Monday we had some severe storms here in Minnesota. I can’t remember the last time i personally heard a tornado siren. I didn’t hear one this time but under 20 miles from me a tornado hit ground. I was able to grab some photos of the aftermath:
I have sat back and watched FOX News and Bill O’Reilly try and spin and slander every other news agency that carried the story on his racist comments. To be fair, here is the audio and below is the transcript:
“You know, I was up in Harlem a few weeks ago, and I actually had dinner with Al Sharpton, who is a very, very interesting guy, and he comes on The Factor a lot, and I treated him to dinner because he’s made himself available to us, and I felt that I wanted to take him up there. And we went to Sylvia’s, a very famous restaurant in Harlem. I had a great time. And all the people up there are tremendously respectful, they all watch The Factor. You know, when Sharpton and I walked in, it was, like, big commotion and everything, but everybody was very nice. And I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean it was — it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship; it was the same. And that’s really what this society is all about, now…
[...] There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea.’ You know, I mean, everybody was — it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn’t any kind of craziness at all.”
After hearing the above dialog I can only come to two conclusions:
1.In his own words, he states he “couldn’t get over the fact” that his experience in the said all black-run restaurant was similar to that of one in an all-white suburb. Why would he be surprised? The fact that he even mentioned there was a difference is enough to realize what he is getting at.
2. Mr. O’reilly understands his viewers are racist and he feels the need to explain to them that the restaurant in question is not one of the black type restaurants they all think of.
I can not and have not heard any other explanation offered up. Bill O’Reilly made a comment with racial tones. That should be the end of story. Any other man that would make a comment that anyone would even consider to be racist, immediately offer up an apology. Why would one want to offend anyone? Why would a man argue whether he offended or not? It just doesn’t make sense. O’Reilly has built his career(after he left tabloid Inside Edition) on the concept of being better than anyone else. His show is built around his ego and depends entirely on his viewers believing all he says. Bill O’Reilly’s persona on television does not allow him to apologize. It would go against everything his show stands for - and that’s why you won’t hear him apologize.
Now, O’Reilly has gone on to use his television show to attack, in an immature matter, any news agency that has carried the story of his comments. Mr. O’Reilly needs to understand that the reason it is a story is because he is the #1 anchor at his hour on cable tv. This is why it is a story. He knows his ratings. He mentions his ratings every single time someone says something he doesn’t like. The argument “they do it for the ratings”, “their ratings are down” and/or “they can’t catch up to FOX” is getting old. But sadly, his own line is the reason it became a story.
He has attacked CNN and Media Matters more than others. His viewers really genuinely believe everyone was out to get him. The real story is that neither CNN nor Media Matters has ever stated that Bill O’Reilly is racist. They have simply put his comments on the air and let their viewers decide what to think of it. In fact, Rick Sanchez who first brought the story up has taken the most heat from O’Reilly’s rants. In reality, Sanchez has also been the most fair to O’Reilly. Going as far as mentioning O’Reilly’s stance more than 5 times on his September 24th show. He has also openly invited O’Reilly to appear on his show to discuss the comments. Not once did Sanchez(who is a minority) accuse anyone of being racist.
On September 24th, on CNN’s Out in the Open host Rick Sanchez spoke with O’Reilly via telephone prior to the live show.
O’Reilly stated “This is a hatchet job by Media Matters“.
Sanchez: What’s wrong with a white guy making social commentary about other people’s race, which is what he seems to be doing here?
Sanchez: Well, what’s interesting is, I just finished reading his book. And, Bill, let me look at the camera and offer an invitation to you. If you want to come on and talk about this and defend your point of view and disagree with Mr. Martin on what he has to say, we would love to have you. And by the way, to be fair, one more time, Mr. O’Reilly’s point of view, no racial intent, benign program. Not one single complaint. Hatchet job by Media Matters. And Media Matters is one of those websites that talks about what we do in this business. They’ve criticized me plenty, by the way, as well. And I’m sure you too.
Sanchez then ended the story by stating “And by the way, to be fair, one more time, Mr. O’Reilly’s point of view, no racial intent, benign program. Not one single complaint. Hatchet job by Media Matters. Media Matters is one of those websites that talks about what we do in this business. They’ve criticized me plenty, by the way, as well. And I’m sure you [Martin] too.”
On September 24th, on MSNBC’s Countdown host Keith Olberman briefly mentioned O’Reilly’s comments like so:
OLBERMANN: Number three, best meal: Bill-O. Says he took Al Sharpton to dinner in Harlem at the famous restaurant Sylvia’s. And Orally actually says on the air, “I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship. There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming ‘M-Fer — I want more iced tea.’ ” Oh, my God.
What Bill O’Reilly calls a “Hatchet Job by Media Matters” can be found here.
Could someone explain this to me? Michael Vick admits that he murdered 6-8 dogs while participating in dog fighting. This all under oath in Federal court documents. The district attorney for Surry County, Virginia then goes to the grand jury and it hands down an indictment on Vick for only one count of killing dogs and one count of promoting dogfights. What happened to the other co-defendants who also offered testimony under oath(and accepted by the court) that they killed dogs. What more does a DA need?
The grand jury works as sort of a middle man between the prosecutor and the community itself. It is designed to stop overzealous prosecuters. The prosecutor gathers his evidence and then brings it in front of a grand jury to determine if there is probable cause. It is not the grand juries job to determine the guilt or innocence of a defendant. Finding that there is probable cause a crime has been committed is a very low burden to prove. Presenting just a copy of the signed plea bargain by Vick would have been overwhelming evidence of probable cause. In fact, it’d be enough to convict him.
It is impossible to assume that the grand jury was presented with the evidence we already know and still arrived at only a 2 count indictment - only one for killing of dogs. This DA should be fired immediately. He can not handle his job and as this has shown, can not prosecute even when a defendant admits to the crime, has 6 co-defendants agreeing with the events, and all while being under oath and in writing.
I find this all very interesting. When Michael Vick decided to plead out to federal charges last month there were no stipulations to his plea bargain that the state would agree not to press charges as well. His lawyers had to of informed him that if he admitted to dogfighting that the state of Virginia would then have a slam dunk case. Maybe Vick and his attorneys rolled the dice and assumed Pointdexter was so unbelievable incompetent that he would not be successful in obtaining an indictment.
Or there are other things going on down in Surry County, Virginia…
Technorati Tags: Crime, Current Events, Michael Vick, NFL, Law
Today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will speak at Columbia University as part of the Universities foriegn leaders and history courses. The big three news stations are all covering this lie. The chyrons are:
MSNBC: BREAKING NEWS: “IRANIAN PRESIDENT WILL SPEAK AT COLUMBIA UNIV. ANY MINUTE NOW”
CNN: HAPPENING NOW: “IRANIAN PRESIDENT TO SPEAK AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SHORTLY”
FOX NEWS: AWAITING CONTROVERSIAL SPEECH FROM IRAN’S PRESIDENT AT COLUMBIA UNIV.”
Fox adds it’s own spin on the story. They feel the need to report the story and also tell us they obviously have their own views on the speech happening. See: Some People Say.
While MSNBC and CNN have chosen to go live with Columbia Univ. President Lee Bollinger, Fox News has chosen to show a split screen. Half showing a muted live shot of the speech and the other half a debate with of whether Osama Bin Laden should be allowed to appear and speak in America as well. Clearly, that comparison is ridiculous. Not only is Osama Bin Laden not a major political leader(or a political leader of any kind for that matter) but he is also a wanted man.
Or does it have more to do with the fact that Fox News is the only national news agency not to be granted an interview itself with the leader? Anderson Cooper for CNN, Brian Williams for NBC, and Mike Wallace for CBS were granted interviews late last year.
Is Green Bay’s hard rock station WZOR 94.7 “The Razor” on it’s way out the door? Rumors have the format changing at 9:47am at the start of the fall book. Starting with 947 commercial free songs. Brian Davis on afternoons? Lia syndication at night. If this is true this would be a major blow to Wisconsin’s rock radio. It would appear WJJO is the last of the hard rock stations to be standing..
