Archive for the 'The Press' Category

Farewell Fidel Castro –

I witnessed a sad, sad commentary by radio talk show host Glen Beck this evening on public television “Headline News” that was the most “slanted” news article on television that I think I’ve ever seen.

His comments confirm that this man should not be on TV much less a valid mainstream media expert. No doubt he has his opinion, but I am not sure that most mainstream folks make much of it – nor should they.

Was Fidel Castro a bad man? To most, yes, but we don’t live in Cuba nor do we as a nation, support much of what he did in his almost 50 years of dictatorship. However, this type of news banter leaves one to wonder. I just did not buy it! Also, I did not think the reference of celebrities from Hollywood as justified either.

What remains is what, and how, Cuba will be served overall. Let’s not be so fast to judge.

My conclusion is that Glen Beck is a prime example of someone not to listen to unless of course you agree with this zealot. I simply do not!

Most of us have heard that the Democratic challenger took the Governorship of Kentucky in yesterday’s election, as well as several other victories like picking up the state house in Virginia. That is positive for the Democrats. You wouldn’t have known it from reading this piece in CNN:

GOP wins Mississippi governor’s race, loses in Kentucky

Now, isn’t that a little misleading? Shouldn’t it say something more like:

GOP loses Kentucky governor’s seat, hangs on in Mississippi.

My version is much more accurate. CNN’s version seems to imply that the GOP won something that they did not have before in Mississippi, which is not the case. They held both seats previous to the election and suffered a loss of one.

Even in importance, a loss of an incumbent seat is almost always bigger news than incumbent survival. An object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Watch Nascar racing sometime and tell me what is more newsworthy, a car that stays in motion or a car that is acted upon by an unbalanced force, like another car.

They should just let me write all the headlines.

Counting commas…

I can’t even count the commas and zeros the government is talking about to fund the war in Iraq. The current physical year, August, September and October is some 196 Billion dollars and the President now wants an additional 46 Billion dollars as emergency funding to support the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of course this would have to by-pass the normal funding channels, which I highly doubt the Democrats (and many Republicans) will support that “open” checkbook. Also, please keep in mind the National debt – How many Trillion dollars?

The bottom line is too many commas and too many zeros for any average person to count or understand the enormity of $$$ being spent to fight what? Our freedom? It surely isn’t yours or mine.

The question to any of the hopeful candidates running for President would be – When and how would you stop all of this bloodletting?

Keep in mind that with this much money we could be solving a lot of families without insurance to insure their kids. With this much money we could have the resources needed to fight the raging fires throughout the United States. We could use this money to rebuild the New Orleans area from the throngs of Katrina. Need one go on?

The time is NOW my friends. We cannot let this to continue with no end in sight. We must take care of number one (us) before we can even begin to think about number 2, 3, 4.

Well here is the “other Mike” (ME) who has to disagree with the sports duo who say Boston will kill the Colorado Rockies.

Did they forget the HOT HOT Rockies streak in the playoffs? For whatever reason they seem to think the eight days off will be a negative for Colorado.

Guess we’ll see beginning on Wednesday huh?

OK, so I know that I have a real tendency to focus on the negatives. To get myself some positive Karma going on up in here, I thought that I would take the time to make a positive PSA.

Missoula Community Radio. It seems these guys have a chance to get a non-commercial spot on the FM dial and need a little help.

We have made it our mission to offer progressive programming and other community services that are not otherwise available in Missoula. We envision a majority of locally produced broadcasts by community members covering a wide range of subject matter. This will give our listeners direct access to an independent media that offers the opportunity to have all voices heard.

Maybe check out their website and see if their is anything you can do to help. Here is a link to their blog. I am always a fan of disruptive movements, and the radio is still an important media source so this might be a worthwhile endeavor. Apparently, there is a narrow filing window and they have competition from a religious organization. If Missoula is like Helena, the religious stations outnumber the progressive station at a ratio of infinity to 0.

Nancy Grace of TMZ is a  lousy excuse of a reporter not only for the program that she touts to be on national TV but in reality she should not be recognized as a valid reporter in any shape or form.

This woman goes on national TV to attempt to tell us just how Britney Spears is an unfit mother or that OJ Simpson should not be heard from and yet Ms. Grace continues to attempt to tell us just how “it is” or “should be” like you or I do not have a brain.

My only question is: Why should anyone with any common sense give any creditability to her show or what she has to say? I mean really… Are the listening public truly interested in what this woman has to say?

If this is NEWS than I think I will just have to weigh out on this!

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, Associated Press Writer
September 16, 2007LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson was arrested Sunday and faces multiple felony charges in an alleged armed robbery of collectors involving the former football great’s sports memorabilia, authorities said.

Simpson was arrested shortly after 11 a.m., Capt. James Dillon said.

The charges against Simpson will include robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and burglary with a firearm, all felonies, Dillon said.

NOTE: For the complete AP story go here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SIMPSON_QUESTIONED?SITE=MTBIL&SECTION=TOP_STORIES&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Apparently the change in your pocket is not legal tender to pay for traffic fines. A man in Washington State is attempting to pay a $700+ fine with buckets of change.

In addition, the State Drivers Bureau is threatening to revoke his driving rights because they are refusing to accept his coins!

Geez, the last time I checked U.S. coins ARE legal tender aren’t they? I’d bet they will be hard pressed to find a “policy” that says you cannot use coins to pay a legal debt anymore than they could argue that the coins are not legal tender.

This could get interesting

At today’s taping of the Jay Leno Show the Actor turned Politician or is that Politician turned Actor has made it official. Former Senator Thompson has officially announced that he WILL run for the office of President. Did anyone think he would not?

This could get interesting!

Bet you think that this post is about global warming, it’s not. Tony Snow has quit the White House staff. He claims that as the highest paid staffer at the white house, $168,000 isn’t enough money. OK…

Personally, I would say that I am glad to see him go except that changing the mouth piece of lies doesn’t change the lies. I have watched many a press conference with him where it was obvious that he was uncomfortable saying what he was saying and admitting that he was uncomfortable about it. But, he did it anyway. I don’t know how you feel about him, but he is a man without integrity in my book. I am sure that Fox news will be happy to have him back.

Republican Larry E. Craig has plead guilty to Lewd Disorderly Conduct in a Washington D.C. mens room. This on the heels of others like Mark Foley, Duke Covington and others can only make one wonder just where the Republican party is headed.

Mr. Craig went on to say that “possibly” he may have plead guilty to soon. And that the charges were misgiving on his actions in the mens room. What the ???

To be sure his connection with Mitt Romney will come to bear on his own flip-flops on same sex, gays etc., and the saga will go on and on. I guess one has to be careful when speaking to someone on the other side of the wall in a restroom huh?

[Update By Shane]
The Idaho Statesman has finally released a report it has been investigating for years. It provides a lot of context to this story, including possible relations with underage pages, cruising public restrooms and other homosexual escapades dating back to the 60’s. To be clear, we are not ‘anti gay’ but the problem here is one of hypocrisy. Note Craig’s anti-gay voting record.

Voted Yes on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (June 2006)
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Voted No on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (June 2002)
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Voted No on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (June 2000)
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Voted Yes on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (September 1996)
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Voted No on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (September 1996)

I am sure that the blogs are completley covering the abdication of the Attorney General’s seat by Alberto Gonzales today.  One Win.

The Republicans, I mean the insiders, got together this weekend and decided (72 to 14, yeah 96 people decided for you) that they don’t care about their party members and loyalists don’t matter to them, only the “up to 3,000″ or so party officials votes matter.  Don’t bother to show up at the primary, the decision will be made for you on February 5, 2008, as to who will represent the Republicans in the Presidential Race of 2008.  *Pats on head* You poor ignorant voter.  Just vote for who we have already decided is the best candidate.  You don’t know enough to vote for yourself.  Time to defect?  One Loss.

Why should you Hold Onto Your Hats?  Well, I might be remembered as someone who did some in-depth coverage of the initiatives last election season.  (Toot Toot).  The infamous Trio of Doom (CI-97, CI-98, and I-154 (which Wulfgar covered much better than I did)).

So I sit here today, and I see that the Governor has called a Special Session of the Legislature to appropriate funds from our savings to cover the costs of this fire season.  I have choked on smoke for the past couple of months; not being able to see the Sleeping Giant, or the Valley, and on the terrible days, even Mount Helena; the time has come to address the issue. 

Why does this come to mind?  Well CI-97, Stop Over Spending Montana, had it not been thrown out of the Courts as unconstitutional, would have left all us Montanans swimming in smoke.  We would have had to wait until the next statewide election, to vote in some money to deal with the issue.  Wait, when is the next statewide election?  Oh yeah, choke on that Montanans.

“Rumor has it” (the name of a game created by an old friend) that Howie Rich will be back in action in the election season of 2008.  Whether or not he trusts Trevis Butcher with it again, or can find anyone to support him remains to be seen.  Unfortunately, I know he will be back, trying to shove his ideas down Montanan’s throats again.  You heard it here first.  Hang Onto Your Hats, and remember to watch what is going on.  Better yet, look at things as they might have been had Montanans passed that proposed initiative.  Now do you understand?

Things will be more complicated this time, as I am headed to law school, but I promise to maintain my contacts, and keep fighting the good fight in the name of truth.

If you missed it this morning Meet the Press was an interesting insight into what, if anything, we can expect in September. On the show was Republican Warner discussing the scenarios that we could expect when the General’s report on the progress in Iraq. What I found interesting was the fact that Mr. Warner is 80 years old and when asked if he would run again in the State of Virginia he was not coy but a politician just the same. What was different was that he was being totally honest on the questions of Iraq and what may or may not happen when all the cards are laid on the table so to speak.

When asked “if” the Senate would separate should President Bush push for more of the same with regards to the surge I think a fair minded person can expect that they will do just that.

I also came away with the mindset that we can expect some sort of movement by those in Washington to send a “clear message” to the Iraq government that their days are numbered and that they are going to have to take control of their country sooner than later. I for one, am of the opinion that this should have taken place long before now but I was impressed with Mr. Warner just the same. Just think, should he run for Senate again, he would be 88 years old and one should respect his age if nothing else.

I can only hope that more people are listening to those who have the insight and experience that he has shown because if they don’t we are in for a long, long war that in the end will have done little else other than to lose a lot of young lives at the expense of the middle-aged people running this country and that would be a huge shame!

So a leading Republican comes out today and says that President Bush should “consider” pulling out some 5,000 troops by December. Would that be some kind of Christmas gift or something?

He continues by saying the administration will ask “Give me six more months” and then we’ll see where we are at! For Christ sakes and how many more dead or injured? Then you hear the Surge is working? RIGHT - and the Iraq leaders are on vacation - They sure as hell are NOT working are they?

No matter how you want to paint this it simply will NOT work - Not Now - Not Ever. These folks just don’t get it do they?

We lose again. Go figure that the esteemed city leaders have lost yet again in court to the tune of some $5 million-plus. Firefighters were seeking some $3 million. The Montana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the firefighters.

If that was not bad enough, city officials are now touting that it will be some 10 years to recoup this blunder, and they have rescinded the employment offers made last week to seven young firefighters, along with retiring firefighters over the next year. Bet your check that they will be coming to us long before that for more money with some cockeyed excuses why we need it!

I’d almost bet that we will see yet another suit brought about with the elimination of jobs and/or offers by the city to date. What a hell of a way to run a business, wouldn’t you say?

It was clear from the outset that the city should have done not only what was right, but that it would have taken the common-sense approach to realize that it would lose should it go to court.

Remember this the next time you go to the polls to vote! Remember that the next time you have to call for emergency services. And, finally, remember that when you see this whole ordeal back in court because city officials are unwilling to do what it right in the first place. They haven’t managed to quite clean out your wallet yet.

Story available at http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/08/24/opinion/letters/24-letter.txt
Published on Friday, August 24, 2007.