No rain or tears

Run on tiptoes to the rainbow
float your arms and kick your legs like potato crisps
Dark clouds swirls
the moisture is cotton candy thick

Hugs if I stumble


Somebody warm?
Candy to you.

Free Lynne Stewart (Monica Moorehead, WW)

Repost from Workers World:

Movement keeps pressure on to release Lynne Stewart

By Monica Moorehead on July 8, 2013 » Add the first comment.

Lynne Stewart, June 2013

July 8 — The struggle to win compassionate release for the imprisoned, cancer-stricken people’s lawyer, Lynne Stewart, is still very much in the forefront of the progressive movement’s agenda.

The 73-year-old Stewart is currently in her fourth year of serving a 10-year sentence in Carswell Federal Prison in Fort Worth, Texas, on a fabricated “aiding terrorism” conviction for legally representing Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who was falsely imprisoned for “sedition” in the 1995 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Since early March, an international campaign has been in full swing to demand Stewart’s release based on her deteriorating medical condition.  Stewart is suffering from stage four lung cancer and has lost over 60 pounds.  Thousands of people have both signed the compassionate release petition and made phone calls on her behalf, which forced Carswell prison warden, Jody R. Upton, to sign the release papers in early May.
His signing, however, was only the first step in the process of winning her release from prison.  The second step is to have the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Charles E. Samuels Jr., sign the release, which he has refused to do up until now.   Every minute of every hour of every day that Lynne Stewart remains in prison deepens the torture imposed on her and on her family and supporters.

Stewart’s life partner, Ralph Poynter, has been the most passionate and the most outspoken supporter on Stewart’s behalf, doing almost round-the-clock media interviews and initiating vigils in front of the White House, like the one on June 17.

Longtime social activist, Dick Gregory, also attended a recent protest in front of the BOP in Washington, D.C., to demand Stewart’s release.

In a July 2 message to the movement, Poynter declared: “The struggle to free Lynne Stewart continues on many fronts. First and foremost, each and every one of us must increase the number of people worldwide who sign the petition.

“Lynne Stewart’s condition is deteriorating rapidly. Medical treatment to arrest the cancer that is metastasizing in her body has been halted because she is too weak to receive it. She remains in isolation, as her white blood cell count is so low that she is at risk for generalized infection.

“We shall not stand by idly while the Federal Bureau of Prisons murders Lynne Stewart. The Bureau of Prisons can and must reverse its decision.”

In her June 25, “Disappointed but not devastated” message, Lynne Stewart stated defiantly: “We will never give up. I hope that your affront at this crass bureaucratic denial of the request, which you by your signatures and letters and phone calls, demanded — How far can we let this go? when a 73-year-old woman who IS dying of cancer (maybe not on their timetable), her life of good works ignored, be shunted aside … ‘she does not present circumstances considered extraordinary and compelling … at this time.’ We must show them that I cannot be ignored, that YOU cannot be ignored.”

On July 9, demonstrations demanding Stewart’s compassionate release will take place in New York City at Foley Square, Lower Manhattan Courts, followed by a march to 500 Pearl St. from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and in Los Angeles in front of the Westwood Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd. at 5 p.m.

And on July 12 in Washington, D.C., a protest will take place at Columbia Heights Civic Plaza, 14th Street and Park Road NW from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.


Sign the petition at IACenter.org/LynneStewartPetition or at LynneStewart.org.   See Dick Gregory, Luci Murphy and others defend Lynne Stewart in Washington, D.C., at http://tinyurl.com/lpn9csq.  Hear political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal’s audio column on Lynne Stewart along with commentaries by Lynne herself at http://tinyurl.com/kg6njsx.


Free Lynne Stewart and all political prisoners!!!

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, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.

"Can someone drive NPR's Carrie Johnson to the free..." -- most requested highlight of the week by readers of this site.


"Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Walk On Water"..."  Isaiah covers the mortality of Barack.



"Iraq snapshot," "Nuland and Benghazi" and "Victoria Nuland indirectly confirms CIA arming 'rebels' out of Benghazi" -- Congressional reporting from Ruth and C.I.



"Cinema Retro," "The Heat," "The Wolverine,"  "Olivia Flores Alvarez has Tyler Perry's number," "The Big Wedding" and "Flashdance" -- Stan, Betty, Ann and Marcia cover movies.


"Mistresses," "Mistresses,"  "MSNBC gets called out" "666 Park Avenue," "CBS makes a stupid mistake," "newsroom" and "TV shows" -- Stan, Ruth, Mike, Trina, Rebecca and Betty cover TV.

"Barack Renews The Patriot Act" -- Isaiah dips into the archives.

"Black Bean and Corn Salad in the Kitchen" -- Trina offers a summer recipe.


"Kurt Cobain is dead (tell Mojo)," "Janis Ian" and "Sandy Shaw" -- Kat and Ann cover music.


"Empty nest syndrome?" -- Trina writes about a family member moving.

"Stir crazy" -- Ann writes about being on family leave with her new baby.

"How to get preSs for Curiosity" -- Betty on science.

"the frankenstein foods"  -- Rebecca on modified foods.


"stream steve grand's video - you'll love it," "Steve Grand's "All American Boy"," "Gay Country Singer Adjusts to Newfound Web Fame," "Steve Grand on Good Morning America Tuesday morning" and
"Someone tries to have a career by being open from the start" --  community coverage of emerging country artist Steve Grand.




"Ginny Brown calls Pilger out"\ -- Elaine notes Brown.

"Barry insists he thought the job was just posing," "THIS JUST IN! HE'S SO OVERWORKED!," "Iraq snapshot,"  "Waiting For Snowden," "Justin Raimondo's great column,"  "We are Ed Snowden,"    
"Stand up to the NSA spying," "the corruption remains the same," "The cheap Chicago hustler,"
"Breeding whistle-blowers" and "US arrest warrant for Ed Snowden doesn't go over w..."-- some of the Ed Snowden coverage.

Truest statement of the week

If you go back to the huge story which was delayed a year by the New York Times but did break in late 2005 revealing the NSA spying on Americans the wiretapping and so forth -- remember the huge uproar that was under President Bush?  And then we had candidate Obama for president saying, "I am opposed to  illegal infringement upon people's privacy rights.  I am opposed to illegal  wiretapping."   We didn't understand what he was saying.  We had a tendency to believe that, in 2008, what Obama was saying was he didn't want that kind of surveillance to go on because it was illegal.   What we now know and it's very clear is that President Obama does not want that surveillance to be illegal he wants it to be legalized, in fact he voted for that the FISA legislation in the middle of 2008 as a senator that's where we are now.  These surveillance measures, no matter what secret hand picked court says, they are unconstitutional they are fundamental violations of our rights.



-- Norman Solomon, Tuesday on KPFA's Flashpoints, speaking with Dennis Bernstein.

Truest statement of the week II

At this point, the heads of both prosecutor Reid and tough cop Harris-Perry simultaneously imploded. They both lost it, unintelligibly shouting over each other for more than ten seconds. After they stopped shouting, Hrafsson tried to say the issue was the substance of Snowden's revelations, that the US government was illegally collecting, literally every email, text message, phone call, facebook post and electronic brain fart on the planet and storing it for future data-mining reference. Bad cop Harris-Perry would have none of it, angrily declaring that the issues were Snowden's illegitimacy, because he won't turn himself in, and his possible contact with foreign countries who might mean “to do us harm.”
Prosecutor Reid replied to the Nixon quote with unintentional irony, asserting that Snowden didn't reveal any illegal behavior, because of course the government had done nothing illegal, and as host, ended the segment.
The camera cut away quickly, maybe so we couldn't see the Wikileaks guy laughing.
A day or two later Harris-Perry channeled the cop again, with a Snowden segment on her own show. Harris-Perry insisted from her comfy TV chair, that any whistleblower or dissenter who failed to meekly submit to whatever punishment authorities deign to mete out is illegitimate at least, possibly self-serving as well, though just how the self is served in such cases was unclear. She brought up Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, the state senator who filibustered in Texas, and the folks who get arrested for “Moral Mondays” in North Carolina every week, and later in the show, Dan Ellsberg..
Harris-Perry might be a bright professor, but on TV she's a lousy cop and a worse historian.


-- Bruce A. Dixon, "Joy Ann Reid, Melissa Harris-Perry as Prosecutor & Cop Go After Snowden, Wikileaks, & the First Amendment" (Black Agenda Report).

A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday.



First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:


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),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

And what did we come up with?

Truest statement of the week

Norman Solomon on KPFA's Flashpoints.

Truest statement of the week II

Bruce A. Dixon.


Editorial: Silence or stupidity (media coverage of...

Iraq.  Is it better when the media ignores it or when it covers it poorly?

TV: MSNBC Exposed

Next week, Ava and C.I. may tackle PBS.  That was their plan until a friend raised the issue of MSNBC hosts flying to NYC to do their shows.  They're also trying to figure out whether to do a regular review or be creative if we have the fiction edition next week.

The important questions about the trip to Africa

Dona asked for short pieces.  This one was found by Rebecca and Ruth.  What's the problem with the photo?  C.I., Ava, Ty and Marcia saw it right away -- it looks like Barack's wearing a thong. 

ClassWar Films

We were asked to take a look at them and the belief was probably, "They'll love ClassWar Films."  We wanted to.  But how can you motivate people to get into the streets when you can't even call out Barack by name?

Robert Redford's new role

First up, we were supposed to note the following posts:


"What's under that bad wig?"
"THIS JUST IN! HE CAN'T ACT HIS AGE!"

Cedric's Big Mix

In 1975, he spoke out against government abuse, today he embraces it

23 hours ago

The Daily Jot

THIS JUST IN! WHEN THE PRETTY'S GONE!

23 hours ago

 

 

Cedric and Wally have been covering the embarrassing Robert Redford already.  So they needed credit.  We'll note it here since we forgot it in the article itself. 

 

 

How Shell Got Her Scowl Back

Stella got her groove, Shell Obama got her scowl.  Which apparently runs in the family.

All About Little Dick Durbin

Dick Durbin is a non-stop, never-ending embarrassment. 

Stan on the underwhelming Lone Ranger

Stan's look at The Lone Ranger is worth including as we cover summer films more than ever this summer.

Sky Pirates ground Morales (Deirdre Griswold, Work...

Repost of Workers World.

Highlights

Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.



Barring any major news developments, next weekend will be the annual summer fiction edition.  So keep your fingers crossed.  (Or not if you don't like these summer read editions.)



Peace.




-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: SIlence or stupidity (media coverage of Iraq)

When they had to sell the Iraq War -- both before it started and in the early years of the illegal war -- the press couldn't shut up about Iraq and it dominated newspapers and broadcasts.  Today, the country might as well have been swallowed up by the Bermuda Triangle for all the coverage it gets.




 


But sometimes, as Kelly McEvers bad NPR reporting recently proved, silence may be a blessing.

We were reminded of that again when we read Lincoln Archer's analysis of the state of Iraq for Australia's ABC.  What stood out most was this: 


Militant groups have infiltrated the demonstrations to stir sectarian tensions and foment civil war, Iraq's representative to the UN Hamid al-Bayati has said. Sectarian slogans have been shouted at rallies, language which "lays the foundation for a culture of hatred", he said.

That is a charge.  It is not a fact.  But it's not questioned.  Nor does Lincoln Archer appear aware of when slogans (words, not actions) might have fit that description. 

Let's address what Archer can't.  Nouri was calling the protesters terrorists,  a handful had been killed and that's when chants and posters that would fit Archer's description applied.  This was a response to the verbal attacks Nouri was launching. 

There is context and to fail to provide it is to exist in a vacuum.

Context also includes that Nouri's government has refused to meet the protesters demands but has instead continued to attack them verbally and, yes, physically.  So Nouri's hand picked ambassador to the United Nations isn't going to be telling much truth.

That was pretty obvious last week when the ambassador penned a column for the Wall Street Journal filled with multiple falsehoods. The biggest falsehood might have been that the Iraqi people want the US to be involved in Iraq.  No, not really.  A small portion does.  A large portion of the 'leaders' want the US involved because they fear being crushed by the people they have failed to represent.

Last week, Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc called for the US to stop butting into Iraqi affairs and to abandon the US Embassy in Baghdad.  Last week, Ali Abedl Sadah (Al-Monitor) reported:


In a statement distributed to the media, Sadr said, “We will nominate as a candidate a prime minister who loves Iraqis and whom they love. He will not be hated by non-believers, and will show modesty in dealing with believers. He will be one of them.” He continued, “The prime minister ... will not deal with the unrighteous occupier, in order to give Iraq prestige, independence, dignity and honor.”
"The Americans," he said, "will not be able to manipulate the fate, rights, wealth and souls in Iraq again.” Sadr then addressed the US ambassador, saying, “Your threat will not be useful. Deal with us however you wish ... We will deal with [the Americans] in ways that you have never seen before.”


But the Ambassador wants to pretend that all Iraqis want the US in Iraq and want the US presence in Iraq beefed up.  But stick a pin in that, we'll come back to it.

Hamid al-Bayati claims the Iraq's an emerging democracy as demonstrated by its respect for diversity.  There is no respect for diversity.  Iraqi Christians have been decimated, Iraq's LGBT community is repeatedly targeted, Sunnis are targeted non-stop.  Oh, yeah, al-Bayati is a Shi'ite.  A fact that Australia's ABC didn't feel was worth mentioning.  They also didn't feel it was worth mentioning that this 'proud' 'Iraqi' holds dual citizenship -- he's a citizen of Iraq and England.  You'd think someone committed to Iraq would have renounced citizenship elsewhere. 

In fact, you'd think dual citizenship would prevent him from being a representative in Iraq of any form.

You can learn a lot about Hamid al-Bayati from his book From Dictatorship to Democracy: An Insider's Account of the Iraqi Opposition to Saddam.  al-Bayati opposed Hussein . . . from England.  He was a mascot for the Project for the New American Century and agitated for years to get the Iraq War started. 

You don't get any of those details from Australia's ABC News 'analysis.'

While al-Bayati's Wall St. Journal's column was mostly lies, it did serve a purpose.  It was aimed at American audiences -- an audience that's largely unaware of the column.   He is part of the roll out for the official return of US forces to Iraq (see last week's "Editorial: The important words").  That's obvious when al-Bayati writes:


While security coordination through military sales and financing programs continues, an expedited delivery of promised sales, better intelligence sharing, and stepped-up assistance in counterterrorism and training is essential for Iraq's fight against terrorism—a clear national security interest of the U.S. Implementing this agreement should not be linked to regional issues, such as the conflict in Syria.

From the April 30th Iraq snapshot:

 

December 6, 2012, the Memorandum of Understanding For Defense Cooperation Between the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Iraq and the Department Defense of the United States of America was signed.  We covered it in the December 10th and December 11th snapshots -- lots of luck finding coverage elsewhere including in media outlets -- apparently there was some unstated agreement that everyone would look the other way.  It was similar to the silence that greeted Tim Arango's September 25th New York Times report which noted, "Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions.  At the request of the Iraqi government, according to [US] General [Robert L.] Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence."


US forces never left Iraq.  Not all of them.  And last fall, Barack sent in another unit of Special Ops.  But under the December MoU (which calls for joint-patrols of Iraqi and US troops), this can now be done a little more openly.  Which is how you got the announcement from the Chair of the Joint-Chiefs two weeks ago. 

At the end of last week, Dale McFeatters (Chicago Sun Times) became the first columnist to write about those remarks:

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has recommended that U.S. commanders find ways to improve Iraq’s military capabilities. This would involve additional weapons and training and, although neither government would say so publicly, some level of U.S. involvement in operations.

The language accompanying the proposal suggests that it is a done deal. We could hardly let the Iraqis say they were open to military cooperation with the U.S., an embarrassing admission in itself, and then humiliate them by slapping down the offer.

The Pentagon called it a "drawdown," not a withdrawal, throughout 2011.  And not all troops left in the drawdown.  Secretly more troops have been sent back in.  Now the White House gets ready to send them back in a little more publicly.


And where is the outcry?


With the exception of McFeatters, we've got silence or stupidity in the US press when it comes to Iraq.  We're not sure which of the two is worse.  Silence or stupidity -- both are needed ingredients in any box of Iraq War Helper and when both work in tandem, no one wins, least of all the news consumers or the Iraqi people.

TV: MSNBC Exposed

The runner up is not  a role most desire.  By the same token, there's no real choice between the gold or the silver, Miss America or first runner up, lead or understudy, first string or bench warmer.  In other words, no news network wants to be MSNBC.







It's been that way for years but has only become more so in the last months when reality has transformed the elephant in the room to the truth that cannot be avoided: As much as no one wants to be MSNBC, no one wants to watch it.

Even Huffington Post's Katherine Fung and Jack Mirkinson couldn't put a positive spin on MSNBC's third place spot in the ratings behind a resurgent CNN and the long popular Fox News.  Joe Flint (Los Angeles Times) tried so hard Tuesday to spin, "It was a particularly tough quarter for Rachel Maddow. Her show's average audience of 774,000 was the smallest since its debut in September 2008. A large part of the problem is All In with Chris Hayes, which airs before Maddow's show and has yet to click with viewers."  A large part of the problem for an established, four-year-old show's ratings dive is its new lead in? 

In what world?

TV ratings drop significantly if a network moves a show to different time periods.  TV ratings drop significantly if a new powerhouse show debuts opposite it.  But when an established TV show in the same slot loses ratings and you're reduced to whining about the lead in, you're really not dealing with reality, are you?

Reality is that when your nearly five-year-old show experiences its lowest ratings since its premiere, that has nothing to do with a lead in, it does signal that your show may be too long in the tooth and not aging well.

Reality hasn't been kind to the talk show network passing itself off as a news one.  MSNBC exists to be the official fan club of the White House.   It looks as ridiculous in that role as Fox News did when Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House.

Actually, it looks even worse than Fox News.

Fox News is right wing.  That means many things.  MSNBC is left wing which is supposed to mean even more.

For example, you're supposed to be helping the youth of America, not misusing them for free labor.  But free labor is what MSNBC stands accused of in a new lawsuit from former intern Jesse Moore who was used to book guests -- that's a paid staff position at MSNBC.  It's not an intern position.  This case should be very interesting.

Being left wing?  It's supposed to mean a commitment to the environment and an opposition to global warming.

"Who the f**k does that high-yellow think she is, Christine Baranski?"

That's what an African-American film actress asked us about bi-racial Melissa Harris-Perry last week.  We had no clue what she was talking about, so she kindly explained that Melissa flies to New York each weekend to do her show and then back to New Orleans.  This is a lot like the other MSNBC host, Lawrence O'Donnell who flies to New York from California each week to do his show. 

That's not very green is it, not very environmental friendly.  No reason they couldn't do Melissa's show from WDSU and let her stay in New Orleans and let Lawrence do his show from any number of California outlets.  Not only would such a move be better for the environment and allow the hosts a little more stability, MSNBC shows broadcast from New Orleans and California could also serve to break up the sameness of the look and feel of the shows and provide better opportunities for in house guests.

Melissa, especially needs stability.  Her family life is falling apart and if she doesn't like that being known she might ask her daughter not to talk so much at school about what goes on in the house.  We'll be really kind and leave it at that.

Kind isn't lying, so we just fall silent.  Lying is claiming Melissa Harris-LieFace Lacewell Perry is attractive.  She looks like Sabrina Le Beauf, you know, the only plain actress in the otherwise photogenic cast of The Cosby Show?  So we don't have a lot of respect for little suck-ups like Gary Leupp who tried to soften his criticism of her last week by insisting she was "stunningly beautiful."  She's not.  On a good day, she's plain.  On a bad day, that bad hair isn't her worst feature.  But that makes her perfect for MSNBC which really has collected a wide assortment of male and female eyesores -- more so than any other network. 

If Leupp hadn't been so focused on his delusions about her beauty, he might have been able to call out her Martin Luther King Jr. 'history' the way Bruce Dixon did at Black Agenda Report.

See, and this is another reason ratings are in the toilet, MSNBC hosts can't seem to stop trashing NSA whistle-blower Ed Snowden.  The left and Libertarian right applaud him for the spying he exposed.  So when 'left' Melissa or Joy Reid starts trashing Ed on MSNBC, it's not helping the network inflate the ratings.  But then, neither are those ridiculous sun dresses -- use the Bruce Dixon link -- which are ugly, show off the fatty upper arms of Melissa and look really unprofessional.

Fox News got a lot of criticism from 2001 to 2008 for its lascivious coverage of Bully Boy Bush.  On the left, we were appalled.  But it wasn't just those of us on the left.  There were elements of the right that were appalled by the toad-like manner as the network worked overtime to be a propaganda mill for the White House whose aims didn't always fit with conservatism. 

And MSNBC is struggling because it's propaganda for a centrist White House leaves it looking idiotic most days.  Nobody likes a suck-up.

Eddie Haskell is derided by each generation of TV viewers because, even at a young age, you can sense that he's insincere and will say anything from one moment to the next based on who's listening?  He has no core, he has no values, he's just a little suck-up.

Yep, we're back to Rachel Maddow.

Being a suck-up saved her several times over at Air America Radio.

Back in May, one of us wrote:

Rachel's a lesbian, she's not a leftist.  I believe we were the ones who explained what was going on after Rachel was solo.  She'd just started and she was making a controversial move.  While everyone was decrying Time magazine, in April 2005, putting Ann Coulter on the cover, Rachel was defending it and the idiotic copy.
The idiotic copy we noted.  We noted it because the man who wrote the article was drooling over Ann's looks and sex appeal.  We noted it because I'm not really sure that Ann's sexy or that a gay man is the best judge of what's sexy in a woman.
Yeah, the author was a gay conservative.
And we're the ones, not Rachel Maddow, who outed him as Rachel's dear friend.  (He called, at that time, Rachel his "angel.")  Rachel spent the whole week, multiple episodes, defending the article and insisting it was being wrongly slammed.  But she never revealed that she was friends with the author.
So when Rachel forgets to reveal today, you need to realize it's not an accident, she's got a long pattern of omissions and lies. (She also backstabs.  And we could go way back on that but let's just note, I don't care for Keith Olbermann but I don't owe my career to him.  Isn't it funny how he's a stranger to Rachel, after all he did for her?)


Oh, how her posse (we're suspecting it was her father writing yet again) did e-mail to complain and insist that Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann were as tight as ever.

No, they weren't.

No, they aren't.

And last week, Keith Olbermann made it clear.

As Josh Feldman (Mediaite) reported, when the ratings were released, Keith Olbermann left a sarcastic tweet, "Very, Very impressive#ratings @msnbc. Especially without the help of @KeithOlbermann.  @maddow great job filling his void."  And he then tweeted, "I don't know anything about her any more' she hasn't bothered to speak to me since I left" MSNBC.

She's an Eddie Haskell.  Keith Olbermann ruled MSNBC in 2008 and he made her one of his go-to replacements -- a great honor.  He advocated for her as a host.  And she couldn't stop sucking up in 2009 or 2010.  It wasn't until January 2011 that Maddow turned her back on him.  And, as Keith revealed last week, she's never bothered to speak to him again.

We're not Keith fans but we don't owe him our TV career.  Rachel Maddow can't make the same claim.


Mediaite said Olbermann was taking "swipes" at Maddow with those Tweets and The Daily Caller said he was taking a "jab at Rachel Maddow."

Heaven help the country when we're the only ones capable of reporting.

No, that wasn't a swipe.  No, that wasn't a jab.

Not that Keith Olbermann wouldn't go there.

In fact, he went there two weeks ago, June 25th.

Keith OlbermannVerified account ‏@KeithOlbermann

Isn't that amazing? RT @Baltic_Avenue Here's a list of cable news channels that are airing the TX Senate proceeding live:

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• 276 Retweets
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10:10 PM - 25 Jun 13

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   Arturo R. Garcia ‏@aboynamedart 25 Jun

   
   

   @KeithOlbermann Don't suppose we can get a Special Commentary on YouTube, can we? Somebody's gotta say something.

   
   

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   Jason Page ‏@TheBackPage 25 Jun

   
   

   @KeithOlbermann @Baltic_Avenue I noted the same thing 25 minutes ago… Its a disgrace my friend.

   
   

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   Betty Aberlin ‏@bettyaberlin 25 Jun

   
   

   @KeithOlbermann @kristapley @Baltic_Avenue as in zero?

   
   

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   Candy Jean ‏@candyjean 25 Jun

   
   

   @KeithOlbermann @Baltic_Avenue definitely a bummer, but lets not forget that @maddow has been on this scoop for over a week

   
   

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   Keith OlbermannVerified account ‏@KeithOlbermann 25 Jun

   
   

   @candyjean Except when it counted. And sadly, that's her in a nutshell.

   
   

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"Except when it counted.  And sadly, that's her in a nutshell."


And, actually, it's MSNBC as well.

Air America Radio was the trial run for a 'left' channel and it failed in the ratings due to the fact that the left was against the Iraq War while the on airs at Air American Radio (such as Rachel Maddow and Al Franken) insisted upon demanding that the US troops remain in Iraq. 

The NSA whistle-blower Ed Snowden has provided another moment to tell the left from the 'left' and MSNBC has failed that test repeatedly with their on airs.  (Consider Chris Hayes the brave exception like Laura Flanders was on Air America.)  And what a blast of karma that Keith Olbermann, the only star MSNBC ever had, would be the one to deliver the critical blow:  MSNBC was always there "except when it counted."