Text: Sen. John Edwards Speech to DNC (washingtonpost.com)

I missed it, but here is the link to the text of John Edwards speech tonight to the DNC.

Text: Sen. John Edwards Speech to DNC (washingtonpost.com)

Best line in a speech at the Demo convention

Rev Al Sharpton:

"Mr. President, as I close, Mr. President, I heard you say Friday that you had questions for voters, particularly African- American voters. And you asked the question: Did the Democratic Party take us for granted? Well, I have raised questions. But let me answer your question.

You said the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule.

That's where the argument, to this day, of reparations starts. We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres.

We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us."

The man was on fire. It was great. I laughed my ass off at that line.

The full text of his great speech is linked below.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - Elections: Text of Al Sharpton's convention speech

Best Headline I've Seen All Week

 
Bush Rides Mountain Bike Hard

The Bill Clinton Speech

Damn. Just damn.

Got to be one of the best speeches I've ever heard.

The minister that spoke earlier. You know, the one who served with Kerry in Vietnam? Also very, very good. But I clicked around to other channels. As far as I could tell, C-Span was the only channel carrying that one. A lot of people missed a very good speech there.

But Clinton's speech?

Damn. Just damn.

I've been busy

Wow, haven't posted anything since Tuesday. This has been a hell of week at work. Kept me busy during the work day and even into the evenings. I even went into the office today to work for awhile.

Our young adult station, 94.5 The Beat has had a contest called "Pimp Your Ride" going all month, and Friday was the last day for listeners to send in the pictures of their cars via e-mail to enter the contest. I think we ended up with a little over 300 entries and somewhere between 600 and 1000 photos, since some people sent in multiple pics of their cars. It took me 4 hours Friday morning to post the photos onto the website that came in to my e-mail overnight Thursday.

And on top of that, I have been building a Christmas web site for one of our other stations. I have to have it ready to go by Wednesday at noon, when we will be making a presentation to a large group of our advertisers. Our marketing department has rented the Magnolia Manor for the event and I think is going to have it decorated for Christmas and will be serving a holiday type meal. It messes with your head a little bit to be working on Christmas at this time of year. A couple of weeks ago, I had spent an entire day just working on the Christmas site. When I left work to go home, I was actually shocked when I walked outside and felt how hot it was.  I really was expecting it to be like December.

But still, I have never been as unaware of my surroundings as JW was in this story. Funny story JW. You will have to let us know if the any of the neighbors act differently towards you now.

 

Laptops for the homeless

The Daily Kos has an article about the US Labor Department's new website for the homeless.

Now this brings up some interesting scenarios.  Businesses and city governments are sponsoring and promoting wireless internet access in inner city areas. For example, we have a new wireless access hotspot in downtown Greensboro at Center City Park. I wrote about it on July 1st.

Could homeless shelters and organizations devoted to helping the homeless start drives to collect old laptops for the homeless to use while out on the streets?

It might not be long before we see a disheveled looking gentleman standing on the side of the road with an old battered laptop slung on his back holding a sign that reads, "Will work for RAM."

I don't think it's as farfetched as it sounds.

Info for other Bloggers

There is a new blog listing service called Blog Catalogue.
 
Very professional looking and easy to submit your blog info.
 
In researching it, it seems to have been started by a guy named Brad Jasper in Raleigh. He also has a blog that is very well written.
 
His resume is  impressive with a background in programming. And if you look further down, you see he just graduated from High School in June. Damn. Now he's just showing off.
 
Makes you feel a bit inadequate.

Howard Stern a threat to Bush election?

It has been speculated that Howard Sterns tirades against Bush could help motivate his sizeable national audience to vote against the incumbent president this fall.
 
Today in Inside Radio, this blurb about the latest ratings for Howard.
 
A defiant and politically radicalized Howard Stern reigns in the New York morning Arbitrons. Oh, he’s still booking strippers and adult film stars, for sure: It’s part of a time-tested formula. But if the New York Spring numbers — across virtually all demos — are any signal, Stern’s anti-Bush and anti-FCC attitude is a winner. Stern’s morning performance helps WXRK climb 3.3-3.7 total week, 12+ — into a tie with sister WINS.
 
And the latest developments on Nipplegate, also from Inside Radio.
 
Les Moonves vows to battle any Janet Jackson fines — and hopes to re-sign Howard Stern.
The Viacom co-chief tells Sunday’s TV critics session that fining the 20 CBS stations for Janet’s Super Bowl flash is ridiculous. And promises he’ll appeal to the federal courts if the FCC carries through with its rumored punishment. As for Stern — Moonves hopes to re-sign him when his deal’s up in late 2005. Howard returns from his two-week vacation this morning, adding four new markets and re-appearing in five more.

Al Franken and Air America doing OK against Rush In NYC

The Spring ratings book is out for NYC and the new Air America did pretty well in going up against the other talk stations in the city.
 
As reported in Hoffmania:
 
25-54 10am-3pm: WABC 2.7 WLIB 2.2.
 
WLIB trailing WABC by a half a point in the 25-54 age group during the Limbaugh time period is no small story, folks. Especially when you consider that this is WLIB's very first ratings quarter - EVER. It took Rush over 14 years to get a 2.7. Franken popped a 2.2 in three months.
 
My 2cw? Being in this business as long as I have and especially in talk radio, this is pretty darn good for the first rating period. Talk stations traditionally take a long time to build up an audience. Air America is doing OK.

Political Blogs Catching On

"Many people don't take into account how influential bloggers are," said Carol Darr, director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at George Washington University. "Blogs are getting an increasing readership. People who are going to those blogs are real political junkies who can then reach everybody else."
 
Complete article from the Chicago Tribune

Whoopi gets fired, but no one says anything about Dennis Miller

From Media Matters.org
PAUL BEGALA on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360:
I think it's an interesting example of the double standard in the media. Whoopi Goldberg apparently told some jokes people didn't like. I didn't hear them, don't even know what they are and everybody got their panties in a wad and here's this big corporation fires her. Meanwhile yesterday, Dennis Miller at a Bush rally basically implies that John Edwards and John Kerry are gay, then attacks my pal James Carville for the way that he looks and nobody says anything. I doubt CNN has even covered that story today at all. So why is it that a liberal comedian can make fun of President Bush, but she gets fired from her job? A conservative comedian makes really nasty sexual innuendoes about Kerry and Edwards and nobody says anything. So it's a double standard.
 
 

This man is incredible

"Two weeks into the three-week marathon, only a collapse by Armstrong, an accident or a huge surprise from the few riders still with an outside chance, appear to stand in the way of a victory in Paris on July 25."
 
Here is the entire article on the Tour de France 

Even a small blog can have a big influence

Interesting article on blogging as "Viral Marketing."
 
And an interesting statistic from the article.
 
"Eleven percent of Web surfers regularly read a blog, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project."

Bowles ahead...But not in the Triad

So much for the myth of Greensboro being a "Liberal Mecca."
 
According to a new WRAL poll conducted by Mason-Dixon, 48 percent of voters statewide currently support Bowles, 38 percent back Burr and 14 percent are still undecided.

This 10-point margin is the same as in May. Bowles remains ahead in every region of the state, by varying margins, except for the Greensboro/Winston-Salem Triad --Burr's home region.
 

BREAKING NEWS!!!! George Bush Blames God for his Scrambled Syntax!

You won't see this one on Drudge:
BREAKING NEWS:
President George Bush had a private meeting with a group of Amish yesterday and reportedly told them, "I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job."
 
This startling news was reported in the Lancaster Online News and was later picked up by Matthew Gross from the Political Wire.
 
An attempt to confirm this story with God was unsuccessful since George Bush did not return our calls.

Google Bombing Dennis Miller

Adding my small effort to the cause.
 
Not Funny.

Web Cam for my blog

I added a new feature for my blog today. If you look at the right hand nav bar under "Links" you will see a new one for the "Life Of Dennis Work Cam." This is a web cam sitting on top of my computer and aimed at me sitting at the desk. Of course, If I'm not at work or not at my desk, all you will see are the cubes behind me.
 
They gave me a new computer (2.8ghz...smokin'...) this week (and two huge flat screen monitors sitting side by side) and this one has loads of usb ports. (compared to the measly two I had with my old computer.) So I decided to hook up a web cam and let you watch me at work. I'm not sure anyone really wants to watch me at work, but I'm certain my mother will check in from time to time.
 
It is also going to be interesting to find out how often the connection cuts off or if my new computer locks up.
 
So feel free to check in from time to time and find out what cubicle life in a huge multinational corporation is like.

Don't just delete them. Hit "Reply to all"

I have a friend at work who is very conservative. Actually, I have several friends at work who are very conservative. But this one is rather out-spoken about it. He and I get into some good natured discussions now and then about politics,  but we never get mad with each other.
 
But he is one these people who love to forward e-mails. You know. The kind of e-mails which relate wild and crazy stories about liberals, Clinton, Hillary, Kerry and now Edwards. And he has a huge mailing list. It is probably about 150 or more people, including me. I used to just shake my head and delete them. But after a while, I started replying to them. And when I hit the reply button, I hit the "Reply to all" button, which means my rebuttal went to the very same people that got the original e-mail. I figured I was going to educate not just my friend, but all of his friends also.
 
Most of the rebuttals were extremely easy to research. Because most of these wild stories have been around for quite awhile, I just went to the Snopes site and found info about most of them.
 
I thought I was going to piss some people off, and I may have, but I haven't heard from them. I have been surprised to hear from some people on the mailing list who expressed gratitude for me refuting and correcting the lies that have been told. But the biggest surprise was my friend who sent the e-mails. Instead of just continuing the practice, he is now vetting the stories with me before he sends them. He said he got tired of me demonstrating that the stories are not true. So now, he will come to me and say, I got this story or I got this e-mail. Tell me if it is true before I send it out.
 
Today, he came to me and said that he had gotten info that John Kerry had voted to raise taxes 350 times. Is it true? Check it out and let me know.
 
I was instantly skeptical. 350 times??? How could that be true. And this was one I hadn't yet heard.  So I started checking it out. I could find nothing on Snopes, so I started Googling. I came across some info from a Blog called The Common Man's Politics. I reprinted the info below.
 
The Common Man's Politics
 
Hannity's claim, that Kerry raised taxes 350 times, could not possibly be true, as there aren't even 350 tax raises on record during Kerry's tenure with the Senate (with few exceptions, tax changes are only enacted once a year
 
Kerry's record on taxes is very different than the Bush Administration is presenting – very different.
 
I counted his votes under several categories of action (listed below). Some things to note: Votes are for bills and for amendments to bills, and not all the bills voted on went on to pass into law. These are merely votes. Also, some amendments contained both tax cuts and tax increases; in those cases I put a number under both the appropriate categories (so if you add up all these numbers, it'll come out higher than the total number of votes regarding taxes).
 
Votes to change taxes:Vote to decrease taxes:
37Vote to increase taxes:
13Votes to keep taxes the same as they are:
 
Vote against a tax decrease:
55Vote against a tax increase:
9Miscellaneous:
 
To close a tax loophole: 5
To pay for mandatory spending with a tax increase, if needed: 1
 
So, the surprising thing here is that if Kerry votes to change taxes, he is more than twice as likely to cut taxes than to raise them!
 
Kerry voted 37 times to cut taxes! Furthermore, of the increases he voted for, not one of them was for an income tax on the middle class, working class, or low income families!
 
If you're an average American, Kerry has voted your way 100% of the time in regards to taxes – holding you to pay your fair share, and giving you a break when the budget allowed. If you make under 100,000 /year in taxable income, Kerry has never raised your taxes, ever. And you if you make 100,000/year or more in taxable income, Kerry has only raised your taxes once (1994) – and the biggest economic boom ever, followed.
 
This is great information, and the only place I could find it was on a Blog. I sent it to my friend.
 
Now we have to wait and see if my friend is going send out one of his mass e-mails. if he does, what will he say?

The Seymour Hersh Speech at the ACLU

Ed Cone has transcribed some of the Seymore Hersh speech given at an ACLU convention last week. As Ed wrote:
 
Seymour Hersh says the US government has videotapes of boys being sodomized at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"The worst is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking," the reporter told an ACLU convention last week. Hersh says there was "a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher."
 
Today, Ed writes that, "The speech is getting a lot of play in the blogosphere, and that if it keeps up, the major media will have to pick up on it and Hersh will have to comment on it."
 
Even though my blog doesn't have near the impact as far as links and readership goes as Ed's does, I'm hoping that my link to the story and to Ed's blog will help provide some of the impetus this story needs to get noticed by the major media.

The NY Times on Blogging and Bloggers

From the NY Times today:
People who think the mushrooming world of wannabe polemicists and their Web logs, or blogs, is merely a high-tech amusement should talk to Senator Trent Lott, the Mississippi Republican.
In Web lore, bloggers are credited with relentlessly drilling Senator Lott after he expressed segregation-tinged nostalgia for the Strom Thurmond presidential campaign, a story that the major news media initially missed. Mr. Lott was subsequently forced to quit as majority leader.
 
Here is the entire editorial. 

Love America. Hate Bush. Grounds for arrest?

Apparently, you can't wear a t-shirt expressing a negative view of President Bush if the President is around. Here is a story about a couple at the 4th of July celebration in Washington, DC....

Police took Nicole and Jeff Rank away in handcuffs from the event, which was billed as a presidential appearance, not a campaign rally. They were wearing T-shirts that read, ?Love America, Hate Bush.

Spectators who wore pro-Bush T-shirts and Bush-Cheney campaign buttons were allowed to stay.

We weren't doing anything wrong, said Jeff Rank. The couple, who said they had tickets just like everybody else, said they simply stood around the Capitol steps with the rest of the spectators.

We sang the national anthem, Rank said.

Outfoxed. Rupert Murdoch's War On Journalism

New DVD released yesterday is already number 1 on Amazon. It's called Outfoxed. Rupert Murdoch's War On Journalism.

If you ever doubted that Fox slants the news towards the conservative side of things, and more specifically towards the Bush Administration, take a look at these 33 memos posted on the Wonkette site from Fox News Chief John Moody to the Fox staff telling them how to report the news each day. The memo's are featured in the movie referenced above.
Here is an e-mail from a Fox staffer to Cablenewser describing the atmosphere and how challenging Republicans is just not the Fox way.

Gay Marriage Debate

This has got to be the most ridiculous thing to be concerned about that I could think of. In fact it is so stupid, I'm not going to list the reasons why it is stupid since they are so obvious.

But don't these politicians who are making a spectacle of themselves standing up and trying to rally support for this constitutional amendment realize that this is going to stay with them for the rest of their lives?

For example, look at Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, Lester Maddox, George Wallace and other famous segregationist's from the past. Even if they later admitted they were wrong and embraced integration, their segregationist actions are still what defines their legacy. It is the one thing everyone still remembers them for most of all.

Here is an article about how it is backfiring on the Republicans.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly for Kerry-Edwards

The Good: Nationwide, Edwards gives Kerry a six-point bounce. The Democrats now lead Bush-Cheney by 50% to 45% among likely voters, with independent candidate Ralph Nader at 2%. Three weeks earlier, before Kerry announced his vice presidential choice, Bush led Kerry by a single point.

The Bad: President Bush and Vice President Cheney hold a commanding 54%-39% lead among likely voters in North Carolina. The lead narrows to 49%-43% among registered voters.

The Ugly: Matthew Dowd, chief strategist for the Bush campaign, says the findings indicate that the Tar Heel state remains safely Republican in the presidential election. Bush demolished Al Gore by 13 points there in 2000. The state hasn't voted for the Democratic contender since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Here is the entire article.

My take on this? It's still early and lots could change. But this is North Carolina. In spite of the fact that Greensboro is a "Liberal Mecca," this is going to be a tough state to crack for Kerry-Edwards.

Dirty Words On The Air

This story from Wired is about how radio stations, even music stations are expanding the use of digital delays to prevent airing anything that might be deemed inappropriate by the FCC. In fact, the four stations I work for, all of them music stations, are now using digital delays 24 hours a day.

The story though brings to mind one funny and one not so funny story about the lack of a delay on the air.

The first story is from when I was with WBIG radio, 1470 AM in Greensboro. This is back when WBIG was owned by Jefferson Pilot Broadcasting in Charlotte, which in turn was owned by Jefferson Pilot Insurance Company here in Greensboro. I'm not sure of the year, but it was probably either 1979 or 1980. We had a Saturday afternoon show called the College Football Scoreboard. The hosts of the show, Jim Pritchette and Larry Dunlap would spend about 2 hours on the air talking about that days college games and giving out the scores and info about the games. They encouraged listeners to call in and ask for scores live on the air. Did I mention we didn't have a delay?

There had always been on occasional bad word uttered by a listener on the air, but it was usually caught quickly and was nothing more than a slight nuisance that occurred once every few weeks. But for some reason, that day, listeners caught on that we didn't have a delay, that their calls were going out over the air in real time and a bunch of them decided to have some fun.

You can usually tell when a caller is going say a curse word. There is just something that you feel or hear in their voice that causes you to put your finger on the button ready to cut them off immediately. But not that day. The first incident happened when the caller got a score that indicated their favorite team had lost. Upon hearing the score, the caller uttered a quick "Sh--." Jim and Larry just cut the caller off and went on with the show pretending nothing had happened. But other listeners noticed and after that just about every other caller was uttering some sort of expletive before they could be cut off. I was over in the control room laughing my ass off. It was so funny. And there was nothing we could do about it. One caller I remember in particular called in and asked about several different games. Jim and Larry gave out the scores for him. Everything seemed to going smoothly with this caller. You could almost feel Jim and Larry start to relax. Then the caller wanted to know how the Ohio game had gone. The Ohio game? Yes, the game with the Ohio State BUCKeyes he shouted!!! Only he didn't use the "B" in Buckeyes, he used the letter "F" in place of the "B". I fell out of my chair at that point. I think I was crying. To the best of recollection, Jim and Larry took no more phone calls for the rest of the show. The next week and for the rest of the season, we created a homemade delay using two tape recorders. It sounded like crap, and after the listeners realized we were on a delay, nothing more happened.

The second incident happened when I was hosting a show at WMFR Radio, and was before we had gotten our delay. In fact, I had been begging them to get us one but they were very expensive items at that time and besides, what could happen in High Point? As it turned out, a lot.

I was interviewing the Guilford County District Attorney about a murder case which had sparked a great deal of local interest. I can't remember any of the names of the people in the case, but in involved a High Point Furniture executive who had murdered his wife with arsenic. The poisoning had taken place over a long period of time and the wife had suffered terribly. The case had generated a great deal of interest because there were allegations of adultery and sex among high profile furniture executives. The woman's doctor if I remember correctly was Steve Arnolds father and back then, anytime Steves name cropped up in a story, it generated a lot of local interest, even if, as in this case, he had absolutely no connection to it. People all over High Point were looking forward to the trial when all of this dirty laundry would come out in the open. But then, the accused husband surprised everyone and before the trial could start, pleaded guilty. Oh the horrors. Now we would never know who was sleeping with who. To say that everyone was disappointed would be an understatement.

So now this brings us to the live on air interview. The Guilford County DA was on the phone, not in the studio, and it scheduled to be just a short interview. Maybe 15 minutes or less. After all, there wasn't a lot to discuss since the perp had copped a guilty plea. Did I mention we didn't have a delay?

I had pretty much completed the interview and gone through all my questions. A few callers had called in and asked questions. I was going to take just one more call and then end the interview. I don't even remember the question the caller asked. All I remember is that just before she hung up, she said, "Well everyone in town knows that he (meaning the husband) was having an affair with...."!

The name of the woman she mentioned came out over the air loud and clear. I am not going to print the name here. But suffice it to say, this woman was (and I guess still is) a very well known woman in the community. Well known for her family and well known for her position in the furniture industry.

I quickly cut the woman off and then ended the interview with the DA. He never mentioned anything in the final moments of the interview about the call. We both just ignored it.

I continued with my show without taking any more phone calls. Since I didn't have a delay I wasn't about to allow callers to discuss this.

As soon as my show was over with, I took off my headphones and leaned back in the chair. The intercom rang on the phone. It was the receptionist in the station telling me that I had a visitor in the lobby. I asked her who it was and she said it was the attorney for the woman whose name had been mentioned on the air. Oh great. I called the station manager and told him who was in the station and that I wanted him to be in on the meeting.

The attorney was actually very nice and was not interested in suing me or the station about anything. Not that he could have, but he didn't threaten anything. Both I and the station manager apologized for airing the woman's name and the allegations against her and explained that it was not our intention for that to happen. The attorney said that all his client would like is for me to go on the air the next day and interview a police officer who had been a part of the murder investigation. That police officer would state that there was no truth to the allegation that the woman had had an affair with the murderer. I explained that this might actually draw more attention to the allegation. I told him that it been a very brief moment on the show and might have actually gone unheard by a large number of the listeners. But he would have none of that. He wanted this to be brought up again the next day and include the interview with the police. So we agreed to do it. To be honest, I was very happy. This was going to draw a lot of listeners.

So the next day, we did the interview and of course the police officer said all the right things. How there was no truth to the allegation of the affair and it was all just a lie.

Post Script:
Now, I have no way of knowing one way or the other. But a few days later, I was told by someone I trust, someone who is now deceased but at that time had a lot of connections in the community, that I had been lied to. Whether that is the case or not, I don't really know.

He meant to say "Put a sock in it", but it came out as "Go f---- yourself."

The next question would be...put a sock in what? This story from Wired Magazine.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lynne Cheney said on Sunday her husband, Vice President Dick Cheney, was acting out of character when he used the "F-word" on the Senate floor last month.

She said the vice president's heated discussion with Sen. Patrick Leahy, in which he cursed the Vermont Democrat, was meant to be a private exchange.

"He was sorely tried, if I may say so, by someone attacking his integrity and then pretending to be his best friend. I think that's what set it off," Lynne Cheney said on CNN.

"The way Dick did it, it was a private comment. You wouldn't know it from the amount of publicity that it's garnered," she said.

Cheney was overheard telling Leahy to "go f--- yourself" after the senator said hello to him on June 22 following the taking of the Senate group photo. Leahy had earlier criticized alleged war profiteering by Halliburton, the oil services company Cheney once ran.

The vice president later told reporters he had no regrets about the outburst. Still, Lynne Cheney said her husband was not prone to cursing.

"He is such a good man, and more likely to say, 'Put a sock in it' if he's really tried," she said. "I can understand when people are pushed to extremes, that in a private setting they might say something unusual."

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.

Personally I don't care what he says. But it's the hypocrisy of it all.

You Like Legos? You Like Spiderman 2?

Then click here.

I Think ABC News is Going To Do A Story On Bloggers

You can let them know about your blog Here. The questions they are asking are below.

ABCNEWS.com is looking for people who have managed to turn their stream-of-consciousness online dairies into a career.

Have you made money directly off your blog?

Did you start the blog to make money or for some other reason?

Do you charge a fee to access your blog, or do you make money from advertising?

How many people read your blog?

Did someone recognize your talent for blogging and hire you for some other type of writing?

Has your blog gotten you a connection that led to a job in another field?

ABCNEWS.com wants to hear from you. If you would like to share you story, fill out the form below. Please let us know if one of our ABCNEWS.com producers can contact you to follow up.

Blogger Burnout

Great article on blogger burnout from Wired News.

Let's hope Mr. Sun never burns out. It could get very cold and dark for all of us.

What Are These "Southern Values" Bush Talks About

Yesterday in North Carolina, Bush expressed confidence in carrying the southern states in the 2004 U.S. presidential election. The president said that when voters "go to the polls to vote for president they will understand that the senator from Massachusetts (Kerry) doesn’t share their values."

I'm curious. Just what are these values that are so different from the rest of the country? I was born and raised and have lived in the south my entire life. I can't think of any values we have here that are different from the rest of the country.

This is just typical of the conservative mindset. They have to have someone who is the enemy. There has to be someone you can't trust. There's got to be somebody against you.

Another "Brush With The Famous" Story

JW of the How Do You Like Me Now Blog sent me the e-mail below. I loved the story and asked for and received her permission to post it.

Dennis --

I love your story about interviewing the hopefully-soon-to-be-vice-president. I have a "brush with famous" story as well.

When I lived in Arkansas and was going to Arkansas State University, there was a group of us who were considered "nontraditional" students. I was married, so that qualified me as "nontraditional." The group included several Viet Nam vets and a woman who dated Elvis. I'm not sure why SHE was considered "nontraditional."

Anyway, there was another person in the group who was a young guest lecturer or something. I'm not sure why he was there but he use to join us at our regular lunch table, I think partly because we were older than the traditional students but younger than the professors. He was a nice guy, and idealist whom we found enchanting at times and unrealistic at others. I recall saying to him, "One day you're going to make a great used car salesman." Another incident I remember was him coming up to the table nearly in tears. He had seen this woman walking down the road, in the cold rain, with children and they didn't have shoes. He thought we should pool together our money, go out and find the woman, and take her and her children to buy some shoes. He was truly broken up about it.

My husband and I moved away from Arkansas a short time later. One day he called me from work and said, "Remember that guy from ASU, Mr. Feelings? Guess what? He's the governor of Arkansas!"

It was Bill Clinton.

jw
She said she had some more like this but is reluctant to post them because it feels like bragging. Well, you know, I think some of my posts come across as bragging also, but that never stopped me. Come on JW. Tell us more of the stories.

BTW, JW tells us that she is going to have surgery and will be away from the blog for awhile and asks for our thoughts and prayers.

Good Luck JW

Why Do I Keep Going Back?

Why do I keep going back to Free Republic? I ask myself that question everytime I run across a thread like this one.They are discussing the death of John Edwards 16 year old son, and some of the comments are really disgusting.

But I keep going back, because I think it is important to know what the other side is thinking. And how they are thinking. But sometimes you feel dirty after you have spent some time on the site.

I used to actually make some posts on the site. I still have two usernames. I used to have about 4, but I got banned a couple of times. Once, several years ago, I even got into an online debate with the owner of the site, Jim Robinson. He banned me after I posted a few comments that dared to disagree with his position on whatever issue we were discussing. They really don't like people disagreeing with them.

They ain't never had a concert like this at the Greensboro Coliseum

Warning - Graphic

When John Kerry De-links

Adam L. Penenberg in Wired comments on the John Kerry campaign's knee-jerk de-linking of The Daily Kos. He raises an interesting question. Does linking to a site mean you endorse that site?

I Can't Believe WSJS Would Do This

Note: I posted this earlier this morning and afterwards noticed that they referred to the station as WZTR. It is actually WZTK.

They actually sent this out to their e-mail database. Their P1's. Their most loyal listeners. Why would you inform your most loyal listeners that there is now another choice on the radio dial. It just invites them to leave you and sample the new product.

This is an e-mail sent out in the form of a Q&A between WSJS GM Tom Hamilton and Marty Holbrook, who works in their marketing and promotions department.

This was forwarded to me by a friend of mine who works in broadcasting in this market.

From: Holbrook, Marty D
Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 1:05 PM
Subject: WZTR - Q & A - July 5, 2004

As the "new" WZTR begins it's 101.1 FM broadcasting in the Greensboro Market tomorrow, here are some comments from Tom Hamilton - SVP/Market Manager - WSJS/WSML/WMFR.

Q: What are some thoughts about the new format change?

A: Their current Manager is a good broadcaster and more attention to News/Talk/Sports can only be good for the format and radio listener popularity.

Q: Why “good for the format?”

A: The News/Talk format is one of the fastest and hottest growing radio formats in the country. Both men and women of all ages are turning to News/Talk/Sports formats. People just want more information…and especially in a Presidential election year, that can mean more political news, as well as more & better local, regional and national news coverage.

Q: Are you surprised? How does WSJS/WMFR feel?

A: This is no surprise. For radio fans in the eight county Greensboro Metro area alone, there are about twenty different format choices. This newest change in radio is changing from Country to News/Talk..leaving only one Greensboro Metro area licensed main Country format to choose from. What does that tell you about the growth of News/Talk? Or, perhaps it’s about giving up with competing year after year against the area’s country music leader.

Q: What else?

A: I’m surprised that it has taken this long for someone to change to News/Talk in order to separate from being “just another music format” in the twenty plus station mix here. With hundreds of programming syndication choices available and more being presented all the time, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another station follow suit and consider a News/Talk/Sports change.

Q: WZTR’s Programming….thoughts here?

A: There will probably be some marketing with Outdoor and some Television to get the word out. Brad & Brit sound pretty good, although they may not stay together if ratings don’t warrant it. They are starting with a line-up of mostly new syndication programming to the market, but some of these programs have made it in other markets, so why not here? The word is that “jazz weekends” will then air. What generally follows is the usual sampling by the public. This happened with WXRA, The Rock Alternative, in the mid-90’s and they were instantly 3rd with Adults 25-54…but the novelty soon wore off and they eventually changed both format and dial position….and they were gone in 5 years. WSJS is about to enter it’s 75th year in broadcasting and having made alterations and programming changes throughout these years…being able to “adapt” to the changing times, is one of those reasons for our success. Heck, Howard managed WSJS for nearly nine years and he WAS behind WXRA’s initial success, so he can give you his thoughts on strengths, change and weaknesses, too Give WZTR’s new change five to six years and then look at what changes in management, personnel and programming may have occurred. Then, let’s talk about what they've managed to accomplish in that period of time.

Q: Will WSJS or WMFR be making any changes?

A: WSJS and WMFR change to improve constantly. Our current lineup between both 600/1200 WSJS and NewsTalk 1230 WMFR includes decades of proven local talent with morning and afternoon hosts Glenn Scott, Max Meeks & Mike Fenley, Traffic with JR Snider, Award Winning News with Bob Costner & Smith Patterson and Sports with Jack LeFaivre, just to name a few…and there are even more “new” personalities that the Triad may soon be hearing more about.

Q: What about programming again…..what really is the difference?

A: I think it’s a combination of stability and innovation: Our lineup is currently among the top lineup’s in the nation with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Bill O’Reilly (on BOTH stations), Paul Harvey, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Lars Larson and Jim Bohannon.

Q: That is strong! You can’t get much stronger than that, can you?

A: I think so. Just add Charles Osgood & Dan Rather with CBS, Joe Bastardi, with one of the most reliable weather reporting services available in Accu-weather, The Wall Street Journal Report, CBS MarketWatch and CBS News on the hour; nearly every hour…and ready to break in for important News, from anywhere and anytime, as it happens. ABC News rounds out the WMFR News lineup. I think that paints a fairly strong picture of our line-up.

Q: You mention Sports. What comments would you like to make here.

A: I don’t know what others might do, but I will tell you that it hasn’t been easy to contain quality Sports Programming among such a strong line-up, but we’ve managed to provide coverage for the local community, as well as the more intense sports fans. Consider: NASCAR’s Performance Racing Network providing exclusive coverage on nearly 1/3rd of all NEXTEL Cup races, Washington Redskins Football, North Carolina State Wolfpack Football & Basketball coverage, complete NFL “special” edition games all the way to the Super Bowl, different local High School Football programs in Forsyth, Guilford and Alamance County areas, the best of minor league baseball with the Winston Salem Warthogs……..and just on the horizon, the return of NBA Basketball with the Charlotte Bobcats! There’s more….but these are just the highlights.

Q: What about “new” programming? Any news there?

A: Yep. Always looking to improve, you’ll soon here the popular and at times, controversial Drudge Report, CNBC’s “The Ron Insana Show,” Donald Trump’s new daily feature, “Trumped” and on weekends, the ever popular Meet The Press with Tim Russert.

Q: Is that it?

A: Believe it when I say it, there’s even more. The massive North Carolina Wine Festival event along with recent Steeplechase Racing and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation station events that have kept us busy in the past…and will do so in the future. …and there’s always a new, important cause to consider.

This is what has made 600/1200 WSJS and NewsTalk 1230 the community’s radio station’s of choice for so many different reasons….for some many years.

Marty D. Holbrook
Promotions & Marketing Director
WSJS/WSML/WMFR
WMFR- Program Director
Infinity Broadcasting
875 West 5th Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101

I Spoke To John Edwards

But it wasn't recently. But I have spoken to him. And he spoke to me. And this is a first for me. In my entire life, I have never spoken with a Vice Presidential candidate. But now I can say I have.

It was about 6 years ago when I first spoke with him. During the election campaign for the US Senate seat he now holds. It was when I was doing my radio talk show on WMFR, and I had managed to get an interview with him. Of course, it wasn't that difficult. When they are running for office, they are a lot easier to get an interview with. But then after he was elected, I also interviewed him at least three times again, and maybe even four, but I'm not sure if I talked with him that last time or his press secretary. He and his office were always very gracious and kind. They returned every phone call and e-mail and his office would always work with me to try and get my interview. Sometimes they couldn't but they would always explain why.

That was a total of at least 4 interviews with the man that could be the next Vice President of the United States. And that is 4 times more than I was able to interview our other esteemed Senator at the time, Jesse Helms. I called Jesse Helms office till I was blue in the face, and they never called me back. They wouldn't even call me back to say the good Senator was just very busy and couldn't find the time to talk with me or my audience.

During the 1998 US Senate campaign we also managed to get an interview with John Edwards opponent, the Republican incumbent, Lauch Faircloth. But because of his schedule, Senator Faircloth was going to be on the Midday talk show with one of our other show hosts. The day of the interview, that show host was out sick, or maybe on vacation, I just don't remember. Anyway, I was going to fill in for him and conduct the interview. Senator Faircloth was not going to be in the studio, rather we were going to conduct the interview on the phone. I was in the studio getting ready for the interview and my show producer was in the control room. Senator Faircloth called about 5 minutes before airtime and my producer informed him that Dennis Elliott would be doing the interview because the regular host was out today. Then all hell broke loose.

Well maybe that's an overstatement. What happened was, Senator Faircloth said if Dennis Elliott is going to be doing the interview, then I'm not going to go on the air. My producer hit the intercom and told me we had a problem, that I should get in there quick. When he told me what the Senator had said, I took the phone from him and asked the Senator what was going on. Senator Faircloth said that people had warned him about me, that he knew I was considered a liberal and that I might not be fair. I got pissed. I might be a liberal and I certainly did express my opinion on the air, but I had always been fair with my guests. I had learned a long time ago that if you wanted to interview all of the different sides in politics, that you couldn't bushwhack someone and beat up on them. I had never been unfair.

Then Senator Faircloth wanted me to give him the questions ahead of time and he would tell me whether or not he would answer them. I absolutely refused. By this time, we were down to just a minute or two before airtime and I told him he needed to make up his mind real quick. I also told him that if he backed out of the interview, then I was going to spend the next hour talking about how he had refused to talk with me at the last moment because I was a liberal.

Well, to make a long story short. We went on the air. And it was fine. He didn't get mad and hang up on me and we had a rather uneventful interview. To be honest, he and the interview were both rather boring. I was wishing he had backed out and I could have talked about how he refused to talk to a liberal. Now that would have been a good show.

The VRWC Has Started on Edwards

They don't wait long do they?

 

Here is an excerpt from a thread on Free Republic with a NC Freeper urging the Freeper network to help find some dirt on John Edwards.

 

"I already know of two instances in which Edwards' campaign committed election law felonies. One was here in the Tarheel State, the other was in Mississippi. Based on the nature of trial lawyers and the pattern of Edwards' national fundraising, I expect there will be hundreds, perhaps thousands, of such instances. Enough to paint Edwards as a persistant felon, and perhaps to drive him off the ticket."

 

Link to thread.

 

Keep yer mitts off my phone!

Article in Wired today about how congress is going to start this week to try to figure out what to do with VOIP, a subject I wrote about a few days ago. Lets hope they treat it as they have the internet so far and avoid killing it before it gets a chance to catch on.

Young People and Fahrenheit 9/11

David Hoggard in his Hogg's Blog related a story of how his 14 year old son wanted to see Fahrenheit 9/11 so he could join in the conversation that was going on amongst his friends on IM. As I told him in a comment I left on the post,

"No matter which side of the political spectrum your 14 year old son falls on now or in later years, he is to be commended for taking an interest in the current events that are going on around him. Especially when those current events extend beyond the pop culture.

I think it is very significant when groups of young people such as your son and his IM crowd are spending their leisure time talking about a movie documentary that is as important as this is. That in itself says something about what this movie is doing around the country. You have to wonder what the impact is really going to be on the upcoming election."

He also related an interesting comment from a young Marine he knew just back from Iraq he saw exiting the movie.

My own 20 year old daughter surprised me when she said that she wanted to go see it and had missed out going with a large group of her friends when they went to see it because she had to work.

If the young people are sitting up and taking notice, that says something.

The Coming of Age of Blogging

..."It started as a way to have a cyber-rant or just share a personal thought, but the blogger has become cutting edge media with a role to play even in the US presidential election race.

Sifting through the tens of thousands of blogs, short for web logs, or weblogs, has become a challenge for media and intelligence analysts. But amid the diatribes, commentaries and gossip, bloggers are gaining influence and breaking stories"

This is the start of an article on blogging from AFP news. Here is the link to the complete article.

Matt Stoller comments on the article.

Lot of Disappointed Tarheel Fans - Krzyzewski stays!!!!

Here is the story.

The 57-year-old Krzyzewski has a 621-181 record at Duke, leading the Blue Devils to championships in 1991, 1992 and 2001. Under Krzyzewski, the Blue Devils have 10 Final Four (news - web sites) appearances, eight Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championships and 10 conference regular-season titles.

His Duke teams have been ranked No. 1 in 12 seasons, including each of the last seven.

You gotta admit...the guy is good.

Fox Jazeera

I don't have a subscription to NewsBlues, which is an industry website for TV news employees, so I can't post the entire article or even a link. Maybe one of you knows someone who does. But even this little blurb was interesting. And I like the name, "Fox Jazeera". I think I'll refer to them with this name from now on.

Does FOX "Play To American Patriotism"?
NewsBlues takes aim at 'FOX Jazeera:' "[FOX] played to the national fear of the day," Mike James writes. "They beat the drums of alarm and warned us that, although the world looked safe, we were surrounded by danger. It was a sobering reminder that there are many ways of perceiving the same events. And it struck me that just as Al Jazeera plays to Arab nationalism with emotional rhetoric and inflammatory video, so, too, does the Fox News Channel, which plays to American patriotism, for the exact same reason..."

Uncle Sam Jam - 7/4/2004

Some of the fireworks last night at the Uncle Sam Jam at Oak Hollow Lake in High Point. The 4 radio stations I'm employed with, WTQR, WMAG, The Buzzard and The Beat sponsor this event every year. 

Presidential Trivia

Presidential trivia: Presidents who killed people outside of war, had extramarital affairs, never served in the armed forces, and more. Click Here

Time Magazine Cover Story

Some interesting excerpts from the Time Magazine Cover story this week.

...The Hunting of the President, co-directed by Clinton pal Harry Thomason, was originally to go to 30 theaters; now its distributor has revved the number to 125, and has put the film’s trailer on many screens showing Fahrenheit 9/11. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which books films to be shown on military bases around the world, has contacted Fahrenheit’s distributor to book the film, TIME reports.

“We’ve underestimated the audience’s desire to see (political) material,” says Robert Greenwald, director of Uncovered: The War on Iraq, a sober and devastating critique of Bush foreign policy. “I don’t think it’s about hating the President. It’s that politics has been brought home to the deepest part of ourselves. People now feel ‘Politics is Me’.”

Today people get their news and, just as important, their attitudes from more rambunctious sources: from the polarized polemicists on talk radio and cable news channels, from comedians and webmasters. That’s poli-tainment, and as practiced by Rush Limbaugh and a host of right-wing radio hosts, and by Matt Drudge on the internet, it hounded Bill Clinton’s presidency while spicing and coarsening the standards of political discourse, Corliss writes.

Freeper brags about disrupting showing of F-9/11

This is a thread on Free Republic of a freeper bragging about sneaking into the exit of a theater and going into see Fahrenheit 9/11. During the movie he then stands up and starts screaming at the audience, calling them traitors and telling them to get the f--- out. He has to be escorted out by ushers.

About 98% of the posters are congratulating him. The 2% that aren't are themselves being condemned.

Other posters are discussing ways to disrupt showings of the movie in other theatres.

I'm frankly surprised we haven't seen or heard of more of this happening. It might be something that starts to happen however.

I gotta start watching Fox News more often

From Cablenewser.com

FOX "Teases" A Revealing "Package"
This screen grab from FOX last night is causing a bit of a stir on the 'net. "They clearly blur the [breast] and apparently miss the big penis and penetration," this site, which originally posted the screen grab, says. Wonkette has a more X-rated reaction. Since the pic popped up on Fark.com earlier today, 48,525 people have clicked the link and 214 have commented about it -- so far. "Please take note that this image was part of a package about the Supreme Court's ruling on pornography and ALL graphic images were blurred or blocked out," a FOX representative tells CableNewser. The package -- no pun intended (well actually, yes, the pun is intended)-- aired on Your World yesterday. But apparently the "tease" for the show wasn't totally blurred...

I saw Fahrenheit 9/11

I got up at 10 this morning and hit the computer to find out when Fahrenheit 9/11 was going to be showing. 12pm was the first showing, so I woke up my wife and said "lets go see it today." When I announced to the twins this morning that Mom and I were going to see a movie and they could go also, they were immediately upset that it was not Harry Potter 3. When I told them Harry Potter 3 wasn't showing at this theatre, there were more wails of protest. Being the stern disciplinarian I am, I gave them a choice. They could stay home, they could go with us to see Fahrenheit 9/11, or they could go in to see Around The World In 80 Days since that movie started at the exact same time as our movie. More wails of protest. Apparently, even 10 year olds read movie reviews.

Accompanied by lots of pouting, arm crossing and mean looks from the twins, we all went to the car.

Arriving at the theatre, my first thought was, "This is not your normal movie crowd."
The reason I say this, was because when we got to the theater for the 12pm showing today, there was a line from the ticket window out to the parking lot. And it looked like the line for lunch at the K and W. OK, maybe not quite that old, but close. In fact, upon driving into the parking lot I remarked, "Wow, there is a line to see it already." My wife, trying to impress upon our kids that this must be an important movie to have people lined up for it, echoed my statement by directing it specifically to the kids, saying, "Wow, look Dan and Catie, people are lined up to see it." And my daughter replied derisively, "Yeah, and they're all old." So I knew it wasn't just me.

We went to the ticket window and the kids immediately started in that the movie White Chicks was showing and they wanted to see that. There would only be a 10 minute gap between our movie starting and White Chicks starting, and they both let out at almost the same time, so my wife said they would be alright and to let them go see that one. I instantly had happy kids again.

There were about 75 to 100 people in the theater for this show, and I would say the average age was about 40 to 50. But that could be because of the fact that this movie was the 12pm showing. A lot of these people had probably gotten up at 4am and had breakfast. Ate Lunch at K and W at 11am, came to see the movie, got the early bird special at the steak house at 4pm, watched Lawrence Welk on PBS and went to bed.

When we came out of the movie, there was a line of about 100 people ready to go in to see the next show, and they all looked a bit younger than our crowd had been.

Because of the buildup in the press about the movie, I was expecting a lot of sensationalism. It's not there. This is a very nuts and bolts movie. A lot of facts and figures. Are they all true? Time will tell. If they aren't true, then we should be hearing some refutation of them. But about all I have heard questioned in the movie is the timeline of the Bin Laden family exodus from the US after 9/11. Even if you throw that part out, you still have the fact that our government participated in getting them out of the country very quickly. There were some interviews of family members conducted by the FBI, but as I understand it, only about 30 interviews and they were conducted very quickly. Too quickly to really find out everything you would need to know. The overall contention of the story is still true. George Bush was much more interested in appeasing the Saudi's than he was in finding out everything we needed to know about Bin Laden. Could the fact that we still have not found Bin Laden be connected to the fact that we didn't learn all that we could have if we had spent more time talking with his family members?

The scene of the woman from Flint Michigan who lost her son in Iraq is one of the most heart rending parts of the movie. This was a woman who in the beginning of the movie is very pro war. In fact, she told us how much she disliked the war protestors from Desert Storm. Her oldest son joins the army and goes to Iraq. He writes her a letter telling her what a mistake the war is and what a fool George Bush is. He is killed a few days after writing the letter. She goes to Washington and talks with a woman on the sidewalk in front of the White House who is protesting the war. She is telling this woman about her son when another woman walks up and starts protesting the fact that the anti war protest is going on. She starts calling it all a setup. When the Michigan woman tells her that her son was killed in Iraq, the other woman challenges her, saying in a disbelieving manner, "Oh really? Where was he killed? Where was he killed? It is a very poignant scene.

Michael Moore did a great job at the end of the movie in summing up the main point of why we need to replace George Bush this fall.

Bin Laden is the guy who committed these terrorist acts against us. Not Saddam Hussein. Is Saddam Hussein a bad guy? Yes. There are lot of bad guys in power around the world that we would be better off without. The leaders of Syria and North Korea come to mind. But is it worth it in the long run to devote the resources necessary to get rid of them? Probably not. Bush has essentially abandoned the goal of capturing or killing Bin Laden in order to go after the man who tried to kill his daddy. A bad man who was not a threat to us. At least not on the order of the threat Bin Laden poses. Bush is responsible for the needless deaths of hundreds of our military and thousands of innocent Iraqis.

Does this mean Bush is evil? No, I don't think so. To be evil, he would have to have known that by committing our military to taking out Saddam Hussein, it would mean things would turn out exactly as they have. I honestly believe George Bush thought the Iraqis would put flowers in the barrels of our guns as we rolled down the streets of Iraq, and that the Iraqi military would turn on Hussein and welcome us with open arms.

That means George Bush is just stupid.

Kerry E-mail, Hillary and Fahrenheit 9/11

Cool.

Kerry is going to announce his VP choice to the people who have signed up for Kerry e-mail updates via his website. Great way to increase the number of sign-ups and activity on his web site. I made sure I was signed up.

Could it really be Hillary? You know, the more I think about it, the more I think that if he did, it could really win the election for him. I mean, the Hillary haters are not going to vote for Kerry anyway, so what is the downside? Am I missing something?

Wife and I are heading out to see Fahrenheit 9/11 this morning. I'll give you my report later.

Fun with Nigerian Scammers

I posted an e-mail earlier from one of the Nigerian scammers offering me 1.6 million dollars if I would just help him out. I had a couple of readers David Hoggard and Billy Jones tell me that they had played with a couple of these scammers. Apparently, this is a type of on-line game, as is demonstrated here.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out that he is a sex offender!

The actor who played the principal in one of my all-time favorite movies, is a sex offender. I had no idea.

I'm talking about Jeffery Jones who played the principal in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." He was arrested because he failed to report that he had moved out of his mothers house into another residence. Wow. It's not like he is not easily recognizable either. He probably has one of the most familiar faces in acting.

The story is here.

I still love that movie. Funny as hell.