As Heard on The Stephanie Miller Show
Monday, February 25, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Talk Host Pinned on Kiddie Porn Charges....BUT his listeners want him back (??)
Talk Show Host Fired Following Child Porn Indictment
POSTED: 4:17 pm PST February 18, 2008
UPDATED: 4:26 pm PST February 18, 2008
OAKDALE, Calif. -- A dominatrix from Oakdale was the main informant in developing child pornography charges against Bay Area talk show host Bernie Ward, investigators said.
Authorities allege that Ward engaged in sex chats with the dominatrix and sent her pictures of children engaged in sexual activity.
A federal grand jury indicted Ward on two counts of possessing and distributing child pornography using the Internet.
After the indictment, KGO 810 AM fired Ward.
Ward hosted a nightly news talk program and a show called "Godtalk" on Sundays.
http://www.kcra.com/print/15336596/detail.html
Bernie Ward has been fired from his job as a talk show host on KGO-AM radio, but his fans are lobbying for his return to the air.
Ward, a former Catholic priest, was yanked from the airwaves soon after his indictment in December by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on two counts of possessing and distributing child pornography using the Internet. His contract with KGO was terminated at the end of the year.
"I'm still hoping they're going to rehire me," said Ward, 56, who has pleaded not guilty to the felony charges. "I just keep hoping people will see that this is about something that happened three years ago and that I had a reason for doing it. I showed some very bad judgment, but I'm hoping that common sense will prevail."
Ward hosted two shows for KGO, including a Sunday morning show called "God Talk." He also served as an investigative reporter who worked on a 10-part series that explored allegations of financial and sexual misconduct by the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco.
He insists the federal charges stem from a few days in 2004 when he looked at and exchanged pornographic images with other adults as part of research for a book on hypocrisy.
His business attorney, Jeannette Boudreau, said there has been an outpouring of public support in favor of Ward's return, including endorsements from some of KGO's advertisers, but others have lobbied against his return.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/23/BAJDUK49R.DTL
(Curiouser and curiouser...)
POSTED: 4:17 pm PST February 18, 2008
UPDATED: 4:26 pm PST February 18, 2008
OAKDALE, Calif. -- A dominatrix from Oakdale was the main informant in developing child pornography charges against Bay Area talk show host Bernie Ward, investigators said.
Authorities allege that Ward engaged in sex chats with the dominatrix and sent her pictures of children engaged in sexual activity.
A federal grand jury indicted Ward on two counts of possessing and distributing child pornography using the Internet.
After the indictment, KGO 810 AM fired Ward.
Ward hosted a nightly news talk program and a show called "Godtalk" on Sundays.
http://www.kcra.com/print/15336596/detail.html
Bernie Ward has been fired from his job as a talk show host on KGO-AM radio, but his fans are lobbying for his return to the air.
Ward, a former Catholic priest, was yanked from the airwaves soon after his indictment in December by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on two counts of possessing and distributing child pornography using the Internet. His contract with KGO was terminated at the end of the year.
"I'm still hoping they're going to rehire me," said Ward, 56, who has pleaded not guilty to the felony charges. "I just keep hoping people will see that this is about something that happened three years ago and that I had a reason for doing it. I showed some very bad judgment, but I'm hoping that common sense will prevail."
Ward hosted two shows for KGO, including a Sunday morning show called "God Talk." He also served as an investigative reporter who worked on a 10-part series that explored allegations of financial and sexual misconduct by the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco.
He insists the federal charges stem from a few days in 2004 when he looked at and exchanged pornographic images with other adults as part of research for a book on hypocrisy.
His business attorney, Jeannette Boudreau, said there has been an outpouring of public support in favor of Ward's return, including endorsements from some of KGO's advertisers, but others have lobbied against his return.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/23/BAJDUK49R.DTL
(Curiouser and curiouser...)
Poltico: How Hillary can still win
Sometime in the early hours of Feb. 6, as the meaning of the Super Tuesday results became clear, Hillary Rodham Clinton morphed from front-runner into underdog. And her prospects — in the eyes of the delegate counters, pundits and electronic futures markets — have gone downhill from that moment.
But some Democratic insiders, despite the favorable light the current campaign narrative shines on Barack Obama, do not rule out that a Democratic race that has held nothing but surprises thus far might provide one more. With the primary calendar stretching out for months, the media focusing more intensely than ever on Obama and the Democratic Party’s rules under assault, some Democratic strategists say Clinton retains a path to victory — but little margin for error.
Strategists almost universally said Clinton’s only hope is to bring Obama down through more — and more direct — attacks on his readiness to lead. And if that works, Clinton’s road map to victory is simply to start winning. An unexpected victory in Wisconsin on Tuesday would restore her campaign’s momentum. And win or lose there, Clinton, as her campaign has acknowledged, must win Ohio and Texas on March 4.
Then, as the race stretches through the long spring of March, April, May and June, she needs to win the big state of Pennsylvania and — just as important — to win the argument about why she’s winning, the strategists said.
“Is she still in an uphill fight? Yes. But is it an implausible scenario? Absolutely not,” said Paul Maslin, a Democratic pollster who advised New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
“She’s got to say, ‘I’m winning the hearts and minds of the middle-class Democrats; they’re the ones who are going to decide this race in the fall,’” Maslin said. “And she’s got to say, ‘I’m roughing this guy up for the first time, and it’s working. What do you think the Republicans are going to do to him?’”
(Not all Democrats are so sanguine. One former Clinton adviser, asked to outline a scenario for her victory, gamely did so and then paused. “My real opinion is, it ain’t gonna happen,” he said.)
There’s no secret to where Obama’s weakness lies: Every poll and strategists from both parties have long pointed to both his real and perceived lack of experience. But Clinton’s attempts to contrast her years in public life with his do not seem to have made an impact so far, and she may be forced to turn up the heat.
“She can’t win by affirmatively making the case for herself. Her vote ceiling has been reached, or she’s close to it,” said Dan Gerstein, a Democratic political consultant who is not supporting anyone in the race. “The best thing she can do is either discredit Obama or raise doubts about him.
“I hate to say it, but in certain respects, it’s using the Bush strategy against Kerry against Obama and raising doubts about his willingness to use force to keep the country safe,” he said.
“The Obama people and the pacifists will scream ‘scare tactics.’ But for a lot of people, that’s not scare tactics — they care about national security and the commander in chief responsibility,” Gerstein said.
Clinton’s second line of attack has been a variant on Walter Mondale’s famous jibe at Gary Hart: “Where’s the beef?” Clinton has tried, again without enough success, to paint Obama as a candidate of words rather than substance. Monday, Clinton aides said Obama’s echoing of a rhetorical riff of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick undermines his candidacy because “Sen. Obama’s campaign is largely premised on the strength of his rhetoric and his promises.”
A Democratic consultant (and Clinton supporter) in New York, Hank Sheinkopf, suggested Team Clinton take that line of argument a step further and compare Obama directly to Patrick, who some critics say has failed to live up to the promise of his rhetoric.
“You have to run the anti-Deval Patrick campaign,” he said. “He’s sure done a brilliant job of governing.”
“Say, ‘It’s the same campaign that’s been done in other places — let’s look at the results,’” Sheinkopf said.
If Clinton stays alive through March, there’s little space for dramatic change before a showdown in Pennsylvania on April 22. And while that’s a state where Clinton’s strong, only unexpectedly wide margins in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania could restore her lead in pledged delegates.
Her best bet, then, is to make the case to the superdelegates.
“With the superdelegates and the insiders after March 4, electability may be the only case being made on both sides,” Maslin said.
And it’s unclear when the bulk of uncommitted superdelegates will throw their weight behind the front-runner — and whether they will judge that front-runner by his or her lead among pledged delegates or total delegates or by some other count. Certainly, the Clinton campaign will continue to make the case that many of her supporters in Florida have been excluded from the process by a technicality.
Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, who supports Clinton, said he expected the remaining, uncommitted superdelegates to coalesce behind whoever is the front-runner by a count of total delegate support later this spring.
“She’s got to have more of the total delegates,” he said. “Pennsylvania is when the window closes.”
Clinton’s attacks on Obama, however, may hurt her on that front.
“Going negative isn’t likely to appeal to superdelegates,” said another veteran of Democratic presidential politics.
If — and it remains a big if — Clinton can win Texas and Ohio, few expect a swift capitulation from her, even if her margins are narrower than she hopes.
In politics, there’s little harm in playing for time.
“There are a few ways that the Clinton campaign can come back — and while it won’t be easy, it’s not beyond them,” Ken Baer, an unaligned consultant and editor of the journal Democracy, wrote in an e-mail.
“And there are a few ways that are totally beyond their control: 1) Obama has a massive gaffe, 2) there is a terrorist attack or other major foreign policy crisis that gets people yearning for a steady hand or 3) there is a revelation of some sort of Obama scandal that gets Democratic voters to take a pause.”
TM & © THE POLITICO & POLITICO.COM, a division of Allbritton Communications Company
But some Democratic insiders, despite the favorable light the current campaign narrative shines on Barack Obama, do not rule out that a Democratic race that has held nothing but surprises thus far might provide one more. With the primary calendar stretching out for months, the media focusing more intensely than ever on Obama and the Democratic Party’s rules under assault, some Democratic strategists say Clinton retains a path to victory — but little margin for error.
Strategists almost universally said Clinton’s only hope is to bring Obama down through more — and more direct — attacks on his readiness to lead. And if that works, Clinton’s road map to victory is simply to start winning. An unexpected victory in Wisconsin on Tuesday would restore her campaign’s momentum. And win or lose there, Clinton, as her campaign has acknowledged, must win Ohio and Texas on March 4.
Then, as the race stretches through the long spring of March, April, May and June, she needs to win the big state of Pennsylvania and — just as important — to win the argument about why she’s winning, the strategists said.
“Is she still in an uphill fight? Yes. But is it an implausible scenario? Absolutely not,” said Paul Maslin, a Democratic pollster who advised New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
“She’s got to say, ‘I’m winning the hearts and minds of the middle-class Democrats; they’re the ones who are going to decide this race in the fall,’” Maslin said. “And she’s got to say, ‘I’m roughing this guy up for the first time, and it’s working. What do you think the Republicans are going to do to him?’”
(Not all Democrats are so sanguine. One former Clinton adviser, asked to outline a scenario for her victory, gamely did so and then paused. “My real opinion is, it ain’t gonna happen,” he said.)
There’s no secret to where Obama’s weakness lies: Every poll and strategists from both parties have long pointed to both his real and perceived lack of experience. But Clinton’s attempts to contrast her years in public life with his do not seem to have made an impact so far, and she may be forced to turn up the heat.
“She can’t win by affirmatively making the case for herself. Her vote ceiling has been reached, or she’s close to it,” said Dan Gerstein, a Democratic political consultant who is not supporting anyone in the race. “The best thing she can do is either discredit Obama or raise doubts about him.
“I hate to say it, but in certain respects, it’s using the Bush strategy against Kerry against Obama and raising doubts about his willingness to use force to keep the country safe,” he said.
“The Obama people and the pacifists will scream ‘scare tactics.’ But for a lot of people, that’s not scare tactics — they care about national security and the commander in chief responsibility,” Gerstein said.
Clinton’s second line of attack has been a variant on Walter Mondale’s famous jibe at Gary Hart: “Where’s the beef?” Clinton has tried, again without enough success, to paint Obama as a candidate of words rather than substance. Monday, Clinton aides said Obama’s echoing of a rhetorical riff of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick undermines his candidacy because “Sen. Obama’s campaign is largely premised on the strength of his rhetoric and his promises.”
A Democratic consultant (and Clinton supporter) in New York, Hank Sheinkopf, suggested Team Clinton take that line of argument a step further and compare Obama directly to Patrick, who some critics say has failed to live up to the promise of his rhetoric.
“You have to run the anti-Deval Patrick campaign,” he said. “He’s sure done a brilliant job of governing.”
“Say, ‘It’s the same campaign that’s been done in other places — let’s look at the results,’” Sheinkopf said.
If Clinton stays alive through March, there’s little space for dramatic change before a showdown in Pennsylvania on April 22. And while that’s a state where Clinton’s strong, only unexpectedly wide margins in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania could restore her lead in pledged delegates.
Her best bet, then, is to make the case to the superdelegates.
“With the superdelegates and the insiders after March 4, electability may be the only case being made on both sides,” Maslin said.
And it’s unclear when the bulk of uncommitted superdelegates will throw their weight behind the front-runner — and whether they will judge that front-runner by his or her lead among pledged delegates or total delegates or by some other count. Certainly, the Clinton campaign will continue to make the case that many of her supporters in Florida have been excluded from the process by a technicality.
Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, who supports Clinton, said he expected the remaining, uncommitted superdelegates to coalesce behind whoever is the front-runner by a count of total delegate support later this spring.
“She’s got to have more of the total delegates,” he said. “Pennsylvania is when the window closes.”
Clinton’s attacks on Obama, however, may hurt her on that front.
“Going negative isn’t likely to appeal to superdelegates,” said another veteran of Democratic presidential politics.
If — and it remains a big if — Clinton can win Texas and Ohio, few expect a swift capitulation from her, even if her margins are narrower than she hopes.
In politics, there’s little harm in playing for time.
“There are a few ways that the Clinton campaign can come back — and while it won’t be easy, it’s not beyond them,” Ken Baer, an unaligned consultant and editor of the journal Democracy, wrote in an e-mail.
“And there are a few ways that are totally beyond their control: 1) Obama has a massive gaffe, 2) there is a terrorist attack or other major foreign policy crisis that gets people yearning for a steady hand or 3) there is a revelation of some sort of Obama scandal that gets Democratic voters to take a pause.”
TM & © THE POLITICO & POLITICO.COM, a division of Allbritton Communications Company
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Talk show hosts voice alarm at McCain's rise
By Matthew Bigg
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Right-wing radio hosts who are influential in U.S. politics expressed alarm on Wednesday at the lead established by Sen. John McCain in the race to become the Republican presidential candidate.
Leading host Rush Limbaugh warned that McCain spelled danger for the party on ideological grounds, and callers to his show deplored his "liberal" views, saying he lacks the bedrock convictions of former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican hero.
Their fears present a stiff challenge to McCain's efforts to unify Republicans along conservative lines.
The Arizona senator won nine coast-to-coast primary races in states on "Super Tuesday" to become the most likely candidate to secure the party's nomination ahead of November's election to succeed U.S. President George W. Bush.
"We are trying to stop the wanton destruction of the party, the wanton dilution of the party," said Limbaugh, whose daily show is syndicated on radio stations across the country.
"We are sick and tired of how the people who seem to be triumphing in our party are precisely the people who seem to be selling this party out in terms of its ideology," said Limbaugh, who criticized McCain for reaching out to Democrats.
Conservatives say they disagree with McCain on issues including taxes, free political speech, immigration and the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other prisons.
In one indication of doubts about McCain, evangelical leader James Dobson said this week he would not vote for McCain if he became the nominee, raising the possibility that some Republicans would sit out the November election.
Limbaugh's views on McCain reflect wider disquiet that Bush and Republicans have squandered years in power by failing to institute principles such as individual freedom and small government or to sufficiently write Christian values into law.
They say a McCain presidency would likely move the party further in the wrong direction.
At the same time, many conservatives are angry at what they see as a biased national media that applauds McCain for "moderate" views, relishes division within Republican ranks and misrepresents the influence of talk radio.
INFLUENCE
Limbaugh is credited with fueling the rise of AM talk radio in the United States and opening the way for popular talk show hosts including Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Neal Boortz.
Hannity said McCain might move to the left if he wins the nomination to try to pick up centrist votes and he defended his own right to point out differences with McCain.
"The problem (with) John McCain ... isn't that he's a moderate Republican. It's worse than that on some issues and that's just a substantive disagreement," he said.
Some see Limbaugh, Hannity and others as extremists servicing an embittered, though powerful, minority. Some commentators said McCain's rise shows Republicans are moving left and the influence of talk show hosts is waning.
But talk show host Herman Cain said the role of talk radio was to influence opinion and not dictate it.
Syndicated talk radio host Neal Boortz, who describes himself as a libertarian, said conservatives should be realistic and recognize that no candidate matched their views.
"I am ... curious about those Republicans ... who are insisting on 100 percent purity in their presidential candidate. That's not going to happen," said Boortz, who voted for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Conservative frustration showed when one caller to Limbaugh said she would vote for Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton if she and McCain were the party nominees. Another caller reacted to McCain's rise by asking: "What the heck is our choice now?"
(Editing by Philip Barbara)
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Right-wing radio hosts who are influential in U.S. politics expressed alarm on Wednesday at the lead established by Sen. John McCain in the race to become the Republican presidential candidate.
Leading host Rush Limbaugh warned that McCain spelled danger for the party on ideological grounds, and callers to his show deplored his "liberal" views, saying he lacks the bedrock convictions of former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican hero.
Their fears present a stiff challenge to McCain's efforts to unify Republicans along conservative lines.
The Arizona senator won nine coast-to-coast primary races in states on "Super Tuesday" to become the most likely candidate to secure the party's nomination ahead of November's election to succeed U.S. President George W. Bush.
"We are trying to stop the wanton destruction of the party, the wanton dilution of the party," said Limbaugh, whose daily show is syndicated on radio stations across the country.
"We are sick and tired of how the people who seem to be triumphing in our party are precisely the people who seem to be selling this party out in terms of its ideology," said Limbaugh, who criticized McCain for reaching out to Democrats.
Conservatives say they disagree with McCain on issues including taxes, free political speech, immigration and the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other prisons.
In one indication of doubts about McCain, evangelical leader James Dobson said this week he would not vote for McCain if he became the nominee, raising the possibility that some Republicans would sit out the November election.
Limbaugh's views on McCain reflect wider disquiet that Bush and Republicans have squandered years in power by failing to institute principles such as individual freedom and small government or to sufficiently write Christian values into law.
They say a McCain presidency would likely move the party further in the wrong direction.
At the same time, many conservatives are angry at what they see as a biased national media that applauds McCain for "moderate" views, relishes division within Republican ranks and misrepresents the influence of talk radio.
INFLUENCE
Limbaugh is credited with fueling the rise of AM talk radio in the United States and opening the way for popular talk show hosts including Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Neal Boortz.
Hannity said McCain might move to the left if he wins the nomination to try to pick up centrist votes and he defended his own right to point out differences with McCain.
"The problem (with) John McCain ... isn't that he's a moderate Republican. It's worse than that on some issues and that's just a substantive disagreement," he said.
Some see Limbaugh, Hannity and others as extremists servicing an embittered, though powerful, minority. Some commentators said McCain's rise shows Republicans are moving left and the influence of talk show hosts is waning.
But talk show host Herman Cain said the role of talk radio was to influence opinion and not dictate it.
Syndicated talk radio host Neal Boortz, who describes himself as a libertarian, said conservatives should be realistic and recognize that no candidate matched their views.
"I am ... curious about those Republicans ... who are insisting on 100 percent purity in their presidential candidate. That's not going to happen," said Boortz, who voted for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Conservative frustration showed when one caller to Limbaugh said she would vote for Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton if she and McCain were the party nominees. Another caller reacted to McCain's rise by asking: "What the heck is our choice now?"
(Editing by Philip Barbara)
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Friday, February 01, 2008
The Microsoft/yahoo Merger
...why it scares me so...
Gabcast! polyblog #21 - The Microsoft/Yahoo merger
...and why it scares me so.....
Gabcast! polyblog #21 - The Microsoft/Yahoo merger
...and why it scares me so.....
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