting at illusory devils among the windmills of his aging mind. Martin Luther on losing it, merely tossed an inkwell at his devils, not a whole exorcising book. While Gary freely admits to being a geezer, he adamantly denies that he wears golf pants. Labels: Media-Local (02-04) Tuesday, August 10, 2004
A single line in this story (via Drudge) was so amusing that it caused Man From Silver Mountain to actually laugh himself to death. Before he expired, M.F.S.M. managed to point out to me the precise point in the article at which his fatal amusement attack occurred and I have reproduced it below, so read on if you dare. I must warn you, however, to be very, very careful with the last sentence. It has already claimed one life today.
A Nebraska man who once weighed more than half a ton has lost 321 pounds in a Sioux Falls hospital, with a goal of losing another 450 pounds. Patrick Deuel, 42, of Valentine, weighed 1,072 pounds when he was admitted to Avera McKennan Hospital eight weeks ago. Deuel, who is just under 6 feet tall, is on a 1,200 calorie-a-day diet. He wants to lose at least another 450 pounds or more in the next year and a half to two years. He is being supervised by a team of eight doctors. Deuel said he knew he had to act. The former restaurant manager has been bedridden since last fall and hadn't been out of his Nebraska home for social reasons in seven years. A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for Deuel to be driven to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed. DISCLAIMER: The intent of the previous post was NOT to make light of Mr. Deuel's condition. I am merely pointing out the absolute absurdity of a group calling itself The League of Human Dignity nobly carting an incredibly obese man to be weighed on a scale used primarily for cattle. Please don't e-mail me to tell me that I'm insensitive. I'm already well aware of that fact. Labels: Food
There's somethin' happenin' here. What it is became a bit clearer to me Sunday in Amsterdam. I toured a museum dedicated to the Dutch resistance during the Nazi occupation. As I made my way through the exhibits, I noticed a few other Americans taking it in as well. I overheard one of them, a woman, make the comment "Now doesn't that sound familiar?" For a moment I paused, but then decided that her remark couldn't be about what I thought. It just could not be.
But it was. After I finished the tour, I stopped by a street-side café next door for a beer and a bite. A short while later the group of Americans that I had noticed at the museum pulled up a table at the same café within earshot. They began discussing the various exhibits at the museum and, before long, my initial suspicions were confirmed. They, the woman in particular, saw parallels between the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and what they believe is occurring today in John Ashcroft's Amerika. Normally when I cannot help but overhear a conversation that involves political viewpoints that I disagree with, I long for the opportunity to jump in and offer my two cents. It's all I can do to hold myself back. But today I had no such urge. What are you going to say to people who have abandoned the realm of rational thought? People who believe that Bush is a puppet in an evil conspiracy orchestrated by either Dick Cheney, James Baker, George H. Bush, or all of them working together? People who believe that the Democrats are playing the role today that the NSB (a Dutch National Socialist Party that collaborated with the Nazis) did in the Netherlands during World War Two? People who believe that the Democratic National Convention was a frightening display of war mongering, but support John Kerry because he speaks French? People who believe that the entire world is counting on the American people to remove Bush from office? People who believe that if, by some fluke, Bush is re-elected he will be impeached early in his second term? People who believe that if Bush is re-elected the level of "national resistance" (whatever the hell that means) will escalate? For the record, I overheard all of these loony beliefs (and more) expressed on Sunday. We're through the looking glass here people. I can almost understand ignorant lefties throwing around their "Bush is a Nazi" claptrap without really understanding just how ridiculous that comparison is. But these people had just come from a museum that graphically detailed the brutality inflicted by the occupying Nazis including: * The Nazi attempts to takeover the Dutch trade unions and indoctrinate school children. * The summary executions of resistance members in the dunes outside the city. * The hundreds of thousands of Dutch men forced into what was essentially slave labor in Germany. * The 107,000 Dutch Jews sent to concentration camps, from which only 5,000 ever emerged alive. Yet, after having just seen displays of the true horrors of Nazism firsthand, these fools prattled on and on with their nonsensical ranting that equated the Bush administration with Hitler's regime. No specifics were offered of course. There never are. There don't have to be. Never let the facts get in the way of a good paranoid fantasy. Labels: The Netherlands Monday, August 09, 2004
Wilco is music for people who care more about what it means to own a Wilco CD than what is actually on the CD itself. Wilco (or fill in about any other hipster band) is not about melody, or musicianship. It's about what they're not--melodic or musical and that makes them sophisticated and adds to a certain type of person's cultural pedigree.
I found this on Slate and while the guy is so deeply immersed in hipsterism that I had a hard time understanding the piece, he makes a couple of good points (sorry, no time for the link find it yaself, please): Some consumers, of course, still need to feel as though the music they buy merits, if not exactly landmark status, some claim to cultural importance. Wilco is the band for such consumers; and to help them along, critics have provided the word "deconstruction." Deconstruction is now rock-press shorthand for the crumbling of the traditional Intro Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Bridge Solo Verse Chorus song structure. But its real significance has gone unnoticed. Deconstruction is currently doing for Wilco (and Radiohead before it) what it did for literary studies in the '70s and '80s: providing a sense of pomp and excitement during a period of near-total marginalization. In other words, the music blows, but it's a different kind of bad and that kind of bad is better than the kind of bad on pop radio so it must be good! It's like having 100 different Wal-Mart-type stores in your town. All of them offering inexpensive merchandise and good service at convenient locations. Most people are content with these stores for their basic day-to-day needs. Then a different kind of store opens. They tell everyone that they aren't Wal-Mart, man, and will never be. Their selection sucks, their prices are high, but they have positioned themselves as the "intelligent shoppers" choice and the canvas bags they rent you for bringing your goods home are seen as a status symbol in certain circles. The funny thing is, there IS a market for a metaphorical store like this in the music world. It is almost entirely about positioning yourself properly and counting on the mass confusion that is the hipster/sophistico world. You can completely suck like Wilco and sell 400,000 copies of your record. And I have to say there is a certain genius to that. Labels: Music
To honor the Dutch reputation for frugality, this will not be an expansive post. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to chronicle my past weekend in Amsterdam later in the week. Right now I'm lounging in my hotel room after a long day of meetings that has rendered me completely fried. Thankfully "Full Metal Jacket" is on help me wind down. And it's a hell of lot better than the other channels available in English. It's a tough call, but at this point I have to say the BBC is slightly more anti-American than CNN International. Ever so slightly.
Labels: Media-National (02-06), The Netherlands Friday, August 06, 2004
After spending two days in Rhinelander, Wisconsin as part of an antique car tour that has morphed into an annual family reunion, I'm now off to Amsterdam for a eight day business trip.
I'll be spending a couple of days in Amsterdam, but most of the time I'll be in Veenendaal, a smaller city in the Netherlands about an hour from Amsterdam. If everything works out as planned, and I don't get hopelessly lost in the Dutch countryside, I'm going to make a run to Arnhem, site of one of the critical battles in Operation Market Garden; the Allies ill-fated attempt to use airborne troops to seize and hold key bridges and open a pathway into the heart of Germany. The span at Arnhem of course was the infamous "Bridge Too Far" that could not be reached by Britsh armored forces before the valiant paratroopers were overwhelmed (or forced to withdraw) by superior German forces. The river that the bridges crosses is the Rhine. Labels: The Netherlands
Based on reader feedback, last week we had to remove Sammy Haggar from the "Dissenters to Be Crushed" list we've been asked to compile for John Ashcroft every week. Contrary to initial reports, it appears likely Sammy is a Bush-Cheney supporter. This week's revision may have to be done for John Fogerty. He was characterized as a "dirty old hippie" by Chris from Omaha yesterday. But now Bill Tuomala, (of Rocks Off and the New York Times) writes in with this:
Just had to take exception with your Omaha reader on John Fogerty. Like or dislike his politics or songs, John Fogerty is not and never was a hippie. Creedence Clearwater Revival was a working-class band that crafted music in the tradition, sound, and spirit of the classic Sun records recordings. While the whole hippie acid trip thing was blossoming/festering in San Francisco; CCR - from El Cerrito, an Oakland suburb across the bay from San Francisco and Haight/Ashbury - simply made great, timeless rock 'n' roll singles, one after the other. As far as Fogerty being dirty, I dunno. He looks pretty clean cut to me, though in the rockabilly vein he may be greasy. Oh, and you may be interested in this book, Kill Your Idols. Jim Walsh read his chapter at the Ruminator last week . Very twisted, dark (and great) stuff. Staying on the hygiene theme, the Golden Girl wrote in to comment on Serena Williams's remarks (quoted yesterday) about her awful, horrendous, miserable, horrible working day: Poor Serena. Boo hoo. She needs to follow me around sometime to see what "awful" truly can be. I'm a podiatrist, and most days are pretty good, believe it or not. I see runners, little kids, generally healthy folks, and nobody dies (yet, knock on wood). But when it's bad, awful can't begin to describe it. Yesterday I walked into a room to see a new patient. She was 90-something, demented and recently admitted to a nursing home where it occurred to someone to take off her socks. The poor woman hadn't had her toenails cut since, oh, probably, the Carter Administration. Think Gail Devers fingernails attached to the feet of a woman who looks like Sméagol and swears like Whoopi. Can we get her out of the wheel chair? No. Ok, sure, I'll sit on the floor (why do I ever wear a skirt to work?). 45 minutes and $28 from Medicare later (no, wait, it'll actually take me 4 months to collect my $28 from Medicare) I'm done. Now, I'm sure tennis camp was tough, but I have a bachelors degree, masters degree, doctor of podiatric medicine degree, and three years of residency behind me, and I'm sitting in a pile of fungus dust for 28 bucks. Which after I pay my overhead, adds up to me owing about $300 for the last 45 minutes. I'm not looking too smart right about now. (And Kerry wants to raise my taxes because I'm not one of the "working people of America".) Awful, horrendous, miserable, horrible, thy name is NOT tennis. I probably should have warned you not to read that if you're just sitting down to lunch. Oh well, at least you can feel slightly better about what ever awaits you upon clocking back in this afternoon. Labels: Music, You Got Your Politics In My ...
The Minnesota Zoo out in Apple Valley has the only amphitheater in town for outdoor concerts. It's a great spot, out in the woods, right by a scenic little lake, and there's like 10 beer stands, for a venue that holds 1,500 souls, so there's never any waiting. On a beautiful summer night, with the right band, there's not a better place to be in the Twin Cities. And I dare say there's no other venue in town where you can hear music interspersed with the occasional grunt of a musk ox or screech of a chimpanzee in the background.
Last night Steve Earle came to town, and brought some grunting and screeching of his own to the stage: Outspoken even when it's not an election year, the Nashville rebel played many of his most socialistic songs and built up to two seething new tunes from his upcoming album, "Revolution Starts Now." He saved one of them for an exclamation-point of an encore, telling the FCC, FBI and CIA to stick it: "I can say anything ... because I live in the [expletive] U.S.A." Well, at least he's not claiming to be a victim of censorship. I find it hard to believe he whipped up much socialist revolutionary discontent in that beautiful, well-oiled venue, on one of the most beautiful nights of the year. No doubt, happiness abounded. Besides, most local socialists couldn't afford the $39 ticket price. Labels: Music, You Got Your Politics In My ...
Earlier this week celebrity blogger Bill Tuomala was wondering about the influx of traffic he's been receiving from Google, via the search string "First word of Wooly Bully".
I figured it was a just one of those random things all blogs experience. With tens of millions of users around the world submitting billions of queries into search engines, a few hits are bound to be shifted your way for bizarre reasons. Fraters Libertas gets lots of monthly traffic for logical things like Northern Alliance Radio, Rudy Boschwitz, Expose the Ink Stained Wanker, and Laura Billings. But also appearing in our logs are non sequitur classics like: paid smoking test studies in Omaha NE Shania Twain leather Quiznos Rats ... and literally dozens of queries related to aspects of the cinematic classic Dumb and Dumber. So, Wooly Billy Tuomala getting traffic from the song Wooly Bully didn't surprise me. Nothing surprises me when it comes to the logic of Internet traffic patterns. Or so I thought. Last night I was settling down for a pre-slumber session with this week's Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle (unfortunately, electronic access available on subscription basis only), when I read this little eye opener: 17 ACROSS: First word of Wooly Bully So, Bill's traffic wasn't so random at all. Instead, he's become a primary reference source for readers of the country's newspaper of record. Google ranks Bill sixth for that particular clue. Amazing. And I'm proud to say, I know that dude. I'm now hoping Bill can help me with another couple of matters: 44 ACROSS: Record Executive Gotti 82 DOWN: Repeated interjection in the Rolling Stones' "Miss You" (FYI, I already checked "unhunh hunh unh hunha hunh" and it doesn't fit.) And most vexing: 39 DOWN: Bill: Fr. What is French for Bill? Please let me know so I can finish this puzzle. And so I can get some traffic generating topics to write about next week. Labels: Blogs-Local
It appears that Don Henley has now joined the growing list of outspoken performers to be bludgeoned by the realization that people just ain't paying pampered pop stars to preach.
The on-line version of the July 31 Orange County Register (registration required) reports that: Singer Don Henley drew a chorus of boos from fans at the Pacific Amphitheatre after he made several political comments between songs during his concert Thursday night, becoming the latest performer to elicit such a negative reaction. Two weeks ago, Linda Ronstadt touched off a disturbance at a show in Las Vegas when she dedicated a song to filmmaker Michael Moore. Fans at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino booed, threw drinks and ripped down posters in the lobby, prompting the management to escort the singer from the premises and bar her from performing there again. Henley, referring to that incident Thursday night, began a sentence with, "Given what my good friend Linda Ronstadt," but was silenced as the amphitheatre erupted in boos. He responded: "Whoops--Orange County," adding, "We used to be able to have civil debate in this country. Not anymore." (emphasis mine) In the real world, a "civil debate" typically consists of two equally matched sides discussing a mutually agreed upon issue. In Don Henley's tie-dyed fantasy world, a debate apparently consists of one washed up 70's soft-rock star with a microphone connected to some colon-splittingly loud amplifiers shouting out tired leftist political platitudes to 16,000 fans who each paid upwards of $40 to hear "The Boys Of Summer" for the 873rd time. At least the Vote For Change crowd has the decency to inform their audience that they're buying a ticket to a political rally. Give it a rest, Donny, and the next time you feel like going all leftie on your fans, don't do it in Orange County. Labels: Music, You Got Your Politics In My ... Thursday, August 05, 2004
It didn't get a lot of publicity, but the Democratic Convention blogging by the left wing American Prospect magazine proved to be pretty good (I only discovered it myself via the weekly e-newsletter I get from them). The real time media reports were particularly interesting. For example:
FOX NEWS, TUESDAY, 10:15 P.M.: While Ron Reagan pled for seriousness and moral courage in our national stem-cell research policy, FOX News helped out with informative biographical flashes about the speaker: "Left law school to become a dancer ... Danced for the Joffrey Ballet ... Wrote for Ladies' Home Journal ... Occasional host on Animal Planet ... Editor for Playboy ... " You get the picture. At one point they cut to a delegate in the audience in an enormous rainbow hat. That network's a real class act. As a media consumer, I have to say that's brilliant programming. Is it any wonder why Fox News is such an endearing institution for those on the right? Fair and balanced and funny. You can't beat that. At least CNN can't. But I wonder, what's so wrong about providing background information on a person promoting themselves as an expert on a complex public policy issue. Is it supposed to be kept a secret, is that what The American Prospect is advocating? What TAP sees as bias, I could just as easily call a presentation of the relevant facts. The issue of "relevance" is where they'd quibble, but that's what professional journalists are paid to do, provide judgments on these matters. And if you don't like the judgments of Fox News, you had five other decidedly left of center options to choose from. All of whom were more than willing to keep Ron Reagan Jr's bona fides on stem cell research a well guarded secret. So next time, turn the channel, stick your head back in the sand, and stop whining. Labels: Media-National (02-06)
Regarding the Rock For Change Tour, Michael from Omaha, NE sends in a motivational analysis of the participating artists. Apparently Omaha is the home town of Connor Oberst, who apparently is or has Bright Eyes (turn around), and many of Michael's friends went to high school with Bright Eyes, so we'll consider this an insider's view:
Pearl Jam - Apparently Nader is less of a candidate in their eyes in 2004. They flip-flop almost as well as Kerry. Death Cab for Cutie - I really like this band, but have a hard time listening to an anti-war stance from a band with "Death" in their name. Bruce Springsteen - Bruce is the Boss. He could actually back terrorism and I wouldn't care. REM - Of course they're pissed, Bush is the only thing standing in Stipe's way from wearing his Vera Wang wedding dress. John Fogerty - Gotta' love the dirty old hippie trying to cash in again on old political songs. Should be a step up from his County Fair gigs. Bright Eyes - Finally, a legitimate voice of change. His privileged, middle-class background serves as great authority on his position. DMB - Anyone with lyrics like "Hike up your dress a little more and show your world to me" is a Democrat by default, so I can't blame them. Jurassic 5 - More like Jurassic Yesterday. When they give their act back to the Roots, maybe I'll care. My Morning Jacket - There goes 137 swing votes. Dixie Chicks - Their god awful rendition of "Landslide" should be reasonenough to ALWAYS vote exactly the opposite. Plus, they suck. (SP NOTE: I really like the Dixie Chicks, especially the voice of Natalie Maines. And for some sick reason her petulant sass appeals to me too. Plus, their version of Landslide is beautiful and the only listenable rendition ever recorded of that song. Now back to the derision...) James Taylor - Another democrat with an ugly kid - BIG surprise. Jackson Browne - How happy do you think he is that he won the coin-flip against James Taylor for co-headliners? Bonnie Raitt - I have no qualms against her stance. After all, she is a founding member of the Democratic party. Keb 'Mo - Who in Des Moines WOULDN'T listen to Keb' Mo'? I'd say only the 400,000 people that live there and are asking "Who's Keb'Mo?" Johnny Cougar - I've personally never been to a bad show that the Coug' has put on. But apparently, there's a first for everything. Babyface - Couldn't be more obviously bandwagon if he tried. Don't know about you, but I always think of his social awareness when listening to "Whip Appeal". What better way to jumpstart a dead career than to take full advantage of the democratic process. Admittedly, Kerry's backers are way more hip than those that make up my preferred party. And don't get me wrong, as much as I love Toby Keith, REM opening for Bruce just might be a better concert. Let's just hope our next President, whoever that may be, isn't simply elected because Keb' Mo's got his back. And lets just also hope that each of these artists remember that Saddam and Osama want to see them dead too. UPDATE: I have been informed that Michael from Omaha, NE did not write the above analysis, he was merely the conduit. The author was none other than Chris from Omaha, NE. Please update your scorecards accordingly. Labels: Music, You Got Your Politics In My ...
OAFL Rick caught this blurb from yesterday's Star Tribune:
I don't know if you caught this in the article in today's Strib. This was in the last paragraph: "On their way to a late appearance in Dubuque, Iowa, Kerry and his wife stopped at Baumgartner's tavern in Monroe, Wis., where Teresa Heinz Kerry ordered a Limburger cheese sandwich with raw onions and mustard on rye bread." I wonder who Teresa is trying to keep at bay? Republican hecklers? The press? The Senator, maybe? Having that sandwich on your breath does seem like a more efficient way to say "shove it." I notice Ms. Heinz Kerry's condiment of choice was mustard, not ketchup. Another family flip flop? Actually, it's not even the first flip flop related to food in the past week. Eloise at Spit Bull has the details on the Cookie Cook-Off scandal. Labels: Politics-National (02-04)
Serena Williams, commenting last week about a day at her job:
"It was just an awful, horrendous, terrible, miserable, horrible day,'' Williams said. And she plays tennis for a living. Just think what she'd say if she had to do something as objectionable as YOUR job. Or maybe she's just been hanging around with Colin Montgomerie too much. Either way, have a productive day and Happy Thursday from Fraters Libertas. Labels: Culture Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Today's report from Our Al Franken Lister (OAFL) Rick:
Today's show featured Mike Mills of REM, talking about the Vote for Change Tour . Catherine Lampshade asked Mills if there were any plans to tape the events for re-broadcast. Word to Catherine: based on the Radio City Music Hall Fundraiser, and Al Franken's latest personal appearance, you don't want TV camera's anywhere near this tour. OAFL Rick is right, past precedent would show that subjecting the average American voter to the temper tantrums of the artistic Left can only hurt the Democrats in this election. No doubt the party operatives in charge are aware of this, so I suspect these musicians will be on a tight rhetorical leash (censorship!). On stage, there will be no swearing, no obscene gestures, no loony conspiracy theorizing, no attempts at exposing the depths of their intellectual understanding of current events. It will be just music and pro-Kerry sunshine boy exclamations, I'd wager. But no matter how hard you try, one thing you can't remove from artists is their need to be special. And their need to make sure you know about it. Cue the weepy violin solo and read this excerpt from their "artist declaration" (call me a purist if you will, but the very existence of a mission statement for a concert tour strikes me as contrary to the soul of rawk and roll): We plan to do something never done before--to concentrate our energies in the states where the election is expected to be closest. We hope this commitment of time and effort by so many artists and our willingness to take our energy to so many parts of the country will help inspire our fellow citizens to take a hard look at what is at stake in this election, at the federal, state, and local level, and to get involved in trying to move our country in a truly compassionate and humane direction. Will this unprecedented, extraordinary commitment of time and back breaking effort (that is to say, a luxury concert tour) by so many multi-millionaire artists really inspire the average Joe to vote to raise his own taxes and decrease the security and sovereignty of his country? Are our fellow citizens really so pathetic that they need something called Bright Eyes to tell them how to vote? Time will tell. But a victory by Bush this November has the added benefit of sending these pretentious buffoons into a spiral of public self doubt and loathing that would be truly entertaining to watch. So even if you're not a Republican, consider voting for Bush anyway, just to see Jackson Browne implode. That would be so punk. Labels: Media-National (02-06), You Got Your Politics In My ...
In the car heading to lunch today I flipped over to KSTP to hear what hijinx was taking place on their mid-morning show. As most disappointed locals know, KSTP no longer broadcasts Rush's first hour live. Instead, they've chosen to run with the remaining holdovers of the old morning zoo show "Babs and the Boys". The last boys standing are Ron Rosenbaum and Mark O'Connell, and they've been upgraded to headlining host positions.
But today Rosenbaum was out, and much to my surprise, substituting for him was none other than David Strom. Yes, that David Strom, hero of the middle class, Executive Director of the Tax Payers League and host of Taxpayers League Live (9 - 11 AM on 1280 AM, the Patriot). Due to my luncheon obligations, I only heard a few minutes of the show, but enough to hear O'Connell refer to Strom as "the substitute schmuck". Good natured as the remark may have been, I think some Saturday morning Strom needs to get O'Connell down to the dank, subterranean Patriot studios so he can repay the favor. Northern Alliance/Patriot infestation of the mainstream media seems to be getting more and more common. Just this past Sunday evening, I clicked on the tube and began a run of my 50 or so "favorite" presets on the remote, only to be stopped in my tracks at the unlikely location of Channel 17. That's PBS-2, locally. It's normally a venue for Hmong language teen age public affairs programming and Lawrence Welk reruns. (It's on my preset favorites just for The Charlie Rose show, I swear). But this Sunday none other than Scott "The Big Trunk" Johnson from Powerline and Northern Alliance Radio appeared on screen. He was discussing the importance of the Lawrence Welk show with a bunch of Hmong teenagers. It was good stuff, though I found Scott's Hmong a little hard to understand, given his thick North Dakota accent. Actually .... he was on a program called "Equal Justice: Fact or Fiction" which was a recording of a continuing legal education seminar held earlier in the month. Scott was making the persuasive case that perceived racial inequality in traffic stop and arrest statistics are not primarily the product of institutional racism. Scott did a great job and had his rhetorical opponent, Tom Johnson of the left wing Council for Crime and Justice, on his heels throughout the debate. I don't see any indication on Channel 17 of a rebroadcast of this show, so it may be lost to history. We'll try to promote future mainstream media appearances by NARN/Patriot personalities in advance, so we all can be properly infotained. Next one most likely will be the Elder's appearance on FM107. He's very close to finishing negotiations on a co-hosting gig for My Sister's Garden with Alecia and Starla. Just wait until you hear his controversial opinions on ficus. Local radio will never be the same again. Labels: NARN (04-05) Tuesday, August 03, 2004
I'm officially old. I don't necessarily mean old in the "years spent on this planet" sense. I mean in the "things were a lot different ten years ago" sense. Take, for example, my most recent birthday which I celebrated this past Saturday (I'll let Dennis from an anarcho-syndicalist commune tell you just how old I am). My gifts-received list includes a lopper, two garden hoses, two hedge clippers, a case of adult diapers and a cemetery plot. Well, maybe not the last two...but the first five items are indeed currently residing in my garage.
What I'm struggling to discover is just when I became so boring that I consider lawn and garden tools to be acceptable gifts? I recall the day when birthday wrappings concealed far less practical items...things like sky-diving lessons, stereo equipment and the occasional meth lab. To be fair to my wonderful family, I didn't receive any gifts that I did not specifically express a desire for. This, of course, only reinforces the feeling that I have undergone a sort of premature oldification...the feeling that my days of youthful exuberance are gone...the realization that I am rapidly becoming...middle aged. My long weekend of personal discovery continued on into Monday morning. As my alarm rudely jolted me out of bed, I immediately felt a compelling need (stronger than on most Mondays) to pull a "sick day" out of my back pocket. While working for The Man (or in my case, five women) may have its drawbacks, the off-the-cuff sick day is certainly not one of them. After enjoying about two extra hours of uninterrupted slumber, I arose from bed refreshed and ready to do all those things I always picture myself doing when I'm chained to my desk at the office. And how did I really spend this precious day of freedom, you ask? I trimmed the bushes, pruned the trees, watered the plants and mowed the lawn. I may be a boring old fart...but my yard sure looks nice. Now, where did I put that old meth lab? Labels: Domestic Tranquility
As shown below, the list of potential DFL stage mates for John F. Kerry during his future rallies in Minnesota is extremely limited. But the analysis by our reader Richard forgets one other possibility. Because what could be more electrifying for the Democratic faithful than seeing this.
That's right, it's St. Paul City Councilman Jay Benanav, raising the roof as only he can. The slump shouldered, half awake, limp windmilling arms of victory that spell electoral magic in St. Paul's 4th Ward. What's really funny is that this picture is lifted off of Benanav's official campaign site, which means we're all to believe this is an accurate portrayal of his winning ways. Upon further review, the original picture was taken by the Star Tribune and reused here by MPR (scroll down) on election night 2001. It's a picture of Jay Benanav declaring victory in the mayoral race. Which he lost to Randy Kelly. Maybe not the kind of karma Kerry is looking for after all. Labels: Politics-Local (04-05)
The Warrior Princess, on assignment in California, files this report on the current political temper of her home state:
I had an uneventful flight home. The Syrian band held their water and I had some engaging reading material to keep me company. I would have finished the whole thing in one sitting had I not decided to spend our descent into Sacramento staring out the window and reflecting on how much has changed since I moved to Minnesota two years ago. Gone from my childhood room is the vintage Dukes of Hazzard poster, and the life size cardboard cutout of Han Solo. My classic '80's motif has been replaced by a décor that looks like the cover of Home and Garden Magazine. My dog died, and the last of my brothers moved out of the house which meant my parents went buck wild and started replacing all the carpet and furniture. And somehow in all of this they forgot how to go to the grocery store because the only thing left in the fridge is pepperoncinis, tomatoes, and moldy lasagna. But those are changes that can be chalked up to time, newfound disposable income, the desire for a guestroom, etc. The most astonishing change to happen in California (or should I say Kah-le-ForneeA) since I left can only be chalked up to one thing: Phenomena. Let me give you an example. Two years ago, right about this time, I was working for Assemblyman John Campbell, the Vice Chair of the Budget Committee, and otherwise known to Hugh Hewitt listeners as "the Smartest Man in Sacramento." The state had been on hold for over a month without a budget, and not even the shameless mountain of pork Democrats were offering could buy the 5 Republican votes necessary to get their disastrous plan through. Meetings with union members, people who wanted money for their programs, and phone calls about general budget complaints usually came my way. A usual phone call went something like this: Caller: "gripe gripe gripe, stop stalling the budget, gripe gripe, you're trying to kill the elderly, gripe sneer gripe, pass the budget or I won't re-elect you." Ignoring for a moment that the area code showed the person was calling from San Francisco (definitely not our district), I would usually follow up with a question: "Ma'am/Sir, do you know why we are not voting for this budget?" Most stopped for a moment and answered "no". I would then explain about the expansive tax increases in the Democratic plan, the fact it was borrowing 25 years into the future to pay for a single year's budget, and the structural deficit not addressed in the budget meaning the state would have at least a 26 billion dollar deficit to face the following year. I moved to Minnesota before the state budget passed in early September. What a difference, two years, a recall, and an Austrian body builder have made. Last week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the California budget, and though it isn't ideal (spending as a whole still increased over last year), it is a whole heaping lot better than any budget to come out of the California legislature in the last 5 years. The budget contains no tax increases, it funds local government, and it takes a bite out of the deficit. Not to mention it was passed with Democrats still holding large majorities in the Assembly and the Senate! I am truly astonished. Schwarzenegger has the appeal of the California electorate like no politician I have ever seen. The reason he was able to get that budget through is that he took his plan to the streets. When the Democrats started getting snippy, Arnold made his appeal directly to the constituents of every contested district in the state. The Democrats ran to the table because there is nothing they fear more than Arnold showing up to oppose them. He has the pulse of the state. He speaks and voters listen and respond. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was recently quoted as saying the Democrats can't take CA for granted in November. I laughed when I first heard it, but now I know why. Democrats know if Arnold gets serious about re-electing Bush, a new crop of voting Californians may get serious too. I'm a pessimist, so CA going from blue to red seems as far-fetched to me as Air America going from red to black. But who knows, maybe another week of sunshine, good friends, and growing the CA economy will have me believing in the Guvenator's powers of persuasion too. Labels: Politics-National (02-04)
Richard e-mails with an analysis of the abilities of the Bush and Kerry campaigns to draw on Minnesota notables in the wake of the news that St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly, a Democrat, is endorsing Bush:
My brother in Arizona wrote to ask me if Kelly's endorsement for Bush has created much buzz. That got me thinking about who is going to share the podium with John Kerry or George Bush here in Minnesota. The Democrats have the following politicians: Mark Dayton, US Senator: Poster child for a senate psychiatric screening requirement. Mike Hatch, MN AG: His daughters are up for misdemeanor assault charges in Chicago. Martin Sabo, Betty McCollum, James Oberstar US Reps: These guys only get elected because their districts are so secure. Collin Peterson US Rep: His campaign and official websites are devoid of references to his party affiliation. Can he stump for Kerry without getting unelected? Can he get elected if he doesn't endorse Bush? RT Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis: Not particularly popular even in Minneapolis. Patty Wetterling, Candidate for Congress: She may bring in the pity vote, but I doubt will be of much benefit. Walter Mondale: The only democratic candidate to lose an election in all fifty states. Paul Wellstone's Green Bus: Undoubtedly more charismatic than Mark Dayton. Tom Harkin: He's up from Iowa stumping for Kerry. That's how bad is it when you have import Democrats from Iowa? The Dems celebrity line up includes: Garrison Keillor: I love PHC, but his political oratory seems to come out a different orifice than does his humor. Al Franken: He lives in New York and is considering running against Coleman for Senate (who does he think he is, Hillary?) Jessica Lange: There's MN family values for you. Analysis: Kerry needs Minnesota centrists to win Minnesota, as well as turning out the base, but face it, nobody on this list is going to be able to energize the base without alienating the needed independents. Likewise, the only centrist in the crowd is Collin Peterson, who is likely to leave the state whenever Kerry comes to town. Thus Kerry is going to have to rely on bringing in celebrities from out of state and his and Edwards own star power to keep Minnesota in his column. Now for the Republican pols we've got: Gov. Tim Pawlenty: Still popular despite tough politics this last year. LT. Gov Molnau, Sec Stat Kiffmeyer, Auditor Anderson: Republican women who hold the rest the statewide offices! Norm Coleman, US Senator: Somewhat tarnished for his reversal on ANWAR, and the bitter 2002 campaign is still fresh in everyone's minds. He may be a liability, on the other hand he's a genuine centrist on most issues, which may be key. John Kline, US House: The only retired Marine Officer in Congress Mark Kennedy, US House: Probable challenger to Mark Dayton Republican celebrity line up: None, except maybe, James Lileks: Were he to give an introduction speech, I think he'd be awesome (though he'd have to stand on a box). Schwarzenegger: I think he could help shift MN into the red column, even if not in CA. Analysis: The Bush Team can hitch its wagon to a number of Minnesota electoral successes, none of whom will suffer for the association. While Democrats may try and portray these as extreme right wing, none are at all Quist-ian. Bush is weak on celebrity endorsements, but then he doesn't really need them does he? If Cheney doesn't poll well here, Bush can just leave him in an undisclosed location. UPDATE- Thorley J. Winston e-mails to add a couple of more names to the MN GOP line-up: Shouldn't Jim Ramstad and Gil Gutnecht also be added to the list? The Rammer may be a bit mushy on some issues leading to his general perception as a moderate GOPer but he's quite popular. He's also one heck of an orator and brings a tremendous amount of energy to whatever he does. Gil, well Gil can help deliver the 1CD, and despite his proposal to allowing the importation of Canadian price controls, he's generally pretty solid on most issues and a pretty good speaker (generally quick on his feet and has a pretty good command of the facts). Seems to me that both of our other GOPer Congressmen are an asset for the Bush-Cheney ticket and ought to be included in there as well. I'd say that Ramstad is more than a bit mushy. But Thorley is right, he is a good speaker and can work a room with the best of 'em. Labels: Politics-Local (04-05) Monday, August 02, 2004
The man to see if you want some top notch graphic design work done is Derek Brigham. He was kind enough to put together the new Fraters logo that now graces our page, as well as this design for the Northern Alliance Radio Network. We encourage you to visit Derek's site and check out other examples of his high quality work.
Labels: Blogs-Local
The creators of "South Park" take a crack at terrorism, WMD, and acting with an all-puppet cast.
Labels: Movies
I noticed the decision of St. Paul mayor Randy Kelly (DFL) to endorse George Bush made Drudge today. Pretty exciting for us locals. And kind of pathetic to think that the actions of such a low level Democratic functionary can make national news like this. It goes to show you how little bipartisan activity ever occurs in this day and age.
Although I'd like to think Kelly's decision was made on principle (and he makes a plausible case for this in his comments), I wouldn't ever assume principle to be the motivation of a career politician like him. Instead, his motivation is most likely to stay a career politician as long as he can. He correctly reads the political winds in St. Paul as contrary to his future electoral prospects. He knows he won't get the support of the DFL in the 2004 mayoral election, and he needs to motivate as many Republicans and 9/11 Democrats in St. Paul as possible to support him. It's true that Kelly didn't get much DFL support in his mayoral race in 2001 either. The party's endorsement and financial support went to his challenger, DFL City Councilman Jay Benanav. It turned out to be a very close election, decided by only 400 votes out of 60,000 cast. But Ol' Jay doesn't figure to be a factor in the race next year. But a more formidable candidate has emerged, former Police Chief William "Corky" Finney. A wildly popular local figure and a man sure to get the support and financial aid of the Democratic party and its activists. My guess is that Kelly knows he can't beat Finney operating within the traditional political machinery of St. Paul, so he needs to reach out to the burgeoning conservative base. He'll run on a perceived record of accomplishment in St Paul and against the radical nature of the St. Paul Democratic establishment. If that plan sounds familiar to you, you're right. It's the same strategy used by Kelly's predecessor, Senator Norm Coleman. When he realized political advancement wasn't possible in the Minnesota DFL, he switched parties, survived to fight another day, and is now an ascending star on the national GOP scene. I don't think Kelly has the higher ambitions of Coleman, therefore a party change isn't necessary for him. If he is remaining in St. Paul, he'll need as many Democrats as possible to vote for him. So he'll endorse Bush in an attempt to attract the conservative vote next year and hope that's enough. It's a desperate move for a life long Democrat like Kelly, but not surprising coming from a guy fighting for the only career he's ever known. Labels: Politics-Local (04-05)
It is my fondest dream to see one of the dominant newspapers in town become conservative in orientation. Newspapers are my favorite medium and to get a local one providing a counterbalancing voice to the unyielding yammering of liberal ideology expressed in this town day in and day out? It would be nothing short of exquisite, for me and the other tens of thousands of conservatives in this increasingly 50-50 state and metro area.
Such a move is also good business, particularly for the weaker sister in this tandem. According to reports, the Pioneer Press's circulation is dwarfed by the Star Tribune, with the disparity widening with every passing audit. They're losing the battle of who's heart could bleed more and without a major shake up, they may be destined for a Minnetonka Sun Sailor level circulation. There have been a few hopeful signs that maybe, just maybe, something is in the works. Earlier this year there was the shedding of high-priced, extreme liberal columnist Nick Coleman and extreme liberal music columnist Jim Walsh and the as yet undefined "reassignment" of extreme liberal media columnist Brian Lambert. Sunday's Pionner Press editorial page provided the most hopeful sign yet that the paper may be tilting right. Editorial page editor Art Coulson announced the addition of two new members of the staff: Mark Yost, who joined us Monday, is a former Wall Street Journal editorial writer and native New Yorker who calls himself a "lifelong Vikings fan/sufferer." Mark brings a wealth of experience to the job, as an editorial writer, a business reporter and as an editor. He worked at Dow Jones for 10 years, covering the auto industry for the Dow Jones Newswires. He also worked as an editorial page writer for the Wall Street Journal in New York and Brussels. While some people will consider his opinions "conservative," he prefers to think of himself as a "libertarian." I don't know the name of Mark Yost, but I like his resume. I used to read the WSJ editorial page daily and I propose it as a good model for the future Pioneer Press editorial page. The other new hire sounds promising as well: We've also added a new voice to our opinion page, Craig Westover, who will write regular columns for us on state and local issues. "On one hand, readers will find my columns 'conservative' in that I believe in limited government, individual initiative and responsibility," he said. "On the other, they'll find them 'liberal' in that I strongly believe that in a free society half the time one must defend the right of others to do things one finds morally reprehensible. Government's proper role is protecting liberty, imposing neither artificial equality nor collective morality." Not bad at all, I must say. His hedging on classifying himself solely as a conservative is a little suspicious. Notice the description for Yost includes the same distancing from a true conservative embrace (he's not conservative, he's libertarian). Hopefully that's just a way for these guys to ease into their jobs without spooking the herd at the Pioneer Press too much. It could also mean that these guys aren't really conservatives at all. Instead they're simply more moderate liberals, compared to the zealots currently infesting the editorial board. We'll keep an eye on these fellows and see how they develop. And if these additions do represent what Art Coulson describes as ... Someone who brings a different perspective to the table, who doesn't just duplicate what we already have ... it's great news. But even then it's only a beginning. Understand, I'm not looking for balance within the new Pioneer Press. I'm looking for them, as an institution, to balance the overwhelming weight of liberal news bias and editorializing from the Star Tribune. Meaning, we need the entirety of the Pioneer Press editorial board to take a major swing rightward. Labels: Media-Local (02-04) Sunday, August 01, 2004
Yesterday marked the debut remote broadcast for the Northern Alliance Radio Network at the Estates of Diamond Bluff, just south of Prescott, Wisconsin. The affair was a rousing success, although I had my doubts about how it might turn out when my wife and I encountered what could have been a bad omen on the way to the event.
But everything went as planned and a good time was had by all. The development features spectacular views of the Mississippi River and the setting was idyllic. Broadcasting in the great outdoors before a live audience was a lot of fun. You can see the Big Trunk (right) and Hindrocket (middle) from Powerline enjoying themselves as King from SCSU Scholars holds forth on why the Twins are a much superior team to the Red Sox. Promotions director, babysitter for the "talent", and flipper of frankfurters? Renaissance man, Jay Larson gets to "verk". Mitch enjoys the handiwork of Jay's efforts. And you thought only Al Franken ate his lunch on the air. And of course what event would be complete without that rascally Ralphie? Here he hooks up with Taxpayers League honcho David Strom and his wife. The Taxpayers League is responsible for our internet streaming and we owe David and his group a big thanks for making that happen. More photos available at Plastic Hallway. Labels: NARN (04-05)
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Listen to the Northern Alliance Radio Network on Saturdays from 11am 'til 3pm on AM 1280-The Patriot:
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