My old compadre, the grizzled and venerable, Nick Coleman, asks the question I thought somebody in town should have asked at least a month ago. Namely, was U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger’s abrupt departure 15 months ago in any way connected to the ever-burgeoning Rove-Bush-Gonzalez USA firings scandal? Heffelfinger, a self-described moderate Republican, (remember those people?), … Read more
Look, this has to stop. There are bigger issues out there. This US Attorneys things is starting to feel like the Oak Island Mystery, where every time you break through one layer of cover you dig a bit further and hit another. Now there’s this squirrely GSA business. (Thematic linkage: Throat-slitting partisan careerists politicizing every … Read more
I have a lot of guilty pleasures, probably more than innocent ones, but among the guiltiest is redandnater.com a local broadcast message board. It is a place where usually anonymous broadcast professionals, very disgruntled ex-broadcast professionals and some appalling idiots re-staff, re-program TV and radio stations and spare nothing in insulting the talent of well, … Read more
It is spring in DC. Time for politicians and reporters to gather and reassure us and each that they are kindred souls playing the same game for the same team. For the Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner the kids at JibJab debuted their latest video. Check it out here.
Regular commenter, “Jimmy”, is doing the heavy lifting today on the global warming topic so miserably bowdlerized by spin-crazed righties. (My dismissive, elitist position remains: “Let the fools rant on in their private echo chamber. They add nothing to the base of knowledge.” Earlier though, “Jimmy”, asked only half-facetiously what I was ever doing watching … Read more
A programming note to the media-wise. PBS’ “Frontline/World” concludes its series on the post 9/11 media with a segment on Al Jazeera and the role it plays in shaping opinion in the Middle East. (9 p.m. TPT 2). Here in the US, where Congressional neandertals made a patriotic show of re-naming French fries, we continue … Read more
With so much of the so-called mainstream electronic news media engaged in a bizarre process of self-marginalization, it comes as no great surprise — but genuine delight – that The Onion has decided to get into the 24-hour “fake news” business. Describing itself as, “faster, harder, scarier and all-knowing”, (“Scarier” than what? Fox News? Impossible!) … Read more
I’m a fan of Glenn Greenwald, whose blog is now over at Salon.com. Although perhaps not terse and punchy enough for most attention spans, the guy has a sharp, discerning mind. And boy is he upset today. The clip he includes of Chris Matthews, a relentless TV presence capable of reducing any topic to the … Read more
Commenter Dave disagrees with my view of KSTP’s global warming reporting. He notes that … “WCCO has had the exact opposite stance on global warming. They have jumped in and rarely show the other opinion. I’ve never seen you mention that. WCCO also has Paul Douglas, the man who proudly announced he purchased a Hybrid … Read more
Last year Apple sold thirty-nine million iPods. Thirty-nine million. Not all in the United States, I grant you, but I have a hard time finding anyone between the ages of thirteen and thirty with a job or an indulgent parent who doesn’t own one. Riding a New York subway a couple of weeks ago, I … Read more