Subject: TV News Shows

• Our House Is A Very Very Democratic House

  First it was MSNBC. Then it was CNN. Now, finally, even Fox News has acknowledged the (apparently) obvious: The Democrats shall retake Congress. MSNBC predicts a thorough stomping, giving the Dems as many as 234 seats (leaving Repugnicans with 201), with a margin of error of 10 seats. CNN is more hesitant, simply acknowledging that Dems will claim more than the 15 seats they need. Fox ... well, let's just say Brit Hume is the happiest-looking person at Fox right now.

  November 7, 2006

• Beating Mexicans and Fox News Reporters

  Yesterday, with little or no warning, LAPD officers attacked unarmed Fox News personnel as well as men, women, children and the elderly gathered peacefully in Los Angeles--during the May 1 immigration rallies. Women? Children? Elderly? And Fox News personnel? We can guess that those cops rarely read, but don't they watch TV while they inhale Budweiser and Snickers bars? Fox? You know, guys—O'Reilly, Hannity, Gibson, Ailes and Murdoch. You know, the 24-hour-a-day "elevated threat leve

  May 2, 2007

• Cheeseburgers and Patsies in the White House

  If it wasn't for the cheeseburgers, I might have found this morning's resignation of White House Chief of Staff Andy Card touching. Certainly the reporters– and I use that word loosely– on the various cable news stations did, but then they were just following the White House's lead and ignoring the cheeseburgers. The mood the White House was going for was Hallmark-card maudlin, as the Associated Press' description of event makes clear: Gripping the podium, Card said in his farewell:

  March 28, 2006

• O Say, Can You See...

  If you're outraged by the idea of people singing the Star Spangled Banner in something other than English (a bit awkward having to make a nationalistic argument regarding language when your language is named for a different nation, but you have to work with what you've got), like, say, the new Spanish language version of the national anthem, I've got some bad news-- you're going to have to spend a lot of time being outraged. As Steve points out over at No More Mister Nice Blog, translating the a

  April 28, 2006

• Reconquista Time, Baby!

  Wanted to see a replay of that bukkake-loving Kobe's amazing shot last night, but the newscasters only wanted to talk Mexicans. Wanted to hear Traffic on the 1's on KFWB-AM 980, but all they wanted to talk about is Mexicans. Yep: the Day Without an Immigrant is here--in fact, hear me at 1 p.m. on the Al Rantel Show on KABC-AM 790 to talk about the New Brown Order.

  May 1, 2006

• Can You Hear Me Now?

  In this case, the President has acted, undisputedly, as FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] forbids. FISA is the expressed statutory policy of our Congress. The presidential power, therefore, was exercised at its lowest ebb and cannot be sustained. --from Federal District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's ruling issued today declaring the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program unconstitutional and ordering an immediate halt to it. In a similar recent case, a federal court

  August 17, 2006

• Minuteman's Time Up

  Certain students at Columbia University are none too fond of Jim Gilchrist. Yesterday the former accountant and OC native's speech was interrupted by protesters storming the stage, where some sort of fracas broke out. Though many news accounts suggest that Gilchrist himself was attacked, he appears to have been escorted offstage with the quickness; perhaps they mean he was attacked in the ideological sense? FOLLOW THIS LINK to see eyewitness video of the protest, courtesy of the Columbia Univers

  October 5, 2006

• Good News from Iraq (Fake news edition)

  Somehow it's fitting that the only good news to come out of Iraq recently is the fake news. The New York Times reports on a satirical news show that debuted on the Iraqi sattelite station Al Sharqiya at the beginning of Ramadan. This being Iraq, the show's title is somewhat darker than "The Daily Show"-- it's called "Hurry Up, He's Dead". Nearly every night here for the past month, Iraqis weary of the tumult around them have been turning on the television to watch a wacky-looking man with a gi

  October 25, 2006

• Fresh Perspective

  "Fresh perspective" and "new eyes" have been Bush administration buzzwords since the nomination of Robert Gates to be Secretary of Defense was announced. Whether the eyes of Mr. Gates-- which saw no evil when he was the Number 2 man at the CIA while the Reagan administration was busy undermining the Constitution with its Iran-Contra scam-- manage to see anything new remains to be seen. But starting today there will be a fresh perspective on world events available to Americans. Al-Jazeera, th

  November 15, 2006

• Staying the Course, a Bush Family Value

  As you've no doubt heard, Operation Iraqi Chaos (or whatever the official name is for the U.S. invasion and occupation) has now lasted longer than America's involvement in World War II. And judging by President Bush's statement this morning, American troops won't be leaving anytime soon. "There's one thing I'm not going to do, I'm not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete," [Bush] said in a speech setting the stage for high-stakes meetings with the Iraqi pr

  November 28, 2006

• Slack jawed, Hounddog, and Mr. Donohue (not) at the movies

  If there's one thing OC Weekly has in plentiful supply, it's Catholics of varying stripes-- devout, cafeteria, lapsed, vigorously lapsed, potential anti-pope-- with colorful and occasionally bizarre stories from their contacts with Holy Mother Church and its numerous franchises and subsidiaries. From nuns on a swimming pool-slide (an image from Steve Lowery's youth) to a priest who insisted that the Virgin Mary once stole his wallet while he was in a public restroom (a very devout fellow I knew

  January 24, 2007

• This is Dave Lopez Reporting

  Surely it pales in comparison to being named by the Weekly as Orange County's best television reporter , but KCBS veteran Dave Lopez, who has in particular raked from the same muck patch as our own R. Scott Moxley when it comes to covering the oh-so-corrupt OC Sheriff's Department, will be presented a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Press Club in June.

  May 16, 2006

• Papa Bear Coming to The Dick

  From the Richard Nixon Library, Birthplace, Deathplace and Untruthiness Center: BILL O'REILLY SET FOR NIXON LIBRARY SEPTEMBER 28 TV, Radio Superstar coming to launch Culture Warrior One of the biggest figures in American media, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, has selected the Nixon Library for the West Coast launch of his 4th big book, Culture Warrior, at 7:30 pm on Thursday, September 28. It's one of only three signings he's scheduled throughout the country. O'Reilly has authored three New York Ti

  July 18, 2006

• Comic-Con 2007: Of Paramount Disappointment, plus Jessica Alba and Peter Fonda

  Damn, the lines here suck. Used to be that Comic-Con got bigger every year, and they expanded the available space to fit. Then the space ran out, and stuff kept getting bigger anyway. I wait in line half an hour for the Paramount panel, and don't even get close to getting in. Regroup. An hour later, get in line an hour early for the Lionsgate panel. Line is all the way to the back loading dock. I get in. But this astonishes me: after all that wait, once initial guest Jessica Alba is done, half

  July 27, 2007

• Long Beach Colbert-o-scam?

  On the October 16 episode of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, television news anchor and Emmy nominee Stephen Colbert announced that he was "officially considering" whether or not he would announce if he was considering running for President of the United States, and would make that announcement "on a more prestigious show." Fifteen minutes later Colbert announced his candidacy on his own show, The Colbert Report, saying he will run in the South Carolina primary as both a Democr

  October 24, 2007

• Bill O'Reilly and the Media Mobius Strip

  November 5, 2007

• FOX NEWS: Why New Mexico is so close

  Some googly-eyed, drooly-mouthed Fox News talking head just said that the reason why New Mexico is so tight between Obama and Clinton (as of 10:50 p.m.) is because parts of the state were hit with a snowstorm today, and that many of Hillary's Latino supporters couldn't claw their way out of the snowdrifts to get to their polling places...

  February 5, 2008

• Hugh Hewitt Worst Person in the World!

  To tell you the truth, I haven't regularly watched Keith Olbermann since his days as a sportscaster on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and KCBS-TV Channel 2--and even as an elementary school wab, I found him annoying. I hear his MSNBC show The Countdown is pretty entertaining--but again, I find him irritating so don't bother to watch. Still, I give the man my respects. Yesterday, he named Orange County's premier loudmouth, Hugh Hewitt, the Worst Person in the World. Click below to watch the hilarity!

  May 22, 2008

• Rappers or Republicans?

  In May, we posited that southern hip hop and Fox News share much in common. Possessing both an anti-intellectual streak and a populist one, they’re beloved by red-staters and hated on by the coastal elites, be they liberals, hipsters, Ghostface or Nas. The piece concluded: If you're still not convinced that Southern rap and Fox News are one and the same, consider the countless Southern rap odes to big cars and the wasteful misuse of fossil fuel, an indulgence the global-warming deniers on Fox

  August 5, 2008

• Foods to Show Country of Origin

  According to various news reports and this one from ABC News, beginning this week, the USDA is requiring that all food retailers label some foods with their country of origin. The law, called COOL (Country of Origin Labeling) will mandate that the consumer is informed where all "raw beef, veal, lamb, pork, chicken, goat, wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish, fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and whole ginseng" are from. Amid the widening Chinese milk sca

  September 30, 2008

• Goodbye, Gurza

  April 5, 2001

• The Tonys!

  July 3, 2003

• Rev. Rick Warren Loves Gay People

  He loves them so much that he offers them doughnuts and water! See, he's not a bad guy just because he wants to deny these loving, committed couples their equal rights. Listen to his heartfelt explanation to Ann Curry about why doughnuts water = not homophobic, during their interview set to air on Dateline NBC tomorrow night.

  December 18, 2008

• Chicago

  January 22, 2009

• Why Southern Hip-Hop Is the Same as FOX News

  May 1, 2008

• "Only in New Jersey!"

  And other important "local" stories on Daybreak OC

  October 4, 2007

• The presidents conservative critics

  May 13, 2004

• Remote Hog

  July 20, 2006

• Commie Girl

  March 2, 2006

• This Week in Feeling 15 Again

  January 19, 2006

• The Knightly News

  George Clooney tips his hat to Edward R. Murrow

  October 13, 2005

• No Stunt Hair Necessary

  August 18, 2005

• They Report. You Deride

  August 26, 2004

• Blended Burgundy

  August 12, 2004

• Burning Bush

  April 29, 2004

• The Presidents Conservative Critics

  February 26, 2004

• Gorbasms

  September 11, 2003

• Negrology

  May 22, 2003

• Campus Radicals

  May 15, 2003

• Shock and Awe and Shuck and Jaw

  April 3, 2003

• We Must Be Butter Cause Were on a Roll

  March 13, 2003

• Picture Perfect

  August 15, 2002

• Deep, Deep, Deep Undercover

  November 29, 2001

• Take the Last Train to Modesto

  September 13, 2001

• Breaking News!

  March 15, 2001

• Worm in a Web

  November 16, 2000

• Tax-Pot-to-Save-Teachers Ad is Too Hot for TV

  Every two-bit party hack, corporate lobbying group and, yes, of course, The Chosen One can get TV airtime to sway the masses this way and that, to and fro, the hot issue du jour. But make that issue the legalization of marijuana so that it may be taxed to save our state from going into the shitter and, by golly, it's as if you were suggesting NAMBLA take over day cares.Take this ad . . . please! 

  July 8, 2009

• Orange County Clergy Goes Hollywood for Obamacare

  Yes, the people popping up everywhere to disrupt explanations of Obamacare by congress people and administration folk seldom get covered these days. A favorite was two days ago on CNN, when the anchorwoman cut to such a town hall where a U.S. senator was detailing the plan. Without hanging in long enough so viewers could figure out what the senator was explaining about the plan, CNN cut back to the doe-eyed newscaster, who said she'd check back in should "something happe

  August 11, 2009

• Piercing Through the Bill O'Reilly-Keith Olbermann Fued

  ​Perhaps the blood feud between Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann can be resolved with a simple game of darts.That's what an Israel-based graphic arts website seems to believe with the portraits it has bound for the cable TV blabbermouths who go head-to-head--and toe-to-toe--on Fox News and MSNBC respectively.

  September 2, 2009

• Is Obama Our Nixon and Fox News Our New York Times?

  ​Is Barack Obama this generation's disgraced Orange County favorite son Richard Nixon?And does that make Fox News the Dick-era equivalent of the Pentagon Papers-publishing New York Times?Well, Bebe Rebozo, see if you can follow the bouncing twisted-logic ball . . .

  October 14, 2009