Portents, Signs and Wonders

The death knell for appointed officials seems certain once the President says of the official under criticism "I have full confidence in ___________'s abilities to serve."

Just ask Donald Rumsfeld, Harriet Miers, FEMA's Michael "Heck of a Job, Brownie", Scooter Libby, etc, etc. The phrase has been used most recently regarding AG Alberto Gonzales and Paul Wolfowitz. The AG is slowly taking the scaffold stairs for his (mis)handling of US Attorney appointments and Wolfie is taking heat for giving his girlfriend (an Arab feminist) at the World Bank a promotion and a huge raise.

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Favorite quote this weekend:

"They need volunteers to feed the homosexuals at the internment camps."

via Slartibarfast at NiT.

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The shadow of Don Imus' firing over comments he made is looming large over others in radio and television who've had long, corporate careers bashing one group after another. Or will the Outrage just fade as it gets torn to tatters in soundbites and the endless talking bobbleheads of television who'll worry and moan over what it all means for the next few news cycles?

Media Matters, never shy on such topics, has a list of nominees who they'd like to see get ... well, I suppose they want to see their shows shut down too. The list includes Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Neil Boortz, O'Reilly and more and they've got heaps of dated references to comments they say are all signs these folks spew out a lot of garbage and hate.

Is this really news to anyone listening/watching these shows?

Cliff Kincaid wonders, in a Christian Science Monitor article, if the tirade against bad talkers will play into conspiratorial hands who want the FCC to become national monitors/censors:

"This is an opening salvo in a campaign to put FCC bureaucrats in charge of what can and can't be said on the air."

It all reminds me of a line from Eric Bogosian's play "Talk Radio" -- "Sticks and stones may hurt my bones but words cause permanent damage."