Reclaiming Our Airwaves: Squawk Radio =/= Bona Fide News

Just over a year ago, I told the gentle reader that the Media Action Center had gathered enough evidence to show that squawk radio channels WTMJ-AM 620 and WISN-AM 1130  had violated the Zapple Doctrine, a federal law that requires radio stations to give both sides of a political race equal time for at least the last 60 days prior to an election.

In November, based on the station's violations of the law and refusal to correct their illegal behavior, the Media Action Center filed a legal challenge to the renewal of the license for WTMJ-AM.

After a lot of dinking around by the FCC, including claims of having not received the challenge and/or not being able to find it, things started to proceed.

WTMJ's attorneys responded that they did not violate the law, claiming that the likes of Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner are bona fide news sources, like Walker Cronkite and Douglas Edwards.  As "bona fide" news sources, the lawyers contended that they were immune to the Zapple Doctrine, so that they could cover fundraisers and late breaking events.

Sue Wilson, Director of the Media Action Center, responded to the lawyers' claims in a press release:

Media Action Center filed a petition late in 2012 with the FCC to deny the license because, during the Scott Walker recall campaign, WTMJ's Jeff Wagner and Charlie Sykes shows were proven to have given as much as a half a million dollars in free airtime to supporters of Republican Governor Scott Walker. The station specifically denied comparable time to supporters of his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

The FCC's quasi-equal opportunities rule (Zapple Doctrine) states that broadcasters must give supporters of both major party candidates comparable airtime. Only "bonafide news" programs are exempt so they can cover candidates' events in real time.

"Bonafide news programs are specifically not allowed to politic for candidates," says Media Action Center Director Sue Wilson. "Now is our one chance to make a stand for journalism. The FCC has a duty to the public to draw a clear line between news and opinion.

"If the FCC does not draw a clear line, radio talkers from Charlie Sykes to Rush Limbaugh will be equated with newsmen like Walter Cronkite, and listeners will lose any hope of ferreting out fact from fiction," Wilson added.

I would point out that anyone that thinks Charlie Sykes is a bona fide news source is themselves a bona fide crackpot.

Sykes is nothing more than a megatroll. Sykes has been caught libeling innocent people and then whining about being forced to act like an adult.  Sykes' libel was so egregious that he had almost lost his job.  WTMJ wanted to fire him, but ironically, Sykes went crying to the union which saved his worthless but and allowed him to keep his job.

Even more damning is Sykes' own admission to how bona fide his reporting is (emphasis mine):

When we asked Sykes for support for his claim -- a standard first stop in the items we do -- he quickly backed off.

"The only politically connect(ed) hack I know is going is Jim Doyle (and maybe some of the regents)," Sykes wrote in an e-mail that he also posted on his SykesWrites blog. "My ‘evidence’? Absolutely none."

Sykes went on to label his remark "an off-hand wisecrack" -- "You know, humor, hyperbole, joke."

So he makes up stories out of his arse, and then calls his libelous statements as humor and as a joke.  Yet somehow we are to believe that he is a bona fide news source.

The Media Action Center, working with MoveOn.Org has launched a petition drive for public support.  Their drive is called  "Tell the FCC: Talk Radio is NOT Bonafide News!"

Please sign their petition and get your friends and family to sign on so that we can start reclaiming our airwaves.

Sykes Attacks "President's Prop" For Event He Never Attended

by Bert


It’s disgraceful enough that WTMJ’s Charlie Sykes on Wednesday attacked the Oak Creek mayor for standing with President Obama during a speech on gun control. What’s worse is that no official from Oak Creek was visible beside the president, or anywhere near Washington, D.C.

The preceding radio host Gene Mueller was conversing with Sykes at the beginning of Sykes’ show about Obama’s remarks after the Senate rejected a gun control measure. I heard Mueller add that standing in the background was the Oak Creek mayor. Sykes, whose bountiful hate is clearly always loaded with a hair trigger, could not resist tearing into the official as ‘the president’s prop’ before going to another of that station’s frequent commercials.

Mueller confirmed in a message to me Friday that he was mistaken in claiming anyone from Oak Creek was there*. Others in the TV side of WTMJ, he said, had emailed that they thought they recognized the mayor.

Two different aides to Oak Creek Mayor Stephen Scaffidi contacted Scaffidi Thursday morning after hearing the station refer to the mayor at the president’s side.

After hearing that from his aides, and hearing that he was attacked as serving as a presidential ‘prop’, Scaffidi sent a response to Sykes. I also talked with the mayor Friday, who said he knows Sykes and is on friendly terms with him. Scaffidi added that he did not vote for Obama. But Scaffidi did not agree with the criticism from Sykes, and not only because he was not there.

In other words, Scaffidi said he would be perfectly willing to work with the president on the issue of guns if Scaffidi’s input were sought. “I’m never going to not talk to someone,” he said. In fact, Scaffidi had been invited and then did interact on-line with Vice President Biden on the issue. Scaffidi was not openly supporting gun control laws, asking whether this bill would lead to ever increasing restrictions, and also said a worthwhile focus would be more federal resources to help local police agencies.

Sykes did later on Thursday morning read the statement from the Oak Creek mayor on the air and added a mumbled and perfunctory half-correction of Sykes’ and Mueller’s false claim that anyone from Oak Creek was standing with Obama in Washington. God forbid Sykes would also apologize for insulting officials as “props”.

I think Oak Creek officials would be almost expected to be involved in the gun debate after the massacre at the Sikh Temple there last August where six victims and their murderer died. I know Sykes, because he’s committed to helping the GOP, is against the worthy parts of society like schools, universities, services to the poor and an independent media. But why would you tear down police or the leadership of Oak Creek?

Rhetorical question.

This Sykes gaffe and its jagged edge tells you all need to know about the damage that WTMJ-AM radio inflicts on the fabric of the Milwaukee community into which it broadcasts. Sykes is given too much influence by the rest of the station and Journal Broadcasting corporation. The result of this is that Sykes' devotion to promoting the Republican cause and his personal vindictiveness work against not only honoring that which deserves the community’s respect, but also against just getting the facts straight.



*There is some dispute whether Sykes and Mueller were referring to the mayor or police chief of Oak Creek. No transcripts or podcast of this was available, and Mueller did not respond to my message asking about this.

Sykes' Insight = Anti-Gay Humor

As if five days a week of Charlie Sykes wasn't enough torture, WTMJ-TV has also given him a half hour long program on Sunday mornings. It's sort of a teahadist version of a televangelism show.

On Sunday, December 2, he had a panel which included Christian Schneider, the pathological liar, and Brian Fraley, one time employee of ALEC and more recently of the MacGuyver Institute and now "editor" of Sykes' propaganda page, Right Wisconsin.*

In this day's show, they had a segment called Unsolicited Advice.

During this segment, at the 13:56 mark, Fraley looks at Schneider and says:

Christian Schneider, that is the worst beard since Katie Holmes. Get a razor."

And the whole group broke up laughing.

Anti-gay humor apparently is what passes for keen intellectual insight among this group.

If Fraley, Sykes and WTMJ doesn't issue an apology for this on Monday, which no one in their right mind should expect, it shows you the value of anything else they might ever have to say about anything.

Cross posted at Cog Dis.

Call To Action: Tell The FCC To Do Their Job!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how the broadcast licenses of WTMJ-AM and WISN-AM, two Milwaukee-based radio stations, were being legally challenged by the Media Action Center due to their violations of the Zapple Doctrine. The Zapple Doctrine is a federal law that states that radio and TV stations must give equal time to both parties.

Follow this link to see the complaint.

Low and behold, the FCC, when asked by Lisa Kaiser of the Shepherd Express, said that they had lost the complaint:

But a curious thing happened while I was reporting the story.

I contacted the FCC for comment.

Turns out that they couldn’t confirm that they had received the challenge. I was shuffled through an alphabet soup of bureaus and departments at the commission and still could not get a confirmation. Someone else had it. They couldn’t find it. I’d have to file a Freedom of Information Act request to get it. They’d get right back to me—maybe. After Thanksgiving. Before my deadline. No, really, before my deadline.

You know what it’s like. (For what it’s worth, if you want a job without a whole lot of work duties, apply for one at the FCC. They don’t seem to do much besides hand off emails and phone calls to someone else. Well, the ones they don’t ignore, at any rate.)

So I contacted Sue Wilson, the head of the Media Action Center, to figure out what was happening with the legal challenges. She duly forwarded me a postal confirmation receipt showing that she had, indeed, mailed them and that, indeed, someone at the FCC had received them. She said that the FCC routinely “misplaces” communications from the public. It’s sort of a black hole of complaints, she said. (Watch her documentary Broadcast Blues for more on this matter.)

So my article was published yesterday in print and on the Shepherd’s website.

And lo and behold, I get a press release from the Media Action Center today stating that the FCC “misplaced” MAC's challenges to the license renewals of WTMJ and WISN. And the only reason that the FCC became aware of the complaints is because reporters contacted the commission.

Hilarious! (And predictable.)

Pretty bad, eh? But guess what. Yup, that's right. There's more. There's always more.

It turns out that Mark Berlin, Chief of the FCC's Political Bureau, has been contacting supporters of Media Action Center and falsely telling them that the complaint was never sent. Keep in mind that it was already confirmed by an independent source that they had indeed signed for the letter the complaint came in.

Sue Wilson, head of the Media Action Center, sent him a missive that, well, told him to go to hell in such a way as to make him look forward to the trip.

But Sue's letter won't do, not by itself.

This is where you, gentle reader, comes in. It'll require about two minutes of your time, but it will be well worth it.

We need you to copy this letter and paste it into an email. Then fill it out and email it to these people:

Mark Berlin at CampaignLaw@FCC.gov , and copy all the FCC Commissioners: Julius.Genachowski@fcc.gov ; Robert.McDowell@fcc.gov ; Mignon.Clyburn@fcc.gov ; Jessica.Rosenworcel@fcc.gov ; Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov

Also send a blind copy to Sue at Complain@TellFCC.com so that these can be tracked to prevent further lies being told by the corporate media stooges.

Unless you're happy with the Orwellian Newspeak which these radio stations are subjecting us to, please act on this simple request now.

Cross posted at Cog Dis.

Licenses For WTMJ, WISN Legally Challenged

A full six months ago, I told the gentle reader about how two Milwaukee radio stations, WTMJ-AM and WISN-AM, were in violation of federal laws - namely, the Zapple Doctrine.

The Zapple Doctrine states that radio stations need to provide equal time to political candidates in the 60 day period leading up to an election.

During that 60 day period leading up to the recall election, yours truly, as well as many others, monitored the air waves. When we saw that they were violating this law, we sent emails to the general managers of each station asking them to start following the laws.

The outcomes were as one might expect from the corporate media, and were outlined in a press release from the Media Action Center, represented by Randy Bryce:

MAC said it conducted a comprehensive study in May/June of 2012 – during the Scott Walker recall campaign – which clearly showed the two stations each gave supporters of Gov. Walker and the GOP about 80 minutes of free airtime daily on their local talk radio shows, while refusing any access to supporters of Mayor Tom Barrett and Democrats whatsoever.

In total, the two stations subsidized the Walker campaign with an estimated $1 million dollars in airtime. The study documents that WISN and WTMJ hosts and guests not only exclusively promoted GOP candidates, but actively recruited volunteers for GOP campaigns over the publicly-owned airwaves, while refusing to provide any free airtime for the other side.

This, the challenge asserts, amounts to private censorship, which violates the First Amendment rights of those in the community who are denied access to the scarce publicly owned airwaves during campaigns. It further states the stations willfully have violated existing FCC rules about comparable time, citing legal opinions from the Wisconsin Broadcasters' Association.

"Broadcast stations have a unique duty to serve the entire public, especially during campaigns," explains MAC director Sue Wilson. "When a radio station uses its giant microphones to cheerlead for candidates of only one political party, no matter which political party it may be, it violates the First Amendment rights and public trust of the entire community.

"The behavior of WISN and WTMJ shows clear political intent, which violates FCC rules, as well as a lack of character to hold a broadcasting license. The FCC must not renew those licenses and should award them to new operators," Wilson said.

The FCC must rule on these challenges by December 1.

Erik Gunn, writing for Milwaukee Magazine, finds the approach novel, but does not think they have much chance for success, given that the FCC is pretty much toothless now.

The right wing response was the usual conflation, claiming that the eeeeeeeevvvvvvvullllll liberals were trying to squelch the voice of the right wing squawkers.

They might very well see it that way.

While they're trying to get people to drink the poisoned Kool Ade, they are afraid the voice of reason will drown them out.

Cross posted at Cog Dis.

New Energy Sources Discovered

A half mile from the downtown headquarters of Journal Sentinel Communications and plugged into various Intertube outlets, U.S. Department of Energy and industry partners have tapped what could potentially be a boon for energy production.

Two years ago, it can now be told, these partners kidnapped two lesser known conservative talk radio show hosts, Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner. They were first rendered unconscious. Then drills were inserted into their anuses in search of methane hydrate, which looks like ice but burns like a candle if a match or another heat source warms its molecules.  Large reserves were found.

There is little need now for methane, the main ingredient of natural gas. With the boom in production from hydraulic fracturing - otherwise known as fracking - the United States is awash in natural gas for the near future and is considering exporting it, but the DOE wanted to be ready with methane if there's a need.  "If you wait until you need it, and then you have 20 years of research to do, that's not a good plan," said a technology manager for methane hydrates within the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Conservative talk show host methane comes from buried organic matter deep inside the colon. The gas migrates upward, under high pressure and low temperature, until it reaches the chests of the selected mouthbreathers and combines with frozen water surrounding their cold, cold hearts to form methane hydrate.

Unfortunately, there are consequences to mining. The shallower the talk show host the more the threat of release of potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, exacerbating climate warming (or not).  Another, safer method of extracting methane is by increasing temperature.

It was theorized that attaching tinfoil caps to the heads of talk show hosts, linking them with copper wiring and connecting them to banks of networked computers would provide enough heated rhetoric to melt the gas.  This was tried with Sykes and Wagner. They were also given a script containing talking points and faux outrage. Initial tests during simulated regular broadcast hours produced very little gas. The temperatures inside the body cavities did rise, but breaks for advertisements and breaking news caused a subsequent drop in temperature as the talk show hosts sipped water and shuffled paper as they waited for the next segment.

The Republican primaries provided an answer.

"We piped in heated rhetoric from Republican primaries directly into the tinfoil caps and watched as the conservative hosts' blood began to boil," a DOE specialist said. They began repeating the rhetoric without any fact-checking. The result was an amazing flush of methane through the anal exit - a process called f*cking - into waiting receptacles. Still, specialists and engineers knew they could do better.

The end of the presidential election was the final key, or as one engineer put it, "The handwringing, denial and vicious blame game over Mitt Romney's election defeat has provided us with an almost unlimited flow of heated rhetoric."

Plans are underway to kidnap Christian evangelical leaders and f*ck them. Other large sources of methane hydrate are also predicted to exist within Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove. Unfortunately, it's been difficult to get anyone close to them as they are expertly shielded from reality.


Parody of article that appeared in Washington Post.

Sykes Writes, No One Cares

Ah, yes, Charlie Sykes, renowned author and Pulitzer Prize nominee.

Just look at how popular he is at a book event in Madison, courtesy of Scot Ross:

Y'know, maybe that is a typo.  It looks more like Sykes is a Putz Prize Nominee.

Also, any bets that one of those two people is his producer and the other one is someone he paid to be there?

H/T Jeff Simpson

QOTD

From Eric Boehlert:

But in one misguided sense, who could blame them? Anyone who regularly watched Fox News, listened to AM talk radio or read the hot house conservative media for the last four years must have been convinced Obama's 2008 victory was a massive mistake and that it was only a matter of time before voters corrected their blunder.

That's been the wayward message for nearly 48 months: America was anxious to right the Obama wrong and when given the opportunity on November 6, there would be a Republican stampede.

Turns out viewing politics through the filter of hate severely limits your vision.

Faux News' "Fair And Balanced" Election Coverage

Faux News really outdid themselves with the coverage of the election on Tuesday night.

The aftermath is revealing a lot about this "fair and balanced" news services.

First, there's this:

Shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday, Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes assembled his network's election team in a second floor conference room at Fox’s midtown headquarters to discuss the night’s coverage. He prepared them for the worst. “Guys," he told them according to a source familiar with the exchange, "if things don’t go your way tonight, don’t go out there looking like someone ran over your dog."

Then there was the already infamous meltdown by Karl Rove, who just couldn't accept the fact that all the money that he and his uber-wealthy friends spent to buy this election was for naught.

Oh, then there is the revelation on how they pull in so many white conservative viewers:

With neither side backing down, senior producers had to find a way to split the difference. One idea was for two members of the decision team, Mishkin and Fox's digital politics editor Chris Stirewalt, to go on camera with Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier to squelch the doubts over the call. But then it was decided that Kelly would walk through the office and interview the decision team in the conference room. “This is Fox News,” an insider said, “so anytime there’s a chance to show off Megyn Kelly’s legs they’ll go for it.” The decision desk were given a three-minute warning that Kelly would be showing up.

By the way, Rove, whose SuperPAC spent $300 million on the election, never did make an apology for his tantrum or vile accusations.

And Faux News has never explained how having someone who spent so much money to buy an election contributes to their "fair and balanced" news coverage.

Fox News: Jumps The Palm Tree

If you thought that Faux News reahed the apex of asininity when they tried to tell the county that palm trees grew in Madison, Wisconsin in the middle of winter, think again.

Now they are complaining that people are raising money to help the survivors of Hurricane Sandy:



I can't wait until tomorrow when they complain that Osama bin Laden didn't get his day in court before being executed.

How low can these vulgar beasts go?

H/T Jeff Simpson

Charlie Sykes: Torn Between Two Liars, Looking Like A Fool

Yesterday, I wrote a fairly comprehensive expose on the biggest lies told by Brian Sikma and his propagandist group, Media Trackers.

I pointed out that Sikma outdid himself when he came out with the false story of a Republican volunteer who claimed to be savagely beaten. Sikma even went so far as to repeat his libelous lies on the Charlie Sykes show. Despite it being an obvious hoax, Sikma swore up and down that he verified all the facts and stood by his report.

Brian Sikma

That is, he stood by his story until it became unraveled and he had to admit that it wasn't true. But even then, he lied again, trying to put all the blame on the fake victim and ignoring his own boasting of how he verified his supposed facts.

Because of his scurrilous attacks on an innocent man, he has put himself in line for a possible libel lawsuit that could cost him and Media Trackers a lot of money. Even James Wigderson had to admit that Sikma could be in a world of hurt because of his reckless behavior.

Charlie Sykes did not hesitate to throw Sikma under the bus in order to try to salvage his own reputation:

Then came Media Trackers which claimed it had hard evidence, in the form of a lengthy transcript of graphic and obscene threats against Woods, which they attributed to Pocan's gay partner. If true -- and if MT could verify the information -- the story was a potential game changer. But...

On yesterday's show, I expressed skepticism about the story and asked Brian Sikma how he knew this was not a hoax -- specifically noting the pattern we've seen elsewhere -- and how he had "verified" the now-discredited text messages. Sikma cited multiple sources who had "verified" the texts.

But despite his "sources," obviously the text messages had not been verified, because they were fake.

The group issued this statement last night:

Media Trackers regrets that we were repeatedly lied to and misled. We regret that our readers were subject to the dishonest claims of a dishonest individual. Despite the best efforts to verify the accuracy and integrity of certain claims, a cover-up sometimes works. Those who create and maintain such fabrications deserve to be ruthlessly exposed for they hold the power to destroy the credibility of innocent people.

**

Unfortunately, that's not really good enough.

The ultimate responsibility for the lies and deception rests with Kyle Wood; but it was unacceptably sloppy to run with the unsubstantiated story.

But if Sykes thinks that he's out of the woods by dogging out Sikma, he's sorely mistaken.

Let me explain.

My colleague, Jeff Simpson, already pointed out that Christian Schneider*, aka Atomic Pantload, had also done his own bit of trouble with this story.

Christian Schneider

When it came out that the story was a lie, Schneider first put a single line way at the bottom of the post updating people that the story had been recanted. No apologies, no explanations about his role in it, just that one line.

Then suddenly, the story went poof into cyberspace. In it's place, Schneider came out with a new post, utterly changing his story:

Earlier today, I wrote a lengthy post about this Daily Caller story that detailed an alleged attack of a gay GOP campaign staffer in Dane County.

From what I now understand, there are some questions about some details that appeared in the original story, which I quoted at length. As a result, I decided to hold off on running the post until I can verify some of the facts that have been reported.

-Management

Whoa! So Schneider is part of MJS management now?

Note how he indicates the story on the same day he wrote it? I wonder how he explains Jeff using that post this morning, days after Schneider wrote the original post.

Schneider then did a follow up post again repeating his alleged skepticism:

When I first heard the story, I wanted to write about it, but I questioned some of the details in the original Daily Caller story. So I took down my original blog post and began making attempts to talk to Wood himself to get more details.

On Saturday afternoon, Wood and I talked for around a half hour. He was very pleasant. He sounded calm and credible, adding details to already published reports of the incident. I was always aware that there was still a question as to whether the incident actually happened, which is why I titled the post in the form of a question. But to me, his story at least seemed plausible. I wanted to give him the chance to tell it it public.

As it turns out, my original skepticism was well-founded. It is still unclear as to how much of Wood's story took place, if any at all. He clung to his story until today at 3:52, when I received an e-mail from him verifying a detail in my blog post about him. At that point, he said he would no longer be speaking to the media. Presumably, he recanted his story to the police shortly thereafter.

Huh? Now he's saying that he spoke to Wood on Saturday, after he posted his original story? And now he's claiming to be a reporter? I don't know which is the bigger fallacy, the story or that claim.

Schneider obviously thinks he's safe to say what he wants since no one can know what he originally wrote, as that he had deleted it.

Oh,Schneider is such a silly man. Even before I could get online, a thoughtful friend and already sent me the link to his original post, via Google Cache. I ask you, gentle reader, does this really look like the post of a person filled with skepticism and doubt, or of a man who hadn't already interviewed the alleged victim?

Beaten for being a gay Republican? An interview with Kyle Wood

By Christian Schneider
Oct. 28, 2012

At 7:00 last Wednesday morning, Kyle Wood was just one of thousands of campaign staffers strewn throughout the country, making phone calls and knocking on doors for candidates on the ballot in November. But an hour later, Wood was lying on the floor of his apartment, covered in blood, having been the victim of a beating he believes was politically motivated.

Wood, 29, who is volunteering for Republican Chad Lee in a Madison-area congressional race, believes the attack was punishment for “betraying” his fellow gays. “My feeling, based on the statements that were made [during the attack], it probably had something to do with the fact that I support a Republican candidate running against an openly gay man,” Wood told me. “And as a gay man, I’m supposed to support that gay man. And I don’t. “ (Lee is running against openly gay Democratic State Assemblyman Mark Pocan.)"

The whole story seems to be rather self-assured and the work of a two-bit hack that was trying to score some cheap political points, even if it meant smearing and libeling an innocent man.

It makes me wonder if Schneider and MJS are also going to be liable to a libel lawsuit.

But this is where Sykes has got himself a problem.

Schneider is a "Senior Fellow" at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, yet another right wing propaganda group funded by the Bradley Foundation, as well as a member of ALEC.

Sykes is Schneider's editor there.

Charlie Sykes

If Sykes wants to be consistent, he's going to have to point out that Schneider told a lie as egregious, if not worse, than the one Sikma told. Then he's going to have to decide whether he can use Schneider's work anymore.

And if Sykes doesn't want to hold Schneider to the same level of accountability, he's going to have to explain why not. Would it be because Schneider is a higher caliber hack and liar?

I have no clue what Sykes will do.

In fact, I'm a little surprised that Sykes even called Sikma out on his garbage. Sykes doesn't have an issue with telling lies himself. Every time that PolitiFact has checked his statements, he has been caught with his pants on fire. And when he is confronted with his lies, Sykes readily admits it:

"My ‘evidence’? Absolutely none."

Sykes went on to label his remark "an off-hand wisecrack" -- "You know, humor, hyperbole, joke."

Which brings us to the same question I asked yesterday:

My question is, given how often so many of them have been proven to be dishonest - whether on their own volition or by feeding off of stories from people like Sikma - how can anyone believe what any one of the right wing propagandists, bloggers and squawkers?

*Not to be confused with the other Christian Schneider, though how the mistake could be made is pretty obvious.

Cross posted at Cog Dis.

Sykes Laments Hurricane Sandy

For the past 75 minutes, radio squawker Charlie Sykes has been lamenting the Frankenstorm, Hurricane Sandy.

But he as not been decrying the danger it poses for the millions and millions of people living in its path.

He's complaining but the storm will dominate the news instead of focusing on his trumped up conspiracy theories regarding Libya.

Nice to see that the GOP and their mouthpiece have their priorities in line.

John Stewart vs Charlie Sykes

Charlie Sykes has been pushing his latest book, "A Nation of Moochers"*  a lot lately. Apparently sales of a condescending, boorish and elitist squawker's book aren't going well in an economy where no one has money.

John Stewart makes a great observation regarding this:

The sad part is Sykes wouldn't understand Stewart's point.

*When I first saw the title, I thought Sykes was writing about his relationship to the collective backside of WISGOP.

Another Love Torn Asunder

Jessie McB is no longer in love with the neoconservative Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke.

That would be the second of McBride's loves that Milwaukee's top cop, Ed Flynn, has ruined.

And they want to give Flynn more control over public safety?

Happy Anniversary, You Crazy Kids!

While most Americans will be remember the auspicious anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York City, today is another anniversary without quite the solemness of the more common remembrance.

You see, it was on this date, five years before the terrorist attack, that Charlie Sykes, who was married to Justice Diane Sykes at the time, was caught shooting off fireworks with Janet Riorden, aka Liz Woodhouse, aka Mrs. Sykes III.

And yet Mr. Family Man would try to tell us how to lead a good righteous life...