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Not-So-Guilty Pleasures [Dan Collins]

Hurricane Paglia has redescended on Salon:

Speaking of talk radio (which I listen to constantly), I remain incredulous that any Democrat who professes liberal values would give a moment’s thought to supporting a return of the Fairness Doctrine to muzzle conservative shows. (My latest manifesto on this subject appeared in my last column.) The failure of liberals to master the vibrant medium of talk radio remains puzzling. To reach the radio audience (whether the topic is sports, politics or car repair), a host must have populist instincts and use the robust common voice. Too many Democrats have become arrogant elitists, speaking down in snide, condescending tones toward tradition-minded middle Americans whom they stereotype as rubes and buffoons. But the bottom line is that government surveillance of the ideological content of talk radio is a shocking first step toward totalitarianism.

One of the nuggets I’ve gleaned from several radio sources is that Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who has been in the aggressive forefront of the campaign to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, is married to Tom Athans, who works extensively with left-wing radio organizations and was once the executive vice-president of Air America, the liberal radio syndicate that, despite massive publicity from major media, has failed miserably to win a national audience. Stabenow’s outrageous conflict of interest has of course been largely ignored by the prestige press, which should have been demanding that she recuse herself from all political involvement with this issue.

Agree or disagree, at least her writing is suffused with appetite and passion.

Likewise, David Thompson exudes blasphemy in every line:

Now Wilders isn’t the easiest person to like and his film, discussed here, is glib, crude and insubstantial. (A much more serious exploration of Islamic supremacism and its theological roots can be found in the documentary Islam: What the West Needs to Know, which can be viewed here.) Wilders famously suggested that the Qur’an should be banned for glorifying violence against unbelievers, though this suggestion seems at best quixotic or more likely another bid for attention, and it isn’t difficult to see why one might wish to press Wilders on many of his claims. But to the best of my knowledge, Wilders hasn’t called for the murder or intimidation of anyone; nor does he advocate terrorism or use casual threats of violence to get his own way. He is, in fact, the recipient of death threats and has spent the last few years living under police protection. An honour he shares with several outspoken women, careless academics and elderly cartoonists.

One therefore has to marvel at the suggestion by the Home Secretary’s Office that in and of itself Wilders’ visit would “pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society” and would “threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK.” Presumably what is meant – but not being said – is that a significant number of Muslims with anger management issues would take it upon themselves either to threaten violence or do violence to Mr Wilders, and possibly to others too. One wonders, then, where the real “threat to the fundamental interests of society” is coming from.

What awful people.

It seems I may have been too quick to link the discredited Lancet survey on Iraq casualties with the paper on the imputed MMR-to-autism link:

The Sunday Times last weekend resumed its witch-hunt against Andrew Wakefield, the gastro-enterologist who warned against the possible risks to children of the MMR vaccine following a paper he wrote in the Lancet in 1998. In this paper, he described a new childhood syndrome which he called autistic enterocolitis, which suggested a connection between a new type of bowel disease and autistic spectrum disorder and reported the fact that some of the parents of the children in the study thought there was a connection between these symptoms and the MMR vaccine. The titanic furore which subsequently engulfed Wakefield, in which virtually the entire medical establishment turned on him, effectively forced him out of Britain and has resulted in his being investigated by the General Medical Council for serious misconduct.

The campaign against Wakefield in the Sunday Times has been led by journalist Brian Deer. Last weekend, the paper published a two-page ‘investigation’ and a front-page spin-off story alleging that

confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses

have established Wakefield had

changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism…

amidst various other lurid charges. Deer claimed that his ‘investigation’ was

confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council

What the Sunday Times did not report was that the GMC investigation into Wakefield was triggered by a complaint from… Brian Deer, who furnished the allegations against him four years ago. He has thus been reporting upon the hearing into his own complaint. Since when has a reputable paper published a story by a reporter who is actually part of that story himself — without saying so – and who uses information arising from the disciplinary hearing which he himself has instigated and which is investigating allegations he himself made in the first place?

Knowing Melanie Phillips’s standards are somewhat higher than the Lancet’s, I assume that I have been misinformed, and apologize to Dr. Wakefield.

Related: Sister Toldjah on Ed Schulz (yes, that one) at the Obama presser.

Valentine Virus rocks the casbah

Mike Hendrix isn’t buying any of this crap.

NPR: Whatever will we yammer about, now?

President Barack Obama is the country’s first African-American president. For some, his victory has ushered in a post racial era in which there is less need for Americans to talk about race.

101 Replies to “Not-So-Guilty Pleasures [Dan Collins]”

  1. Carin says:

    Dan, the only “defense” of this crap I’ve heard anywhere is that this whole issues is a figment of the right’s imagination. So, why are we talking about it? The whole thing is, apparently, some Jedi mind trick.

  2. Dan Collins says:

    Because we’re still allowed, Carin.

  3. Dan Collins says:

    Gang of 88 ring any bells, meya? I’m sorry, did you say something about “fairness”?

  4. Carin says:

    I think the power has gone to Meya’s head.

  5. Buffoon says:

    Since I have the attention span of a 3 year old, thanks for snipping this part out of Paglia’s long, long offering. What’s always struck me as odd about the left’s failures on the radio is that they ARE the party of the entertainment industry, what gives? But I suppose you couldn’t put Adam Sandler on the air doing “Toll Booth Willie” and expect him to slide into a discussion on the fundamental glories of liberalism. Eh, they get plenty of what they need via the usual outlets and Whoopi…

    I do take “offense” to the fact that so many use the term Buffoon in a negative way… we’re all Buffoon’s… every time we pay taxes, we’re textbook Buffoon’s….

    Signed,
    Buffoon

  6. meya says:

    “Gang of 88 ring any bells, meya? ”

    I’m thinking more like this:

    http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2006/09/71843

  7. Dan Collins says:

    I guess you’re for proportional representation in the academy, too, meya?

  8. Carin says:

    Buffoon, I’m guessing that leftists don’t “need” to listen to talk radio because they can have their world view acknowledge on so many other sources. Air America didn’t fail because it was competing against Rush (etc) but because is couldn’t win against Steve Colbert, Keith Olberman, Oprah, CNN, Bill Maher, not to mention the liberal views offered on many (if not all) music and sports radio programs. Not to mention NPR.

    Conservatives originally flocked to Rush because his was a voice they heard no where else. Even today, outside of Fox, there still are very few outlets. Our local papers are almost always liberal. COnservative radio STILL fills a void. Liberals have no void, thus no one is that very interested in tuning in to their crappy shows.

    And they are crappy. I tried listening to them before they failed here in Detroit.

  9. Bob Reed says:

    Careful Camillie…

    You’re flirting with apostasy…Or, Nigella Lawson tit’s…Or Justin Timerlake…Or Mary McCarthy and Simone de Beauvoir; I’m not sure, her rambling stream of consciousness style makes me wonder if there was any particular point she was making, besides the fact that Stabenow is a hypocrite! But she is deliciously close to blasphemy in this piece vis-a-vis the fairness doctrine…

    And she’s right. How can they supposedly be the defenders of free speech on one hand, and yet be talking about essentially censorship on the other? Because of the hypocrisy! It is a self-serving admission of weakness, regarding both the appeal of the various lefty radio personalities and the indefensible nature of the hypocritical contrast between their professed ideas and the actions of the party which carries their banner…

    And how sweet was it for her to point out that left-wing talk radio’s failure comes despite it’s timassive publicity supplied by the major media. And she bee-otch slaps the Democrats for elitism…

    Too many Democrats have become arrogant elitists, speaking down in snide, condescending tones toward tradition-minded middle Americans whom they stereotype as rubes and buffoons.”

    Hick!, Rube!, Chill-billy! Epithets that are popular with some of our more colorful commenters and that should sound familiar to PW regulars…

    But I can’t say to the Democrats any clearer or with any greater moral authority than one of their own:

    the bottom line is that government surveillance of the ideological content of talk radio is a shocking first step toward totalitarianism.”

    Well said…

  10. Dan Collins says:

    I like tits. More tits, I say.

  11. Bob Reed says:

    Presumably what is meant – but not being said – is that a significant number of Muslims with anger management issues would take it upon themselves either to threaten violence or do violence to Mr Wilders, and possibly to others too. One wonders, then, where the real “threat to the fundamental interests of society” is coming from.”

    Wilders is a provocateur, but who are we to judge a man trying to prevent Holland from becoming a Dhimmi state? Thompson hits the nail on the head though; it’s not Wilders fault if the Muslims riot, it their own lack of self control and anger management issues…

    See what institutionalized multi-culturalism hath wrought?

    Not in my backyard, please…

  12. Bob Reed says:

    Dan, did you check out the shots of Nigella taht Camille linked? I guess cleavage is OK if there’s an Oxford degree attached to it…

    Otherwise, it’s demeaning and servile to the Patriarchy…

    Just sayin’

  13. Dan Collins says:

    Oh, Camille’s not like that, Bob. She isn’t afraid to like boys.

  14. Buffoon says:

    Carin, We lobby to have two letters removed from the alphabet and newspapers may regain respectability, those two letters? A & P

  15. Rob Crawford says:

    “To reach the radio audience (whether the topic is sports, politics or car repair), a host must have populist instincts and use the robust common voice.”

    They also need the government to silence anyone else on that frequency.

    So there aren’t enough frequencies for other people to set up their stations? Or are you saying that the mere existence of licensing is sufficient cause for government to regulate content?

    Because if that’s the way you wanna play, well, let’s start talking about business licenses for book retailers, whether publishers should be allowed to incorporate, and the very existence of copyright laws…

    I’m thinking more like this:[link to story about pirate radio]

    So because traditional broadcasting has limited bandwidth, and people who have paid government to use it expect government to enforce that license, that gives government the authority to regulate content?

    There are only a limited number of trees, meya. Shouldn’t we be able to ensure that when they’re pulped to make paper, they’re put to proper use? Hell, there’s only so much stone and mud and digital bandwidth, too — why should anyone be allowed to waste any of these precious limited resources?

    Oh, and if one of you smartalecks gets an idea, yes, papyrus and vellum are also limited resources. We’re just gonna have to limit “free” (really, how can anyone call it that when it costs money to propagate it and government protects its ownership?) speech to the areas everyone agrees it belongs: strippers and panhandlers.

  16. Carin says:

    Well, Buffoon, now that we have the Huffington Post acknowledged as a legitimate news source … perhaps our problems are bigger than just the AP.

  17. Rob Crawford says:

    Thompson hits the nail on the head though; it’s not Wilders fault if the Muslims riot, it their own lack of self control and anger management issues…

    “Incitement to riot is no excuse to riot.” — paraphrased from Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy. Interestingly enough, the situation that brought out that quote was what would be classified as “hate speech” today.

    We’re in the Crazy Years, folks, and we’ve elected a Nehemiah Scudder.

  18. Rob Crawford says:

    I think Ace of Spades should demand access to the White House press corps. Or maybe the Jawa Report, or Charles at LGF. Hell, let’s collect money to send Jeff to Washington for a presser!

    “Mr. President, what the fuck are you smoking?”

  19. Sdferr says:

    We can’t get to a rational proportional representation of political opinion in anything, whether radio and tv, academia, publishing, governmental bureau staffing, anything you name, without a rational census of the populace seeking to identify these same political opinion characteristics. Anybody in favor of that? Will we then be wearing colored badges on our clothing when we travel outside our households?

  20. Buffoon says:

    Carin that’s why my heavy reading these days consist of Mad magazine and Cracked… and PW of course…

  21. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    without a rational census of the populace seeking to identify these same political opinion characteristics.

    Well, just ballparking it I’d say that at least 46% of newspapers, movies, college courses, and bureaucrats should be conservative.

    FAIRNESS. It’s what’s for breakfast.

  22. Buffoon says:

    Rob… wouldn’t that be something? Maybe one of those guys should head to DC and pull a Rosa Parks on ’em… I’d never get past the metal detector….

  23. JD says:

    They also need the government to silence anyone else on that frequency.

    meya is a fucking mendouches twatwaffle, on its good days.

  24. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    I’d love to see Plastic Jesus taking questions from Jeff G. or Ace.

    The look on his face when he was asked his favorite recipe for Valurite avec des hobos morts would be priceless.

  25. thor says:

    Our elected officials in the government are, of course, in charge of regulating the public’s airwaves. Those who broadcast do so via licensed rights, they do not have a right to the public’s airwaves.

    As my patience has grown ever slimmer and as I’ve increasingly turned to gulagism as a viable option, if not a complete goddamned necessity, I have to say that I’m more in favor of removing some r-wingers from the airwaves. To clarify my terms of “removal” it goes without saying that I have my specifics. The act of removal should be transparent and public. A film crew should film the kicking in of the studio doors and duly archive the mayhem of state minions pinning down the r-wingered talker and kicking the living crap out of him/her.

    Beige. Those employed with the tasks as crap-kicking should wear beige. Maybe I’d be willing to go with beige-based camouflage but the uniformity in a color schematic would justify my preference in monikers, namely, the Beigeists.

    The Beigeist revolution of the thor-dictorate, yes, see how that rolls off the tongue?

    Simone de Beauvoir! Moonshine’n, outhouse’n, square-dancin’ Hickbillybumpkinretardates, learn to correctly fuckin’ enunciate it!

  26. Dan Collins says:

    Is that an intense shade of beige?

  27. Sdferr says:

    I’d a thought happyfeet’s cornify discovery would have been the uniform of first choice for the new fascist set. Rainbows and pinks and bright yellows. Beware the poofy cloud, it’s coming to get you.

  28. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    I had a discussion with an Afrocentrist a number of years back. He was arguing for a quota on black movie stars and directors.

    I submitted that if we were going to do things that way, 85% of NBA players and rap singers would have to be white.

    Oddly, he didn’t see it that way, although we did reach agreement that one Vanilla Ice was more than enough.

  29. Carin says:

    thor @8:44. I always knew you had it in you.

    Exhibit 4000 why anything thor has to say is irrelevant.

  30. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    thor said something?

  31. Carin says:

    You know what is really scary? How r-wingers on the radio have basically resulted in a complete domination of the electorate.

    Obama going down in flames in November should have been a wake-up call to all of us. RUSH needs to be shackled.

  32. Carin says:

    thor revealed truly what a dipshit he is.

    But, we knew that.

    So, no, he didn’t say anything.

  33. thor says:

    Rockin’ the mic like a vandal, waxin’ a chump like a candle.

  34. N. O'Brain says:

    I believe that the time has arrived for America to impliment sensible newspaper control.

  35. N. O'Brain says:

    “Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 2/11 @ 8:56 am #

    thor said something?”

    Yeah, he revealed, once again, his gibbering inner fascist.

  36. Slartibartfast says:

    A film crew should film the kicking in of the studio doors and duly archive the mayhem of state minions pinning down the r-wingered talker and kicking the living crap out of him/her.

    And when the Handicapper General comes for you, thor, to bring you down to the Redumblican norm, what then?

  37. Rob Crawford says:

    I had a discussion with an Afrocentrist a number of years back. He was arguing for a quota on black movie stars and directors.

    I made the mistake of going to the cell phone store yesterday. Besides the generally unpleasant experience (folks, turn down the goddamned music, get over the “check in for service” BS, and try to bring your prices in line with what’s quoted online, ok?), the various advertising photos scattered around the store were all carefully ethnic, including one with two cheerleaders of clearly Asian descent — because that’s so fricking common here in Ohio. One display had two dozen different people, with one white male. And he was wearing a purple shirt.

  38. thor says:

    Barney Frank is speaking, giving the Bank CEO’s a talkin’ down to.

  39. Rob Crawford says:

    Yeah, he revealed, once again, his gibbering inner fascist.

    Meh. He’s a fucking poseur. He says whatever he thinks will get a rise out of people. It’s the only way he can get people to react, really.

    Well, other than screaming “MY GOD WHAT IS THAT THING!” at the sight of him.

  40. Joe says:

    I like Camille’s writing.

  41. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    OT, but possibly of interest to the literary types around here: Michael Drout has finished his project of posting the entire Anglo-Saxon poetic corpus in MP3 form. I don’t speak Old English, but some of it is beautiful to hear.

  42. Sdferr says:

    Here’s an argument from the Obama team for pink. That’s one at least.

  43. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    Crap. Messed up the closing tag on the link. It looks like it should work, though.

  44. Rob Crawford says:

    Oooohhhhh… SPB, thanks for that link! I think I’ll take a listen, and I think The Librarian’ll like that.

  45. JD says:

    Barney Frank is a mental midget. Mike Pence carved him up this weekend. One of those CEO’s should point a finger at Barney, and tell him he should stick to running brothels, and ask him about that pay raise that they just voted for themselves.

  46. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    Also, it looks like the site is getting hammered right now, no doubt by everyone who got Prof. Drout’s announcement in their feed reader this morning. If you can’t get through, try later.

  47. Rob Crawford says:

    The link works.

    In unrelated matters, I dunno what it is, but I’m ready to snap. The Office Talker just made it into the office, and she’s in her cube SCREAMING INTO HER GODDAMNED CELL PHONE. Since her cube it right next to mine, I have to listen to her.

    I have headphones on, I have a podcast playing, AND I CAN’T HEAR THE PODCAST FOR HER BABBLING.

  48. happyfeet says:

    I like Camille’s writing too. She respects her reader.

  49. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    Noise-canceling headphones, Rob.

  50. JD says:

    The Bose Noise-canceling headphones are worth every penny. Let me warn you, when your Better Half is babbling on and on and on and on about something, it is a bad idea to put the noise canceling headphones on. Trust me on this one.

  51. Rob Crawford says:

    Noise-canceling headphones, Rob.

    I’m thinking a noise-canceling shotgun would make more sense.

    No shit, one of my co-workers bills 8 hours a week for talking to her.

  52. thor says:

    #

    Comment by Rob Crawford on 2/11 @ 9:10 am #

    The link works.

    In unrelated matters, I dunno what it is, but I’m ready to snap. The Office Talker just made it into the office, and she’s in her cube SCREAMING INTO HER GODDAMNED CELL PHONE. Since her cube it right next to mine, I have to listen to her.

    I have headphones on, I have a podcast playing, AND I CAN’T HEAR THE PODCAST FOR HER BABBLING.

    Calm down and when you hands stops a shakin’ get’yas a Dixie cup and pour yourself some fresh morning shine. Feel the burn!

  53. Mr. Pink says:

    Yeah you got to get some Boze headphones Rob. They cost over a hundred bucks but are well worth it to not here what the woman in the cubicle next to me is doing with her kids over the weekend.

  54. Sdferr says:

    Sen Harkin gets a notice in the Politico for his Fairness Doctrine advocacy, like Stabenow, he was on the Bill Press radio show:

    ‘there you go, we gotta get the Fairness Doctrine back in law again.’

  55. happyfeet says:

    “We’ve lost two people in my family because you dickheads won’t cut trees down,” he said.*

    one of Drudge’s thingers this morning

  56. MarkD says:

    Does anybody care about the Lancet thing? Liars got caught. I’m supposed to believe that newspaper reporters are suddenly ethical in how they get the story? That’s a hurdle not cleared since Watergate.

    I don’t care enough to go and read the articles. The Lancet study used a flawed methodology to produce preposterous results. There aren’t enough dead or missing Iraqis for it to be true. In other news, the ocean isn’t boiling, so I guess the hockey stick Global Warming liars are outed as well. Now tell us how the stimulus is going to fix the economy. This time we’ll get the whole story, I’m sure.

  57. thor says:

    #

    Comment by JD on 2/11 @ 9:14 am #

    The Bose Noise-canceling headphones are worth every penny. Let me warn you, when your Better Half is babbling on and on and on and on about something, it is a bad idea to put the noise canceling headphones on. Trust me on this one.

    They suck. A freakin’ gimmick is what they are. I chunked my noise cancellors for high-end Sennheiser ear buds (serious). I can hear those Gil Scott-Heron’s nuances that you can only dream of (not-so serious).

  58. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    Those headphones are like TrollHammer for the ears.

  59. thoooooor says:

    Further proof they suck.

  60. JD says:

    There is nothing that thor will not be contrarian about.

  61. thor says:

    #

    Comment by Carin on 2/11 @ 8:57 am #

    You know what is really scary? How r-wingers on the radio have basically resulted in a complete domination of the electorate.

    Obama going down in flames in November should have been a wake-up call to all of us. RUSH needs to be shackled.

    It’s not the he “needs” to be, it’s that he should be. Shackled and bounced, and pummeled until his last messy flounce then tossed away like bad tuna.

  62. Dan Collins says:

    thor, is there some reason I shouldn’t nuke all your comments out of this thread?

  63. thor says:


    Comment by JD on 2/11 @ 9:35 am #

    There is nothing that thor will not be contrarian about.

    Trust me, buy some Sennheisers – you know those Germans make good stuff.

  64. Rob Crawford says:

    Since I really don’t want to go to prison for murder, I’ll take a look at the Bose headphones.

  65. JD says:

    Rob C – Don’t discount the concept of justifiable homicide. Any rational juror will have had to have dealt with an asshat like that sometime in their life. Just sayin’

  66. JD says:

    I know, I know … the whole rational juror thing …

  67. thor says:


    Comment by Dan Collins on 2/11 @ 9:42 am #

    thor, is there some reason I shouldn’t nuke all your comments out of this thread?

    Well, via the metanarrative you are advocating for lack of restraints to speech, are you not?

    The tongue set free (Canetti), a torch in the ear!

    That beigeist bit was humor, c’mon, like one of those Rush Limbaugh skits!

    You can’t just go about deleting and censoring on the one hand and advocating against such on the other.

  68. Dan Collins says:

    By the same measure, you can’t go advocating censorship, even as a joke, without someone being tempted to remove your comments, because of teh funny.

  69. JD says:

    Good one, Dan C. Well played.

  70. Pablo says:

    Oh, that is the McDonald’s tool. God help us all.

  71. Pablo says:

    thor, is there some reason I shouldn’t nuke all your comments out of this thread?

    I have, and it’s all good.

  72. Rob Crawford says:

    Now she’s in a co-worker’s cube, babbling and babbling. I suspect she went over to tell him something that could have been in an email, and now has wasted five minutes of his time.

  73. JD says:

    Rob – Let me guess … She is a Baracky supporter?

  74. Bob Reed says:

    thor,

    The beigeist thing was a creative construct. But I didn’t quite see any humor in it, unless it was humor based on absurdity. It seemed more to me like something out of, “A Clockwork Orange”; a bit o’ the old ultraviolence, eh?…

    You can’t just go about deleting and censoring on the one hand and advocating against such on the other.”

    And you’re right about this fact too. But then how come some of your fellow travelers are doing just that? Because of the fairness?

    But I can’t see how that could survive a SCOTUS challenge. Especially in light of the political nature of talk radio, and the founders unambiguous intent to protect the right to free speech in matters political…

    One last thing. Did you read Paglia’s essay? If so you might consider heeding her advice vis-a-vis coming off as a condescending elitist. Going to strip bars and other working class won’t buy you any indulgences when it comes to class snobbery…

    Do you discuss Celine!, Derrida!, and Simone de Beauvoir! with the dancers?

  75. Rob Crawford says:

    Rob – Let me guess … She is a Baracky supporter?

    I suspect.

    Oh, and if thor said this:

    You can’t just go about deleting and censoring on the one hand and advocating against such on the other.

    Except for that little difference between government action and private action involving private property. I know it’s small, almost invisible to the eye, but there ya go.

  76. Jeff G. says:

    I’ve written about this before many times (in the archives here somewhere): proportional representation is the absolute antithesis of the principles this country is supposedly founded upon.

    Read Peter Wood on diversity. Or better yet, use your common sense and decide if you want the government to define who you are based on certain characteristics that, despite what some folks will argue, don’t necessarily determine how you think. In fact, the very idea that it does is not so far removed from arguments made by, well, the KKK, for instance.

    Remove the robes and hoods and stick them in academia and government, and you get things like Title IX and the Fairness Doctrine.

    It’s repulsive and, in a very real and specific sense, completely anti-American.

    None of which arguments are worth reading about at length. Not when Joe the Plumber will be in Gaza…

  77. Matt says:

    I don’t get it. Don’t conservatives have a right to the airwaves as much as liberals ? Isn’t it true that liberal shows have been given a chance and simply failed ?

    Honestly, trying to shut somebody up, even if the airwaves are “public” is a step down the road towards facism.

  78. Mikey NTH says:

    President Barack Obama is the country’s first African-American president. For some, his victory has ushered in a post racial era in which there is less need for Americans to talk about race.

    Somehow, I don’t believe that will happen.

  79. Bob Reed says:

    None of which arguments are worth reading about at length. Not when Joe the Plumber will be in Gaza…

    Jeff G,
    JTP can’t do a darn thing to help re-invigorate the core principles and ideas, found in the Constitution, that made this nation great and her people as free as men get under organized societies. JTP, and the PJTV bunch, are catering to and peddling in sound bites and buzzwords that surround snapshots of why those arguments are imposrtant; but do little to flesh out the arguments themselves…

    Hobbes articulated those arguments…
    Locke articulated thise arguments…
    Thomas Paine articulated those arguments…
    “The Federalist” articulated those arguments…

    You are exponentially closer to being able to articulate those arguments, and do so with the intellectual heft necessary, to revitalize classical liberalism, than JTP or PJTV will ever be…

    So eff them already. After you complete your novella you should consider writing a short book or series of them about this subject-if you’re interested…

    I know you like to stay independant, but the Heritage Foundation might be willing to throw a few grant bucks your way for such a project…

    Best Wishes

  80. Carin says:

    You know, that Julio cat would be funny if it wasn’t so awful. Horrid.

  81. SarahW says:

    #77 I can’t compare Title IX with fairness doctine baloney. Why do you? Compulsory attendance can’t be compared to switching on a radio, and unfair distribution of tax dollars for classes and activities for students based on gender can’t be compared to governmental interference in somthing so undefinable as “political outlook”.

    You understand that even though Title IX was passed when I was in school, compliance was not mandated for a couple of years. I was forbidden to take shop class. Title IX is the only thing that forced the school to offer that opportunity to female students.

  82. N. O'Brain says:

    “Comment by thor on 2/11 @ 9:44 am #

    – you know those Germans make good stuff.”

    whore’s favorite?

    Zyklon B

  83. comatus says:

    Spies, let me add my thanks for the OE link. “Awesome”–hey, that’s OE!

    My OE prof, the late Arthur Abel, used to say that Old English was the only language designed to be shouted. So Mr. Crawford, there is your solution: bigger speakers, and crank it up!

    Srsly, for a good deal on noise-cancelers, frequent private pilot sites. Those guys have too much toy-money, and are forever upgrading.

  84. comatus says:

    Sarah W, that was spoken like a true subject. You will never achieve equality through force of law. It achieves only definition as a qualifying member of a bloc. Attend one Women’s Crew team meeting and see what federal policy hath wrought. Then scan the list of co-ed sports being abandoned because female college recruits “don’t happen to care for them” (ie, were too closed-minded to try).

    The proper and effective counterbalance to ridiculous rule is ridicule. There is no virtue in making a right choice when it is required. Do you suppose that racial prejudice, to take one example, was ended by the civil rights acts of the government? Forty years of earnest progress was set back when those rulings were signed.

    As a “college prep” tracked student, I was denied Culinary Arts. And yet I have won awards for my cooking. Do you see the hand of the patriarchy in that? Should I have sued to learn the roux?

  85. Log Cabin says:

    So then the fairness doctrine means that the network news will have conservatives on to rebut the 3 liberal anchors? Shit, 60 minutes will need to fire half it’s staff and hire conservatives, right? Those menopausal hags on The View will be 2/2 with an independent instead of 4/1? John Stewart will now have to mock his beloved Obama, too? The NYTimes will have to balance it’s front page?

  86. Dan Collins says:

    Now that’s just crazy talk, Log Cabin.

  87. Log Cabin says:

    Free speech for me, but none for thee, eh Dano?

    Crap, I am reduced to posting Thor’s motto. Shame on me.

  88. Dan Collins says:

    I wasn’t really speaking in my person, either.

  89. Jeffersonian says:

    I think we need to get the FCC out of the regulation of form and content. With all respects to Lenny Bruce, if you can’t say “fuck,” you can’t say “fuck Obama.”

  90. Sticky B says:

    I used to link to Paglia from Drudge quite often. I don’t know that I’ve ever read anything from her that I’d disagree with. Not saying that she hasn’t written something disagreeable, just that I’ve never seen it. She’s pretty sound on most topics.

  91. SarahW says:

    Comatus, I wasn’t looking for “equality”. I was looking to make a bitchin’ lamp.

  92. TomB says:

    Don’t apologize to Wakefield. He is a fraud and charlatan. Because he scared parents away from immunizing their children, there has been an explosion of measles in the UK along with at least 2 deaths.

  93. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says:

    My OE prof, the late Arthur Abel, used to say that Old English was the only language designed to be shouted.

    Good one. Maybe even shouted while drunk on mead after plundering and burning your enemy’s hall.

  94. Rusty says:

    But not broadcast.
    Why not?

    Spies. Before I dropped out of grad school I had an opportunity to take a class on Chaucer by a professor Milash(?) at NIU. I can honestly say it was a delight to go to class. He’d read a few pages in dialect and then we’d discuss them.Then he’d read a few more.

  95. meya says:

    “But not broadcast.
    Why not?”

    Because if anyone can just start broadcasting then no-one will be heard as all the signals run into each other.

  96. happyfeet says:

    oh. I’m not gonna click on the NPR link but still I think I’ll get to use the word odious today after all.

  97. Rusty says:

    #99
    So?
    Say! Whatever happened to CB radios anyway?

  98. donald says:

    Yah, I gotta say, that Camille post really boils down to that chick’s tits. They’re the tits man.

  99. […] HURRICANE PAGLIA– “Speaking of talk radio (which I listen to constantly), I remain incredulous that any […]

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