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Oregon man takes Al Franken's radio slot
The Associated Press reports that an Oregon man has taken Al Franken's radio slot. The man's name is "Thom Hartmann".
Posted in Thom Hartmann at 08:51 PM | Comments (3)
JEFF FARIAS ADDED TO NOVA M LINEUP IN PHOENIX
Breaking, earth-shattering news from the Sheldon Drobny compound outside Rockford, Illinois: Jeff Farias - former co-host of the Truth to Power Hour on previous Air America Phoenix station KXXT - has been added to Nova M's drivetime afternoon schedule. His co-host on the previous show was loony leftie and Arizona state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema; whether she'll be dropping by occasionally or just busying herself with crafting un-Constitutional legislation isn't known.
In other news of interest to Drobny's followers, the Mike Malloy program will be coming to XM Satellite Radio channel 167 "sometime in early March".
Posted in AlsoRans at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
Air America bailout: worth nothing? (a rebuttal)
[The following post is from "biff", a frequent contributor to the blog at democrats.org, who also posts under other names at DailyKos and other sites. This site distances itself from his remarks, but as part of our plea agreement is required to carry it.]
Well, it looks like Lyin' Balloney is up to his old tricks again, claiming that the sale of Air America is little more than an accounting scam and that AAR actually had zero value. First of all, I think this "lawyer" he talks about does'nt exist and is in fact Balloney himself. Sheldon Drobny is almost a lawyer, and he already gave his thoughts on the matter and he said it was a bad thing but he didnt say it was worth nothing he said it was worth something. Second of all, "nothing" is not "nothing", its something. Nothingness exists, as surely as something does. Third of all, even if what he says is true, they didn't have to pay someone to takeover Air America, so it's not like it was a negative amount or antyhing. Fourth of all, I've looked into this and I knoe he's wrong.
The Bush Crime Family and Rethugnantcons will say and do anything to drive liberal, progressive, and socialistic talk off the air. Keep a watchful eye peeled for their attempts to do that.
UPDATE: This site would like to make it perfectly clear that "biff"'s comments are his alone, and the mention of "democrats.org" above was only meant to identify another site where "biff" leaves comments (example). The word "comment leaver" should have been used instead of "contributor", and we would like to make it clear that "biff" is not associated with "democrats.org", "democrats.com", "dailykos.com", or the other sites where he and his aliases leave the occasional comment.
Posted in Meta at 11:58 AM | Comments (9)
Source: beneficent Jupiter to help Al Franken
I think I've located Al Franken's new campaign manager:
...[Al Franken]'s Sun is within 15 minutes of a conjunction to Mars in Gemini, and this strengthens the Gemini influence even more, giving him a strong drive (Mars) to communicate his opinions and ideas. The conjunction of Mars to the Sun often bestows a tremendous amount of physical energy and an aggressive or assertive personality that is not afraid to express one's own needs and desires. Over the past six years many of us that lean to the left have become very angry at what we view as the destruction of the political process and global good will that the Bush administration has created, and Al Franken is no exception. This has gained him the reputation on the right of being an angry person, but this is not shown in his chart. Aggressive, yes. Fearless in his self-expression, yes (both shown by the Mars/Sun combination). But not angry...
Coming soon: ridding Stuart Smalley of his BodyThetans.
Posted in StuartSmalley at 10:28 PM | Comments (1)
Al Franken's first fib (as a Senate candidate)
Al Franken has assuredly told many fibs in his career, but on Monday in Rochester, Minnesota he spoke to a "packed audience" and told them the first publicly-noted fib as a Senate candidate. Now, bear in mind that if Bill Clinton parsed what he said it would be technically accurate, but others will probably not see it that way:
He says he wanted to run for U.S. Senate earlier, but a radio show stopped him... "I didn't want to wait any longer, I was doing Air America, I was under contract. I honor my contracts and so this was the earliest I could do it."
The actual fact is that he's been in effect running for Senator for several months now, masquerading it as "considering" a run for Senate. He also formed a PAC and began doling out Hollywood money, most likely in the hope of receiving support in return. And, he's also been making statements about his presumed opponent, Sen. Norm Coleman.
Posted in StuartSmalley at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)
Al Franken wants a massive amnesty for illegal aliens
In an interview, Al Franken said that he's a supporter of "comprehensive immigration reform". That phrase is a euphemism used by Bush and the Democrats for a massive illegal alien amnesty combined with a "guest" worker program.
The Bush/Democrats scheme will flood the U.S. with new legal immigrants, particularly through chain migration: family members can invite in other family members, and the latter will invite in family members of their own, on and on and on. An original estimate was close to 100 million new Americans over the next twenty years; that estimate was since reduced to "only" about 65 million.
But, wait, that's not all: millions and millions of potential illegal aliens around the world will see the scheme that Franken supports for what it is: a massive amnesty. And, they'll come a-running.
Think illegal immigration is bad now? Wait until "reform".
Still not convinced? Look into Mexico's constant attempts to meddle in our internal politics, and the political power they have inside the U.S. Several well-known organizations - including the ACLU, SPLC, AFSC, MALDEF, SEIU and more - have indirect links to the Mexican government. Franken's massive amnesty would give that foreign government tremendous pull inside the U.S. and allow them to engage in hitherto unknown level of political influence.
Oh, did I add that all those that would be put on the "path to citizenship" that Franken supports would jump in the citizenship line ahead of those potential legal immigrants who've been waiting patiently in other countries for their chance to come to the U.S.? Yeah, it would screw them too.
Is it that Al can't figure that out, or that he doesn't care?
Posted in StuartSmalley at 08:43 PM | Comments (1)
Bankrupt Air America has a new owner
Break out the Night Train, because Air America Radio has been sold! U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain has approved the $4.25 million sale to Stephen Green:...[The approval] essentially transfers all the assets of Piquant LLC, parent company of the New York-based Air America, to a group including new and current investors.
It gives a majority stake to Green Family Media LLC, an entity controlled by Green, and a minority stake to Democracy Allies LLC. That group includes RealNetworks Inc. Chief Executive Robert Glaser and two former Air America board members...
...A committee of creditors had objected to the deal, arguing that it benefited insiders such as Glaser and that creditors had been victims of a "bait and switch."
Creditors said that they had originally been promised a distribution of 8.5 cents on the dollar under a deal that fell through, compared to the 1 cent per dollar under this deal. That bid had been submitted by individuals who were not previously affiliated with Air America.
Democracy Allies was formed to lend money to the debtor when it entered bankruptcy in October. In addition to Glaser, the group includes former board members Terry Kelly and Douglas Kreeger. The SL Green sale gives it a minority stake and full payment of a $3.25 million loan...
...The deal will allow Piquant to pay back its loan to Democracy Allies, pay $526,000 to resolve back rent and building costs at its headquarters and pay $500,000 for creditor claims.
Lawyers said in court that contracts with the radio network's talent were being renegotiated. Klestadt declined to comment on Friday about what would happen to existing claims...
Posted in Meta at 12:39 PM | Comments (1)
Poll: Norm Coleman would beat Al Franken in landslide
KSTP - a known "house organ" for Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman - begins their anti-Al Franken coverage with "POLL: Coleman would easily trump Franken". According to them and Survey USA, the incumbent would get 57 percent vs. just 35 for the challenger. And, Franken's numbers are similar to those of Mike Ciresi, a possible DFL challenger. The poll's internals are gloated upon here.
Posted in StuartSmalley at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
Ed Schultz Standoff Day 2: "Air America sucks!"
Yesterday, "Big Dumb" Ed Schultz barricaded himself inside his studios in Fargo, North Dakota and launched into an extended, multi-hour rant against Air America. You can hear a four-minute version - with "Baby Elephant Walk" disturbingly added - in this MP3. You can hear the whole thing here. You can read more about this here and here. (The last link isn't a permalink because AAR's getting so much traffic that GeoCities doesn't let them have permalinks).
Apparently this goes back to the time that Ed and Sam Seder were alone out on the prairie, and there was only one sheep around. Oh, wait, that's not it, but it does have to do with resource contention. See, as previously discussed, Schultz is moving into Al Franken's old time slot on XM Satellite Radio. Seder wants that time slot to be reserved for AAR's Thom Hartman. There's reportedly even a petition involved, but I couldn't find it.
My goal at this site will be to try to make this situation even worse. Is there some way I could get Stephanie Miller to turn on Ed? Could I get Randi Rhodes to turn on Seder? Could I petition Dennis Kucinich to come up with legislation mandating what appears when on XM? If you have any suggestions on how I could worsen the situation for both Jones Radio and Air America, please leave a comment.
Note from the management: do you know how much time I put into that darn Al Franken video? Please go here and watch it, and send that link or the link in the other post to all your friends.
Posted in Ed Schultz at 11:11 PM | Comments (1)
Drobny: investigate the Air America bankruptcy sale!
Air America Radio co-founder Sheldon Drobny says the AAR bankruptcy sale should be investigated. Then, he informs us that the unsecured creditors are objecting to the sale of the network to Stephen Green. Then:
Below are some of the points raised in this objection which validate my assumption that the 3 former directors and the Green group are in an unholy alliance to take over AAR on the cheap. They are not the least bit concerned about who they screw in the process despite the fact that they are supposed to be liberals and fair minded. If the judge in this case grants permission for this sham sale, it will confirm again the fact that the Bankruptcy Court is the worst example of crony capitalism.
Then, he excerpts the only-of-interest-to-accountants details of the objection.
----
Say, have you seen the Al Franken video I made about his final day at the network? It's really good. Please go here or here. Oh, and don't be shy about spreading those links around, ya hear?
Posted in Sheldon Drobny at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)
Al Franken's last day: live coverage
Following an extremely exciting Tom Oliphant segment, Al Franken is now upping the tempo (as if that were possible!), bringing on Joe Conason to pimp his new book, "It can happen here". Al knew that Sinclair Lewis was from Minnesota, but seemed a bit unclear on the meaning of the word "dystopian". Conason jumped in, defining it in terms even Franken could understand: "the opposite of utopian".
Is there a Tivo for radio? Even better, can't IBM or someone come up with a voice recognition thing that would create a live transcript? It's not that bad, it's just that there's an exciting show on the Paint Drying Channel that I'd rather be watching.
Alright! It's going to get even more exciting in the next episode, which will feature "Stormin' Norman" Ornstein. Boo yah!
Just leave already. He's dividing the exit into two segments. The first with the news that he's going, and the second with the news of what he's doing.
WHAT!?!?!? Al Franken is running for Senate? I never expected to hear him say that!
Here's a video tribute - une homage - to Franken:
(For some reason Youtube pulled the video I uploaded there.)
Posted in StuartSmalley at 10:37 AM | Comments (2)
Al Franken tearfully leaves radio, announces Senate run
In a tearful, emotion-filled program, actor, comedian, radio host, author, and now politician Al Franken announced on his show on Wednesday that he's leaving the air waves in order to run for Senate from Minnesota. He said this was a sad Valentine's Day, but his present to the nation was his running for office.
Wednesday's show may go down in history for its emotional depth, featuring as it did several close friends of Franken as well as associates from Air America. Progressive, liberal, and socialist politicians and pundits dropped by or listened in.
In a career of remarkable feats - who can ever forget Stuart Smalley and his "daily affirmations", or the transmission antenna bowl thing strapped to his helmet on that TV show he was on - this show will go down in history as among those.
Like Janus at the gates, I say, "Goodbye, Al Franken, mind the door. But, welcome too. We wish you well!"
11/4/2008 UPDATE: Franken fought a good effort, but it appears that, unfortunately, he just wasn't good enough. This site sends its congratulations to the new Senator from Minnesota, fellow comic Scott Thompson (Carrot Top, not the guy from Kids in the Hall).
Posted in StuartSmalley at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)
Big Dumb Ed Schultz back on XM 167
Next week, crypto-conservative Ed Schultz will be taking over Al Franken's spot on XM Satellite Radio's channel 167, DUmmies say. Schultz is currently only heard for one hour per day, and even that's tape-delayed.
Bonus: keep wallowing through the thread to read the righteous smackdown of those bourgeoise people who engage in "middle-class left liberalism".
And, in what must assuredly be a satire by a reich-wing plant, another DUmmie has a remarkable suggestion:
If every member (101,009) contributed 50 bucks a piece, we could buy Air America at auction. The starting bid is 4.6 million. Are own radio station.... on second thought....
In other DUmm news, this hour's top frightened DUmmie is the one who posted this thread while undergoing a nervous breakdown: "Did anybody hear about the bees? This frightens me alot".
Posted in Ed Schultz at 02:53 PM | Comments (1)
L.A. City Beat article on Harrison taps out my humor reservoir
It happened like this. I saw this article from L.A. City Beat magazine written by their editor, Dean Kuipers. It concerns not just the no-last-name star of the local show "Harrison on the Edge", but Air America's Los Angeles affiliate KTLK and AAR in general as well.
As I scanned the article and looked at the photos - including the mug shot with the 70s-era courthouse wood paneling and the bad posture and the lack of makeup and the fake action pose from the cover and all the rest - my humor reservoir was simply overloaded and I was caught with humor flowing in all directions and unable to manage the flow I decided to let visitors have at it. Accordingly, do your worst.
Posted in AlsoRans at 02:09 PM | Comments (2)
Drobny: most Air America creditors to get shafted
Professional accountant and Air America Radio co-founder Sheldon Drobny has heartening news for all those who are owed money by the network: you're only getting $500,000 to share between all of you.
Apparently, the scheme worked like this:
...Rob Glaser, Terry Kelly, and Doug Kreeger started funding the post bankruptcy operations with what is called "debtor in possession" (DIP) loans. DIP loans always have priority of payment in a Chapter 11 proceeding. The DIP loan as of the most recent court filing was $3.25M and there are outstanding preferred creditor payments totaling about $500,000. Therefore, the net proceeds from the $4.25M sale available to all other creditors are $500,000. All the investors and virtually all the creditors have been abandoned despite their strong support and belief in AAR.
You'll be delighted to know that everything worked out OK for Sheldon:
There is an old Yiddish word, beshert, which means that it was meant to be. I believe that the recent events concerning AAR were beshert and that it was the best thing that ever happened to the Drobnys in our efforts to make a positive impact on the way the MSM operates.
Posted in Sheldon Drobny at 11:07 AM | Comments (1)
Clear Channel conspiracy against Air America... revealed!
Has Clear Channel been conspiring to cancel Air America and libtalk in general from the airwaves? The shocking truth can now be revealed in this post.
It worked like this. CC put AAR on the weakest stations in their markets, then sold packages of advertising for all their other stations in the market except for AAR. Through some mechanism that I can't understand, that undercut AAR's ad sales. Plus, with CC putting AAR on the weakest station, no stronger station in the market could carry it. This whole plan was so fiendishly clever that I still have trouble understanding it. But, I know it must be true:
This is what they planned all along; put the shows on shitty stations, do everything possible to NOT sell advertising, and then claim low ratings and an inability to sell ads to not only to rationalize their getting rid of the programs, but to poison the water for other station owners, who might be thinking about picking up the programming, but can't afford to lose money.
Special note: Clear Channel agents monitor all Internet traffic. THEY KNOW YOU READ THIS. I urge you to immediately clear your cookies and cache, and even get a whole new browser. I enjoy Firefox, what about you? And, if you see any newish black Chevrolet Impalas, or strange pizza or plumbing vans, immediately leave town. They know that you know that they know that you know.
Posted in Meta at 08:57 PM | Comments (2)
Air America's winning bid: $4.25 million
The results of the eBay auction to sell failed and bankrupt radio network Air America are in, and the winning bidder is slgreen2005, which is reportedly the nick of real estate developer Stephen L. Green. He is reportedly scrambling to put enough money in his PayPal account to pay for the sale, which was conducted by a user known only by the nick "agoregsorosssmalley".
"slgreen2005" will repay $3.25 million in loans AAR received. But, since it received much more than that in loans some will end up with pennies on the dollar (or some might get shafted altogether). Whether those who are owed non-loan money (such as Mike Piazza) will get anything isn't clear.
Green's company will also give Piquant LLC $500,000 and pay off up to $500,000 in network debts (the bulk of which, $349,000, is owed to the network's Manhattan landlord). Green's bid topped by more than $1.25 million the nearest offer received by Air America, according to a motion filed along with the purchase agreement... While Green controls the corporation purchasing Air America, two of the firms that were pre-bankruptcy investors in the radio network will "collectively own a minority interest" in the Green company.
Of course, the $4.25 mil is small change to someone who owns a billion dollars worth of properties, but bear in mind that that's just the down payment: he'll have to shell out several million per year to keep AAR on the air.
To help him out, I have a few tips:
- massively increase the varieties of items sold in AAR's CafePress store: license plate frames, keychains, ballpoint pens, the sky's the limit!
- join the Ben & Jerry's affiliate program
- to save money, put Marc Green on the air for 12 hours each day
- conduct a month-long fundraising event featuring Deepak Chopra giving away The Best of Barbra Streisand
- introduce the AAR Super Associates program: for $500 they get three tote bags
- convert AAR's financial structure into a more "communal" type of thing: from each to their abilities, etc.
Posted in Meta at 11:49 AM | Comments (1)
Celebrity Congress! Franken would bring humor, laughs, fun
College newspapers - such as the NYT, LAT, WaPo and the rest - infamously featured a string of articles in which they lionized Al Franken and also "reported" that he was considering running for Senate.
Now, the MSM is starting Round 2, featuring articles describing what a Franken run would be like. Let's make fun of "reporter" Matthew Jaffe for a bit:
The NFL, Saturday Night Live and Major League Baseball might not seem like ideal breeding grounds for budding politicians, but come 2008 that could all change. With the likes of former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, comedian Al Franken and current Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling all being mentioned as possible candidates in next year's elections, viewers of C-Span might soon be wondering if they are watching "SportsCenter" or Comedy Central instead.
Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! No, really: ho-ho-ho-ho-ho. I haven't laughed that hard since... well, I don't know when! Jaffe is truly a card.
Barr sees Franken's background as a comedian and talk show host as both a challenge and a strength.
I don't know who this "Barr" is, but he's right: that chair throwing incident and all the rest will indeed come back to haunt the Air America host.
Posted in StuartSmalley at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
Air America exits KQDS 1490 AM (Duluth)
I used to think "Duluth" was just a punchline or something, but apparently it's a real city in "Minnesota", a state somewhere north of Canada. Anyway, they appear to have dropped liberal talk, including not only some Air America shows but Big Ed Schultz as well. They're still listed as an AAR affiliate, but that means nothing. They broadcast with an awesome 1,000 Watts of Big Power, which is no doubt heard all over the local area except when someone is using a microwave oven. They don't even have their own website, leaving a fan to create one for them.
Special note for liberals: their sister TV station is a Fox affiliate, so this move is also apparently part of the conspiracy.
Posted in Meta at 08:51 PM | Comments (2)
Fun: the $35 prank for Air America listeners you know
Kids! Adults! Want to play a fun, harmless prank on your favorite Air America listener? (Of course, there's about a .000001% chance that anyone you know is an Air America listener, but read on just in case).
What if you could spend just $35... and make that listener think Air America had gone off the air? It wouldn't be that big of a shock, because they've probably already been expecting it. So, after you reveal the jolly jape you played on them you can both have a hearty laugh and they can go back to listening to Randi Rhodes screech at them.
OK, are you ready for the fun?
All you need to do is get this kit. Then, attach its input to a tape loop playing "We're sorry, but this Air America station has gone off the air. Join us next week for Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Michael Savage, and The Best of Tony Snow." Or, simply connect it to the output of another radio station set to your local Fox News or oldies station. Then, tune the transmitter to the frequency of your local Air America affiliate and place it near the "mark"'s radio. Then, just sit back and watch the fun, as they have an emotional breakdown while frantically posting to DU.
Bonus tip! Video tape the event and upload it to Youtube.
Posted in Meta at 08:39 PM | Comments (4)
Cliff Schecter beats the right-wing noise machine!
Terrific news from deep inside the trenches, as Comrade Cliff Schecter informs us that he's beat the right-wing noise machine:
We don't have FoxNews. We don't have Rush Limbaugh... But we have something almost as powerful, if recent events tell an accurate story. We have synergy. Coordination. Call it what you will.
He goes on to relate how he started a new site called The Real John McCain (therealmccain.com). Now, since Schecter doesn't have access to Fox News or Rush, he had to do a lot of work to overcome the massive right-wing bias of the news media.
First, he broke open his piggybank and used what little money he had printing up some mimeographed copies of a screed describing the site. Then, working with his partner in the venture ("filmmaker Robert Greenwald and his fantastic team at Brave New Films"), he was "mentioned on almost every medium-sized and high-traffic progressive blog". He was featured on the Young Turks show on Air America. He was featured on Alternet. The Los Angeles Times did a front-page story on his effort. They got mentioned in a San Francisco Chronicle blog.
Now, if you're thinking that that's prima facie evidence of a liberal media bias, you're completely wrong. If there were liberal bias, they would have gotten the front pages of the WaPo and the NYT, and they haven't (yet). And, of course, they don't have Rush or Fox News, so liberals don't control everything. Yet.
Posted in Meta at 04:09 AM | Comments (0)
