It’s Not Just Iraq

Afghanistan is presenting its own, special, set of problems…

US Death Toll In Afghanistan Highest Since 2001 Invasion

Six U.S. troops were killed when insurgents ambushed their foot patrol in the high mountains of eastern Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. The attack, the most lethal against American forces this year, made 2007 the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. The troops were returning from [...]

Politically Stupid

No other way to describe it, other than just. plain. stupid.

Clinton Campaign Plants Question at Iowa Event

In the what were they thinking department?, this is a beauty. Here’s how ABC reported it. “The Clinton campaign has admitted to planting questions in Iowa. They have confirmed that a campaign staffer approached a student to ask Sen. Clinton a question about [...]

Bad News For The Big Guys

If you consider Fox News and your cable company to be among the “big guys”, you’ll find this weekend’s developments interesting.  First of all, there’s a concerted campaign aimed at getting the FCC to force cable companies to offer channels “al la carte” – you pick (and pay for) only what you want.  The focus of that campaign?  Fox News and all the skin that shows up.

And, there’s a good chance we could get that al la carte option.  Comcast, and some others, are the focus of sweeping new rules.

Comcast is not going to like this

The FCC is – gasp! – going to open up competition with cable TV. There is absolutely no reason why TV should be as costly as it is in the US. Comcast has been effective with their political lobbying and the result to consumers has been bloated and increasingly expensive cable bills. How many people in the US have monthly cable bills that are under $45 and include cable TV, phone service, and high-speech Internet? In Europe, it’s common. As I have mentioned quite a few times, [...]

Why is Comcast in the crosshairs?  Well, they’re the biggest.  But, they’re also developing a bad reputation for doing things like moving MSNBC from basic cable into a premium (more $$$$) tier.  That’s a bad idea, guys.  Really bad.

Speaking of big media, there really is a lot of media talk this weekend..

Stop Big Media – Support Dorgan/Lott

The FCC’s proposed new rules aimed at advancing the interests of Big Media conglomerates, and permitting them to get even bigger and more powerful, now face a legislative hurdle courtesy of Senators Byron Dorgan and Trent Lott. The bill will force the FCC to move forward with localism and diversity initiatives and to give the [...]

The Campaign

Interesting question. Likely being asked by many.

How Did We Get Here?

I don’t like any of Ron Paul or Mike Huckabee’s other positions, but how strange is it that two Republican candidates are offering stronger antiwar, pro-rule-of-law, populist messages than the two front-running Democrats and the entire party leadership? How did this happen? [...]

Negative Press

Oh, those mean, evil, newspaper reporters! Why can’t they just report the news the way I want them too?  Isn’t this the same argument we’ve been getting about the Iraq War?  Just report the good stuff…

CEO Blames Negative Press For Poor Home Sales

The housing market is horrible in most parts of the country, says the chief executive of the luxury home builder Toll Brothers, and he fears it will not get better until the newspapers stop saying how bad it is. Work continues on Toll Brothers luxury homes in the Brier Creek Country Club development in Raleigh, N.C., despite record cancellations and [...]

Democratic Leadership

Steve Soto rips into the top dawgs pretty effectively.  Rightfully so?

The Incompetent Nancy And Steny Show

Well, it looks like Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, after getting outmaneuvered again by the GOP leadership into a nonbinding anti-immigrant vote, have just about lost the Hispanic caucus. “Tensions between Hispanic Democrats and House leaders exploded Friday when a bloc of Hispanic lawmakers voted to derail a major tax bill, relenting only after an angry confrontation on the floor with [...]

Saturday Chuckle

Remind me later to look for a video clip to go with this. I’m betting Olbermann might have dipped into these waters last night.  I wasn’t watching and haven’t had time to scan the DVR.

Bill O’Reilly’s Ombudsman

As is almost always the case, Bill O’Reilly’s dishonesty speaks for itself.  Two months ago: [...]

Forecasting

It’s a tricky business, whether it’s in weather or in politics.  “Seeing the Forest” seems to have his crystal ball all shined up and running on all cylinders.

What To Expect In 2008

The election is a year away and the Republicans are working hard to set the stage and prime the public for their campaign themes. Here are my predictions for the 2008 election environment the Republicans will try to set up. 1) Iraq will not be in the news, and the Dems will be blamed for any failures. If there is failure the [...]

The Radio Biz

Ah, it once was so much fun.  So creative. So entertaining.  So informing. Now, it’s become cut-throat and ugly in spots. Here’s the battleground of the day…

New Imus Employer – ABC Owner Faces Troubling Financial Picture

After their new employer delivered a grim financial outlook to Wall Street today, already jittery ABC Radio employees are bracing for substantial cutbacks across the board. For talk radio, the impact could be huge, as popular talk hosts, anchors and other staffers are caught in the crossfire. Citadel – ABC owns and operates major talk stations across the country, including [...]

Citadel, by the way, has a sizable presence here in Little Rock.

Old News Around Here

Kathleen Willey has been tossing out her allegations about the Clintons here in Arkansas for as long as I can remember.  She gets a sympathetic ear every once in a while.  Now, she has a new book.  That means she’s making the talk show rounds and that means we have a new generation of people to hear her tales.

More Wily than Willey, Alan Colmes Rips Dissembling Clinton Accuser to Shreds

On Wed when Kathleen Willey went on H&C to promote her new Hillary bashing book I’m sure she expected to be treated with the same kid gloves by the pliant media she had been accustomed to, and for his part Sean Hannity played that role as well as ever, [...]

Choosing Candidates

This is not the way our political system was designed to be. I know the days of when the average person to run for national office are long gone.  But, this just seems so blatantly irresponsible…

Big Money Still Rules the Roost

If you are Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), and you are in charge of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and you are $2.4 million in debt, how do you recruit candidates to run for office and fund them? Answer: You find people willing to spend millions of their own dollars. Faced with lingering debt and a losing fundraising battle, House Republicans are recruiting a slew of self-funding candidates to run in many of their top races this election cycle. At least seven candidates with the ability to self-fund millions have [... ]