Radio

NPR's Dina Temple-Raston did her best to cast a Muslim fired by the State of Ohio in a sympathetic light on Monday's Morning Edition, describing him as a "college professor" dressed in a "tweed jacket, button-down shirt, [and] thick round glasses," but failed to mention his other firing from a Ohio college for violating their sexual harassment policy. Temple-Reston also featured an expert who attributed Ohio's actions against the professor to "elevated levels of Islamophobia."

The correspondent, who donned a headscarf and posed as a Muslim woman as part of a sting operation against U.S. border control agents earlier in 2011, and co-wrote a book with ACLU executive director Anthony Romero back in 2007, first introduced the professor, Omar al-Omari, with her "tweed jacket" description and added that he is a "big coffee drinker." She then played two sound bites from the professor, who described how he had been singled out by trainers at a seminar for law enforcement officers who, according to the journalist, had "offered specific examples of what they said was Islamic radicalism in Ohio."

On Tuesday's Morning Edition, NPR's Julie Rovner spun the debate over a proposed mandate for private insurance companies to cover birth control without a copay as being between "women's health groups," which were not given an ideological label, and organizations such as the Family Research Council, which she clearly identified as "conservative." A representative from her example of a "women's health group," Planned Parenthood, labeled "unintended" pregnancies an "epidemic."

Anchor Steve Inskeep began the report with an admission about ObamaCare: "President Obama's health care overhaul law touches almost every aspect of health care, including birth control." Rovner first highlighted a woman from Tucson, Arizona who, despite having a "full-time job with health insurance [and] a husband," along with two kids, apparently couldn't afford the $25 a month copay for her birth control prescription. This led to her having a third child, and the woman declared that "while we're happy that she's here, it was not planned, and had we had some better finances, we probably could have made some better decisions."

Appearing on fellow MSNBCer Ed Schultz's radio show yesterday, Chris Matthews waxed apocalyptic about what he believes will be a dire consequence of climate change.

Matthews told Schultz of an unidentified friend in Alaska, presumably not Sarah Palin, who warned him of what's to come from warming temperatures  (audio) --

NPR devoted over eight minutes on Monday's All Things Considered to the possible economic and social impacts of the legalization of same-sex "marriage" in New York State during two reports from correspondents Margot Adler and Tovia Smith. Adler highlighted the bridal stores and other vendors who were "upbeat" and positive about the development, while Smith focused on the lesbian demographic who are torn about the decision to hitch or not. Neither correspondent featured any opponents of same-sex "marriage" during their reports.

Host Michele Norris noted in her introduction for Adler's report that "New York City is gearing up to become the premier gay marriage destination" and how the journalist "visited with some very eager bridal shops and florists." Adler expanded on this by highlighting the efforts of NYC's tourism board:

In fairness to the man, prolonged exposure to unhinged daily rants will take its toll on the best of us.

Here is an example of the damage this has wrought on James "Holmy" Holm, longtime producer for bellowing liberal radio host and MSNBC action hero Ed Schultz.

Schultz and Holm were venting their disgust with President Obama over a Washington Post story on Obama's willingness to cut funding for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to reach a deal with congressional Republicans on the debt ceiling.

In arguably the single most bizarre criticism of Obama I've heard from the fringe left, Holm said this on Schultz's radio show yesterday (audio) --

I had to do a double take when I looked over this afternoon's dispatch out of St. Paul, Minnesota from Patrick Condon of the Associated Press.

Readers unfamiliar with the Gopher State budget impasse to this point would fail to learn from the AP report that the dispute is all about raising taxes. Democratic Governor Mark Dayton wants tax increases on "the wealthy" (which really means high income-earners, whether or not they happen to be wealthy). The state's top marginal tax rate is already a very high 7.85%.

Dayton has chosen to shut down the government because the Republican-controlled legislature won't pass a budget containing his desired tax increases. It really is that simple. Minnesota's government is closed (actually, partially closed) because Mark Dayton chose to close it. Period.

On Tuesday's All Things Considered, NPR's Philip Reeves lamented the supposedly "anti-Muslim" climate in Denmark, noting that the country was once "considered a model of tolerance," but now, "men...[with] beards and traditional Islamic robes....are no longer entirely welcome, because some Danes want them to leave." Reeves quoted one imam who feared "a spiral, in which anti-immigration nationalist extremists fuel Islamist extremists and vice versa."

Host Robert Siegel wasting little time in setting a slanted tone in his introduction to the correspondent's report, which referenced the recent legal victory of Dutch politician Geert Wilders:

On Thursday, NPR's Linton Weeks spotlighted several extreme proponents of eliminating gender differences and hinted at support for such an endeavor: "In a country with the ideal of treating everyone fairly and equitably, do we really need to know if someone is a boy or a girl?" Weeks portrayed the cause as just part of the normal progression of society: "As history shows, one enterprise in which Americans excel is the breaking down of divisions."

The correspondent began his article for NPR.com, "The End of Gender?" (which was the most viewed article on the website on Thursday), with three "signposts" which supposedly pointed at an end of the concept of gender:

... But that's OK because Miller is a liberal radio talker and Perry is a conservative governor. Hence, whatever it takes to demean Perry is justified, even if Miller loses her honor in the process.

Miller, you may recall, told her listeners in August 2010 that she's a lesbian. Having made this particular leap, Miller apparently wants Republican politicians she suspects of being gay to come out of the closet as well, regardless of whether they are so inclined.

Here's a clip of Miller and two of her coat catchers taking part in a sotte voce whispering campaign designed to knock Perry down a peg just in case he jumps into the presidential race and poses a threat to Dear Leader (audio clip below page break, courtesy of The Radio Equalizer) --

Sometimes, it can be heartwarming to listen to the radio and hear the sound of the Seventies. That's not true for the Thom Hartmann radio show. On Friday, Hartmann parlayed some classic 1971 socialist economics about who should get credit for the economic recovery:

The job creators are the people on welfare. The job creators are the people who are on unemployment. They’re the people who are working. Because what creates jobs is when people take money out of their pocket and buy something. And when enough people buy enough things that creates demand in the economy and somebody’s got to make the stuff that’s being bought and in order to make that stuff they have to hire people who can make it for less than it costs to sell it so that they can make a profit on that. It’s a very very simple concept.

Stephanie Miller loathes Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann and one of the ways she expresses her contempt is through ludicrous speculation.

On her radio show last week, for example, Miller and her producer, Chris Lavoie, along with actor Hal Sparks, took a gratuitous whack at Palin and Bachmann (audio after page break, courtesy of The Radio Equalizer) --

The sour grapes were incredibly sour on the Thom Hartmann radio show on Thursday when they led off with the news that Anthony Weiner was resigning. Broadcasting live from the Netroots Nation hootenanny in Minneapolis, Hartmann went right from an admitted sex scandal to an unproven old story from last November in the National Enquirer:

Looks like Anthony Weiner’s about to step down. John Boehner’s involved in a major sex scandal. It’s all over the page of the National Enquirer. Two different women, they’re naming the women. So this is this is shades of the John Edwards revisit.

Hand it to Bill Press. He's one of the rare liberals who's upset at Obama's dismissal of the War Powers Act. On his radio show Thursday, Press went after the White House claims that there were no American "hostilities" in Libya that Congress needs to ratify: 

Let me tell you something: I don't buy it, and I don't think the American people ought to buy it. First of all, the War Powers Resolution says -- I got it right in front of me -- "In the absence of a declaration of war in any case in which United States armed forces are introduced into hostilities" -- they say these are not hostilities. We're bombing Libya! What the hell is that? "Or in any case in which United States armed forces are introduced into the territory, airspace, or waters of a foreign nation."

NPR's Andrea Seabrook reminisced about the "defining moments" of former Representative Anthony during a glowing report on Thursday's All Things Considered. In particular, Seabrook highlighted his infamous 2010 speech on the House floor defending a multi-billion dollar proposal to aid sick 9/11 rescue workers, and labeled the New York Democrat a "scrappy and passionate defender of heroes."

The correspondent summed up Weiner's early career at the beginning of her report and noted how "his star began to rise toward the end of the health care debate in Congress, a debate that snarled most of 2009 and the spring of 2010." After playing a clip from a speech that the politician gave to a group of Young Democrats, Seabrook underlined how "he always had pluck, but that debate brought out the anti-Republican bulldog in Weiner."

On Wednesday's All Things Considered, NPR's Ari Shapiro let The Daily Show's John Oliver and The Washington Post's Dana Milbank cast aspersions on some of the declared 2012 Republican presidential candidates and their surrogates. Oliver mocked the talking points of a Ron Paul spokesman as "pointless" and "meaningless," while Milbank derided the candidacy of Herman Cain.

Host Melissa Block introduced Shapiro's report about the White House correspondent's first visit to a post-presidential debate spin room, and gave a hint of its overall mocking tone: "The spin room might be a good name for an amusement park ride or part of a fun house. That makes it a perfect fit for a presidential campaign, which can get a bit wacky even in these early days."

Radio talker and MSNBC rock 'em, sock 'em robot Ed Schultz has finally met a tax he doesn't like and which, go figure, affected him directly -- a 10 percent payroll tax imposed by North Dakota on new businesses for their first two years, after which it drops to a seemingly generous two percent.

Schultz, whose family owns a construction business in Fargo, N.D., says the tax has cost their business "into the thousands." His angry rant about it quickly morphed into a gratuituous excuse to bash Republican candidates for president -- you know, those diehard true-believers in higher taxes and job-killing red tape.

Here's Schultz letting loose on this during his radio show Tuesday, after complaining that GOP candidates debating in New Hampshire did not address problems facing owners of small businesses (audio here) --

This from a man who describes himself as "an honest broker" -- something those who actually are aren't inclined to do.

During an argument with a caller to his radio show Monday about Schultz demanding that erstwhile inveterate Twitter pic taker Anthony Weiner resign from Congress, Schultz made a claim that sounded more than a little dubious (audio here) --

It's Sunday evening. What better way to wind down the Lord's Day than tuning into National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" for an unbalanced story on the "ordination" of four supposedly Catholic women "priests"? 

Yesterday evening, NPR's Lily Percy profiled two of four women "ordained" in a "Roman Catholic Womenpriests" ceremony on June 4 held at St. John's United Church of Christ church in Catonsville, Md. For good measure, one of the ordinands, Patti LaRosa, is an openly-practicing lesbian. While Percy noted that Catholic canon law recognizes the priesthood is solely for baptized men, she gave listeners the impression that women's ordination was a form of civil disobedience that may one day lead to change in ordination standards:

Oh the unfairness of it all, it's more than Ed Schultz can bear.

Bad enough that embattled Democratic congressman and former habitual tweeter Anthony Weiner hasn't resigned from Congress as Schultz demands. Even worse, at least from Schultz's parochial perspective, the Weiner scandal hasn't cost its namesake a dime while Schultz paid dearly for maligning Laura Ingraham as a "right-wing slut" and "talk slut."

Within one day of Schultz's smear of Ingraham on May 24, MSNBC announced he was taking an unpaid, week-long suspension for remarks the network deemed "unacceptable."

Schultz complained to his radio listeners Tuesday about what he sees as a double standard at work (audio clip after page break) --

Not surprising, considering this is the same fringe radical who wished Navy SEALS shot George W. Bush and not Osama bin Laden.

After the Orlando city council passed an ordinance that places restrictions on the group Food Not Bombs from feeding the homeless, followed by a legal battle between the city and group, radio host Mike Malloy did what left-wing logic dictates -- he bashed Christians.

Here's Malloy ranting about this during a recent radio broadcast (audio clip after page break) --

NPR's Renee Montagne touted the Rep. Anthony Weiner sex scandal as a "dilemma" for Democrats on Wednesday's Morning Edition. Correspondent Andrea Seabrook also underlined how it was apparently "hard for Democrats to call for his resignation" because the New York politician is a "bulldog" for their issues.

Montagne used her label during an introduction for Seabrook's report, which put the Weiner controversy in the context of other Washington sex scandals: "The New York Democrat admitted earlier this week that he had inappropriate exchanges with women online, exchanges that included sexually explicit pictures. He also said he will not resign his House seat. As NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports, that poses a dilemma for his Democratic colleagues."

Bush Derangement Syndrome never really went away. Nowadays it's directed at Sarah Palin instead.

A good example of Palin's uncanny ability to unhinge liberals could be heard on a recent Randi Rhodes' radio show.

Rhodes, who infamously derided Hillary Clinton as a "big f***ing whore"  during the 2008 campaign, was angered by Palin wearing a Star of David pendant during a stopover in New York City on her bus tour. (audio clip after page break).

On Tuesday's Morning Edition, NPR's Jennifer Ludden all but acted as an proponent of egg donation and freezing to preserve women's fertility, but failed to acknowledge the dangers associated with the donation process, ranging from negative psychological effects to kidney failure and death. Ludden barely touched on other risks to the procedures, such as using them to permit women over 50 become pregnant.

The correspondent began her report by hyping the emotion behind the problem the donation and freezing procedures aim to fix: the declining fertility of women 40 years of age and older:

How about that, he's a lawyer to boot.

Angered by Ed Schultz's quick apology and suspension from MSNBC for maligning Laura Ingraham as a "right-wing slut" and 'talk slut," Los Angelese-based radio host Bill Handel has come up with a decidedly peculiar response to the controversy.

Is there "any proof that she's not" a slut, Handel asked on his KFI AM radio show.

It was such a warped take on Schultz's remarks that even Handel's presumably like-minded radio show sidekicks didn't agree with him. (audio clip below page break).

It's not often Ed Schultz earns my respect, but he did with his apology  to Laura Ingraham on his MSNBC show Wednesday night, right before starting a week-long suspension.

Based on what Schultz said earlier that day on his radio show about maligning Ingraham on the program only 24 hours earlier as a "right-wing slut" and "talk slut," Schultz's mea culpa Wednesday evening was fully unexpected.

That afternoon on the radio, Schultz was defiant and defensive and claimed Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have said things just as bad and not paid a price (audio here, video clip after page break) --

Liberal radio host Ed Schultz's May 23rd attack on conservative talker Laura Ingraham as a "slut" was "reprehensible" and "could not have been more vile," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told viewers of the May 26 "Hannity."

That said, Bozell added, he should be commended for owning up to his transgression and offering a "man's apology" Wednesday night on his MSNBC "Ed Show" program.

Ed Schultz's apology was full, unequivocal and a breath a fresh air.

We wish Ed would have shown the same remorse when saying we should ‘rip out’ Dick Cheney’s heart, when he called Liz Cheney "shooter's little girl,” or when he said Republicans enjoyed watching people with cancer die.

As her term wraps up, NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard explored the controversial $1.8 million donation from leftist hedge-fund manager George Soros and his Open Society Institute, and how NPR tried to talk its way out of the idea that it was a liberal media outlet taking money from a major liberal agitator of means. Shepard reported executives there determined “it would be wrong to turn down money because of someone's political beliefs and based on how it looked.”

"OSI Foundations met NPR's qualification criteria for funders," said Dana Davis Rehm, NPR's spokesperson. "They understood and accepted our terms – chief among them the prohibition of any effort to influence editorial decision making. Our acceptance of the grant was based on principles of independence and fairness, and we stand by it."

MSNBC anchor David Shuster was suspended in 2008 for suggesting Hillary Clinton had "pimped out" her daughter Chelsea on the air. So how will MSNBC handle their host calling Laura Ingraham a "right-wing slut" and a "talk slut"?