Is Howard Kurtz stupid or just in the tank for Fox News? Why can't it be both?

Look at this analysis:

Beck's charge was so incendiary -- and bizarre, considering that Obama's mother was white -- that even some conservatives winced. But boycotts rarely succeed in forcing anyone off the air, and indeed, Fox hasn't forfeited a dime. A Fox spokeswoman pointed to the network's statement: "The advertisers referenced have all moved their spots from Beck to other day parts on the network, so there has been no revenue lost."

Fox hasn't forfeited a dime? If the pre-sold spots go to different shows, then Fox is out the ad revenue that would have been collected from other advertisers who would have bought those slots, and Fox has to find new advertisers for Beck. Even if the pre-sold buys are adjusted to the higher rate for advertising on the other programs, Fox has to fill Beck's spots at the rate charged the companies who demanded to be taken off Beck's program in order to break even.

Did Howie confirm with Fox that that had happened? I don't see it if he did.

I just happened to be passing by Fox earlier in the week, and what did I see advertised on Beck? A product perfectly targeted for Beck's brighter viewers, but not one made by a company with the ad budget of an AT&T, Campbell's or Procter & Gamble, I suspect.

Palin/Rammell '11

Here's a name you'll be hearing a lot of in the next few years: Rex Rammell. And you won't even have watch to gay porn to hear it:

Rex Rammell, a long-shot gubernatorial candidate seeking the Republican nomination, criticized [Idaho] Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter on Wednesday for not making good on a promise to buy the first wolf tag. Tags for hunting the gray wolf went on sale Monday.

...

On Monday, Otter attended in Lewiston and spoke at the funeral of Bruce Sweeney, a 10-term state legislator who served while Otter was lieutenant governor. When told this, Rammell said, "That's a lame excuse."

Rex the Rammer v. Butch the C.L.Otter. Now that's some old school professional wrestling.

Rex loves him some huntin', or at least some tag buyin':

Rex Rammell, a long-shot candidate slated to run against incumbent C.L. "Butch" Otter in the May 2010 GOP primary, made the comment at a Republican rally Tuesday in Twin Falls where talk turned to the state's planned wolf hunt, for which hunters must purchase an $11.50 wolf tag. The hunt is due to begin on Tuesday.

When an audience member shouted a question about "Obama tags," Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those."

Rammell told The Associated Press Thursday he sees no reason to apologize for the comment because it was just a joke.

...

He also told the Times-News newspaper, "I would never support him being assassinated."

Rex is so popular in Idaho they named a town after him:

Rammell isn't the first Rexburg resident who has drawn attention for making an anti-Obama comment. In November 2008, second- and third-grade students on a school bus there chanted "Assassinate Obama" after his election, prompting the mayor of this eastern Idaho town to publicly apologize.

What are the odds Rex pronounces his name like Rahm Emmanuel?

This is Your Brain On Roiphenol

"I know somewhere out there is a great world where people talk and think and write, but I am not interested in going there yet."

If you define yet to include the last 41 years, yes.

Wellstone Memorial

I eagerly await Senator Kennedy's address to the Nation from beyond the grave, as told to an anti-Communist dolphin and translated by Peggy Noonan:

"I would nevah support the public option. Libs who portray me as a big-spending reformah really clam my chowdah."

Teddy's Dead

Rest in Peace, Senator Ted Kennedy.

If you haven't stopped shopping at Whole Foods yet, watch this and lose your appetite:

From FreedomFest held in Las Vegas, a debate on two different approaches to capitalism: the Randian model (pure profit driven capitalism) v. conscious capitalism (capitalism driven by some societal purpose). Arguing in favor of the Randian model are Edward Hudgins and Robert Bradley. Arguing in favor of conscious capitalism are John Mackey and Michael Strong.


About the Authors
John Mackey

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, is the co-author of "Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the Worlds Problems."


Michael Strong

Michael Strong, co-founder (with John Mackey) of FLOW, Inc., is the co-author of "Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the Worlds Problems."


Edward Hudgins

Edward Hudgins, is the editor of "An Objectivist Secular Reader." He is director of advocacy and a senior scholar at the Atlas Society.


Robert Bradley

Robert Bradley, CEO and founder of the Institute for Energy Research based in Houston, is the author of "Capitalism at Work." Mr. Bradley was formerly corporate director for public policy analysis at Enron and speechwriter for the late Enron CEO Ken Lay.

Ken Lay as Howard Roark. Sounds about right.

See What Brown Can't Do For You

Praise Jehovah! Ken Gladney, who was beaten into a vegetative state by union thugs, can stand again! And they said he'd never walk again. Scrawny white men who wish to kiss Gladney's bald head will have to bring stepstools.

Perhaps the Lord will also cure Gladney's attorney of his terminal dumbfuckedness:

Gladney, who says he is an independent, stood next to his attorney at the news conference. David Brown interjected when Gladney was asked about his injuries. He said there is a pending civil case and it would not be appropriate to discuss Gladney's health.

Counsellor Brown calls a press conference to rehash his fairy tales of abuse, and the only part he can't talk about is whether his client was actually harmed. Just wait until he tries that in the civil suit: "Your Honor, it would not be appropriate to discuss my client's injuries because he has a pending media stunt."

Mr. Gladney's Liberty Tour freak show won't be much of a draw if they keep the stigmata covered.

Dr. Charles Krauthammer: Fuck My Patients, Give Me The Money

Dr. Charles Quackhammer calls for an honest debate on health care reform. That would be a first for him, but damned if he doesn't admit the truth.

That truth: As a doctor, Krauthammer was only in it for the money, and never considered what was best for his patients if it conflicted with making a profit.

Krauthammer starts out his column with a paragraph calling Sharia Plain a liar. There's one truth. And in the next two paragraphs, an even bigger truth is revealed:

We also have to tell the defenders of the notorious Section 1233 of H.R. 3200 that it is not quite as benign as they pretend. To offer government reimbursement to any doctor who gives end-of-life counseling -- whether or not the patient asked for it -- is to create an incentive for such a chat.

What do you think such a chat would be like? Do you think the doctor will go on and on about the fantastic new million-dollar high-tech gizmo that can prolong the patient's otherwise hopeless condition for another six months? Or do you think he's going to talk about -- as the bill specifically spells out -- hospice care and palliative care and other ways of letting go of life?

Quackhammer posits a doctor who acts against his patient's interests solely for his own economic benefit. There's a flaw in his logic, as he assumes that the doctor has more economic incentive to have the patient off herself immediately (and/or more cheaply) than to have the patient live longer and incur additional doctor's fees. Greed apparently makes physicians stupid.

(And I must have missed the quack's column denouncing HMOs which cover similar informational counselling, or which pay a flat fee per patient per year, creating an incentive for providers to provide the cheapest care possible.)

Nevertheless, Quackhammer reveals a hidden truth about himself in assuming ill of his fellow healers. He effectively admits that, as a doctor, he would have urged his patients to make a quick exit if it was better for his balance sheet.

Well, who knows Quackhammer's mind and motives better than himself?

Fortunately, Krauthammer has left the medical profession, and, despite his fervent desires, can only kill trees in his current job.

How to Show Contempt For Your Readers

Since I'm not blogging for dollars and don't have an employer to answer to, I could get away with shoddy writing and thinking on this blog. Nevertheless, I'd be embarrassed to publish this, and enraged if I was paying someone who did:

Remember the boycott of the French? Lasted about four weeks, until everyone figured out that this meant foregoing [sic] Dannon yogurt and Mephisto sandals, and spending hours looking for a decent American brie. Effect on French foreign policy: dubious [sic]. Perhaps negative [sic/WTF?].

Then there's the problem of counter-boycotts. Radley is one [sic]. I myself [sic] do not particularly care for Whole Foods--I find them overpriced, and their prepared food isn't very good. But as long as the progressive boycott lasts . . . well, Mr. Mackey, you've got another customer. I doubt I'm the only conservative or libertarians [sic] who will make the same pledge.

Dignity and a paycheck aren't motivation for some people.

Apart from grammar and spelling, the post is a model of fucked-up reasoning as well. Dagney Taggart Jnr. says boycotts don't work because people are lazy and won't follow through, and since "[s]hopping in mulitple [sic] places is a big pain in the butt." On the other hand, Dag imagines that wingnuts and Randroids will take time out of their busy days brandishing swastikas and small arms at town hall meetings and travel across town to buy shitty, overpriced foods out of spite.

If a boycott of Whole Foods gets Dagney to patronize merchants who overcharge her for substandard goods, it already has succeeded. But I suspect that in her case, it's just a way of life.

In any case, someone at The Atlantic should inquire as to how many people don't buy the magazine because of its association with crap like the foregoing.

Common Ground

I think we can all be grateful that Bob Novak is no longer on the streets.

No Obvious Injuries

Seems St. Louis police officials have the same low opinion on Jim Geraghty's powers of observation as I have:

Investigators have requested Gladney's medical files related to the incident, mainly to determine if his injuries warrant more than misdemeanor charges against the two men accused of assaulting him.

My God, didn't they see the man was sitting IN A WHEELCHAIR?

Socialism For Dumbfucks

From the Wall Street Journal:

Diane Campbell of Kingston, N.H., held a sign with Mr. Obama's face superimposed on a Nazi storm trooper, a sign, she said, that was made by her chronically ill mother.

Her mother's hereditary autoimmune disease is treated with expensive transfusions of gamma globulin, paid for by Medicare. Her sister, Louise, was born with no arms and one leg, and is also covered by Medicare, the government-run, health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled.

"Adolf Hitler was for exterminating the weak, not just the Jews and stuff, and socialism -- that's what's going to happen."

Here is Ms. Campbell, and her mother's artwork. I must say the old bird has pretty good Photoshop skills for a chronically ill woman who must be in her seventies.

P.S. -- From what appears to be her Facebook page, Diane is a fan of Chesley Sullenberger, Glenn Beck and Donkey (I'm guessing the one from Shrek).

Fraudney King Has A Dream

It involves you giving him money:

St. Louis, Missouri August 12, 2009 — Kenneth Gladney thanks everyone for their outpouring of support and well wishes. After he recovers from his injuries, Kenneth plans to travel across the country to promote Project Liberty, a new educational program designed to teach America’s youth about their fundamental rights under the Constitution.

Kenneth will inform young people about his experiences on the fateful night of August 6, 2009 at Rep. Russ Carnahan's town hall meeting in South St. Louis and how it changed his perspectives on individual liberties in today's society. Along with Kenneth, Constitutional law experts will explain the Bill of Rights to students in an interactive format that is both entertaining and educational.

To Kenneth, Project Liberty is not about Left versus Right nor Democrats versus Republicans. This cause is about personal liberties and freedom of speech.

“Project Liberty will sweep across this great nation to unite people for the common cause of protecting our individual liberties,” said Kenneth.

Kenneth wants to make it clear that Project Liberty is not funded by any special interest group or political party. Kenneth vows never to accept funds from any of these sources. Project Liberty is "people-powered." As with any endeavor of this magnitude, there are costs associated with this. If you would like to help defray these costs in this fight for liberty, stand up with Kenneth and donate today. Please visit Kenneth's website at www.iamkennethgladney.com.

I am Kenneth Gladney. You are Kenneth Gladney. Remember, we all are Kenneth Gladney.

Contact:
David Brown, Attorney
(314) XXX-XXXX

After he recovers from his injuries?! If he's well enough to change his perspective on individual liberties in today's society and develop a new educational program designed to teach America’s youth about their fundamental rights under the Constitution and round up a bunch of Constitutional law experts who will explain the Bill of Rights to students in an interactive format that is both entertaining and educational since last Thursday, he's well enough to travel across the country!

You can donate here, but a donation does not guarantee that you can kiss Ken on the top of his head. Still, it can't hurt to ask.

Or, since we're all Kenneth Gladney, you can just give the money to yourself.

(More here.)

"I Spent Thousands To Get My Hair Cut, But I Got A Shitty Haircut

Mark Sanford, fiscal conservative:

Sanford said that some of the claims in the story — for example, that he took a flight from Myrtle Beach to Columbia simply to get a haircut — were taken out of the context of his full daily schedule. He noted that he went to get the haircut not at a fancy salon, but at the chain "Great Clips."

With those sailcloth partitions and a well-placed barber cape, no one could see he was sexting with his mistress.

Unfortunately for the missus, Great Clips wasn't the only place where G-Mark was getting his trim.

Surely I'm not the only one who has noticed that the right-wing story line of the moment involves a black man conspiring with Jews to commit genocide:

Among the drawbacks are the president’s two closest health advisers, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and Dr. David Blumenthal.

Emanuel, brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, believes that the Hippocratic Oath (do no harm) is taken way too seriously by doctors. Blumenthal advocates slowing down medical innovation to control health spending and has no problem with healthcare “rationing” to save money. These medical advisers are reinterpreting medical ethics. Casting aside moral guidelines, they advocate federal legislation to provide government support for abortion, euthanasia, and confinement of the "mentally retarded."

In case that's too subtle for the intended audience, the author concludes with "Who knew that Obama's 'audacity of hope' would rest on the discarded concept of a master race?"

All that's missing are some racist caricatures slobbering over a plump blonde baby, with knives and forks in hand. Pictorial caricatures, I mean.

Update (8/11/09): The meme is spreading.

Doctor Jim Geraghty, at NRO, commits intellectual malpractice:

"David Schuster apparently likes to amuse his audience by getting basic news facts spectacularly wrong, and turning spotting the error into a game, kind of like 'Where's Waldo?' ...

Schuster said that Gladney had 'no obvious injuries' from the event, and that he had no health insurance.

From the first sentence of a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story from yesterday: 'Kenneth Gladney sat in a wheelchair on Pershing Avenue Saturday, his knee bandaged....'" (Italics Geraghty's)

Because you can't sit in a wheelchair or wear a bandage unless you're injured.

Union thugs also poked him in the eyes, or else he wouldn't be wearing glasses.

More on Fraudney King:

Meanwhile, though Gladney appears to be just fine in the video right after he was supposedly beaten up, he showed up the next day at a tea party event in a wheelchair. At the event, Bill Hennessy, the organizer of the St. Louis tea parties, asked the crowd to donate money to Gladney to help him pay for his injuries, despite the fact that he now says he has insurance. When I asked Brown about this, he said: “Well, who doesn't need a donation? If people want to give him a donation because he's injured and unemployed, that's up to them.” Brown said Gladney has raised about $1,100 in donations so far.

Suckers.

Andrew Dimbart: I Am Fraudney King

Andy so identifies with Fraudney's plight that he gets around to it in paragraph 15, after recounting his own 'bagging exploits with Orson Bean and a guy from the Bay City Rollers.

And Andy's a genuine constitutional scholar:

On Sept. 12, I will be attending a tea party in Quincy, Ill., joining Instapundit professor Glenn Reynolds, Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft, and Tucker Carlson.

With the Democratic Party in control of all branches of government and the Fourth Estate acting as the Democratic Party's protector, the tea party movement is the closest thing America has to checks and balances.

Yes, the Democratic Party controls the judiciary. You read it here first.

Bob Herbert writes the column "Doctor" Helen would write if she was sane.

Sometimes Coking Is Not The Solution

Billy Mays' enthusiasm for OxiClean may have been chemically enhanced:

TAMPA, Fla. – An official autopsy report released Friday found that cocaine use contributed to the heart disease that suddenly killed TV pitchman Billy Mays in June, but his family called the finding "speculative" and considered getting an independent look at the results.

The Hillsborough County medical examiner's office previously determined that the bearded, boisterous TV spokesman had a heart attack in his sleep. His wife found him unresponsive in bed in their Tampa condo June 28.

Mays, 50, was a pop-culture fixture with his energetic commercials pitching gadgets and cleaning products like Orange Glo and OxiClean.

While heart disease was the primary cause of death, a report released Friday by the medical examiner listed cocaine as a "contributory cause of death."

The medical examiner "concluded that cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and thereby contributed to his death," the office said in a press release.

Reminds me of another corpulent blowhard with a Florida residence who loves his Oxy. Except for the wife part.

Just say no to the Jupiter Jack, kids.

This is unfair:

"Republicans seem to have a problem fulfilling their oaths of office," said DSCC communications director Eric Schultz. "Republicans in elected office can't bolt fast enough apparently. First Sarah Palin quits, then Kelly Ayotte quits, and now Mel Martinez quits. The country faces enormous challenges right now, and voters are watching who is up to the task."

Has Trent Lott been forgetten so quickly? Give the man his due.

And what about Larry Craig?

Rube Views Boob Tube

"Doctor" Helen has been watching a very special television:

When you see commercials about men who cheat, they are being punched, had their cars destroyed and other abuses that are just taken in a matter-of-fact manner as if it's no big deal because a woman is dispersing "justice."

It was getting so bad I threw my television out, and I urge the good "doctor" to do the same.

And to take a writing class.

As for the triggering episode, "Doctor" Helen and her outpatients are pretty down on the women involved, although they'll probably recalibrate their outrage once they get all the facts and consult their hierarchy of victimhood. (Perhaps this storyline would better fit for their worldview.)

"Doctor" Helen has a unique fetish for stories of male victimization. A few days earlier, she linked to this story in which a woman poured boiling water onto her husband's crotch, was arrested and charged with assault and is waiting arraignment. This report got "Dr." Helen to thinking: "Imagine if the sexes were reversed...."

It's easy if you try!

(via alicublog)

Annus Hilarious

Not all the economic news is bad:

News Corp.'s fiscal 2009 is sure to go down as an annus horribilis. The firm recorded a $3.4 billion loss for the fiscal year, which ended June 30. Last year the company recorded a $5.4 billion profit. Advertising difficulties at newspapers and TV coupled with lackluster digital operations all contributed to a particularly tough 12 months.
Fourth quarter operating income was $268 million. Earlier this year the company took a near $9 billion write-down on the value of its assets and recorded operating charges of $312 million.

The television segment-which encompasses broadcast television operations, the station group and Asian TV operation Star-reported a $4.4 billion loss in operating income in 2009, compared with a $1.1 billion gain the year before. The earnings released showed an impairment charge of $4.5 billion in the TV segment. The local TV station ad market was down 27% for the quarter and 21% for the year. Television revenue was $1 billion for the quarter and $4.6 billion for the year.

Just think how much Rupert would have lost if he had kept the Weekly Standard.

Sad Bitch

Washington Post/CNN gagmeister Dana Milbank is teary-eyed and chin-quivering upon learning that no one appreciates his sense of humor:

The withering and often personal criticism of Milbank and Cillizza exploded Friday afternoon after the liberal Web site Talking Points Memo posted and criticized the latest video. Both men, who frequently appear on television, became high-profile targets, particularly among left-leaning bloggers but also on such outlets as Twitter.

"It's a brutal world out there in the blogosphere," Milbank said. "I'm often surprised by the ferocity out there, but I probably shouldn't be."

I guess that makes you the bloggers' bitch, Dana.