Rachel Maddow’s Lean Forward Ad

4-day weekends are heaven sent. On this lazy, hot summer day, I’ve been perusing the net and found this gem. I am in love with this ad. Beautifully written. And yet another reason why Rachel is on my Laminated List. 😀

via me2too

Hardball with Chris Matthews: High School Student Takes on Administration

I am impressed with this young guy’s passion. He’s challenging a 2008 Louisiana law that he feels is a way to get Creationism taught in public school science classes. I am a theistic evolutionist myself. Despite my belief in God, I think Creationism should not be taught in a science class. Religion does not belong there.

Enjoy! 🙂

Vodpod videos no longer available.

High School Student Takes on Administration, posted with vodpod

Ed Schultz, Accountability, and Freedom

Ed Schultz Apologizes: Laura Ingraham Comments ‘Vile And Inappropriate’

I’m glad he owned it and apologized. As a Liberal, it was really disappointing and embarrassing. He’s taking his medicine by apologizing on the show and is suspended for a week without pay.

Now, this is what I’ve been thinking about since this story surfaced. Ed Schultz works directly for a network – NBC. Of course, they don’t want his words to reflect negatively on them. So, they make him apologize and suspend him.

Rush Limbaugh has a nationally syndicated radio show. Over the millenia that he’s been on the air (feels like it), he has spouted the nastiest comments. Racist, sexist, whatever-ist, he’s said it. He’s apologized here and there. People have apologized for him. Yet, there’s no real accountability. Is he afraid that radio stations will drop his program? Hell no. His popularity ratings are off-the-charts. No radio station would drop the program and the advertising revenue that comes with having a solid following.

To be clear, pointing this is out does not mean I am condoning Ed Schultz’s behavior. It was totally classless. “Slut” may be colloquial nowadays, but it’s still sexist and rude. I wish there was punishment for Rush Limbaugh, too, though. It’s pretty much, “Sorry I said Michael J. Fox was faking his Parkinson’s Disease. Now, back to those evil Liberals.” To me, that really sucks.

If there are two levels of accountability, suspension and sorry, I say forget the whole standards thing. Let them all say what they want to say. Do or do not apologize. Let the viewers and listeners decide whether or not they want to continue watching and listening.

Is that the answer? Should we have unregulated freedom on radio and TV? I have no problem with that, actually. People should be able to decide what they want to listen to and watch. Popularity and ratings could dictate what stays and goes. As far as children being exposed, that’s why they have parents.

I know there are those who have a huge problem with that. Considering the outrage after Janet Jackson’s peek-a-boobie during the Superbowl, this is not in the foreseeable future. I guess we’ll continue as we have.

Anyway, this is what I do know for sure. I don’t like that when Ed says something “vile and inappropriate,” there are serious repercussions. However, Rush can say something equally “vile and inappropriate” and nothing happens.

Rachel Maddow: Anti-Choice Right Targets Doctors

This doctor shares what he goes through and faces by providing safe abortions. He was one of the doctors on the Wanted Posters that circulated in North Carolina last November. I figured this was fitting considering that today is Abortion Providers Appreciation Day. The doctor asked that his face be concealed and his voice altered. That’s why it sounds creepy.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

NC Abortion Doctor, posted with vodpod

Rachel Maddow: Wisconsin GOP Votes to Strip Union Rights

My head was near spinning off last night. I had so many questions. Rachel Maddow did an excellent job, as usual, of explaining what went on. There is even footage of what happened moments before the vote in the chamber.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Watch: Incredible Videos as Wisconsin GOP Strip…, posted with vodpod

Lawrence O’Donnell Calls Out Bill O’Reilly

Lawrence O’Donnell has what a lot of screaming heads lack…a volume dial. He has a quiet way about him. In this segment, he calls out Bill O’Reilly to prove his assertion that MSNBC is anti-American. I wonder how O’Reilly will respond, if at all. I like O’Donnell’s calm, matter-of-fact O’Reilly smackdown. Enjoy. 🙂

Fired? Really?

I don’t understand MSNBC. Countdown with Keith Olbermann was one of MSNBC’s most popular shows. He was the liberal counterpart to the likes of Rush and Hannity.

I watched him from time to time, but not regularly. He just wasn’t that entertaining to me. Politics and entertainment value really shouldn’t go together, but sadly it does.

Olbermann has done some pretty offensive things over the years. Giving the Nazi salute while wearing a Bill O’Reilly mask was particularly charming. I believe it’s this kind of thing makes for good TV. Being provocative and passionate will get viewers. It also adds to the vitriol that people have been condemning in light of the shooting of Representative Giffords.

When it comes down to it, TV is about ratings, right? I believe MSNBC made a mistake here, in a purely financial sense. They will lose viewers. Sure, people will probably still watch Rachel Maddow, but she is pretty level-headed. In TV Land, that means boring.

Unless they can find someone equally or more liberal and loud, MSNBC will feel the loss. Though I am glad I don’t have to hear the number of days it’s been since Bush’s declaration of “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. That is so last administration.