Here is a clip from Countdown on msnbc discussing Fox News’ obsession with what FNC personalities are calling “indoctrination” of our youth. The video shows singing children from February (Black History Month), seven months ago! Keep in mind that the children brought home notices and no outrage was shown before, during, or after, until now, seven months later from Fox News. Then, of course, you have O’Reilly, Hannity, et al claiming this never happened with Bush. msnbc provides the video showing that it did, in fact, happen with Bush too. At about 4:40 into the video, Eric Burns from Media Matters, points out the legal issues surrounding the fact that the original video shown by Fox News did not have the children’s faces blurred.

Sean Hannity, in California, spoke about the drought conditions for farmers and demanded that President Obama and the government stop meddling and provide more water for irrigation. Jon Stewart points out that it was the government who first brought the irrigation to the farmers, so without the government’s meddling, they’d be farming dirt… Then, of course, there’s the lesson involving the food chain, a lesson Hannity must have missed in grade school.

The official White House blog, once again, takes Fox News to task over falsehoods and, this time, their partisan attack over the Olympics, of all things…

Original Story

The response to Glenn Beck’s lawyers regarding the Glenn Beck 1990 meme web site has finally been released (pdf)  and it’s definitely a good read. In it, the respondent’s lawyer makes his case as to why it was inappropriate for the complaint (pdf) to have gone to WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) in Geneva. It also asserts that Beck must think his fans are “hurried morons,” if he thinks anyone would confuse this site with his.

“We are not here because the domain name could cause confusion. We do not have a declaration from the president of the international association of imbeciles that his members are blankly staring at the Respondent’s website wondering ‘where did all the race baiting content go?’ We are here because Mr. Beck wants Respondent’s website shut down. He wants it shut down because Respondent’s website makes a poignant and accurate satirical critique of Mr. Beck by parodying Beck’s very rhetorical style.”

The “moron in a hurry” test deals with trademark confusion, in that if a moron were on their way home from a long day at work, and saw the offending message, would they be confused… The response includes the following observation:

“It is specious at best for Mr. Beck to assert that his fans, or the public as a whole, would confuse Respondent’s website with Mr. Beck himself—unless of course it is Mr. Beck’s view that his fans and the average internet user are in fact hurried morons. Respondent presumes that this is not how Mr. Beck regards his audience. And, even if he does so regard his audience, this is not a basis for upholding his complaint.”

Because Beck’s lawyers likely feel they do not have a chance of winning a defamation case in the U.S., they’ve gone to WIPO. Thankfully, for the respondent, WIPO has a track record of rejecting claims of this nature – those that just want to shut down a critical, or satirical, web site. It’s also ironic that Beck, a so-called champion for first amendment rights, or so his followers would have you believe, would choose to bypass U.S. courts and head directly to an international resolution. Beck has said, in the past, “once we sign our rights over to international law, the Constitution is officially dead.”

Thus, this example of the Streisand Effect continues…

Original Story

Ann Geddes has gone public with her battle against a Gym’s decision to air Fox News. Geddes, a Democrat and former legislative aide to a Howard County delegate, is upset that her Gym is refusing to change the TV(s) airing Fox News Channel to a different station. The Gym, apparently run by the homeowners association, states that there are 40 different TV screens turned to various channels, three to Fox News, and “as soon as we ban Fox News from our recreation facilities, I will get calls from that side.”

Geddes states that she has even opted to pay more to use more private rooms, but they do not have the same equipment she prefers. It’s not mentioned if she’s asked the Gym to move her favorite rowing machine to another location, where the TV airing Fox News would be out of view. Another option she could try is using the TV-Be-Gone though, with the publicity Geddes has received, it would probably be obvious who turned the TV off. It would be interesting; however, to see the Gym’s response to that…

Original Story

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez charges that FOX News hides criminal acts.

Last night the Mount Vernon city council voted unanimously to distance themselves from Mayor Bud Norris and this weekend’s event honoring Glenn Beck. “This man has done nothing for the City of Mount Vernon and its citizens,” said Rhonda McDonald, of Mount Vernon. “If you want to give a key to the city, give the key to the chief of police.”

On Wednesday night, the City Council of this town of 32,000 distanced itself from Mayor Bud Norris, who plans to give the keys to the city to talk-show personality Glenn Beck on Saturday.

The seven-member council unanimously passed a resolution proposed by member Dale Ragan that stated, “Mount Vernon City Council is in no way sponsoring the Mayor’s event on September 26, 2009 and is not connected to the Glenn Beck event in any manner.”

The resolution came after two dozen people who had signed up for the public-comment part of the session spoke in often emotional language to oppose honoring the controversial talk-show host.

Shirts reading, “HATE IS NOT A MOUNT VERNON VALUE” are being sold by a local retired teacher.

Original Story

While speaking to Katie Couric, Glenn Beck was presented with a question from a Twitter user. He was asked what he meant by “white culture,” the phrase he used while calling President Obama a racist. Beck refused to define it any of the dozen times Couric prompted him for an answer. Whatever answers he did provide were snide and childish.

Emphasis was going to be added to the parts where either he’s asked the question, or provides an immature answer, but the whole transcript below would be bold…

COURIC: A twitter question is, adrianinflorida: what do you mean by white culture?

BECK: Um, I, I don’t…

COURIC: You said he had a deep-seated hatred for the white culture, what is that? What is the white culture?

BECK: I guess it’s…gosh. I’m so tempted to make news here today.

COURIC: No no, I’m just curious, this was actually adrianinflorida.

BECK: What to do? What to do? Adrian, Go to glennbeck.com. Listen to it. You can hear all of it.

COURIC: No, but you didn’t really address white culture, I think, in your explanation about President Obama, I haven’t seen the whole show, but can you? Just for our purposes?

BECK: Just for your purposes? So this will be a little secret between us?

COURIC: No, for this show, can you explain what you mean by the white culture? Because some people say that sounds kind of racist.

BECK: Really? It’s amazing to me that, for the first time, I think in history somebody can ask a question and say, “Don’t you think that maybe we have several pieces here?” We have several pieces; George Bush says my grandmother was a typical African-American that had, that had her views bred into her. You don’t think maybe we would ask questions about that comment? How is it that the first time I think in history, you should check on it, somebody says, “Hey. There’s some red flags here maybe we should look at?” … How am I? How am I the target for asking questions?

COURIC: People just want to know. What is white culture?

BECK: I’m going to see if I can play your game. People just want to know.

COURIC: You know, well, Adrian wants to know.

BECK: That’s good for Adrian.

COURIC: No but I mean it’s fine if you make a statement though, shouldn’t you be able to defend exactly what you mean by it. I’m not –

BECK: Katie, how many times have you said, how many times have you said something where you’re like, “I didn’t think. What’s white culture? I don’t know. What’s the white culture?”

What? What is the white culture? I don’t know how to answer that that’s not a trap.

COURIC: Mhmm.

BECK: You know what I mean?

COURIC: Yeah I’m not, I’m just, I’m not trying to trap you, I’m just, I think people wanted to know what that meant exactly.

BECK: Well we know Adrian does.

COURIC: Yeah, and you’re not going to answer her?

BECK: I’m not going to get into your sound bite gotcha game which we already are. We already are.

COURIC: No we’re actually, this is completely unedited so if you felt like you wanted to explain it, you have all the time in the world.

BECK: Mhmm.

COURIC: No? Don’t want to go there?

BECK: Nope.

COURIC: But basically, you stand behind your assertion that in your view, President Obama is a racist.

BECK: I believe that Americans should ask themselves tough questions. Americans should turn over all the rocks and make their own decisions.

Original Story

Mount Vernon City Councilman Mike Urban wrote a letter to the editor of GoSkagit.com that states that the mayor has the ability to provide what Urban calls an “imaginary key that doesn’t actually open anything” to anybody the major wants, for any reason.

Instead of honoring Glenn Beck, Urban urges residents of Mount Vernon to participate in “No Longer Underappreciated Volunteers Day” on Sept 26, which is intended to thank people for dedicating time and effort to make positive changes.

The true concern I have in respect to this situation is what has Glenn Beck done to better this community to deserve such an award? What has been done to leave our community a better place? Simply being from somewhere should not be enough to warrant an honor regardless of what one has accomplished for themselves on a personal level.

However, there are thousands of people currently making a positive difference toward the betterment of our community. These are the people unfairly being ignored.

Original Story

As you may know, Mount Vernon, WA, is giving Glenn Beck the key to the city in a few days. This has caused a pretty large backlash that may adversely affect the city’s tourism (they have an annual Tulip Festival Street Fair) in addition the current decrease in local business revenue.

Mount Vernon is located in Skagit County, which voted 68% in favor of Obama during the Presidential election. The residents are upset by the mayor’s decision to honor Beck, which can be seen in local businesses, some of which are owned by council members. While the mayor claims the public’s reaction has been 50/50, one council member claims that it’s been overwhelmingly negative.

Apparently the venue is a 680-capacity hall and only one member five members of the press will be allowed. Curiously they will be chosen and accompanied by Mayor Norris. The 680 attendees will pay $25 each, but a large part, if not all, of the $17,000 will likely go toward Beck’s expenses and the extra costs incurred by the city for hosting an event of this nature.

Original Story

Feel free to tell the Mayor’s office how you feel:

Mount Vernon
910 Cleveland Avenue
P.O. Box 809
Mount Vernon WA, 98273

Phone
(360) 336-6211
Fax
(360) 336-0623
Email
mvmayor@ci.mount-vernon.wa.us

UPDATE: Here are the email addresses to city council members: kathyco@mountvernonwa.gov, joelind@mountvernonwa.gov, johnc@mountvernonwa.gov, scottm@mountvernonwa.gov, bobf@mountvernonwa.gov, mikeu@mountvernonwa.gov, daler@mountvernonwa.gov

The latest from ColorOfChange.org:

Glenn Beck was just on the cover of TIME magazine.1 Instead of telling the truth about Beck–that he repeatedly race-baits, lies and distorts the truth–TIME raises the question of whether Beck represents a legitimate voice in American politics.2

It’s absurd, and it’s not just TIME. In article after article, reporters seem afraid to call out what Beck is actually doing, and they often neglect to mention the very real backlash against Beck, including the fact that more than 62 companies have stopped advertising on his show.

You can help. In just a few minutes you can write and submit a letter-to-the-editor to papers in your area and help the media tell the whole story. We’ve got a tool that makes it very easy and gives you tips for writing your letter. Just click here to get started:

http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/letters/

Glenn Beck is getting a great deal of attention from the media at the moment. While many journalists mention some of the things he said, they usually stop themselves from calling out what he’s doing. Several articles about Beck have portrayed him as merely reflecting his audience, when the reality is that he actively stokes the fires of racial paranoia with his rhetoric and repeatedly makes claims that simply aren’t true.

Beck’s public image is being shaped and defined right now. Our goal is to make sure it’s defined properly and that he becomes a liability for anyone who chooses to support or benefit from what he’s doing, including FOX and Republican politicians.

Together, we can make sure that Beck’s actions define the public conversation about him. In just a few minutes you can compose a letter to the editors of your area newspapers using our special tool, provided courtesy of our friends at FireDogLake Action. We’ll provide you with talking points, and you’ll be able to easily compose a letter that you can send to your local and regional newspapers. You can compose your letter here:

http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/letters/

Thanks and Peace,

– James, Gabriel, William, Dani and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
September 23rd, 2009

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU — your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

https://secure.colorofchange.org/contribute/?id=2380-940638

References:

1. “Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck bad for America?” Time, 9-17-2009 http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1924348,00.html

2. “The Glenn Beck Moment,” The New York Times, 9-22-2009 http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/the-glenn-beck-moment/

Did you know Glenn Beck, prior to becoming a political radio and tv hack, was a morning radio show hack? Described by Guy Zapoleon, KZZP’s program director as “always desperate for ratings and attention,” Beck also became known for something despicable.

“A couple days after Kelly’s wife, Terry, had a miscarriage, Beck called her live on the air and says, ‘We hear you had a miscarriage,’ ” remembers Brad Miller, a former Y95 DJ and Clear Channel programmer. “When Terry said, ‘Yes,’ Beck proceeded to joke about how Bruce [Kelly] apparently can’t do anything right — about he can’t even have a baby.”

Among those who were appalled by Beck’s prank call was Beck’s own wife, Claire, who had been friends with Kelly’s wife since the two worked together at WPGC.

Later, Beck became fueled by cocaine and alcohol… What a guy.

Original Story

Fox News Watch host Jon Scott, on September 12, 2009 made a request that we should probably help him out with…

SCOTT: First though, if you come across a story that you think shows media bias, e-mail it to us, FOXnews.com.

Email: newswatch@foxnews.com

So, if you come across a story that’s not so “fair and balanced,” you know what to do…