The Con Man and his callers discuss the life and times of NBC newsman Tim Russert, the host of "Meet The Press," and wonder what it means for journalism past, present, and future.
"When the historians look under the covers on civil rights," writes Post blogger Michael Conniff, "they are all but assured to see John McCain’s appearance on the “The Ellen Degeneres Show” as one of the great seminal (sic) moments in the history of gay emancipation. Ellen—the woman who came out famously on her late sit-com as a gay woman—asked the putative Republican Presidential nominee if he would not be willing to talk about “the elephant in the room” on her syndicated talk show. McCain, the blind man touching the rump of said pachyderm, walked right in the door of daytime television and came out with a snoutful."
[J]ournalists presume a mantle of authority based on an intellectual decorum they think most people would rather not bother with… Case in point, the Killian documents, submitted on 60 Minutes Wednesday (September 4, 2004) by then-host Dan Rather to impugn President Bush’s National Service Record. Blogger Charles Foster Johnson took a look at documents and realized that the typographical qualities—the leading, kerning, and superscripting—of the documents could not have been accomplished by any typewriter contemporaneous with Bush’s military service, c. 1973. Johnson created an animated .gif that plotted the scanned image of the Killian document over a Microsoft Word generated copy. The result? Don’t think for a moment that having a journalism degree makes you implicitly more diligent or thoughtful than the rest of humanity. I’d implore you to ask Dan Rather about this, but I’m fairly certain his answer would be a stalwart defense Killian document validity. Consider instead Mr. Rather’s relevance today.
Hauenstein email to Mayor Ireland and Council June 11
From: Ward Hauenstein
Sent: Wed 6/11/2008 7:34 AM
To: Dwayne Romero; J.E. DeVilbiss; Jack Johnson; Mayor Mick Ireland; Steve Skadron
Subject: Last night's work session
Greetings Council members,
Thank you your dedication to your duties. I fear I must write in private to express how stunned I was at the dressing down or spanking of Marilyn Marks at last night's work session. I have been working with Marilyn for the past few months now on the Housing Subcommittee. I suspect the public remarks attacking MM were a venting of steam from previous and numerous emails from her. I know what my inbox looks like with multiple Marilyn emails. I also know how much she drives her beliefs. In my position as chair of the Housing Subcommittee I sometimes feel like the parent telling the kids to just get along. The above remarks notwithstanding I was still embarrassed for her and for CC.
For far too long, conservatives have made political hay with the notion that they are the party of ideas and the party of values—even as they’ve held a far too timid opposition at bay for having neither.
Enough, already.
The free ride is over: conservatives have not had a new idea since The Gipper left office, and it’s about time we saw their “values” for what they really are—anti-American.
The news that the Wheeler Opera House will be home to a new comedy festival this Memorial Day is great news for Aspen, if not quite as good as the possibility that HBO might one day return for the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (USCAF).
The Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival is coming in a partnership between the Wheeler Opera House and the Rooftop Comedy operation based in San Francisco.
The USA immigration laws only use the word "immigrant" when the foreign-national obeys our laws. Thousands of Americans suffer frustration daily as to the invasion of our country by millions of ILLEGAL aliens. While more than 20-30 million aliens roam around our country, with 10% seasoned criminal aliens, our politicians and debate moderators worry whether one or the other candidate wears a lapel pin.
Post blogger Star Eagle sent a video link from Brasscheck TV to the Con Man this morning. If you've ever heard the Con Man's interview with Daryl Donley, this video will make you cringe--not because there's anything visually troubling to those familiar with 9/11 imagery, but because there's still people out there who buy this crap. But don't take our word for it. Decide for yourself:
If you’re like me, blognoscenti, then you might have wondered more than once how a previously enlightened smarty-pants celeb can switch so effortlessly to a philosophy found abhorrent but five minutes before.
I finally figured it out: these media converts from liberalism are all fake conservatives—not really conservative at all.
The question I would ask assembled parishioners today is whether you really know who your experts are. Take the case of global warming: without fail, if you wait long enough, those who say global warming is a hoax will trot out John Coleman, the founder of The Weather Channel, as if he is in possession of the holy grail of climate change.
