Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Shelly and Anita Drobny, the original founders of Air America Radio, now working with Nova M, have a radio show every Sunday morning, 11:00 AM ET.  Click here for a list of upcoming guests.

I will be a guest on Mario Solis-Marich’s KTLK Sunday show tomorrow at 12:30 PM ET.  Listen to Mario weekdays from 3:00 to 6:00 PM ET and Sundays from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM ET.

OLBERMANN TO THE RESCUE (by Mario Solis-Marich, posted at the Huffington Post)
Ok, I just have to jump into the first big racial debate in today’s post-racial society. But before I begin let me just say how great it is to see that race doesn’t matter anymore!!! Man, that racist period in America was tough. Glad it’s over! Change is great!… I think my favorite benchmark will be the birth of our post-racial champions on race. Add to the top of the list Keith Olbermann. The cable news rising stars’ statement on Geraldine Ferraro was great! Not only did Keith go for the jugular as only an Edward R. Murrow from a post-racial, pre-post-sexist society could do, but he is also set to begin a new era in media… Just look at how outraged he was at the clearly offensive Ferraro statements. If symbols and words anger the post racial-America champion on race then I sure the substance of discrimination must as well. As soon as Olbermann notices that his program has been devoid of.. lets say…”color” he is sure to correct it. Keith probably just hasn’t noticed it yet. Some people just don’t see color.

Writers Strike at DailyKos (by Alegre, posting at TaylorMarsh.com)
This is an open letter to the progressive blogosphere… I’ve been posting at DailyKos for nearly 4 years now and started writing diaries in support of Hillary Clinton back in June of last year. Over the past few months I’ve noticed that things have become progressively more abusive toward my candidate and her supporters. I’ve put up with the abuse and anger because I’ve always believed in what our on-line community has tried to accomplish in this world. No more… I’ve decided to go on “strike” and will refrain from posting here as long as the administrators allow the more disruptive members of our community to trash Hillary Clinton and distort her record without any fear of consequence or retribution.
It’s been happening at Democratic Underground and My Left Wing, too.  So you have to wonder, when does the unity part start?

Enough is Enough (by Andy Ostroy)
They want to squash the opposition. They are narrow-minded and intolerant of differing viewpoints. They engage in censorship. They are sanctimonious and holier-than-thou in their political preachings. They frame issues that result in wild accusations of unpatriotism, racism and divisiveness. Their arrogance and sense of entitlement knows no bounds. Republicans, you say? No. We’re talking about Progressive Democrats supporting Sen. Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. Their aggressive, self-righteous behavior is starting to resemble the 2004-era Rovians so much so that we should probably start calling them Regressives. And it’s getting pretty annoying. Enough is enough.

Clinton Supporters Hardening Against Obama (Taylor Marsh)
The media, Obama and his supporters are underestimating the hardness now solidifying among many Clinton supporters who are saying they will never vote for Barack Obama. There have been grumblings since Obama made the statement that he could get Clinton voters, but she couldn’t get his voters. But things have reached the tipping point. Obama’s campaign race baiting made it worse. It was added on to the media bias against Clinton, as well as subsequent squeals that had traditional media and Obama supporters, including the biggest blogs, parroting the patriarchy talking points… But the Ferraro firestorm, topped with Reverend Wright and Obama’s ignorance in how average Democrats are reacting to his reverend, is the final straw for many.
But Taylor, John Aravosis at AMERICAblog. says that Clinton voters saying they would vote for McCain is HILLARY’s fault: “25% of Hillary supporters would vote for McCain if Obama gets the nomination. Way to go, Hillary.”  Below is an exchange I had with John about this issue.

Me: “How on earth can you blame this on Hillary Clinton, John?  Honestly, the hate rhetoric has gone WAY over the top.”

John: “Because she’s a woman any criticism is ‘hate’?  Is that the new standard for women in America?  Seems like a step backwards in equality to me.  That woman should be coddled and protected, lest they be hurt by being treated to the same standard as men.”

Me: “How is this Clinton’s fault? That’s my point.”

John: (crickets chirping)

Obama condemns pastor’s comments, but stays in church
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama said Friday that he won’t leave his Chicago church because of incendiary remarks by the pastor, but he condemned the man’s controversial statements, which are igniting a firestorm of TV and Internet coverage.
Obama’s full statement is at—no kidding—The Huffington Post.

Obama on the Reverend Wright Controversy (by Noam Scheiber at The Stump, The New Republic)
[Obama’s statement on the Rev. Wright] seems like as strong a statement as he can put out at this point. It doesn’t implausibly distance him from a man that he’s been tied to for 20 years… How plausible it is that Obama wouldn’t have known about Wright’s, er, greatest hits. Obama strongly implies he didn’t know his pastor had a habit of giving nutty sermons up until the outset of his presidential campaign. Is that believable?
But Obama has better judgment than Clinton, just ask him.

Obama reveals Rezko played bigger fundraising role (Chicago Tribune)
Trying to put his past with Antoin “Tony” Rezko behind him, presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday said he never thought the now-indicted Chicago businessman would try to take advantage of him because his old friend had never asked for a political favor. But in a 90-minute interview with Tribune reporters and editors, Obama disclosed that Rezko had raised more for Obama’s earlier political campaigns than previously known, gathering as much as $250,000 for the first three offices he sought… The Illinois senator made his most extensive comments about Rezko to date in an effort to quell the lingering controversy over his relationship with the politically influential developer and over the personal financial deals first revealed by the Tribune in November 2006.
But Obama has better judgment than Clinton, just ask him.

Media ignore McCain’s finances after obsessing over Dems’ (by Jamison Foser at Media Matters)
If you’ve been watching MSNBC lately, you’ve probably heard that Hillary Clinton hasn’t made her tax returns public… John McCain hasn’t released his tax returns, either… According to Nexis, there hasn’t been a single mention on MSNBC this year of the fact that McCain hasn’t released his tax returns. No indication that McCain might even pay taxes, much less that he hasn’t released his returns. Even when Republican strategists appear as guests on MSNBC, they get asked about the fact that Clinton hasn’t released her returns — but not about the fact that McCain hasn’t, either.

Spitzer’s call girl could parlay infamy into payday
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The $1,000-an-hour prostitute reportedly hired by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer may soon make much more than that, turning her 15 minutes of infamy into a tidy sum of money. Since 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre was identified by The New York Times late on Wednesday as the governor’s paramour, the prostitute and aspiring singer’s songs have become the most popular downloads on a music-sharing Web site and at least one magazine is prepared to pay her for a nude photo spread. Proving the adage there’s no such thing as bad publicity, Hustler publisher Larry Flynt told the Access Hollywood television program on Friday that he plans to offer Dupre $1 million to pose nude in his magazine.

I Am So Hot For Dr. Laura (by Steve Young, The Huffington Post)
Dear Sort of Dr. Schlessinger… Your words ring in my mind… “these days, women don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how they can give their men what they need.” I couldn’t have said it better. I tried, but my wife wouldn’t buy it from me. But from Dr. Laura, a conservative yet, wow, I’ll be able to plug anything that walks. This time when my wife tries to shove the guilt down my throat, I’ll be ready. “My fault?! What are you nuts?! You’re the one hasn’t been respecting me. What was I supposed to do? Not have sex with a stranger? Then I’d just be disrespecting myself. I bet you’d like that.”

Bonfires of the Political Vanities (by Richard Blair at All Spin Zone, thanks to skippy the bush kangaroo)
There are more than a few blogmasters in both the left and right blogosphere who feel like their opinions are sacrosanct, and indeed, that their opinions and online activism actually makes a shitpot’s worth of difference in the big political picture… The vast majority of the A-list bloggers have rewarded themselves with a sense of self importance that is way above and beyond the true worth of their impact. And now, there’s actually some polling to support my inherent wisdom on this topic: “A majority of Americans do not read political blogs, the online commentaries that have proliferated in the race for the U.S. presidency, according to a poll released on Monday.”

Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts (by digby)
Spocko, (the guy who chased Melanie Morgan off San Francisco radio) wrote this in the comments to our “pudding” series about questioning the premises of these right wing frames. He makes an excellent observation: “I decided that the only way to have an impact on the charade of the ‘market place of ideas’ was to go to the only people they really listen to, the ones who paid them. The advertisers. This is the ‘real world’ and it is the ultimate of rejecting their premise… The financial impact on the station was big, but the bigger picture method was bigger. They listened to the money people because even if they say, “We had great ratings!” the money people say, “We don’t care, we only like great ratings if they give us more money.” To save face (and to avoid a breach of contract lawsuit) they didn’t fire the K S F O radio hosts at the time, but eventually they slipped them the pink slip for doing the one sin that corporate radio doesn’t forgive, costing them money.” Spocko deserves a medal for fighting back against that shrieking creep Melanie Morgan. And that’s how he did it. Liberals should do it more often.

Media Matters for America

• ABC repeatedly noted controversial comments by Obama’s “allies,” but has yet to report comments by McCain endorsers

• Media figures claimed McCain would avoid issue of Obama’s pastor — but McCain campaign had already circulated op-ed

• Fox News’ Camerota falsely asserted Dem bill “would strip telecommunications companies of their immunity”

• Brzezinski said Obama “claimed” McCain “flip-flopp[ed]” on Bush tax cuts — but it’s not a “claim”; it’s a fact

• Hannity ignored McCain’s step back on ‘No new taxes,’ distorted Clinton’s health care plan

• In WSJ op-ed, Kessler cropped Obama quotes commenting on Wright and Farrakhan

• Morris: McCain “doesn’t have to” engage in Willie Horton-like campaign because O’Reilly is already doing so

• Jack Kemp falsely asserted Clinton and Obama have “call[ed] for a halt to trade with Canada and Mexico”

• Noonan, Brzezinski mischaracterized Clinton’s 60 Minutes response about Obama’s religion

• NBC’s Cowan said “Nobody that I know of has asked” Obama about Wright’s 9-11 comments — but NY Times did and he disavowed them

The Thinking Person’s Seven Deadly Sins (by Mike Brotherton, professional astronomer, science fiction novelist, thanks to the Daily Irrelevant)
What should be sinful in this modern age where there are rational, thinking people who are not rare in this world? I’m talking about you, science fiction readers! Here’s my list of the thinking person’s seven deadly sins:

1. Succumbing to fear. US politics, and US news, has become dominated by fear mongering… Don’t let your base emotions conquer your reason.

2. Willful ignorance. Smart people, and I’m around them 24/7 in academic environments, hate to admit they’re wrong… The smartest among us change our ideas and learn, continuously, through life.

3. Failure to learn. …[E]ven if they’re the smartest person in the world, they can still learn something from the generations of smart people who have come before…

4. Acceptance of dogma without question. No one can learn or check every fact out there, and it is useful that we have authorities and experts we can go to. Facts and understanding should be questioned, however, especially when bias is present or contradictory evidence emerges…

5. Failure to produce, AKA intellectual masturbation. …Being able to win 300 games in a row at Freecell demonstrates something, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but if that’s the only accomplishment you have, you need to wake up and try harder to make a difference in the world.

6. Use of intellect for malfeasance or misdirection. I see people out there in the world that would appear to be smart people: articulate, well educated, reasoned. And then I see them putting forward totally outrageous positions with such deadly seriousness I can only ask myself, “Evil or Stupid?”…

7. Silence. Tolerance of the beliefs of others in society is a good thing, but only up to a point. When those beliefs threaten medical research, world health, who you can publicly love, what books you’re allowed to read, what cartoons you can draw, what science you can teach, those beliefs are in conflict with what I consider basic human rights and become intolerable.
My comment: “You can’t learn anything if you already know everything.”

Litigating Against Free Speech in the Name of Free Exercise (by Jonathan Turley)
Fundamentalist Islamic nations and leaders are speaking of unleashing a new weapon against those who defame Islam: lawyers. During a two-day summit in Senegal, leaders called for a litigation offensive against those who fail to give the prophet or Islam sufficient respect by publishing cartoons or saying negative things. The focus again is the cartoons showing Prophet Muhammad in 2006 and re-published again last month.

Japan finds 38,000 websites in bullying study
TOKYO (AFP) – Japan’s education ministry said Friday that there were at least 38,000 underground websites linked to schools, some of which have become notorious for hate-filled postings by bullies.

Dutch warn EU of possible anti-Koran video backlash
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has warned European leaders of a possible backlash against European interests over a Dutch video which criticizes the Koran, diplomats said on Friday.

Most FCC investigations go nowhere: report
If the Federal Communications Commission were a cop on the beat, congressional watchdogs contend, it would have a lousy conviction record. They find that most of the government agency’s investigations fail to result in any enforcement… Congressional critics of the agency say the report proves the commission lacks respect for the consumers it is supposed to protect.

Corporate Leaders Discuss Challenges of a Low-Carbon World
OAKLAND, Calif., March 14, 2008 — Some of the biggest players in the corporate world gathered Thursday to discuss the intersection where business meets the environment for the Wall Street Journal’s ECO:nomics conference in Goleta, California.
Is the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page still denying that there’s such a thing as global climate change?

Andersen attorney on RIAA suit: “They can’t run now” (by Eric Bangeman at Ars Technica)
Friday may mark a significant milestone in the RIAA’s legal campaign against file-sharing, as it is the deadline for exonerated RIAA defendant Tanya Andersen to refile her malicious prosecution lawsuit against the record labels. Soon afterwards, discovery will begin, and all sorts of unsavory details about the RIAA’s legal campaign against suspected file-sharers are likely to emerge.