Thank you Colby College for the best laugh I’ve had in 2009.
From the excellent alumni magazine, Racial Controversy on Campus
A series of racially and culturally insensitive events stirred controversy on campus this fall, precipitating a sit-in in Pulver Pavilion and a series of demands presented to the Student Programming Board, the administration, and to students. Early in the semester some students objected to a luau-themed party that they considered insensitive to Hawaiian culture.
A culturally insensitive luau? Please. Other indignities on campus this fall included,
…a show by the Campaign Comedy Trail, a troupe hired for what was characterized in advance as political satire but deteriorated into jokes based on racial and religious stereotypes.
Jokes based on racial and religious stereotypes? Oh the humanity. Every comedian since Soupy Sales would be out of business if the Colby PC police had their way.
Nice to see that the $46,000 annual tab is addresing the most pressing social and cultural issues of our times. These kids are brainwashed to think, hey, that’s what we are supposed to do…sit ins, protests, fight the man, even if he is a faux Hawaiian one. I know. They thought the same thing in twenty years ago when I was there. My kids are not getting witin 100 miles of a liberal arts campus.
UPDATE: An e-mailer adds, “How about a little perspective? This is grievance mongering!” Good line, and good point. How about it?
On Inauguration Day, conservative commentator and author David Frum launched an exciting new venture called NewMajority.com, “a site dedicated to the reform and renewal of the Republican party and the conservative movement.”
Good timing indeed. It was a real pleasure to speak with David, someone I’ve long admired for his thoughtful commentary. I like what NewMajority.com is doing by combining an opinion site with original reporting and news gathering. The model reminded me of what Josh Marshall has done with TPM.
We talked about three areas of weakness right now for Republicans, demographics, leadership and most importantly in my opinion, communications and media relations. It was an interesting discussion with interesting calls.
David was with us for about 25 minutes, after he left several callers disagreed that the Republicans needed to reach out beyond their core conservative constituency. It was an interesting segment, as one caller vented to the point of serious stress release, while another insisted that libertarian leaning New England Republicans like me are not just the problem, but irrelevant losers! This is an issue that we will return to time and again as the Republicans learn to operate in the age of Obama.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called "groundbreaking" by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station
Taking Chance is Marine Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl’s account of escorting the remains of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps across country to his family and final resting place in Wyoming. I’ve never read anything that made me more proud to be American. The story has been made into an HBO movie that airs February 21.
Tonight Bruce McQuain and I welcomed a very special guest, Gretchen Mack, the mother of Lcpl Chance Phelps. It was not an easy conversation for Gretchen and we were honored to have the opportunity to talk with her. We learned more about Chance, his childhood and motivation for joining the Marines. We talked about the incident in Iraq that took his life as well as his heroic actions that led to his posthumous Bronze Star with a V for Valor.
I mentioned that anytime Hollywood does a modern war movie, a lot of people hold their breath. Gretchen understood that feeling but said that HBO stayed true to Lt. Col. Strobl’s original story as they said they would. Here is an HBO preview featuring Kevin Bacon and the man he plays, Lt. Col. Strobl,
Gretchen also told us about the way the Marines have supported the family and how she now considers Lt. Col. Strobl a member of the family. She is a strong woman, and she doesn’t suffer fools gladly. A lighter moment was when Bruce brought up a blog comment she left for a movie reviewer who felt the movie wasn’t political enough. Gretchen put him down in a big way, with grace and class. We look forward to having her back on the show in February after the release.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Bruce McQuain from QandO joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce is a veteran of the Vietnam war and spent 28 years in the U.S. Army. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.
Tonight Bruce used a lengthy article by Jeff Emanual titled The Longest Morningas the basis for telling us the story of SGT Christopher Hamel Corriveau and SGT Eric Alan Moser,
On May 22nd, 2008 in a ceremony at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, home of the 82nd Airborne Division, President George Bush pinned the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest award for bravery, on now SGT Christopher Hamel Corriveau and SGT Eric Alan Moser for conspicuous valor in the face of overwhelming odds, above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks to the strength, courage, discipline, and unwillingness of Chris Corriveau and Eric Moser to give up in the face of seemingly impossible odds, it was the Islamic State of Iraq which suffered the overwhelming defeat and humiliation and not their nation. And that is why each of them are someone you should know.
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce McQuain from QandO does an incredible job with the series every week.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called "groundbreaking" by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston's Talk Station.
DANVILLE — Chanting “Sully! Sully!” a crowd of several thousand gathered at a hometown hero celebration in downtown Danville on Saturday to salute US Airways Pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.
The hero himself said only a few words when he was finally handed the microphone — after a long line of speeches by Danville Mayor Newell Arnerich, Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, and others.
“It was circumstances that put this experienced crew (in charge) of that plane on that particular day,” Sullenberger, 58, said from a staging area set up on the Town Green. “We were simply doing the jobs we were trained to do.”
For more on the legend of hero pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, click here.
What a pleasure to watch the sustained and repeated mediagasms over the past few days. Imagine how bad it could have been if the media really went over the top,
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s inauguration generated an unprecedented 35,000 stories in the world’s major newspapers, television and radio broadcasts over the past day — about 35 times more than the last presidential swearing-in — a monitoring group said on Wednesday.
Is that all? It felt like more.
Immediately after the election in November there was a spate of handwringing from the MSM about the campaign coverage. Most notably, Time Magazine political editor Mark Halperin said,
It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage.
Rob, my producer at WRKO coined this sudden post election honesty “born again journalism”. His point, now that the election was over, journalists would start to take their jobs seriously again, or at least consider it.
Personally, I think Halperin should talk about this with Time Magazine’s Washington bureau chief Jay Carney. Oh, wait a minute. That won’t be possible because Carney has left journalism to become Joe Biden’s press secretary. Never mind. (What does that job require anyway besides issuing apologies and retractions?)
Speaking of Biden, another spouse of a Democrat is spilling the beans and embarrassing their husband on Oprah. George Stephanopoulos’ wife Ali Wentworth is the latest,
We watched everything and George was still doing all the anchoring for ABC and as soon Beyonce said “At Last…” George called me at home and he went, “Honey?” and I said “I know!” and we both started crying.
Somewhere Stephy was saying “Shhhhhhhhhhhhh” at the top of his tiny little lungs. MSM big shots and Democrat operatives are like two peas in a pod. Jay Carney went in one direction (journo to operative) while Stephy went the other (operative to journo). Let me know when Karl Rove is offered to host a network Sunday morning interview show would you please….thanks.
Need a specific example of how the media works to advance their friends? From Bryon York at NRO,
In 2001, during the confirmation of John Ashcroft to be attorney general, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee forced a one-week delay in the committee’s vote on Ashcroft, saying there had not been enough time to answer all the questions about the nomination. On January 24, 2001, the Washington Post reported the story under the following headline:
Vote On Ashcroft Is Delayed A Week; Democrats Cite Need for More Review
Yesterday, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee did precisely the same thing for the nomination of Eric Holder to be attorney general. Today, the Washington Post is reporting the story under the following headline:
Republicans Obstruct Holder’s Path to Justice Department
That’s called nuance my friends.
At some point during the next four years, an issue will arise that requires the media to dig into the actions of the Obama administration. When that time comes, most of them will be asking the famous Ray Donovan line,
Where do I go to get my reputation back?
Good luck with that.
Give Obama credit, when he said he would “change” things right away, he meant it. From Blackfive,
Our new CINC attended quite a few gatherings last night, but as This Ain’t Hell reports, the Salute To Heroes Inaugural Ball was not one of them. For the first time in 56 years, a newly-inaugurated president has not attended the ball begun by President Eisenhower. 14 presidents later, a snub.
…FORTY-EIGHT MoH recipients were in attendance. People- that’s HALF of the recipients that are still alive, and darn well nearly all that are physically able to attend events.
Is this the kind of change you can believe in?
UPDATE: Obama ushers in new era of openess and transparency, with one small hitch, according to Roll Call,
The event announcing the new openness was closed to all reporters except the handful who are in the White House pool.
Mary Katharine Ham has a lot more on this over at the Weekly Standard blog.