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Newsflash. San Francisco has homeless people, marijuana, prostitutes, and gay people. Homeless in every neighborhood. And Bill O’Reilly wouldn’t go into… the Presidio at night. I seriously doubt he even knows where the Presidio is. Presumably he watched the movie of the same title.
Hopefully, enough people in the rest of the country will lap it up that fewer people want to move to California and housing costs ease up a bit to bring some of the character back into the city. Because what I see in S.F. is simply a drastic contrast in wealth characterized by what Harold Solomon referred to as “homogenized arrogance.” In the early 1990s, the majority of faces you’d see on the Filmore end of Divisidero were black. The majority on Mission Street hispanic. What you see now are waves of young semi-bohemian white professionals, in what may become what the S.F. Bay Guardian refers to as “the world’s first economically cleansed city.”
But I’ve already written about it. Maybe a silver lining of the coming depression will be a revival of coastal alternative culture.
Addendum: The O’Reilly interview is extensive. A few minutes were aired tonight. There will be additional segments next week.
Second addendum: state polls – good news for Obama. From electoral-vote.com:
We have three new presidential polls today, two of them surprising. In North Dakota, Barack Obama has a small lead over John Mcain, 43% to 40%. This is within the margin of error, so it is a statistical tie. This is a state George Bush won by 27 points in 2004 and 28 points in 2000. It is not supposed to be a tie. It is supposed to be a rout for any Republican. It bears watching. If Obama actually campaigns here at the very least it will force McCain devote some money and energy to a state he should win on autopilot.
The same is true of Indiana. Here McCain is ahead 45% to 43%, again a tie. Bush won Indiana by 21 points in 2004 and by 16 in 2000. Shouldn’t even be on the radar, but it is and has 11 electoral votes. It is hard to tell what’s going on in North Dakota (except maybe the people who like small government–except for farm subsidies–are disappointed in the current administration). Indiana is a bit different. The northeastern part of the state is a bit like Ohio, which is a swing state and the northwestern part is close to Obama’s base of Chicago and gets Chicago TV stations. With Palin on the ticket, Alaska is off the table and the Republicans will pick up its 3 EVs as usual.
Meanwhile, the Wilson sisters have asked the McCain campaign to stop using their music.
“Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.”
…
With that elephant in the room, Heart’s Nancy Wilson felt compelled to personally respond. “I think it’s completely unfair to be so misrepresented,” she said in a phone call to EW.com after the speech. “I feel completely f—ed over.
Third addendum: The Anchorage Daily News is accusing Palin of stonewalling on Troopergate.
On the other side of this link is a video of a priceless exchange. I’m not posting the video here as I have a number of videos up already and it’s been reported to me that I’m stressing dial-up folk out.
Anyway, Bill O’Reilly practices a guerrilla tactic in his journalism in which he sends an underling to harass some of the many people who won’t give him the time of day in an interview. They’re usually on the street, maybe on their way to work or home. He doesn’t expect them to give in to an interview, but revels in the responses which are usually an irritated “no comment” followed by an increased pace of walking so as to create the impression that the target is hiding some truth or refusing to face America for some Fox-perceived transgression.
Well, they made two mistakes this time. They went after Bill Moyers, who understands the game and how to play it. The second mistake was to do it at the National Conference for Media Reform where there were bound to be camera people would record the event beyond the Fox editing. So the poor guy gets an earful of fatherly lecturing and advice from Moyers, then is treated with his own medicine by reform-minded reporters on their way out who were more than overtly aware of the irony and themselves reveling in the moment.
If only Bill O. himself had showed up!
It used to be said that basketball is boring because the game doesn’t start until the 4th quarter and everybody except the Warriors gets into the playoffs.
I haven’t followed basketball in years. So what’s happening this year?
Update: But can the Warriors close the deal?
And Charles Barclay joins Bill O’Reilly in hating the Bay Area. Except that he seems to be enjoying himself in these photos.
Bill O’Reilly’s feeling a bit persecuted. He provides a diagram, but doesn’t elaborate. The arrows make it all real.
The latest from Media Matters:
As Media Matters documented, during an appearance on the Irish talk show The Late Late Show on April 13, host Pat Kenny asked O’Reilly whether he had referred to the poor as “irresponsible and lazy” and the Iraqi people as “prehistoric.” When Kenny said he found that information on a “website,” O’Reilly responded by calling Media Matters “an assassination website” that frequently takes him “out of context.” However, Media Matters provided full documentation of O’Reilly’s references to the poor as “irresponsible and lazy” and the Iraqi people as “prehistoric.” O’Reilly has previously attacked Media Matters as being “smear merchants,” “assassins,” and “the most vile, despicable human beings in the country,” among other things, despite claiming not to “do personal attacks here.”
I used to enjoy O’Reilly’s show. But he seems to be losing it, and doesn’t even seem to be enjoying himself anymore.
O’Reilly’s tin foil hat flow-chart is taken from the Media Matters site linked above.
Kos has a post on what Bill O’Reilly likes to refer to as “San Francisco values.” As somebody who was born in and raised in and around SF, I’d like to know what these values are. In the meantime, Kos has some ideas of his own.
Since O’Reilly boycotts everything he hates, I look forward to his boycott of all Bay Area-origin products. Same with every conservative who bashes San Francisco and the Bay Area. So no iPods or anything Apple. No HP computers. No Google. No Yahoo. No eBay. Those conservative bloggers using Blogspot, MovableType, or TypePad? Sorry. Those products are Bay Area-based.
Also no Adobe or Macromedia products. No computers, either, since most run on AMD or Intel. No tax preparation using Intuit products. Cancel your Netflix subscription. Cancel your TiVo subscription. Remove your Network Associates or Symantec virus protection software from your computer. Unplug your Netgear wifi router.
Don’t wear Levis (or any kind of jeans), Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, or buy your kids Gymboree. Avoid LeapFrog learning toys. Boycott Pixar movies. Boycott any movie using George Lucas’ ILM special effects shop. Stay away from Treos and other Palm devices. Don’t let Charles Schwab manage your portfolio. Don’t bank at Wells Fargo.
Actually, I’m all for not banking at Wells Fargo, but that’s a story for another thread.
Particularly amusing is O’Reilly’s reference to Nancy Pelosi as a “far-left secular-progressive bomb thrower.” Bomb thrower?
The Media Matters article linked above contains a local angle:
In 1996, Rep. Frank Riggs (R-CA) attacked his Democratic challenger Michela Alioto over her “San Francisco values.” According to a July 18, 1996, Roll Call article, “In one particularly pointed attack, Riggs questioned whether Alioto’s opposition to the bill to ban federal recognition of same-sex marriage represented ‘North Coast values’ or ‘San Francisco values.’ ” Riggs defeated Alioto.
I wrote this a couple of years ago. I’d intended to send it with a satirical law firm letterhead of some sort, but I never put it together. I wonder how many locals were listening to Bill O’Reilly at the time.
William O’Reilly
Re: Slanderous comments, August 2, 2004
Dear Mr. O’Reilly:
I represent a potential class of agricultural entrepreneursrs who have been victimized by your reckless and slanderous comments regarding the quality of their product, and stand to suffer pecuniary loss as the result.
On the morning (Pacific time) of August 2, 2004, my clients were shocked and appalled as you uttered the following statement over national airwaves:
“The marijuana available to kids today is not the stuff their parents smoked. The stuff coming from Canada is scientifically altered to be much stronger. It’s not just the stuff grown out in Humboldt County.”
The phrase “not just” implies that Humboldt County grown marijuana is of inferior quality to the varieties grown within the nation of Canada. The statement calls into question not only your judgment, but also your patriotism.
For your information Mr. O’Reilly, Humboldt County is the producer of the best quality of marijuana, commonly referred to around the world as “one hit sh#t.” Our farmers have bred indica and other varieties of sinsimilla that are the envy of the world. We are prepared to employ the best of experts in the subject matter, including but not limited to Pete Townsend, Paul McCartney, and all of the veterans of Buffalo Springfield and Toots and the Maytals.
The Canadians, Mr. O’Reilly, are merely imitators using the technology and methods of indoor cultivation perfected by the necessity created by the California Marijuana Eradication Project, known to locals as the “Marijuana Price Support System.” The indoor grow technology is the product of American know-how, dependent on the same lighting technology that illuminates American baseball stadiums. What can be more American?
You can mitigate my clients’ damages Mr. O’Reilly, by agreeing to educate your listeners while recanting and apologizing for your erroneous statement. Remind your listeners that when they buy Columbian or Thai product, they are putting an American grower out of work.
Fortunately, marijuana trade is not covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement, and so we benefit from the tariff system of the Border Patrol and Coast Guard. The measures are inadequate however, and so our growers must compete with sweat shop producThereforebroad. Therefor, my clients do not appreciate your shameless promotion of foreign product to their expense.
My clients are not looking for a confrontation, and hope to arrive at an equitable solution. I know you will do the right thing and retract your careless statement.
Very truly yours,
Eric V. Kirk
EVK/
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