Sunday, May 03, 2009

Valerie Jarrett's latest ethical problem

The White House just can't manage ethical. Special Counsel Norm Eisen posted the following at the White House blog:








Just a quick post to advise that we granted an authorization under Section 3 of the President's Ethics Executive Order to Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett to lead the White House's effort to support Chicago's bid to secure the 2016 Olympics.
The President promised during the campaign that staff would not work on contracts or regulations directly related to their former employers. We have captured that promise in Paragraph 2 of our revolving door rules, which applies to non-lobbyists. Valerie previously served as Vice Chair of Chicago 2016, the non-profit entity responsible for the Chicago bid. Although Chicago 2016 was not her "former employer" in traditional terms, the term "former employer" in the President's Order encompasses entities that appointees served as directors or officers, as Valerie did here. (To be clear, Valerie was not a lobbyist for Chicago 2016, and this waiver has nothing to do with lobbying.)
We decided that a waiver of Paragraph 2 was in the public interest in order to help bring the Olympics back to the United States. Valerie’s past experience with Chicago 2016 makes her ideal to work with the city and its bid committee to help win the Olympics for the U.S., with the many benefits that would bestow.






Yeah, it is a bunch of hogwash. And Chicago's not the only damn city in the US. Chicago's not even prepared for the Olympics. But that's where Valerie comes in.



Valerie Jarrett

Left out of the White House 'briefing' is that Valerie sits on the board of United States Gypsum Corporation (USG). They have their corporate offices in Chicago and, oh yeah, they manufacture construction materials.





So, pay attention, if you were pushing for the Olympics in one city and the Olympics coming to the city would require tons of construction, someone sitting on the board of a constuction materials manufacturing company would be enriching her own pocket.





No, it's not ethical. But C.I. and Ava told you that Valerie would most likely be the ethics scandal in the administration. Valerie owns approximately 4,000 shares in USG.





And all the little push-up bra, do-me faux feminists might want to ask their buddy Barry how Val's going to find time to chair the White House Commission on Women and Girls? Answer: She's not.





There's no money in it.

Bitch Pleeze (Keesha)

[Keesha is a TCI community member and this can be considered her letter to Third or her column. Whichever you prefer. The wonderful opinions expressed are Keesha's. We understand Ann Bartow has issues with free speech. We don't need to hear from Annie. She's got her own bad blog and she leaves comments all over the place. She's also turned herself into an internet joke click here, http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2006/10/ann_bartow_thre.html. We don't read her, we don't take her seriously. Enjoy Keesha's amazing writing.]


That's Michaela Watkins of Saturday Night Live playing a blogger, Angie Tempura, at the website bitchpleeze.com. It is a funny character who does one-to-two sentence movie reviews and then hits her catch phrase, "Bitch pleeze." I thought of that when I saw Ann Bartow being her usual useless self online.

If you ever wonder why Bartow writes like a blonde, it's because she is one.

And since Michaela's funny skit aired, every time I come across Ann online, I think, "Bitch pleeze."

The porn supporting Ann Bartow (porn endorsing? porn consuming?), the continued degradation of women endorsing Ann Bartow is the problem.

All last week, Annie couldn't be bothered with the Steven D. Green War Crimes trial. If you mistakenly counted on Annie Bartow's Honky Law Professors to inform you, you were left in the dark on the trial. Those needing to play catch up should see C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot," "Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi," "Iraq snapshot," ""The silence on Abeer," "Iraq snapshot," "Green bragged about the War Crimes twice to Yribe," "Iraq snapshot," "The War Crimes trial continues" and "Iraq snapshot" as well as Evan Bright.

Now Annie and Her Posse Which Do No Thinking did have time to post on cursing and on being rubbed up against on a crowded bus or train and on Mary Wollstonecraft's birthday and beach volleyball (Ann finally noticed what many women bloggers were pointing out in 2005 regarding the difference in what men wear and what women wear) and bleaching hair 'down there' and the first UK female poet laureate (yes, that was UK, not US) and a Happy Birthday to a fellow blogger and (proving her serious side?) babies and pigs in diapers. As Michaela says, "Bitch, pleeze."

Friday night, she finally posted on Abeer.

Let's go to why.

On a Reclusive Leftist thread, this comment showed up:

Heather says:
Violet, do you remember all the ‘feminist’ bloggers (Jessica V of feministing) who couldn’t do a damn thing to call out the sexism used against Hillary?
Well they’re being silent about Abeer now. And I think it’s something you should write about here or at New Agenda. C.I. calls them out on their silence regarding the ongoing trial of the ring-leader of the gang-rape and the murderer of Abeer.14 years old and she was gang-raped and murdered by US soldiers. I really think this is something the New Agenda should be covering.
http://thecommonills.blogspot......ot_30.html
And what about our Mud Flap Girls? The ones who put the woah-is-me into ‘do-me’ feminism? The chicky-baby-boom-booms of Baby Jessica’s Feministing have gone all damn week without ever noting the trial. The losers of Feministe? Not a word. And unlike when Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement, no one can claim they were too busy posting vaction pictures of themselves in bikinis for two weeks to bother cover it. Feminist Law Professors? Apparently War Crimes don’t interest the gals. Melissa McEwan and her posse of useless at Shakesville? Not a damn word. But cat blogging and baby photos they have time for. Being useless they always have time for.
April 30th, 2009 at 8:42 pm EST

After the link, Heather's quoting from one of C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot"s. And if I was offended by the above, I'd probably check the link before leaving a comment. But I'm a thinking woman, a strong Black woman. Annie Bartlow's just a weak ass, dumb blonde.


The next comments on the thread include:

Violet says:
Heather, I’m no longer involved with The New Agenda.
April 30th, 2009 at 11:40 pm EST

Martha says:
1. My favorite Who song is “You Better, You Better, You Bet.”2. Abeer. I can’t believe how little coverage this is getting. If it weren’t for C.I. of The Common Ills, there would be no website covering it. I think AP is the only news outlet that has a reporter there every day. Those are war crimes and I can’t believe that, as usual, the same ‘girls’ who couldn’t defend Hillary would rather blog about cats and Lost than demand justice.3. Violet Socks, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you weren’t part of The New Agenda anymore. Are you okay?
May 1st, 2009 at 9:19 am EST

And all is fine and well on the thread until Annie Bartlow shows up. Bitch pleeze.

Ann Bartow says:
I’m unable to blog much of anything right now of any substance, for personal reasons. If Heather wants to start a blog about the Abeer trial, and do the actual work involved herself instead of using her time to flog other people, I’m sure many feminist blogs would link to it and promote it.
May 1st, 2009 at 7:03 pm EST

Well, Annie, when you ever post anything of "substance"? I've never seen it, Blondie. But you did post 26 times Monday through Friday. And you couldn't mention Abeer?

26 times, Annie.

"I'm unable to blog much of anything right now" she says. After 26 blog posts in five days. Heavens, keep her away from Twitter!

That's the posts signed by her ("Ann Bartlow") and the unsigned ones because she is the administrator. Now there were even more posts at her bad blog by other 'attorneys' and, though Ann tried to make it all about her (oooh, check out the vanity delusions on Blondie!), C.I. had called out the website.

And C.I. was right to call them out. Their name is "Feminist Law Professors." A trial, an international incident on trial, war crimes, gang-rape, murder, cover-up, conspiracy and much more. Some US soldiers already confessed to their actions and to Green's. Now Steven D. Green is on trial.

And you'd think this would be right up a blog entitled "Feminist Law Professors" alley. However, it was more important for Annie and her Posse of the Useless to instead blog about volleyball and pigs in diapers and bleaching your pubic hair and so many other 'important' topics.

Annie's a damn fool. Bitch pleeze.


After Annie left her comment, she rushed over to her blog to do a quick post Friday night. I'll get to that insulting post. But this comment really said it all:

Sameol says:
Heather may have a blog of her own, but no small blog can bring attention to the issue like the large misogynist enabling Feminist blogs, who seem to have very limited interest in this sort of thing
May 1st, 2009 at 10:55 pm EST

Amen.

I left two comments. First:

Keesha says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Ann Bartlow wrote: “I’m unable to blog much of anything right now of any substance, for personal reasons. If Heather wants to start a blog about the Abeer trial, and do the actual work involved herself instead of using her time to flog other people, I’m sure many feminist blogs would link to it and promote it.”

My response? I believe Kristin Wiig says it best as her blogger character on Saturday Night Live.
Heather didn’t attack anyone. Ann needs to chill and stop her little rant.
Heather is quoting - hence the link, Ann - C.I. of The Common Ills and, guess what, C.I.’s exactly damn right.
Ann probably should have stated “I run Feminist Law Professors so allow me to throw a tantrum online.” I e-mailed Ann myself on Friday and got a response that, no surprise, she doesn’t check her mail so her inbox is stuffed and can’t accept more e-mails.
Heather doesn’t need to start a blog but I will be guest blogging about Ann at Third Estate Sunday Review.
As for covering Abeer, as damn usual, it’s C.I. that we can count on. It was C.I. in 2006, it was C.I. in 2007, it was C.I. in 2008 and it is C.I. today.
Ann? She comes over here and attacks Heather but at her own site she includes Amy Goodman’s brief headline (brought about only due to pressure on Goodman) and a link to, get this, Army Times. Yes, Ann, you do a ‘world of good’ with your link to the military - the same military that gang-raped and murdered Abeer. Go Army, eh, Ann?
Ann has become part of the problem and her snark at Heather is just another example of that.
Sameol writes, “Heather may have a blog of her own, but no small blog can bring attention to the issue like the large misogynist enabling Feminist blogs, who seem to have very limited interest in this sort of thing” Exactly. It’s amazing how people want to be in leadership roles until they’re actually expected to do something and Sameol’s characterization (”misogynist enabling Feminist blogs”) is dead on. We saw it with their attacks on Sarah Palin, with their silence while Hillary was attacked, with their refusal to offer coverage of Cynthia McKinney. They’re not ‘feminists,’ they’re women who try to impress Democratic men.
Violet, you were the only reason I had hope in New Agenda. Whether the parting was pleasant or not doesn’t matter to me. Without you to help lead it, it’s not an organization I’m interested in.If you’re hurting (which I think you might be because of the fact that this only popped up in comments) please know that many of us respect you and trust you because you have earned it time and again. Sending you a cyber hug.
May 2nd, 2009 at 2:35 pm EST

I mistakenly said it was Kristin Wiig who did the SNL character. I checked with Ava and C.I. Saturday night and they said it was Michaela Watkins.

And I do have a standing offer to guest blog here. I hadn't mentioned it but I called Dona Saturday afternoon and she said, "Write whatever you want, we'll be happy to have it."

I should have pointed out that Heather's comment and excerpting C.I. did FORCE Annie to finally mention Abeer.

I should point out here how very sad that is. We have to FORCE people to just note a gang-rape trial. Let me clarify that, we have to FORCE women. We have to FORCE supposed feminists. Bitch pleeze.

As Marcia would say, "I decided to do 'the Google'." How often have they covered Abeer at Feminist Law Professors in the last years? Answer:

Results 1 - 6 of 6 from sc.edu for feminist law professors "abeer". (0.25 seconds)

"Abeer." Put it in parenthesis or you get "a beer" and all of Annie's bad writing about drinking. Some may argue, "Wait they switched their site!" They did switch it. Last year. But those six posts include 2006. So they imported their archives over to their new site.

I then did "the Google" on C.I.. Results?

Results 1 - 10 of about 381 from thecommonills.blogspot.com for "abeer". (0.20 seconds)

381 versus six. But remember boys and girls, Annie works hard. At wasting all of our time.

Abeer's been covered at many community sites and Rebecca and Elaine were posting on her back in 2006. But I know that all community sites (at my request) repost C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" any time they post. All sites but one. This one. (Yeah, Jim, we need to talk.) So I decided to compare this site to Feminist Law Professors.

I mean Ann Bartlow? Bitch pleeze.

Like that dumb blonde could hold a candle to C.I.? Bitch pleeze.

But Third only posts articles once a week. On Sundays. Hence The Third Estate Sunday Review. So Annie and Pointless Posse post little bits and pieces several times a day. Certainly Feminist Law Professors whopping SIX mentions of Abeer would top Third, right?

Bitch pleeze.

Results 1 - 10 of about 133 from thirdestatesundayreview.blogspot.com for "abeer". (0.19 seconds)

Once a week. Once a week and they didn't just beat Annie a little, they slaughtered her. 133.

Annie Bartlow is the problem.

A woman well over forty, not particularly attractive (chins are supposed to have an end point), who blogs like she's a 12-year-old, Hannah Montana obsessed, little girl. Bitch pleeze.

I pointed out that I left two comments and I'll close with my second one.

Keesha says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
And one more thing. Ann wrote, “If Heather wants to start a blog about the Abeer trial, and do the actual work involved herself instead of using her time to flog other people, I’m sure many feminist blogs would link to it and promote it.” It was snark and as proof, please note than Ann did not link to C.I. who has covered the trial every day this week and goes through the court documents, ‘lawyer’ Ann, not just provides links to what someone else reported.

So here we have Heather linking to a feminist, C.I., who has covered the pursuit of justice for Abeer at least 10 times Monday through Friday. Ann knows of the link.
Ann chooses not to link to feminist C.I. (A real feminist. One who screamed loudly about the sexism aimed at Hillary and Sarah.)But she did think the ‘feminist’ thing to do was to link to Amy Goodman.
Amy Goodman isn’t a feminist. Feminists don’t make nice with Larry Flynt. Feminists don’t turn an hour over to him and when called out by the soft fluff she offered, schedule a minor follow up that’s not a full show. Feminist don’t choose to publish in Hustler magazine (search “Hustling The Left” and you’ll find about Amy and other ‘good’ lefties who thought Hustler was the place to go — only Noam Chomsky ever apologized).
And, of course, no one pimped Barack like Amy Goodman.Ann probably doesn’t know that because Ava and C.I. documented that at Third Estate. They explained how a woman working for Barack’s campaign for an entire year was brought on to ‘evaluate’ the campaigns and Amy made no sure not to disclose that as did the guest. (The guest pulled the same stunt on Charlie Rose two months after and attempted to call a White female journalist a racist because the journalist dared to point out that, in March, the primary race wasn’t over).
And of course, as they pointed out, Amy spent 2007 and 2008 repeatedly asking the few Hillary supporters she let on the show about Hillary’s 2002 vote while never asking the dozens and dozens of Barack supporters about Barack voting to fund the Iraq war.
Or how about when she finally had a PUMA on and Amy lied and said the woman had just said she’d vote for John McCain, which the woman hadn’t said.
Not getting how bad it was?
Ava and C.I. were the only ones to call out Goodman out for hawking — at a thousand dollars a pop — inuaguration ball tickets.But that’s who Ann links to. Ann’s link says a great deal.
May 2nd, 2009 at 2:44 pm EST






15th Annual Bike To Work Day

triumphantbike
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


April 3, 2009

Contact: Sandra Lupien

Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition Events Coordinator

707-694-8702

SandraL@BikeSonoma.org

Posters, B-roll, Flyers and additional info at: http://btwd.bayareabikes.org/node/37



511 & Kaiser Permanente Present:

15th Annual Bike to Work Day, May 14th

Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition Leads County Events

SONOMA COUNTY, CA:

May 14th marks the Bay Area's 15th annual Bike to Work Day when nearly 150,000 commuters are expected to put their feet to the bike pedal. Across the nation, many more will bike commute the entire month of May to commemorate National Bike Month. Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition (SCBC) will lead Bike to Work Month/Day efforts here.

During these difficult economic times, many are evaluating the true costs of their decisions. Driving to work costs more than the money we pay at the pump. There's the cost to purchase, insure, license and maintain a car – not to mention fees for parking! Making more of your trips by bike can save a significant amount of money.

"During the Summer, I can go for a whole month before I have to fill up my gas tank," said Sonoma County bike commuter Shelly Lydon, "and my commute is only about one mile each way so I end up getting to work faster than if I drove."

But, the benefits of bike commuting extend far beyond the economic.

"There's no doubt," says Sandra Lupien, Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition Events Coordinator, "that commuting by bike addresses many of the problems facing society today. It provides exercise, thereby combating health problems like obesity. It reduces carbon emissions, which helps combat the climate crisis. Employers who encourage bike commuting save bundles of money on parking and health insurance. And, it’s fun -- what could be better?"

Bike to Work Day helps people make the switch to the two-wheeled commute. And, events take place throughout the month of May in Sonoma County. On May 14th, volunteers will staff more than 25 Energizer Stations along bike commute routes Countywide. They'll provide cyclists with complimentary treats, a reusable goodie bag, bicycle information, and good cheer! For a complete list of activities, visit the Bike to Work Day website at 511.org. or www.BikeSonoma.org.

Sonoma County launches a new Energizer Station this year in Railroad Square at the site of thefuture SMART Train station. 2009 is the first Bike to Work celebration since voters in Sonoma and Marin Counties passed SMART on the November ballot. Bike and Pedestrian paths will run along the train line's entire route -- and bikes will be allowed on the trains.

Tanya Narath, Executive Director of the Leadership Institute for Ecology & the Economy, is among those celebrating SMART: "I will be able to ride my bike to the Railroad Square station from my home in west Santa Rosa and get to meetings in any city along the corridor. If my final destination is too far for me to walk from the train station, I'll be able to roll my bike right onto the train and then ride it from the train station to my meeting."

Biking to work is always more fun when there's someone to bike with. The Team Bike Challenge provides an opportunity for more experienced riders and new bicycle commuters to team up to save money and reduce pollution. Participants track their bike trips all month long at 511.org as they compete against other teams to log the most bicycle trips.

Bike to Work Day 2009 is presented by Kaiser Permanente and local sponsors, with promotions organized by Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, Bay Area Bicycle Coalition, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Sonoma County Businesses and Government agencies, and hundreds of local volunteers. For more information, visit 511.org or call 511 and say, "bicycling."

Or visit www.bikesonoma.org/Bike2Work.html or call SCBC at 707-545-0153.

Sonoma County Bike to Work Day Sponsors are: Measure M, Sonoma County Bike Shops (Bici Sport, Bicycle Czar, The Bike Peddler, BreakawayBikes, The Hub Cyclery, NorCal Bike Sport, Rincon Cyclery, Sonoma Bicycle Company, Sonoma Valley Cyclery, Spoke Folk Cyclery, Trek Store Santa Rosa, and West County Revolution), Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Sonoma Wine Company, Camelbak, Winzler & Kelly, Santa Rosa Community Market, North Bay Bohemian, Traditional Medicinals, W-Trans, North Bay Corporation, and Exchange Bank.

Sonoma County Bike to Work Month Events (call 707-545-0153 for details):

May 3rd: Street Skills for Bike Riders Classes

May 14th: Energizer Stations Countywide from 6 a.m. - 9 a.m.

May 14th: Bike Home From Work Celebration, Santa Rosa , Trek Store Santa Rosa, 512 Mendocino Ave., 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.

May 16th: Bike to Work/School in Luther Burbank Rose Parade

May 19th: "Haul Stuff With Your Bike" Commute Clinic - 6:30 p.m., 655 First Street, SantaRosa

May 23rd: Bike-in Movie - 8:00 p.m.

####

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights. And Rebecca wanted us to try the following illustration.



tom brady



"I Hate The War" -- Most requested highlight by readers of this site. C.I. explaining that begging people who work for you to do their jobs doesn't result in much.



"Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Hard Work" -- Isaiah's latest comic (another one should go up today at some point).



"The Feather and Father Game," "It's a Different World than where you come from." "heroes jumps the shark!," "Paper Dolls," "The Mod Squad," "227," "Medium," "Is it a library in a police state?" and "Debra Sweet, Chuck" -- Tuesday night's theme posts theme was a show you weren't ready to go off . . . unless you covered one of the NBC Monday night shows. Rebecca always does Heroes and Mike always does Chuck. That left Medium up for grabs and Stan grabbed it. There is a wide variety of TV in the above.







"Rice with Salsa and Vegetables in the Kitchen" -- Trina offer a recipe and a look at the economy.



"Diary entry (brief)" and "Diary entry" -- Betty's parents were visiting last week. That was her 'excuse' for diary entries Thursday and Friday night. There's no excuse needed. We enjoyed the posts.





"hillary for the supreme court!" -- the more we reflect on Rebecca's post, the more we agree with it. Were there more time, we'd probably even argue for this being an editorial.





"do-me feminists silent on abeer - no surprise" and "Why there are so few women columnists" -- Rebecca and Ruth offer some important thoughts.





"Filthy Matthew Rothschild" -- Kat calls out Matty Roth.



"Senate Armed Services Committee hearing" -- Kat covers a Senate hearing.



"Iraq snapshot," "Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi," "Iraq snapshot," ""The silence on Abeer," "Iraq snapshot," "Green bragged about the War Crimes twice to Yribe," "Iraq snapshot," "The War Crimes trial continues" and "Iraq snapshot" -- As Kat points out, C.I. covered four hearings last week. That's actual reporting. Going to the hearings, writing them up. But we're emphasizing the entries C.I. did which addressed Abeer. On that topic, you should also see Evan Bright's site.





""Barack finds someone to play with"" & THIS JUST IN! HE RELATES!" -- in light of the week before last's efforts by Barack to play jock-boi, this was especially funny.



"Oil" and "Explaining the meaning of the Iraq War" -- Stan didn't do a movie post because he felt these two were bookend posts.





"The fawning press" -- Elaine on the daily embarrassment which passes for the press corps.





"The kiss off and the pay off" and "THIS JUST IN! THE KISS OFF AND THE PAY OFF!" -- Cedric and Wally tackle who got bought off and who got told to kiss it.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Truest statement of the week

The US occupation of Iraq, which has become the full responsibility of President Barack Obama, is once again a bloodbath. Not that it had ceased to be violent, brutal and chaotic, for not one day has passed since the US invasion of Iraq was launched that hasn't found several Iraqis being senselessly slaughtered. But rather than talking about three Iraqis being killed today, or two dozen, we are again talking about several dozen, and over 100 wounded, as we are seeing recently. Each of these Iraqis have been killed as a direct result of the US occupation of Iraq - their blood splattered on the hands of President Obama, who, during a visit to Baghdad's airport on April 7, praised the US military for their "extraordinary achievement" in Iraq.



-- Dahr Jamail, "... The Horrible Truth" (New Zealand's Scoop).

Truest statement of the week II

I am sure some of these human rights groups will argue that a commission will or can be a first step to prosecutions. Sure, it is possible, but unlikely for the reasons I gave in a letter published in Harper's and available on my blog. The commission process will drag on, statutes of limitation will run and the conclusion of the commission is likely to be: the US should not have tortured, but it was an extraordinary and dangerous moment after 9/11 and the torturers were acting in our best interest to avoid another 9/11. Prosecutions are not recommended.



-- Michael Ratner, "The Torture Commission Trap" (CounterPunch).

A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday. A long, long Sunday in fact.

Let's get to it. Here's who worked on this edition along with Dallas:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ
and Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends.

And here's what we came up with:

Truest statement of the week -- Dahr was brought in by Kat.

Truest statement of the week II -- Ratner was brought in by Elaine. There were six other truest contenders but these two won the voting rounds.


Editorial: They enlisted, they embedded -- We do like this one. :D

TV: The Death of Television -- Ava and C.I. pooled and pulled together strands from various conversations with friends (not just at NPR) for this commentary and we really think it stands up.

Matthis soars -- Kat, Betty's kids and Wally did this illustration. We thank them for it. And we congratulate Matthis Chiroux on his victory last Tuesday.

Cliff Cornell faces court-martial on Tuesday -- Ditto on the illustration credit.

TV roundtable -- And again with the groovy illustrations. Kat doesn't speak in this. She'd said at the start she might. But she was working on the illustrations and really didn't have time to do much more. We thank her. She is the art ringleader when it comes to the illustrations here.

Chris Hill breaks his first promise -- We wanted to be sure to get that on record.

Mailbag -- This is just the core six going through the maibag.

2009's Jason Leopold -- Short feature!

Why does Barbara Ehrenreich hate women? -- Truly, why does she? And why does she get to be posted everywhere despire the numerous factual errors in her work.

The Dumbness Hurts -- It hurts everyone.

Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Kat, Betty, Ruth, Marcia, Stan, Rebecca, Cedric and Wally wrote this. We thank them for it. Does the illustration work with it? We need to get an illustration for them. We tossed this in just to try one.

And that's the edition. The never ending edition.

See you next Sunday.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: They enlisted, they embedded

If Bob Marley were alive today, would he be singing, "I called out the Republican but I did not call out the Democrat?" We have to wonder that because so many in our so-called 'independent' media have enlisted in the Cult of Barack.

In fact, Rosa Brooks gave up bad writing to service Barack and she joins so many other 'reporters' who've rushed to work for the White House. For the Barack Obama White House mind you.

As Aretha once sang, "It's a different world than where you come from." Apparently.

Which explains why failed actress and failed stand-up comic Janeane Garofalo embarrassed herself and MSNBC -- and who thought the latter was possible? Bob Somerby covered the MSNBC nightmare here.

We've never called out Janeane before this year but knew the day would come. (And Ava and C.I. have always said, "She's f**ked over Drew [Barrymore] in her 'jokes' for six years now. When the time comes, we'll take part in the take down.") So here it is.

Janeane, you're a short, fat woman. You know that. You know that as sure as you know that your facial type is round and your body shape is pear. You've chosen to work in a visual field and you've chosen to be a really bad actor. You're giving the exact same performance on 24 that you give in everything. We saw it in Reality Bites, we saw it in The Truth About Cats & Dogs (the closet to a hit that Janeane ever had, so naturally she trashes the film), we saw it in Clay Pigeons, we would have seen it in The West Wing if we could've ignored the never ending chatter and watched that awful show. It's always the same thing with Janeane. In fact, we're not really sure why they give her characters different names? She's a very limited actress who has refused to stretch and whose nastiness has only increased over the years. She's currently taking her tired shtick to 24, the torture show. She says it's okay because she's not playing Janeane, she's playing a character.

That may be the funniest thing she's said in years.

She's never played a character, she doesn't have the talent but considering the way she has repeatedly ripped apart other women in the last six years, other actresses for their choices, and now the failure wants to show up on 24 and act like that's not appalling? Who does she think she's kidding?

If you don't agree with Janeane, she does the 'smart' thing: She calls you a racist.

We know it's the 'smart' thing to do because we heard Janeane explaining it recently, "Lois, anyone who couldn't pretend their son is dying to get Gumbel 2 Gumbel back on the air is a racist. There, I said it." Oh wait, that wasn't Janeane. That was Peter on Family Guy. Well, that's the level of intelligence Janeane now exhibits, the same as Peter.

But it was always there. She always rushed to certain (weak) judgments and regularly made a fool out of herself. For example, while her radio partner was launching his war on The New York Times and Adam Nagourney, Janeane was being 'productive.' She didn't want to just tell you not to waste your money on NYT, she wanted to give you something you could purchase.

So for a week, a whole week, three hours every night, Monday through Friday, on The Majority Report, Janeane recommended people drop The New York Times and start reading The International Herald. Unlike the rag NYT, IHT really knew what was what.

It takes a special kind of stupid to switch from one paper to another and encounter the same bylines repeatedly and never wonder about that. But Janeane managed that feat. She excelled at it.

The New York Times owns IHT. You will find much of the same content in both papers. Janeane didn't know that. When it was finally pointed out to her, she asked, "Really?" And then she repeated "Really?" in a voice so high and whiny, it threatened to send the entire studio back into puberty. Yes, Janeane, really.

All she does today is peddle hate and not at the big targets, not at the powerful, she peddles hate at average Americans. Everyone's talking about it and, yes, gossiping about it and as one comic who now avoids her (and has a successful acting career) said, "She just needs to f**k Carmine already and get over it." Carmine is her right-wing father and she's become an embarrassment as she can't stop being Daddy's Little Girl. Letting your father dictate your life, even if you live it as a photo negative of his own, is really disgusting, completely unempowering, and not at all feminist or 'strong.' It's pathetic.

And her hate speech and little tantrums are nothing but her sick desire to get Daddy's attention.
Your forty-four years-old, it's time to grow up.

And in functioning society, Bob Somerby wouldn't be the only one on the left calling her out. In a functioning society, Democratic Underground (no link to trash) wouldn't post lies that Bob's going after everyone who didn't support Hillary in the Democratic Party primary.

Our society functions about as well as Janeane Garofalo does. And our press functions even worse.

Which is how we get the embeds.

You do grasp that, right?

That the same beggar media that spent the last eight years calling out various members of the press for embedding with the White House is doing the exact same thing now that a Democrat's in office.

It really crossed a line when Amy Goodman was raising money for her show by offering Barack inauguration tickets for donations of over a thousand dollars. You want to pretend that didn't effect the coverage? When she's got all of those tickets to sell and the money goes to her show, do you really think you're going to get criticism of him before the inauguration?

These people have lectured Howard Kurtz and everyone else in Real Media about ethics and look at 'em now. They're worse than Janeane in the midst of a 12 day bender.

Not only do they repeatedly fawn over Barack and ignore news that wouldn't paint him in such a wonderful light, they also repeatedly ask, "How can we help Barack?"

That's not a question they asked under Bush.

Under Bush, they grasped that the press wasn't an arm of the government. They grasped that the powerful needed to be called out, that the powerful must be called out.

They made fun and mocked Dan Rather for his remarks to David Letterman about doing what 'his president' needed him to do. Yet here they are doing the exact same thing the right-wing did.

Partisan hack Norman Solomon wanted to write about . . . partisan hacks last week. Poor Normy, he really thinks he still has an image to protect. Normy was the real-life Obama Girl throughout 2008, going so far as to become a pledged delegate for Barry. Every few months, when something really vile threatened to upset Mr. Pretty Speeches' smooth lies, Norman would show up to insist that Barack's feet would be held to the fire.

All we ever saw them held to was Norman's lips. But Norman showed up last week whining that we needed to hold Congress -- yeah, Congress -- to the fires. We needed to force them to act. Gee, Norman, why does your busy-work strike us as both a waste of time and an effort to dilute very real anger that should be aimed at the corporatist War Hawk in the White House?

Norman wanted to talk about the war, you understand. Just not the Iraq War.

The Iraq War has not ended. Four US service members were announced dead last week. Over 150 Iraqis died on Thursday and Friday.

The illegal war is not over. Not only is not over, the 'surge' continues as well. Are most Americans aware of that?

Last Wednesday, Army's General Peter W. Chiarelli told the US Senate's Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, "The surge for the United States Army is not over. We don't get our last combat brigade off of a 15 month deployment until June of this year and I won't get my last combat service support or combat support unit back off a 15 month deployment until September."

Do people get that?

Once upon a time people like Norman Solomon and Janeane Garofalo pretended they cared about ending the Iraq War. They got a lot of attention out of it, they even made some money out of it.

But last week, Normy wanted to bore us all with 675 words on the topic of what 'we' must do and about war but he never even mentioned the Iraq War.

We opposed the war on Afghanistan. We've always opposed it. We do understand some of the alarm that it might become Barack's 'Vietnam.' We're also aware that the number of US troops that will be in Afghanistan this year will not even make up one-fourth of the number of US troops in Iraq. So when we hear all the hand wringing over Afghanistan and all the silence over Iraq, we tend to laugh at all the Whores practicing in the main revival tent of the Cult of St. Barack.

Normy thinks he can distract, Janeane thinks she can bluster, filibuster and scream "racists!" for the next four years. She supposedly hopes eight years.

But if she really thought Barack would get two terms, would she be as bitter and hateful as she's being on MSNBC. She spews her hate speech which isn't funny and isn't even delivered in a funny way. She's like the 44-year-old woman who gripes about something in a loud voice. When she was fresh faced and 20, it was seen as cute. Oh, look at her! But now it just makes Janeane come off like a cranky old woman.

And she's got Democrats controlling both houses. And she's got her Lord and Savior Barack in the White House. What, pray tell, causes all the anger and all of the attacks?

Maybe her former friend is right, maybe it will take her hopping into bed with Carmine to get the closure she needs. Once upon a time we would have scoffed at the notion but these days she's so erratic there's no telling what she wouldn't do.
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