Sweet Jesus I Hate Bill O'Reilly

Sweet Jesus I Hate Bill O'Reilly. So when a high school student put Mr. Loofah in his place about an over-hyped story regarding alleged "drug-use" advocacy by the "far-left," the moment was certainly deemed blog-worthy. Click Video to watch Bill get tripped up, and then resort to attacking the kid when exposed. Below is a more indepth story from Newshounds--who watch FOX News so we don't have to. (Yes Virginia, you can pause the page music. The Imeem box is on your lower right).

Boulder High Student, Jesse Lange, Calmly Exposes Bill O'Reilly's Hypocrisy

Reported by Deborah - June 21, 2007

http://www.newshounds.us/2007/06/21/boulder_high_student_jesse_lange_calmly_exposes_bill_oreillys_hypocrisy.php

Bill O'Reilly will go to any length to be right so he decided to keep poking sticks at Boulder, Colorado after the controversy about a student forum had been resolved reasonably despite his interference. When he learned that Bud Jenkins, Boulder High Principal, had apologized to the parents who found the sex and drug education assembly offensive, O'Reilly tried to suggest he was responsible. Anxious to gloat about his imagined victory, he invited two students on from the school, Andrew Wishner and Jesse Lange but things just didn't turn out the way he planned.

O'Reilly really wanted to make the issue sound provocative last night calling the situation a "sex and drug scandal". However the only thing scandalous has been O'Reilly's unrelenting barrage of attacks for the last four weeks against Boulder.

On 6/19, BOR announced that Bud Jenkins had apologized commenting how they had to chase him around as if his ambush in the school parking lot did the trick. Last night he claimed to have been a " driving force" making it seem like Jenkin's apology was some big deal and proved he had been right to carry on the destructive campaign.

Andrew Wishner, Boulder High Sophmore, had spoken out against the forum at a recent Boulder School Board meeting but according to several sources at the school, Wishner wasn't even there that day. So it seems that O'Reilly didn't have that information or just decided to overlook this important detail.

When Jesse Lange was originally contacted by O'Reilly producers,6/19, he was told he would be doing a one on one interview. He was not told about the addition of Andrew Wishner until yesterday late morning making the interview a 2 against 1 affair for Lange.

Despite the disadvantage, Jesse Lange, did an admirable job confronting O'Reilly calmly and rationally. In fact, he riled Bill so much , he got branded a pinhead which he considers a badge of honor. It's interesting to note that a reader contacted us to report that the pinhead comment had been scrubbed from The Factor late rerun. I was unable to confirm that since the the video of the segment was not posted on O'Reilly's page when I looked at 11AM. No doubt, it will show up later.

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Media News Roundup- Sunday June 10th to Sat June 16th

Keeping an eye on the failing Fourth Estate and looking for some TRUTH in journalism.

Media plays disingenuous about roots of recent Palestinian conflict between Fatah and Hamas. MSNBC has day long discussion on immigration, featuring only conservatives. Bright spot of the week: Democracy Now's Amy Goodman Talks "Vulture Funds" with BBC Reporter.


Media Ignores Roots of Recent Palestinian Conflict Between Fatah and Hamas

The recent Civil War in Gaza has been widely reported by the mainstream media. However the story that is most often told is blatantly one-sided and lacking in any context. Since Hamas came to power through democratic elections in 2006, the U.S. and Israel have done all they could to, beat, starve and push the more militant Palestinian faction from power, going as far as to cut-off aid and shooting down any proposals for reconciliation with Fatah. The key reason given for this is the refusal of Hamas to disarm and recognize the state of Israel--a crime somehow far greater than Israel's 40-year occupation and an apartheid system that routinely destroys Palestinian infrastructure, cuts off water and electricity as a tactic of war, carries out extra-judicial assassinations and more. Following the White House administration line, the present conflict is presented by the mainstream press as the inevitable outcome of the "violence-prone" Hamas government. According to most U.S. news outlets there are definite "good" and "bad" guys here, with Fatah becoming America's allies and Hamas serving as intractable enemies. Yet As Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifadah stated on the June 15th Democracy Now, "What we've seen is really a direct result of the Bush doctrine. Since January 2006 when Hamas won the legislative election fair and square, the United States refused the election result and it has been arming several Palestinian militias, particularly those controlled by the Gaza warlord, Mohammed Declan." The arming of Fatah by the U.S. and Israel, noted as recently as this past May in major newspapers, has been all but buried in more recent news accounts--portraying the U.S. and Israel as disinterested observers rather than powerful state actors stirring the pot of conflict.

For Seven Hours, MSNBC Hosted Only Conservatives and Reporters to Discuss Immigration

The conservative bent towards the immigration debate in the mainstream media is now well known. On stations like FOX News, Bill O'Reilly opines that pro-immigrant activists "hate America, and they hate it because it's run primarily by white, Christian men." On the same channel Paul Gibson warned white Americans to "Make more babies" because in "[t]wenty-five years ... the majority of the population [will be] Hispanic." On the more mainstream CNN, host Lou Dobbs has made a name for himself through incessant attacks on "illegal immigrants," going as far as to say they will bring in leprosy. So it may not be too surprising that after the defeat of the flawed immigration bill, most mainstream news sources went straight to conservatives for opinions, with little or no time devoted to pro-immigrants rights activists or advocates. MSNBC proved to be a case in point:

From Media Matters:

During the seven hours of the June 11 edition of MSNBC Live (9 a.m.-4 p.m. ET), 15 segments aired about immigration or the Senate immigration bill, none of which featured a Democratic or progressive commentator. Indeed, in nine of the 15 segments, the anchor interviewed a conservative anti-immigration activist who had opposed the bill -- including six separate solo interviews with MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan. The remaining six segments consisted of two panels with Buchanan and conservative activist and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Tamar Jacoby (who, alone among the guests, favored the recent immigration bill), an interview with Congressional Quarterly immigration reporter Michael Sandler, an interview with MSNBC terrorism analyst Joe Cantamessa, and two reports from MSNBC congressional correspondent Mike Viqueira.

With such biased media coverage perhaps it's little wonder then that the entire discussion on immigration has been caught up in nativist rantings and fearmongering, stalling the needed debate as quickly as the doomed bill.

Bright Spot of the Week

Democracy Now's Amy Goodman Talks "Vulture Funds" with BBC Reporter

As with most anything dealing with the negative effects of global financial institutions, trade agreements and neoliberal policies, the mainstream media has neglected a massively important story surrounding the aptly named "vulture funds." Riding the coat-tails of so-called "aid" promised by the G-8, “vulture funds” are companies which buy up third world debt at low prices (like your average collection agency) and then sue those countries for the full value and more. Democracy Now's Amy Goodman has been one of the few reporters to cover this important story, but can do so only through European journalists like the BBC's Greg Palast. Palast exposed the case of one vulture fund, Donegal International owned by US resident Michael Sheehan, which was forcing collection of $40 million from the African country Zambia after buying one of its debts for $4 million. The story was so explosive that when it reached the ears of Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of the US House Judiciary, and Don Payne, head of the Africa Committee, who were listening to Democracy Now on the way to a White House meeting, they immediately pressed the matter with the President. Such incidents beg the question, would our politicians perform better if they were at least better informed by our news media?

For full story:

Democracy Now's Amy Goodman Talks "Vulture Funds" with BBC Reporter

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Media News Roundup- Sunday May 27th to Sat June 2nd

Keeping an eye on the failing Fourth Estate and looking for some TRUTH in journalism.

Media not only misses Bill O’Reilly’s “white power” rant, but also GOP presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain’s agreement. CNN hires new African-American woman reporter—to cover “Britney and Michael Jackson.” Bright spot of the week: Tavis Smiley dedicates five nights to airing “Right to Return” documentary footage on post-Katrina New Orleans.


Media Misses O’Reilly’s “White Power” Rant, and Sen. McCain’s Agreement

This week the “fair and balanced” Bill O’Reilly lashed out at pro-immigration efforts as an attempt to topple white supremacy:

But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you're a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right. So I say you've got to cap with a number.

Bill O’Reilly’s pro-white fear mongering is hardly new. However in this instance, he was interviewing Senator John McCain (R-Arizona). In response to O’Reilly’s comments, McCain sidestepped the glaring race-baiting and responded:

In America today we've got a very strong economy and low unemployment, so we need addition farm workers, including by the way agriculture, but there may come a time where we have an economic downturn, and we don't need so many.

Not to be deterred from his “out to get the white man” schtick, O’Reilly pressed the matter, warning:

But in this bill, you guys have got to cap it. Because estimation is 12 million, there may be 20 [million]. You don't know, I don't know. We've got to cap it.

McCain’s response?

We do, we do. I agree with you.

So we have a major media figure talking like a member of the White Citizens Council, and a “top tier” GOP presidential candidate never taking him to task or disavowing such blatant racism, but in the end gives his assent. And did this manage to make the front page or lead stories of numerous mainstream news outlets? I guess it’s not like McCain had gone out and gotten a $400 haircut…


CNN Hires New Black Female Reporter—to Cover “Britney and Michael Jackson.”

It seems CNN may have gotten a glimpse at the recent Media Matters study on how women and people of color are shut out of most political news discussions. So last week they decided to hire a new reporter, the charming Lola Ogunnaike. Her role? She will be covering such hard-hitting investigative journalism as—“the Britney, Lindsay, Michael Jackson memorabilia beat.” As reported by Think Progress, this shameless nod to sensationalist journalism ironically follows recent criticism by former Vice President Al Gore on the trivial nature of the modern news media and it’s role in subverting democracy:

GORE: In a lot of the news media, the line between entertainment and news is now very blurred, and a lot of news organizations feel the need to run polls and conduct focus groups the same as politicians now. And so we get a lot more of Anna Nicole Smith’s funeral arrangements and Paris Hilton’s legal battles on her jail term than we get about how we can solve the climate crisis and how we can get our troops out of this civil war they are trapped in, in Iraq.

Way to go CNN—keeping the masses informed about the things that matter.


Bright Spot of the Week

Tavis Smiley Airs “Right to Return” Post-Katrina Documentary

On his PBS show, host Tavis Smiley presented Jonathan Demme’s week-long series on post-Katrina New Orleans called “Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward.” The five short films charted the efforts of a disparate group of New Orleanians who braved unimaginable adversity after the floods of 2005 in an attempt to reclaim their homes, their neighborhoods – primarily in the Lower 9th Ward – and their shattered lives and livelihoods. Those presented in the unfolding seasonal format included teachers, ministers, a retired chef, volunteer workers, the owner of the legendary “Mother-In-Law Lounge,” librarians, and workers from all walks of life. The series will re-air Monday, July 16th - Friday, July 20 on PBS.

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Dancing with the Devil

http://foxattacks.com/

Recently the Congressional Black Caucus Institute agreed to air a series of debates on black issues on FOX News. For anyone who has watched the right-wing conservative turn in the media, it should be well established that FOX News is the mouthpeice of the Empire. FOX News is run by Roger Ailes, who engineered the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr.--and was also responsible for the racist Willie Horton type ads of the 1980s. When it comes to black America, as evidenced in the above video, FOX News is deplorable. The CBC's decision to partner with it is a bad move that sense a terrible message.


Fox News is part of the global media empire run by right-wing corporatist Rupert Murdoch--who in 2005 even bought myspace. In 2000, it was FOX News consultant John Ellis (cousin to George W. Bush Jr) who called the election in favor of George Bush and against Al Gore. It was FOX News after 9/11 who championed American jingoism that has led to the colonial misadventure in Iraq. During Hurricane Katrina, it was FOX News that first and foremost focused on false reports of black rampaging criminality rather than on the thousands of victims. It was, and still is, FOX News policy to remain the media darling of the Bush White House, the GOP, right-wing pundits, institutions and advocates. FOX News is the only channel Vice President Dick Cheney demands upon his arrival anywhere in the world. Despite being repeatedly called out for blatant misrepresentation, outright lies and disinformation by its core of right-wing bullying pundit like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, FOX News remains unrepentant in its propaganda. And its affect on the overall journalistic news media--who in order to get ratings have attemtped to simulate it--has been to lower the standard of the profession whose responsibility it is to keep the citizenry informed about its leadership and those in power.

When it comes to black America, as evidenced in the above video, FOX News is deplorable. If the regular news media helps push negative depictions of blacks, FOX News takes it to extreme heights that can only be compared to the Old South of Jim Crow. It is mean-spirited diatribe dressed up as journalism, that exploits tragedy, glorifies stereotypes and pulls on white America's fears of the "other."

When the Democratic National Convention signed on to partner its debates with FOX News earlier this year, there was immediate resistance from grassroots Democrats and progressives--who recognize FOX News for what it is. The DNC pulled out of its partnerships, after realizing that any Democratic debate on FOX News would be spun and twisted to favor the right-wing. It is hard to imagine that a debate on issues of sensitivity regarding the black community would fare any better. Why the CBC cannot see this is hard to understand. So perhaps, we should make them understand. Below is a letter and links to a petition, urging--demanding--the CBC drop its partnership with FOX News, who is not worthy of their presence.

In support of the petition, I submit the following from ColorofChange.org:

Fox News has consistently attacked Black people, Black leaders, and Black cultural institutions. Despite this, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute has announced that it will partner with Fox to co-host presidential debates.

The Congressional Black Caucus is letting us down at a time when Black Americans need strong and strategic leaders more than ever. We are beginning a campaign to make it clear to key CBC leaders, and the voters in their districts, that the majority of us are not with them. We must keep raising our voices, making it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that Black America is speaking out against this kind of irresponsible and disrespectful representation.

While we work to shame the CBC Institute into dropping out of this embarrassing partnership with a network that consistently denigrates our people, we will also focus on the presidential candidates. The candidates should take the stand that CBC members have been afraid to take—refusing to participate in debates sponsored by a network that is hostile to the interests of Black America.

Please add your personal thoughts or simply sign the petition, stating your opposition.

UPDATE: Following Senator John Edwards, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama have pulled out of the debate. However the CBC is still defending their partnership.

What others are saying about the CBC-FOX News Partnership:

"I am disappointed by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute's partnership with FOX, and strongly encourage them to reverse that decision. Why would presidential candidates, or an organization that is supposed to advocate for Black Americans, ever give a stamp of legitimacy to a network that continually marginalizes Black leaders and the Black community? FOX moderating a presidential debate on issues of importance to Black Americans is literally letting the Fox guard the henhouse – FOX should be rejected."--- Jesse Jackson

"There is a difference, however, between compromising preference and compromising principle...The latter is what happens when you represent black interests in the U.S. Congress, but get in bed with a television network that has a history of rank disregard for black interests because you want to be a player in the presidential primary debates. Principle, along with integrity and prestige, is what the Congressional Black Caucus Institute has laid on the line in its partnership with Fox News...So far, it only seems to be another misstep by a group that thinks that 'forgive and forget' are words to live by. That may apply to normal human relations, but not in politics. Not these days. It's a blood war now, and the Congressional Black Caucus, in all of its constructs, would be wise not to let its guard down for a minute."--Tom Joyner's BlackAmericaWeb.com

"Why would the Congressional Black Caucus co-sponsor presidential debates with Fox News? How much does it really cost to rent the CBC Institute?... The CBC-Fox News scandal clearly illuminates the bankruptcy of corporate funded black leadership. The CBC Institute and the CBC Foundation are "not for profit" money pockets created to receive corporate contributions."-- Black Agenda Report

"What were they thinking? What possible justification could the Congressional Black Caucus Political Leadership Education Institute have for picking Fox News to partner with on an upcoming presidential debate? 'Fox News is not a "fair and balanced" source of information or political debate, and it has repeatedly proven itself hostile to the interests of Black Americans... Fox on-air personalities and regular guests consistently marginalize Black leaders, culture, and institutions,' said ColorOfChange in a letter to activists. And they are right. ... Case in point: Fox's recent sustained stain campaign against presidential candidate Barack Obama-they place undue emphasis on his middle name 'Hussein,' say he went to a fundamentalist Islamic school and question his religious affiliation, suggestively characterizing his church as having 'unusual doctrines.' And the network's framing and interpretation of Black (and Brown) issues and culture are often bigoted and lacking in any attempt to truly understand and present a fair picture."--Afro American Newspapers

"Fox has a long history of treating Black people unfairly. They are not a trusted news source for most Black Americans."--Benjamin Todd Jealous – former executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Associations (NNPA), a 98-year old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers.

"Why is the Congress Black Caucus condoning the anti-Black and, specifically, anti-Obama onslaught waged by the Fox New Channel, and remaining silent on the CBC Institute's recent announcement to collaborate with Fox to air two presidential debates?"--Afro-Netizen.com

"Anyone who has been watching the news the past few years should know that Fox News is nothing but a right-wing platform for conservative Republicans. So if that's the case, why were the Democrats even thinking about holding a debate on Fox News in Nevada? I understand the whole idea of reaching out to the other side, but Fox News is not just the other side. They are the opposition. It's one thing to debate Bill O'Reilly or the Fox News anchors. Everybody knows what's going on there. It's another thing to give Fox News a forum it doesn't already have where they can pretend to be 'fair and balanced.' But if the Democratic Party gets it, why doesn't the Congressional Black Caucus?"--Keith Boykin

"I don't think the explicit bias of Fox News is in line with the mission of the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, which if you are wondering, "is to provide political education and training to the next generation of African American leadership"...the prejudices and biases should outrage Black people regardless of their political persuasions. And for that reason, I will make my voice heard to let the Congressional Black Caucus Institute to cancel their agreement with Fox News...Please help us Lord."--Black Blog - SuperSpade

"Why on earth would the Congressional Black Caucus choose to align itself with a network that has proven itself to be racist as a course of normal business operations? As part of their branding strategy? If the Ku Klux Klan or Council of Conservative Citizens had a cable news network, would it be appropriate to collaborate with them on hosting presidential debates, particularly when one of the candidates is black, a CBC member and a consistent target of the network's hatred and misinformation? Like Jesse says, why let the Fox guard the henhouse?"--Jack and Jill Politics

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