Dan Abrams Signing Off

I have admired Dan Abrams' efforts at exposing the illegalities of the Bush Administration for the last few months, so it is sad to see him go. The last episode deals with his signing statements, former Justice O'Connor's opinion of it and the weak non-attempt Congressional Democrats made at doing something about it.



Of course, it isn't all bad, since he's going to be replaced by the incredibly awesome Rachel Maddow starting on September 8th!

Now That Imus Is Gone...

Congratulations is in order to the corporate bigwigs who caved to the pressure of many groups demanding Don Imus be off the air. Yet there is still a widespread problem of hate being spewed on the radio and on television. The list of names is long indeed, including Bill O'Reilly, Neil Boortz, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh and many others. So as long as we are clearing the air and making progress towards more civilized debate in talk radio, why not make efforts to getting rid of these goons?

Catherine Crier discussed this on CourtTV last night (via Crooks and Liars):

Court TV's Catherine Crier doesn't think this scandal should end with the firing of Don Imus. During last night's "Crier Wire," she quickly ran through a small handful of the hateful things uttered by the likes of FOX News, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, and makes the obvious point that they should also be held accountable.

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"Let's tell hate spewing radio and TV hosts, and misogynist rappers that this divisiveness is unacceptable."

I am certainly no fan of censorship but the names on the list above can spew their hate-mongering in safer places, such as their living rooms. Reasoned debate is one thing, shouting and screaming ideology and bigotry is another. If I remember correctly, the FCC granted the networks space on the public airwaves for loftier purposes than the insanity that exists today.