Censorship In America: Al-Jazeera And PBS

Posted by on February 15, 2011 at 1:19 pm. NO Comments :

At a time when some of the most consequential news stories are emanating from the Middle East, America’s cable companies are almost uniformly refusing to carry Al-Jazeera English, the news channel best equipped to cover events on the ground in their native territories.

Al-Jazeera has received high marks from a broad spectrum of analysts for their coverage of the uprising in Egypt. And with similar protests emerging in places like Algeria, Yemen, and Iran, they have insured that these important stories are being told throughout the world. American news organizations often pick up the Al-Jazeera feed for re-broadcast. This includes Fox News, whose pundits have harshly criticized Al-Jazeera even while their editors have incorporated the Al-Jazeera feeds into their programming.

Yesterday the Boston Globe published an op-ed by Juliette Kayyem, Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Programs at the Department of Homeland Security. She said in part that…

“Not carrying the network sends a message to the Arab world about America’s willingness to accept information, unfiltered, from the very region we spend so much time talking about.”

Kayyem proposed that Al-Jazeera be made available so that Americans can make their own decisions about its content. Cable companies ought not to be the arbiters of what constitutes legitimate news. Reaction to that op-ed was swiftly expressed by right-wing media including Fox Nation who linked to a post on the hysterically misnamed American Thinker. The item stated that AL Jazeera…

“…is filled with anti-American propaganda. It is also awash in anti-Semitism. The material broadcast stokes terror and violence.”

And that it is…

“…a channel that cannot help but inflame tensions and anger and one that is not known for unbiased accuracy.”

That sounds more like a description of the Glenn Beck Program. If that’s to be the standard for carriage of news networks on American cable, then Fox News should be immediately banned and removed from all systems.

It’s ironic that the conservative objections to Al-Jazeera come as they are also attempting to defund PBS and NPR. The right likes to complain about imagined assaults on free speech when they control one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and their domination of talk radio is nearly universal. But they simultaneously work to suppress the free speech of those with whom they disagree – or more correctly, those who report honestly, which generally serves to refute the lies propagated by the rightist press.

If you have cable you should immediately call your provider and demand that they carry Al-Jazeera. And while you’re at it, ask them to carry Current TV as well and place it in their basic package.

Also, call your representatives in Washington and demand that they support Public Television and Radio. There are bills that may be coming up for votes this week and we need to present a united front in favor of these invaluable resources. Several organizations are mobilizing support for PBS and NPR. Please visit each of them and sign on to save unbiased, corporate-free news.

PBS: 170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting
MoveOn: Save NPR and PBS
Free Press: Don’t Let Congress Silence NPR and PBS

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Flip Flop: Glenn Beck Embraces Community Organizing

Posted by on February 14, 2011 at 4:29 pm. 2 Comments :

Glenn BeckThere are a number of words and phrases that are repeated incessantly by Glenn Beck as he pontificates against the menagerie of menaces that haunt him. He is driven into a near panic by the mention of “social justice” or “transformation.” And because Barack Obama used the word “change” in his presidential campaign, anyone else who ever uses it in any context is immediately pegged as a member of the progressive cabal that seeks to destroy America.

But no other phrase is as foreboding to Beck as “community organizer.” He has spent years demonizing the notion as some sort of secret society mechanism that can only produce harm. He frequently disparages the President as the “Community-Organizer-in-Chief.” On his radio program on July 27, 2009, Beck said that…

“If you want to understand Barrack Obama (sic), you’ve got to think like a community organizer – one that is transforming America into some sort of a thugocracy, and in the process trampling on and erasing our individual rights.”

A few days ago Beck advocated the need to “rebuild our communities, and not through community organizing.” But he has now taken an abrupt turn to the enemy camp. In a shocking fit of betrayal Beck told his listeners that…

“Community organizing is going to change the world. And last week I said to you, before I found out about the Freedom Connector, if you’re not organized you lose. Why did this thing happen in Egypt? Because of organization. It is community organizing on a global scale. […] Community organizing is the answer. They’re doing it and they are way ahead of us. You must, must, must connect.”

So Glenn Beck is now a community organizer. The problem is, he doesn’t really grasp the concept. The “Freedom Connector” he mentioned is a new system he was announcing to help his Tea Party disciples clasp hands and fend off the nasty progressives and radicals that have infiltrated America. He teased his audience last week that he would be introducing this organizing tool that was brought to him by a couple of guys he had met with last year.

Beck never mentioned the names of the “guys” with whom he had met, but we now know who they are. The Freedom Connector turns out to be a project of FreedomWorks, the right-wing lobbying group led by Dick Armey that was instrumental in creating and bankrolling the Tea Party. I don’t think that wealthy lobbyists coordinating AstroTurf offshoots of the Republican Party qualify as community organizers. But that’s Beck’s version of it.

The revolutionary idea behind Freedom Connector is that it enables people to find friends and form groups of like interest. Gee, I wonder why no one ever thought of that before. It’s like a big social network where people can post their personal profiles and….oh, wait a minute. I guess Facebook has too many liberals and foreigners for the Beck/Tea Party crowd.

Technology is not a strong point for conservatives. There are too many young people associated with it and Beck hates those darn kids. On today’s program he actually escalated his assault on a Google employee who had helped to coordinate the protests in Egypt. Beck implied that Google was somehow responsible for this individual’s activities. Therefore, Beck advised his viewers not to use Google when researching his crackpot schemes. (Did Bing’s servers just get a traffic spike?)

I really am beginning to think that Beck may be attempting to preempt Jon Stewart and The Onion by coming up with stuff that is too crazy to satirize.


Fox News Producer Won’t Deny That Fox Makes Things Up

Posted by on February 13, 2011 at 10:20 am. 11 Comments :

This is classic:

Last week Media Matters published an interview with a former Fox News “insider” who revealed, among other things, that Fox News is a “propaganda outfit” that “makes things up.” So ThinkProgress sent Ben Armbruster to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) where he ran into O’Reilly Factor producer and “ambush” interviewer, Stuttering Jesse Watters. The result is this video that shows Watters completely unresponsive in his smarmy effort to evade a simple question: Do you think that Fox News just makes stuff up?

Watters weaved and dodged without even approaching a coherent response. Rather, he attempts to school Armbruster on the finer points of ambushing. But what’s truly hilarious is that Watters can’t even muster a denial that Fox News makes things up. That’s about as close to an admission as we’re likely to get.

Equally funny is the spin that Fox Nation puts on this event:

Yesterday at CPAC in Washington DC, a liberal blogger from a Soros-funded smear site attempted to “ambush” Fox News’ Jesse Watters, who was covering the conservative conference for FoxNation.com and whose “ambush” interviews are frequently featured on The O’Reilly Factor. It was an embarrassing disaster for the little left-wing blogger. We’re surprised he posted the video because it was such a failure, but thrilled he did. Watters, who’s been “ambushing” judges, politicians and journalists for years, playfully mocked the “ambush attempt” while it went down, critiqued it “you can’t ambush with a camera phone”) and breezed away smiling.

The Fox Nationalists are actually proud of Watters performance, calling it “an embarrassing disaster for the little left-wing blogger.” That approaches a new level of oblivious for the Murdoch-funded smear site. How can they view this as a victory when their hero is seen in full retreat, ultimately ducking into an elevator to escape? And he couldn’t even defend the accusation that Fox manufactures lies and presents them as news? All he had to say was “No.” Perhaps he has a little integrity after all and couldn’t bring himself to deny the truth?

Nah, he’s just a douchebag.


Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Young People?

Posted by on February 12, 2011 at 3:39 pm. 18 Comments :

Glenn Beck has a long record of heaping scorn on the youth of America. He has accused them of having been indoctrinated by Marxists in the Obama administration. He has called them “useful idiots” because they are drawn to progress and changing the country for the better. He castigated Al Gore for having the temerity to assert that there are some things that young people know that their parents do not. To me that seems obvious (and necessary), but to Beck it is an ominous omen of doom.

The uprising in Egypt has presented another opportunity for Beck to belittle the passion and aspirations of youth. He spent several minutes of his program highlighting this soundbite from Obama’s speech to students in Michigan:

Obama: We are witnessing history unfold. The moment of transformation that’s taking place because the people of Egypt are calling for change. And they’ve turned out in extraordinary numbers…
Beck (interrupting): Listen to the way he says this.
Obama: …representing all ages and all walks of life. But it’s young people who have been at the forefront. A new generation. Your generation. Who want their voices to be heard.

This is deeply disturbing to Beck. He has a confirmed animosity toward youth that colors his perspective and produces a knee-jerk negativity aimed at young people who care about their society in America and now in Egypt as well. His analysis of the events in Egypt are summed up in this conclusion:

Beck: It will not have a singular ideology, but it will mean revolution, destruction, and change. And it will be led by young people. Because anyone over thirty knows that chaos doesn’t usually lead anyplace good.

Perhaps Beck, the historian and fan of Founding Fathers, would benefit from looking into doddering old revolutionaries like Thomas Jefferson (32 years old in 1775), John Jay (30), James Madison (24), Alexander Hamilton (20), Thomas Paine (38), and that ancient eminence George Washington (43). Are these the sort old fogies whom Beck would prefer over the children like Wael Ghonim, the thirty year old Google marketing chief who helped to organize the Egyptian protests?

Suffice to say, Glenn Beck is an idiot. This week he hollered at the critics on his lawn and told them to “Go to Hell!” because they said he was crazy. I’m not sure “crazy” goes far enough. His psychotic explanations of an imagined cabal that joins radical Muslims with American leftists was repudiated even by Beck’s right-wing pals. Yet Beck dug in his heels and warned his viewers to heed him because…

Beck: I know history. I know what history teaches us. And I know my gut. And I wanted you to see it. I wanted this to be branded on your head. I wanted you to see it and know there was no one else telling you this stuff.

That’s right. Brand it on your head Beckoids. And know that only Brother Glenn has the divine knowledge that he generously imparts onto you, his undeserving flock. What other modern prophet could come up with this analysis of the Egyptian uprising:

Beck: It will be historic because this is an incredibly well organized uprising that was able to overthrow a dictator of thirty years in 18 days. To give you some idea, “shock and awe” lasted about that time. That’s what it took us to grab Baghdad.

It’s important to note that Beck was speaking in disparaging terms about the uprising. His reference to it being “well organized” was his way of connecting it to “community organizing,” which he abhors. But the most absurdly imbecilic part of that commentary was Beck’s negative comparison of 18 days of mostly peaceful protests by Egyptian citizens against their own oppressive government, to 18 days of deadly warfare by an invading force of Americans into Iraq, a nation that had not provoked the attack that was justified by a litany of lies.

The fact that it took 18 days of carpet bombing, and the murder of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, for the United States to topple Iraq’s capital city (and commence a war that is still in progress eight years later), hardly compares to 18 days of chanting and banner waiving that removed an entrenched tyrant from power. It is impossible to comprehend what significance Beck is trying to convey with this comparison.

And therein lies the justification for everyone thinking he’s crazy. But in some respects he is crazy like a Fox. His assault on youth is a coordinated campaign to appeal to his base. His audience, like that of Fox News, skews older than any other audience in cable news. And as I wrote nearly a year ago…

While Beck clings longingly to the past, he almost never addresses the future without some allusion to doom. He has predicted the end of America and democracy, the collapse of the world economy, the forsaking of decency and values, and a near-term fate that is nothing short of Armageddon. The present is just a cauldron of misery that must be grudgingly endured until the Rapture. But it is his attachment to bygone years that really defines his world view. And he may actually have a very good reason for this.


The devolutionary posture Beck has assumed is convenient from a ratings standpoint. Beck’s audience (along with the rest of Fox News and the Tea Party crowd) skews to an older demographic than the average of the nation at large. They must take comfort in the familiar icons of an analog world. Blackboards are less threatening than the computer-generated motion graphics that all the kids are into these days. And all the talk of history is just the sort of entertainment that would appeal to people rooted in the past. Add to that a touch of that old-time religion and you have a recipe for corralling the curmudgeon community who wants nothing more than for those damn kids to get off of their lawns.

That is Beck’s fan base. They enjoy reminiscing about how much better things were in their day. And the last thing they want to hear about is a future that they won’t be present to witness. It’s never good business to remind people of their mortality, particularly the people who are closest to it. Beck is adept at accommodating (manipulating?) these folks who have plenty of free time to sit at home and watch his program in the middle of the day. Sure it cuts into the early-bird special at Applebee’s, but what they hunger for is far more fundamental. It’s the solace they get from the passionate young man whose weepy patriotism validates their conviction that they were indeed the greatest generation and, dagnabbit, they’re not gonna let you whippersnappers forget it.

Now, I don’t want to go overboard with generalizations. Most senior citizens are thoughtful, rational people with a wealth of accumulated experience. Just not the ones watching Glenn Beck.

And so youth has become the enemy in Beck’s world. That’s a short-sighted strategy because the one thing we know there will always be more of is young people. And those whom Beck alienates today are not going to become more enamored of him as they grow older. I just hope we don’t have to wait for all the oldsters like Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch to shuffle off before we start to see more of the energetic and insightful wisdom of youth play a greater role in the society that will eventually be theirs anyway.


CNN Turning To Andrew Breitbart And Into Fox News

Posted by on February 12, 2011 at 10:57 am. 7 Comments :

CNN Tea PartyIt’s bad enough that America has one Fox News. One network that has mainstreamed lying and abandoned all journalistic ethics in favor of spreading propaganda and nurturing ignorance. Now it appears that CNN has aspirations to out-Fox Fox. They put out a press release announcing some new hires:

“CNN is gearing up for the election season with the addition of political contributors from across the ideological spectrum. Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher, conservative commentator Will Cain, and local Tea Party leader and radio talk show host Dana Loesch will appear across the network’s prime time programs, as well as other dayparts and platforms.”

The first thing that is glaringly askew in this announcement is that CNN is recruiting a single Democratic analyst and two right-wing opponents. Under what tangled, Gordian logic is that a balanced representation of views? Do the Democrats have to invent a phony AstroTurf party in order to get an equal number of seats at the table? Would CNN hire a Progressive Party spokesman to join their panel? Of course not. But because some Republicans are parading around with a different name, CNN gives them parity as if they were a wholly new party deserving their own voice.

Let’s be perfectly clear: There is no Tea Party! They have no platform and no candidates. People who profess to be aligned with this imaginary party are in fact Republicans. They run as Republicans, they vote for Republicans, and their agenda is decidedly Republican. And the stub of the GOP that calls itself the Tea Party is wildly out of touch with mainstream Americans. So CNN is a network that hires two Republicans for every Democrat.

Compounding that problem is the specific selection of Dana Loesch to represent the phony Tea Party faction. Loesch is presently the editor-in-chief of Andrew Breitbart’s BigJournalism.com. That’s the same Breitbart that promoted James O’Keefe’s “pimp and hooker” ACORN smear; the same Breitbart that peddled the dishonest videos that defamed Shirley Sherrod. These and other scams have all been thoroughly debunked. But Loesch, the editor-in-chief of the lying tabloid that produces more junk journalism than any other site on the Internet, was chosen by CNN to be the voice of the Tea Party.

Loesch is just the latest despicable decision by CNN’s new president, Ken Jautz. Jautz was recently promoted from HLN where he will forever be remembered as the man who brought Glenn Beck to television. He is a hack who is more interested in ratings than journalism, and with each new day is proving that he is unfit to run a news network.

Since moving up to CNN, Jautz has formed a partnership with Tea Party Express (TPE), a corrupt political action committee that is reviled by other Tea Party groups. This arrangement called for a them to co-host a Republican presidential primary debate. It also produced Michelle Bachmann’s (R-MN) embarrassing response to the State of the Union address. Those are two more examples proving that the Tea Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the GOP. But TPE has some dirty laundry that needs to be aired.

TPE’s chief was shamed into resigning for repeatedly making racist comments. That was followed by TPE being banished from the Tea Party Federation. TPE’s finances are racked with fraud. The Republican PR firm that created TPE, Russo Marsh, directs nearly half of the money they raise from citizen supporters to the firm. TPE recently reported receiving thousands of dollars from a donor who has been dead for four years. This is the racist, dishonest, reprehensible gang of con artists with which Jautz has associated CNN.

CNN already employs RedState’s Erick Erickson, who called Supreme Court Justice David Souter a “goat fucking child molester.” Now Jautz brings aboard Dana Loesch who said that a demonstrator who got her head stomped on by a Rand Paul supporter should apologize for the incident. These developments put CNN’s credibility at stake. Are they really so desperate for attention that they would sully themselves with known liars and agitators for the most extremist faction of the right? Are they really so stupid that they think that trying to emulate Fox will reverse their ratings debacle?

Sadly, the answer to those question is “Yes.” CNN is both desperate and stupid. They never learn. Fox viewers are not going to flip over to a Fox look-alike when they have the real thing just down the dial. Glenn Beck’s audience would not watch him on HLN, where his program was the lowest rated on the channel. But the minute he moved to Fox he was an instant hit. This proves that Fox viewers are hypnotically dialed in to their media master, and they will not wander off. Not for Beck, and certainly not for Loesch. So the only thing that CNN achieves by stumbling down this path is that they become an accessory to the disinformation that these rightist goons disseminate, while simultaneously destroying what’s left of their reputation.

Good work, CNN. You must be so proud. Ken Jautz is turning the network into an embarrassment that is destined to continue its ratings collapse. Everyone who who cares about ethical media should let CNN know that this direction is inappropriate and unprofessional. You can use this form on CNN’s web site to tell them that they are hurting themselves and the practice of journalism by associating with Dana Loesch and the Tea Party Express. Tell them that Ken Jautz isn’t fit to run the Home Shopping Network. And tell them that the last thing this country needs is another right-wing pseudo-news outlet that manufactures partisan controversies and contributes to mass ignorance.


Jubilant Crowds Rejoice As Murdoch Steps Down

Posted by on February 11, 2011 at 10:51 am. 8 Comments :

News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has resigned and left New York City for his resort in Montauk ending his fifty year reign as a media monarch.


The era of Murdoch has officially ended and citizens the world over are celebrating. There has been no word yet as to the whereabouts of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, but reports indicate that the news enterprise is being handed over to leaders within the Public Broadcasting System.

The announcement, delivered during Fox & Friends, set off a frenzy of celebration, with protesters shouting “America is free! No more lies! No more lies!”

PBS issued a communique pledging to carry out a variety of media reforms in a statement notable for its commitment to diversity, independence, and free speech. PBS’s statement alluded to the delegation of power to local broadcasters and it suggested that NPR would supervise implementation of the reforms.

Responding to the rapidly unfolding events, the White House released a statement saying that they are monitoring the situation closely and the President will speak directly to the issue very soon. The spokesman added that, “We are hopeful for a positive outcome and we congratulate the American people for their stunning and well-deserved victory.”

A thrilled Keith Olbermann said, “The American people have won. But it is now up to us to insure that journalistic ethics are restored and maintained.” Senator Al Franken, a former comedian and radio broadcaster, stopped to comment on his way to an emergency White House briefing and told reporters, “Ha ha ha ha ha. Oh God. Ha ha.”

Glenn Beck was reached at his gold-brick bunker in South Dakota surrounded by an armory and barrels of non-fluoridated water. But when asked for a comment he shouted from a crack in the door. “Marxists. Oh Mommy, Marxists. The Archduke Ferdinand Caliphate has begun. I won’t talk to the Jew media. Leave my property and take George Soros with you.” He then commenced firing genetically modified corn seeds at the press causing numerous tiny bruises, but no serious injuries.

The State Department was in disarray as news reports continued to update the situation. As diplomats scurried from ….. Oh wait a minute. There is new information coming in over the wire right now. What’s that? What is…..It wasn’t Murdoch, it was Mubarak?

Umm…..Never mind.

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Fox News Reporter’s Guide: Think Like An Intolerant Meathead

Posted by on February 10, 2011 at 3:15 pm. 5 Comments :

Fox NewsMedia matters has published an interview with a former Fox News “insider” who reveals the inner workings of a modern propaganda operation. Some of the revelations have been obvious for years. Some of them will just infuriate you. Here are some highlights:

“I don’t think people would believe it’s as concocted as it is; that stuff is just made up.”

“It is their M.O. to undermine the administration and to undermine Democrats. They’re a propaganda outfit but they call themselves news.”

“You have to work there for a while to understand the nods and the winks. And God help you if you don’t because sooner or later you’re going to get burned.”

“[A]nything that was a news story you had to understand what the spin should be on it. If it was a big enough story it was explained to you in the morning [editorial] meeting. If it wasn’t explained, it was up to you to know the conservative take on it.”

“My internal compass was to think like an intolerant meathead. You could never error on the side of not being intolerant enough.”

“[Y]ou have to buy into the idea that the other media is howling left-wing. Don’t even start arguing that or you won’t even last your first day.”

Media Matters has much more. Check it out. It is fascinating getting this info from an insider. Very few people associated with Fox ever speak out, even after they have left. A couple of exceptions include Eric Burns, former host of Fox News Watch, and Jane Hall, former Fox News contributor. Both cited Glenn Beck as the reason for their departure. More notable was former Fox reporter David Shuster who said:

“At the time I started at Fox, I thought, this is a great news organization to let me be very aggressive with a sitting president of the United States (Bill Clinton). I started having issues when others in the organization would take my carefully scripted and nuanced reporting and pull out bits and pieces to support their agenda on their shows.”

“With the change of administration in Washington, I wanted to do the same kind of reporting, holding the (Bush) administration accountable, and that was not something that Fox was interested in doing.”

“Editorially, I had issues with story selection. But the bigger issue was that there wasn’t a tradition or track record of honoring journalistic integrity. I found some reporters at Fox would cut corners or steal information from other sources or in some cases, just make things up. Management would either look the other way or just wouldn’t care to take a closer look. I had serious issues with that.”

It’s time that more people with knowledge speak out about the damage that Fox News is doing every day to the practice of journalism. We need more people like Howell Raines who asked some pertinent questions to his colleagues about their appeasement of Fox. (Too bad he waited until after he had left the NYT). And we need more insiders like Matthew Freud, the husband of Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, who said that he was “…ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes.”

Fox News provides more proof every day that they are not a credible news enterprise. Today, as all hell was breaking loose in Egypt, Fox cut away to air their regularly scheduled broadcast of Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck!?! Is that what a news channel would do?


Now Glenn Beck Loves The New York Times

Posted by on February 10, 2011 at 12:04 pm. 1 Comments :

“We have always been at war with Eastasia…” George Orwell, 1984.

Never mind that Glenn Beck has long been a critic of the so-called liberal New York Times; set aside his frequent tirades against it as a mouthpiece for progressives and other “enemies” of freedom. Today is ValenTimes Day as Beck cites the Times as proof that his crackpot scenarios of a global Caliphate are true.

The source of Beck’s evidence is a Times story about young activists engaging in protests to remove Mubarak from power in Egypt. Beck quotes a single paragraph from the article that describes the efforts of a small coalition of protesters:

“In the process many have formed some unusual bonds that reflect the singularly nonideological character of the Egyptian youth revolt, which encompasses liberals, socialists and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

This statement merely affirms that the movement to oust Mubarak is broad-based and includes many factions of disaffected young Egyptians. But it is embraced by Beck as confirmation of his inane theory that radical Islamists are working with secular leftists around the world to topple capitalism. The only thing this article asserts is that the people in the streets of Egypt have diverse reasons for being involved in the protests. The people interviewed by the Times were a tiny group of 15 young individuals who are not powerful national figures and will not participate in the formation of a new government. They are simply engaged citizens who share only the desire to bring democracy to Egypt. In fact, they said so explicitly in a paragraph that Beck neglected to cite:

“Most of the group are liberals or leftists, and all, including the Brotherhood members among them, say they aspire to a Western-style constitutional democracy where civic institutions are stronger than individuals.”

Once again Beck has cherry-picked the information that supports his delusions and ignored facts that dispute them. That’s standard operating procedure for Beck.

Side Note: As Beck was dissecting this article, news that Mubarak will step down hit the wires. Without hesitation, Beck launched into wild speculation of an imminent bloodbath, an Islamic takeover of Egypt, and the fall of more Middle Eastern nations to come. Like the rest of Beck’s predictions, these will be left floating in the ether after they fail to transpire.

I have long cast Beck as being closer to a televangelist than a political analyst. And like other supposed prophets whose promise of a Second Coming fail to occur, Beck will simply change his story or select another date. And his disciples will obediently follow.


The Conspiracy Against Glenn Beck

Posted by on February 9, 2011 at 2:35 pm. 5 Comments :

Glenn BeckLook out Lizard People. Glenn Beck is on to you. He has uncovered the dusty scrolls and connected the dots and discovered the plot by the vast network of enemies that are seeking his downfall. And he will not yield.

To demonstrate his resolve, Beck took to the airwaves yesterday and compared himself to “the enlightened one,” Buddha. I guess his prior Messianic aspirations weren’t doing the job so he’s bringing in spiritual reinforcements. And for good measure he compared his TV sermonizing with the teaching of slaves to read. But he wants more than literacy. He insists that if you don’t use the information he provides to “move the country forward” then “it’s just another form of entertainment, and that’s not what this show is.” Funny, that’s not exactly what he said in an interview with Forbes last year:

“I could give a flying crap about the political process. […] We’re an entertainment company.”

But that was then and this is now. And now he is under siege. There is an unprecedented assault on all that is good, and he is the sole obstacle to the looming menace. Take heed America:

“I don’t think since the 1930’s we have seen such a growth of profound evil in the world. And it seems to be growing at an exponential rate. The way to fight it is to expose it. Evil hides in the shadows. This is something that I think we all know even as kids.”

Beck then relates a charming story of how his children at bedtime asked him to leave the lights on and check their closets. Of course there is never anything to fear in these dark recesses of his kids imaginations. Yet Beck draws a moral from this that…

“We know as children bad things can hide in the dark.”

No we don’t! We have irrational fears as children that we eventually grow out of. Then some us start listening to fear merchants like Glenn Beck and have to start checking under the bed again for communists, Muslims, and community organizers. Beck even joked that he had to restrain himself from pretending that there really were monsters in the closet. He may have controlled that impulse in his son’s bedroom, but he indulges it every day on television. Later in the program he insists that he isn’t trying to scare anyone. “I don’t ever want to frighten you,” he says. But that contradicts what he said just a few days ago (2/4/11) when he told his viewers that “If you haven’t been frightened yet, oh you will be. You will be.” Which is it, Glenn?

He revealed a bunch of blackboards on which were written what he said were his predictions that had come true. He led off with “We will have universal healthcare.” Not only did that not come true, it was never even included in the debate over health care reform. He continued with numerous other examples of predictions that only came true in his mind.

All of these self-congratulatory fantasies were designed to bolster his sense of infallibility leading up to a condemnation of conservative pundits who lately have been turning against Beck. Many in the right-wing establishment have recognized that Beck’s delusions are casting a shadow of crazy over all of them and they are beginning to resent it. Beck’s television audience has been slashed by half in the past year. His radio presence is also faltering. He was recently dropped by stations in both New York and Philadelphia due to low ratings. Consequently, critics on the right are finding their courage as Beck’s aura fades.

Beck regards these events as the seeds of a conspiracy to discredit him. On his radio show this morning he said just that:

“I think there’s something happening with the Republicans and the the right that is disturbing. There was a time that the Republicans and the right, if you will, didn’t mind the Tea Party. They used them as fuel. […] Anyone that talks about freedom, or is a real wild card that can hurt the party, are they being politically assassinated at this point?”

However, I’m not sure that Beck knows what the word conspiracy means. In yesterday’s program he complained that he had been accused of calling the uprising in Egypt a conspiracy of Islamic radicals and American leftists. He insisted that he had not done so. He merely said that they were “like-minded” and were “working together.” See? No conspiracy.

What’s happening is that Beck is hunkering down into his bunker. He is feeling the heat and thrashing out wildly in self-defense. Despite all the evidence, and agreement across the political spectrum, Beck is affirming his paranoid nightmares. He is digging in his heels. And he is accusing his critics of engaging in a vast conspiracy to ridicule and/or silence him.

This isn’t the first time he has responded this way to criticism. Last year when he was coming under fire for associating social justice with Marxism, he had a similar overreaction that sparked his paranoia:

“Is it possible, maybe, that pointing out every night that there are radicals, Marxists, and communists, in the White House, maybe that struck a nerve? Has someone decided that they must destroy my career and silence me because we’ve stumbled onto something?”

There you have it. Glenn Beck has been the target of an evil cabal for months, maybe years. Now that cabal is coming out of the shadows and includes such nefarious radicals as Rich Lowry of the National Review and William Kristol of the Weekly Standard and Fox News. And it is making Beck nervous – and desperate. That’s why he is devoting several days of his program to defending himself and attacking his perceived enemies. For all the fear that Beck is disgorging, it is he who is the most fearful. And it shows in his flailing and panic.

Let me be the first to say that there is no conspiracy against Glenn Beck. It is just a bunch of like-minded people working together to correct the disinformation that Beck disseminates. All we want is to offer up some truth and reality in place of the lies and delusions that are Beck’s specialty. If that results in Beck having to take his Freak Show underground, all the better. I’m sure he would be more comfortable there anyway, with his friends Alex Jones and the folks at the John Birch Society.


Keith Olbermann Warming Up To Al Gore? [Update] YES!

Posted by on February 8, 2011 at 9:30 am. 10 Comments :

A press release this afternoon revealed that Keith Olbermann would be announcing his next career move Tuesday morning in a conference call with the press. That release served as the starters pistol for a pack of media dogs to try to figure out what was up before the appointed time.

The New York Times appears to have won the race with a story that quotes anonymous sources saying that Olbermann will announce a pact with Al Gore’s Current TV. The details are sketchy, but they include an on-air presence for MSNBC’s former star attraction, as well as an equity stake in the company.

Current has had trouble getting traction as a network whose brand identity is rather mysterious. The network certainly didn’t take on the role that many had expected when it was first announced that Al Gore was starting a cable channel. Many assumed that it would be a liberal answer to Fox News, but that never transpired. Instead, it attempted to invent a new genre that melded television and the Internet.

This could be an interesting arrangement. If Olbermann is coming aboard to launch a news division (Current Affairs?), he could restore some of the original excitement that buzzed around the network when it launched. It would not have to be a wholesale reorganization. They could just add a couple of personalities and, if I had my way, a media analysis program that reviewed the other broadcast and cable news outfits (Alternating Current?). And there’s a place for comedy as well. Any of these programming options would work within Current’s current ambiguous identity.

Current TV is presently seen in about 65 million U.S. homes. That’s about 20% less than MSNBC. For Olbermann this might look like a step backwards, but for Current it could be the catalyst that would help them break through to the upper tiers of cablecasting. They could leverage his star power to get more carriage and better channel positioning. And Keith would be able to extend his presence to the Internet with a full service news and entertainment site along the lines of the Huffington Post. Speaking of which, now that HuffPo has accepted gobs of cash to be part of a bigger media corporation, the Internet is in need of a new independent source for progressive news. And HuffPo’s sale demonstrates the potential value of the genre.

The Olbermann FactorNeedless to say, this is all wildly speculative. Tomorrow morning’s announcement may surprise everyone and have nothing to do with Current. Or it may involve Current but in ways not expected. We’ll know soon enough. But there is one scenario that I think we can safely rule out. Olbermann will not be returning to Fox. Rupert Murdoch recently said that he doesn’t want to fire him twice. But you really have to question Murdoch’s judgment when it is Olbermann whom he has called “crazy,” not Glenn Beck.

The news is official. Olbermann will be joining Current TV and bringing Countdown with him. In addition to that he will assume the title of Chief News Officer, implying a larger role in the production of news programming for the network. That is what I proposed above and it looks like they took my advice (leave me to my fantasies). Now, hopefully they can put together a compelling schedule and push the network onto more cable systems and into more homes.