Moyers Mashes Magpie Murdoch

I don't have a particular emotional investment in the Wall Street Journal - Great reporting, lousy politics.

But its' fight with, or submission to, News Corps' Rupert Murdoch ... Well, it does have a George Bailey-Mr. Potter element to it.

"...You're the Board here. You do what you want with this thing. Just one thing more, though. This town needs this measly one-horse institution if only to have some place where people can come without crawling to Potter ..."

So tonight, on Bill Moyers Journal, the great Moyers offered a blistering smackdown.

So thorough, that if it had happened on the street, no doubt, Murdoch's rags would have had the bloody mess splashed on the front pages, screaming headline and a Weegee-imitating photo.

"...But Rupert Murdoch is no saint; he is to propriety what the Marquis de Sade was to chastity ..."

...But THE JOURNAL’s newsroom is another matter – there facts are sacred and independence revered. Rupert Murdoch has told the Bancrofts he’ll not meddle with the reporting. But he’s accustomed to using journalism as a personal spittoon. In the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, he turned the dogs of war loose in the newsrooms of his empire and they howled for blood ...

Read "Moyers on Murdoch"

Watch The Video "Moyers on Murdoch"

Bonus Links

Rupert Murdoch: Bigger than Kane

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War On Journalism

Wall Street Journal reporters protest Murdoch bid for Dow Jones and contract proposals

Update

Keeping Rupert Murdoch at bay

Update II

Paul Krugman's "The Murdoch Factor"

Top Ten Cloves: Things To Do While Waiting In Line To Buy The New iPhone

News Item: Eager iPhone buyers line up

10. Boast how the first thing you're going to download is the great Paris Hilton CD

9. Start a rumor that you're going to have to download all your calls with the new iPhone

8. Daydream of winning the Pro Video-Game League Championship Gaming Series, the special iPhone division

7. Practice writing a forward for Donald Rumsfeld's new book

6. Take a poll of how many people in line believe in the Theory of Evolution

5. Move up at least six places in line, after your break out your lunch of Imported Seafood from China

4. Remark how timely the new iPhone is - That you'll be able to watch Dennis Miller on his new Game Show Network show on it

3. Think about how you can track how many times President Bush uses "al Qaeda" in a speech

2. Plan to email Mitt Romney that, with the new iPhone, he can attach a video camera on the roof of his car and monitor his dog with the iPhone on his next trip

1. Poll others standing in line to see if anyone's going to the Star Trek Convention later this year

Update

Even Apple's co-founder is standing in line for an iPhone

Here's At Least One Person We Know, For Sure, Isn't Part of The Executive Branch

Don't believe there's any controversy, or question, if this guy is part of the Executive or Legislative branch ...

Scooter "28301-016" Libby

Bonus Links

As Democrats work to defund Vice President's office, Republican asks 'Will Cheney get a Katrina trailer?'

The Scooter Doesn't Skate ... New Garlic Song - Let's Jail Libby!

Libby Trial Update - The Scooter and Cheney Show Theme Song

Cheneypalooza

Everybody, Give A Big Hand! ... Let's Welcome NBC's David Gregory To The Freak Show!

Boy, this one nearly knocked me off my seat.

No doubt, the blood sugar may have been a bit low, the morning caffeine hadn’t kicked in yet, and there was the inevitable let down of seeing the Cheneypalooza end last night.

What was this dizzying, shocking, surprising entity that provided this momentary dysfunction?

NBC's David Gregory thinks we just need to "strip away" Ann Coulter's inflammatory rhetoric to listen to her points

Boy, David, as Desi would say to Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do.

Do we have to get John Fund, Dorothy Rabinowitz or Richard Cohen to meet up with you, offering instructions on pulling your head out of your ass? Or can you manage that on your own?

Are you miffed, that the slobbering, fawning, drooling Chris Matthews didn't included a Rap segment on his show with The Coulterzilla the other day? Something you could have just happened to drop by on, and flash those same suave moves you displayed when dancing with Karl Rove?

And this isn't the first time you've used the Rightside/Freak Show smear points in your reporting.

This talk with Elizabeth Edwards ... You dragged out the now-ever-so-tired slam of the expensive haircut, paid speeches (though, to be "fair and balanced", no mention of Rudy911 and his goldmine speaking tour) and then chided Mrs. Edwards that she should have pushed aside all the bullshit Coulterzilla was firing at her and pay attention to "the point she's trying to make" behind it

To her credit, Mrs. Edwards, after laughing at Gregory, delivered a crisp response that basically said "Hey, if you want to side with Coulter, and you don't like my husband, don't vote for him"

Interesting also, in defending Coulterzilla, Gregory left out of the interview how Coulterzilla, just a few days ago, put forth “if I’m going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I’ll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.”

What was the point behind that one, Gregory?

So David, are you going to go for the gold watch with the Peacock Network, or do we soon see a Press Release fired out on you joining Fox News?

You certainly seem to be going out of your way to impress them.

To steal from a Fox Noise program, "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day"










Links

Mrs. Edwards responds to Coulter; June 28: She talks to NBC's David Gregory about the clash with Ann and how she hopes "people will speak out" against hate speech (Video)

Edwards equates Coulter’s words to racist ones; Presidential candidate’s wife calls commentator’s remarks ‘hate language’

Losers

Bloggers Are Foul-Mouthed Cranks

Bashing Elizabeth Edwards

Send In The Clowns ... It's Wednesday And All Good Things Must End ... Cheneypalooza! ... ' Leaving No Tracks'

Don't you love farce?
My fault I fear.
I thought that you'd want what I want.
Sorry, my dear.
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don't bother, they're here.

Nothing like going out with a bang.

On the day that we end our Cheneypalooza, and the new series, started Sunday, by the Washington Post, "Angler - The Cheney Vice Presidency", offers its' final installment, we get this;

White House, Cheney's Office, Subpoenaed

Sniff ... Sniff ... You smell that? ... Could be another Cheneypalooza coming over the horizon ... Or, perhaps, a new Bushapalooza will be served up.

Today's Installment: Leaving No Tracks

Stay Tuned

Links

Cheney Aide Explains Stance on Classified Material

Rules? For Fools.

Dick Cheney: No Fish Left Behind, Or Alive

"I Am Spartacus" ... The Bush Grindhouse and Cheneypalooza

Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Dickie Right Over ... Its' A Cheneypalooza!

Note:

We quoted from "Send In The Clowns", a Stephen Sondheim tune from "A Little Night Music". This writer always disliked - intensely - this song, done by many, many big-time artists until ... Until it was heard by the incredible - and our all-time favorite - male jazz vocalist, Mr. Bill Henderson, who, by far, offers the definitive rendition of this song.

Bill Henderson

A Little Night Music

Update

Cheney and the National Security Secrets Fraud

Cheney Unbound
(I wonder if Broder had to go out across the land, talking to "real Americans", to come up with this mea culpa)

Update II

The imperial vice presidency; New details about his secret mission to expand the power of the president show that Cheney, at the end of his career, refuses to loosen his grip.














Two of the stars of Cheneypalooza - Cheney, and Cheney's Cheney

Top Ten Cloves: Suprising Revelations, So Far, In Released, Declassified CIA Files

News Item: CIA Releases Files On Past Misdeeds

10. Rather shocking, they gave all of Jane Fonda's films - and mail - excellent reviews

9. In 1977, kept using Red Dye #2, even after it was banned

8. Initially drew up a plan to blame Kent State shooting on cousin of Lee Harvey Oswald

7. Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was CIA program - Just wanted to get Patty Hearst to have her Dad's newspapers give CIA better coverage

6. Had plans ready to blame George Wallace shooting of cousin of cousin in Kent State shooting

5. D.B. Cooper was actually deep, undercover CIA agent

4. Had team of agents monitoring debut of PBS's Masterpiece Theater for possible coded messages

3. Bugging exercise in 1977 went terribly wrong, causing New York City Blackout

2. Agency was behind pulling the plug on the Heidi Game, so they could wiretap Communists who didn't complain about missing the exciting finish

1. Heimlich maneuver developed out of discarded CIA torture practice














Bonus Links

CIA Paid for Thank-You Notes to Nixon Backers, Documents Show

Top Ten Cloves: Things About The New CIA Personality Test

Paid News Scandal Widens; CIA Said To Run Network Of "Blue Hole" Newspapers; Detainees Forced To Work As Copy Editors Or Write Stories In Isolation; Old Typewriters With No Wite-Out Used

It's Tuesday And It's Still A Cheneypalooza! ... ' A Strong Push From Backstage'

Whew ... So much to wade through today ...

The Tabloid Princess was sprung... Thanks to Chris Matthews, the Coltergeist was on the loose... The CIA is shooting for a 30+year mea culpa and Tony Blair has accepted becoming a gloried bike messenger ...

But shining through and above all this is our Cheneypalooza ... And the new series, started Sunday, by the Washington Post, "Angler - The Cheney Vice Presidency"

Over the next four days, The Washington Post will present an in-depth investigation of the vice presidency of Dick Cheney, the most influential and powerful man ever to hold the office. The stories will examine Cheney's largely hidden and little-understood role in crafting policies for the War on Terror, the economy and the environment.

Today's Installment: A Strong Push From Backstage
With A Bonus: Expanding Authority for No. 2 Spot

It's hard to say, and we'll likely never find out, if the Darth Vader man is upset his super-secret-decoder-ring world is being exposed, or if he's getting a woody, seeing his governmental prowess on display, verifying the, up-to-now, long-running joke, on who was really the President in Bush Grindhouse.

Links

Keith Olbermann's 'The world of Dick Cheney' (Video)

A GOP Plan To Oust Cheney

Is Dennis Kucinich (God Help Us) Right (Seriously, God Help Us)?

Standards of American justice under George W. Bush

The Cheese Stands Alone

"I Am Spartacus" ... The Bush Grindhouse and Cheneypalooza

Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Dickie Right Over ... Its' A Cheneypalooza!

Run For Your Lives ... Ann Coulter Alert!

I sensed something terribly wrong this morning.

Car alarms were blaring, for stretches of blocks ... Newly-budding flowers wilted before sunrise ... Dogs and other pets hid under beds, or otherwise found safe cover.

And I could have sworn I saw Kevin McCarthy running down the street, screaming "They're here already! You're next! You're next, You're next..."

What could this be?

Ahhh, the Coulter-meter was pinging off-the-charts.

The doyenne of the Freak Show is untethering herself from the Fox Network, to be on 'Hard Ball with Chris Matthews', the master of the smiling drool, this evening, so have a vomit bag nearby, for either the rank foulness that spews from Coulter, or the overt, drooling and fawning Matthews engages in .

Watch at your own risk.

Bonus Links

American goodwill, in shackles

Good Morning America's Chris Cuomo interviews Coulter, promotes Godless

Top Ten Cloves: Things Ann Coulter Would Spend "Coulter Cash" On

Garlic Exclusive! 1st Draft Of Coulter’s Plagiarism Response: Coulter Speaks (Sort Of)

Update

Ann Coulter Attacks John Edwards On Good Morning America

Update II

Elizabeth Edwards Confronts Coulter During Live Television Appearance


Has Ann Coulter Hit Her Tipping Point?

Oh where, Oh Where Have The Missing Emails Gone ... Oh, Where, Oh Where Can They Be ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

Sorry we're late posting our Garlic Poll Results this week, and, as you can see, we have a little "things lost - things found" theme going with our Poll.

Perhaps influenced by the ongoing Cheneypalooza, our Not-A-Executive-Not-A-Legislator Vice President was the big winner, with our Poll Voters directing the Congressional investigators directly to Cheney's Secret Bunker to find those missing White House Emails.

Lord knows what else you may find there. It is likely a stinking Collyer Brothers treasure trove of the Bush Administration, with dead policies, discard civil rights and trampled, crumpled copies of the Constitution piled high. It will take months, or perhaps, just long enough past January 2009 for anything to surface, as, no doubt, the reticent VP - much like the hording brothers - has laid out booby traps (legal wranglings as well as other) for anyone that wants to venture a try.

Perhaps it will be left to some future Geraldo Rivera-type that our grandchildren's grandchildren will watch in a highly-touted, madly-hawked television special - The Opening of Dick Cheney's Secret Bunker.

The Garlic's Weekly Poll June 18 - June 24 2007

Places Congressional investigators should include in the search for the missing White House Emails include ...

1. Vice President Dick Cheney's Secret Bunker Tally 39%

2. Same place President Bush keeps the copies of his plans for the Successful Invasion and Occupation of Iraq Tally 30%

3. Pretty close to wherever Scooter Libby keeps his memory Tally 23%

4. Where FEMA stores their plans for the Successful Response To A Category 5 Hurricane That Happens To Hit New Orleans Tally 9%

This week’s Poll - The CIA releasing its' "family jewels" probably has to do with ...

Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote


"No, No, No, No, No ..."

Bong Hits 4 Roberts

No doubt, there'll be a cloud of smoke puffed up later today, as young high school students fire up, likely adding a few expletives in front of "Bong Hits 4 Roberts"

The Roberts being Chief Justice John G. who wrote the majority opinion in The case is Morse v. Frederick, No. 06-278 earlier today.

Young student Joseph Frederick unfurled a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner at a school event (and in a sense of irony - watching the Corporate-laden 2002 Olympic Relay Torch pass by; Perhaps young Frederick will have also learned the bigger lesson that you have to have millions of dollars invested in your message for it to be taken as legit).

The dangers of illegal drug use are "serious," Roberts wrote
, and the "First Amendment does not require schools to tolerate at school events student expression that contributes to those dangers," Roberts wrote, in the 5-4 decision.

I wonder if this will have repercussions for Nancy Reagan, and the recently, heavily-pumped-up legacy of former President Ronald Reagan, who had a more obscene message they put forth - "Just Say No".

Perhaps Roberts believes he is carrying on the fight, the War On Drugs, with the ruling today.

Rule one slogan illegal while promulgating another as valid.

We won't likely see the real-time effects of the Roberts' ruling for a few years down the road.

Whenever it is that MSNBC broadcasts its' first Doc-Block, on high school students suspended over voicing their constitutional right of free speech, which is likely to contain some footage of a banner unfurled - Bong Hits 4 Roberts!

Bonus Links

Walter Cronkite - Telling the Truth About the War on Drugs

Congress Getting "Weary" Of Roberts' Visits; Senators Feeling Stalked; Roberts Relentlessly Using Meet-and-Greets To Boast Chances

It's Monday, And The Cheneypalooza Is Rolling On! ... ' Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power'

Lots going on today ... Earthquake at 30 Rock, as news anchor Brian Williams takes a big tumble... Michelle Maudlin, and others in the Freak Show, are stirring up trouble (but nothing that can't be handled by a cutting, on-the-money post by Larisa Alexandrovna) ... And CNN flunks geography

Take all that in but don't let our Cheneypalooza pass you by ... Or the new series, started yesterday, by the Washington Post, "Angler - The Cheney Vice Presidency"

Over the next four days, The Washington Post will present an in-depth investigation of the vice presidency of Dick Cheney, the most influential and powerful man ever to hold the office. The stories will examine Cheney's largely hidden and little-understood role in crafting policies for the War on Terror, the economy and the environment.

(Considering all of Cheney's underhandedness in building an Imperial Presidency, it is rather fitting that his Secret Service code name is/was "Angler")

Today's Installment: ''Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power'

Links

FDL Book Salon Welcomes Glenn Greenwald

They'll Break the Bad News on 9/11

More Cheneypalooza! 'A Different Understanding With the President'

"I Am Spartacus" ... The Bush Grindhouse and Cheneypalooza

Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Dickie Right Over ... Its' A Cheneypalooza!

The Commander Guy and Angler coordinate their watches so they don't miss out on Cheneypalooza

More Cheneypalooza! 'A Different Understanding With the President'

You can go off and watch Larry King fawn all over Paris Hilton, but the fun and festivities continue with our Cheneypalooza, as the Washington Post begins a series today, "Angler - The Cheney Vice Presidency"

Over the next four days, The Washington Post will present an in-depth investigation of the vice presidency of Dick Cheney, the most influential and powerful man ever to hold the office. The stories will examine Cheney's largely hidden and little-understood role in crafting policies for the War on Terror, the economy and the environment.

Today's Installment: 'A Different Understanding With the President'

It appears that contretemps of the Darth Vader man are far from their final throes.

Links

Rahm Emanuel To Cheney: Please Get The Heck Out Of The White House

"I Am Spartacus" ... The Bush Grindhouse and Cheneypalooza

Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Dickie Right Over ... Its' A Cheneypalooza!

Update

A New Cheney-Gonzales Mystery

Update No.2

Yes, well done, indeed, Juan Williams

Kristol Defends Cheney, Williams Says He’s Creating A ‘Secured Undisclosed Bunker Of His Mind’

A Vice President Without Borders, Bordering on Lunacy