The Rant & Vent about the Right Wing thread

[RGMike]

TANC: the other day I expressed surprise that the band Orleans were from upstate NY and not SoCal.

Well, lo & behold, the group's leader, John Hall, is running for Congress in his home district as a Dem (and has a good shot at the seat). He was on Colbert and I'd never have recognized him -- bald, 60-ish, businessman-looking.

Hall then:



Hall now:

[ggould]

I've always liked Keith Olberman a lot.  But now I can honestly say he is my hero.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15321167/

The text is on this link, but the video clip is well worth watching because KO is truly passionate in his delivery.  It is about 7 minutes long.

*MEGA-applause*

I'm floored after watching this.  Yes, perhaps he has watched Edward R. Murrow clips a bit much, but it turned positively gripping as he kept nailing W for his sins, with a very real sense that Olberman himself could be punished for merely speaking this truth to the twisted, corrupted power that passes for our current government.

[RGMike]

OK it was time for a little good news: NJ Supreme Court says same-sex couples deserve the same rights as heteros.  How that is enacted into law is up to the NJ State Legislature...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/25/BAGPDLVPA74.DTL

[RGMike]

Dunno if y'all have followed the Michael J Fox/Rush Limbaugh dust-up over the stem-cell political ad in Missouri, but there's a celebrity-studded ad for the other side that's gonna air today:

"The Cardinals' starting pitcher for Game 4, Jeff Suppan, is among several celebrities who appear in the minute-long ad.

Others include Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, Kansas City Royals first baseman Mark Sweeney and two actors, Patricia Heaton of TV's Everybody Loves Raymond and Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in The Passion of the Christ."

[mshray]

Dunno if y'all have followed the Michael J Fox/Rush Limbaugh dust-up over the stem-cell political ad in Missouri, but there's a celebrity-studded ad for the other side that's gonna air today:

"The Cardinals' starting pitcher for Game 4, Jeff Suppan, is among several celebrities who appear in the minute-long ad.

Others include Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, Kansas City Royals first baseman Mark Sweeney and two actors, Patricia Heaton of TV's Everybody Loves Raymond and Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in The Passion of the Christ."

are all the celebs you just mentioned on Rush Limbaugh's side?

ETA: and don't you mean "Patricia Heaton of TV's Everybody Loves Raymond those insufferable Albertson's radio ads"?

[RGMike]

Dunno if y'all have followed the Michael J Fox/Rush Limbaugh dust-up over the stem-cell political ad in Missouri, but there's a celebrity-studded ad for the other side that's gonna air today:

"The Cardinals' starting pitcher for Game 4, Jeff Suppan, is among several celebrities who appear in the minute-long ad.

Others include Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, Kansas City Royals first baseman Mark Sweeney and two actors, Patricia Heaton of TV's Everybody Loves Raymond and Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in The Passion of the Christ."

are all the celebs you just mentioned on Rush Limbaugh's side?

they're all anti-stem cell harvesting because, well, Jesus says it's wrong.  Apparently Caveizel thinks he IS Jesus.

[darryl]

This morning during the news, Peter Finch started to tell a story today about how NBC rejected their commercial for "Shut up and Sing", their documentary about the whole ordeal they've had to deal with since their "We're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas" comment.

It was rejected "because the spot included material that 'disparages President Bush.'"

Story + Video at:  http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/43566/

I think everybody, but mainly Irish Greg started to get up in arms about it, and Dave pretty much told Peter to cut the rest of the news short so they could get to the 9 o'clock quiz or whatever.  But geezus, yeah, WTF!?

I mean, I would expect that kind of thing from Fox News, but NBC?

Ah well, more publicity for the documentary now.  The kind you *can't* buy.  :-}

But anyways, digging around for more on the story, I found this snippet re: the ban on playing their music:

Chris Matthews on Hardball:  Well, Emily, tell me.  Who was the corporation that went after you?
ROBISON:  Cox and Cumulus were the ones who definitely had corporate bans.  You know, we suspected some others.
MATTHEWS:  Cox and who else?
ROBISON:  Cumulus Radio.
MATTHEWS: Where are they located?
ROBISON:  I’m not sure where they’re located.  
MATTHEWS:  Well, you don’t know where they are located, but you’ve accused them of a massive conspiracy to hurt you.
ROBISON:  No. They’ve got stations all over the country that they claim are independently run stations, and they were part of the consolidation hearings.  And John McCain really raked them over the coals, because they were trying to say that all the individual stations were privately owned—or individually owned, and could make their own decisions, yet there was a mandate, from corporate headquarters, wherever that may be, that they had to stop playing our music.  

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15444551/

I don't recall hearing any more about it on the show for the rest of the morning.  I wonder if there's a corporate policy against even *debating* the Dixie Chicks.

Which reminds me that KFOG did play "Not Ready to Make Nice" a total of 6 times between Mar-Jun, and then Irish Greg has the audacity make it sound like the song's been in heavy rotation and they've been getting all kinds of phone calls about it in a phone interview with the band.

Psh.

Cranky pants in the afternoon.  :-}

(Guess I shouldn't be so cranky since they did treat me to the Rodrigo y Gabriela in-studio performance.)

[mshray]

This morning during the news, Peter Finch started to tell a story today about how NBC rejected their commercial for "Shut up and Sing", their documentary about the whole ordeal they've had to deal with since their "We're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas" comment.

It was rejected "because the spot included material that 'disparages President Bush.'"

Story + Video at:  http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/43566/

I think everybody, but mainly Irish Greg started to get up in arms about it, and Dave pretty much told Peter to cut the rest of the news short so they could get to the 9 o'clock quiz or whatever.  But geezus, yeah, WTF!?

I mean, I would expect that kind of thing from Fox News, but NBC?

Ah well, more publicity for the documentary now.  The kind you *can't* buy.  :-}

But anyways, digging around for more on the story, I found this snippet re: the ban on playing their music:

Chris Matthews on Hardball:  Well, Emily, tell me.  Who was the corporation that went after you?
ROBISON:  Cox and Cumulus were the ones who definitely had corporate bans.  You know, we suspected some others.
MATTHEWS:  Cox and who else?
ROBISON:  Cumulus Radio.
MATTHEWS: Where are they located?
ROBISON:  I’m not sure where they’re located.  
MATTHEWS:  Well, you don’t know where they are located, but you’ve accused them of a massive conspiracy to hurt you.
ROBISON:  No. They’ve got stations all over the country that they claim are independently run stations, and they were part of the consolidation hearings.  And John McCain really raked them over the coals, because they were trying to say that all the individual stations were privately owned—or individually owned, and could make their own decisions, yet there was a mandate, from corporate headquarters, wherever that may be, that they had to stop playing our music.  

I don't recall hearing any more about it on the show for the rest of the morning.  I wonder if there's a corporate policy against even *debating* the Dixie Chicks.

Which reminds me that KFOG did play "Not Ready to Make Nice" a total of 6 times between Mar-Jun, and then Irish Greg has the audacity make it sound like the song's been in heavy rotation and they've been getting all kinds of phone calls about it in a phone interview with the band.

Psh.

Cranky pants in the afternoon.  :-}

(Guess I shouldn't be so cranky since they did treat me to the Rodrigo y Gabriela in-studio performance.)

When I saw The Prestige a few days ago I was treated to the trailer for this film & a couple seconds of McCain's cross-examination was included.  It was exactly as Emily descirbed it.

[RGMike]

When I saw The Prestige a few days ago I was treated to the trailer for this film & a couple seconds of McCain's cross-examination was included.  It was exactly as Emily descirbed it.

wrong thread, I know, but didya like The Prestige better than The Illusionist?

[mshray]

When I saw The Prestige a few days ago I was treated to the trailer for this film & a couple seconds of McCain's cross-examination was included.  It was exactly as Emily descirbed it.

wrong thread, I know, but didya like The Prestige better than The Illusionist?

Quite a bit, though I certainly enjoyed both.  Much better casting (Michael Caine, David Bowie, Andy Serkis, Piper Perabo) for one thing.  Not to take anything away from Norton, Giamatti & Sewell, but after those guys what else was there?

Did you know that Ricky Jay (the David Mamet regular who played the magician both guys started out with) is in fact a world class magician & was the magic consultant on BOTH films?

[RGMike]

Did you know that Ricky Jay (the David Mamet regular who played the magician both guys started out with) is in fact a world class magician & was the magic consultant on BOTH films?

Yes, believe it or not -- an old friend from ABC days is a huge aficionado of magic, he keeps me posted on all things Ricky Jay. He's a BIG Jay fan. Mr Jay has done several one-man stage shows that have played in SF.

[RGMike]

White House slams Kerry; Kerry slams back (if only he'd done that more often 2 years ago):

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/10/31/national/w094731S95.DTL

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran and President Bush's 2004 rival, fired back.

He said he had been criticizing Bush, not the "heroes serving in Iraq," and said the president and his administration are the ones who owe U.S. troops an apology because they "misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it."

"This is the classic GOP playbook," Kerry said in a harshly worded statement. "I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did. I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium."

[mshray]

Did you know that Ricky Jay (the David Mamet regular who played the magician both guys started out with) is in fact a world class magician & was the magic consultant on BOTH films?

Yes, believe it or not -- an old friend from ABC days is a huge aficionado of magic, he keeps me posted on all things Ricky Jay. He's a BIG Jay fan. Mr Jay has done several one-man stage shows that have played in SF.

I'd love to go see him do that.  I recently clicked his IMDb profile and it says that he holds the world record for throwing playing cards the fastest.

[mshray]

Kerry slams back (if only he'd done that more often 2 years ago)

If only...

(sigh)

[RGMike]

Did you know that Ricky Jay (the David Mamet regular who played the magician both guys started out with) is in fact a world class magician & was the magic consultant on BOTH films?

Yes, believe it or not -- an old friend from ABC days is a huge aficionado of magic, he keeps me posted on all things Ricky Jay. He's a BIG Jay fan. Mr Jay has done several one-man stage shows that have played in SF.

I'd love to go see him do that.  I recently clicked his IMDb profile and it says that he holds the world record for throwing playing cards the fastest.

iirc, one of his shows was called "Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants" or something like that.