Fun with idiots: mess up MTV's plans for another Paris Hilton show

As much as I hate reality TV, I have to pimp this one, only to throw off the premise. Paris Hilton, truly a vapid nothing who contributes nothing to society if there ever was one, has a new reality show coming out on MTV, and people can vote on who her new best friend will be on the show on the Official Website.

In short, I implore you to vote for Benjy Bronk, the head writer for The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Satellite Radio. Nothing would thrill me more (okay, that's not true, but it would be pretty damn cool) than to see Bronk win, completely screwing up MTV's plans. Yes, it doesn't take much to entertain me, I know. But, if you're a regular CMB reader, you probably already knew that.

I know it's just an issue of language, but really, MTV ought to change the name of the network - how about STV? I'm sure you can come up with some appropriate nicknames based on those letters.

Anyway, bookmark the Website, I Wanna Be Paris Hilton's New Best Friend, and vote for Bronk; you can vote once every 24 hours. With a little luck, MTV will have to come up with an explanation as to why the first place winner won't be on the show.

Keep up the voting! Bronk is currently in first place by about 700 votes, so every vote counts. Psst! Tell your friends.

Obama hits one out of the park

I just finished listening to Barack Obama's speech on race relations that he delivered earlier today at the Constitutional Center in Philadelphia.

In short, I was pretty blown away with his speech - I really was. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that as I was driving in my car yesterday, I had a few twinges of doubt about whether Obama was going to survive this pseudo-scandal and I was listening to Bill Press on Sirius Satellite Radio. I have never personally believed Reverend Wright's highly offensive words to be any real reflection on Obama the man, but for a time, I felt that point of view was the minority opinion.

Quite frankly, this is one of the greatest political speeches I've heard, ever, and certainly the best one on race in my lifetime. I sincerely doubt that it will placate the right-wing nuts, and that's fine; nothing he says will ever satisfy them anyway. But, I'm thinking it will help him move beyond this controversy.

Since the presidential primaries began at the beginning of this year, it's nothing short of remarkable (and outrageous) about the press treatment that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have received. From my chair, it seems that the press vilified and slammed Hillary at every turn with overt misogyny by treating unfavorable opinions of her as fact, and also by bringing up every "scandal" ever associated with the Clintons, true or not. Clinton's early front runner status even presented the vapid Gennifer Flowers with another business opportunity to profit off the Clintons' public service.

And now, the press is all Obama, all the time, and not in a good way. And many of the negative stories are the result of a concerted effort by two of the most dominant and popular media outlets - Faux News and The Drudge Report. I've already written a great deal about this - Click Here. It still amazes me that major media networks and outlets report what they see and read on Drudge as if it is fact. This has happened so frequently in the past few years that it receives little if any attention, but it should. This right wing hack and provocateur has been doing the bidding of the Republican Party leadership for years, not to mention the numerous times he's taken stuff down from his Website that proved to be either false or riddled with half-truths. And apologies? Forget it - this guy apologizes less than my uncouth stepfather.

Here are some excerpts that I found particularly poignant and powerful, with my highlighted comments:

Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism. [Bill O'Lielly, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter, anyone?]

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own. [Sorry, Fox News - looks like Obama is humble and human after all. I can almost hear Roger Ailes screaming, "How dare he be humble! He wants humble? Get me more dirt on this Barack bin Laden and I'll show him humble!]

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

[...]

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and YouTube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way. [You mean there is possibly more to Reverend Wright than those 30-second YouTube clips? What a no doubt disappointing thought for the likes of Sean Hannity, Michael Wiener, O'Lielly and Limbaugh, but I'm sure this won't deter the throng of "the Obamas hate America" crowd.]

But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

[...]

Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. [Good - Obama is sticking by him, which shows guts and political courage - it would have been quick and expedient for Obama to throw him to the wolves, but he didn't do it.]

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American. [Sustained Applause]

[...]

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their world view in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

[...]

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; [Applause] they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

[...]

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

[...]

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change. [Yes! This is a theme that Democrats need to hammer over and over again - when the press spends time on someone a candidate is associated with a long time ago, we aren't spending time talking about the real issues that are affecting us: the wars, the deficit, lack of health care, etc. and this is just how Repubes want it. In '04, gay marriage was the big wedge issue. This year, it looks like it's race and (surprise) the Clinton scandals.]

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." [Emphasis Mine] This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time. [Emphasis Mine]

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

I can't even think of much to add to this speech, other than to say I think it hit just the right note, and now hopefully Obama can get started on putting this behind him. There's little doubt it will continue to get flogged on Drudge, Fox News and the like, but I believe that once people begin making reasoned, thought-out opinions on whether they should vote for Obama because of what his Reverend has said, he should be fine. I still believe he has too many delegates to not get the nomination.

I began poking around on Huff Po and YouTube for reactions to his speech, and to my surprise just about all of them were very encouraged by his speech and were generally positive. That alone qualifies as a "Wow," because those comment and message board areas can be fertile ground for cranks and intolerant rubes. Here's one of my favorite comments that I found: It's sad that a lot of these posters are cynical, angry, resentful and don't understand the history of America and the country and they want to sooooo much be proud in the superficial way, that they hate anybody that says anything bad about it.

Hmm - sound familiar? Michelle Obama, anyone? How dare she say that she hasn't been proud of her country in a long time?!? The NERVE!

Local DJ gets unjustly "Imus'd"

Imus, Imus, Imus - he's a black hole right now, from which there's no escape. Like a recovering addict, I've sworn off writing about him, but this week, in the aftermath of Imus' firing, the story took on an unexpected local angle.

I'm originally from the Poconos, so during and immediately following my high school years, I listened to 93.5 FM, WSBG. The station's most prominent DJ was Gary Smith (above), host of the Gary in the Morning program.

This past week, Smith was summarily fired following a skit Smith did on his radio show that was in poor taste, but more importantly, poorly timed.

On Monday morning, Smith decided to use "I'm a nappy-headed ho," as the station's Phrase that Pays, referencing what Imus said that resulted in him losing his radio and cable TV shows. The ninth person who called in and said it won some sort of prize.

A press release issued by the company that owns WSBG stated that Smith "used the phrase with full knowledge of the reaction to Don Imus' use of the exact same phrase just a day earlier, which is the reason he was terminated and not suspended."

Smith has a well-earned reputation of being a pillar in the community; he appears unpaid at many charity events, and he's entertained legions of fans during a 17-year career at the station, including me.

Smith should have been reprimanded for the dumb move, but not fired. There's plenty of differences between the Imus' needlessly making ridiculous remarks about the Rutgers University Women's basketball team, and repeating a statement as a joke when it's not directed at anyone.

I do see management's point - even repeating "nappy-headed ho," especially considering the national controversy, was ill-advised and downright foolish. But, should it cost a man, who is in otherwise good standing in the community, his livelihood? I'm not buying it.

You cannot even compare Imus to Smith. Imus has a checkered past that's rife with racial remarks that can be interpreted no other way than the guy's a racist. A few days ago, I blogged about a New York Times piece by Bob Herbert. In it, Herbert discusses a transcript from a 60 Minutes piece on Imus from about 10 years ago, during which it was confirmed that he regularly uses the "N-Word."

Smith doesn't have that past.

The bottom line here is that we have our next Janet Jackson Moment, sort of.

I'm for free speech, with certain limitations. To the people who think Imus should not have been fired, I'd ask this - walk down the aisle of cubicles in corporate America, or say it on an NFL sideline, or even bagging french fries at McDonald's. You're getting fired, and you should be.

Imus is no different.

But, what happened to Gary Smith is absurd. A trumped up charge of racial intolerance. By all accounts, he didn't do it with malice or direct the statements toward anyone.

I'm not alone in my opinion, either. There's online petition to bring Smith back to the airwaves. I signed it, and so far 600 other people have as well.

Radio personalities around the nation expressed similar outrage that Smith, under these circumstances, would be fired. Howard Stern said that he plans to offer Smith a job. Who knows? Maybe getting fired will be one of the best things to happen to Smith, if he ends up on Sirius.

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

"Racust" in the Morning blabbers on

I have no idea what kind of a person Don Imus is. But maybe his idiotic statements from last week about the Rutgers University Women's Basketball Team is knowing enough. If I owned the radio station that Imus works for, I'd fire him. Without equivocation.

The only good thing about this is watching this old lizard squirm and try to come up with some reason, any reason, that he should be kept on the job.

I laughed in this video when I heard him say that "these young women don't know me." They don't need to, moron. A racist is still a racist, so Imus' attempt to put his comments into context adds nothing. Zero.

"I'm a good person who said a bad thing"? I dunno - it sounds like a PR job to me.

His lame explanation that "we make fun of everyone on this show, including me" is no defense, either. So, he's been making fun of everyone for the past 30-odd years on his show, Imus in the Morning. So what?

Hey, I'm a Howard Stern fan, and had he said the same thing, I'd think he should be fired, too. Stern has toned down his act quite a bit since moving over to Sirius Satellite Radio, though. I wonder if money has anything to do with it? He only got a $500 million, five-year deal. It's a whole new ballgame when you cross over to the largely uncensored medium of satellite, but I digress.

When Howard was on terrestrial radio, he should have been fired on a number of occasions, and on a few, he was. Since I've been a fan, the one big thing that I remember he got into hot water about was making fun of Selena's death, but in that instance, he wasn't making fun of her race, if I'm remembering it right. Still, one could have made the case that he should have been fired, and he nearly was.

Anyway, back to Imus - yes, he does do a great deal of charitable work, without question, but it's obvious why he's bringing it up now - to try and save his job. His charitable work does not excuse what he said.

It's interesting to see him go on the Mel Gibson/Michael Richards apology tour. It's fun watching him squirm and agreeing to talk to Al Sharpton and to meeting with the basketball team. He wouldn't be doing any of this if his job wasn't in jeopardy.

Here's footage of Newsweek's Howard Fineman giving it to Imus this morning on his radio show, but in a respectful way. Nice job, Howard. And Fineman's right - this is a teaching moment. Maybe he'll survive this and continue his show. He does have the support of a great many politicians who come on his show, but I don't know if they support him in this case.



By the way, Imus seriously needs to consider putting the cowboy hat back on - without it, he looks even more disturbing.

Alex Bennett, allow me to introduce you to the First Amendment

I occasionally listen to Alex Bennett on Sirius Left, but this morning the liberal commentator was over the top, even for him. He started out by saying that Scooter Libby should be set free.

Really? That's completely absurd, but I'll have more on that in a separate post in a minute.

What annoyed me even more than Bennett's Libby comments, though, was his take on Ann Coulter. Yesterday, three newspapers, The Oakland Press in Michigan, The Mountain Press in Tennessee and The Lancaster New Era in Lancaster, Pa. announced they were dropping Ann Coulter's column.

Bennett went on to say that "I'm not going to defend Ann Coulter's comment, but I'll defend her right to say it." Fair enough, and I agree with that point. Hold on, though.

He then proceeded to question the newspapers' veracity in removing Coulter's column from their pages. That's ridiculous and absurd.

Yes, we live in a free country with a free press, and Coulter has the right to spew her tripe, but the media is under no obligation to publish or disseminate her tripe. The media's refusal to do so is not censorship!

Bennett reasoned the papers were wrong by no longer publishing her column, using "freedom of the press" as a justification for his reasoning.

By that rationale, why isn't David Duke's column running The New York Times? (If, in fact, the bigot has one.) Papers and media outlets can and should have editorial standards. The three papers above, while minor, decided that Coulter's speech and beliefs weren't aligned with their own.

Coulter has plenty of other avenues to get out her messages of hate, including her Website.

Bennett doesn't understand freedom, democracy or the First Amendment.

What annoys me most of all is that this whole brouhaha is precisely what Coulter wants. Every time she says something stupid like this, her book sales go through the roof, and she laughs all the way to the bank.

The next time she writes a book, there will be plenty of conservatives who will ogle her, snatch up her book at $24.95 a pop, and babble, "You're right, John Edwards IS a faggot!"

Pathetic and sad.

Wishing Sirius Left would leave

I'm a big fan of Sirius Satellite Radio, ad most of you know by now. But, in one aspect, I wouldn't mind seeing Sirius and XM merge, because the Sirius Talk Left channel on Sirius is pretty much God-awful from top to bottom, with a few exceptions.

At the top of my list of peeves about Sirius Talk Left is Lynn Samuels (below right). She could be the worst radio talk show host I have ever heard. Ever. Samuels and Rush Limbaugh should mate to create the ultimate anti-Christ of radio.

From her voice (a dead on ringer for Linda Richman on Saturday Night Live's Coffee Talk), to her ridiculous opinions, she has no business being on radio, period. To wit, just today alone, she's laughing about a joke that Sarah Silverman made about Anne Frank's genitals; she also is whining and complaining about how several Mexican actors were waving Mexican flags last night at "the AMERICAN Academy Awards!" (emphasis hers) She later goes on to say, "They can take those Mexican flags and stick them up their f------ a----. Sniiiiiffffffffffff! Smell the diversity. This moron calls herself a Democrat?!?

Last week, Samuels said this about men, and she wasn't joking: "There isn't a man alive on Earth who doesn't hate women. Men would have exterminated women a long time ago if they could have gotten away with it - they would have just left a few of us around to make babies." Yea, sure Lynn. My favorite thing about Samuels is how she's always saying on the air, "Nobody likes me. I don't have any friends." I can't possibly imagine why. What a sick, twisted, bitter old maid.

Weekday mornings from 6-9, Bill Press (at left) is on, who's at least listenable. But, at times, I can understand why CNN fired him, too. His reasoning on the issues, whether I agree with them or not, is generally well thought out, but then he'll turn right around and revert to Sean Hannity-like name calling that gets old in about 15 minutes.

The Alex Bennett Show follows Press' show, and it's a close second to Lynn Samuels' blabbering as the most annoying show. Bennett (left) has a cohost, Garrett, argues with Bennett about everything he brings up. Nothing is out of bounds for argument between these two. When I listen to talk radio, I want to be informed, not annoyed. Some good-spirited debate is one thing, but listening to this show is akin to listening to a three-hour battle royal. The commercials during Bennett's show are like islands of reality in a sea of diarrhea.

The Thom Hartmann Show is a good one, but unfortunately, he's mostly on Air America now, and he's only on Sirius from 12-1, right before the Lynn Samuels train wreck. I like him, but I'm never around to listen to his show at noon. And, what's worse, Air America Radio has an exclusive deal with XM. Figures, too - when Air America first launched, it was on both satellite networks, but right before I get Sirius, it goes to XM. Again, that's one good thing I can point to about the proposed Sirius-XM merger - getting Air America.

The Ed Schultz Show is on from 3-6 in the afternoon, and he's my favorite. I flat out love his wit, banter, realism, and properly controlled and articulated anger. I could listen to him for six hours. I do wish he'd get more air time, but 3-6 is good, too, because that's generally when I'm driving home.

The Stephanie Miller Show follows Schultz's. So far, from what little I've heard, she's pretty good - she seems like an Ann Coulter, but more attractive, even tempered and intelligent. Basically, she's everything Coulter is not, and that's about as ringing of an endorsement as I can give.

I guess this ended up going long, but my whole point was to riff on Lynn Samuels. She's God-awful, but there aren't any other liberal channels on Sirius, and when I'm in the mood for politics, I put it on. Sometimes, however, when Samuels sends me over the edge with her absurdities, I switch over to NPR.

Sirius + XM = consumers screwed, again

One of my favorite companies in the world, Sirius Satellite Radio, today announced a merger with XM Satellite Radio.

Pardon me if I'm not convulsing with enthusiasm. In fact, I don't like this deal at all, and I hope that the FCC and the Justice Department rejects this merger.

Let me explain why.

Competition is good for business, and it's good for the consumer. I'm certainly not saying that a combined Sirius/XM would be out to screw customers, but long-term, with the absence of competition, what do you think would happen? It's predictable as the day is long. Soon, without any other companies to compete against or to steal customers from, the company will focus on maximizing the bottom line for its shareholders (Read: Executives).

Translation - subscription prices rising. Before you know it, they'll want $20 or more per month for a subscription.

How predictable is this? In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the merged company tried to jack subscriptions right off under the guise of "Since we merged, we are bringing you more programming."

The government should flat out reject this merger, period. Odds are, it will go through, though, because this administration's track record on mergers and consolidation of media companies.

Just last week, I blogged about (and decried) the merger of Cingular and AT&T Wireless, and if anything, I feel more strongly about it all now. The less cell phone companies there are, the more consumers get screwed, and the same applies to satellite radio companies.

I'd be lying if I didn't say that I would look forward to more programming, though - XM does have some programming that I long for - two of my brothers have XM, and they are always raving about Opie & Anthony, two Howard Stern wannabes. And I wish I could get Air America via satellite, as well as the NHL, which switches from Sirius to XM following this season.

Above, Gary Parsons, Chairman of XM Satellite Radio, left, and Mel Karmazin, CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio, shake hands following the signing of the merger agreement between the two companies today in Washington.

Another thing I don't like about only one satellite radio company is that it could be potentially easier for the FCC to go after (censor content) one company instead of two. There have been rumors afoot that the federal government has been itching to regulate satellite. Now that the Democrats have slim majorities in both Houses, it seems less likely, but future DemocratIC control of either House is anything but assured.

Only time will tell if the consumer gets screwed if this deal goes through. One thing's for sure - if I get a sense that I'm getting metaphorically raped by yet another corporation, out the window my subscriptions will go - right now, I get two a year.

(AP Photo/XM Radio, John Harrington)

Franken bids adieu, declares for '08

I felt just a little bit older on Thursday. That's because I spent the drive to work listening to Al Franken's last broadcast of The Al Franken Show via podcast. I fondly remember Franken (above, taking off his headset for the last time after his show on Wednesday) on Air America Radio when the network made its debut.

At first, I had mixed emotions on Franken the radio broadcaster (above, after his last show). I've always loved his books, going all the way back to Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot. It was clear from the outset that he was a neophyte in the radio business - his transitions were awful, his voice not much better, and the show wasn't always as planned as it should have been.

But, it didn't take Franken long to find his voice. His show began in March 2004, and I started listening on the Internet as soon as it became available. Looking back, '04 was a pretty big, exciting year for me politically; presidential election years always are for me, but 2004 was more so than any other so far in my life. At the risk of sounding sappy, Franken built up liberals and progressives, and then built us up again after the disaster that November.

Along the way, Franken honed his skills as a host, and sharpened his wit and rhetoric. The last year of his show, Franken really rounded into form - he ratcheted down the sarcasm and ramped up his game, bringing top notch guests to the show every week, including Joe Conason, a noted and respected author; David Brock, the founder of Media Matters; Jonathan Alter of Newsweek; Thomas Oliphant of The Boston Globe; Melanie Sloan and Norm Ornstein. Heavyweights all, and some of them were Republicans.

And, like Olbermann, Franken spent a considerable amount of time taking shots at Bill O'Reilly (whom he christened "O'Lielly" in one of his books - and as readers of The Journey know, I've been carrying that flame). Originally, Franken dubbed his radio show The O'Franken Factor. He's had some legendary run-ins with BOR and even Fox News. In 2004, the network tried suing him for copyright infringement for using its term "fair and balanced" in his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. The judge overseeing the case, in the midst of throwing Fox's suit out of court, noted the irony of a news network, which is supposed to protect First Amendment rights of free speech, suing someone over their right to free speech.

Anyway, at the end of Franken's show on Wednesday, he declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2008. Franken will face Norm Coleman, who won Paul Wellstone's seat in the aftermath of Wellstone's death in 2004. Wellstone and Franken went back many years - both are from Minnesota, and the two had a close relationship. It will be poetic justice if Franken wins the seat next year.

I know there are many who will sell Franken short because of his history as a comedian. Those who underestimate him do so at their own peril. Personally, I can't wait to see Franken tear Coleman to shreds. If Franken holds to form, he will realize success as a candidate just like he has as a comedian, author and radio host.

However, one can predict the Coleman and his staff's plan of attack. For starters, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of audio clips available that can and will be taken out of context by his opponent(s).

On Wednesday, Franken offered up an example of just what his opponents had in store for him. He likes to use a joke about John McCain (that McCain now uses himself). It goes something like this -

People paint John McCain as some sort of war hero, but I don't know why. Real heroes fight, but McCain sat out the war for five-and-a-half years. I don't see how he's a hero.

Even McCain thinks it's funny. But, according to Franken, some people have criticized him for the joke, opining that he's making fun of a war hero.

There'll be a lot more of that in the next 18 months. I'm rooting like crazy for Franken, and whatever happens, he will certainly add a lot of wit and wisdom to the 2008 election.

I've got $20 that says Coleman won't debate Franken more than twice, if at all. (Assuming Franken gets the nomination.) Matching wits with Franken would be a very bad idea for Coleman.

Very bad.

In the meantime, Thom Hartman (above) will take Franken's place on Air America Radio. The future of the fledgling network is still uncertain, but the network was recently approved to emerge from Chapter 11.

Clearly, there's a market for a liberal radio network; Air America has merely been the unfortunate victim of bad management.

For the moment, I've dropped my subscription. I'll admit that Franken was the biggest reason for my subscribing to Air America. It irked me that I had to subscribe at all, but Air America doesn't have an affiliate in Philadelphia, and its satellite agreement is with XM Satellite Radio, and I'm a Sirius man. So, I was paying to listen to Air America's podcasts a day late. But, I'm spending enough money on subscriptions right now, so Air America loses out. Maybe in the future again, someday.

I'll wait and see how Hartman's received, and then maybe sometime in the future I'll subscribe again. (Above, Hartman's bulletin board outside his radio studio.)

I'm certainly rooting for Air America's success, just like Franken's. God only knows that there needs to be more voices to combat the far right blowhards like Insanity and Limbaugh.

A wonderful Christmas

Vandra and I truly had a wonderful Christmas. Her parents, my in-laws, Kathy & Ralph, flew in on December 23, but they got in late - around 12:30 a.m.

On Christmas Eve, we drove to the Poconos to see my family, and it was great. Kathy & Ralph got to meet my extended family, and all of my nieces and nephews. It was a memorable Christmas for all the right reasons. This holiday season, my first as a husband and son-in-law, made me realize how truly blessed I am, and how blessed we are as a married couple.

Togetherness and family are easily the most important things to me during the holiday season, and we were certainly fortunate this Christmas. We were also fortunate with the generosity of our parents and families.

My dad and step mom got me a Sirius Stiletto - a portable Sirius satellite radio. Man, I've been coveting one of these babies since this past summer, when they were announced. I certainly didn't think I was going to get one, and I was so thrilled when I did. I have it hooked up and configured, but this week has been so busy, I haven't had much time to toy with it yet, but I sure will get around to it this weekend and early next week.

I got lots of great goodies from Vandra, including some Edmonton Oilers stuff for my car, and an awesome Miami Heat hoodie. Geeze, I could type all day about the thoughtful, great gifts that everyone gave me.

My in-laws gave me a very generous Best Buy gift card, and combined with a few other ones that I got, including ones from Vandra and my mom, I headed off to Best Buy the day after Christmas. Boy, did I make out like a bandit.

I've been coveting a point-and-shoot digital camera for a while now, because I just don't want to haul my baby, my Canon EOS 5D, out with us when we go to a bar or just to a friend's house for a gathering. It's a bit cumbersome, and too valuable to drop on the floor or worse just to get shots of a few candids. A point-and-shoot would fit the bill just fine, and besides, unlike my first two Canon digital SLRs, the EOS 10D and 20D, my new 5D doesn't have a pop-up flash, furthering my need for a point and shoot.

So, off to Best Buy I journeyed, and I came home with what I think is a whale of a camera for the money. A HP Photosmart R967 camera - 10 megapixels, a 3" LCD screen on the back and loads of features. I didn't intend on buying one with that many features, but the price was more than reasonable. I can't get over how much the megapixels are increasing, while prices on cameras are simultaneously decreasing. The good news on that is that the consumer is the winner.

When I've had time to take lots of pictures, I'll bring you my thoughts on the camera. Come to think of it, I haven't done any reviews on my EOS 5D, either. I'll get to those later in January when I've had even more time to use all of my equipment that I bought this fall.

I'll talk about another one of my favorite gifts in another post that I'll put up shortly.

I'm so fortunate to have such wonderful, loving, generous family and friends, and for that I'm ore thankful than any gift I received this Christmas.