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Air America to feel right at home at XM Satellite Radio
Debbie Schlussel informs us that XM Radio is infested with the "Orthodox Liberal-Left". While she doesn't mention Air America, not that XM and AAR are now life partners.Debbie - who once personally responded to a comment I left on her blog and therefore who I can call by her first name - tells us that XM courted her for a "woman's" radio show, then complained about her unfettered, free-wheeling style:
...Oops! I offended the left-wing Ms. Reyer again. "You can't say 'skank' on the radio," she protested. "It will offend our listeners. You need to be more like PBS." How many PBS-watching 68-year-old cat-ladies--who stay home watching tax-subsidized specials on neo-feminist, pro-Palestinian, lesbian art from Antartica--do you think get satellite radio? Not many. But it's not like the liberal Reyer was in touch with that...
In the end, the women's channel, Take Five, ended up choosing audio of TV's "The Ellen Degeneres Show" and "The Tyra Banks Show" for its "flagship" programming. I suppose Banks' Oprah-light, Jerry Springer-esque White minstrel show is more acceptable than my use of the word "skank." Ditto for the Tyra episode on which her male doctor felt her up to prove to the world that her breasts are real. This is XM's idea of what upscale, satellite-radio-consuming women want.
When I got to Ms. Reyer's cubicle at XM headquarters, all was explained to me by the postings on the wall. Other than her son's drawing, there were just two items, but they told me everything I needed to know. First, there was a notice about Cindy Sheehan's bus tour, complete with Jane Fonda and vegetable fuel. I asked her why she had that up on her wall. "We're going to broadcast the tour on our channel," she told me. I asked her if she really thought women would be interested in hearing daily rantings by Hanoi Jane and Jihad Cindy. "Definitely. That's what our listeners, that's what a lot of women, want to hear..."
Posted in Meta at 11:26 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Air America's new Premium podcast service
AAR is going to start having a "premium" version of its podcast in January, sources reveal. Whether they will have a premium and a free version, or whether they'll do away with the free version is not known.
The person who listens to their pod cast now could not be reached for comment at post time.
Posted in Meta at 03:45 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Best Air America Radio commercial?
Have you ever listened to Air America? If so, what's the "best" commercial you've ever heard?
I think I read a post from someone who knew someone who read another post from someone who listened to AAR once, and they said they heard Cash Call commercials, you know, the ones where Gary Coleman promises you next-day money for a low, low monthly rate.
Speaking of which, I just ran across someone who is actually an AAR listener. And, he says that AAR's affiliate in Eden Prairie MN, KTNF, runs commercials selling eBay sales kits. Our correspondent complained about the quality of these spots in a truly liberal way ("your broadcasts play an important role in the reshaping of this country and help in staving off a potential slide into Fascism and Oligarchy"). The station president responded with the news that the ads would be stopping soon.
Anyway, if you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who heard AAR once, please leave their choice in the comments.
Posted in Meta at 09:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
It's a Randi Rhodes Christmas (tree)
Back in 1999, Randi Rhodes allegedly urinated on a Christmas tree at a party thrown by co-horts from WJNO, her station at the time.
Randi admits that she'd had a few martinis, but she maintains that she was just play-acting.
However, the party's hostess claims otherwise:
"I'm just happy the tree was on tile and not carpet"
On presumptive behalf of Randi and all her friends at Air America Radio, Happy Holiday Season.
Posted in RandiRhodes at 05:23 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
Marc Maron to be on KTLK
The former Morning Sedition host apparently sent out an email to his fan(s), which includes the following:
If all goes as planned I will have a new show on in the evenings here in LA on KTLK 1150 with Jim Earl and Brendan McDonald by the end of the month. The show will include the work of Kent Jones, Mike Ferucci and Bruce Cherry. There will be new contributors from the talent pool out here and as you know that is an Olympic size pool. We will be providing some separate content for Air America Mornings in NYC and for the web site. We will also be air some time on the weekends in New York.
Posted in AlsoRans at 07:42 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Randi Rhodes: we burned witches until the 1850s
According to this, Air America's screechiest host said the following:
"If little girls in America in 1851 got together and danced around a fir tree they would have been burned as withches! ...witches were burned in this country until the 1850s."
We're also informed that the last witch we evil Amurrikkkans killed was in 1713, and that was by hanging.
Posted in RandiRhodes at 07:38 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
"RADIO ENTREPRENEURS ARE NOT VISIONARIES"
I have absolutely no idea why I keep linking to Sheldon Drobny's screeds at the Huffington Post. Perhaps because they're so humorous to scan? Yeah, that's it. Here's the latest.
UPDATE: Apparently a sane HuffPo staffer has lowercased Sheldon's shouting. And, make sure and see the comment from "RothBard".
Posted in Sheldon Drobny at 04:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Ed Schultz: bought by the Democratic Party?
Was Ed Schultz "auctioned off" at a Democratic Party fundraiser? Is he a bought-and-paid-for DNC operative? A Randi Rhodes C-SPAN interview from December 18, 2005's Q & A show gives that impression. She describes how in 2002 - before Air America Radio was hatched - she and Big Ed were invited to a fundraiser at Sen. Mary Landrieu's house. Thirty Senators and other political operatives were at the lunch:...RHODES: And I was invited to this lunch. And again, it was, you know, democrat senators with an interest in media and getting our message out. And they thought that – they had had 30 people that they had spoken two, and it came down to two that they really liked and thought could do it. And it was me and this guy [Ed Schultz]...(Via this)
LAMB: From North Dakota?
RHODES: Yes. And he was there because Daschle was scarred.
LAMB: He's South Dakota, but he's from that area.
RHODES: Yes, I do that too. Anyway, I ...
LAMB: And they were going to select one of the two of you?
RHODES: They were – I don't know exactly what the plan was, I do now. I didn't that day. And all I know is that Ed got up and he made this big presentation. And then they looked at me and I thought was just there to have lunch. And I remember being terrific. I don't like public speaking, all that much. It's weird with people, you know, I'm so used to my little cubicle.
...RHODES: I didn't even know what I was supposed to be talking about. And the next thing I know I hear 250, 350. I hear and I think they're giving dollars, a silent auction, a charity. You know, they're giving to rescue aid. It turns out it was 250,000, 350,000.
LAMB: So these are business people in the...
RHODES: What it was, it was the best donors that the Senate could find for me. And this is the way Washington operates, so they were being kind.
LAMB: Did you like that when you saw that all of that?
RHODES: I hated it. I actually got on the air, and said I feel like I just got off the Amistad. I feel like I've just been on the slave auction block. Now I know what it feels like to be auctioned off.
LAMB: What were they going to do with the money?
RHODES: They were going to start a syndication for us. They were going to give us, you know, the money we needed to start it up.
LAMB: And Ed Schultz (ph) is now on Air America. [Actually, he's not a part of their network, he just appears on some of their stations -- BA]
RHODES: He took the money. I actually gave him the money that day. I stood outside. I did my broadcast in Washington that day. And I went downstairs and I said, you can have it. Whatever they raise, I don't want it. I'm just – first of all I'm not going to be mouthpiece for the party. I don't agree with a lot of the things that they say and do. And I need to be free to say so. I don't walk – I'm not a republican. I'm not a trained sheep. I'm not a lemming. I don't just follow...
Posted in Ed Schultz at 08:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club being evicted
The NY Post reports that the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club - the organization from which Air America Radio received a "startup loan" of $875,000 and which has (apparently) been paid back months and months later - is being evicted from Co-op City in the Bronx:"There was a time when they provided services for senior citizens, the frail and for youth," said Herbert Freedman, chief officer of Co-op City's management firm, Riverbay Corp. "Now it looks like it's for profit, since they charge $400 to $500 a month for day-care services. That's not why they were given the space."You'll recall that Air America Radio executive David Goodfriend (a former official in the Clinton White House) said that the former head of Wise, Charles Rosen, approved the loan: Fmr. Air America exec "sickened" by loan; "fraudulent conveyance". If that's not bad enough, there's some completely uncorroborated claims about Rosen here. That appears to be based on a 9/5/05 NY Post piece:
[Rosen] was known as "the Lenin of the North Bronx" while he led Co-op City's legendary rent strike.And, from this:
Charles Rosen was booted from the top post at the Bronx-based Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club in June 2005 after the city yanked $9.7 million of the agency's contracts and launched an investigation into the group's finances, including the loans.
Rosen, who engineered the loan to the radio network as it desperately sought cash to start up during the 2004 presidential campaign, is no stranger to leftist causes. Only this time, he used taxpayer money to promote a political agenda.
Once a printer for The Post, Rosen had belonged to the Communist Progressive Labor Party by the time he took the helm of the nation's largest rent strike during a 13-month standoff at Co-op City that ended in 1976.
Also in 1976, he wore a wire for Charles Hynes, then a special state prosecutor who investigated Rosen's claim that Assemblyman Alan Hochberg tried to bribe him with offers of a job and cash in order to keep Rosen from running against him.
Hochberg was convicted and sent to jail, while Rosen, with no more than a high-school diploma, was left to run the largest cooperative-apartment complex in the country, with about 50,000 residents.
Published reports......identified Rosen as coming from a family of Polish and Russian revolutionaries and said he claimed not to believe in electoral politics...
The chairman was New York Post printer Charles Rosen, who became a neighborhood "folk hero". Called "the Lenin of the North Bronx", Rosen was "a child of the old left whose Socialist politics [had] never been a secret in Co-Op City." [Jack Newfield How Profiteering and Patronage Helped Create Co-Op Citys Crisis" Village Voice November 24, 1975; Vivian Gornick "Can the Rent Strikers Beat the Establishment at Co-Op Cty?" The Village Voice November 24, 1975] Jack Newfield writing for the Village Voice in November, 1975, reportedHere's a fun task: draw all the links and connections between Rosen, AAR, the Clintons, etc. etc. Just be sure and stock up on pens first.One night I attended a tenants meeting in C-op City. Six hundred people packed a cinder-blocked basement community room. Most of the people in the room were in their sixties and seventies; neat, gray-haired, bespectacled; people who had worked all their lives and grown timid under the authority of near-poverty. Charlie Rosen walked into the room. Suddenly, hundreds of these people were on their feet shouting, applauding, raising their fists in the power sign, their eyes shining behind their union-discount glasses. [Jack Newfield How Profiteering and Patronage Helped Create Co-Op Citys Crisis" Village Voice November 24, 1975]
Posted in Meta at 12:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
It's a dark and stormy night at the Huffington Post
Nearly side-by-side, Al Franken and Air America co-founder Sheldon Drobny have columns at the HuffPost.
Stuart muses on candy. No, really. It's part of Arianna's attempt to leaven the leaden posts at HP with lighter fare (which, coincidentally, will probably trigger higher paying ads. That's just a coincidence I'm sure.)
I posted a comment, but I declined to say something about how good the Boys & Girls Club candy is. Feel free to have at it.
Drobny's post is a bit longer and even stranger. In fact, he's "sharing" Chapter 8 from his book The Road To Air America. It's entitled the "New Lost History Chapter", and it has something to do with the suppression of "liberal" values.
Super secret bit for regular BA readers: this is not a take-off on someone mentioned in this post.
UPDATE: Drobny provides yet another exposition, this time offering a "CORRECTION" on "Organized Religion and God". And, once again, I want to assure my regular BA readers that this did not inspire that super-secret link above.
Posted in StuartSmalley at 03:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
This blog is good enough and smart enough
First of all, I'd like to thank the twenty or thirty people who voted for this site in its Weblog Awards category. Unfortunately, BA ended up in penultimate position with around 1.5% of the vote. Which, come to think of it, is quite similar to the ratings for almost all of AAR's stations. But, despite that crushing loss, I will persevere in my campaign to spread the truth about Air America Radio.
Posted in Blog at 11:22 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Sexist pig Al Franken to degrade womyn for money
Starting in January, Al Franken is going to provide a video newscast for his listener(s), available as a podcast of some kind.
He'll be reading the news. Kinda.
Actually, it will feature his voice, but the visuals will be provided by attractive underwear models lip-synching. No, this is not a joke, the press release is here, via this. There will be a male and a female version, so both sexes can be degraded and objectified with equal hate.
I have written a poem about this:
Shame, shame, shame on you, Al Franken!
Shame, Franken, your humanity has been taken!
Hatemonger, sexist, racist, hate-filled pig.
Franken, stop oppressing
womyn. Al, for shame!
Posted in StuartSmalley at 06:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Lady Bunny on Jerry Springer on Tookie Williams
"Lady Bunny" is a "Southern transvestite showgirl", and she informs us that on or about December 13, Jerry Springer:
was advocating that state executions be broadcast on tv. "If it's not to disturbing to be done then it's not too disturbing to be seen"--to paraphrase him. It's a good point. If you are advocating the death penalty, be prepared to watch it. Maybe we'd even develop a taste for it like the ancient Romans or bring back pillories in town squares. Jerry also made the point that centuries ago, we did many things which would disgust people today.
Then, "Bunny" launches into reciting the false talking points which Hollywood celebs and various other far-lefties have planted in his little mind, complete with a creepy pic of the left's newest martyr. I'm not going to bother repeating anything else, but if you're from a marketing department or something you might want to read it as an example of how gullible and superficial some people can be. The Air America audience defined.
Posted in PureClass at 11:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Franken not just "funny" but "very smart", audience member says
If you read "Al Franken slings punch lines and barbs in his appearance" you'll notice that something is missing. Namely, any possible downsides to his shtick. In fact, the two-page article could have been written by his publicist, including this:Sure, Franken's funny, said Heidi Kumao of Ann Arbor, one of the audience members in the theater, but his appeal is more than just joke-telling. "He's also just very smart,'' she said. "He knows his facts, his statistics. He knows all the players in the political game. He's not just joking.''And, he's humble! And, gosh darn it, people like him. The article notes that 13 audience members got to ask him questions. I urge my readers to visit his future appearances and ask him questions he can't answer. Then, leave a comment here about it since it would probably never be printed in your local paper.
Posted in StuartSmalley at 08:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Lifestyles of the rich and slightly famous "liberals"
Peak behind the velvet rope in this 'difficult to understand since you've never heard of anyone involved' story.Flavia Colgan is apparently an MSNBC commentator who also posts at - where else - the HuffPost. She auctioned herself off on eBay - clean requests only please! - and a real estate developer won. However, he decided to give the winnings to two Iraq War vets. And, in an ironic twist as you'll see, the money raised goes to a... Boys & Girls club, although not Gloria Wise.
Now, for the promised irony:
Soltz and Zacchea [the vets] were to be limoed to the MSNBC TV studio in Secaucus, N.J., to meet program hosts Tucker Carlson, Joe Scarborough and Keith Olbermann. They'll watch Colgan tape a show with Carlson.Let's see: rich "liberals" limoing around and hobnobbing with lobbyists and special interest groups at a Hilton-owned ritzy hotel eating steak and drinking champagne. Money to be used to build character. Arianna connection. Garofalo connection. True liberals wouldn't rest until everyone in the world got their own steak and champagne.
Then it's back to Manhattan tonight for a steak dinner and a bottle of Dom Perignon, a taping of Janeane Garofalo's "Air America" radio show and a round of parties at the Waldorf-Astoria.
Pennsylvania Society attracts most of the state's top politicians and the lobbyists, law firms and special interest groups that adore them. Soltz, who also served in Kosovo as a tank platoon leader, says he loves the Army and MSNBC. His favorite commentator is Scarborough, he said, "but a lot of 28-year-old guys in Iraq wouldn't mind being chauffered around New York City by Flavia Colgan."
Colgan, meanwhile, was sounding a bit like one of the blonde conservatives she often debates.
"Liberals often try to portray our soliders in Iraq as from poor backgrounds," she said. "I think it's condescending to say they had no option but to join the military. Both of these guys had tons of options, but chose to serve their country. "
Colgan's outfits for the evening were selected by Charlie Lapson, stylist for the hit TV show "Desperate Housewives," so watch out, guys.
The money raised by the auction will go toward the Smart Moves program, said Thierry Malley, state director of Pennsylvania Area Council of Boys and Girls Clubs.
"It's a character-building program for kids 6 to 18," Malley said. "We counsel them on making the right decisions, to stay away from drugs, alcohol and smoking."
Posted in Janeane at 10:30 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Did Senator Smalley lie about Iraq's WMD?
Yesterday we brought you news of Al Franken's appearance on the Joe Scarborough show, where he talked about Iraq, WMD, and Bush versus Clinton. On the show he claimed that the Duelfer Report said that Clinton's '98 attack destroyed all Iraq's remaining WMD.
Now, the first comment here says that the Duelfer Report says no such thing, and there's more information on that here.
If true, can you trust anything else "Senator" Smalley says?
Posted in StuartSmalley at 05:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Inside Al Franken's tortured mind
Now, through this exclusive offer, you can watch Al Franken on Scarborough Country trying to spin the presence of WMD in Iraq.
You see, Bill Clinton's missile strikes on 1998 destroyed all of Saddam's WMD. But, when Clinton and Gore said in 2002 that Saddam still had WMD, they only did that because they didn't have the access to intelligence that Bush had. And, when George Tenet said it was a "slam dunk", he was referring to making the case for war, not to the presence of said weapons.
Posted in StuartSmalley at 09:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Jerry Springer offers advice for Dr. Phil
And, he did so on the Joe Scarborough Show. MSNBC headlines their report/transcript "Springer weighs in on issues facing Dr. Phil", which sounds like something you might read in a (just as a fr'instance) Indian or Filipino newspaper involving two national celebrities that you've never heard of. The surreality continues throughout:...SCARBOROUGH: All of a sudden, he seems to be getting out of his wheelhouse and looking kind of goofy. That's what Dr. Phil would say about himself, if he were taking himself on the couch, saying he is being goofy here. At what point does he start endangering this empire?
SPRINGER: Well, obviously, if there's a successful lawsuit against him and his credibility is then questioned, his empire is in danger then...
Posted in PureClass at 05:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
American Forces Radio welcomes Ed Schultz, Franken, Hannity
The Big Dumb Ed Schultz Show has finally hit American Forces Radio. Only the first hour will be heard, together with the first hours of the Al Franken Show and the Sean Hannity Show.
However, since "liberals" need a constant state of war, there's a new battlefield for them to bring their daisies to: some affiliates that broadcast over the air may or may not decide to air some or all of those fine choices. While cable listeners will be subjected to the dulcet stammerings of Stuart Smalley, others may be spared.
Posted in Ed Schultz at 11:38 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Vote for this site in the Weblogs Awards
Please vote for this site here.
And, please also vote for our sister site Lonewacko.com in this category.
More suggestions here, but those are the most urgent.
Posted in Blog at 10:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sheldon Drobny declares war on Huffington Post, liberal elites
As previously discussed, Air America Radio co-founder Sheldon Drobny called out all rich liberals in a post at the HuffPost.
His latest post is now available, but I'd suggest saving it off if you want to read it again. He repeats his claim that rich "liberals" refuse to fund things like "liberal" radio, then throws down the gauntlet:
In the movie The Shaw Shank Redemption, the character played by Tim Robbins, Andy Dufresne, wrote a letter every week to the governor of the state to get funding for the prison library. It took him years to get a check for a few hundred dollars. After he got the check, he kept on writing his letters every week. That is what I plan to do with the Huffington Post until I either get banned from the blog or guilt these mega millionaires to start supporting projects other than those that feather their own nest or their inflated egos.
Speaking of movies, isn't something like that usually followed by a shot of the agitator being shown the door?
Then, he insults those who he wants to give him money:
And the hypocrisy of these Hollywood elites is mind boggling. While they complain about the MSM, they are making obscene money for 20th Century Fox which is owned by Ruppert Murdoch. They continue making money for Time/Warner, NBC, Disney, and Viacom. Disney owns ABC Radio which is the major broadcaster of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. These successful Hollywood actors, producers, and directors can be in a position to do things their own way and work with their own companies. It is time for these people to know that without the talent, the studios would be lost.
Then, he insults the HuffPost itself:
I hope the readers on this blog will catch this post while it is on the most recent post list. I certainly do not expect this to be a featured post. That is reserved for the elites who complain about things a lot but not much more. The featured post section is for all the elite journalists, directors, producers, and actors. I can't wait to see David Mamet's next cartoon.
Posted in Sheldon Drobny at 02:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Al Franken mocks a legless Vietnam veteran
Al Franken did his show from Asheville NC on Wednesday, before which he conducted an interview with a local station. One of those who conducted the local interview reports:
I then went to this live show of his to report on the turn out and the first 10 minutes is blasting my interview and one of the many callers (who actually saved the entire show). A Vietnam veteran is a regular caller to the show, he gave one of the ultimate sacrifices for his country...his legs. During the show, Al said "thank you for your service to our country" when the gentleman mentioned his tour of duty. This man is far more intelligent than Al could even begin to imagine. During HIS show [Al Franken's show --BA] is gave him a hillbilly accent and spoke as if he had a learning disability (ironic for Al by the way) and proported him to be an idiot.
Another listener heard this:
In the first fifteen minutes, [Franken] mocked and made fun of one of the finest Americans I know. This fine American lost his legs in Vietnam, but still does more for his community than most able-bodied people I know. He called in on Spindoctor's show to ask Al a question, and was absolutley respectful. Al even said "thank you for your service" before the call was over. But, just a few short hours later, he was making pop-shots and mocking this fine American for a national audience. I have absolutely NO respect for anybody who'd be this two-faced to somebody who gave such a sacrifice for his country.
There's more angles to this story, including where "broker" devastates AAR's claims about ratings and markets. (Thread via this)
Posted in StuartSmalley at 12:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Does Janeane Garofalo need a booster seat?
The bus stop at Sunset and Fountain on the far eastern edge of Hollywood features the ad you see above. As I drove by it all I could think of is "Janeane Garofalo is almost that short. I wonder if she'd be a borderline case for having to drive with a booster seat?"
I really don't know why I thought that.
Of course, I also wondered exactly why the fuck the U.S. government has so much free time on its hands that it can create a whole site dedicated just to promulgating the news that anyone below 4'9" needs a booster seat. Will government inspectors begin flagging down motorists to check? Don't they have better things to do?
UPDATE: I try to answer the eternal question: Is Janeane Garofalo a lesbian? I also offer ways that Janine Garrofalo can get the help she needs.
Posted in Janeane at 05:17 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
