Right's Idiotic 'Indoctrination' War Hurts School Kids
President Obama announced that he will give a speech welcoming America's young students into the new school year. Conservatives, happy to fight about anything this man does, came out swinging against the President's "socialist" intentions. And they're winning! Basically, the speech amounts to nothing more than our nation's Commander-in-Chief urging kids to stay in school, for, if they do, perhaps one day they'll be president. Floridian Republican Jim Greer was one of the first to seize up over the news, and called Obama's September 8th an attempt to "spread" his "socialist ideology." Greer then got into nitty-gritty politics, and warned that the President would simply be indoctrinating guppies with his liberal politics. Conservatives are easily swayed, almost collective organism, so their calls for prohibition only grew more voracious. They took particular offense over the announcement that students would be encouraged to "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president." Rush Limbaugh was soon on board. So was Glenn Beck. And then Greer reared his head on Hardball this evening. Though he and his knows Presidents often address students, this is different, because Obama's a proselytizer of anti-American madness. The debate has become so heated, in fact, that school districts in six states are refusing to show the video, for, it would seem, they believe Greer's worries that anti-Obama kids will be "ostracized." This couldn't be further from the truth. First of all, kids are kids and, if our increasingly dim childhood memory serves, don't care much for nitty-gritty policy. They care about recess and juice boxes. By folding to conservative pressure, schools and parents both are tacitly vilifying the President when, in fact, even if he were to discuss policy, most kids wouldn't care or would forget about it after cartoons. Perhaps the most worrisome aspect of this outrage is that the kids are being denied an opportunity to hear directly from the President, a man to whom some civics classes — if such things still exist — encourage. Democracy goes both ways, we're taught, so wouldn't hearing a generic message about the importance of education be an important lesson in and of itself? If you ask us, America's children would definitely benefit from hearing the President, particularly the nation's first black president, discuss the necessity of reading, writing and arithmetic. Especially since a Florida school distract just now, in 2009, removed the term "negro" from its racial background form. Meanwhile, the White House has caved and agreed to release the speech's text ahead of the event. They also changed the announcement letter's language about "helping the president" to "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals." Both moves only give validity to these inane, unnecessary protests. At least the kids learned one valuable lesson: bitch loudly and often enough... MORE >>
Exclusive: How the Press Pandered to Blagojevich after His Arrest
On the morning he was arrested on corruption charges last December, Rod Blagojevich was the nation's biggest greaseball. So obviously, the national press was willing to say anything to land an interview. And we've got their emails to prove it. We reported a little over a month ago that the Today show had booked Blagojevich to appear on the morning he happened to be arrested by the FBI, but bumped the interview so they could flack for Jay Leno's new show. We found that out through a Freedom of Information Act request to the state of Illinois asking for e-mails from representatives of the media to Lucio Guerrero, Blagojevich's press secretary (we got the idea from South Carolina's The State, which did the same thing—to comic effect—after Mark Sanford's Argentinian Rhapsody). The first raft of e-mails we got were from December 8, the day before Blagojevich got popped, and it included one from Today producer Lexi Dauber apologetically canceling a scheduled remote Q-and-A with Matt Lauer to make room for Leno news. We just got another batch covering the 48 hours after the arrest, and guess what? Dauber and her fellow Today producer Stephanie Siegel all of a sudden really wanted to talk to Blagojevich! The traditional route for a reporter desperately trying to convince someone to submit to an interview when it's obviously not in their interest to do so is to drop all pretense of toughness and objectivity and lie to them: We will be your friend! Not like all those other mean reporters. While Dauber and Seigel's e-mails to Guerrero are understandably sympathetic, an internal write-up of a phone call with Siegel outlining the terms of her interview request shows what they were really willing to give up. Matt Lauer or Meredith Vieira would call Blagojevich before the interview to "go over the line of questions," and Seigel stressed that "they are sensitive." CBS's Early Show also went the simpering route, telling Guerrero that there is "far too much hearsay going around" and offering Blagojevich an opportunity to "set the record straight" and "clear his own name." They were even willing to "rent a private space to keep him away from the rest of the media's view." We all know how annoying prying reporters can be. ABC News' Diane Sawyer, on the other hand, didn't try to buddy up to Blago. To her credit, Sawyer's producer offered a fairly straightforward pitch that managed to avoid over-the-top sycophancy. Larry King's producer relied on the rogue's gallery that has traipsed through King's studio in the past, positioning the host as the go-to guy for crooks, liars, and other humiliated figures—go with us and you can be in the fine company of Jeffrey Skilling, Gary Condit, and Bob Packwood! King's CNN colleague Anderson Cooper wasn't even trying: His producers sent in a perfunctory, We-asked-Governor-Blagojevich-to-come-on-the-show requests that they knew weren't going to open any doors. Likewise the producer for CNN's Campbell Brown dashed... MORE >>
Why Sarah Palin Needs Levi Johnston
The PR push for Johnston's article in Vanity Fair started yesterday and people are already hating America's babydaddy and rooting for Sarah Palin. But her reality-television-turned-politics spectacle was getting stale and nothing reinvigorates an aging soap like a good rivalry. In today's NY Times Gail Collins writes she feels sympathy for Palin because of Levi's story, where he calls Palin a bad mother who was never around and claims that she tried to adopt his and Bristol's child to pass it off as her own. But even if he were an Eagle Scout with a scholarship to Harvard, can you imagine anything worse than discovering your daughter's teenage ex-boyfriend has been given a national platform to discuss his impressions of her mom's parenting skills? Yes, we can. How about being an 18-year-old boy who is trotted out by a conservative succubus and an unqualified, ambitious woman in some lame attempt to appease voters who believe that abstinence exists and that abortion and adoption are bad? Yes, Levi is shamelessly cashing in on his brief moment in the sun, but if it weren't for the GOP and their collective delusion about the realities of teenage life, he never would have had a platform to begin with. And really, how harmful is Levi? He's only riding Sarah Palin's coattails — VF gave her top billing — thus keeping her in the spotlight. Besides, what is this distracting America from? Palin's in-depth explorations of American foreign policy with Russia. Yeah, he's a not-very-bright, opportunistic burgeoning gay icon who is making the most of his very limited shelf life. He's Kato Kaelin with a hunting license, and he seems to know it. Seriously, when is a dim bulb from Wasilla ever going to get a chance to burn so bright again? And a fun flame-out it has been. Aside from being courted by Graydon Carter with trips to the Monkey Bar and an appearance as Kathy Griffin's date to the Teen Choice Awards, there was also a bidding war by gay porn companies to get the kid to show off his magical impregnating device. His next step is an underwear shoot for Playgirl! Does it get any more wonderfully ridiculous? If anything, Sarah Palin and the Republican ideologues are being outsmarted by their pawn. They dragged this kid away from hockey practice to try to save their asses and now he's using the same public-profile-as-theater-of-the-absurd tactics to stay in the spotlight. Besides, Sarah Palin needs a way to stay in the headlines somehow. And for that, Levi Johnston, we salute you. MORE >>
Ashley Dupre Prostitutes Herself for Music Career Publicity
The New York Post's plan to resurrect the Eliot Spitzer hooker scandal story is turning out fabulously. Day one was the "Spitzer comeback?" rumor. Day two was the Shocked Response. Now, day three: Ashley Dupre makes her return. Musically, too! What did we tell you about this, Ashley? If you had followed our advice you would have already built your trashy faux-media empire and stacked enough cash to drop out of the public eye forever by now, via porn. We told you specifically to give up the music. Your music sucks. But what do we see, today? You, writing on a blog, for free, playing right into the hands of the bloodsucking tabloids, and plugging another god damn song! People think I made money off music that was exploited when the scandal first broke, that I am doing reality television, and that I made millions posing nude for magazines... I never sold any photos of myself - but people who I trusted did. And the "millions" for the nude pics? I was offered that, repeatedly – and turned them down because I didn't want to perpetuate the problem or feed into the stereotype. We know, that's the problem! You could be rich by now! Look, Ashley, the fact is that you are right, morally. You are doing the right thing to retain your humanity. But then you let the devil, in the form of the New York Post, sneak in through the back door because you think it will help your music career, of all things. Not only did you start "speaking out" right on schedule for the tabloid, but they also ran your entire Global Grind blog post in the paper, and did a review of your new song. We're not saying you struck some sort of deal with them, but if you did, you got conned. The tabloids will cover whatever you do no matter what. Your reputation is not going to change substantially. And you will never get rich off music—because, as we mentioned, your music sucks (but not in a lucrative way). So sell out like the evil world wants you to, or just fade into obscurity. One's good for your soul. The other's good for your wallet. Playing footsie with the Post will only lead you off the cliff. Trust us here. We are your friend. MORE >>
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