An Open Letter To Dave Danforth, Owner and “Publisher/Mascot,” Aspen Daily News
Dear Dave:
You and I have had our differences over the years—too many to count—in part because I have been sliced open with a dirty knife by the Aspen Daily News like so many others before me. But that does not mean I take any pleasure in the mess that your editor, Troy Hooper, finally finds himself in.
Continue Reading 1 comment March 12th, 2010
A man in blackface in this brave new century would invoke the wrath of our culture writ large. When the tape of a blackfaced act originating in Australia was seen in the United States, the revulsion was immediate, calling to mind Al Jolson singing “Mammy” in blackface nearly a hundred years ago.
But what about seeing a black man in whiteface?
What about seeing a black President of the United States in whiteface?
And what if that insult emanated not from a meaningless talent show down under but from the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) official fundraising presentation.
Continue Reading 19 comments March 3rd, 2010
Who knew? Who knew that Scott Brown’s election to the Teddy seat in the United States Senate would break open the slush of bipartisanship? But hey, as Peter Gammons used to say in The Boston Globe, a guy’s got to eat, and not even a flopper like Brown can avoid the need to vote for jobs in his home state of Massachusetts.
What’s going on here? as Dick Young used to say in the Daily News.
Continue Reading 6 comments February 23rd, 2010
The arrival of Grace Church at 1776 Emma Road in Basalt--1776 is not a misprint--roiled the community in Emma as they contemplate a megachurch, albeit a teensy one, in their midst. Dead center in the Roaring Fork Valley, the more liberal members of the town were universally concerned at the prospect of hundreds of Evangelicals worshipping in their midst.
The founders of Grace Church were nothing if not resilient, and managed to beat back all challenges. The church, now visible from Highway 82, has seemed on the verge of completion for months, even though building that has yet to sport the telltale sign of the Cross. Given the inevitability of yet another Christian Church in the valley, concerned locals simply ran out of protests. A church, after all, is far more benign than a McDonald's, or so the story goes.
And that was that, from my perspective, was that--until the wife espied the cheerful green banner in front of the Eagle County municipal building Sunday afternoon, with the words: "Grace Church Gathers Here," with the times for Sunday worship.
Continue Reading 6 comments February 21st, 2010
To understand the appeal of the Tea Party movement, a pundit need go no further than the assassination of President John F. Kennedy—or whomever, dude.
Continue Reading 2 comments February 16th, 2010
In politics, to quote Yogi Berra: You don’t know nothin’—and that goes double for the Know Nothing Party.
The Grand Old Party, formerly known as “Republican,” has now officially adopted the “Just Say No” mantra in a way that not even Nancy Reagan could be proud of.
Continue Reading Add comment February 9th, 2010
The charade pertaining to gays in the military—I love you, man!—is all but over, but in the meantime military apologists on the right and the left need never ask nor tell about the elephantiasis of untouchable defense spending.
Continue Reading 17 comments February 3rd, 2010
As a talk show host, I am immensely gratified by the political career path yapping portends. I could become a talking points talking head like Mike Pence, the Congressman from Indiana who cut his bleep filling radio frequencies in his home state. I could wallow in the footsteps of J.D. Hayworth, the conservative former Congressman now ready to spank John McCain because the former Republican Presidential nominee is not nearly conservative enough. Or, if folks get scared enough about whatever, I could fold up my tent like Lou Dobbs of CNN and migrate toward the Presidential race in 2012, mumbling all the way about the way things are s’posed to be.
Were I conservative, I would have much to run on, but the beauty of my campaign is I would never have to revert to the facts. Were I to run I would take my lead from Karl Rove: the architect himself chided those sadly limited to “fact-based” stratagems. Facts are stubborn thing, for sure, but only if you care about them. Once you leggo things that actually happened, you can run happily as a conservative until the internet gives way to the outernet—about the time being “weak on climate change” becomes a right-wing talking point in 2050.
As a talk show host, I am immensely gratified by the political career path yapping portends. I could become a talking points talking head like Mike Pence, the Congressman from Indiana who cut his bleep filling radio frequencies in his home state. I could wallow in the footsteps of J.D. Hayworth, the conservative former Congressman now ready to spank John McCain because the former Republican Presidential nominee is not nearly conservative enough. Or, if folks get scared enough about whatever, I could fold up my tent like Lou Dobbs of CNN and migrate toward the Presidential race in 2012, mumbling all the way about the way things are s’posed to be.
Were I conservative, I would have much to run on, but the beauty of my campaign is I would never have to revert to the facts. Were I to run I would take my lead from Karl Rove: the architect himself chided those sadly limited to “fact-based” stratagems. Facts are stubborn thing, for sure, but only if you care about them. Once you leggo things that actually happened, you can run happily as a conservative until the internet gives way to the outernet—about the time being “weak on climate change” becomes a right-wing talking point in 2050.
Continue Reading 2 comments February 2nd, 2010
The mutually orgasmic chortle of the cognoscenti missed the point about the announcement of the Apple iPad by a citified mile because a preponderance of yappers were obsessed with where said tablet fell in the pluperfect Apple pantheon of digital inamorata.
Was it cellphone or laptop? Would it set the Kindle aflame? Would it render all that had come before pale paleocentric imitations of what was meant to be?
Or is it just a beloved billing mechanism that newspapers, magazines, and movie-makers have been looking for since Indiana Jones found the Holy Grail?
In the rush to slobber over one’s self, the real point of the iPad was either missed or dismissed in a whiff of epic proportions.
Continue Reading Add comment January 31st, 2010
In the summer of 2007 I reported from the Aspen Institute upon the “Death Of Newspapers Greatly Exaggerated” as put forth by William Dean Singleton, the chief bottle-washer at MediaNews Group, owner of the Denver Post, the San Jose Mercury, and multiple other newspapers across the country.
Now comes the news of the bankruptcy filing of Affiliated Media Inc., the MediaNews holding company, in a Chapter 11 shuffle that means, according to Singleton’s official statement, that “current shareholders will be losing the value of their holdings.” That’s right: if you owned stock, you just got wiped out faster than you can say “ShamWow.”
Continue Reading Add comment January 18th, 2010
