NewsChannel 5's Next Hot Scoop

Now that they've busted the "Islamville" terrorist cell wide open, we hear the crack investigators at NewsChannel5-WTVF are looking into another hotbed of religious radicalism ... right here in Middle Tennessee!

(Script by “Anonymoose” from this comment thread ...)



Meanwhile, NewsChannel5 gets some national attention for its shoddy reporting via ThinkProgress ...)

.... and now The Washington Independent piles on ... WTVF, y'all are so screwed. Do I smell a Keith Olbermann "Worst Person's" award?

It’s Not All About You Though, Is It?

Atrios has suggested that a lot of the right-wing global warming stupidity which surfaces every time it snows--gasp! In WINTER!--is really just about pissing off liberals; they know better, Atrios claims, they just want to poke a stick at the icky DFH.

I dunno. I do think that’s where a lot of Sarah Palin’s “how’s that hopey-changey stuff workin’ out for ya” rhetoric comes from. It’s not about making a point or being a leader or having ideas, it’s about directing anger at a politically expedient target. People are besieged on a variety of economic fronts, their kids are having to deal with crap they never had to worry about at that age, our major systems and institutions have all failed, yada yada. Easy to point at the DFH and say it’s all their fault.

But on the climate change thing, I really think ends up being about narcissism. Hey, says Sean Hannity, it’s cold in MY yard so therefore it must mean Al Gore is FAT! Ha ha! Seriously, these folks have such tunnel vision, they can't think beyond their little circle of sycophants, let alone stop to consider why it's called global climate change.

You know, never mind that Vancouver is experiencing record warm temperatures and lack of snow, just in time for the Olympic Winter Games.

Or that record heat and drought in Australia is causing massive crop loss--this after last January’s heat wave which claimed 37 lives. Meanwhile, a heatwave in Brazil has killed 32 people, and over in South Africa, folks are also suffering under oppressive, record heat.

Of course, it’s summer in most of those places (well, not Vancouver ...) which is why we DFH’s always say: there’s a difference between weather and climate. And all of these bizarre weather patterns, from wild and wooly winter in Washington, D.C., to searing drought in the Southern Hemisphere, confirm that things are changing.

The World Meteorological Organization reported at the end of 2009:

This year above-normal temperatures were recorded in most parts of the continents. Only North America (United States and Canada) experienced conditions that were cooler than average. Given the current figures, large parts of southern Asia and central Africa are likely to have the warmest year on record.

But to Hannity, Inhofe, Beck and the rest, only what happens in North America matters.

That's just so typical of conservatives, isn't it? Conservative ideology is all about IGMY-ism (I Got Mine, Y’all) -- it denies everyone else a shot at healthcare, jobs, clean air, clean water, a decent education for their kids. It's a drawbridge mentality: as long as they and theirs are OK, forget about letting anyone else into the party.

So I think Atrios is being too generous in regard to conservatives like Hannity and Limbaugh. It's not about pissing off liberals, it's about a "world" view that can't see past its own nose.

[UPDATE]:

As usual, I write something, schedule it to post the next morning, shut down the computer, then watch The Daily Show say what I was thinking a thousand times better than I ever could. For your viewing pleasure:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Unusually Large Snowstorm
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I Wonder If WTVF Feels A Teensy Weensy Bit Responsible

If they don't, they should:

On February 10th, 2010, Al-farooq Masjid of Nashville, TN was vandalized with religiously motivated hate-speech spray painted on their outside walls. Whoever did this also left a hand written letter at the Al-farooq Youth Center that said ugly things about Muslims and Islam.

This event is particularly troubling as it comes on the heels of a sensationalist report by News Channel 5 this past weekend about a long-time Muslim community in Dover, TN, who they initially insinuated as having links to terrorists.

Well no one could have anticipated THAT.

Way to go, Nashville's ”yellow journalists.”

Pith has more...

Don’t Have To Read The News

I was first introduced to the amazing folk musician Greg Brown thanks to “Prairie Home Companion.” Now I’ve been reintroduced to him thanks to the movie “Crazy Heart,” where this extraordinary songwriter’s “Brand New Angel” appears. So I dusted off a couple of my old CD’s, including a favorite, One More Goodnight Kiss, and found this gem of a song, “Our Little Town.”

Sorry for the cheesy video, it was the only one I could find on YouTube. Give the song a listen, and give the lyrics a read.

Er, No. But Thanks For Asking

Someone in Minnesota wants to know:



(h/t, Digby)

Really, WTVF? REALLY?

WTVF-NewsChannel5 has lost me forever. In a pathetic ploy for ratings, or perhaps an effort to sell more Depends, they have sent reporter Nick Beres out to cover the extremist anti-Muslim video “Homegrown Jihad.” The video claims that there are terrorist training camps right here in Tennessee!!!! OMG!!!!!11!!1!ELEVEN!!!!

The segment I saw interviewed local anti-Muslim nutball/perpetual Republican Congressional candidate Vijay Kumar. From the link:

Vijay Kumar believes otherwise. He's a Nashville member of ACT for America – a national group concerned with Islamic radicalism in the U.S. Kumar says it's hard to know for certain what happens at the community near Dover because they keep to themselves.

"It's my feeling they are introverted and live among themselves and think the whole world is hostile," says Kumar.

It would have been nice if Beres or someone else at WTVF had bothered to check into ACT For America's or Kumar’s background. For one thing, he’s the Republican candidate running for Jim Cooper’s seat--again--on an “anti-Sharia platform.”

Seriously, an anti-Sharia platform? Are you kidding me? What world do these idiots live in?

Saying ACT For America is "a national group concerned with Islamic radicalism" is soft peddling pedaling it. They are a rabid Islamophobic group headed by hyper-Zionist Brigitte Gabriel, author of anti-Muslim books with charming titles like "Because They Hate" and "They Must Be Stopped." Sorta like an anti-Muslim KKK.

Lovely.

Not surprisingly, Kumar's campaign website is full of fearmongering about immigrants and Jihad. Did Beres’ piece mention any of this? No it did not. Not one word.

Did it mention any of the radical anti-Muslim ideas he has espoused? Of course not.

Did it mention this psycho-talk?

Kumar: The Left and Islam share many of the same values. Both deny that individuals have a personal ethic. A central authority should control all things. Both insult and denigrate their opponents and see themselves as victors in the movement of history. Both hate the native cultures and individual efforts.
 
The mindset of the Leftist is one of deliberate ignorance.  I was a Leftist, a bleeding heart liberal until a few years ago.  I came from a Marxist family in India.  The Left, by its silence on the issue of radical Islam, has betrayed its own professed ideals, if it has any.
 
The fight against Political Islam should have been led by the liberal intellectuals in our universities, but instead they deliberately and systematically support a seventh century totalitarian ideology that negates all forms of rational thinking, intellectual pursuit, and pluralism - the very ideals which are supposed to be central to the philosophy of the Left.
 
The Liberals have become the lackeys of Islamic imperialism in their words and deeds. They fail to mention the 1,400 years of Jihadists' terror in this world.  How can we cry for the genocide in Darfur and ignore the cause?

So this is NewsChannel5’s “expert” on the so-called “Jihadi’s” in Stewart County, Tennessee.

Since when did local news media peddle intolerance as some kind of credible story? We live in a state where shit like this is in the news. And now we give airtime to a far-right zealot who is hardly a credible source. Thanks, Nick Beres and NewsChannel5 for mainstreaming the crazy.

Local journalism has hit a new low.

I eagerly anticipate the expose on the intolerant phony "Christians" who distributed this video to begin with. Part Two, NewsChannel5?

Deep Thought

I cannot believe I live in a place that has received this much snow yet lacks universal healthcare and a robust social safety net.

RIP Rep. John Murtha

Congressman John Murtha has died at age 77, apparently from complications related to gall bladder surgery last week. I remember him being a vocal opponent of the Iraq War, his opposition given greater weight as he was a decorated Vietnam War hero.

Naturally, right wing hate mobsters like Ann Coulter tried to Swift Boat him.

RIP, John Murtha.

Tea Party Perspective

Welcome Crooks & Liars!

[UPDATE]:

For further perspective, note that in another part of the sprawling Opryland complex this weekend a group of 500 women bloggers, many of them "mommy bloggers," gathered for their sold-out convention. To my knowledge no national news media covered the event. 500 women bloggers vs 600 right wing nutjobs in white wigs and tri-corner hats. Which one gets the national news media's attention?

The New York Times did an awesome job of buying the spin that this is just a mainstream group of folks. Clearly they did not listen to any of the keynote speeches, in which we heard homophobic rants about morality, anti-immigrant bigotry from Tom Tancredo, and birther conspiracy theories.

So thanks, New York Times. Way to mainstream the Obama hate.

----------------------------------

So everyone says around 600 people showed up for Nasvhille’s Tea Party Convention, right?

For some perspective, the first Netroots Nation drew over twice that amount:

But even after acknowledging this relevant context, what we're left with is an event with 600 participants and a grand total of zero current House members, senators, or governors. There were, by some estimates, 200 journalists on hand to cover this convention, creating a bizarre dynamic -- one reporter for every three participants.

It's all terribly odd. The first Netroots Nation gathering (the conference formally known as Yearly Kos) had 1,400 attendees. The Tea Party convention had less than half this total.

The media attention seems a little disproportionate to what, by all appearances, was an underwhelming get-together.

Indeed it does. But this is just another case where the “liberal media” lie is shown in all of its glory.

And let's remember the national media’s coverage of the left’s anti-war protests was tepid, at best. It seems if a bunch of liberals get together, it’s not news. But some wacko anti-gay, anti-immigrant right wing nutballs gather for three days of hating on the President and 200 media representatives descend on the convention hall.

Weird.

Atrios is right, the right wing rules their world.

Memory Hole: TV Advertising Edition

Gosh, remember this?

CBS, NBC ban church ad inviting gays
Networks wont run church spot featuring gay couple; say ad runs contrary to company policies.

December 2, 2004: 9:47 AM EST
By Steve Hargreaves, CNN/Money Staff Writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The CBS and NBC networks have refused to run an ad by a liberal church promoting the acceptance of people regardless of sexual orientation because the networks believe the ad is advocacy advertising.

The 30-second spot, run by the United Church of Christ, features two muscle-bound bouncers standing outside a church, selecting people who could attend service and those who could not. Among those kept out are two males who appear to be a couple. Written text then appears saying, in part, "Jesus didn't turn people away, neither do we."

For those who don’t remember, the ad is here:



Apparently that message was too offensive to CBS five years ago. Now, they not only are airing a Focus on the Family ad about abortion, they actually worked with Focus on the Family to vet scripts and other ad content to ensure it would pass network muster:

[...]Focus on the Family, the Colorado Springs-based conservative Christian group founded by Dr. James Dobson, says that it has actually been working closely with CBS executives for months on the ad's script.

"There were discussions about the specific wording of the spot," said Gary Schneeberger, spokesperson for Focus on the Family. "And we came to a compromise. To an agreement." Schneeberger declined to comment on exactly how CBS changed the ad's message.

CBS has said that in the last year, in an acknowledgment of "industry norms," it loosened previous restrictions on advocacy advertisements, accepting ads that pushed for health reform and environmental activism.

But pro-choice advocates complain the network didn't publicize the policy change and hasn't applied it consistently, citing a rejected Super Bowl ad from gay dating Web site ManCrunch.com. According to Schneeberger, Focus on the Family was not aware of an explicit policy change inside the network, either. "It was only last week that they indicated that they changed any policy," he said.

"We've worked with [CBS] almost since the beginning," Schneeberger added. "Our senior vice presidents talked to CBS executives throughout the process. It was a very cordial, very professional, fruitful relationship."

Well isn’t that cozy. So apparently CBS has taken sides in the culture wars, deciding a progressive denomination’s message of GLBT tolerance is unacceptable, but a right-wing church organization’s message about abortion is suitable for airing during the Super Bowl.

Good to know.

It also sounds to me like CBS worked hard to get this Focus on the Family ad on the air and only after people pointed out their hypocrisy, did they invent this "policy change" excuse.

Of course I'm just speculating.