Click here to view this media Glenn Beck has a history of appropriating Martin Niemoller’s famous poem, “First They Came…” — one of the most memorable descriptions of the creep of Nazi totalitarianism — for his own purposes, often by way of describing his own self-martyrdom, because of course it’s really about people like him: “You ever heard of the old poem ‘first they came for the Jews’? Well, first they came for the banks, then it was the insurance companies, then it was the car companies.” “First they came for the Jews and I stayed silent– next I’ll show you the very latest attacks on me …” He was at it again on Thursday, declaring that attempts to confront his penchant for violent rhetoric and its effects on the public were an evil attempt to silence and persecute poor Glenn: BECK: But the pink symbol should be a lesson to everyone . I don’t care what you are, who you are — everyone! “At first they came for the Jews, and I didn’t say anything. And then they came –” Silence equals death. Never — never allow someone to take away your First Amendment right of free speech. It’s number one for a reason! Because that’s the most important — your right to assemble, your right to speak out! It’s Number One. Guard it. Protect it. Revel in it. Responsibly share it. Of course, that’s the issue, isn’t it? Not that anyone wants to take away Beck’s rights to free speech — but they are concerned because he is so profoundly irresponsible with his abuse of his media megaphone to demonize and smear other people and indulge eliminationist rhetoric against his “progressive” nemeses. But it’s really quite revealing that Beck NEVER gets Niemoller’s poem right. There are a number of different versions with slight variations, but the most common is this one: First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists , and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. The first two victim groups cited were Communists and trade unionists . Both of whom happen to be groups high on Glenn Beck’s list of groups he likes to demonize. Indeed, for most his tenure at Fox we’ve been hearing about how President Obama is eeeevil because he’s “surrounding himself” with “dedicated Communists” like Van Jones: And of course, someday, he warns, we ordinary liberals are going to have to take those Communists out by “shooting them in the head”. Maybe that’s why Glenn Beck never can get Niemoller’s poem right: It really is about people like him.
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Just three days after the FCC approved the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, MSNBC's contract with Keith Olbermann was terminated . The cable news network reported at its website Saturday: “Msnbc [sic] and Keith Olbermann have ended our contract,” Phil Griffin, president of msnbc [sic], said Friday. “Msnbc [sic] thanks Keith for his integral role in msnbc's [sic] success and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” Griffin said. The article said there was no connection between the merger approval and Olbermann's dismissal: Msnbc [sic] spokesman Jeremy Gaines would say only that the acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval this week, had nothing to do with the decision. Comcast released a statement Friday evening: “Comcast has not closed the transaction for NBC Universal and has no operational control at any of its properties including MSNBC. We pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBC Universal's news operations. We have not and we will not.” Sena Fitzmaurice, Comcast spokesperson. According to the New York Post, this wasn't an inexpensive termination: Olbermann, in the middle of a four-year $30 million contract reportedly set to last until 2012, announced that last night's edition of his prime-time “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” would be his last. Sources said network brass basically paid the pontificating pundit to scram by working out an agreement in which he would give up his show and continue to be paid. The garrulous gasbag will likely also have to stay off the air at least until fall under the agreement. Sources said talks between MSNBC and Olbermann about his departure had been going on for weeks, but it's not clear when the final decision to boot him was made. Is this coming just three days after the Comcast-NBC merger was approved really a coincidence? Out-going NBC President Jeff Zucker sent the following note to his employees Friday morning: As you know, the deal will formally close next Friday. That means this will be my last business update and indeed my last official word to each of you as CEO. Over the last few months, I made an effort to gather with every group of employees across the company. Hopefully, I’ve had a chance to meet and thank you personally for all you have done for this company. If I didn't get to you, please accept my thanks now. I have been asked many times what I will miss the most about NBC Universal. That's easy. The wonderful people of this company. So many colleagues…so many friends. I will miss you all. It has been a fantastic run of almost 25 years. For me, that chapter’s ending, but for all of you it’s an exciting new beginning. With Comcast, I leave you in good hands and have no doubt that you will continue to do great things. I look forward to following your progress. With warm regards, Jeff So, on Tuesday the FCC approved the deal. On Friday morning, Zucker issued his last business update to his staff, and hours later Olbermann said goodbye as well. And these events are unrelated? When you look at MSNBC's new prime time lineup, you certainly can't conclude this is the last move: “Hardball” at 5PM Cenk Uygur as substitute host of an un-named show at 6PM “Hardball” at 7PM “The Last Word” at 8PM “Rachel Maddow Show” at 9PM “The Ed Show” at 10PM Is Uygur, who has been doing some regular substitute hosting for various MSNBC commentators, about to get a full-time role at the network? Has he actually proved himself worthy of his own show? Are they actually going to put him against “Special Report?” Bret Baier has been absolutely trouncing Ed Schultz at 6PM almost tripling the MSNBCer's viewers on Thursday. Is an unknown like Uygur the answer? In time slot after time slot, MSNBC continues to get killed by Fox News in the ratings often getting as little as one quarter the viewers of its right-leaning rival. Since the moment the merger was announced months ago, people in the industry have speculated what a new ownership team would do about this. Are the folks at Comcast going to settle for MSNBC as an also-ran behind Fox, or are they looking to make some moves designed to make this news network more competitive? Possibly just as important, might they also be interested in appearing less partisan? For several years, Olbermann has been the face of MSNBC. Mightn't it be wise for this face to be something far less divisive, especially for a growing media conglomerate like Comcast. As Forbes media analyst Jeff Bercovici noted Friday evening: Comcast has its own calculations. An intrinsically conservative corporation, it’s not overly friendly to congenital boat-rockers like Olbermann. In fact, one such individual, a former employee named Barry Nolan, sued Comcast last year, saying the cable operator fired him in order to protect its relationship with News Corp., which owns the Fox News Channel. Nolan had publicly protested an award given to Bill O’Reilly, Fox News’s biggest star. Noting that Olbermann has also frequently feuded with O’Reilly, media critic Dan Kennedy predicted last year , “Keith Olbermann may prove to be Barry Nolan writ large.” As you can see, Bercovici isn't buying the coincidence theory. Frankly, neither am I, for Comcast is a far different company than General Electric. Because its exclusive business is media – Comcast is now the largest cable and home internet provider in the nation as well as a growing force in television broadcasting – it might be far more concerned about the political image of MSNBC than GE was. With many cable and internet options available to consumers, does Comcast want to jeopardize its vast customer base with hyper-partisan rhetoric on its new news network? Seems difficult to conclude the answer to be anything other than “No” given Friday's surprise announcement, and if more changes are made to MSNBC's prime time lineup in the coming months further diminishing the network's hyper-partisanship, we may look upon January 21, 2011, as the beginning of the end of a totally disgraceful period in television journalism. Keep your fingers crossed.
Continue reading …Common Cause: Clarence Thomas Didn’t Report Wife’s Income For Several Years
January 22, 2011 No Comment
enlarge Now why would you think they’re laughing at us? I’ve looked into this before , and found there was a decision by the court several years ago in which they said they’re weren’t bound by the same ethics rules as other federal judges. (As I recall, the statement was along the lines of “We’re Supreme Court justices, you should assume we wouldn’t do anything unethical.”) I don’t know about you, but I’m immensely reassured: WASHINGTON…Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas failed over the course of at least five years to report his wife’s income from a conservative think-tank on his financial disclosures , according to the watchdog group Common Cause. Between 2003 and 2007, Virginia Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, was paid $686,589 by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, according to a Common Cause review of IRS records. Thomas failed to note the income in his financial disclosure forms for those years, choosing instead to check a box titled “none” where “spousal non-investment income” would normally be disclosed. A Supreme Court spokesperson authorized to speak on behalf of the justices could not immediately be reached for comment late Friday. But Virginia Thomas’ employment by the Heritage Foundation was well known at the time. Virginia Thomas has also been active in the group Liberty Central, an organization she founded for the purpose of restoring the “founding principles” of limited government and individual liberty. In his 2009 disclosure, Justice Thomas also reported spousal income as “none.” Common Cause contends that Liberty Central paid Thomas an unknown salary during that year. Federal judges are bound by law to disclose the source of spousal income, according to Stephen Gillers, a law professor at NYU Law School. Thomas’s omission — which could be interpreted as a violation of that law — could lead to some form of penalty, Gillers said. “It wasn’t a miscalculation, he simply omitted his wife’s source of income for six years, which is a rather dramatic omission,” said Gillers “It could not have been an oversight.” But Steven Lubet, an expert on judicial ethics at Northwestern University School of Law, said that such an infraction was unlikely to result in a penalty. While unfamiliar with the Thomas complaint, he said that failure to disclose spousal income “is not a crime of any sort, but there is a potential civil penalty” for failing to follow the rules. He added: “I am not aware of a single case of a judge being penalized simply for this.” The Supreme Court is, “the only judicial body in the country that is not governed by a set of judicial ethical rules,” Gillers said.
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The first order of business for the 112th Congress was its vote to repeal the health care law—is that good policy? Also, President Obama courts the business community and welcomes his Chinese counterpart—and the “Left, Right & Center” … Related Entries January 21, 2011 Orszag Sees Turbulent Times Ahead January 21, 2011 Live Chat Podcast: Robert Scheer on Obama’s Call for Less Regulation
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Friday evening’s edition of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” turned out to be the bombastic host’s last broadcast, as Olbermann announced on his show that he was leaving MSNBC effective that same day. Variety: MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract,” the network said in an announcement on Friday, but did not elaborate on a reason. Near the end of his show, Olbermann announced that his appearance would be his last. There was immediate speculation that the top-rated Olbermann’s departure was connected to the pending takeover of NBC Universal by Comcast Corp. But MSNBC insiders strongly denied that speculation, asserting that Comcast execs had “nothing to do” with Olbermann’s departure and were informed of the decision on Tuesday after the FCC and Justice Department gave the regulatory approval to the merger of Comcast and NBC U. Discussions between Olbermann and MSNBC brass had been going on for some time, even though the anchor had at least two years to go on his existing contract. Read more Related Entries January 21, 2011 Orszag Sees Turbulent Times Ahead January 21, 2011 Live Chat Podcast: Robert Scheer on Obama’s Call for Less Regulation
Continue reading …From A+EInteractive : In a stunning late development, MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann has been ousted by the cable news channel. And he’s gone without much of an explanation. MSNBC just released this terse statement. MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors. More as we get it. UPDATE: We’ve now posted Olbermann’s thoughtful and well-done farewell. Transcript below: I think the same fantasy popped into the head of everybody in my business who has ever been told what I have been told — “this will be the last edition of your show.” You go to the scene from the movie Network , complete with the pajamas and the raincoat, and go off on a verbal journey of unutterable vision, and you insist upon Peter Finch’s guttural resonance, and you will the viewer to go to the window, open it, stick out his head and yell. You know the rest. In the mundane world of television goodbyes, reality is laughably uncooperative. When I resigned from ESPN 13 1/2 years ago, I was given 30 seconds to say goodbye at the end of my last edition of SportsCenter. With God as my witness, in the commercial break before the moment, the producer got into my earpiece and said, ‘Can you cut it down to 15 seconds so we can get in the tennis result?’ I’m grateful that I have more time to sign off here. Regardless, this is the last edition of Countdown. It is just under 8 years since I returned to MSNBC. I was supposed to fill in for exactly three days. 49 days later, there was a year’s contract for me to return to this 8:00 time slot that I fled years earlier. The show established its position as anti-establishment with the stage craft of mission accomplished to the exaggerated rescue of Jessica Lynch in Iraq to the death of Pat Tillman to Hurricane Katrina to the nexus of politics and terror to the first Special Comment. The program grew entirely due to your support and great commentary. I hope for you too. There were many occasions where all that surrounded the show, and never the show itself, was too much for me. With your support and loyalty — if I may use the word insistence — required that I keep going. My gratitude to you is boundless and you think I have done good here, imagine how it looked as you donated $2 million to the National Association of Free Clinics and my dying father watched from his hospital bed and comforted that his struggles were inspiring such good for people, he and I and you would never meet, but would always know. This may be the only television program where in the host the much more in awe of the audience than vice-versa. We will also be in my heart for that and the donations to the family in Tennessee and these victims of governmental heartlessness in Arizona to say nothing of every letter and tweet and wave and handshake and online petition. Time ebbs here and top the close with more story. It is still Friday. Let me thank my gifted staff and a few of the many people who fought with me and for me: Eric Sorenson, Neal Shapiro, Michael Weiss, David Bloom, John Palmer, Alana Russo. Rachel Maddow and Bob Costas and my greatest protector, the late Tim Russert.
Continue reading …Ah, smell the civility: Heavily armed blogger applauded Tucson shootings: ’1 Down, 534 To Go’
January 22, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Call Bill O’Reilly — he seems to want to be Top Civility Cop these days. There’s a case — wait wait wait, I mean an “isolated incident” — for him up in Massachusetts he needs to get right on top of: Arlington Man Loses Gun License Due To Blog About Tucson Shooting A blog threatening members of Congress in the wake of the Tucson, Arizona shooting has prompted Arlington police to temporarily suspend the firearms license of an Arlington man. It was the headline “1 down and 534 to go” that caught the attention. “One” refers to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in the rampage, while 534 refers to the other members of the U.S. House and Senate. Police are investigating the “suitability” of 39-year-old Travis Corcoran to have a firearms license Whaddya think, audience? Is this guy a Pinhead or a Patriot? Well, given a chance to apologize or elaborate or just somehow indicate a tiny molecule of decency, our teabagging “libertarian” hero answered thus: “I dislike Representatives and Senators, and I think that each and every one of them is doing grave harm to the United States, and to the freedoms of the citizens of the US.” I’m sure Bill will be all over this. Or will Fox just pretend this story out of existence, as it always does when right-wingers inflict threats and violence against liberals and the government? Hmmmmmm. Tough one. Now watch while the Tea Partiers and gun rights nutcases turn Corcoran into a free-speech martyr. Because urging your audience to kill members of Congress and other threats and incitements to violence constitutes protected speech to these loons.
Continue reading …I understand this intellectually. I understand it strategically. But emotionally, it’s not playing well in the least. President Obama plans to appoint GE chief Jeffrey Immelt to head a new White House panel on job growth . President Barack Obama will announce Friday that Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric Co., will head a new White House board aimed at finding ways to foster private-sector job growth. The board will replace an existing panel called the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. The name of the new panel stresses competitiveness and job creation , which are expected to be themes of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union Address next week. It will be called the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Mr. Immelt also served on the previous panel. Mr. Volcker will not join the new council. Putting a prominent chief executive atop a panel is the latest gesture by the White House toward strengthening ties to business. So I put my logic and thinking cap on for a minute, and I think to myself, “well, it neutralizes Immelt’s past role as Obama administration slanderer, right? It would be pretty difficult to be the head of this panel and head off to pal around with his buddies and badmouth President Obama like he did last time, right?” And of course, jobs are the big issue for this year. Jobs, jobs, jobs. We need them yesterday. So I suppose having a corporate CEO with all those other corporate contacts is a good way to start pushing growth. All fine and well, as long as I keep my heart out of it. What bothers me, though, when I step out of the analytical and into my gut is this: Immelt might be able to create jobs, but it will be on Big Biz terms with little to no worker protection. The jobs will be filled because people are desperate for them, and we will all serve the bottom line, because that is what employees of public corporations serve — one bottom line to rule them all. These are not places with heart or a care for their employees, because they cannot be. They must be always mindful of and servant to the profit margin for the quarter. Fine. That doesn’t mean they still shouldn’t have a seat at the table. But where I get completely lost is here: Who is sitting at the table and speaking for us?
Continue reading …Frank Gaffney With More Fearmongering About Muslims Taking Over Conservative Movement
January 22, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Anderson Cooper brought on fearmonger Frank Gaffney — who, as Right Wing Watch reported , has been attacking the other guest during the segment, Suhail Kahn, as someone who has ties to “radical Islamists”. I’m not sure why he thinks Gaffney needs any more face time in the media, since he surely gets enough over at Fox. But to his credit, Cooper did call Gaffney out for how weak his claims are and allowed him to be confronted by Kahn. Cooper mentioned Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Peter King’s appearance on Gaffney’s radio show. Our friends at Think Progress have more on that, and the witch hunt we get to look forward to now that King has taken the gavel there. Rep. Peter King Says Muslims Aren’t ‘American’ When It Comes To War : Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the new chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, has promised to launch a series of investigations of Muslim Americans beginning in February. “I’ve made it clear that I’ll focus the committee on counterterrorism and hold hearings on a wide range of issues, including radicalization of the American Muslim community and homegrown terrorism,” he told Newsday. King has repeatedly said that he only wants to single out “ Islamic terrorism ” in his hearings on domestic security, and has even claimed that there are “ too many mosques in this country.” Joining anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney on Gaffney’s radio program last week, King doubled down on his promise to launch a witch-hunt against Muslims. He repeated a falsehood that he stated earlier — that American Muslims never cooperate to combat terrorism. But in addition to this claim, King made the extraordinary smear that American Muslims aren’t “American” when it comes to war. “[W]hen a war begins,” King said, every ethnic and religious group unites as “Americans.” “But in this case,” King continued, referring to Muslims, “this is not the situation. … Whether it’s cultural tradition, whatever, the fact is the Muslim community does not cooperate anywhere near to the extent that it should”. More there from Think Progress, so go read the rest. Here’s a portion of Right Wing Watch’s reporting on Gaffney, much of which Cooper mentioned in his opening. Right Wing Boycott Movement Links CPAC to the Muslim Brotherhood : Incensed over the participation of the conservative gay-rights group GOProud in the Conservative Political Action Conference , or CPAC, far-right activists are now trying to connect the major conservative event to the Muslim Brotherhood. The American Conservative Union (ACU), which hosts CPAC, has been the target of Religious Right groups and leaders over their handling of GOProud’s involvement, with Joseph Farah even calling for conservatives to “ purge ” the ACU from the movement. Already, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women For America, American Values, the American Principles Project, the Capital Research Center, the Center for Military Readiness, Liberty Counsel, Liberty University, and the National Organization for Marriage have announced their boycott of CPAC . Now, the conservative news site WorldNetDaily , a major cheerleader for the groups boycotting CPAC, is giving right wing activist Frank Gaffney a platform to charge the ACU with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamist group. Gaffney is no stranger to conspiracy theories, as he previously claimed that the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell “amounts to a vote for reinstating the draft ,” maintained that Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is tied to an “ominous campaign” to “ bring Shariah to America ,” and said that Barack Obama is “ America’s first Muslim president .” He is joined by WorldNetDaily’s Paul Sperry, who wrote a book asserting that radical Muslims were infiltrating the government through the congressional internship program . Gaffney outlines a theory that since the ACU is allowing the leader of an organization known as Muslims for America , a conservative group with ties to the GOP, to participate in CPAC, the ACU is supporting a “stealthy effort to bring Shariah” to America. He is also outraged that Grover Norquist , the head of the highly influential Americans for Tax Reform and a GOProud board member, is involved in CPAC as well. But mostly, Gaffney directs his vitriol at Suhail Khan , the chairman of the Conservative Inclusion Coalition. Both Khan and Norquist are ACU board members, and in 2009 Khan received the Young Conservatives Coalition’s Buckley Award at CPAC. But according to Gaffney , Khan has ties to radical Islamists and, along with Norquist, wants to promote a “seditious totalitarian political program” in the U.S.
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