Here’s more proof that Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News empire are anxiously awaiting a terrorist attack that they can celebrate. It has already been established that they are aiding and abetting terrorism by helping to spread the fear that terrorists rely on. Fox wants us to be just as afraid as Al Qaeda does. And in pursuit of that goal they publish lies like this one:

The article linked to by the Fox Nationalists appears in the Washington “Moonie” Times. And both so-called “news” enterprises falsely report the congressional testimony by the Directors of National Intelligence and the CIA. Here is the actual content of the testimony:

Sen. Diane Feinstein: What is the likelihood of another terrorist-attempted attack on the U.S homeland in the next three to six months? High or low? DNI, Dennis Blair: An attempted attack, the priority is certain, I would say.”

Contrary to the sensationalist headlines on Fox Nation and the Washington Times, the administration never said that an attack is “certain.” The operative word is “attempted.” It is a rather obvious and foregone conclusion that terrorists are out there attempting to attack us and others. The question, and the answer, was hardly revealing. But Fox never misses an opportunity to fear monger. And they have a long history of politicizing terror and 9/11.

Tags: Fox Nation, Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, Terrorism, Washington Times

All it takes is a fluke victory in Massachusetts for Fox News pundits predict the demise of the Democratic Party. In the days since Scott Brown won the special election for the Senate the conservative press has been unreservedly giddy. They have proclaimed the end of everything from health care to the Obama presidency. The only problem is that nobody told the voters.

A poll from that bastion of socialist twaddle, Fox News, shows that Barack Obama is preferred over every Republican they surveyed against him.

By 47 percent to 35 percent Obama bests former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The president has an even wider edge over former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (55 percent to 31 percent), and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (53 percent to 29 percent).

On top of that, the Tea Bagger phenomenon is turning out to be the biggest bubble since the tulip mania. As I wrote in The Tea Party Delusion, the popularity of the movement is largely a mirage created by the media (i.e. Fox News). Almost half the country doesn’t even know they exist. In this new poll from Fox, they match Obama against a generic candidate from the Tea Party and Obama wins by more than two to one (48% to 23%). Even amongst Republicans a majority (54%) reject the Baggers.

Perhaps the rumors of the President’s demise are highly exaggerated. The significance of these results in a poll from an overtly hostile source cannot be understated. By the same token, the lesson of the Massachusetts race is that overconfidence is a dangerous extravagance.

The 2012 election is still 34 months away and the stable of potential opponents have a not-so-secret weapon: Fox News. Yes, the network that commissioned this poll actually employs four prospective GOP candidates. In addition to the two surveyed here, Palin and Gingrich, they also have Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum on the payroll. It is unprecedented that a so-called news enterprise would actually employ so many electoral adversaries from the same party, or for that matter, any party. You have to wonder if Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and Bobby Jindal feel left out.

The association with Fox could prove valuable over the next two and a half years. The Fox Farm Team will have an opportunity to rack up a lot of free practice time on the air. That exposure, along with the rest of Fox’s advocacy for the rightist agenda, is an expensive asset that will only be afforded to members of the team.

And the coaching staff at Fox is already preparing the field. Fox Nation took the occasion of Brown’s victory to promote a video that portrays Democrats as despondent Nazis being berated by their leader, Adolf Hitler.

In the run up to the 2008 election, and in the year that followed, there were many complaints about the right-wing’s hyperbolic attempts to associate the President with Hitler, Stalin, or Marx, and despite the documented evidence of it, Fox always tried to dismiss it as overzealous opponents. But this video is unambiguously making the Nazi correlation and it is prominently featured on the Fox Nation web site. And it’s not the first time:

The campaign for 2012 is clearly in progress and Fox is implementing their most aggressive and dirtiest game plan. But according to their own poll it isn’t yet having much of an effect. The operative word there is “yet.” If there is one thing that Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, et al have in abundance it is patience. This is just the bottom of the second inning and they have plenty of pine tar left to apply extra spin to the ball.

Tags: Adolf Hitler, Barack Obama, Fox Nation, Fox News, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, Sarah Palin, Scott Brown, Tea Party

It’s official. America’s most ludicrous, harebrained, unbalanced, politically naive collection of cantankerous, hateful, rightist zealots (Tea Baggers), has spawned its own media association to bring to journalism the same type of biased, counter-factual, willfully ignorant, propaganda pioneered by the AstroTurf lobbyists, evangelists, and politicos who brewed up the Tea Parties in the first place.

[inhale...exhale]

The National Tea Party Convention, where it will cost “average” citizen activists $549.00 to attend and to witness yet another vapid lecture by keynote speaker Sarah Palin, has released a list of those who will be issued press credentials to cover the affair. It is an admirably diverse group that spans the political spectrum from ultra-conservatism to uber-cultist, Patriopathic™ dementia:

• Fox News
• The Wall Street Journal
• Breitbart.com
• Townhall.com
• WorldNetDaily.com

And that’s it. This coalition of partisan blowhards forms the cornerstone of what I will henceforth call the Tea Party Media Association. The founding members include two Rupert Murdoch mouthpieces. Murdoch, of course, also employs Palin, the confab’s star attraction. The other three credentialed news manglers are notorious purveyors of right-wing disinformation. And WND’s boss, Joseph Farah, is also a speaker at the convention.

The event was originally off limits to the media, but with the addition of Palin as the celebrity draw, the conventioneers have reconsidered. It may have something to do with Palin’s insatiable lust for self-promotion. Or perhaps they just need to find ways to recoup the reported $100,000.00 speaking fee Palin gouged from them.

The rise of the Tea Party Media is not entirely unexpected. It isn’t much more than an extension of the Conventional Media. Whenever there is an exploitable incident the press reverts to its native pack mentality and relies on its basest instincts rather than reason, which is more difficult to convey in sound bites. So whether it involves a celebrity death, a high-speed police chase, or a political dust-up, the media will behave with precision predictability and flood the zone with shallow reporting and analysis.

But the Tea Party Media takes this behavior to new extremes. It is a closed loop of directed storytelling wherein the various participants borrow from, and feed to, one another. What shows up as wild speculation on Breitbart.com is regurgitated as an outrage by Glenn Beck. Then the Wall Street Journal reports that “some” in the media are saying it. Thereafter, the rest of the press sources the Wall Street Journal without doing any research of their own. Finally, Breitbart uses the these media references to certify his original fabrication.

In order to sustain this process it is critical to control media access. That is why the Tea Baggers convention is only permitting the most reliably partisan hacks to cover it. They are palpably afraid of honest observers gaining access. The Tea Party movement itself is cracking from within as rival factions battle for control and authenticity. The Tea Party Express hate the Tea Party Patriots who hate the Tea Party Nation. While most of these groups hate the Democrats, some also hate the Republicans, and everybody seems to hate RNC Chair, Michael Steele. Part of the effort to limit press availability is to suppress reporting of these squabbles and present a united front.

Without a doubt, Fox News is the dominant presence in the Tea Party Media. They brazenly promoted the Tax Day Tea Parties and last fall’s 9/12 rally in Washington, DC. They even re-branded them as FNC events. They already had the Tea Bag King (Glenn Back) on the payroll and now they have hired the Queen Tea Bagger as a commentator. Fox will have to compete for Palin’s time as she continues on her book tour and makes room in her schedule for any speaking engagement that will shell out the big bucks.

Amongst Palin’s upcoming engagements is an appearance at the annual meeting of the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers Association. It apparently didn’t matter whether their keynoter had any knowledge of the beverage industry. It could also make for some confusion as reports are sure surface that Palin is speaking at a “Whine” convention and people will automatically assume it’s the Tea Baggers. Not to worry, though. The Tea Party Media will set everything straight for the audience of delusional malcontents it serves and everyone will arrive safely at their appointed indoctrination destination.

Tags: Fox News, Joseph Farah, Rupert Murdoch, Sarah Palin, Tea Party

The Carrot Top of Cable news, Neil Cavuto, is at it again. He has dragged out his steamer trunk of props to advance the moronic notion that Global Warming is a fraud because it’s colder in winter than summer.

Note to Neil:
Temperature ≠ Climate!

Cavuto is well known for contributing to the collapse of America’s collective IQ. He proudly hosts such respected policy analysts as Ted Nugent, Tommy Chong, John Ratzenberger, Mr. Handyman, Joe the Plumber, and any random Tea Bagger, to unravel our nation’s dilemmas. Cavuto has been continuing to disinform his already ignorant audience on climate matters that he clearly doesn’t understand, and wants to make sure that no one else understands either. In the video clip below he tells viewers that “it is freezing across the entire globe.” Needless to say, that is demonstrably false.

Had he done any research at all (and that’s a lot to ask someone on Fox), he would have learned that many places are experiencing record highs this winter. What’s more, climate experts agree that cold weather in places like Florida are, in fact, proof of Global Warming. It’s the result of altered atmospheric patterns that are pushing arctic conditions further south than would normally be seen. In the north there are higher temperatures, more melting of ice sheets and glaciers, and warmer oceans.

This is precisely the sort of deliberate deception that we should expect from Cavuto. He has a track record of mischaracterizing facts in pursuit of his rightist agenda. And he is not alone in the Fox family acting to deceive viewers on this issue. Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly frequently denounce Climate Change science as a hoax. Glenn Beck goes even further:

“…almost everyone who does believe in global warming is a socialist. I mean, believes in manmade global warming that now can be fixed and reversed or whatever. And we’ve got the tools to fix it. Almost everybody who says, ‘I’ve got a plan to fix it’ is a socialist.”

The presence of these Climate Crisis deniers on Fox puts Rupert Murdoch at the head of the denier class. This is his network, his people, and he regularly affirms his support of them. The reason this is notable is that Murdoch has publicly taken a position that Global Warning is a serious concern and that News Corp would work vigorously to reduce the carbon footprint of its businesses and to educate its viewers and readers.

Obviously that is a lie. It is nothing more than a veil of PR designed to give Murdoch cover and permit him to feign concern for the environment. It is entirely inconsistent to pretend to be working to reduce Global Warming while employing people who forthrightly deny that it exists. News Corp could reduce its carbon footprint to zero and not come close to offsetting the damage done by convincing millions to take no action whatsoever. Not to mention the pressure that Fox-tainted citizens would impose on public representatives to refrain from enacting common sense regulations to protect the planet.

The impact of the media on public policy can not be overstated. And when morons like Cavuto advance falsehoods that put our world at risk, Murdoch cannot escape responsibility. If the environment continues to decline, if there are catastrophic storms and floods, if there is famine and strife, it is very realistically and provably the fault of Rupert Murdoch. We will not allow him to evade responsibility for his deadly actions.

Tags: Fox News, Neil Cavuto, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has become a bit of a crimp in the Murdoch family’s harmony. The New York Times is reporting that Matthew Freud, the husband of Rupert Murdoch’s daughter, Elisabeth, is not particularly fond of his in-laws.

Freud: I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to.

Uh oh. That’s gotta make for some awkward holiday gatherings. Freud’s complaint isn’t a trivial personal incompatibility. He is aiming straight at the heart of a news enterprise’s most cherished asset: its journalistic standards. The charge of “horrendous and sustained disregard” is hardly an incidental difference of opinion. And the fact that there are others who share his shame doesn’t smooth things out for Ailes.

Freud is married to Elisabeth Murdoch, who left the family business to run her own UK-based enterprise, Shine Limited. Shine also has interests in the U.S., including Reveille, the company that produces “The Office” and “Ugly Betty.” Elisabeth was an enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama and held a fundraiser for him in London. That contrasts significantly with the views of Ailes, whom the Times says threatened to quit if Murdoch permitted his New York Post to endorse Obama for president.

The Times notes that Ailes also played a part in Lachlan Murdoch’s decision to leave his father’s company in 2004 and return to Australia. Up until then Lachlan was considered Rupert’s heir apparent. The article goes on to hype Ailes’ mythic reputation as a political strategist and media guru. But what it doesn’t say is that while being successful at lining the pockets of the principles, Fox News was also killing the Republican Party.

It’s good to know that there are some reasonable members of the Murdoch clan who aren’t afraid to voice their opinions. It makes for some interesting speculation about the future of News Corp. when the Murdoch progeny assume control. While son James is still a high-ranking executive running Papa’s European satellite operations, siblings Elisabeth and Lachlan will inherit equal voting shares from their father’s estate.

Should any of this make Ailes nervous? Well, would you want to keep a division head that made you “ashamed and sickened” if you inherited a multinational media empire? Would you allow your news network to continue to have a “horrendous and sustained disregard” for journalistic standards? Would Ailes even want to remain at Fox with Obama supporters as his new bosses? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

[Update] News Corp responds: “Matthew Freud’s opinions are his own and in no way reflect the views of Rupert Murdoch, who is proud of Roger Ailes and Fox News.”

Rupert Murdoch’s pride in Ailes irrevocably ties him to the insults, lies, and journalistic disrepute that is the hallmark of Ailes and his stars like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly. Murdoch again chooses to align himself with the dregs of the television idiocracy. That will be his legacy.

Tags: Elisabeth Murdoch, Fox News, Matthew Freud, News Corp, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch

This is going to be a fun week. 2009’s Misinformer of the Year, Glenn Beck, has promised us a week during which he will end the debate on some of his most ludicrous, paranoid delusions. That will be a relief. I can’t be the only one who is sick to death of hearing him repeat endlessly his lies about Van Jones or ACORN or Saul Alinsky. But no more. This week is it. Next week…who knows? Unless, of course, he’s lying.

“A week from today this program is going to change. I’m no longer going to be debating the things we already know are true.”

And how does he know which things are true? Easy. They are whatever things he said last year that the White House hasn’t refuted by calling his in-studio chat line. And we all know that by not returning Beck’s phone calls it is as good as an admission of guilt. That is, in fact, how I know that Glenn Beck idolizes Adolf Hitler. Despite my many invitations to him to call and deny it, he has not done so, and therefore it is safe to conclude that it’s true.

Starting off his landmark week of television, Beck is going straight to the root of the problem. He is attacking head on the question of truth and lies. In the process he has delivered what may be regarded as his biggest lie yet.

“If I were lying I’d be off the air.”

Huh? Beck may have taken lying to a whole new dimension. This is a lie that lies about the context of his lying. It’s a lie that doubles back on itself as its own exculpation. Since he is not off the air, his dementia contends, he must not be lying. Were his statement to be true, much of the broadcast spectrum would go dark overnight. And that’s just the part of the spectrum controlled by Fox News. We can even look at this from a non-partisan viewpoint. If his statement were true, then how would Beck explain the continuing on-air presence of Keith Olbermann and his comrades at MSNBC? Surely Beck believes they are lying, yet they are still on the air. How can that be so without making him a liar? Perhaps he only meant that market forces would drive him off the dial as disillusioned viewers tuned out someone they considered to be dishonest. Nope, that aint it:

“Lies that are broadcast nightly to an entire nation are easily stopped. They are called laws. Or here’s an idea, standards.”

Beck truly seems to believe that there are laws that could be invoked to bar him from broadcasting due to his infatuation with falsehoods. The First Amendment notwithstanding, this is something he has predicted would occur ever since a Kenyan socialist moved into the White House. But this is the first time he has asserted that such laws have already been enacted. He doesn’t say which laws they are, but he’s certain they are there. And since these imaginary censorship dictates have not been exercised, Beck takes that to mean that the officials at the Department of Truth have certified his babble. One person who knows he is certifiable is his boss Rupert Murdoch, whom Beck believes hired him as a truthteller.

“Even if you think I’m wildly irresponsible, you have to know that News Corp. is not stupid. It’s a company worth billions of dollars. You really think that this corporation would risk everything on an irresponsible crazy guy?”

With this Gordian logic, Beck concludes that because Murdoch hired him, he must not be crazy. He may be jumping to an unsupportable conclusion. Murdoch made his reputation by exploiting the fringes of journalism. His tabloid papers featured outlandish gossip, sensationalistic headlines, and topless models. He is the carnival barker of media barons. Murdoch probably doesn’t think he is risking much by providing a platform for this schizoid sideshow freak. That is the keystone of his business philosophy and the engine of his wealth. As far as Murdoch is concerned, the crazier the better. And he hit the mother lode with Beck (although advertisers disagree).

Beck spent much of today’s program lying about not having lied on his previous programs. For example, he declared that he had only ever called one person in the Obama administration a communist. Not only is that not true, but on this same show he insinuated that many people in the White House preferred Karl Marx to James Madison, including President Obama. Maybe Beck would argue that that isn’t the same as calling them communists, but that would only be true in his warped brain. Media Matters has many more examples.

Beck’s defense of his veracity only sinks him deeper into duplicity. But with today’s pinnacle of prevarication, Beck has raised the bar on bullshit. To assert that he would be off the air if he were lying is a truly brilliant deceit. And his ability to render it with a straight face deserves some credit as well. Bravo Mr. Beck. You have more than earned your place in the Liars Hall of Sham.

ADDENDUM: Lest anyone absolve Fox News from complicity with Beck’s mania, here is a year-end compilation of the biggest stories missed by the mainstream media per Fox News. All but one were stories either originated or heavily promoted by Beck (i.e. Van Jones, ACORN, ClimateGate, Tea Baggers, etc). Fox cannot dismiss the evidence that Beck is their prime source for news.

Tags: Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rupert Murdoch

Establishment conservatives have long assailed fringe groups who believe that there has been a cover-up of government involvement in the attacks on 9/11. The “Truthers” have been ridiculed as conspiracy theorists who are something less than patriotic. The very act of implying a government role was viewed as misguided and disrespectful at best, treasonous at worst. So why is Fox Nation featuring this as their top story?

U.S. Knew of Airline Plot Before Christmas

The story linked to by the Fox Nationalists doesn’t actually allege that anyone in government knew of a plot to bomb an airplane on Christmas. It merely restates what was previously disclosed in the press, and by the President, that there had been a “systemic failure” to correlate information from multiple sources that might have raised warning flags. That’s a far cry from knowing the identity of a specific Nigerian individual who had conspired with Yemeni members of Al Qaeda to blow up a plane on Christmas day.

The glaringly misleading headline, that was also featured on Fox News and Foxnews.com, is identical in form to the Truthers’ claims regarding 9/11. So where is the outrage at this blatant promulgation of anti-American propaganda? How does Fox get away with espousing such repugnant disloyalty? Is it because the difference this time is that it is the Obama administration about which there is an insinuation of shared guilt?

Before we presume that there is a partisan nature to this story, we need to take note of another Rupert Murdoch “news” vehicle that in May of 2002 was supportive of the 9/11 Truther movement. Just eight months after the attack on the World Trade Center, the New York Post published a story that charged then-President Bush with having prior knowledge of those attacks.

So maybe it is just that Murdoch is an equal opportunity accuser of the U.S. government with complicity in terrorism. Remember, Murdoch is a native Australian who moved to the U.K. before eventually applying for U.S. citizenship so that he could take control of the Fox network. So it’s difficult to ascertain to whom he has allegiance. Strike that. It is clear that Murdoch’s allegiance is only to himself, his rightist agenda, and his bank account. Any assessment of Murdoch’s motives as they are revealed by his media enterprises must be seen in the context of his obvious disdain for the United States, its people, and their welfare.

Tags: Fox Nation, Fox News, New York Post, Rupert Murdoch, Terrorism

The blockbuster, mega-million dollar, groundbreaking, techo-marvel, spectacle, Avatar is opening tonight. Thank goodness it hasn’t been over-hyped. Nevertheless, there is still a fair amount of anticipation for this cinematic tale of a person of color from another country…er…world.

With regard to the film itself, don’t expect to find me in line for an early screening. In fact, don’t look for me on February’s lines either. Suffice it to say that I don’t plan on rushing out to see this flick. There are two reasons in particular that sap any motivation for me to sit through this two and a half hour plus epic.

First, I’m terminally bored with special effects. Particularly when I am advised beforehand that they will change filmmaking, or my life or, or the rotation of the earth, forever. That’s a promise that has never been kept. I’ve seen enough special effects that I am now fully cognizant that anything that can be imagined can be committed to film. It comes as no surprise that digital artists (of which I am one) can produce wonders both realistic and fantastic. Consequently, to stoke my interest in a movie, I prefer to be moved by storytelling, character development, and the sort of drama or comedy or suspense that registers on an emotional level. To be sure, that can occur in a film that contains special effects, but the effects should compliment the storytelling, not supplant it. I really am not impressed by another realistic looking robot or alien or landscape.

Second, I hated Titanic. To be precise, it was something more than hate. I regard it as one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. The acting, the effects, the script (oh lord), the naked schmaltz - there wasn’t a single thing I can recall that was redeeming about it. And in its time it was the mega-million dollar epic that was going to change everything.

Enough already. You know you have reached a new low when a fawning analysis in the iconic Hollywood Reporter relates this overheard bit of artistic defeatism:

So obviously has the creative bar been raised that I heard one young writer-director at the premiere say to his friends, “What do we do now?”

I would suggest that that young writer-director look for work selling insurance. If watching one movie exhausts his capacity to express himself creatively, he doesn’t have a calling for creative pursuits. He can save us all a lot of money and himself a lot of heartache by quitting now.

However, there is a fun element of the hype machine churning around this marketing extravaganza. Right-wingers have latched onto the notion that the movie is a slap at America and its imperialistic ways. They are hammering director James Cameron as an America-hating leftist. I assume they would like to see this nearly half billion dollar monstrosity suffer a massive box office failure, just as they would like to see President Obama fail. And so far as Avatar is concerned, I eagerly support their desire. After all, Avatar is a production from Rupert Murdoch’s Fox studios and watching Murdoch lose money is always fun.

Here is a collection of some the rightist reviews of Avatar:

BigHollywood: Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ Is a Big, Dull, America-Hating, PC Revenge Fantasy …a sanctimonious thud of a movie so infested with one-dimensional characters and PC clichés that not a single plot turn – small or large – surprises. I call it the “liberal tell,” where the early and obvious politics of the film gives away the entire story before the second act begins, and “Avatar” might be the sorriest example of this yet.

Hot Air: “Avatar” reportedly super mega ultra left-wing Given the framework of the plot and the obvious allegorical intent — military invades planet to secure valuable commodity in the soil — what other way could this flick have conceivably tilted?

Debbie Schlussel: Don’t Believe the Hype: “Avatar” Stinks (Long, Boring, Unoriginal, Uber-Left) It’s essentially a remake of “Dances With Wolves” and every other movie where we evil Americans terrorize the indigenous natives, kill them, take their land, and are just all around imperialistically wicked and inhumane. Oh, and we’re destroying the environment, clearing precious giant trees and natural landscapes and killing rare animals and their habitats, in order to invade and harvest valuable substances under the ground. Sound familiar? Yup, just like a million diatribes from Daily Kos, Democratic Underground, and every other far-left outlet about how we invaded Iraq for oil. Yes, “Avatar” is cinema for the hate America crowd.

Newsbusters: Is ‘Avatar’ A Multi-Million Dollar Ad For Global Warming? With the imminent release of the science fiction blockbuster “Avatar,” some have characterized it as a multi-million dollar public service announcment for global warming.

Telegraph UK: Is Avatar an attack on the Iraq War? The US public is frankly tired of the anti-war rhetoric of the Left, which has sounded increasingly hollow since the success of the surge in Iraq. James Cameron should leave the political commentary out as he promotes his new film, and acknowledge that the Iraqi people are immensely better off now than they were living under the boot of Saddam Hussein.

RedState: “Avatar” Is a Steaming Pile of Sith In case you don’t get the analogy, we (the humans) are the Bad Guys who are going to attack the “Tower” that the Noble Savages hold dear. In other words, humans are attacking the environment with technology, and it’s analogous to 9/11. Americanism is terrorism, in other words. [...] No one should be surprised that Hollywood liberals hate America and Western Civilization.

After all that I’m beginning to get more interested. I may yet decide to see Avatar if enough reviews like those keep coming out. Or if enough people I respect have good things to say about it. I haven’t seen a review of the film from Fox News. I wonder if that’s because they hated it and are hesitant to publish that, or because they loved it but don’t want to promote a treasonous piece of Marxist propaganda.

But I’m still waiting for the preeminent curator of culture to weigh in. After Glenn Beck’s revelations about the secret socialist art that is hidden in plain sight throughout Manhattan, I couldn’t really draw a conclusion on this without his insight. I’m sure he will find demonic horrors in the film that even Cameron didn’t know were there. And only Beck can decipher the coded signals to ACORN operatives and radical environmentalists that are surely cloaked in between the frames.

Sleep with one eye open, children. The lefties are now invading your thoughts in 3D.

Tags: Avatar, Fox News, Glenn Beck, James Cameron, Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch’s pet paranoidal pea-brain, Glenn Beck, has been a persistent purveyor of fear for years. He has predicted the most dire catastrophes for America, its economy, its values, and its people. The stench of doom that surrounds him is debilitating even in small doses.

On his program yesterday, Beck leveled an accusation that President Obama, or someone on his staff, had threatened Sen. Ben Nelson with the closing of a military base in Benson’s state, Nebraska. The only evidence of such a threat was a posting by a former McCain spokesman with an anonymous source on the conservative Weekly Standard web site. But Beck has blown this unreliable, unverified, rumor up into a serious allegation that crossed over into territory into which even he can’t believe he is going:

“The Obama administration is possibly — and I can’t bring myself to say these words because it is abhorrent if it is true but it sure fits the pattern. They’re playing politics with the national security of the United States.”

Despite insisting that he couldn’t say the abhorrent words, he managed to summon up the resolve to say them in the very next sentence. And with those words he came within a hair’s breadth of declaring President Obama a traitor - several times.

“There’s a story at the bottom of the hour that if it is true, and we have three sources on it now, if it is true. I mean how much closer do you get to treason?“

“But his party reportedly very angry and allegedly making threats. This one borders treason, I believe.”

“Threatening to weaken our national security defenses to fulfill your Utopian social justice agenda. To me that borders on treason.“

Beck has a lot of nerve accusing other people of treason. There are numerous examples of him making statements that are hard to interpret as anything less than treasonous. He agreed with his guest Michael Scheuer, that…

“… the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.”

And he declared his own enmity of America in a discussion that speculated about civil war:

“And don’t get me wrong. I am against the government, and I think that they have just been horrible, and I do think they are betraying the principles of our founders every day they’re in office.”

During yesterday’s program, Beck dispensed his usual legal disclaimer that he may not have all the information necessary to draw a conclusion. He conceded that all parties involved, the White House and Sen. Nelson, have denied the allegation, which they did emphatically. Yet, just as he did with his floating of the FEMA prison camp nonsense, Beck went just far enough to introduce the heinous charges, then allowed them to simmer while his conspiracy-addled audience sucked in the fumes of malicious hearsay. But even that wasn’t enough as Beck explicitly characterized these rumors as fact:

“It doesn’t matter if it’s credible or not that they could do it. The fact that they threatened it — it is our national security.”

The truth is that the whole scenario is not credible and they couldn’t do it. The procedure for base closings takes years and was designed specifically to disallow political influence. Both the White House and Sen. Nelson would be aware of this. Therefore, the only purpose for advancing a vile and improbable lie like this one is to slander the President. Beck is deliberately seeking to cast the nation’s leader as a traitor, which could lead to removing him from office and imprisoning or even executing him. And since these charges are wholly unsupported, Beck’s intentions would be tantamount to assassination. This, if true, would make Beck a traitor. Is Glenn Beck guilty of treason? Well, to paraphrase him…

“No one wants to believe that the president of the United States host of a TV program or any of his advisors would stoop to these kinds of tactics. But what are we supposed to believe here?”

Exactly! What are we supposed to believe? I’m not accusing Beck of anything. I’m just asking questions. Beck knows that he can reach me here at this web site to respond to or correct any misinformation. To date he has not done so. That leads me to conclude that all of this is true. Why else wouldn’t he contact me?

Tags: Barack Obama, Ben Nelson, Fox News, Glenn Beck, Michael Scheuer, Rupert Murdoch

Last week a featured Fox Nation story was posted with the following image that made the point that the Obama’s failed to mention Christmas on their holiday cards (just as the Bush’s failed to do).

I wonder if the Fox Nationalists will now post a headline story about their boss, Rupert Murdoch. Here is how he addressed his “holiday” message that went out this morning:

Subject: A note to all staff: Mr. Murdoch’s Holiday Greetings 2009

The entirety of the message made no reference to Christmas whatsoever. Isn’t this an affront to God fearing Christian Americans who demand that all greetings of the season explicitly reference their savior with no other recognition of the pagan non-believers? Isn’t this more evidence of the suppression of the Christian values that our country was based on?

I can’t wait to see how Bill O’Reilly will cover this insult to “the folks.” And I’m certain that Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck will also speak up for the oppressed faithful. Right-wing blogs are sure to go wild over yet another example of political correctness from an elitist media baron. Ya think? How can Murdoch so cavalierly abandon the values of traditional Americans? While he may have chosen to excise Christmas from his message, he did say this:

“Together we informed and entertained, but more importantly, enriched the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the globe. We continued to pursue our goal of being the world’s best producer of media content, spreading the message of freedom we all believe in. Across all our businesses we advanced our digital initiatives, while holding true to our values and commitment to change for the better, including our support for clean energy and the environment.“

Where does Murdoch get off talking about a message that “we all believe in,” or claiming to be “holding true to our values,” when he has blatantly betrayed those beliefs and values? And what is this business of support for the environment? Sure, there is a web page on the News Corp. site that professes to be concerned about the state of the environment, but virtually every one of his writers and television presenters relentlessly disparage efforts to protect the environment, even calling them hoaxes, harmful, and socialistic.

All of this makes Murdoch’s holiday greeting a farce that shows nothing but contempt for the Christian supremacy that Fox News and America stand for. And now is the time to let him know that his offense will not be tolerated. All good Christians are now called upon to boycott Murdoch’s media empire, starting with Fox News. Good luck brothers. We can stop this sacrilege and restore America to the theocratic utopia it was intended to be.

Tags: Fox Nation, Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, War On Christmas

On today’s program, Glenn Beck pulled aside the veil to reveal his true face. It is a face whose features were familiar from a long beheld visible silhouette. But now it was nakedly transparent. He has finally assumed his place as the broadcast bishop, the cable cleric, the television vicar. Rev. Glenn’s sermon today commenced with a scripture from the holy Fathers of the Founding:

“The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.” - Thomas Jefferson

This verse laid the foundation for a series of lessons that placed a new focus on the American theocracy. And the first lesson was a reaffirmation of the importance of God to real Americans, and God’s insignificance to those evil progressives.

Beck: Progressives had to get rid of God [...] Who is the government to tell us what to do? It’s our power. Wrong again! It is not our power. It is God. Our founders knew it comes from God to us and we give it to the government [...] The earth is bigger than you. And the government is just protecting the earth. It all comes down to this: The climate cult is teaching your children that the earth is God.

To illustrate the transformational power of the presence of the Lord in a modern world dominated by the worship of science, Rev. Glenn recited the parable of Galileo, a renaissance astronomer who paid a dear price for his commitment to knowledge.

Beck: Galileo - The man who fought against the power structure of his own time to enlighten mankind that the earth wasn’t flat and the sun, not the earth, was the center of the solar system. It was those who held power that tried to shut him down. Just as those who are in power now try to shut up all who disagree now. Galileo is in the tower again.

Some may find irony in Rev. Beck referencing Galileo to analogize what is occurring today with regard to climate change. After all, it was not just any power structure that oppressed Galileo, it was the church. It was an ecumenical establishment that feared the impact of Galileo’s findings, which just happened to be contrary to church doctrine. So the church harassed and imprisoned this seeker of truth unto his death.

Now Rev. Beck is making an argument that is ostensibly in support of science, even though his position on climate change is diametrically opposed to the vast majority of scientists. And he is simultaneously advocating returning authority over our nation to God - you know, the supreme master of the power structure that oppressed Galileo. Beck asserts that it is the minority of faith-based and industry-aligned researchers who are the Galileos of today, and that by accepting their unsupported conclusions and submitting to the will of God we are somehow honoring the memory of Galileo.

But Galileo was a lone advocate of an unpopular and dangerous opinion. He was a man of science fighting a powerful theocratic establishment that wanted to suppress any knowledge that interfered with doctrinal teachings. Rev. Beck, on the other hand, is a science denier who would squelch men like Galileo and wants to impose the same sort of theocracy that persecuted him.

It’s takes real courage to advance a position that is so brazenly contradictory and lacking in logical reasoning. But we are talking about the great Rev. Beck. How many other alleged scholars can castigate adherents to global warming theory as “climate cultists” while the logo for their network is spinning in the corner with a new green hue commemorating the Climate Conference in Copenhagen?

Does Rev. Beck know that Pope Rupert has directed his corporate empire to pursue green policies and is “committed to addressing its impact on climate change?” Murdoch has even expressed his view that News Corp has an obligation to educate and engage their readers and viewers on the matter:

Murdoch: Imagine if we succeed in inspiring our audiences to reduce their own impacts on climate change by just 5 percent. That would be like turning the State of California off for almost a year.”

Does Pope Rupert know that his cardinals are undermining his directives? Does he know that, contrary to educating the public, they are willfully misinforming them? Does he know that in addition to Rev. Beck, that Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Neil Cavuto, the cast of Fox & Friends, and others in his broadcast and publishing world, are all subverting the message he has laid down as company policy? It seems unlikely that he wouldn’t know what is being promulgated on his network and in his papers. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the policy is just phony window dressing designed to mislead the public and is meant to be ignored. It is not unlike much of the scripture that is ignored by wealthy, free market, money changers who pretend to be pious, but who are only interested in their own comfort and self-aggrandizement.

And it is for that reason that Rev. Beck exists - to satisfy the spiritual lust of greedy, egomaniacs and the pathetic disciples they deceive. He is their path to salvation and their justification for living lives devoted to materialism and selfishness. Can I get an amen?

Tags: Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rupert Murdoch

News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch appeared today at a conference sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. His address touched upon many of the issues he has been peddling recently regarding journalism’s future and the Internet.

Murdoch continues to make noises about locking up his content behind pay walls. That is as unlikely now as it was when he first proposed it. Few will pay for the disinformation he calls news. He still believes that Google is stealing his product and he repeats his threat to de-list it from the search giant. We’re still waiting, Rupert. And we’re still waiting for you to stop stealing the content of others on your Fox News and Fox Nation web sites, where you do exactly what you are accusing Google and other aggregators of doing.

Among the more intriguing remarks he made today were those associated with the government’s involvement, or lack thereof, with media. In Murdoch’s view the government ought to stay away from any effort to help the struggling industry. By this he means that anything resembling a bailout ought to be avoided. Let the weaker players fail. At the same time he is anxious for government to get involved with respect to reforming regulations. Particularly those that impose limits on cross-ownership.

What Murdoch wants is for the government to refrain from any initiative that might help shaky media enterprises because he is more than happy to see them fail. They are his competition. When they go under, his market share increases, at least potentially. And while many media firms are struggling financially, Murdoch has the resources to deficit finance his own operations until the economy improves. Then he can scoop up new business and failed businesses at bargain rates. Especially if he is freed from the ownership caps he hopes to be able to eliminate.

It is a cynical and cold-hearted strategy that feeds off of the misfortune of others. And it is quintessentially Rupert.

Tags: Fox News, Rupert Murdoch

On the heels of reports that Rupert Murdoch’s sensationalistic tabloid, the New York Post, is severely wobbling financially and bleeding circulation, comes this report from the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein about a fired NY Post employee’s lawsuit against the paper.

Sandra Guzman was terminated by the Post after she had leveled criticism of an overtly racist cartoon that portrayed President Obama as a chimpanzee. Guzman’s allegations cover a broad sweep of misconduct by the paper and its editor, Col Allan. Stein writes…

“As part of the 38-page complaint, Guzman paints the Post newsroom as a male-dominated frat house and Allan in particular as sexist, offensive and domineering. Guzman alleges that she and others were routinely subjected to misogynistic behavior. She says that hiring practices at the paper — as well as her firing — were driven by racial prejudices rather than merit.

And she recounts the paper’s D.C. bureau chief stating that the publication’s goal was to ‘destroy [President] Barack Obama.’”

The lawsuit alleges that the environment at the Post was a hotbed of salacious innuendo, undisguised racism, and open political partisanship. Read Stein’s article for the juicy details. He has also posted a copy of the full complaint.

This is just another embarrassing episode for the Murdoch family of pseudo-news operations, and should further lock in Murdoch’s legacy as a disreputable purveyor of filth and lies.

Tags: Barack Obama, Col Allan, New York Post, Rupert Murdoch, Sam Stein, Sandra Guzman

News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch gave a wide-ranging interview to his own Sky News Australia. He is apparently not in a very good mood.

The interview touched on the so-called “war” between Fox News and the White House. Murdoch was asked a question about assertions that Fox is “an arm of the Republican Party.” Murdoch responded saying, “Everyone knows that’s nonsense” and charging that White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, is “a very young, inexperienced guy.” Of course, it was White House communications director, Anita Dunn, who made the comment, not Gibbs. Murdoch continued his defense of the fairness of Fox by bashing President Obama. When asked how the President was doing, Murdoch glibly replied with one word: “Badly.” He then claimed that only a couple of commentators on the network were presenting opinions. However, we know that isn’t true. Nevertheless, he falsely asserted that…

“We have on Republicans and we have on Democrats and we have them debate. The other networks only have Democrats, or something to the left of them.”

The truth, however, is that Fox does not have now, nor ever has had, a program hosted solely by a Democrat/liberal. CNN has Lou Dobbs, Nancy Grace, and until a few months ago, Glenn Beck. MSNBC currently has a three hour morning show hosted by conservative former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough. They have also employed Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Michael Savage. Despite the evident dishonesty by Murdoch, he still defends his network’s balance. When the interviewer inquired as to characterizations of the President as Stalinist, Murdoch firmly objected saying,

“No no, not Stalin I don’t think. I don’t know who that is. Not one of our people.”

Oh really?

This screenshot is from the Glenn Beck show wherein Beck displayed pictures of Hitler, Stalin, and Lenin, and asked, “Is this where we’re headed?” But perhaps the most shocking moment in the interview was when Murdoch was asked about Beck calling the President a racist. Despite the widespread condemnation of Beck, the loss of eighty advertisers, and even Murdoch’s qualification that the comment may not have been proper, Murdoch openly and unequivocally declared that he agrees with Beck.

“He [Obama] did make a very racist comment about blacks and whites and so on. Which he said in his campaign he would be completely above. And it was something that, perhaps, shouldn’t have been said about the President, but if you actually assess what he [Beck] was talking about, he was right.”

So now we have an unadulterated admission from Murdoch that he believes the President is a racist. If there was ever a time to make Murdoch pay for the blatant bias and hostility for which he and his enterprise are responsible, it is now. If Beck can lose eighty advertisers for calling Obama a racist, what penalty should Murdoch pay?

Two organizations have already embarked on protest activities aimed at Fox News. Color of Change is the group that successfully persuaded advertisers to shun Beck. MoveOn has a petition requesting that Democratic representatives avoid fox News. Both of the groups should now escalate the actions to include all Fox programs and all Democratic and progressive politicians, advisors, consultants, etc.

Fox News, and the rest of the Murdoch empire, has absolutely no credibility or integrity. They do not deserve to be regarded as a news enterprise. They have demonstrated their overt prejudice and their intent on being rightist advocates, not journalists. Murdoch says that he wants to be remembered as…

“…someone who has contributed to the world and has tried to make the world more interesting and better. And used the media to good effect.”

Well he certainly has made a contribution. He has contributed Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity and more division and hatred than any media organization before him. And he has used the media to good effect. Well…it’s good if you like people shouting down free speech at town hall meetings and carrying posters of the President with Hitler mustaches. So it is our duty to treat them the same way we would treat partisans like the National Review, the Weekly Standard, WorldNetDaily, the Drudge Report, or any other avowed opponent. It is time to make a stand.

Stay the HELL off of Fox News: Starve The Beast!

Update: Media Matters has started an online petition calling on Murdoch to apologize. I don’t think that he will do so, but I do think it helps to send a message to him and the rest of the media that his remarks are objectionable and inappropriate. So go sign the petition.

Update II: Gary Ginsberg, a spokesman for Murdoch told Politico that Murdoch “does not at all, for a minute, think the president is a racist.” Sort of makes you wonder what he meant when he said that Glenn Beck was right when he called Obama a racist. But Ginsberg refused any further comment.

Tags: Anita Dunn, Barack Obama, Color of Change, Fox News, Glenn Beck, MoveOn, Robert Gibbs, Rupert Murdoch

The New York Times is reporting some bad news for Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post:

“Three years ago Col Allan, the editor of The New York Post, pumped his fist and waded into a cheering crowd at a Midtown restaurant, celebrating The Post’s overtaking its rival, The Daily News, in weekday circulation. The Post trumpeted the news on a Times Square billboard and in its pages.” [...] “Mr. Allan, who called it ‘a joyous occasion’ when The Post took the lead, now takes a more subdued view of the competition, saying in an e-mail exchange that ‘whether we are a little in front or a little behind has no impact on our forward business plan.’”

This turnaround in attitude is the result of a 30% drop in circulation for the Post in the past two and a half years. That is a bigger and faster decline than most of his competitors in a time of difficulty for the entire industry. This loss of readers comes on top of the paper losing approximately $50 million a year for the past ten years. Sources for the Times put the figure this year at $70 million. One must wonder how long Murdoch will tolerate such losses. He has shown in the past great patience for money-losing operations. He deficit financed Fox News for five years. He has been losing money on both MySpace and the Fox Business Network for two years. He doesn’t seemed to be the least bit phased by Glenn Beck’s loss of some 80 advertisers.

What this demonstrates is that Murdoch is not just the greedy media baron some think. He obviously is committed to his ideologies and the “news” enterprises that disseminate them. And if it costs him a few tens of millions of dollars, so be it.

Tags: Fox News, New York Post, Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch has been whining for months about Google and other Internet search sites “stealing” his content. His complaint is that web users seeking information will search on sites like Google and then be directed to News Corp pages like Fox News and the Wall Street Journal. This is apparently something to which he objects.

It is hard to find any logic in his complaints. If traffic is directed to his web sites it increases his page views, which permits him to charge more for advertising. It also presents an opportunity to convert those readers into loyal customers from whom he can solicit subscription fees. It is difficult to grasp what he is so upset about. Particularly since he can put an end to it all by simply placing a line or two of code in a file (robots.txt) that will restrict Google and others from indexing his sites and sending them more traffic.

Murdoch’s lament has evolved into a threat to remove his sites from Google. Of course, Google has long made known that he could do that at any time. What really makes this impotent threat even more perplexing is that he is now saying that he will carry it out in conjunction with his intent to make his sites accessible only to paying customers. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that once he constructs his pay wall, the content would not be available to Google’s users anyway. In effect he is saying that he will withhold his content from people who already can’t access it. That’ll show ‘em.

During the interview Murdoch demonstrated his ignorance of the Internet and his own businesses. He asserted that the Wall Street Journal already did bar non-subscribers. That isn’t entirely true. If you search for an article on the WSJ site, you will only be able to view a paragraph without signing up. But you can search for the same article on Google and read the whole thing. Once again, that’s under Murdoch’s control, not Google’s.

Murdoch also demonstrated his hypocrisy. While he is slamming Google and other content aggregators for linking to his properties, he is doing the very same thing with his Fox Nation web site. Fox Nation is nothing more than a hub for news items from other sources. So Murdoch, by his own definition is “stealing” their content.

The Sky interview also covered Murdoch’s views about the BBC, which he called a “scandal.” Clearly he is disturbed by a publicly supported news enterprise that is committed to providing news and information for free, while he is anxiously plotting to close off his content to anyone unwilling to feather his nest. He has even threatened to sue other news providers for copyright infringement. Someone might want to inform him that, unless you overtly plagiarize an article, the news does not belong to anyone. If Fox reports on a shooting in Texas, they cannot prevent me from reporting the same thing, so long as I don’t cut and paste their story verbatim.

I can’t wait until Murdoch comes through on his threats to cut off Google and to bar access to his web sites. Reducing the amount of garbage that Murdoch showers on the world will be a big contribution to journalism and the advancement of knowledge.

Tags: Fox News, Google, Rupert Murdoch

When News Corp released their quarterly earnings yesterday, analysts took the opportunity to address some issues that have plagued the company’s cable news division, Fox News. News Corp Chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch, was characteristically combative - and dishonest.

The key question was from Brian Stelter of the New York Times:

“There was much talk in the past three months about an agreement between News Corporation and General Electric to limit the attacks between Fox and MSNBC. Is News Corporation continuing to seek to limit those attacks?”

Let’s just ignore the prejudicial framing of the question that implies that Fox has already been seeking to limit attacks. There has been absolutely no evidence of that, so it makes no sense to ask if it will continue. Murdoch, however, wasn’t going to complain about a such a propitiously delivered inquiry. He responded by whining that “they started it.”

“We did not start this abuse, which we thought went way beyond – it was personal and went way beyond – not on me, but on others, and it was finally we had to allow people to retaliate. And the moment they stop, we’ll stop.”

The truth, however, is a quite different from Murdoch’s representation. The hostility between Fox and it’s cable news colleagues was initiated by Fox from the day they launched in 1996. The utterly cynical “fair and balanced” slogan was an intentional slap at the other networks, whom they were accusing of bias. The meaning of the slogan was not that Fox would present the news with fairness or balance, but that they would serve to counter what they delusionally viewed as the imbalance of the rest of the media.

Since the ideological battle between the networks began on the day Fox debuted, Murdoch can hardly accuse the other networks of starting the abuse. But it didn’t stop there. In January of 2007, Fox ran an on-air promo that said they were “The only cable news channel that does not bring you the usual left wing bias.”

And that wasn’t all. They subsequently ran ads that accused CNN of being partisan and the Fox Nation promos declared that it was “time to say no to biased media.” More recently, they falsely claimed in a trade ad that CNN had failed to cover the Tea Bagger events that Fox itself was sponsoring. So much for fairness and balance. Murdoch himself admitted that his network’s slogan was a fraud in April of 2008 when he said…

“It’s very hard to be neutral. People laugh at us because we call ourselves ‘Fair and Balanced.’ Fact is, CNN, who’s always been extremely liberal, never had a Republican or conservative voice on it.”

People are laughing at you because you make such hysterically inane remarks like that one. Just a reminder - CNN’s lineup of conservatives: Robert Novak, Pat Buchanan, Mary Matalin, Tucker Carlson, Lynne Cheney, Lou Dobbs, etc. Fox’s lineup of liberals: Alan Colmes.

Not only was Murdoch wrong about who started this war, he also improperly asserted that it was made personal by his rivals. That doesn’t really square with the facts. How would he characterize this comment from Bill O’Reilly:

“[T]here is a huge problem in this country and I’m going to attack that problem. I’m going to attack it. These people aren’t getting away with this. I’m going to go right where they live. Every corrupt media person in this country is on notice, right now. I’m coming after you…I’m going to hunt you down [...] if I could strangle these people and not go to hell and get executed…I would.”

Nah, that aint personal. And then there was the time that Roger Ailes threatened that he would “unleash O’Reilly against NBC and would use the New York Post as well.” That was just after O’Reilly called GE chairman Jeffrey Immelt “a despicable human being” who was responsible for the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq. And Ailes kept his promise about unleashing the New York Post who published hit pieces on Keith Olbermann that included his home address. No, not personal at all.

Now Murdoch is misrepresenting the entire affair. It is demonstrably evident that Fox started the name-calling and bullying long before this current imbroglio began. And it was Fox who escalated it to bitter and personal insults. Now Murdoch says that “the moment they stop, we’ll stop.” That is almost exactly what Fox said in May of last year. But since then, Fox has only become more adversarial, showing no interest in anything but conflict and confrontation.

So contrary to Murdoch’s assertion, Fox not only started the abuse, they raised it to unprecedented levels. Now Murdoch complains that he doesn’t like it. Well, he’s saddled with it now. He invented it and promoted it. It is his legacy. Along with giving the world nutcases like Glenn Beck. That is how we remember Rupert Murdoch.

Tags: Bill O'Reilly, CNN, Fox News, Jeffrey Immelt, MSNBC, News Corp, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch

Much has been made the past week of the so-called “war” between the White House and Fox News. Never mind the fact that there is nothing occurring that remotely approaches being characterized as even a metaphorical war. The administration merely expressed an opinion that Fox is more engaged in partisanship than journalism, a view most objective analysts would regard as obvious.

Ironically, it is Fox itself that has been the most vocal about the dispute. They have devoted more airtime to it and have enlisted their corporate cousins at Fox Nation, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal to pile on. And at the same time that they bemoan their being the target of a presidential smackdown, their own Glenn Beck offers his conspiratorial thesis that it is all an attempt to distract the public from the administration’s attempt to ram what he calls a socialistic, government-run health care bill through Congress. In a double-reverse, pitchback, fakeout, Beck’s accusation that this spat is nothing but a red herring is delivered even as he dedicates the majority of his own program to the fishy story. He is, therefore, a major contributor to the distraction about which he is complaining.

This is the sort of strategic schizophrenia that makes it difficult to even bother trying to engage with Fox. They want people to believe that they are a credible news enterprise, yet they sponsor anti-Obama tea party protests. They want people to believe that they are fair and balanced, but they populate their air with wall-to-wall propaganda and Republican talking points. They want people to discriminate between what they claim is their news and editorial content, but their news is fully contaminated by the right-wing fungi with which their editorial is fatally infected.

It appears that the only way to relate to Fox is to disengage. That is the course that Jane Hall, an associate professor in the School of Communication at American University, and a frequent Fox contributor, has taken. This weekend on CNN’s Reliable Sources she told Howard Kurtz that she has left Fox and gave as part of her reason that…

HALL: I’m also, frankly, uncomfortable with Beck, who I think should be called out as somebody whose language is way over the top. And it’s scary.

KURTZ: Was that a factor in your decision to leave Fox?

HALL: Yes, it was.

I can’t help but wonder why more people haven’t come to the same conclusion. An association with Fox can only bring derision and ill repute to anyone who actually covets a career in journalism. Being yoked to Fox ought to be regarded as scarlet letter that permanently stains any hope of a reputation for ethical reporting.

It is time to start holding people accountable for the choices they make and for the partners with whom they align themselves. If someone elects to be on the same team as Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, that relationship cannot be swept under the rug. They must expect to be identified as the professional comrades that they are. Just as Jane Hall ankled Fox due to her objection to being affiliated with Beck, any others who share that objection ought to do the same thing.

This is not a case of an aversion to being affiliated with a deviant associate who broke the law or violated rules of the company or society. Certainly Katie Couric should not be held to blame because another employee of CBS News was caught blackmailing David Letterman. In the case of Fox, the deviants are celebrated and highly promoted by Fox. They are regarded as treasures and they contribute significantly to Fox’s success. They are not black sheep, they are leaders and they are the most visible icons of Fox’s identity.

For this reason people like Chris Wallace should not be able to set aside his relationship to Sean Hannity. In fact, Wallace has said of Hannity that “I generally agree with him.” Major Garrett cannot pretend to be a journalist when he shares airtime with Bill O’Reilly. In fact, Garrett, formerly of the Washington “Moonie” Times, is amongst many Fox presenters who has written books that are as overtly partisan as O’Reilly’s. And all the other wannabe reporters who rub shoulders with the likes of Dick Morris, Ann Coulter, Neil Cavuto, etc., should be made to feel the embarrassment they are due.

Most importantly, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch cannot be permitted to wash the slime from his hands. Rupert Murdoch IS Glenn Beck. They are inseparable and indistinguishable. Murdoch likes to present himself as an old school news publisher, but he is actually a tabloid sensationalist who has done more to tarnish the profession of journalism than anyone before him. His purchase of the Wall Street Journal was intended in part to bring him respect and to co-opt the credibility of the iconic financial digest. But instead of the Journal lending its glow to Murdoch, Murdoch has leeched his bile onto the Journal. From now on the Wall Street Journal is the paper of Glenn Beck. His picture should appear in the masthead. In fact, Glenn Beck’s alternately smirking and scowling visage should grace the cover of every News Corp enterprise. It should be sewn onto the lapels of every News Corp reporter. It should edited into every Fox News program and promo.

It is precisely because the editorial content at Fox is indistinguishable from what they call news, that no one in the Murdoch family of companies should be allowed any distance from the insane ravings of Glenn Beck. From now on it is Glenn Beck’s Fox News, Glenn Beck’s Wall Street Journal, Glenn Beck’s Rupert Murdoch. If Murdoch is happy to sponsor Beck’s program, even as advertisers desert it, then let him be melded to it. If he is proud of his racist and incendiary provocateur, then fasten Beck around his neck and let this be the legacy he leaves. If Beck is what he wants, then Beck is what he gets. And Murdoch will forever be remembered, not as a media baron or press magnate, but as a disreputable exploiter of division and hate. His legacy, in the twilight of his career, is inextricably intertwined with the mugging buffoonery of Glenn Beck. And heretofore, no one will be able to conjure up the memory of Murdoch without being drenched in the spittle and dementia of Beck. Congratulations Rupert.

[Update:] Beck has responded to Jane Hall, calling her “that idiot who left Fox:”

BECK: “Well, don’t let the door hit you on the ass when you leave. I’m going to miss you, I am, whatever your name is.”

Here we have Glenn Beck, a drug-addicted, alcoholic dropout, calling Hall, a Phi Beta Kappa with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, an idiot. And Beck doesn’t even know her name although she’s been a Fox News contributor for eleven years. No wonder she doesn’t want to be associated with that network anymore. Why would anyone want to be?

Tags: Fox News, Glenn Beck, Howard Kurtz, Jane Hall, Rupert Murdoch, Wall Street Journal

Marc Lamont Hill is described on his web site as “one of the leading hip-hop generation intellectuals.” He is an author and a professor at Columbia University. For the past few years he has also been a paid contributor at Fox News.

Hill’s appearances on Fox have been almost exclusively with Bill O’Reilly. He is actually one of the few foils who has demonstrated an ability to hold his own, to not get railroaded by O’Reilly, and to hold fast to true liberal arguments. In other words, he is no Juan Williams (aka Right-Wing Tool/Fool).

The news out of this morning’s annual meeting of News Corp shareholders is that Hill has been fired. This announcement came right from Murdoch himself. Murdoch was responding to a question about why he would employ a radical leftist defender of cop killers.

It appears that Hill was getting the Van Jones treatment and that Murdoch was as thin-skinned as President Obama. The question was presumably from Cliff Kincaid of the uber-rightist Accuracy in Media. Kincaid had issued a press release prior to the meeting announcing that he would be posing this challenge to Murdoch. Kincaid is so far to the right that he has railed against what he views as the “leftward drift” of both Matt Drudge and Fox News.

Well, now those drifting pinkos at Fox have set Prof. Hill adrift. They certainly couldn’t tolerate the presence of an intelligent, articulate, black man, spoiling the fun of the 24 hour Tea Party people at Fox. It will be interesting to see if O’Reilly has anything to say about the blackballing of one of his most frequent guests.

But Hill ought to have known better. He was crossing a river with a scorpion on his back. Did he think he would not get stung? Had he not taken the time to look around at the pathetic husks of Juan Williams, Kirsten Powers, Alan Colmes, or the rest of the limp losers who Fox allows to represent their version of the left? It was just a matter of time.

This is further evidence that it is a complete waste of breath to appear on Fox News. It only lends them credibility that haven’t earned on their own. It permits the false claim of fairness and balance to persist. It boosts their ratings. The fireworks sparked by the conflict and manufactured debate is what Fox thrives on. I couldn’t be happier that Hill was fired. I hope that he’s learned something from the experience, and I hope that others take it as a warning.

No good can come from fraternizing with scorpions.

Tags: Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, Marc Lamont Hill, Rupert Murdoch

When a courageous speaker of truth emerges from the forest of lies that is modern media, the risk is ever present that censorship, suppression, or worse could occur. Sadly, that is the case today. Glenn Beck produced an episode of his program that continued his valiant search for communists burrowing into the woodwork of America like subversive termites eating away at the foundation of our national home. However, this episode has mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately, I have acquired a transcript (h/t Esquire) of the “Lost Episode” that reveals perhaps the most insidious enemy of freedom yet unveiled by Beck.

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GLENN BECK: THE RUPERT CONNECTION [Transcript]
[Editor: Everything below regarding Murdoch and China is true]

GLENN BECK: My viewers know that I am not the sort of guy who resorts to sensationalism and hyperbole, but today’s show is going to cause blood to shoot out of your eyes. You will totally freak out and very likely wet your pants, as I did when I found this out. In short, there are forces in the media who are directing the course of our nation’s future, and it’s not who you think it is.

If you think this country is great, but ogres are hiding under the bed waiting to defile you while you sleep, then wake up - and come on, follow me.

Hello America. I am going to ask you to pay special attention to today’s program because this is going to get complicated. Keep a pencil and notepad handy. You will want to take notes.

On previous shows I’ve warned you about the extreme radicals and avowed communists that are holding important positions in our government. I’ve warned you about conspiracies like ACORN and the National Endowment for the Arts. I’ve exposed Van Jones and Mark Lloyd and Valerie Jarrett. I know, the liberal elite are going to complain that I only go after black folks. “Oh, he’s a racist. He doesn’t like the darkies.” But that isn’t true. I also exposed the safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings, and he is a white fag…I mean gay. The point is that radicals are taking root at every level of government. People who hate the principles we devout Christians hold dear.

But today’s program is about more than just the government. Oh yes, it touches every part of the government but it has maybe even more power in this country and around the world. It’s the media.

When I talked earlier this year about how we, the patriots and truthtellers, are actually surrounding all of the weasels and the traitors, I meant every word. Barack Hussein Obama’s czars have been dispatched to every corner of Washington’s power grid. But in the case of the media, it really is surrounding us. It’s everywhere. In our homes, our cars, our offices, our fast food restaurants. It is being fed into us intravenously. We are all being indoctrinated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I don’t want to scare you, but I’m speaking to you right now on the media. Sure, the liberal pansies will cry “But aren’t you a big, rich, media star, with all your TV and radio and books?” And I shout right back at them “Well maybe I am, but you’re forgetting that I rarely make any sense and besides, shut your friggin pie hole!”

I want to tell you all something that I just recently learned from the guy who delivers my pizza. He stumbled on an article in that bastion of progressive propaganda, the New York Times, that was hidden under a pile of Hefty bags in the alley behind his shop. Now how did it get there? Hmmm? A copy of a major American newspaper, rolled up and stuffed in the trash? What are they trying to hide? Quite a lot, as you’ll soon see.

Now, it is not commonly known that the biggest media mogul in the world is a fellow named Rupert Murdoch. He runs more TV and newspaper businesses throughout the world than anyone, but still complains about the bias in the mainstream press. I mean, duh. Who does he think he is, the Pennysaver? He’s Australian by birth, but he went to live in socialist Europe, and later came to the United States. When he wanted to buy an American TV network, he got his socialist friends in the Congress to make him a U.S. citizen, which was a prerequisite for owning a network. After receiving that special treatment, he made sure to bash any other immigrants who aspired to live and work the greatest country in the world.

Then he began to build what is the most frightening corporate empire you can ever imagine. Now, the problem isn’t just that it’s big, because I happen to love big business and free enterprise. The problem is who he is in business with.

This Murdoch is very tightly entwined with one of America’s most vicious enemies. The People’s Republic of China. This association begins in his own family. His third wife, Wendi Deng, is a mainland Chinese who once worked for his Hong Kong-based satellite broadcast company, Star TV. Star TV was run by James Murdoch, Rupert’s son. Um, OK. James is the guy who complained that western reporters in China supported “destabilizing forces” that are “very, very dangerous for the Chinese government.” So let me get this straight. He was defending the communists against reporters from America? OK.

Under the supervision of Rupert and James, Star TV bent its programming to favor the brutal Chinese regime. In 1994 it dropped BBC News, which had frequently angered Chinese officials. One of the reports that angered the Chinese was of the brave soul who famously stood up to a flank of Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square. The BBC replayed that video too much, so Murdoch had the network banished.

By cooperating with the communist censors in China, Murdoch earned the friendship of some very important people. The article in the Times noted that…

“His courtship has made him the Chinese leadership’s favorite foreign media baron. He has dined with former President Jiang Zemin in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing and repeatedly met other members of the ruling Politburo in Beijing, New York and London. Television channels affiliated with Mr. Murdoch beam more programming into China than any other foreign media group.”

Uh oh. So this relationship was a boon to his financial interests. Do you think that the $50 billion ad market in China had anything to do with that? I don’t know, I’m just asking. But Murdoch was awfully cozy with these guys. His book publishing division, HarperCollins, was kind enough to put out a book of fawning propaganda about the former leader, Deng Xiaoping, that was written by his daughter, Deng Rong. He also halted publication of a book by former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten that was critical of the Chinese. Hmmm. Propaganda good - criticism bad.

In 1996, Murdoch entered a joint venture with Liu Changle, a onetime radio host for the People’s Liberation Army. And you know those radio hosts. They aren’t nothin but a bunch of ignorant, egotistical, blowhards trying to spread disinformation. This new partnership led to an even closer association with China’s propaganda machine. Murdoch was now hanging out with Propaganda Department chief, Ding Guangen, and then Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji. Another partner was the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, considered the political power base of China’s new top leader, Hu Jintao. He parlayed these relationships into a new business, building the Internet sites for China Central Television (CCTV) and the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

Murdoch later was permitted to launch MySpace China. He agreed to all of China’s regulations on Internet censorship and placed a convenient link on every page for users to report inappropriate information to the authorities. How thoughtful of him. I wonder how many Chinese dissidents disappeared due that little feature?

If you are not already rolled up in the fetal position under a table, I don’t know what to tell you. This is serious stuff, and it is one of the reasons I have never feared more for the future of my country. When the biggest media conglomerate in the world is in bed with the world’s biggest communist nation, how much longer can we expect to remain free? And remember, China has us by the short hairs due to all of the U.S. debt they hold.

America…It is more important now than ever to be vigilant and strong. I don’t know how much longer I will be allowed to say these things in public. I told you before that certain entities were threatening to silence anyone who speaks truthfully. I told you to listen between the sentences where I will be screaming at you. I told you to be suspicious of any reports of my demise. Do you think I want to get on the air every night and tell you this stuff? I don’t want to believe these things, but unfortunately I find them true. It’s not my damn fault. Get off my fucking back. And stop following me around. I mean, come on, follow me. Believe me. Love me. Worship me. I’m doing all of this for you. Can’t you see that?

America is at a crossroads. Which way will we go? Further to the left, where communism, tyranny, aliens, and universal health care torment every citizen? Or back to the right, where unregulated free enterprise allows clowns like me to make millions by peddling fear and phony conspiracies? Do you want to repeat the Age of Enlightenment, when society was burdened with reason and the harshness of reality. Or would you prefer the glorious Dark Ages when people relied on faith and the comforting fear of a just and vengeful God?

I know which road I’m taking. I hope to see you on it. Good night, America.

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That’s the end of the transcript. The Murdoch/China connection is pretty well blown wide open now, thanks to Glenn Beck. The question is, will this episode ever see the light of day? And now that the transcript is out, will Beck be punished for his insolence? Is Murdoch already laying the groundwork for Beck’s downfall? What exactly is the connection between Murdoch and Color of Change, who have been orchestrating a surprisingly successful campaign aimed at Beck’s advertisers? About 80 advertisers have already declared that they will not purchase time on Beck’s program Could that have been accomplished without Murdoch’s knowledge and assistance?

I don’t know. I’m just asking?

Tags: ACORN, Barack Obama, Color of Change, Fox News, Glenn Beck, HarperCollins, James Murdoch, Kevin Jennings, Mark Lloyd, NEA, Rupert Murdoch, Valerie Jarrett, Van Jones