Press, politicians, programmers: Never having to say you're sorry

Start the music and then you can read the message....



Don't know if you read my weekend pieces about KMOV-TV's distorted anchor lead-in in a story about Obama that was wrong enough to spread all over the country, including Rush Limbaugh and the Drudge Report.

The damage is done of course. Last week, the St Louis station mis-characterized the so called "Obama Truth Squad" of Democrat sheriffs and prosecutors wanting to CORRECT political lies. Instead, the station said they were going to "go after" or "target" people who lied...and the intimation was that they might be arrested or officially charged.

Needless to say, that was like pouring kerosene on the right wingers and setting them on fire! All the way up to RUSH LIMBAUGH's Monday broadcast. Talk about falsely yelling FIRE in a theater!! Nobody shut it down at KMOV because the weekend crew are the newest, greenest, freshest out of school! Wouldn't know their asses with both hands!

Well when the weekday brain trust showed up Monday morning, the St Louis TV station early yesterday rewrote and toned-DOWN last week's JAZZED-UP anchorman LEAD-IN on the WEB that had spread around the country--that originally said they were "going after" people who lied.

Course everybody had already freaked by Sunday. Stretched it use words like Gestapo and Nazi and they got all indignant. Even the Governor responded!!!! And none if it was true. Yup. It was distorted to FICTION! The WHOLE THING was all the fault of some dumb-ass 6 o'clock TV producer!

No doubt after some serious management discussions, KMOV-TV finally softened their Tuesday website's inaccurate lead-in early Monday without admitting their mistake. Then the station FINALLY fixed it MONDAY NIGHT with a follow-up to actually do the story again-- the way they should have done it the FIRST time.

Did they first distort the story last Tuesday to make Obama look bad? uhhhh. Doubt it. No right-wing newsroom conspiracy within KMOV-TV. Some producer just didn't understand the story or wasn't smart enough, or listening closely enough... or she just punched it up to make it read bigger than it was for competitive reasons. Maybe she THOUGHT thats what the story was at midday but the reporter learned it wasn't so ominous by 4pm. Who knows, In any case, she didn't get the WORD! And the WRONG word ended up all over the country!

TV news people DO punch up and sensationalize stories with more emotional action verbs to keep viewers watching. It's standard procedure to punch up stories as much as they can by using better verbs. This time, she just went too far and the whole thing got out of hand. So did the producer get fired, or suspended, or get yelled at? We'll never know that!

At least KMOV-TV finally ran what amounted to a correction after the national firestorm... well, a corrected story in St Louis, kinda-sorta. Course the correction didn't get on the Drudge Report today to fix the wrong story that flashed across America all weekend.

And the station didn't EXACTLY acknowledge their error-- instead, they carefully made it sound like it was politicians who were over-reacting-- when in fact, politicians were just responding to KMOV's sensationally, inaccurately-written original story.

And Rush Tuesday didn't stop to correct his wrong story Monday. He never does and neither does Drudge.

They just go on. Does Rush care about truth? Not likely because he has an agenda and KMOV's story played into his agenda very nicely! No way in hell will he take the airtime to retract for the sake of Truth. He's never been into Truth. He's been interested in POINT OF VIEW! KMOV-TV's mistake worked for a few seconds of his Monday show. He's long gone by now to other right sided, anti-Obama propaganda! No time to fix mistakes.

----
NOTE TO DRUDGE: Don't publicize 20-something local TV producers' copy until you truth-check them. SPEND THE LONG DISTANCE MONEY TO MAKE A FEW CALLS! Don't just link to stories that sound too good to be true! I've seen this before in Drudge stories originating in my home state!

Local TV station copywriters aren't disciplined enough to understand JOURNALISM. They're deeply susceptible to local competition, they aren't seasoned by decades of journalism, they aren't supervised by wise gray-haired editors. Never take a TV station's word for ANYTHING because managers don't supervise their newscasts like a senior newspaper editor supervises a morning edition!

They aren't the Wall Street Journal! The journalistic standard of a TV station is more like a high school newspaper than a big city paper.

A QUIET FIX. Unlike the first story, what do you bet the KMOV News Director actually went over THIS script very carefully before it went out Monday night, six days later. Here's their correction.

Television takes care of its factual errors just like Microsoft fixes bugs in its software. QUIETLY.

Windows sends you quiet repairs downloaded automatically on Tuesdays without ever admitting mistakes. They call em "UPDATES" but they're really bug fixes!

Like software companies, and TV stations, politicians too believe they never have to say they're sorry.

Notice that the deregulation-minded Republicans in Congress are also NOT SAYING THEY'RE SORRY over this financial mess? The real news is what they DON'T say at election time!

Who's smarter, Treasury Secy or Michael Moore?

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson avoided all the important questions Monday afternoon. Ones like "how SOON", and "how BAD?" I would have been happier with an honest "I DON'T KNOW" than him just dodging it. Makes me think either they don't know, or maybe Michael Moore's right--it's just a robbery!

Here's what Michael Moore said:

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door. He goes on to suggest it's not unworthy housebuyers who caused this, but catastrophic medical bills ruining families...

Hmm. So for all those who hate Michael Moore, why is HE less credible than these assholes in Washington?

I'm afraid I'm still happier with Obama after all this. As I listened to both McCain and Palin today, I heard no specifics about ANYTHING... just applause lines, acting more like CHEERLEADERS, than LEADERS. McCain supposedly went to DC the other day to SAVE the day? Well.... so much for HIS big ideas!

And did you hear that the Republicans say they backed out of the deal because of something Nancy Pelosi SAID on the House Floor? Is the country going into the shitter because they got their FEELINGS HURT?

Perhaps all the campaign double talk is causing my BS detector to constantly be set off! Should we believe these assholes?

Is it time for the Revolution yet? Wake me when it IS I'll be there!! We need to stand up to these people while we still have a pot to piss in!

Should we call our Congressman and tell them if they vote YES, they're all FIRED? Or if they vote NO, they're fired?









Is it really the end of the world as we know it if we don't sign our children's lives over to the bankers? Isn't it true that all a bank building is, is a monument to high interest rates? The President and the House Speaker both look like they were just told their cancer is inoperable. Is that just THEIR problem, or OURS? Has Congress just killed us by voting NO, or did they really tell the robbers, "no, we're not paying the ransom?"

I have no clue. Do YOU? You think you KNOW? Oh, you DO? Where did you get YOUR economics degree?

KMOV quietly rewrites DISTORTED STORY, No apology yet

Analysis: Who's afraid of the big bad truth?

McCain has a truth squad, but Obama's makes big news

09:42 AM CDT on Monday, September 29, 2008

By John Mills
KMOV-TV

Analysis

Stan Kostecki, KMOV-TV

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce speak with KMOV-TV's John Mills outside a Barack Obama campaign office in the Central West End on Sept. 23, 2008.

John McCain's campaign has a truth squad which includes prosecutors who support his candidacy, according to reports and a campaign source.

Last Tuesday without any fanfare, the Barack Obama campaign announced Jennifer Joyce and Bob McCulloch, the top prosecutors in St. Louis city and St. Louis County, were joining something called an Obama truth squad.

They plan to respond immediately to any misleading advertisements and statements that might violate Missouri ethics laws.

"We want to keep this campaign focused on issues," Joyce told me. "Missourians don't want to be distracted by these divisive character attacks."

The truth squad's plan is to indentify false attacks and respond immediately with truthful information, Joyce and McCulloch say.

Truthful information like: Obama is a Christian who plans to cut taxes for anyone making under $250,000 a year.

The Obama campaign says prosecutors from the Kansas City area and some rural areas are also joining the truth squad, and Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer was also expected to be part of the team.

"Whether it is directly attributable to the campaign or one of the soft money operations," McCulloch told me, "if they're not going to tell the truth, then somebody's got to step up and say 'wait a minute, that's not true, this is the truth.'"

For reasons that are still not fully clear, prosecutors promising to tell the public the truth have sparked outrage among supporters of John McCain.

Three days later, I got a call from KMOX radio talk show host Mark Reardon. (I'll paraphrase.)

That story you did last night is really getting a lot of attention, Reardon said.

I was off yesterday. What story? I asked.

The one about the Obama truth squad, he said.

Oh, that story I did Tuesday at 6, I responded.

Well, Rush Limbaugh just talked about it, and the blogoshpere has it, and it's getting big. It's really going to get big, Reardon said.

AP

Rush Limbaugh

Reardon was correct.

More than 90,000 people from across the country watched my report on KMOV.com. Click here to watch the report

When I returned to the office on Saturday, I spoke with callers from New York to Florida who had heard about Obama's truth squad and were outraged about it.

One caller said he was angry, because people were going to be "prosecuted" and "indicted" for stating their political views.

Another caller said Obama was planning to send police to the homes of elderly women because of their political statements.

A third caller said he wanted information about Obama's "storm troopers."

Members of law enforcement never said anyone would be prosecuted, indicted or punished for saying anything, only that they were prepared to tell the public the truth.

By Saturday afternoon, outgoing Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, a McCain supporter, was also outraged and accused Obama of "police state tactics" that would "intimidate people and kill free debate."

KMOV

In a written statement on the governor's official Web site, Blunt said the basis for his statement was prompted by "news reports."

"The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill open debate," Blunt said in the statement.

Prosecutor Jennifer Joyce said: "We're here to respond to any character attacks, to set the record straight."

"Barack Obama needs to grow up," Blunt continued. "Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations, because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them."

MONDAY 2pm.

Drudge has posted yet another KMOV distortion but the St Louis station has not retracted. Has quietly changed the story as it appears on their website.

Radioman writes KMOV now that there's a place to leave a comment. And to Drudge suggesting they pull the story from their high visibility site.

radiomankc 9 minutes ago wrote:

You have a producer down there who needs to be fired for writing an incredibly distorted LEADIN to a liveshot last week... and a News Director that needs to be fired for not running a PROPER retraction, and phoning it into the Governor's office, Matt Drudge, and Rush Limbaugh.

Your original lead in said THIS:

"The Barack Obama campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign. John Mills is live..."


And now you've quietly changed it to THIS"

The Barack Obama campaign is getting help from local prosecutors, both Democrats, to clarify TV ads the campaign believes are misleading."

Your first one's caused a completely unfair firestorm across the country. Shame, Shame. Don't ignore and quietly remove your mistake. You owe a MEA CULPA retraction all over the country...and how are you going to put this firestorm of defamation OUT, KMOV??

FIX IT! Everywhere, FIX IT! You caused it. You knew it this weekend and you did nothing to stop it or pull the inaccurate story from being hit all weekend. In fact it appears the reporter likes all the attention, even if it's DEAD WRONG!

I would not want to be YOU, KMOV St Louis!

(stories on this topic appeared as early as Saturday morning....

Bill Maher's October Movie treat- Religion!

I love this guy! I'd take Mister Politically Incorrect before even a WINNING chiefs game. Here's MUST SEE TV (Just the George Bush clip is worth the watch!):

Trailer for movie Religulous

New Pharmaceutical Advertising

Seen in a doctors office bathroom

Me agree with Gingrich? OMG!

MY Sunday mornings are all about political talk, and my favorite, now that Tim's gone is This Week with Stephanopolis. Maybe I just like their blue set, I dunno.

But Gingrich was on and said Bush's nutcase Treas Secretary should have quit instead of asking for a blank check for 700 billion dollars, no questions asked. For once, I agree with the guy who would let his own mother starve if she didn't have her own money saved.

From ABC...

Un-American' Bailout, Paulson Should Have Quit, Gingrich Says

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September 28, 2008 12:46 PM

ABC News' Tahman Bradley and Arnab Datta Report: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., on Sunday described Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for billion of dollars to buy debt from struggling Wall Street financial firms as "un-American" and said the secretary should have stepped down.

Gingrich even expressed concern with Paulson's connections to Wall Street. The treasury secretary served as the chairman of a major global investment banking and securities firm before joining the Bush administration.

"You have the former Chairman of Goldman Sachs asking for 700 billion dollars, and in his initial request, asking for it in such an un-American way that I think he should have resigned," said Gingrich. "I think Paulson has terminally misunderstood the nature of the American system. Not just no review, no judicial review, no congressional accountability. Give me 700 billion dollars, 700 BILLION dollars! 'I'll be glad to spend it for you.' That's a centralization of power that is totally un-American."

Watch Gingrich's remarks HERE.

Watch "This Week's Sunday Sound" webcast HERE

Hey Chatterbox, you moron

Check THIS one out! General Blather

Well written, says it. Yeah, I guess Biden's an asshole, I admit VERY begrudgingly. But I'd rather him advising the president than Sarah Palin. For Sarah DOES have bigger problems than the economy, the Russians, Chavez, energy. She needs to go home and raise her children. Just remember, Sarah, it's a lot easier to raise em right the first time than to fix them after they're broken! Now put your shotgun down. You've got yet another kid to raise, hockey mom. What's his name.. Levi Johnston-Palin (Wonkette wonders if Sarah's got a new son-in-law.

"What the hell do you mean by "Palin-McCain", Sarah? Beauty queens are supposed to look good in a swimsuit and smile a lot when their running mates are talking."

No more lying political ads.

Palin Is Ready? Please.

McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, that is simply not true.

Newsweek's Next Issue

Fareed Zakaria

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, "to spend more time with her family"? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS's Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn't help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

"It's very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state."

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. "It is from Alaska that we send out those …" What does this mean?

It gets way worse and more scary... read the rest


Comment of the day:

Posted By: neos @ 09/27/2008 9:59:17 PM

Comment: Moose lips sink ships.

Mo Truthwatch story catches wind and flies.

Obama sicks Missouri law enforcement officeholders on lying ads? Really? Do we need to TRUTH WATCH the TRUTH WATCH story? Yes we do.

The KMOV TV liveshot last week, and its jazzed up anchor lead has caught the attention of Drudge report and the usual suspects now expressing their indignancy over the Barack Campaign purportedly sicking state wide officeholders on lying political ads.

Most responsible bloggers who ARE quoting the story, are showing it because KMOV's posted it on their website... and it's an easy jab and anybody who runs it can blame the TV station.

Most are holding their noses with an 'if it's true..." caveat. Thats' because so far, it appears no legitimate news operations but that one station are reporting it separately. It still appears to me to be a stretch. It was buried in a newscast, not even the lead story and now the anti-Obama press is jumping on it. The sound bites in the reporters story don't directly support the misleading anchor lead in... and of course the lead-in is the top of the story with all the bloggers.

I bet this is causing KMOV, in retrospect to grill their reporter a little harder, and question whether the misleading anchor lead in used appropriate wording, or not. For that anchor lead in is what gave the story national wings.

Doesn't this remind you of the little school game of 'gossip', where all the kids are set in a circle and whisper one fact, from one to the other... and compare the 'first fact' with how it changed in the telling from one student to another?

Classic political crap! With the news media smack in the middle of it. Which is why news and journalism should be left to professionals. The question is this: are local stations professional?

Sure reminds me of KMBC-TV Kansas City's story when their guy, Michael Mahoney jump his judgment a few weeks back trying to be first with McCain's vice presidential pick based on somebody printing up tee shirts. To Mahoney's embarrassment, he was dead wrong. Will this truthwatch story just disappear into the atmosphere like KMBC's did, like so many other half ass but wrong TV stories? Especially because it fell in the shadow of bigger stories like last night's TV debate?

Or is it the sign of something bigger? Here's what a St Louis blogger says.

See mine from yesterday...

Truthwatchers called "GESTAPO!" Mo Falsehood grows wings!

A Kansas City blogger twists an already twisted television report to the point that you can't recognize it! From "The Kansas Citian" blog:

Obama Unleashes Gestapo in Missouri

Barack Hussein Obama has asked Missouri law enforcement to go after anyone who says he may be a Muslim or that his tax plan would increase taxes on someone making less than $250,000 a year.

Really? How on Earth can Obama use federal law enforcement to go after people for having an opinion?

On the tax issues, anyone who makes gains in the stock market or owns a small business will be required to pay massively increased capital gains taxes. That's the truth. Are we going to be arrested now for saying it?

On the Muslim issue, Obama does claim he is and has always been a Christian. While it is true he is a member of the Trinity United Black Theology Church, there is also evidence that shows when attending school in Indonesia he was enrolled as a Muslim. He says he wasn't, that just his father was. We see know reason to doubt what he says in regards to that claim, but others might seeing as he has lied about so many other things, his tax plan being just one of them.

Is this just a taste of what we will see if Obama wins? Does he really think the American people will stand for him jailing people with alternate opinions than his, labelling people as racist if they don't support him?

The democrat leadership that ignored the will of the majority of democrats across this country, the majority that voted and chose Hillary as their nominee, by having democrat super delegates reverse that decision, should tread lightly. The thug tactics of the South Side of Chicago that Obama used to win his Senate seat and his State seat will likely not work in the Show Me State.

Posted by James at 2:06 PM

The blogger's source is a St Louis TV report

Here's the post from KMOV-TV probably last night. Even the producer's 'anchor lead-in' distorts what the field reporter actually filed by punching up the words to sound more sensational:
ANCHOR LEAD IN:

"The Barack Obama campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign. John Mills is live..."

TV PRODUCER JAZZES UP THE COPY TO SOUND BIGGER THAN IT IS: As you listen to reporter John Mills' story, is he actually saying law enforcement is "TARGETING" anyone or is "CRACKING DOWN" on anyone-- other than planning to answer false political claims? So what do colored words like "targeting" and "cracking down" actually mean? Like cops do to drug dealers or speeders? Extra law enforcement?

No. "Targeting" and "Cracking down" are just TELEVISION-SPEAK. Clearly written by a producer who didn't understand Mills' story before she wrote the anchor LEAD IN.

Nowhere will you hear any claim that any law enforcement agency is intending to act officially towards anyone. That would, after all be a clear Constitutional violation. But TV people play fast and loose with the facts to keep you watching!

Click here to watch KMOV TV's video report for yourself

And as you watch it, carefully find first in the field reporter's story where "the "Barack Hussein Obama campaign" is asking ANYTHING of anybody except to answer political lies with truth! The reporter only IMPLIES the campaign itself asked democratic officeholders like sheriffs and prosecutors to watch for false advertising and counter it with truth? Commonly called 'truthwatching". And even if the campaign DID ask state officeholders to watch for false advertising, so what's uncommon about that?

BLOGGER JAZZES UP THE TV REPORT EVEN MORE! And how do we take that factual stretch from the St. Louis producer's lead-in and then turn it into yet another punched up rewrite by the blogger:

" Barack Hussein Obama has asked Missouri law enforcement to go after anyone who says he may be a Muslim or that his tax plan would increase taxes on someone making less than $250,000 a year.

Really? How on Earth can Obama use federal law enforcement to go after people for having an opinion?

Now the cops, are going after Muslims? No. The fact is, it doesn't look like the Obama people DID that at all! Blogger David even adds Obama's middle name, "HUSSEIN" to tie a fully debunked connection between Obama and Islam. Where did this blogger "David" get this wording? Out of his ass?

And then the most misleading JAZZ-UP of all, the blogger's headline, warning, "Obama unleashes Gestapo in Missouri"??

American Heritage Dictionary - Ge·sta·po n.

The German internal security police as organized under the Nazi regime, known for its terrorist methods directed against those suspected of treason or questionable loyalty. gestapo pl. ge·sta·pos A police organization that employs terroristic methods to control a populace.

So. What should you call a blogger who takes a sensationalized TV story YOU saw with your own eyes, and twists it EVEN MORE to make you think Obama has "unleashed the Gestapo" in Missouri?

Where's the TRUTHWATCH NOW? Shame on you, Kansas Citian! You committed willful distortion of the truth. Reckless disregard!

Some people do this to sensationalize so you'll watch their TV story.

Others will do it to trick you into voting for their candidate by deliberately lying about the other guy. I guess they know that lying is they only way their candidate will win.

What will become of us now?

Finally, republicans become republicans but Bush and McCain don't look so good just now. For partisans wanting republicans and greedy businessmen to finally get THEIRS, it may not end up very sweet, depending on how Wall Street reacts and if the train stays on the tracks.

Wild day at the White House

Biggest Bank Failure Thurs Night. Air America's take

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told Democratic colleagues that McCain's involvement has destroyed chance of an agreement, sources told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

Frank compared McCain's involvement to: "Richard Nixon blowing up the Vietnam peace talks in 1968."

White Privilege and Sarah Palin with Katie Couric

White Privilege... difference in what's allowed and what's not. interesting essay



Sarah Palin Part 1



Sarah Palin with Katie Couric Part 2

Ballet as you've never seen it

Sonny Radio Swan Lake

The frogs is just the first act, watch to the end to be amazed!

Loose Lips (reveal honesty!)

I like to browse the other bloggers I have listed, or ones that get cross-linked by generous bloggers . TKC's very good about surfing the blogging 'hood and reporting back stuff that floats his boat. (BTW, I'm happy my software allows me to list other selected bloggers and their most recent post headline and when it was posted it! Yaaay Google!)

I do link to the enemy (white wingers) and found one on the Kansas Citian making fun of Smokin Joe Biden... one of my favorite politicians because he's honest about his feelings. The slightly right- leaning blog trashed him. saying...

As the 2008 Presidential Election draws closer and closer Democrat Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden demonstrates why Sarah Palin is more than capable of having to step in to be commander in chief should the need arise.

Biden's growing list of gaffes includes calling his running mate, "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean." Making derogatory statements about legal immigrant workers, "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." And asking crippled Senator Chuck Baldwin to, "please stand up."

The KC Red Star's Prime Buzz blog has pointed out that Biden has gotten exceptionally bad in the past 24 hours.

He told a questioner in a campaign line that he and Obama do not support clean coal. "No coal plants here in America." Yet, his campaigns stated policy papers support clean coal power plants.

And I responded on the Kansas Citian's site. While I like to help out my fellow bloggers with feedback that might be a good read, I liked what I wrote enough, so I guess I need to paste it into my own humble rant room.

RMAN: "BTW, 'clean coal' is an oxymoron. John's right. We need nukepower, and lots of it.

About Sarah? One thing about having a campaign bandaid across your mouth... you won't make any mistakes!

Imagine the gaffe's Palin would make if they let her talk. Ya know it, don't ya? She's just a Chatty Sarah doll. Pull her sting and she stays on message. All Sarah's allowed to do is be seen. Other than that she believes in end times prophesy, has a husband in high risk sports, what do we know about her? One more thing? If being a mayor lets you rub your breast when talking to an arab leader about his children during your 40 second photo op at the UN, what will she do with Russians? Will she get out her Moose gun? Ask him about his grandchildren? I dunno.

She'll bring in the Assembly of God vote and that's why she's there, I guess. I still think she was Rove's idea, not McCains for well publicized reasons. Did you hear her say Palin-McCain ticket the other day? That was a very telling whopper, I thought and that's why they keep her on Prompter. I don't see much love in McCain's face. I don't think he's a very happy guy these days.

Stop by my place, I'll be happy to talk interactive with you.

We bloggers tend to open our mouths without thinking far more than candidates! Don't ya think?

I seriously thought it was LIBERALS who cling to PC. Biden's not very wrong when he says you have to have an Indian accent to work convenience store. A LITTLE wrong. Arabs like those jobs too and are buying into them with Uncka Mohammad's oil money back home.

I'd rather a little Political Incorrectness than speechwriter script. I can't believe you don't either... unless you want another neocon. Remember, McCain at best would be a caretaker president. A place marker because the party couldn't agree on a better candidate. He scares me. It IS about temperament. Next election, they'll be talking about temperament, not experience if he wins. That guy's more scary than a Hillary responding to phases of the moon." Posted by Radioman of Kansas City to the Kansas Citian at September 24, 2008 9:27 AM

Yup, one thing about loose lips. At least you know what you're getting! Biden is not a thirty second commercial written by some agency copywriter. Like O'Bama, he writes his own material! Unlike Sarah Palin who's in the Alaska Student Council, Biden's a serious candidate and all you have to do is listen to him to feel confident he's the one. I feel the same way, for some reason, listening to the Community Organizer.

I would surely rather Biden at the president's side than Palin or Cheney-- and I think that's why the US will wake up to GENUINE WISDOM, not pre-packaged commercials for the right (again.) Sorry, I want leaders who THINK, not pray for prophesy! But that's just ME, your basic vanilla Christian who doesn't speak in tongues!

Register to VOTE! And then DO IT!

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Want FLUFF or SUBSTANCE on the Debates?

Want more substance in debates and less fluff than we saw in primary debates??? Watch this....from Media Matters:


Put a STOP to theatrics...
... Sign the PETITION at Media Matters

Comedy Video: Party in the Stomach

5 minute great comedy routine

FBI Investigates Freddie & Fannie, AIG, Lehman officials!!!!

By LARA JAKES JORDAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI is investigating four major U.S. financial institutions whose collapse helped trigger a $700 billion bailout plan by the Bush administration.

Curiouser and Curiouser
Only $700 billion, Alice.

Two law enforcement officials said Tuesday the FBI is looking at potential fraud by mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), and insurer American International Group Inc. (AIG) Additionally, a senior law enforcement official said Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) also is under investigation.

The inquiries will focus on the financial institutions and the individuals that ran them, the senior law enforcement official said.

The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing and are in the very early stages.

Officials said the new inquiries bring to 26 the number of corporate lenders under investigation over the past year.

Spokesmen for AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday evening. A Lehman spokesman did not have an immediate comment.

Wall Street Journal's John Fund tells CNN's Anderson Cooper...

Says no doubt some people will be going to jail and congressmen will be investigated as well.

Stocks flaky today

Congress not so sure about the kazillion dollar bailout... market freaky. Bush's money minions say the bailout's better than what will happen if Congress doesn't vote for it!

Thomas Sowell over on right wing TOWN HALL ... no solution, just BLAME GAME.

Alternet wrote on it today...Five Dangerous, Disastrous Things About the Proposed Bailout and What You Can Do to Help Stop It

Web EMAIL Kansas Senators and US Representatives
Web EMAIL Missouri Senators and US Representatives
Web EMAIL any state's Senators and US Representatives

Conservative George Will!
Says McCain's LOST HIS HEAD!

The queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said without even looking around." -- "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.

Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated. This childish reflex provoked the Wall Street Journal to editorialize that "McCain untethered" -- disconnected from knowledge and principle -- had made a "false and deeply unfair" attack on Cox that was "unpresidential" and demonstrated that McCain "doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does." The rest of Will's essay on the Washington Post...

So... how's YOUR day been?

A Note to Bill Clinton

Posted September 23, 2008
Paul Slansky Blogging on The Huffington Post

Given that we would never have had the odious George W. Bush in the White House in the first place if it wasn't for your blow jobs, Bill, it seems obvious that you owe it to the people of this country, and especially to the parents whose kids died in the Iraq War that Gore would never have started, and to all the parents whose kids would be killed in the WarFest that would be a McCain/Palin -- sorry, Palin/McCain administration -- to do everything in your power to get Barack Obama elected.

But that's not what you're doing, Bill, and it's not going unnoticed. We see your rage, Bill, it's too huge to hide. We see that -- as Chris Rock so brilliantly pointed out -- it pains you to even speak Obama's name. We see you petulantly rooting against him even as you go through the motions of doing the barest minimum on his behalf to avoid being blamed if he loses.

You're not fooling anyone, Bill. You've gotten so caught up in yesterday that you've stopped thinking about tomorrow. You have the power to influence millions of voters and you're spitefully sitting on it. Surely you've noticed what's going on in the country. Surely you're aware of what's at stake on November 4th. This is not a game that you can afford to take your ball and go home with if you don't get to play the position you want. An Obama loss will most certainly be part of your legacy.

There's still time to fix it. How about this for an October surprise? Bill Clinton gets on the road and spends every day until the election sincerely and wholeheartedly communicating the urgency of electing Obama. You're the greatest politician of your generation, Bill. Surely you can fake enthusiasm for a month.

Oh, and stop talking about how much you like Senator McCain. Have you forgotten the vile joke he told a decade ago at your wife's and daughter's expense? Let me remind you: "Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? She's the child of Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton." Are you saying, Bill, that you can forgive McCain for calling Chelsea "ugly" but you can't forgive Obama for defeating Hillary?

If Obama loses a close election -- one in which even one state where you could have made a difference goes for McCain because you sat home and pouted -- it will be on you. We will remember that you couldn't be bothered to rise above your petty resentments for something as trivial as saving your country from the enemies of everything you profess to believe in. We forgave you for Monica, Bill, but we won't forgive you for this.

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Yard Signs: Kay Barnes for Mayor, uh Congress?

Anybody who has ever been mayor of Kansas City has the stink of old city Pendergast politics on them, IMHO. So I just assume they're dirty, sucked up to the very smoke-filled business interests that I can't stand because they're rich at my expense.

So anybody who has been a mayor of KC has a STINK on them. NO way will I put a Kay Barnes yard sign on my coveted CORNER LOT to give a former KC mayor any publicity. Or any other former KC mayors!

Understand... it take a lot of guts to put a political yard sign on your property that isn't a McCain sign because around here, that's expected. Luckily for most of my politically aware but stupid neighbors, no one remembers those 4-8 year ago blue "W" for BUSH signs in their yards or on the backwindows of their cars.

Bush back-window stickers "W04" are long gone!

Surely no one today will admit to having voted for BUSH LITE now after this war and this economy!

But (McCAIN-Palin) or even the feminist (PALIN-McCain)? To me, that takes MORE guts. Yet in this conservative, or flip state, it's still okay to admit. This position makes no sense, but who will remember a couple years from now when these Tories get what they deserve, who they supported back then?

What bothers me is that the only candidate that brings reason to the planet is a black man and way too many white people would rather vote for any WHITE THIEF than vote for an HONEST NIGGA-- even if he makes sense!

The Repubs are counting on that, this time! Counting on white racism! Since I saw them in action 10 years ago, I knew the GOP wasn't fit to govern us! But they're back now, asking us to be gullible yet AGAIN to steal our hard-earned wages! How dumb ARE we?

OBAMA for President!

I'm not happy that too many of my race are OPENLY AGAINST the only one who makes sense. But proudly, I'm the only one who went out of my way to buy a yard sign at the local Demo Campaign office to show my neighbors they need to vote common sense.

I have an Obama sign in my yard. Yup I'm waiting daily for some GOP zealot to steal it or desecrate it.

The local demo people wanted me to put a Barnes sign in my yard too. Uh, no. Take my donation, but I'll hold my nose as I vote for most of the Democrats. Except for Obama. I'll stand up proudly for that guy...and if ya call me a nigga-lover, well okay fine. That guy is smarter than anyone you know...and that should teach bigots something.

I'm thinking you have to REALLY hate blacks this time around to vote for greedy white economic disaster! So will you allow your racial bigotry to run America into the ground in the privacy between you and your ballot?

I hope the hell you won't!

And yup, my pure white ancestry's been on this continent since 1665, and yes, we raised tobacco and yes, we owned plenty of slaves. Our old great aunt ladies belonged to the Daughters of the Revolution and the Daughters of the Confederacy, yada, yada. But that was THEN! We know better now. Do YOU?

Free Puppy - Please help

I need a favor. Our neighbor has a puppy he's giving away (FREE). It's a Dachshund, it's house broken, and it's great with kids.

He's giving it away because his wife says the dog 'stares' at her when she is undressing, and that gives her the heebie jeebies. I think she is just weird!

If you're interested, or know someone who is, let me know. Here's a picture of the dog (see below).

Weblinks to all Kansas City Radio stations Listen Live

Radioman KC posts a page with all Kansas City radio stations and links to their websites where most of them offer live stream listening.

Check it out, Bookmark it if you like and enjoy

Something nice photoessay ecclesiastes3

Something nice from a friend

http://www.biblesociety.ca/free_scriptures/escriptures/ecclesiastes3/ecclesiastes3.html

And here are more from Canadian Bible Society

Palin, End time Prophesies and well, if you're inclined...

Too much spiritual and religion and end times stuff for me...but here's a link that whether it fits or not, it surely gives us an indication about Sarah Palin and how she was raised. Dunno about the witchcraft parts of this or spooky stuff from Africa but if you're into the weirdness, well enjoy this blog report and the videos in it, including interesting videos of Palin in church back in the day.

The rest of the blog's a fascinating read as well related to McCain going back to his S&L days ... I saw it on BlueGirl, RedState.

EMAIL your congressman NOW. Tell him NO GOVT BAILOUT!

Do NOT give George Bush another blank check on the Treasury like you did with Iraq. Let em fail. Let the marketplace work, just like the Republicans wanted when they reduced regulation!

And forget about McCain who clearly will say anything because he wants to be president. He's starting to slip a little like Reagan did. Don't give any more Republican presidential advisors a chance to run our country into the ground.

Web EMAIL Kansas Senators and US Reps
Web EMAIL Missouri Senators and US Reps
Web EMAIL any state's Senators and US Reps

Email your Congressman RIGHT NOW, and then in November....

Amber Alert Insanity

Aren't ya glad you're not a 14 year old kid named Riggs who's name was posted at least twice during the Chiefs game as having been absconded with by your habitual 'non-custodial mother'? I would hate to have to face my middle school friends after that kind of public humiliation. Come to think of it, I probably wouldn't want to come back to this town in any case.

We need an amber alert for the social worker types and the cop do-gooders, and KCTV, who really need to find themselves... and pull their heads out of their asses.

And society needs to get OVER its damned self!

More details than the public needs to know (or not NEARLY ENOUGH details, as if its everyone's business) unless there's probable cause they're in danger...

Supreme Court vs American Idol

fJust how hip or unhip are people who work for the ACLU? Ya know, the ones who defend your freedoms whether you like em or not?

Take five... see on a Video just how hip they are!

The Supreme Court versus American Idol

I don't see the resemblance

Federal bailout? Does this resemble the GOP you know?
McCain says enough government bailing out WallStreet...
Wall Street mood after a tough week...
Calculated Risk blog, with bailout details...
And what do the candidates do? Fingerpoint.

Other tidbits to browse before they get away...
Study shows racial attitudes play against Obama...
Rachel wonders if McCain's ads playing to it?
The Whisper Campaign

Ballad of Sarah Palin - Number 2 with a Bullet!

Pretty much the only fun thing coming out of the news this week:

She really SAID IT! The Palin-McCain ticket!!!

Believe it!



And to make matters worse, people started leaving after she spoke and McCain started speaking! What's up with that?

For second time this week, crowds leave after Palin speaks

At a rally outside Youngstown, Ohio, Tuesday night, dozens of attendees left while McCain was still speaking.

I caught up with a few of them. Some explained that the airplane hangar where the rally was being held had grown crammed and uncomfortable. Others said they had other events or commitments to get to.

Notably, though, the exodous had only begun after Palin spoke.

Now, the same thing has happened again.

"I look up, about five minutes into McCain's address and see a steady stream of people walking out of the rally," writes Radio Iowa's Kay Henderson from a McCain-Palin event in Cedar Rapids.

By Jonathan Martin 02:42 PM

Meanwhile, the OTHER number two keeps on punching

FLAT ROCK, Mich. — As the economy reels, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. — the Other Running Mate — has been absolutely butchering Senator John McCain across the Rust Belt this week. It is not clear who has noticed.

“John is so out of touch, he just has no idea,” charged Mr. Biden, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, who called his “old, dear friend” someone who “just doesn’t think,” who is behaving in a repugnant manner and who is peddling “Republican garbage,” and malarkey. More on this from NYT...

Funk and his wife are made the fools

What a circus this first lady volunteering in the office has become. Both the Funk and his wife have turned themselves into laughing stock. Doesn't matter who's morally right about who runs the mayor's office--the council or the mayor. Kansas City now lives up to its rep as a cowtown. St. Louis must be laughing its ass off at our cowtown ways! (photo KSHB41News)

Maybe the council or some Funkhouser enemies set him up but they did it well. Lets face it, he's not a classy guy and his wife's acting like trailer trash as well. He's now a one term mayor and like we do with Bush, we're now counting the days.

And no matter his ego, the people of Kansas City are the losers. There's too much to be done by city government than to screw around with barefooted Gloria and the mayor's personal needs. Funkhouser's proven himself not worthy of their election to a city even as large as Wasilla, Alaska.

Someone was behind this public humiliation. And they did the same thing to Funk that the Republicans did to Clinton. Their zeal to destroy Funk is like the Republican's zeal to destroy Clinton. In Kansas City's case, the city is embarrassed just as in Clinton's, his enemies embarrassed our nation.

On KMBZ, Funk wouldn't say who had made him the laughing stock. Maybe he's not sure who is the black hand. Somebody needs to name those names, even if he doesn't. Who's responsible for that ordinance and getting the council lined up to vote for it? This is surely bigger than some blogger who lives in his mother's basement. No matter that Gloria's a bit nuts. It was unchivalrous to humiliate her in public. Unchivalrous. Course not everyone has English roots so lots of people have no honor code to pass down to their offspring.

So who did this? Supporters of some candidate who lost to the Funk? Supporters of the former Mayor? Some miffed bureaucrats down there? Whoever, they too need to be outed, publicly tarred and feathered for their chicken shit ways, and sent into shameful political oblivion. And removed from media rollodexes!

Further news coverage of this trailer trash embarrassment just reminds us how pathetic was the voters' choice for Mayor. Further, I have less respect for those who have brought it out, day after day. It's unseemly, like showing pictures of someone going to the bathroom. I don't want to hear any more about it. It's tasteless. One more thing. This crap isn't what Kansas Citians pay their taxes for--not that reasoning like this stopped the Republicans from trying to overthrow Clinton's regime over another crazy woman.

Cartoon for grownups: Bank Failure for Dummies

Click here for Subprime Mortgages Explained - a cartoon slide show for Talk Show Dummies and the rest of us too

What? Theyre still talking light rail? Fat chance!

Evidently those who are still talking about light rail in Kansas City haven't been reading the financial section of the paper this week.

$1,000,000,000,000 bailout for a sound economy?

Paulson plan could cost $1 trillion

Congressional leaders said after meeting Thursday evening with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that as much as $1 trillion could be needed to avoid an imminent meltdown of the U.S. financial system.

Paulson announced plans Friday morning for a "bold approach" that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. At a news conference at Treasury headquarters, he called for a "temporary asset relief program" to take bad mortgages off the books of the nation's financial institutions. Congressional leaders had left Washington on Friday, but Paulson planned to confer with them over the weekend.

"We're talking hundreds of billions," Paulson told reporters. "This needs to be big enough to make a real difference and get to the heart of the problem." even worse news is the rest of the story...

We bloggers love to be cool, have great quips. But ya gotta admit that if you're watching the cable networks, checking Drudge on the financial stories, ya gotta swallow hard.

Let's face it, if the President and all his men don't know whats next... how can we? My boat is so small and the ocean is so big!

End of arrogance!