Odd lie

Today, one of the local radio shows (Captain Ed and Mitch) asked congressional candidate Michele Bachmann (R) how she has learned to handle attack ads so well. She responded by saying that she learned to fight back because she had 3 brothers and no sisters growing up. But then I recalled reading that her Brady Bunch-style family had 9 children among them, including at least one step-sister, while she attended high school. It took me a nanosecond to put 2 and 2 together to figure out why she lied on this statement. She then ended the interview with a thought that filled me with pride:

"You have the smartest listeners."

Considering that Bachmann positions herself as a morality/family-first candidate, her lying on such a basic personal fact ranks as one of the most hypocritical statements I have heard. This only further confirms what Chris Hedges documents as a severely twisted view of inclusiveness in 'minionists due to an extreme fundamentalist belief system.

According to the article, Bachmann apparently also has only a narrow grasp on issues outside of the so-called "moral" ones she supports. On the other hand, the radio hosts comically attacked the Lt. Governor candidate of Minnesota, Judi Dutcher (D), for not knowing the term "E85". I find this funny because these bloggers cum radio hosts rarely if ever discuss issues related to energy alternatives, whereas the Democrats go to lunch on this subject matter. I classify this tactic as a case of projection and inoculation to prevent voters from understanding their own vacuousness on these issues.

If you vote against hypocrisy, can detect psychological framing tactics, and strive to find a level accountability, you can't go wrong in choosing the right candidate.

Update: The station replayed the radio program so I snagged the audio to YouTube:

Stupor

I used to routinely listen to Limbaugh years ago during lunch breaks (for the hatebuzz) and then one day I went cold turkey. Kevin Drum indicates that he may have snapped out of a stupor than has gone on longer than my ongoing dittohead detoxification.

Bush: Give me a second here, Rush, because I want to share something with you. I am deeply concerned about a country, the United States, leaving the Middle East. I am worried that rival forms of extremists will battle for power, obviously creating incredible damage if they do so; that they will topple modern governments, that they will be in a position to use oil as a tool to blackmail the West. People say, "What do you mean by that?" I say, "If they control oil resources, then they pull oil off the market in order to run the price up, and they will do so unless we abandon Israel, for example, or unless we abandon allies.

Rush called this "extremely visionary." It's certainly a bracing call to arms for our troops overseas, isn't it?

Critical Ass

I saw this stunt in a wilderness survival movie once.

Once a month, cyclists gather at Balboa Park and ride around San Diego to promote bicycle-powered transportation. Critical Mass is held in dozens of cities around the country, and when it’s large enough—when it reaches a critical mass—the group often blocks the road and ignores traffic rules in order to assert bicycle independence.

Last Friday, someone decided to express his displeasure with the two-wheeler slowdown. The rage occurred on Broadway near the Gaslamp Quarter.

"These two guys in a black Mercedes were talking shit out the window, wouldn’t turn off the road," said one rider, Jody Polk. "They got surrounded by bicycles, making threats out the window. There was some egging on on both sides."

The banter apparently got serious, because, according to witnesses, the two guys jumped out of the car, possibly ready for a fight. But Polk suspects the pair changed their strategy when they turned and saw 100 or so riders coming down Broadway toward them. That was when one of them pulled "a large pistol" and fired it into the air before getting back into the car and speeding off.

October Surprise

The vaunted "October Surprise" turned out as none other than the porcine Karl Rove.

Otherwise, the day's events happened to contain a bunch of interesting media twists.

• Radio talk show caller Mike Stark getting pummeled by George Allen's stooges.
• ABC's Mark Halperin trying to brown-nose radio wing-nut Spew Spewitt for 3+ hours before realizing that the Spew has some serious character flaws. "Hugh, did you have some bad childhood experience?"
• Brave Stephanie Miller calling up a stalker on-air who essentially threatened to kill her in a creepy monospace-typed letter.
• Kerry getting ballsy and Bush getting stupider.
• A weird ABC radio network memo claiming an advertising blacklist on Air America Radio.

On the last item, I sent in a question to one of the companies allegedly involved in the advertising blackout, REI co-op. An outdoors store known for their liberal causes, I figured that they would give us the real scoop about the "REI Sporting Goods (sic)" involvement with ABC. They returned my query with a form letter within minutes of me sending it.

"Thank you for contacting REI regarding the Air America advertising blackout.

Today, an internal memo on ABC Network letterhead was posted on the Air America website and picked up by various blog sites. The memo lists companies that refused to have their radio advertising supporting Air America and Al Franken?s programming. REI was listed as one of the companies declining to advertise; however this information is incorrect.

REI has not refused to advertise during Air America?s programming. In fact, REI has placed radio ads on stations carrying Air America programming.

It is unfortunate that this misinformation has been widely distributed. We are currently working with our advertising agency and the ABC radio network to track down how this happened.

You are a valued member and I hope you will give us another opportunity to serve your future outdoor needs.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Carolyn
REI Online Customer Service"

customer-service@rei.com

In the meantime, erstwhile Air America host Marc Maron and second banana Jim Earl made a triumphant return to the AAR airwaves and guest hosted the Springer show last week, hijacking the first hour with talk about energy efficient transportation alternatives [listen here]. The rumor mill has it that Maron may join fellow AAR outcast Mike Malloy on the NovaM radio network, and may also go over to Sirius satellite radio. Malloy had a great rant on how Bush has gone from his self-proclaimed role of King of America to King of the World, but eventually a caller had to correct this title and extend it to King of the Universe with the new Bush space policy.

Update: I sent the REI memo to Mike Malloy for an appraisal. Nothing gets past him as he replied succintly:

" In fact, REI has placed radio ads on stations carrying Air America programming."
Weasel words, as always. No one said these advertisers wouldn't advertise on STATIONS that carried Air America programming. The charge is they refused to be on Air America PROGRAMS.

Bastards.

MM

Foolish deficiency

The Toecutter provides a list of fuel-efficient cars that the USA will never allow consumers buy.

Statistical Easterbrook

Atrios said:

Probably the stupidest person in professional pundtry is Gregg Easterbrook. He's exhibit A for "too stupid to know he's stupid" and more than that he's too stupid to understand that there are people who know things that he doesn't, and more than that he's so stupid that he sets himself up as an authority about things he has absolutely zero comprehension of. It'd be comical except he's helping to make even more people as stupid as he is and what we don't need right now is even more stupid people.

An early science blogger, most people consider Easterbrook particularly weak in relation to this aspect of his punditry. But I did not realize that he has had a parallel career as a sports columnist. Which makes this passage particularly troubling.

The latest silly estimate comes from a new study in the British medical journal Lancet, which absurdly estimates that since March 2003 exactly 654,965 Iraqis have died as a consequence of American action. The study uses extremely loose methods of estimation, including attributing about half its total to "unknown causes." The study also commits the logical offense of multiplying a series of estimates, then treating the result as precise. White House officials have dismissed the Lancet study, and they should. It's gibberish.

How somebody that writes a column about a statistical exercise such as competitive sports can not understand simple concepts such as sampling and extrapolation should really give up any hope of enlightenment. In his heart he probably thinks when a quarterback has a completion percentage of 50%, his passes make it only halfway to their target. And that the conceptual premise of sports betting likely equally baffles him. (He also makes stuff up, because no where does the Lancet say that exactly 654,965 people died)

Alas, hope springs eternal in the world of mindless sports zealots; as an antidote, we need more intelligent sports writing refugees like Keith Olbermann, Charles Pierce, and Dave Zirin branching out and not the typical dunderheads like Easterbrook.

Perils for Pedestrians

Tuesday, October 24, DISH Network will show Episode 81 of "Perils For Pedestrians".

Contents of Episode 81 (2003):

• We talk with Linda Armstrong Kelly (ed: Lance's ex ?) about The Texas Bicycle Coalition at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC.
  

• We meet Greg Lemond, a three time winner of the Tour De France.

• U.S. Representative James Oberstar gives the history of federal transportation policy.

DISH Network Channel 9411 -- The Universityhouse Channel
Tuesday -- 9:30 pm Eastern, 6:30 Pacific

Google Video
Note: Episode 81 is not yet available on Google Video.

Public Access Cable Stations
Note: Public access cable channels are showing different episodes than DISH Network.