Air America stays with WWRL

After reports of some differences between the two parties, Air America decided to stay with WWRL for the forseeable future.

Here's the presser:

NEW YORK – Air America Media has extended its agreement with WWRL 1600 AM for Air America programming to be carried in the New York market. Under terms of the deal, WWRL will continue to carry "The Rachel Maddow Show" weekdays from 5-6am, "Montel Across America" weekdays from 3-6pm and "The Ron Reagan Show" weekdays from 6-8pm.

"Making sure our listeners in the New York area continue to have access to their favorite Air America programming was a key goal of our conversations with our friends at WWRL," said Bill Hess, senior vice president of programming, Air America Media. "’The Ron Reagan Show’s’ growth in New York has been explosive, and the opportunities to continue the success of both Montel and Rachel make this a strong package for both the network and WWRL."

Friday Tweets

Yeah, I know. I've been slacking a bit. There's just so much stuff, it's become rather overwhelming.

Well, time to try my best. Here's what I've been tweeting about the past few days...

First, aren't you all getting a bit sick of that whole 'liberal media' meme that right-wingers casually spout about when they're just not as extreme as them? The argument is even sillier when you factor in examples like this?

Need another example? The New York Times is reporting that President Obama's approval rating is at 56%, down a little from earlier this year. Still, it's higher than Reagan and Clinton had at this point in their presidency. A piddly 30 percent of responders said they had a favorable view of Republicans in Congress, compared to 47 percent favorable view of Congressional Democrats. Obama and the Democrats are trusted more on health care, as 76% don't think the Republican game plan, whatever there is of it, is a joke. The funniest thing about all this? The Times' headline, "In Poll, Public Wary of Obama on War and Health." Oh, that liberal media!

Perhaps this is why the GOP is doing so poorly on health care. At a public forum, Rep. Eric Cantor (R) told a woman who had an uninsured and laid-off relative with stomach tumors to seek “existing government programs” or find charity. Heaven forbid these freeloaders hold down corporate profits. And on a related note, Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake."

Several years ago, the Dixie Chicks got slammed by thin-skinned right-wingers when Natalie Maines dissed President Bush onstage at a concert. And the big ridiculous talking point at the time was that the concert was outside of this country (Great Britain). Therefore, Maines was a traitor because she denounced the president on foreign soil. Flash-forward a few years, with tables turned. What are these same mouth-breathing morons saying about their top pinup girl, Sarah Palin, who not only badmouthed President Obama and current U.S. policy in a foreign country, but in Communist freakin' China?

So, wanna call Palin out on it? Well, don't do it on her Facebook account. You'll get deleted and banned from the page.

Evidently, today's right-wingers are living by their own set of rules, making up new ones as they go along. Did you hear that actor/conservative icon Chuck Norris is actually advocating the desecration of the U.S. flag?

Of course, most right-wingers are really just mealy-mouthed cowards. This goofball is trying to sue the DNC because they threw him out of a town hall meeting for acting like the obnoxious asshole that he is. Perhaps he should hire Orly Taitz to defend him. Gee, I never realized there would be such passion for whoring for Big Pharma and overpaid AM radio disc jockeys.

It's not only the dittoheads that are whoring for Big Pharma. Sen. Pat Roberts wants a three-day delay before voting on the Big Health Care Bill so the lobbyists have time to pick through it. I shit you not. Well, at least we know where the Republicans' priorities are.

Hey, you know that undercover video of ACORN from a few weeks ago? Well, the right-wing activists who shot it are getting sued. Turned out recording conversations without the other party's knowledge is illegal in Maryland. DOH!

And here's a few things that didn't hit The Twitter:

Air America's Jack Rice will be broadcasting live next week from Guantanamo Bay. Sorry wingnuts, he won't be incarcerated there, so there goes your little fantasy.

Speaking of Air America, how many obvious errors can you find in this RedState.com blog entry? Facts, schmacts...

That's it for today. But, as always, you can join in the fun on Twitter.

Elliott off the air in San Diego

After less than six months, Jon Elliott is no longer the afternoon voice on XEPE ("San Diego 1700") effective last Friday. The only explanation thus far claims that it was revenue-related, with advertising sales in short supply these days, a situation all-too common in the industry these days. Elliott apparently funded the show himself.

Elliott joined the station in May after leaving Air America.

And for those still in the San Diego area missing progressive talk, there is a group called Liberty One Radio that has a goal of launching a progressive talk radio station in the area soon, perhaps as soon as January 2010. The station would replace KLSD, which flipped from a well-rated talker to a poorly-rated sports also-ran in late 2007.

Tuesday Tweets

With the relaunch of "LTR @ Twitter," I thought I'd shake things up a little. To be honest, I've never been a big fan of those 'catch-all' entries I've done. They've always seemed so sloppy and disjointed to me. But they did seem to be the most effective way to forward a bunch of information in one fell swoop.

Well, thanks to Twitter, I can cobble it all together in a thematic sort of way, without getting into too much detail. And I can go a bit further in relating some stories I find quite interesting. Most, if not all of this stuff are things I posted onto Twitter, with lots of quick hits. And you can see a sampling of what's posted there by looking on the far right column of this blog. Lots of politics, lots of humor, and lots of stuff you normally read here.

So, here goes...

First, a profile of sorts about Ed Schultz, originally from the Fargo Forum (and syndicated to other area newspapers). It's about him pulling up stakes and moving to the East Coast for his new MSNBC gig. Of course, this also means that Schultz had to give up his local presence. BTW, Beautiful house, Ed.

Listeners in Central Iowa (that's the Des Moines area for you fly-over folks) are getting something resembling 'progressive talk radio'. Former Iowa state legislator Ed Fallon and his wife Lynn are launching a daily hour-long talk show on KWQW ("98.3 WOW-FM") in Des Moines next Monday at 7P CT. The "Fallon Forum" will offer a liberal/progressive viewpoint Monday through Thursday. And the even better news? They're hacking off an hour of Michael Savage. The show is a leased-time deal, with the Fallons and their sponsors paying $350 per shift.

Hey, remember that crazy 'birther lady'? The one who's filed numerous ridiculous lawsuits claiming our President is not a natural-born citizen? Well, the California Bar has grown tired of Orly Taitz's antics, and they're looking to have her disbarred. With luck, they'll also look to have her committed.

The CBS/Dan Rather lawsuit is getting more and more interesting. Hopefully, the ultimate outcome of the trial will show that Rather was right about the Bush/National Guard story. On a side note, I highly recommend reading Mary Mapes' book about the controversy.

Looks like the GOP's shift toward the lunatic fringe base has cost them a key official. The chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Hispanic Assembly and member of the Republican Central Committee says he has quit the party, mostly due to Rep. Joe Wilson's embarrassing outburst in Congress two weeks ago. He's tired of the xenophobia and race-baiting.

And the truth apparently is coming out about the right-wing vendetta against ACORN. Ambush videographer James O’Keefe admitted he went after ACORN because it registers minorities likely to vote against Republicans: "Politicians are getting elected single-handedly due to this organization," O’Keefe told The Washington Post. "No one was holding this organization accountable." And O'Keefe has been accused of questionable editing tactics in the past.

Minnesota governor and GOP presidential 'hopeful' Tim Pawlenty screwed up last Friday morning on his weekly radio show. Instead of giving his office number, he gave out the number for a phone sex chat line. DOH!

Speaking of stupid, if you ever needed more proof that CNN's Wolf Blitzer is indeed a self-righteous moron (as if the nonsensical questions he asks on his show don't give enough proof), there's this compelling piece of evidence. Yes, he got his ass kicked on "Celebrity Jeopardy" by, of all people, Andy Richter, best known as Conan O'Brien's sidekick on "The Tonight Show", as well as one of the coolest and wittiest guys on the planet. Now doubt, "The Situation Room with Andy Richter" would be compelling viewing, and could perhaps be a solution to CNN's ratings woes.

Now, I could post a few things about Glenn Beck, perhaps a satirical story about how he can't hold on to his AlAnon sponsors, or how he spent his childhood smoking dope and listening to Supertramp (which explains a lot!) but quite frankly, I'm getting pretty bored with this loon. Let's face it, the guy's an attention whore, who would eat dog shit on television just to get people to tune in. And we all know Beck obviously gets off even when people laugh at him. Really, we all know he's a kook, and like the pied piper, he's leading other goofy rats through the village. But for now, I'm tired of feeding this goofball's ego.

There are a few things left off this entry, such as the FOX Agitprop Channel's latest attempt at fairness and balanced, but I may hold that back for a separate entry. In the meantime, you can catch all the latest Tweets here.

Fall cleanup

Just think, three weeks from today (October 12), this very blog you're reading now will turn five years old. Yep, believe it. And with that, I'm slowly streamlining this thing in order to make it easier to read, and perhaps more interactive.

1. Many readers here have been checking us out on various social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. If not, by all means do. I don't really deal with MySpace too much anymore, since it's not very interactive, aside from being a spam repository. I still check in from time-to-time, so if you want to send a friend request, by all means do. As for the others, Facebook does have more interactive features, and I plan on doing a bit more with it. It is a nice place for readers to congregate and whatnot. As for Twitter, I plan on posting news tidbits, links, announcements of new blog entries and whatever it is most people do with Twitter. Frequent updates that may not make the blog can be found there.

2. As for this blog, I am slowly going through and doing some cleanup. The column situation (which seems to be a problem every few months or so when web browser creators update their software) is now straightened out, and should render well in virtually all browsers. Dead links will either be updated or go bye-bye. And some of the advertising will go as well, likely replaced with more effective stuff (I really don't think anyone has ever clicked on that Zlio banner). As for the other stuff, such as Amazon and Google AdSense, that will stay. And I do encourage you to shop through these links as well, since every click-through and purchase do help to keep me motivated enough to provide you all with blogging goodness. Hey, at least I'm not outright begging for money, right?

3. In regard to the Wiki, I've been neglecting it for some time, but plan on straightening it out. It is a bit overwhelming to keep up with, but I'll try my best. And I encourage anyone who wants to contribute to it as well.

4. The Blogger software has improved considerably over recent months, and I plan on incorporating some of their new gimmicks here. One idea I have is to implement 'page breaks', which will show the first few paragraphs of a given entry on the main page, with a link to continue reading on another. This should minimize load times and the general appearance of the blog. In addition, it will allow me to post even more content, without it all getting lost.

If any of you have further suggestions, please leave them in the comments below. Thanks for reading.