Talkers Pounce On Massachusetts Anti-Spanking Proposal
A SPANKING GOOD TOPIC
Talkers Seize Upon Latest Mass Moonbat Madness
Thanks to its firm desire to remain America's ultimate pariah state, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has once again proven itself a target- rich environment for talk radio hosts.
And with a new proposal to ban spanking by parents even in private homes, talkers around the country are having a field day at the latest Bay State silliness.
In an interview with the bill's sponsor, WTKK talker Michael Graham captured a particularly choice moment, according to the Boston Herald's Jessica Heslam:
The spanking controversy has dominated Boston talk radio for two days, but don’t ask the lawmaker behind a proposed spanking ban whether he spanked his own children.
Lexington Rep. Jay Kaufman, a Democrat, went on WTKK (96.9 FM) host Michael Graham’s show this morning to talk about his bill to ban corporal punishment, which would make it illegal for parents to spank their kids at home or in public.
When Graham asked him whether he spanked his own children, Kaufman got angry. “It’s none of your damn business,” Kaufman snapped.
And ABC News featured an interview with fellow Boston talker Howie Carr:
State Rep. Jay Kaufman, who sponsored the bill, said, "If today's hearing, and the attention this bill has gotten, can prevent one injury to a child, this attention will have been well placed."
A nurse named Kathleen Wolf actually wrote the bill.
"I can remember being 10 years old and thinking, 'what is going on here? What are these people doing?'" Wolf said. "How can this be allowed to happen?"
She and others see corporal punishment as child abuse.
Child psychologist Theresa Whitehurst said, "When a husband does it to a wife, the very same act is considered domestic violence. And when you hit a child, what's the difference?"
Today, Boston talk radio took the idea to the woodshed.
"The listeners are pretty much appalled," WRKO Radio host Howie Carr said. "Once again, Massachusetts cements its reputation as the craziest state in the union! What are you going to do? Are you going to have cameras in houses? Are you going to have 5-year-old kids testifying against their parents? It's absurd."
It's one thing for a parent to decide not to spank their children. Plenty of parents have. But it may be quite another for the government to outright ban the practice. Massachusetts would be the first state in the nation to do it. But it wouldn't be the first place in the world.
What stinks about ABC's tone in the piece is the indirect suggestion that blue states such as Massachusetts are somehow more "enlightened" by being first in the nation to put forward a boneheaded idea. "Progressive" Californians have the same annoying habit, often comparing their proposals to those already in place inside Europe's political fringes.
Meanwhile, the American left is busy bashing Bill O'Reilly over this very subject:
Bill O'Reilly believes parents should have the right to hit their kids and objects to a bill introduced in Massachusetts that makes hitting a child unlawful claiming it's all a secular progressive plot to take authority away from parents. Dr. Theresa Whitehurst, author of How Would Jesus Raise Your Child did an excellent job defending the bill despite BOR's incidence that fanny swats are an effective parenting tool.
Dr. Whitehurst explained that this proposed bill introduces a " standard of non-violence" but O'Reilly was not convinced bringing in the " 1984" reference and even calling it unconstitutional.
He used his wise, big daddy approach with Whitehurst saying, " Every kid is different. Some kids need a swat on the fanny."
Whitehurst explained to O'Reilly that with the current laws as long as there are no marks left on the child, parents can hit their kids noting that many kids are traumatized by parental spanking.
In the end, this proposal will probably go the way of an earlier one by idiotic State Senator Jarett Barrios, the Cambridge Democrat who in 2006 tried to ban fluff sandwiches (a long New England childhood tradition) from being served in local schools.
In the meantime, however, still further damage has been done to the Bay State's already- sagging public image. Isn't one- party rule wonderful?
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Rush Limbaugh On YouTube Republican Debate Fiasco
TOLD YOU SO!
Chastised Then, Rush Proven Right Over YouTube Debacle
*** NEW: Talkers Pounce On Massachusetts Over Silly Spanking Ban ***
Reminding Republican presidential candidates and listeners that he was against it from the start, talk titan Rush Limbaugh today delivered an "I told you so" to the contenders for foolishly agreeing to last night's YouTube debate fiasco.
Since the debate aired, it has emerged that questions were planted by Democrat operatives, including declared supporters of Dem presidential candidates.
The resulting fallout has proven a huge blow to CNN's credibility, since it co-sponsored and aired the forum.
Even notorious media suck-up and rival cable talker Joe Scarborough thinks CNN knew about the plants in advance. One audience member who asked a question about gays in the military even turned out to have an official role in the Clinton campaign!
Railing against the "kooks" who were allowed to ask questions, including a conspiracy- laced rant directed at Rep Ron Paul (R- TX), Rush was stunned to think any Republicans didn't realize in advance that CNN would stack the deck against them.
"I thought the Unabomber was out of jail and asking questions on YouTube," Limbaugh told his audience today.
A search through Limbaugh's archives reveals that he did in fact advise Republicans against participating in the event. In fact, his predictions turned out to be stunningly accurate, as though he could see into the future.
The conversation occurred during his 30 July 2007 program. Here's the transcript:
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: The controversy here over the Republicans not participating in the upcoming YouTube CNN debate has led to lots of discussion, as some people think the Republicans are going to have this backfire on them because you gotta go out there and you gotta face the people. If you're afraid to face the people, meaning the average 
Americans who upload their questions via video on YouTube, then you're acting cowardly and so forth. Note the Democrats, to this day are scared to death to go on Fox, you got Barack Obama and Hillary in a meaningless argument over which thug around the world they will talk to when, the fact is, neither of them has the guts to go on Fox News for a debate. But you don't hear that portrayed in the Drive-By Media.
Now the Republicans say, "You know what, the office of the presidency is a little bit higher, has a little bit more prejudice than subjecting ourselves to questions from idiots dressed up as snowmen and so forth." Now they're saying it's going to backfire on them, and this was a discussion on CNN's Reliable Sources on Sunday with Howard Kurtz. He's talking with Jeff Jarvis, media critic. Kurtz says, "They were supposed to, or at least was tentatively scheduled, a Republican presidential debate with CNN YouTube format for September. Now a lot of the Republicans are expressing reservations, have scheduling problems. Do you think the Republicans are being aware of being questioned by people who submit their queries through YouTube?"
JARVIS: I think they're revealing themselves to be a bunch of fraidy cats. The Republicans for some reason have not done as much on the interpret and YouTube as the Democrats have, though in Europe it's conservatives who are ahead on YouTube, so it's not a bias thing as Rush Limbaugh tried to insist this week. I think the Republicans were trying to find some way to weasel out of this, and they used scheduling excuses, bias excuses, dignity excuses, but I think it's going to come around. I'm going to bet it's going to happen, and because they can't avoid talking to us.
RUSH: They are not trying to avoid talking to you. By the way, they're going to try to reschedule this thing for December, is what I'm hearing. I never said the Republicans shouldn't do it because of bias. We all know there's bias in the Drive-By Media. We all know that CNN's going to choose questions based on their agenda, based on what they get submitted to them. We know there's going to be bias.
I suggested that it would be a rotten thing to do because it's demeaning to the office. It lowers the office to the level of the lowest common denominator of pop culture.
This is being presented as some revolutionary new thing, and it's not. It's no different than having an audience in there that you stand around, you run around with a microphone, let 'em ask questions and so forth, and you know how well that goes, and you know that they have never turned over, CNN nor any network has never turned over totally a debate to people in the audience. They occasionally go to people in the audience, like the ponytailed guy in Richmond, Virginia, back in 1992 who wanted all those candidates to explain to him how they were going to treat us like their children and so forth, it was gag me with a spoon time on that.
If I were these professional journalists, I'd be a little upset that I'm being aced out of this. The Drive-By Media is in enough trouble as it is without their prestige being put on the line here by claiming that the debate will be better with these yahoos sitting out there with these cameras submitting their stuff via upload to YouTube.
Burned GOP candidates ought to be asking themselves today why they didn't listen to Limbaugh instead of caving into mainstream media pressure to participate in CNN's rigged forum.
UPDATE: Rush transcript for today's show now available
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Whoopi Goldberg Loses Last Major Radio Affiliate
STICK A FORK IN IT
Moonbat Celeb Whoopi Canned In New York City
Just weeks after claiming she would reshape her faltering radio program to focus on a New York City audience, Whoopi Goldberg has now been cancelled even there.
According to press and trade reports today, Wake Up With Whoopi was yanked from WKTU-FM today without warning, other than a brief note sent to staffers mere hours before the change. Poor ratings were cited by the station.
Recently, after similar results led to terminations in Chicago and Philly, your Radio Equalizer speculated that Whoopi's radio days appeared numbered. Now, one can easily expect the syndicated program to be shut down, perhaps in the next few days.
Goldberg's radio troubles haven't prevented her from continuing a long trend of moonbat meltdowns, however, with this recent example cited by Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters:
As NewsBuster Justin McCarthy reported Monday, "View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who grew up during the "Jim Crow" era, actually said that America is "not as free as it was when [she] was a kid."
A few hours after this aired, Congressman Peter King (R) of New York was Steve Malzberg's guest on WOR radio.
Malzberg read Whoopi's comments to King, who responded by first saying, "They are absolutely insane these people," and then explained how they "reflect that hardcore base which is driving the Democratic Party, and which is causing otherwise fairly responsible politicians in the Democratic Party to do really wrong things, and to act totally irresponsibly"
From the New York Daily News on today's cancellation:
After almost 16 months of only modest listenership, Whoopi Goldberg's morning radio show has been canceled by WKTU (103.5 FM).
A memo circulated to the WKTU staff late yesterday said the station will stop carrying Goldberg's nationally syndicated show as of this morning. Launched on July 31, 2006, the radio show was intended to be a less strident alternative to "shock jock" and Morning Zoo radio.
But it never found a big audience and didn't crack the top 10 in New York.
Add Whoopi to the long list of celebs who have failed at talk radio. Will the corporate suits ever learn?
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Hub Station Blocks Outspoken Blogger From Appearing On Talk Show
BANNED IN BOSTON
Station Blocks Guest, Micromanages Programming
As an outspoken blogger has been barred from appearing on a Boston talk show, the recent trend toward micromanagement of talk radio content by thin- skinned station management has taken another disturbing turn for the worse.
David Scott, a popular Hub- based blogger known for his outspoken (read: non- establishment- suck- up) commentaries at Boston Sports Media Watch, found himself booted from a booked interview on WRKO 680 AM Friday with fill-in host Senator Bob Hedlund (R- Weymouth).
From Jessica Heslam's Boston Herald update:
Entercom execs pulled the plug on sports media blogger David Scott’s guest appearance on WRKO-AM (680) Friday morning with substitute host Sen. Bob Hedlund.
Scott writes “Scott’s Shots” for Boston Sports Media Watch blog and has been critical of sister station WEEI-AM (850) in the past. Check out his post on the subject here.
Hedlund, who was filling in for WRKO morning-drive host Tom Finneran, had asked Scott to come on the show to talk sports from 8-10 a.m. Friday morn. Scott - who was appearing for free - posted the upcoming radio spot on his blog Tuesday night.
After Entercom got wind of his appearance, Scott writes, an apologetic Hedlund called him to cancel. Hedlund didn’t offer him much of an explanation, but asked him to come on his weekly radio show on WATD-FM (95.9) Dec. 3.
“My best guess is that the Entercom Suits didn’t want to have someone who has been critical of WEEI - and its lowest-common-denominator sports talk - on its airwaves at a sister-station in the same market,” Scott told me in an e-mail.
“Admittedly, I have been critical of the personalities and management at WEEI, something that very few in this town are willing to do because of ‘EEI’s pervasiveness,” he wrote. “Honestly, I think their decision to ban me says a lot about the way they do business.”
Program Director Jason Wolfe didn’t respond to an e-mail.
And, in Scott's own words:
In an incredibly predictable and incredibly petty move, the planned Friday morning Shots appearance on WRKO 680 AM with Tom Finneran fill-in, Bob Hedlund, was squashed by the Entercom higher-ups.
Details are sketchy of why the invitation from true gentleman, Senator Hedlund, had to be rescinded, but it doesn't take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out that Entercom officials were non-too-pleased at the thought of Shots infiltrating their airwaves and spreading - GASP! - all of that awful Shots propaganda. Heaven forbid a new voice with divergent opinions appear on the Entercom airwaves! The recycled, mainstream voices are good enough for the Entercommies.
Just to refresh what went down: On Tuesday night, Hedlund and confidant/spokesman Rick Collins were kind enough to extend an invitation to Shots to share studio time (from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Friday) as Hedlund sat in for Tom Finneran at 'RKO. Hedlund had been following a Shots' loyalist for some time and was evidently a fan of the work we have done in being one of the city's lone critical voices of the sports media scene.
After a phone conversation with Hedlund in which we immediately hit it off and discussed some of the topics we could touch on, I agreed to the un-paid, two hour stint beginning at 8 a.m. on Friday. In the interest of full disclosure, I also posted the pending appearance in my Tuesday night post.
By Wednesday afternoon, after that Shots post had been widely read, Hedlund called and apologetically rescinded the invitation. Too classy to get involved in the petty politics of Entercom, Hedlund would not divulge any of the behind-the-scenes details of what led to the cancellation of Shots' appearance, but he did invite us on to his regular Monday night show at WATD 95.9 FM for December 3 (an offer we gladly accepted).
While it's no secret that some of America's biggest talk stations are in relatively bad hands these days, WRKO's petty move to block a blogger critical of Boston's elitist media establishment further undermines its already- diminished credibility. That's not good for talk radio.
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Talkers Tackle Thanksgiving Misinformation
THE REAL WAR
Libs Despise T-Day More Than Any Other Holiday
Forget the War on Christmas or Easter, what really sends the unhinged left into a tizzy is the notion of celebrating Thanksgiving.
What to the rest of America is a time for giving thanks and overeating means pure misery for our "progressive" friends. They wrongly see Thanksgiving as symbolic of brutal European colonizers and victimized Native Americans, without regard for the real truth.
One might recommend Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower, which provides a more fair and balanced view of Plymouth's earliest settlers, native inhabitants of the region and their many competing interests. Philbrick makes it clear there were no saints in seventeenth century New England.
But the left isn't interested in the truth, instead, they believe the unbalanced version of events taught to Seattle's unfortunate schoolchildren. That has radio talk hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Medved fighting back.
From Rush Limbaugh.com:
RUSH: Now, the real story of Thanksgiving: "On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible," and this is what's not taught. This is what's left out. "The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work. But this was no pleasure cruise, friends. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford's detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims – including Bradford's own wife – died of either starvation, sickness or exposure.
"When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well." They were collectivists! Now, "Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives.
"He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. ... Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn't work! Surprise, surprise, huh? What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years – trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it – the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild's history lesson," every kid gets. "If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future." Here's what he wrote: "'The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they were wiser than God,' Bradford wrote.
And from FOX News:
Seattle public schools want a side of political correctness served on your Thanksgiving table.
Washington state's largest school district sent letters to teachers and other employees suggesting Thanksgiving should be "a time of mourning" for its Native American students.
The memo, from Caprice Hollins, the district's director of Equity, Race & Learning Support, included an attachment to a paper titled "Deconstructing the Myths of 'The First Thanksgiving.'"
It includes 11 "myths" disputing everything from what was served at the first Thanksgiving (no mashed potatoes or cranberries) and who provided the food to the nature of the Pilgrims themselves: Myth No. 3 calls the colonists "rigid fundamentalists" who came to the New World "fully intending to take the land away from its native inhabitants."
But what got the Internet abuzz was Myth No. 11: "Thanksgiving is a happy time." It was followed by "Fact: For many Indian people, 'Thanksgiving' is a time of mourning ... a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship."
Hollins would not defend her letter, but David Tucker, a spokesman for the district, said it was an effort to be sensitive to minorities in Seattle schools.
"One of the core elements in education is not just understanding your own life history but also those of others," he said.
But one Seattle-area tribe says Thanksgiving is not somber on the reservation but a time to see friends and family, as it is for other Americans.
Native Americans in the Northwest celebrate the holiday with turkey and salmon, said Daryl Williams of the Tulalip Tribes. Before the period of bitter and violent relationships between natives and their culturally European counterparts, they worked together to survive, he said.
"The spirit of Thanksgiving, of people working together to help each other, is the spirit I think that needs to grow in this country, because this country has gotten very divisive," he said.
Nationally syndicated talk show host Michael Medved was more blunt.
"The notion that now you have a major school system sending out a message that, no, rather than expressing thanks we should emphasize guilt on this holiday — that is sick, it is destructive and it is anti-American."
Medved has just defined Seattle liberalism to its very core.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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Liberal Massachusetts Judges Open Door To New Killings
NATIONAL DISGRACE
Massachusetts Liberalism Again Claims Innocent Victims
With yet another example of pro- criminal sentiment resulting in the murder of innocent people, the Bay State's perpetually sick and corrupt judicial system is under attack today by talk hosts, columnists and bloggers across the country.
While Massachusetts liberals remain stubbornly addicted to their failed social policies, Americans pay for it with their lives.
In the latest case, a Washington state couple was executed last weekend after a convicted murderer facing new charges was released on bail and allowed to move to the Evergreen State. Because the crackpot Massachusetts judge was originally appointed by Mitt Romney, the case may have implications for the upcoming presidential contest.
This mess predates Romney by a longshot, however: the conditions that led to the release of Daniel Thomas Tavares Jr after serving just 16 years for the brutal murder of his own mother says a great deal about rotten Bay State politics.
The Boston Herald has the best explanation of this judicial meltdown:
The couple was executed in their home in rural Graham, Wash., Saturday after an alleged argument with Daniel Tavares Jr., 41, who in 1991 pleaded guilty to hacking his mother to death with a carving knife in their Somerset home in served 16 years for that crime.
Tavares finished his sentence on June 14, but was immediately re-arrested on a warrant charging him with two counts of assaulting Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center prison guards during his troubled stint behind bars, Department of Correction officials said.
Worcester prosecutors requested $50,000 cash bail for each of those charges, an amount approved by Clinton District Court Judge Martha Brennan, according to court documents.
But Tavares appealed the bail and on July 16, Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman released him on personal recognizance. Tavares was freed and fled the state to marry and live in a Washington trailer with Jennifer Lynn Tavares, who met the convict at Walpole after answering an inmate personal ad. He defaulted on a July 23 court date, prosecutors said.
In an interesting comparison between two blue states, Washington may seek the death penalty for Tavares, which would be impossible in Massachusetts, since it doesn't exist there. In the Bay State, even hacking your own mother to pieces doesn't result in a lifetime behind bars:
Death penalty possible for Graham killings
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TACOMA, Wash. -- Pierce County prosecutors are deciding whether to seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing a couple in their home near Graham.
Daniel Thomas Tavares is charged with aggravated murder for the shooting last weekend of his neighbors, Brian and Beverly Mauck.
Court records say Tavares told investigators he shot the couple because Brian Mauck called him a punk during a dispute over $50 that Tavares says Mauck owed him.
Beverly Mauck's father is fuming mad, pointing the finger of blame straight at the Bay State:
The father of a Washington woman slaughtered along with her new husband - allegedly at the hands of a convicted Bay State killer - said his daughter’s accused murderer never should have been released from prison here.
“It’s because of stupidity in Massachusetts that my daughter is dead,” said Darrel Slater, 55, who is preparing to bury his daughter, Beverly Mauck, 28, and her husband Brian Mauck, 30.
Is this were an isolated case of judicial malfeasance emanating from the Bay State, it would be one thing, but there's a pattern of this kind of behavior. From Joe Fitzgerald's excellent column in today's Boston Herald, "Shame on Soft- on- Cons Bay State":
It’ll be some time before he and others out there can turn their full attention to questions that ought to be dogging Massachusetts now, such as how can someone who butchers his mother at 25 be free to kill again at 41?
It was only a few years ago the same question was asked when Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, notorious for abducting and molesting young boys, persuaded officials at the Bridgewater Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous that he was fit for early release.
The first thing he did upon his release was attack another young boy, and yet the commonwealth, philosophically reluctant to properly punish, still gave its blessings to a deal that required him only to live with relatives in Montana.
That’s where this barbarian cannibalized a 10-year-old boy, whose remains he added to spaghetti sauce that he served to friends and neighbors.
If a commonwealth could be considered an accessory before the fact, Massachusetts ought to be in shackles.
Brian and Beverly Mauck didn’t even have to live in Massachusetts to be hurt by it, as many are.
And elsewhere in Massachusetts today, a federal judge injected a left- wing political agenda into a ruling in favor of a crack dealer:
A federal judge has freed a Boston man who pleaded guilty to selling small amounts of crack cocaine, saying that he dealt the drugs out of desperation and that long prison sentences for such crimes often do more harm to black communities than good.
US District Judge Nancy Gertner sentenced Myles Haynes to the 13 months he has served in jail since his arrest. She said that he appeared to be an honest man whose two admitted drug sales were isolated and that lengthy federal prison terms for such crimes are depleting cities of a generation of young black men.
"Isn't it time for us to say that there is on the one hand the impact of the drug trafficking and on the other hand the impact of mass incarceration of African-Americans from crack cocaine?" Gertner said from the bench Monday. "To suggest that the public safety requires the further incarceration of Mr. Haynes makes no sense."
Gertner then set aside sentencing guidelines that could have kept Haynes behind bars an extra 20 to 28 months. While federal judges sometimes depart from guidelines, it is rare for them to air such outspoken views from the bench.
Glancing at Haynes's 8-year-old son, Myles Jr., in the gallery with the defendant's family, Gertner added, "Indeed, when I see your son, I think that public safety requires that you be with your son so that he doesn't follow in your footsteps."
US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan criticized the sentence by Gertner, a Clinton-era appointee who has often accused the US Department of Justice of pursuing ex cessive federal prison sentences for nonviolent offenders.
Though Romney has played a small role in today's outrage, the bigger picture is the legacy of New England liberalism, which time and again embraces criminals and revictimizes their prey. As a resident, your Radio Equalizer finds their continued arrogance in the face of continuous ideological defeat fascinating.
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Images: Boston Herald
Imus Again Using Cancer Charity To Deflect Away Criticism
SAINT IMUS RETURNS
Up To Old Tricks, Uses Cancer Charity To Bolster Image
For years, whenever Don Imus was fending off criticism over the content of his show or creepy personal antics, his elitist defenders always had a ready answer: "that may be, but he sure does a lot for kids with cancer", or something to that effect.
The I-Man's insider pals didn't come up with that excuse on his own: he was always quick to point to his charity work whenever needed (or to use it to help friends in a similar fix). It leads critics to wonder if he really cares about others, or if the Imus Ranch is all about public image.
Forgotten in the ridiculous "Second Chance For Imus" (that is about to wipe away a great deal of solid programming from ABC radio stations across the country) is his long history of mistreating others. That includes former co-workers both on the air and at the ranch.
And in perhaps his most cynical ploy ever, the crustmeister will kick off his first show with a benefit for the ranch, with tickets to see it going for $100 a pop. What a great way to avoid tough questions upon his return!
That has mainstream media pals salivating at the chance to once again prop up Saint Imus in an entirely unquestioning manner. From the New York Daily News:
Don Imus is picking up where he left off - raising money to help children with cancer.
When he was kicked off WFAN (660 AM) in April, he was in the middle of the annual WFAN Radiothon that benefits child-related charities, including Hackensack Medical Center, the SIDS Foundation and the Imus Ranch.
So when he returns Dec. 3 to start his new 6-10 a.m. gig at WABC (770 AM), he'll use the first show to raise money for the Ranch, by charging $100 a ticket to see that show live at Town Hall.
He and his wife, Deirdre, bring children with cancer to the ranch every year to ride, rope and work.
Meanwhile, Don's elitist liberal friends are lining up to appear on the new show, which is said to include a token African- American in some kind of as- yet undisclosed role. Again from David Hinckley's report:
His cast is expected back, though Bernard McGuirk's role may change. It was announced yesterday that Bob Gelb, eight-year producer of "Mike and the Mad Dog" on WFAN, has resigned to join Imus.
There could also be other new faces and a shuffled guest lineup. James Carville says he will be a first-day guest.
Just because Imus successfully brown- nosed a corporate exec into making a comeback, one that will probably harm his new employer's bottom line greatly, does not mean his past sins should be forgiven or forgotten. Forget "nappy-headed hos", this guy's jerkery goes back decades.
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CAIR Falsely Claims Talk Radio Ad Boycott Success
CAIR-FUL, GUYS!
Islamists Claim Boycott Success, Syndicator Disagrees
Is an extremist Islamic group falsely taking credit for a talk radio advertiser boycott that may be far less than what it appears?
While the Council on American- Islamic Relations crows about its dubious achievements, a simple check with a representative of Michael Savage's syndicated talk show reveals that several firms that have "pulled" ads were never part of the program in the first place.
Last week, we wrote about how Citrix Systems had yanked its sponsorship of the show in response to complaints from CAIR's operatives. That much isn't in dispute by either side.
But since then, the group claims it has convinced retailer OfficeMax and Trusted ID to cut their respective ties to the program. In addition, CAIR has spooked both JCPenney and AutoZone, by claiming their ads were running during the show, despite a longstanding Savage blacklist policy from both firms.
From EarthTimes:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today announced that two more advertisers have joined a growing list of companies that have stopped advertising or refuse to place their ads on Michael Savage's nationally-syndicated radio program.
CAIR said AutoZone, a leading retailer and distributor of automotive parts and accessories, is investigating why its ads recently aired on at least two stations during Savage's program.
In a letter to CAIR, an AutoZone official wrote: "...AutoZone has a 'Do Not Air' policy against the Michael Savage show and that has been in place for over 6 years now...There have been instances that stations did not want to delete us from just one program on their station, so we took such drastic measures as to cancel all advertising dollars on those particular stations, as well as their sister stations. We take this very seriously and go to great lengths to ensure stations adhere to our 'Do Not Air' policy."
From SOP Newswire:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today said JCPenney, one of the nation's leading retailers, is investigating why some of its radio advertisements aired on Michael Savage's "The Savage Nation" radio program despite strict instructions to the contrary. A number of advertisers have recently dropped their ads from that syndicated program because of the host’s anti-Muslim views.
After being contacted by many concerned listeners, a JCPenney official wrote to CAIR:
“Thank you... for bringing to our attention that apparently some of our radio ads are running during the Michael Savage Show... JCPenney has very strict guidelines prohibiting our advertising from running on any politically or religiously driven shows. It is unacceptable to us that this has occurred. Please know that JCPenney will immediately look into this situation and get it corrected.
“As a company servicing half of America’s families for over 100 years, our customers have come to know JCPenney as their trusted retail partner. We do not tolerate discrimination on any front.”
“We thank JCPenney for its strong stand against discrimination and intolerance of all kinds,” said CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin.
Not so fast, says Savage Nation Executive Producer Beowulf Rochlen: "OfficeMax does not sponsor The Michael Savage Show. The only advertiser that has pulled out is Citrix."
When asked later about the JCPenney and AutoZone claims, Rochlen added, "JCPenney is also not a sponsor of The Savage Nation. (Nor was) AutoZone a national sponsor of the show."
With that, it's fair to wonder whether these ads really did run during the Savage show. Is it possible they aired during a local affiliate's own spot break? Could be, but CAIR doesn't seem to know the difference.
Instead, it's more interested in claiming victory over Savage so that it and other radical leftist groups can move on to juicier targets, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others. Too bad these firms don't realize they're playing right into the hands of Islamic extremists.
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Technorati tags: talk radio michael savage show savage nation savage advertiser boycott cair savage boycott officemax citrix systems cair jcpenney
Savage photo: John O'Hara, San Francisco Chronicle
Bill O'Reilly In Surprise Afghanistan Trip
SNEAKING IN
Bill O'Reilly Pops In For Afghanistan Visit
*** UPDATE BELOW ***
In a move sure to infuriate his deranged enemies on the left (because everything he does drives them crazy), cable talk king Bill O'Reilly has made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, according to embedded blogger Matt Sanchez and Hot Air.
Paging Keith Olbermann: it's time to find some random reason to name Bill "The Worst Person In The World". Surely, there's got to be some way to demonize O'Reilly here, unless the writers strike has shut down the vitriol factory for the time being.
According to Sanchez, who runs an excellent embed site, Big O didn't appear to ask for any special treatment, receiving standard- issue items upon arrival.
We'll be watching Bill's lefty friends to see how they will manage to find some kind of fault with this.
LATE MONDAY UPDATE from the AP:
O'Reilly Visits Troops in Afghanistan
By JEREMY HERRON
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - Bill O'Reilly thinks American troops aren't getting enough support _ from the USO.
After a surreptitious trip to Afghanistan last weekend, the cantankerous Fox News Channel commentator told The Associated Press that he's disappointed that the United Service Organizations "doesn't put anybody out there (in Afghanistan)."
"I went to thank these guys on behalf of me and my audience," he said in an interview from Istanbul, Turkey. "As far as I know, the only famous people in the past year were (country music singer) Toby Keith and me."
The USO _ the organization that famously brought Bob Hope to Vietnam and Marilyn Monroe to Korea _ did not immediately return calls seeking comment. The group has been active sending comedians and professional golfers on entertainment tours to bases in the Persian Gulf.
O'Reilly, who flew to Afghanistan on Friday to visit Camp Eggers in Kabul and Bagram Air Base, has long been upbeat about the U.S. mission there. He has also been an impassioned supporter of the troops, unwilling to recognize any shades of gray when it comes to expressing opinion on the Armed Forces.
O'Reilly said he we went to Afghanistan to get an impression of the state of affairs there, but it was unclear whether he moved about the country without military escort or spent any time outside of the U.S. bases. [...]
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Boston Paper Refuses To Cover Cambridge Boy Scout Flap
THEY HATE THE TROOPS
While Talk Radio Pounces, Globies Ignore Cambridge Outrage
*** MAJOR UPDATE BELOW ***
While talk hosts and bloggers across the country have been pounding away on the subject, the Boston Globe hasn't found room for a single mention of the ongoing anti- troops outrage in Cambridge.
Earlier this week, the rabidly anti- American city banned local Boy Scouts from collecting items for care packages destined for soldiers in Iraq, calling their efforts a "political statement".
Proving that liberals really are against the troops, the resulting outrage has been covered extensively by talkers, including KSFO/ San Francisco hosts Melanie Morgan and Lee Rodgers, syndicated talker Laura Ingraham, Bill O'Reilly, Boston's Howie Carr and many more.
In the blogosphere and Internet, Hub Politics, Boston Daily, The Jawa Report, American Thinker, Wicked Local and WorldNetDaily have all provided superb coverage.
From Boston magazine's Boston Daily blog:
In these uncertain times, it’s nice to know we can rely on some things. The sun will always rise and set. Gravity will always hold us down. And Cambridge will always be liberal to a fault.
During last week’s elections, a troop of Boy Scouts set up donation boxes at polling places to raise money for the troops in Iraq. In typical Cambridge fashion, the city removed the boxes and the Boy Scouts because they may have had a “pro-war” bent:
Marsha Weinerman, executive director of the city’s Election Commission, said the boxes were removed after a resident complained to commission workers about their implied “pro-war” message.
“We contacted the law department, and it was determined that the best course of action would be to remove the boxes,” Weinerman said.
Way to stand up to those preteen hawks, Cambridge.
The Secretary of State told the Cambridge Chronicle that most of the Scouts’ booths were legal.
This is how the idea that those who are against the war are also somehow against the troops gets started. Good for you, Cambridge. You’ve managed to teach a group of kids that ideology trumps empathy every time.
Also leading the way with excellent coverage and analysis has been WFXT FOX-25 and the Boston Herald, which weighed in with this outstanding editorial:
Clueless in Cambridge
Cambridge lefties have at last begun to show their true colors - and they sure as hell aren’t red, white and blue.
You know all that rhetoric about hating the war in Iraq, but supporting the U.S. troops who are there? Well, fuhgedaboudit!
A troop of Boy Scouts in Cambridge set up donation boxes at 33 polling stations in that city on election day last week. Their mission was to collect amenities for troops serving overseas - those little items like snacks and lip balm that make life a little easier. The Scouts had spent considerable time and money to publicize the event, distributing fliers in city buildings, libraries and local businesses well ahead of time, according to their troop leader, Jamisean Patterson, writing in this week’s Cambridge Chronicle.
Most of the boxes were set up in the lobbies of those polling stations with the permission of the Cambridge Election Commission, Patterson wrote.
Then one resident in one precinct complained about the implied “pro war” message, according to Marsha Weinerman, executive director of the Election Commission. The city’s law department was consulted and “it was determined that the best course of action would be to remove the boxes,” Weinerman told the Chronicle.
Takes your breath away, no?
It gets worse. At the same polling station that was the scene of the complaint, on the same bulletin board where the Scouts had posted their flier were about 75 other fliers. According to Patterson they included those “promoting Get Out of Iraq, Campus Green, College Democrats of America.” The only one removed belonged to “those evil Boy Scouts collecting things for the troops,” he added.
The Cambridge cave-in was shameful but instructive. There are in this world those so blinded by hatred of this war and of George Bush that they would punish those who have been called to fight it - denying them, what, granola bars? That is mindless and it’s stupid. That public officials caved in to such mindlessness - yes, even in a city like Cambridge - is a public disgrace.
On San Francisco's KSFO-AM, the outrage has been a hot topic, probably because Cambridge found a way to out-liberal the Bay Area. Who knew that was possible? From there, morning host Melanie Morgan had this to say:
It is unfathomable to me that a bureaucrat sitting in her warm, safe office here in the United States would stoop so low as to prevent Boy Scouts from bringing a small bit of holiday cheer to our men and women.
I have been deluged with thousands of mail from people who are as angry and upset as I am.
Through her organization, Move America Forward, Morgan points to one particularly important letter from a volunteer:
Dr. Diane Bedrosian of Carlsbad, California writes: "I suppose you don't have any relatives or close friends who are serving in Iraq. Well, many of us do, and we can know what it must be like to be far from friends and family during the holidays. The Boy Scouts were trying to bring a spark of hope to these troops, many and MOST! who are there because they are in the military, not because they are making any political statement!
I am a physician and I work near Camp Pendleton. Many of these children are without their mothers or fathers because they are serving. Regardless of how you feel about the war, I want to try to help these people, who are paid peanuts (while you are probably WAY overpaid for your fat cat government administrative job) and risk their lives to protect YOUR freedom."
So where is the Globe's coverage? We've searched their site high and low and so far there hasn't been a word about this. Nor has big sister the New York Times found room for the story.
That leads us to wonder why not. Would this mean admitting to the left's darkest truth, that the "progressive" movement really is against the troops?
From our end, however, don't expect the matter to disappear quietly.
UPDATE: Melanie Morgan has heard from one of the officials in Massachusetts and has a substantial update here.
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Technorati tags: talk radio cambridge anti-troops outrage cambridge hates the troops move america forward laura ingraham bill o\'reilly melanie morgan lee rodgers ksfo san francisco boston herald wfxt 25 boston
Top image: Boston Herald
Holidays Bring More Talk Host Sackings, Mark Fuhrman, John Ziegler
FIRING SEASON
End Of Year Means Talkers Get Axed
In what has become an end- of- year tradition in the nasty business of radio, a number of talk hosts have been axed in recent days.
Because we get so many emails from readers wondering why their favorite host has vanished, your Radio Equalizer thought it best to provide this update.
By the way, in radio industry lingo, "to exit" a station means to be thrown out the door, sometimes physically.
The latest scorecard:
Best known for his key role in the infamous OJ Simpson trial, ex- LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman has been removed from his position as KGA / Spokane host. Since leaving the department, Fuhrman has built a second career as a local talker in Eastern Washington. His last show aired earlier today.
Likely cause of termination: budget cuts
From the Seattle P-I:
SPOKANE, Wash. -- A daily radio talk show by former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman has been canceled.
The "The Mark Fuhrman Show" on KGA-AM went off the air as of Thursday.
Fuhrman and producer Rebecca Mack were dismissed by station management.
Fuhrman said the show was third in the Arbitron ratings for talk shows in the market among its target audience of men, following national hosts Rush Limbaugh and Dennis Miller.
In Los Angeles, KFI evening host John Ziegler has hosted his final show after a four- year run. Likely cause: mysterious office politics.
From WHAS-TV 11 in Louisville:
Ziegler loses L.A. gig
Former WHAS Radio talker John Ziegler has lost his job on the air in Los Angeles.
Ziegler spent a short but tumultuous time as a talk show host for WHAS. He was sued by former local TV host Darcie Davita, who claimed defamation of character for things he said about her.
A jury found him, and Clear Channel, not liable, but that incident and his relationship with coworkers in Louisville cost Ziegler his job with WHAS Radio.
After four years, tonight’s show will be Ziegler’s last on KFI.
Ziegler says it’s a mutual decision.
In Houston, well- known local talker Chris Baker was let go last week from his position as local host at KTRH and KPRC-AM. Likely cause: Clear Channel budget cuts.
From the Houston Chronicle:
As Houston radio talk-show host Chris Baker continues working on his documentary film about talk radio, he'll have a new plot twist to incorporate into the mix — his dismissal from Clear Channel Houston's KTRH (740 AM) and KPRC (950 AM).
Baker, who had been on the air in Houston since 2001, and Cynthia Hunt, who recently joined him as co-host for an early afternoon show on KPRC, were told Monday night by Michael Berry, Clear Channel Houston's director of AM programming, that their shows had been canceled.
Baker's shift on KTRH will be filled by extended hours for the syndicated Sean Hannity show, which will air from 2 to 5 p.m., and by Berry's local show from 5 to 8 p.m. KPRC will extend the morning Walton and Johnson show and shift time slots for syndicated Erich "Mancow" Muller shows to fill the Baker/Hunt gap.
And in Seattle, afternoon drive talker Bryan Suits disappeared without a word from his station, KVI-AM. Likely cause: low ratings, cost- cutting.
From Sound Politics:
I've left e-mails with KVI station management and a phone message with program manager Dennis Kelly and I've been assured they'll get back to me. It's the whole holiday weekend don'tcha know.
FOR New England regional talk radio updates, see our other site. NEW: Howie Carr's undignified return?
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Technorati tags: talk radio radio hosts fired seattle los angeles louisville spokane kvi kga kfi whas kprc ktrh houston chris baker radio host mark fuhrman bryan suits john ziegler
And with a new proposal to ban spanking by parents even in private homes, talkers around the country are having a field day at the latest Bay State silliness.
