The Stonecipher Report

Beck-a-palooza!

Thoughts on the FOX Blowhard’s Washington Gathering of Small-Minders…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Aug. 30, 2010

As I occasionally share out here, below is the most recent issue of my subscription e-mail newsletter, And, in the News…, this time looking at Glenn Beck and the weekend’s events in the Nation’s Capital…

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And, in the News...#273

August 30, 2010

 

Political Soap Box: Thoughts on Glenn Beck, "Restoring Honor," and Mencken's Booboisie...

 

Busy weekend, eh? We started saying goodbye to summer, prepared for a looming school year and football season, and, oh yeah, if we were dim-bulb followers who are pointlessly ANGRY about how we perceive "OUR" country has been taken away from "US," then maybe we even went down to the Nation's Capital to stand and be counted as morons. (Oh, and BTW? That "taken away" business was done by the LARGEST number of voters to EVER vote for ANY particular President in US history...no need to thank me for the lesson, Tea Baggers - PLENTY more coming...)

Let Mr. Olbermann Help Show You Why We ALL Should Be Mad About the Sherrod Situation…

Keith’s "Special Comment" Focuses a Historical and Logical Eye on the Stupidity of Breitbart’s and FOX’s "Scare the Whiteys!" Lying Propaganda; Video Clip Included Below...

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

July 24. 2010

I’ve STILL not calmed down about the outrageous mess – first the manipulating lies from the Right, then the backboneless reaction from the Administration – that involves the whole Shirley Sherrod controversy…as outlined (and reacted to) in this piece about it that I wrote the other day. There is PLENTY to get fired up about in this whole situation…

One of the reactions that I thought fully captured the outrage behind this whole thing was Keith Olbermann’s "Special Comment" about it on a recent episode of his MSNBC "Countdown" show. (K.O. was off that night – filled in for by the very capable Lawrence O’Donnell (who will soon be launching his own nightly MSNBC politics-oriented program) – but he was charged up enough about it all to file his special message about it…)

The Outrageous Shirley Sherrod Controversy – Making Up “Racism” to Slur Blacks, the Left, President Obama, Etc.

The Moral of the Story? At FOX "News," Context – and Reality – Apparently DOES NOT Matter…

Time For "Our" Side to Start Effectively Fighting Back

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

July 22, 2010

This whole ugly mess – dragging an honest, reflective, effective, and trail-blazing official and her name through the dirt for NO GODDAMNED REASON other than imagined, political-points-scoring, philosophy-based race-baiting – is disgusting, illuminating, and, one hopes, a potential certain turning point. For those perhaps late-arriving to all of this, let me fill you in…

Just a few days ago now, right-wing blogger (and self-admitted Arianna Huffington-wannabe) Andrew Breitbart released a video online that appeared to show an African-American woman – who worked in the US Department of Agriculture – speaking to an NAACP gathering about how she had previously denied aid and assistance to a "white farmer" because "he was trying to show me he was superior to me." Well, that WOULD BE officially racist activity and incredibly deplorable (the action AND the seeming "bragging" about it) – HAD IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED THAT WAY. Of course, it did not.

The woman, Shirley Sherrod, has been a career-long crusader to help underprivileged farmers – many times on behalf of Southern African-American farmers, but not solely. Sherrod was hired in August 2009 to be the Georgia director of rural development for the USDA; she was the first black person to fill that position. AND – in a sad bit of history (perhaps "proving" her latent reverse racism for those among the right…but, for those of us with actually-functioning brains. I’d like to think it more clearly shows her capability for forgiveness, learning, and reality) – when she was 17 years old (in 1965, in Georgia), her father, who was a deacon at a local church, was shot and killed by a white farmer, reportedly over a cattle dispute; no charges were returned against the shooter by an all-white grand jury. She has called this a turning point in her life, leading her to want to stay in the South and try to help bring about societal change.

Gimme a “Beck”! Gimme a “You!” Gimme a Great Big, Steamin’ Pile of “Beck U.”!!!

Online "University" Allows FOX News’s Cryin’ Pitchman to Try and Rewrite History – One Scribbled-On Blackboard at a Time…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

July 14, 2010

Hey, whaddaya want, some kinda good education, right? Well, have we gotta new deal for you! (…but, hey, NOT any sorta Liberal / Socialist / Commie kinda "New Deal," of course!)

If you’ve got one of those computers and just $9.95 per month – or 75 smackers per year – (in check, credit, or even valuable gold!), you can get an education miles beyond what’s available at all those hoity-toity Ivy League or California state universities. Yes, for just a teensy bit more effort and attention than watching TV, you can get a fine, trust-worthy, passive, non-studying, no-reading-required "real" American education from trusted sources chosen by a beloved, thoughtful, tearful modern patriot.

Welcome to Beck University! And, hey, screw the "Liberal Arts" sorta, elitist, from-the-top-down kinda education that they’re selling over at Harvard or Yale or ESPECIALLY UC-Berkeley (and we STILL ain’t too fond of places like the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Kent State, either). Nah, this is where you’re gonna find – and, lookit this! I just made this up! – a "Conservative Arts" degree in all the important things about our beloved Homeland that those pinko tenured profs WON’T teach you (what with their robes and their pipes and their assumed tendencies to vote Democratic). Allow the Great Man, Glenn Beck himself, to fill you in about – for example – our first hour of online classes, on "Faith 101": "You will learn more in the next hour than you probably learned in your entire life about American history!"

Some Valuable Recent Online Links Worth Reading

Pieces on Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Media Matters, and Other News and Blog Sites Provide Great Liberal / Progressive Info and Ammo – and Have Been the Valuable Basis of Recent Material For Radio Shows...

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

July 1, 2010

I know there’s been more radio than website content lately…and that might continue for the next couple of weeks, too, since I’ve got 6-1/2 hours of combined airtime next Monday-Tuesday…and then another 5-1/2 hours the beginning of the following week – lots of material to prepare for all that! And, connected to that, I thought I’d provide some summaries of and links to a variety of interesting recent online pieces that have definitely fueled some content on both The Stonecipher Report and the And, in the News… radio broadcasts.

[Plus – a quick note: My thanks to all of you who contacted me about the difficulties (with buffering and other streaming issues) in hearing both the iTunes AND whpk.org online live versions of the radio shows last week. I have informed station management and technicians, and they hope it will all be resolved by this coming week’s shows…]

What a “Novel” Idea! Glenn Beck “Wrote” a Fictional Book…and Now You Can Read MY “Interpretation” of it Here…

"The Overton Window" or "The Overwrought Window" – Eh, Six of One, a Half-Dozen of the Other…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

June 23, 2010

From time-to-time, I like to share out here some of the content of my free e-mail newsletter, "And, in the News…" Its twice-weekly issues cover politics on Mondays (with original writing beyond what I usually post out here) and all other subjects (such as pop culture, random thoughts, and personal reflections / observations) on Fridays – AND it’s the basis and inspiration for my NEW Tuesday morning radio show, available from 6 – 9 AM all summer on whpk.org. (If interested in receiving these issues, just drop me an e-mail request at [email protected]; all e-mail subscription addresses are never used for any other purposes.)

You may have heard about this - apparently, Glenn Beck wrote a novel! Or…more likely, he just wrote a check to the team of ghostwriters that "crafted" his book, "The Overton Window" - a techno-political "thriller" where (big surprise!) the heroes are Right-wingers and the evil, controlling villains are us Liberals. Uh, yawn. In any event, in this issue from Monday, I spun a little creative webbing and offered MY version of the potboiler, pro-righty fiction that I thought Beck would endorse to his eager, drooling viewers and listeners. (Buy a copy now, and you might even get a valuable fraction of an ounce of gold – gold, I tells ya! - with it, too!) So…into the imagined ether of the Beckian mind we go, as I spend - no doubt! - more imagination and effort on this few-paragraph take-off than weepy ol’ Glenn did on his entire manuscript…Enjoy!

How FOX News Changed the “Rules”

The "Fair and Balanced" Slogan Lets Them Redefine "Journalism" to Their Own Very Narrow, Right-Wing Constricts

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

May 27, 2010

Note: This is a bit of a continuation of my post from the other day, which took as its leaping-off point the disturbing (but not-all-that-surprising) news that the hard-right FOX News cable network was continuing to alter new footage to suit their completely-bias-driven "reporting" (particularly, in this case, apparently editing applause from cadets out of President Obama’s speech at West Point). If you haven’t read that piece yet, you can access it via this link.

I would also like to give a few credit-where-credit-is-due hat-tips to some friends who got me thinking and then writing (at first, in online comments and e-mails, and then for out here) about this topic. I first got exposed to the latest then-breaking facts behind all of this – and began exploring my disgusted pinion about it – via communications with my friends Laura McNaughton and Jonathan Perkins. And, after I posted yesterday’s piece, those communications continued and expanded…and were also spurred on further by friend Jeff Norman (whose well-thought-out and well-written blog, The Architectural Dance Society, is available here). My thanks to those three (as well as to others who connected to me and commented on or shared my original piece). Thus…here I arrive…

So, as I pointed out in the previous piece, not only do FOX News viewers make the untrue "Well, YOUR side does the SAME thing over at / on / in [fill in the lefty-media blank]" excuse for their "news" source’s fiction, propaganda, and discarding-of-anything-positive-for-Obama / Democrats…They also proudly point to the network’s widely exposed (as well as oft-mocked) slogan, "Fair and Balanced."

More FOX “Fictionalized” News…

The Right-Wing Cable "News" Channel Apparently Edits Applause From Troops Out of Coverage of President Obama’s Speech at West Point; Just the Latest Example of Their Lies When it Comes to Facts Beyond Their Narrow Purview…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

May 25, 2010

Why am I not surprised at this? Why am I NEVER surprised when FOX News does crap like this?

Here’s the info: As noticed by Michael Moore (and Tweeted to his followers), in FOX’s coverage of the speech that President Barack Obama gave at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, they apparently edited it (or, at best, used a version that did ended up NOT reflecting the actual response following his statements) so that, after the Commander-in-Chief told his newest troops that he hopes to end the armed conflict in Iraq soon, the enthusiastic applause that cadets gave was not heard. In their version, the President pauses and looks around awkwardly to silence after saying that. (Although, I suppose to FOX’s credit, they did not sarcastically add the sound of crickets chirping to replace the actual cheers…) [Video embedded at the end of this piece…]

Author Philip Roth Uncovers Fake Italian Anti-Obama Interviews

Foreign Freelancer Also Sold Made-Up John Grisham Discussions Slamming US Prez; Weird Intersection of a Few of My Favorites…

Posted By: Michael Sweeney

Mar. 31, 2010

In a mysterious and interesting bit of under-the-top-level of news, the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning novelist Philip Roth has – almost inadvertently – discovered and debunked a series of faked Italian articles that included noted American authors (inaccurately) decrying President Barack Obama.

Our Condolences to Keith Olbermann and His Family on the Passing of His Father

MSNBC Host Also Used His Dad’s Illness to Help Make Important Points About Healthcare Reform

Posted By:  Michael Sweeney

Mar. 13, 2010

The Stonecipher Report wishes to offer our deepest condolences to MSNBC’s "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann (and his sister Jenna and their other family members) on the passing today of KO’s father, Theodore C. Olbermann at the age of 80.

Ted was a successful commercial architect, and, as Keith reported, he "died peacefully after a long fight against the complications that ensued after successful colon surgery last September." Ted had been hospitalized in an ICU for approximately 6 months. (The full brief report from KO is available here, on his "Baseball Nerd" blog for the official MLB site…)