All posts by Headly Westerfield

About Headly Westerfield

Calling himself “A liberally progressive, sarcastically cynical, iconoclastic polymath,” Headly Westerfield has been a professional writer all his adult life.

Another Magical Tee Vee Moment ► President Clinton Addresses the DNC

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Last night William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, officially nominated President Barack Obama for reelection at the Democratic National Convention. It was a barn-burner of a speech, which listed all the reasons why President Obama should get a second term and what separates the Democratic Party from the Republican Party in 2012. The crowd loved it because it was quintessential Clinton and, of course, they are all Democrats.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you really should.

The election is in exactly 2 months from today. Make sure you get out and vote.

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The Fox “News” Spin Cycle ► Episode Lucky Thirteen

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Bizarro is owned by DC Comics

Here we go again. This edition of the Fox “News” Spin Cycle begins early Tuesday morning and ends after First Lady Michelle Obama delivered her stem-winder of a speech.

One thing that it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt is Laura Ingraham has far too much time on her hands. 

So let’s jump into our spaceship and head off to Bizarro World, where nothing ever makes any sense.

As always the Fox “News” day begins with a cheesecake pic from Ainsley Earworm.
No exercise today, Bully Boy Bolling?

I’m sure you’ll tell us right away, Wretched Gretched, even though it will be more than 14 hours before he delivers it.

Brain Brian Kilmeade without a voice can only be an improvement.

Joe Trippi is one of the fake Democrats Fox “News” uses to pretend to be fair & balanced.
The problem is he often agrees with KKKarl Rove, who Fox “News” pretends is not
spending more than $100,000,000.00 with his 2 SuperPACs to defeat President Obama.

“Quick! How can we blame this on President Obama?”

This is what KKKarl Rove wants you to believe because Mendacious Mitt is not going to win Florida.

“Stay tuned . . . on the Fox “News” God  Channel. We’ve got Jesus’ back.”

My main thought is you could do better than Fox “News.”

That’s Tuesday’s ass kissing done with.

Not exactly true. He compared Lyin’ Ryan’s lying to Goebbels’ Big Lie, which is totally accurate.

Well, for one, George W. Bush is no longer President and can’t start any
more illegal wars. Would you like the rest in alphabetical order?

Of course Fox “News” had to make the point that President Obama is the only
president that has NOT visited the Billy Graham Library. What about Lincoln?

I’m not sure that asking the question in a different way will get you a different answer.
If he doesn’t float, he’s not a witch.

Yes. Next question.

George W. Bush built that.

How many free commercials are they going to give the Pita Pit? He was also on yesterday.

Just so Right Wing idiots like you can go apoplectic.

TRANSLATION: Republicans will be lying their asses off in order to make the President look bad. Just like every other day.

Let’s give him another 4 years and see if he completes it. ‘Merka gave George W. 4 more years and he screwed
up everything he touched. Besides, Mendacious Mitt is using Bush’s advisers. We don’t need that again.

A free abortion voucher for everybody!!! And two for every man!!!

But again, Fox “News” and KKKarl Rove have NEVER admitted that Rove is spending over
$100,000,000.00 through 2 SuperPACs to defeat President Obama. How can he be trusted?

I don’t gotta do nothing.

“Quick! How can we blame it on President . . . OH! Wait!”

The “No Spin Zone” is as empty a slogan as “Fair & Balanced.”

Knowing how badly John McCain lost the last election, after foisting Sarah Palin on the world,
he’s the last person I would take advice from. That’s why I hope Mendacious Mitt listens to him.

Oh, fer fuck’s sake. Give it a rest already.

Bully Boy Bolling has never answered one of my questions.
Pretty pictures!!!

KKKarl Rove makes false claims every time he opens his mouth
and forgets to confess to his EXTREME conflict of interest.

Is Geraldo is still on Fox “News”? This is funny considering he later apologized for criticizing Eastwood.

Bully Boy Bolling and the GOP wants you to forget that George W. built that debt.
Another bullshit Factor poll.

A total misrepresentation of what the First Lady said, which is why Fox “News” would feature it.

Imagine how Fox “News” would bleat if a Democratic operative said something so
inflammatory. However, because a “Republican heavyweight” said it, it’s all cool.

This was done merely to contrast with what Fox “News” will lie about tomorrow what was said at the DNC.

Here’s where the magic happens and by magic I mean where they pull facts out of thin air.

Sununu calling anyone incompetent is as ridiculous as Fox “News” calling itself “Fair & Balanced.”

“Quick! How can we blame this on President Obama?”

Fox “News” babes would be lost without these “makeup miracle workers.”

Are you sure, Laura?
One artists makes a picture and Fox “News” elevates it to a national story.

Bully Boy Bolling is still reliving his glory days of just last week, when he was in friendly territory.

This isn’t from Fox “News,” but it dovetails with Ingraham’s update above and adds visual context to this story from The Atlantic “Foxy Ladies; Why one network applies so much makeup.” It’s actually quite a funny article.

Hoo boy!!!

No, just an awkward talk show host.

Regardless who we owe it to, George W. Bush built it.

If the white sheet fits . . . .

Bully Boy Bolling glad-handing with Wing Nut Jon Voight and a bunch of other GOP Wing Nuts.

He would have completed a lot more, had he not had the obstreperous “Party of No” as the opposition.

No, Laura. They have intelligence.

In case you missed it when those Foxy Friends said it on Fox and Friends, here it is again. Of course it’s a lie.

Really, Laura? You’re going to make fun of goofy people dressed in a goofy manner? Do I
have to drag out those crazy Teabaggers, with their misspelled racists signs and tri-cornered hats?

Classy, Laura. If you’re going to make fun of fat people, let’s get Chris Christie out here again.

Here’s where the bullshit all started.

“Quick! How can we blame it on President Carter?”

She calls herself the enemy, which only proves she’s not “Fair and balanced.”

There’s not enough dope in the world to get me high enough to think your misanthropy is beautiful, Laura.

“Quick! How can we blame this on President Obama?”

Enough, Laura, enough!!!

This is pretty much the only person Fox “News” didn’t try to smear. However,
a war hero is generally untouchable, unless your name is Max Cleland.

In case you forgot where this bullshit started.

How long do you think it will be before Fox “News” gives Tammy Duckworth
the Max Cleland treatment? Oh, wait! Rep Joe “Scumbag” Walsh already has.

But you still won’t tell the Fox “News” low-information audience about your conflicts of interest.

One of the best speeches I have ever seen. Fox “News” talking heads “damned her with faint praise.”

But it’s true. However, Fox “News” is just throwing out more red meat to its low-information viewers.

It’s almost amusing to watch how furious the Fox “News” Spin Cycle spun last week to WHITEwash mendacious Mitt and Lyin’ Ryan, especially when compared to this week. This week Fox “News” is not WHITEwashing for Mittens, it’s BLACKwashing against President Obama. Look for it to get a whole lot worse as the week goes on, especially if the DNC does well.

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Unpacking Coconut Grove ► Part Eight ► The Powers That Be

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The Charles Avenue Historical Marker with
the E.W.F. Stirrup House in the background.

My quest to save the E.W.F. Stirrup House, and my running headlong into the Powers That Be in Coconut Grove and the City of Miami, began a few years back when I first happened across the Charles Avenue Historical Marker. I had never been in Coconut Grove before and, since I’ve always been a sucker for history and historical markers, I stopped to read it. It was by sheer coincidence (or total synchronicity) that on the day I discovered the marker detailing the oldest Black community in on the Florida mainland, I was also reading “Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism” by James W. Loewen. Lowen has written an amazing book of more than 650 pages, which goes to great lengths to explain why every ‘Merkin city looks the way it does.

The broken base of the marker
with garbage piled all around

On the day I discovered the Charles Avenue Historical Marker it was leaning backwards against a fence because the base was broken. However, I didn’t even know the base was broken on my first visit because of the garbage bags piled up all around it. Maybe it was the book I was reading, or maybe because I have studied race relations most of my adult life, but I knew INSTINCTIVELY that the reason the marker leaned and the reason it had garbage piled up all around the base, was due to Institutional Racism. Nothing in my subsequent research has disabused me of that notion. The Charles Avenue Historical Marker, and treatment of the E.W.F Stirrup House, seems to me to encapsulate the Black experience in ‘Merka.

It was only after I took in the sign did I look across the street and, for the first time, saw the beautiful, historic 120-year old E.W.F. Stirrup House (pictured below). When I saw that house in 2009, empty and being allowed to rot, I started my research. It was all that subsequent research that led to my campaign to save this house.

The saddest marker I have ever read.

As I said, I love historical markers. Word of warning: Never travel with me because if I see a sign that points towards an historical marker, I’ll detour from the main route just to see it. I have seen hundreds of historical markers in my lifetime, but the saddest one I’ve ever seen is one in my home town of Detroit commemorating where Paradise Valley once stood. To quote Joni Mitchell: “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

While Joni Mitchell once lived in Detroit [where I met her at “The Castle,” the apartment on the east side that she shared with her then-husband Chuck Mitchell, but that’s another story], I doubt she was singing about Detroit’s Paradise Valley. Yet, the words apply to Paradise Valley better than anywhere else. An entire neighbourhood was razed in the name of progress and not a single building remains. Imagine that. A vibrant Black business district was destroyed for freeways under the guise of urban renewal. However, let’s not sugar coat it: This would have never happened to a thriving White neighbourhood. White folk would have had enough clout to have stopped it or have had the plans modified.

[I’ve touched upon the topic of Paradise Valley briefly in my two posts about the Detroit Riots.]

There was once a plan floated to tear down most of Black Coconut Grove in the name of Urban Renewal. In the 1950s the City of Miami considered the neighbourhood blighted. Compared to other houses in the area, the houses in Black Coconut Grove were somewhat ramshackled. However, that tended to be a function of the relative poverty of the residents, when compared to White incomes in the area, and the fact that many of the homes had been in the same family for several generations. Furthermore, whereas all the surrounding neighbourhoods had running water and sewers, Black Coconut Grove still used hand pumps and outhouses — in the ”50s!!! People who lived in the area at the time have told me about the “honey wagon” that was just a way of life on Charles Avenue back then. Why would all the White neighbourhoods in the area have the amenities denied to Black Coconut Grove? I’ll let you answer that for yourself.

Had this been Detroit it’s possible the neighbourhood would have come down just like Miami city planners wanted. However, what saved the neighbourhood was E.W.F. Stirrup’s foresight. Back in the 1890s, when he was one of the largest landholders in the area, he had this crazy idea that home ownership was important for growing Black families. According to Kate Stirrup Dean, Stirrup’s eldest daughter:

Father believed in every family having a house, a yard and a garden, so you would feel like you had a home. He felt that people became better citizens when they owned their own homes.

The 120-year old E.W.F. Stirrup House, the showplace
Ebenezer Stirrup built for himself that once looked out
over his estate, which included most of downtown
Coconut Grove at one point.

To that end E.W.F. Stirrup built with his own hands, and with help from his neighbours, more than 100 houses in the area. This is why Coconut Grove, at one time, had a larger percentage of Black home ownership than any other place in the United States. It was that high percentage of Black home ownership that saved Black Coconut Grove. People simply refused to sell out at the cut-rate prices the city was offering. These were the houses passed from one generation to the next, the way that some families hand down precious family jewels.

Eventually the City of Miami was forced to put in sewers and running water. However, as much as some things change, some things never change. Institutional Racism has kept Black Coconut Grove in a bit of a time warp. While the 33133 Zip Code is now considered one of the most exclusive in the entire country, Black Coconut Grove has languished. This being the United States, Black income has always been less than their White counterparts — an undeniable truth — as have opportunities for Black folk. While other areas of Coconut Grove have thrived, Black Coconut Grove did not. Nothing represents that better than the E.W.F. Stirrup House, allowed to rot away at the end of Charles Avenue. And that’s where the Powers That Be mentioned in the first paragraph comes in.

The Powers That Be

Ever since I started making noise with this series, people I trust have told I am messing with dark forces far more powerful than little old me. People have told me that I am screwing with the power structure in Coconut Grove. People have told me that the City of Miami is one of the most corrupt in the nation. People have told me that Commissioner Marc Sarnoff has always been in the pocket of developers and runs his own district like a minor Fiefdom. People have told me that developers make the decisions and the Commission just rubber stamps them. People have pointed to the story of Konstantinos “Gus” Boulis as a cautionary tale of what can happen to someone who gets in the way of someone’s multi-million dollar deal here in South Florida. [My Canadian family and friends are aware of Gus Boulis, even if they don’t know his name.]

What do I know? I am still making noise, but now I’m watching my back very carefully.

The other night two facebook status updates crossed my screen simultaneously. Take a look at the unedited screen grab I captured:

Unedited screen grab. Nothing comes between the Coconut Grove Chamber of
Commerce and the owners of the Calamari Restaurant, both literally and figuratively.
The Grove Gardens Condominium Residences with Calamari,
La Bottega restaurants and Taurus Bar on the ground floor.

Does Gino Falsetto own and/or control the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce? They appear to move in lockstep, as evidenced by those messages sent out virtually simultaneously. It would make sense because Gino Falsetto appears to own, or control, almost everything else in Coconut Grove, at least that which can be seen from the corner of Charles Avenue and Main Highway. You see, Calamari is owned, in part or full, by Gino Falsetto, whom I have documented elsewhere in this series. He also owns, in whole or in part, La Bottega Restaurant, the Taurus Bar, and the Grove Gardens Condominiums Residences, all of which share the same plot of land. Falsetto, who left Canadian taxpayers on the hook after a string of restaurant bankruptcies in Canada before he high-tailed it to Miami, also controls the Coconut Grove Playhouse by virtue of a loan he made to the Playhouse board when the board was still thought viable. Because of that financial interest he has scuttled several potential deals to return the Coconut Grove Playhouse to the City of Miami. He is also said to be the owner, through a series of shell companies, of the two vacant lots immediately behind the Coconut Grove Playhouse, which are immediately across Charles Avenue from the E.W.F. Stirrup House. Falsetto’s Aries development company also controls the E.W.F. Stirrup House with a 50-year lease. It would appear in one way or another Gino Falsetto has almost all the properties surrounding the E.W.F. Stirrup House all sewed up.

How much power can one man have? I am beginning to think Gino Falsetto has the City of Miami Building Department all sewn up as well. On the 17th of August I reported to the City of Miami Building Department that demolition work was proceeding within the E.W.F. Stirrup House without the benefit of a Building Permit. Several phone calls later I have confirmed the case was closed without any notation of the resolution of the complaint. I have now been told twice that a lack of notation is very unusual and contrary to City of Miami policy. Many phone messages left with various people within the City of Miami Building Department have gone unanswered. The last time I phoned, on August 30th, while I was still on the phone a City of Miami employee sent an email to the Building Department requesting that they finally return my phone calls and let me know how my complaint was resolved. I am still waiting for that return phone call. I still do not know why my complaint was closed. Anyone is welcome to find out the determination of complaint #1200243103. Let me know if you have any success.

Meanwhile, I am also still waiting for a response to my email to the City of Miami’s Press Relations Department sent on August 10. Having had no reply, and not being able to get a single human on the phone, nor having any of my many messages returned, I published it as an Open Email to the City of Miami. That has still brought no results.

The historical marker that started it all.

Gina Falsetto is clearly a powerful force in Coconut Grove and, hence, the City of Miami. Not a single phone call, email, or public plea I have made has resulted in a response of any kind. Meanwhile, Gino Falsetto continues to wreak havoc on the E.W.F. Stirrup House in his attempt to turn it into a Bed and Breakfast without benefit of the proper building permits and without the Commercial Zoning required for such a business. After the (alleged) rapacious developer Gino Falsetto is done with the E.W.F. Stirrup House, all that may be left to honour the large and culturally rich Bahamian community that once existed in Coconut Grove might be an historical marker.

Everybody sing along with Joni Mitchell as you read all the parts of this ongoing series, Unpacking Coconut Grove:

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The Fox “News” Spin Cycle ► Episode One Dozen

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Bizarro is owned by DC Comics

While this isn’t a scientific survey (because I am not at my computer all day), once the Fox “News” Spin Cycle stopped WHITEwashing on behalf of Mendacious Mitt and Lyin’ Ryan during the Republican Convention, the messages dropped off drastically. Before the convention it took days to garner enough for one of these episodes and, even then, I’d only have 40 or so. During the convention the Fox “News” Spin Cycle was spinning on a continuous cycle, with nearly 100 messages a day, from which I culled the best 70 or so. Suddenly, after the RNC, the drop off was so precipitous that it has taken several days to get enough for another full episode. Granted, this may have been due to the holiday weekend. Time will tell whether once the Democratic National Convention starts the numbers will climb to the same numbers of before. What will also be telling is how many of the Fox “News” Spin Cycle updates will be positive or negative for the Democratic party.

Oh, who the hell am I kidding? They’ll fall into the same 3 categories as always: Pro-Romney, Anti-POTUS, or total distractions. But, before we get there, we have to deconstruct the ones that came in during the interregnum between the two conventions. Here are the last four days. Hold tight.

Friday morning, the morning after the RNC, and look who gets a softball interview
from a softball. And, look who is still using capital letters in the wrong places.

I thought Clint stole the show, as did the rest of the world.

And everyone loved it, right?

“QUICK! How can we blame this on President Obama.”

Leaving Tampa and the butterball had to do some celebrity glad-handing. It would be better
if he spent his time admitting his egregious conflicts of interest, but that will never happen.

Eastwood, of course. No one was talking about anything else.

Marco Rubio had a tight grip on that Florida GOP credit card too, but he was made to pay the money back.

“QUICK!!! How can we blame this on President Obama.”

He gave a speech? I was still thinking about Clint Eastwood.

Back to the cheesecake for which Ainsley Earworm is best known.

Look who is trying real hard to stay relevant after
Fox”News” dis-invited her to the RNC last week.

“There’s an anti-POTUS painting? QUICK! How fast can Fox “News” promote it?”

Fox “News” liked that someone liked Mendacious Mitt’s speech? What a surprise.

By the weekend Fox “News” personalities were moving into Charlotte to crap all over the DNC.

“QUICK! How can we blame this on President Obama?”

Janice Dean needs Ainsley Earworm to teach her a thing or two about cheesecake photography.

Of course Friday’s The Five was a non-stop Love In for Mendacious Mitt, when they weren’t trashing the POTUS, of course.

In other words: Loofah Lad will give them all the time the need to get their message out.

An entire special from Hannity trashing the President of the United States. How is that different from his regular show?

Normally they are trashing the NY Times as being in the tank for
Obama, but World News Daily (and Fox “News”) knows a hot story..

The Washington Times has never been objective. I wonder if it’ll become more, or less, objective now that owner,
Cult Leader, and self-proclaimed Messiah, Sun Myung Moon, has gone to sit at the OTHER hand of God.

Sean Hannity has played the race card against the President for the last four years or, more
correctly, he has guests who play the race card so he can pretend to keep his hands clean.

Bully Boy Bolling thinks people are impressed by his exercise
regimen because he tells his brain dead followers about it almost daily.

A moment of levity on the set of Fox and Friends Weekend, in between segments bashing President Obama.

Bully Boy Bolling once again proves there’s no Fair in Balanced, or something like that.

No, but it’s not too late for Fox “News” to cite all KKKArl Rove’s conflicts of interest in
handicapping the race. Who the hell am I kidding? There’s no way they’ll ever do that.
It’s not like that was never done before, right?
Once again Bully Boy Bolling proves he’s neither FIR nor BALANCED.
Until Fox “News” and The Daily Caller can lie to them about what
they claim President Obama really means. Then they’ll disagree.
“QUICK! How can we blame this on President Obama. OH! Wait! We already have.”
I wonder if Bully Boy Bolling ever tells God the same lies he tells the Fox “News” audience.
This is where the magic happens and by magic I mean where they just pull facts out of thin air.

So hurry so you don’t miss the lies.

I wonder if Laura Ingraham will be glad-handing with Democrats this week. Nah! Who the hell am I kidding?

Like Bill “Falafel King” has never had a meltdown on air. He’s referring to Melissa Harris-Perry, who didn’t “melt down”
and didn’t tell her guests to shut up or cut their mic, like Loofah Lad has. She merely displayed some righteous anger.

Gee, like that’s never happened in an election season before. However, Axelrod doesn’t
have to make shit up in order to attack the RNC and to point out Mendacious Mitt’s failures.

“Quick! How can we blame this on President Obama?”

“Quick! How can we blame this on President Obama.”

There’s still far more enthusiasm for President Obama among the
general electorate than there was for Mendacious Mitt at his own RNC.
Mendacious Mitt has been playing the Race Card. He keeps pulling
the Ace of Spades from the bottom of the deck. See what I did there?

Got to rest up those legs for her morning cheesecake shot.
Don’t those legs look well-rested?

There’s got to be a NASCAR and low-information voter joke, but I’m too lazy to look for it.

The Labour Day Obama Bash-A-Thon starts NOW!

Here all week. Try the veal.

This is what passes for Fair and Balanced on the propaganda network: KKKarl Rove, who never reveals his
conflict of interest, and Joe Trippi, who never reveals he is a Democrat because he agrees with Rove most of
the time. Then there’s the moderator, who frames the entire debate with a pro-Republican or anti-Obama slant.

Mendacious Mitt must be feeling the heat because he refers to two oblique lines from a speech PRIOR
to his big RNC moment in an attempt to blunt criticism coming from both the Right and the troops.

No morning run for Bully Boy Bolling?

And at no time did he reveal his conflicts of interest. Why do I keep mentioning this?
Because it’s important and is proof positive that Fox “News” is not Fair & Balanced.

This made me spit up my morning coffee. The owner of Pita Pit came on to claim that he really did
“build that” and then explained how he bought into the company when he was just a lowly franchisee.
I was hoping Butterball KKKarl would go ass over tea kettle and land on
fake Democrat Joe Trippi. That doesn’t make me a bad person, does it?

 

“QUICK! How can we blame this on President Obama?”

More Fair & Balanced from Bully Boy Bolling.

This is the latest Reich Wing freak-out. Despite Burton being 100% right, and the fact
that he apologized after it was demanded, Fox and Friends has already done AT LEAST two
segments on it already on Tuesday morning and it’s only 8:20 as I write this.

Because the GOP wants to pretend that the Bush Presidency never existed. How dare President Obama point to it!

“QUICK! How can we blame this on President Obama. Wait! What? During the Bush administration we claimed
the POTUS has little effect on gas prices? It won’t matter. Our audience is not smart enough to remember.”

If Laura Ingraham were an honest commentator she’d . . . never mind. We know she’s not an honest commentator.

Where it will be all Pro-Mendacious Mitt or anti-Obama and, as usual, they won’t let Bob Beckel get a word in edgewise.

Kimberly Guikfoyle showing off some of her RNC pictures, days late.

More glad-handing at the RNC. Get a load of those gams!

Two Fox “News” babes and not a leg in sight? What’s up with that?

Still no legs? Yeesh! They need a refresher course in cheesecake from Ainsley Earworm.

To start with, there will be far fewer lies . . . .
. . . . until Lyin’ Ryan shows up. Then the lies will flow like water under the George W. Bush bridge.

“QUICK! How can we blame this on President Obama. We can’t? Why not? They’re both Black.”

Oh that Ingraham. She’s such a kidder.

“QUICK! How can we blame this on President Obama? We’ll just let Politico do it.”

Sounds like KKKarl Rove is still not ready to admit he’s spending over
$100,000,000.00 through his two SuperPACs to game the election for the GOP.

Since it’s already Tuesday morning the tally for the Fox “News” updates begins now. However, they are already FAR off their previous mark set last week during the RNC. Hoo boy! Stay tuned for Chapter Thirteen of the Fox “News” Spin Cycle.

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Happy Labour Day ► Thank A Unionist

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As the Right Wing relentlessly attacks Unionism, Labour Day is a the very best day to remember just exactly what we owe to Unionism. It is no stretch to say that if you like living in a free country, thank Unionism. Who do you think built all those war machines who won World War II?

As I writer I never thought I needed a union, until I found myself in a newsroom where everyone was treated egregiously. It was one of the most horrible kinds of working environments where, as the common expression in the newsroom went, the shit ran downhill. We could see it running downhill, too.

We’d learn that the head of the newsroom had been called “upstairs” and we would all cringe, not knowing who would be the target when he came back. However, we all knew there would be targets and, worse, we were all on the downhill slope. When he’d return, he’d have his tail between his legs. That’s when we knew it had really begun.

Ford Motor turned over to produce
Liberators during WWII

He would then call his Number One into his office and we’d hear loud voices as the Number One was chewed out. The Number One would come out with his tail between his legs. Then Number One would start calling individuals into his office one by one. More loud voices as they were chewed out. They would come out one by one with their tail between their legs.

Some of those people were supervisors of a small crew. They would suddenly call staff meetings and more loud voices would be heard as they were chewed out. The only way you would know whether you would be shit upon that day was whether your own supervisor had been called into the Number One’s office. If not, you knew you had avoided the River of Shit, until the next time.

However, that’s not the worst of it. People would be screamed at across the newsroom about poor performance at times, everyone else trying to appear as small as they could so they didn’t become the next target. The newsroom couldn’t seem to function without having a scapegoat and it amused me that one person would be used as the scapegoat for a while, until a new scapegoat was found. It stopped being amusing when, after returning from sick leave, I became the goat and no matter how hard I worked, I was unable to get the stench of goat off me. That’s when I saw the REAL effects of “shit runs downhill.”

Once I became the goat, everyone else in the newsroom, including people who were nominally below me in the pecking order, started treating me like crap, knowing there was nothing I could do or say about it. And those above me? They were far worse. One shoved me out of the way one day, as I was holding the door open for him. When I complained, I was told I had imagined it. Most everyone in the newsroom saw who was the goat and treated me as if I was something they needed to clean off their shoe.

In the end I had to leave and I am glad my union had been there to help me negotiate a (relatively) fair exit and to hold an umbrella over my head when, at times, the River of Shit threatened to engulf me completely. [I would write more about this, but my exit agreement prevents me from saying too much.]

There was a time in this country when Unions were prized and people understood that Unionism saved the country from the Nazis and the Huns as Unionists turned Detroit, and other cities, into the Arsenals of Democracies.

While this list is not comprehensive, Stephen D. Foster Jr. at Addicting Info lists 20 reasons why you should be thanking a Unionist today:

1. Minimum Wage: Without federally mandated minimum wage, we’d still be working for pennies.

2. Child Labor Laws: Without these laws, children would be hired as cheap labor.

3. Paid Vacations: Did you go on a cruise this year? Perhaps to the Grand Canyon or another country? Thank a union.

4. Employer Health Care, Dental, and Vision Insurance: If you have a medical, dental, or vision care plan through your employer, your a lucky person. All because of organized labor.

5. Pensions: If you were able to retire at 65 and get pension checks in the mail, congratulations, you’re living proof that unions work.

6. Safety Conditions: Do you work at a potentially hazardous job but have safety regulations in place to protect you? If so, unions are responsible for your continued safety.

7. Collective Bargaining: Just having the right to negotiate with your employer is a benefit guaranteed by a union.

8. Weekends: If you have weekends off to spend with your families, a labor union is responsible for giving you that time off.

9. Sick Leave: Did you get to use a work provided sick day to get well? Unions fought for that too.

10. Overtime: Are you able to work overtime and get paid even more for it? Thank a union.

11. 8 Hour Work Day: Without unions, we’d all be working non-stop 24/7. Because of unions you’re able to go home and spend some time at home with family and friends before you catch 6-8 hours of sleep.

12. 40 Hour Work Week: Just like number 11, without unions, we’d never have a day off and work would encompass our entire life.

13. Unemployment Benefits: Are you unemployed but receive unemployment benefits to care for your family until you find another job? One word. Unions.

14. Wrongful Termination Laws: Because of unions, you can’t be fired for stupid reasons, like the color of your skin or because you make too much money.

15. Pay Raises: Unions are responsible for your ability to ask for and receive pay raises.

16. Holiday Pay: Do you at least get some holidays off? If so, thank a union.

17. Pregnancy and Parental Leave: In some countries, women give birth on the job and have to go back to work the next day. Corporations would make women do the same thing here if not for the determination of a union.

18. The Right To Strike: We have the right to organize and protest against the government. A union fought for your right to organize and strike against your employer.

19. Equal Pay For Women: Women finally get equal pay for equal work. Thank a union.

20. Laws Ending Sweatshops: Because of unions, sweatshops, which employ cheap labor with harsh conditions, are illegal.

State governments should not be attacking Unionism. Itstead Unionists should be thanked for saving this country so that people could have their freedom to be douchey.

***

***

Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be ► Happy Birthday Martha Mitchell

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John and Martha Mitchell before their 1973 divorce

Today would have been Martha Mitchell‘s 94th Birthday, had she not had the misfortune of dying in 1976. It’s a good thing she’s not around today, since that spared her the ignominy of having to read, or hear about, the book “The Strong Man; John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate.” This doorstop of historical revisionism, written by Fox “News” personality James Rosen, goes into painful detail, over and over and over again, about Martha Mitchell’s alcoholism, unseemly recounting marital fights and screaming matches observed by others. These details could have been omitted in favour of a few paragraphs here and there in the authors own words, informing the reader that Martha Mitchell suffered from alcoholism, a disease that affects an estimated 76 million people worldwide.

However, that would not have served Rosen, who used Martha’s alcoholism as the main excuse for John Mitchell having taken his eyes off the ball and getting trapped by the Watergate scandal. To read Rosen’s spin of the story, John Mitchell had nothing whatsoever to do with Watergate and it was all the fault of that rapscallion John Dean. This despite Mitchell being found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. He served 19 months of a two and a half years sentence, but went to his grave covering for President Richard Nixon.

Further reading:

Aunty Em Ericann’s Bun Fight With James Rosen of Fox “News”

Unpacking The Aunty Em Ericann Blog ► Part New 

Watergate ► The Beginning of the End

Watergate ► The End of the End

***

***

The Fox “News” Spin Cycle ► Episode Eleven

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Bizarro is owned by
DC Comics

Scooping up the latest in the Fox “News” Spin Cycle. This latest in my popular series doesn’t even include the day after the night before of the final night of the Republican National Convention. No WHITEwash, or mouthwash, can get the taste of Clint Eastwood Crazy™ out of the nation’s collective mouth, but Fox “News” will try its hardest.

Meanwhile the team of Mendacious Mitt and Lyin’ Ryan needs all the help from Fox “News” it can get. Following the nominated Vice President ‘s speech it was generally agreed that Paul “Ayn” Ryan lied from one end to the other. However, if Fox “News” ever acknowledged his easily debunked lies, I must have blinked. Once again it was like landing on Bizarro world. Fox “News” thought it was the greatest thing since perforated toilet paper, which is the perfect analogy for the shit that came out of his mouth that had to have been pulled from his ass.

Let’s get right to it.

In other words, there are several areas where Fox “News” can
sow doubt about President Obama, whether it is true, or not.

Shorter Fox “News:” After we outed the name of this author, we’ll ignore the fact that the Pentagon says he
may have broken the law in order so that we can say his account differs from the one from the White House.

It’s no longer a secret: Clint Eastwood isn’t much of a speaker.

Scammity promotes another anti-POTUS movie. If you ever want FREE advertising
for a project, make an anti-Obama movie. You’ll get tons of FREE publicity.

But of course, Loofah Lad will interrupt and heckle, barely letting Colmes get a word in edgewise.

Yet, Fox “News” never fires anyone for saying offensive things about
President Obama. Remember Bully Boy Bolling’s Hizzy House?

Brain Brian Kilmeade also uses his feed to promote his radio show, with a familiar name.

Forgetting all about Rudy “A Noun, A Verb, 9/11” Giuliani’s ethical lapses, those Foxy Friends on
Fox and Friends actually suggested he’d make a great Attorney General in a Romney White House.

Of course it goes too far. When Fox “News” uses a question mark, it’s called a “Cavuto Mark” in honour of Neil.

Shep is in his glory. He gets to cover a natural disaster as he ignores the unnatural disaster in Tampa.

The Mendacious Mitt I want to know is what’s in those tax returns.

Oh! Stop!! My!!! Sides!!!!

The Daily Bret? Oh, please.

Not likely the pit bull with lipstick. Sarah Palin couldn’t even get on Fox “News” on Wednesday. She was
forced to play victim, which is apparently her comfort zone, from the sidelines on her facebook feed.

Why doesn’t Fox “News” disclose Karl Rove’s clear conflict of interest?
Brain Brian Kilmeade goes full Bizarro and claims Rove is a “blind partisan.”

But The Five can stop Bob Beckel from speaking. They do it every day.
Who did Wretched Gretched leave out? I’m sure that was just an oversight.

I thought it would be someone’s crazy uncle and I was right.

Is Geraldo still on Fox “News”?
Karl Rove looked forward to Thursday. Harry Nilsson never did.

And yet the Supreme Court ruled it is. Am I reading a different Constitution than Rand “Ayn” Paul?

Until Clint Eastwood unleashed his crazy on the RNC, John McCain was every Republican’s favourite crazy uncle.

The truth, which was exactly the opposite of what Lyin’ Ryan delivered.

Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? Detect a theme yet? Nothing about Mitt’s Mendacity
and Ryan’s Lyin’ will ever pass the lips from a Fox “News” personality.

Ainsley “Airhead” Earworm has done away with the cheesecake and now just takes pictures
of inanimate objects. Here’s what her TelePrompter looks like from her vantage point.

HAW! HAW! HAW!

That actually improves Laura Ingraham’s charisma and foreshadows all the lies that she spews.

If the DNC ever used a “news” personality, Fox “News” would go bonkers. But Huckleberry’s okay with them.

Fox “News” was pushing the transcripts of a speech before the speech had even ended. What’s up with that?

Now Ainsley Earworm is now taking pictures of tee vee monitors. I guess she has a really bad seat at the RNC.

Fox “News” couldn’t get enough of Condoleeza Rice. Down the memory
hole went how she helped lie the country into President Bush’s illegal war.

A split sentence – one part true the other a lie. Lyin’ Ryan has to pretend he’s confident, tho’.

It’s be a Republican Love In.

I thought it had more lies in it than a Hotel Marriott. See what I did there?

TRANSLATION: Forget the fact that I voted for the Bush tax cuts, voted for both of his
wars, and voted in favour of sequestration, which is what helped put you in that basement.

More lies packed into a short speech than you’ll find in an entire day on Fox “News.”

At the risk of repeating myself: More lies packed into a short speech than you’ll find in an entire day on Fox “News.”

Which means more lies are coming. Hope you’re wearing your
Fox “News” branded hip waders, available at Bill O’s Store’0’Crap.

Fox “News” SciTech doesn’t understand how this whole propaganda thing works. It needs to find a way to trash the POTUS.
The lines where he wasn’t lying. Oh! Wait!! Never mind.
The only Dem on that list is Joe Trippi, who sides with the Republicans anyway.

Exact Ann Romney quote to a Latin audience: “You people know how to party!” Hoo boy!!!

Since Hulk Hogan came out in favour of Mendacious Mitt, why not plug his Beach Shop?

His ultimate objective is to fool as many ‘Merkins as possible. However, truth would be preferable

And still nothing on his conflict of interest.

More promotion of Hulk Hogan. If he had said he was voting for
President Obama, he would have never made it onto Fox “News.”

Smithereens? Just another one of those action words that Fox Nation loves to use when it’s
trying to make more out of something than it really deserves. BTW: Fox Nation never passes
along all those Politifact Pants On Fire ratings it gives to Mendacious Mitt and Lyin’ Ryan.

I would have thought Fox “News” would have dropped this down the memory hole.

Poor Sarah “Victim” Palin, relegated to the sidelines where her endorsements are almost meaningless.

Hoo boy!!!

If lies were gold, Lyin’ Ryan could have paid off the national debt with his RNC speech.

And the morning after Clint’s appearance speculation swirls whether he’s got all his marbles.

Rove has a lot of nerve to talk about an alternative reality. It’s where he lives.

Lie, lie, lie.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
You just know that Michael Moore was far more nuanced than that. He said he feared that the
money from the Romney SuperPACs, like Karl Rove’s f’rinstance, might buy the White House.

We all know that Rush Limbaugh is a disgusting pig. He proves it every time he
opens his mouth. But look at how Fox “News” is using Rush Limbaugh to play
the Race Card. They throw it out there so they can pretend it’s Rush who said it
and their hands are clean. Which is more disgusting? Rush taking ownership of his
Racist Twaddle™ or Fox “News” pretending it is NOT a Racist Propaganda Machine?

Another Ablow job from Dr. Keith.

FIXED!!! Tune in to primetime coverage of the RNC tonight – I’ll be
on the Fox panel after Mitt Romney’s speech lying my dumpy ass off.

You can just barely see it, but Shep Smith has a hard on from covering another natural disaster.

What he left out, of course, is how his great grandfather fled to Mexico so
he could continue to practice polygamy once it was outlawed in ‘Merka.

Translation: Voucher systems will starve the public school system, creating a country of haves and have nots.

These pants are too baggy to see Shep’s hard on, but you can be sure it’s there.

This is not a joke: The RNC had considered a holographic Ronald Reagan, but vetoed the
idea when they realized it would come off as more lifelike than Mendacious Mitt.

Another tired and old idea, apparently, is speaking the truth.

Oh that Ann Coulter. She’s such a kidder! Wait!!! What??? She wasn’t kidding? Hoo boy!!!

Another Ainsley Earworm pic of an inanimate object. Go back to the cheesecake, Ainsley.

I never thought it was a good idea for an 82-year old to give an ad libbed speech, but what do I know?

…While I help myself to your money through higher taxes.

When did speaking the truth become old and tired? Ever since Mendacious Mitt hooked up with Lyin’ Ryan.

As Fox “News” promises to do everything to help me win this election.

On to Charlotte, North Caroline. Now we will see whether Fox “News” will be so slavishly fawning at the DNC. Oh, who the hell am I kidding? It will be a non-stop POTUS bash-a-thon. Stay tuned for Episode One Dozen.

***

***

The Fox “News” Spin Cycle ► Episode Ten

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Bizarro is owned by
DC Comics

At the rate Fox “News” is spinning in order to WHITEwash for the Mendacious Mitt and Lyin’ Ryan Republican ticket, I may have to start updating The Fox “News” Spin Cycle twice a day, as opposed to just once a day. However, to be fair, it was the first day of the delayed Republican National Convention and Fox “News” had a lot of time on its hands and bullshit to shovel at its low-information viewers.

So hang on tight as we venture back into Bizarro World. Remember to keep your arms in at all times.

Wretched Gretched continues her e.e. cumings-style of idiosyncratic CaPitalIzaTion.

Doesn’t she realize how stupid it makes her look?

Clearly not, otherwise she’d have stopped by now.

Despite what Fox “news” would haver you believe, the monster larva is not the Democratic Party.

They have that backwards. How will the RNC impact the Tea Party, which has clearly taken over the GOP?

More “swiftboating” of the POTUS. Remember: “Swiftboating” is pushing a lie, like was done against John Kerry.

Mania is the right word for how Fox “News” has been sucking up to the RNC.

Because it’s a lying piece of shit. The less said about it, the better. Except on
Fox “News,” which seems to think it’s a blockbuster of “Avatar” proportions because
it can’t stop talking about it and promoting it, even though it’s still a load of horse shit.

This was such a bizarre segment. Those Foxy Friends at Fox & Friends got the Oak Ridge Boys to sing
the National Anthem for entertainment value. Then, later in the day, when the National Anthem was being
sung on stage at the RNC, Megyn Kelly talked right over it. Fox “News,” where patriotism is for the other guys.

Can’t imagine what he might say.

About that debt? Republicans really did build it.

The truth, but I’m not holding my breath.

Ellen Barkin said something stupid, so Fox “News” elevates it to national news. It never does this for Ted Nugent’s
idiotic rants, however. Why Barkin? She has been a long time punching bag for Fox “News” and Loofah Lad O’Reilly.

Two Mensa members.

More of Brain Brian Kilmeade hobnobbing with celebrities.
I remember when Dennis Miller was funny. Sadly, Bill “Falafel King” O’Reilly still thinks he’s funny.

The POTUS has been ready to compromise all along, even to the point of angering Democrats
and Progressives. However, Fox “News” wants to peddle this new pile of manure that he’ll
only compromise once he’s re-elected. When he’s re-elected he won’t need to compromise.

They’re all Teabaggers now that the Koch-suckers have taken over the GOP.

Hoo boy!!!

Because the Republican Platform and Mendacious Mitt certainly won’t do it.

I heard no “squashing,” just a small swipe. But Fox Nation loves these action words like
“demolishes” and “eviscerates.” It’s part of its creative writing and rewriting history.

Can the GOP keep the focus off who created that debt? [See above.]

See? “Unloads” is just one of those action words I just described.

“This is where I make shit up.”

Only if Romney’s Tax Returns and the GOP’s regressive abortion policy is studiously ignored.

It’d be less windy if you closed your mouth, Bully Boy Bolling.

O’Reilly is walking a tightrope with this topic. He doesn’t want people to remember how
he attacked Dr. George Tiller relentlessly and how a nut job took him seriously and killed Dr. Tiller.

The only one of these presidents who would be welcomed by today’s Teabagger
GOP Party is AU H2O, and I’m not so sure he’d like what the party has become.

Because it’s so easy to make fun of protestors.

You think it’s easy pulling facts out of his ass?

If Bret Baier is cruising, he’s definitely on the wrong side of town. I don’t think he ever did fix that link.

Because the “Take the country back to the 1950s” theme hasn’t been working at all.

Fox “News” has diversified and is now running a fleet of cabs in Tampa. Will they show up for the DNC?

Does he even have a hack license? I’d make sure he’s not taking the long way around, just trying to run up the meter.

Because they have been, but Fox “News” will never admit that because they do it too.

I missed it on purpose, silly boy.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Because making fun of protestors is as easy as falling off a wooden Romney.

Formally? I saw no tuxedos.

Everyone knows that when Republicans move into “full swing” it means putting everyone’s house
keys in a big bowl and . . . What? Oh! Sorry, I misunderstood. That’s for later, back at the hotel.

Fox “News” trumpeted this like it was some kind of surprise that was totally unexpected.

There’s actually some real “news” going on and Shep Smith gets to cover it from the balcony of
the same hotel I stayed in when I was in New Orleans for the first Mardi Gras after New Orleans.

“Special coverage” means there will be more fawning over Mendacious Mitt than usual.

Mayor Love spreads the POTUS hate.

Provided you have money. If you’re poor, you’re on your own. If you’re a woman, better get used to being marginalized.

Romney’s plan WILL work for ‘Merka, provided you’re in the the 1% of the Ruling Class at the top of the heap.

Right after he rewards his cronies with more tax cuts and sends all the good jobs off-shore, just like he always has.

Trolling for responses and the low information Fox “News” viewers are happy to oblige.

Real leaders lose weight.
I feel ripped off. Where’s today’s Fox and Friends First cheesecake shot?

No capital letters and a misspelling of the three letter word “Gov.” Good work, Wretched Gretched.

Yet, “Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders” gets capitalized. Hoo boy!!!
More bad grammar from Wretched Gretched. She’s so inconsistent about it, too.

Of course Rove loved it all and never admitted he has 2 SuperPACs dedicated to defeating the POTUS.

The only side of Mendacious Mitt I want to see is his backside.

What speeches did Fox “News” ignore? It’s always amusing, and terribly disingenuous,
when Fox “News” points out another channels bias. It’s usually wrong, too.

Fox “News” is getting a lot of mileage out of this book, after they outed the name of the author and pointed
out where he lived. Al Qaeda has now put out a assassination hit on him. Another job well done, Fox “News.”

The elephant in the room is Mendacious Mitt’s constant lying.

There have been “scorching” anti-Romney ads, but you’ll never see Loofah Lad promote them.

Present buttocks; apply lips.

When you have women and minorities trumpeting the Mendacious Mitt/Fox “News” lie of “You didn’t
build that” then I would call it “window dressing.” When they speak for themselves, I’ll change my mind.

Stay tuned for Episode Eleven of The Fox “News” Spin Cycle, which I’ll have to be starting almost immediately if I want to keep on top of this.

***

***

Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be ► The Beatles’ Last Concert

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Dateline – August 29, 1966 – Candlestick Park, San Francisco – After an estimated 1,400 live shows and 9 years as a Band on the Run, John, Paul, George and Ringo, collectively known as The Beatles, perform their last concert for paying customers.

The Beatles arriving in San Francisco for the last concert

It had been a Long and Winding Road. From Hamburg to Liverpool. Then all around England, at first. Then the entire world. It seemed Beatlemania would never end. It got crazier and uglier and more dangerous as time went on. By the time The Beatles reached Candlestick Park in 1966, they knew it would be their last show. Even Paul was ready to throw in the towel and he was the Beatle who always wanted to tour and record.

“On our last tour people kept bringing blind, crippled and deformed children into our dressing room and this boy’s mother would say, ‘Go on, kiss him, maybe you’ll bring back his sight.’ We’re not cruel. We’ve seen enough tragedy in Merseyside, but when a mother shrieks, ‘Just touch him and maybe he’ll walk again,’ we want to run, cry, empty our pockets. We’re going to remain normal if it kills us.”

~~~~~John Lennon

“There was a big talk at Candlestick Park that this had got to end. At
that San Francisco gig it seemed that this could possibly be the last
time, but I never felt 100% certain till we got back to London.

John wanted to give up more than the others. He said that he’d had enough.”

~~~~~Ringo Starr

“Thank you very much everybody. Everybody, wonderful. Frisco, butchered.
We’d like to say that, erm, it’s been wonderful being here, in this
wonderful sea air. Sorry about the weather. And we’d like to ask you to
join in and, er, clap, sing, talk, do anything. Anyway, the song is…
good night.”

~~~~~Paul McCartney, introducing the last song at Candlestick Park

“That’s it, then. I’m not a Beatle anymore.”

~~~~~George Harrison, on the plane after the show
The Beatles taking the stage at Candlestick Park

According to Mitch McGeary’s Beatles website:

  • The Beatles took 65% of the gross, the city of San Francisco took 15% of paid admissions and 50 free tickets. This, along with lukewarm ticket sales and other unexpected expenses resulted in a financial loss for Tempo Productions;
  • The oversize tickets were to [sic] large to fit the counting machines at Candlestick and had to be counted by hand;
  • The performance was taped by Tony Barrow at Paul McCartney’s request and is available in bootleg format. The last song was truncated because the recorder ran out of tape;
  • Just before leaving the stage, John teasingly strummed the opening guitar notes of “In My Life”;
  • Wes Wilson designed the concert poster for the show. Wes later on to become one of the most influential artists of the psychedelic movement and designed many important posters for Bill Graham.

Although Candlestick Park had 42,500 seats, unbelievably the ticket sales were sluggish and just over half were sold. Only 25,000 people were on hand to witness the final official concert by the greatest Rock and Roll band to ever come down the pike.

Knowing it could be their last show The Beatles took some commemorative pictures:

“Before one of the last numbers, we actually set up this camera, I think it had a fisheye, a wide-angle lens. We set it up on the amplifier and Ringo came off the drums, and we stood with our backs to the audience and posed for a photograph, because we knew that was the last show.”

~~~~~George Harrison

The 33 minute show had a slightly altered setlist from the other shows on the tour:

  1. Rock and Roll Music (Chuck Berry cover)
  2. She’s a Woman
  3. If I Needed Someone
  4. Day Tripper
  5. Baby’s in Black
  6. I Feel Fine
  7. Yesterday
  8. I Wanna Be Your Man
  9. Nowhere Man
  10. Paperback Writer
  11. Long Tall Sally (Little Richard cover) (with ‘In My Life’ snippet at the end)

One other thing The Beatles did to commemorate the occasion was to ask press officer Tony Barrow to record the show: According to The Beatles Bible:

“At San Francisco airport, as our plane prepared to take off, Paul’s head came over the top of my seat from the row behind: ‘Did you get anything on tape?’ I passed the cassette recorder back to him: ‘I got the lot, except that the tape ran out in the middle of Long Tall Sally.’ He asked if I had left the machine running between numbers to get all the announcements and the boys’ ad lib remarks. I said: ‘It’s all there from the guitar feedback before the first number.’ Paul was clearly chuffed to have such a unique souvenir of what would prove to be an historic evening – the farewell stage show from the Fab Four.

Back in London I kept the concert cassette under lock and key in a drawer of my office desk, making a single copy for my personal collection and passing the original to Paul for him to keep. Years later my Candlestick Park recording re-appeared in public as a bootleg album. If you hear a bootleg version of the final concert that finishes during Long Tall Sally it must have come either from Paul’s copy or mine, but we never did identify the music thief!”

~~~~~Tony Barrow; “John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me”

Beatles fans (and completists like myself) are lucky there was a music thief. That’s why 46 years later we can still listen to the last concert The Beatles ever performed for a ticketed audience. Sadly the tape ran out part way through the last song. However, we still have this record of The Beatles at the height of their live performances.

From this moment through to Abbey Road, The Beatles were a recording band, save for their one brief appearance on the roof of Apple for the Let It Be film (which has still not been released on DVD. Get on that, Sir Paul.)

***

***

The Fox “News” Spin Cycle ► Episode Nine

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Bizarro is owned by DC Comics

When the history of this election cycle is written (sadly both Theodore H. White and Hunter S. Thompson are no longer with us) an entire chapter will have to be devoted to the Fox “News” Spin Cycle, which has been spinning more furiously than Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf of Mexico. Fox “News” is forced to SPIN furiously in order to WHITEwash for the Republican team of Mendacious Mitt and Lyin’ Ryan, who have still not caught fire with ‘Merkin population.

The Fox “News” coverage of the GOP national convention has been one entire Republicapaloosa, when it hasn’t been attacking the President of the United States with false and already discredited talking points. Clearly the Fair & Balanced network ain’t.

Meanwhile, there’s an entire new episode of the Fox “News” Spin Cycle to deconstruct, so let’s get going. It’s a little longer than usual since it’s been almost a day and a half since the last one.

Wretched Gretched should get that capitalization problem looked into.

Just another example of how Wretched Gretched, or an intern acting on her
behalf, makes herself look stooopud. Capital letters are your friend, Gretch!

A hagiographer at work.

STOP THE PRESSES!!! Bully Boy Bolling is going to the RNC in Tampa!!! The trip won’t go smoothly. Read on.

Wait!!! What??? She found the SHIFT key! too bad she used it on the wrong word, but it’s a start.

Lots of people have unloaded on Mendacious Mitt Romney, but you’ll only see them on Fox “News” to be criticized.

Of course it’s not a War on Women. It’s a War on Women’s Rights. Why can’t the Left Wing see that?

His father also released 12-years of tax returns and honestly said that he had been brainwashed by the generals
during the Vietnam War. What Mendacious Mitt took away from that: Never tell the truth, so he hasn’t, ever!

Because Condé Nast Traveler Magazine is clearly in the tank for the Secretary of State.

Delta doesn’t control the weather, Bully Boy Bolling. President Obama does. Or don’t you listen to Rush Limbaugh?

A minute-by-minute update from Bully Boy Bolling. Soon he’ll start telling us of his bowel movements.

I will provided you finally reveal that you are spending untold millions to influence the same election
for which you and Fox “News” are trying to pretend you are just providing honest punditry. Deal?

Sheriff Joe is being investigated and prosecuted by the Federal government, but the only
time you’ll hear that on Fox “News” is when they use it to criticize President Obama.

Bully Boy Bolling seems to have a need to be in every picture. Here he is, finally in the air on the way to Tampa.

Bully Boy Bolling with Wretched Gretched.

Bully Boy Bolling with Buddy Christ’s younger brother.

Bully Boy Bolling with his sycophantic co-hosts from The Five.

That’s not EXACTLY what the NYT said, but I’m sure that wouldn’t surprise you.

Bully Boy Bolling makes a funny about a competitor.

Bully Boy Bolling makes another funny about a competitor.

Bully Boy Bolling makes a funny about  . . . WAIT! That wasn’t
even funny. Is that a Pop Cultural reference to a bad ’90s sitcom?

Crosshairs? We’re not going there again, are we?

I’d start with Ann Romney’s speech, but what do I know? I just don’t like Stepford Wives.

Told you so!!! Bully Boy Bolling just shit himself!!!

Shorter Baier: We’ll be lying our asses off.

Here’s the panel lying their asses off.

Hear them lie their asses off.

The one who spends the most money to influence the race. Come on down, KKKarl Rove!!!

Ask them how that blind trust found them to invest in their business.

Ask them if they THINK capitalization of their name is OPTIONAL.

How many times are you going to promote this interview? Wait!!! What??? You capitalized all
the right words on that last one. Who are you and what have you done with Wretched Gretched?

Never mind!!!

Back in my comfort zone. It’s as if nothing has changed.

The windy will be inside the hall.

Yeesh!!!

Because all ‘Merkins are clamoring for a president who can
pretend he always makes the pancakes and wears Costco shirts.

Loofah Lad is still pimping for the GOP; he just pretends otherwise.

Shep is in his glory. He can safely ignore the lies in Tampa to focus on his favourite thing: A natural disaster.

Rubio’s got to be just a little bit miffed that Mendacious Mitt chose Lyin’ Ryin’ over Credit Card Marco.

Fox “News” will never tell you about a Republican who switched to the
Democrats, unless it’s to denigrate them. Wait!!! What??? ACORN again???

If Fox “News” ever fact-checked Mendacious Mitt’s ads, like they do
every Democratic advert, no one would ever vote for Mendacious Mitt.

Another Fox “News” report about a D switching to an R, turning it into a national news
story. Yet, you’ll never see the so-called Fair & Balanced network show a R turned D.

More promotion for this softball interview from Wretched Gretched.

Fox “News” cooking the books on every story? We report; you decide.

Translation of Bill “Falafel King” O’Reilly: “Because Karl Rove is a complete nonpartisan in this election cycle and won’t
slant his coverage at all. (Did they buy that? Yes? Good, because I have a doormat and other crap I need to sell.)”

Because Reince Priebus thought he was on Fox “News” and started lying like he always does. OOPS! He was called on it.

And you can believe it because the Romney Camp has been so honest up to now. Oh, hell, who am I trying to fool?

The non-Fair and unBalanced network shouldn’t throw stones, considering the glass house it lives in.

One big fat liar with Mendacious Mitt’s mendacious offspring.

Because we all know how rational Jon Voight is, not to mention how politically astute.

Even though Geico issued a response that called this claim bullshit, nothing in the linked story refers to it.
You’d have to search hard to find out that this happened 2 years ago AND that Geico said Ermey wasn’t fired
at all. That ad campaign had run its course and the company had developed new campaigns in the two years since.

And turns truth on it’s ass.

Does Geraldo even have a Fox “News” presence anymore, now that his tee vee show
has been relegated to one night a week? However, he’s still got a radio show to promote.

Once again: When the polls showed President Obama ahead that sound you heard from Fox “News” was crickets.

Vote for us because we can be just as racist and Ayn Randian
as Ron Paul. We’re just better at disguising our intolerance.

YAWN!!!

See? Shep’s skipping the disaster that is the Republican Convention for the Disaster that is Isaac.

What’s the big secret? She’s a robot, of course.

Wait!!! What???

You can’t tell because his shirt’s not tucked it, but Shep’s got a hard on because he’s covering a natural disaster again.
Unless it’s a Democratic Convention. Fox “News” will do everything
in its power, which is considerable, to shit all over the DNC message.

But Fox “News” is Fair & Balanced/. You can take that to the bank.

“Because it’s not really lying unless I can people to believe me.” ~~~Shorter Rove

According to NewsHounds: “Independent” Bill “Loofah Lad” O’Reilly said that he finds Republicans sane and
Democrats radical. Just another day in the Wild Spin Zone, not to be confused with the Fox “News” Spin Cycle..

There you go, kids, another episode of The Fox “News” Spin Cycle has come and gone. While getting Episode Nine ready for publication, I have already collected the next 23 for Episode Ten. If the Fox “News” bullshit keeps increasing at this rate I’ll not only have to get a pair of hip-waders, but might have to bring in an intern to help. Maybe Wretched Gretched’s intern wants to move over to the dark side.

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