Why Fox News canceled my interview about Netroots & the Troops - KO-worthy

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeAt 3:44pm Eastern, Fox News Channel employee (I am guessing a segment producer) Eldad Yaron called me to arrange an interview for me to talk about BooksForSoldiers.com, our fundraising problems and how I am using the netroots to solve the problem. BooksForSoldiers.com is a website run by a 501(c)(3) federally recognized tax-exempt charity. Any deployed US solider can go to the BooksForSoldiers.com website, fill out their contact info and tell us what they want - books, DVDs, video games, tube socks, almost anything - we will then send the item to the soldier for free. Plus we typically toss in snacks, chapstick, playing cards, and a brief note. I started sending books to deployed soldiers during the first Gulf War. A bunch of my college friends were in the National Guard and they suddenly found themselves in Saudi Arabia setting up their Army hospital. When I heard of the extreme boredom of the troops after the shooting was over, I got all my friends I knew back in the states to give me their old novels and I sent them to the Army hospital in Riyadh. When Bush started his war, I knew I wanted to do the same thing, but on a larger scale, so I put together BooksForSoldiers.com. I originally though for this new war, the troops would be back home in 6 weeks - I never thought Books For Soldiers would still be going 5 years later. I was totally unprepared for that. What started as a six week project has become a 5 year plus journey. As with all journeys, there are bumps along the way. Books For Soldiers is having financial problems due to corporate funding drying up. (You can donate here!) We had no corporate donations for the first quarter of this year. BFS is not a special case, other charities are in the same boat. Women's shelters are having to shut down and food banks have been hit very hard this year. In short, the economy sucks. The Board of Directors gave us a second chance at fund raising and assigned us a deadline of November 1st to raise the $70,000 goal or we would have to shut down at the end of the year. We would have the last Holiday Package Drive and that would be it. I followed up the phone call with Fox News' Eldad Yaron with 8 emails - arranging for a driver to pick me up and drive me to San Francisco, sending them the BFS story, just putting the segment together for 10:20am Eastern today. I would arrive at their San Francisco location at no later than 10am and I would be on-air at exactly 10:20 - that was when they booked the sat time. Yaron's last email to me read: I'll brief you more in the morning but we're good to go. This morning, 45 minutes before the car was supposed to pick me up, another Fox News employee, Kelly, called me to tell me the segment had been canceled. "Something came up." Well, Hell. I used the last of my shave gel, got all dolled up and had no place to go! I smelled a rat, hard to avoid with Fox News, and I wondered what story I got bumped for, so I switched on Fox News. Here is their line-up for the 10am hour of America's Newsroom With Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly. Keep in mind, I was slated for 10:20am. 10:08 Running of the Bulls 10:13 Video of a car chase in Portland, Oregon 10:13 Oregon man flies in a lawn chair from oregon to idaho 10:20 MAN BITTEN BY SNAKE IN FLORIDA WALMART 10:22 Obama and McCain layout out economic plans 10:25 Baseball player, A-Rod might be involved with Madonna according to tabloids. Books For Soldiers got bumped for a snakebite story! A bite where no one died! Here is a link to the wire story. I understand how cable news works and big stories could break at anytime. If Mugabe called for new elections or it started to rain in Big Sur, that I can understand being bumped. But a guy gets bit by a pygmy rattlesnake at the local Walmart and the soldiers get bumped? WTF, indeed. My theory is BFS represents yet another inconvenient truth or maybe several: Soldiers need to turn to the charities for things the military cannot provide. BFS is run by a flaming liberal and had Michael Moore as a supporter. A soldier's charity run out of corporate funding because the economy is in the toilet. Yes, those bring up a whole host of issues, the Neo-cons, and I suspect their puppets at Fox News would rather not dwell about. You cannot ask me the second question, "Why is BFS in financial trouble?" without hitting an idealogical snag. This story is what I call "Keith-worthy" - a story that would fit well as a "Worst Person" segment. Don't you think? Here is a job for all you NetRooters out there, email Keith and anyone you might know at Countdown and pass this story along. My goal is to find funding for BFS, not the cartoon or anything else. This is netroots for the troops. YOU are the netroots for the troops. And here is a small note for Keith, Here is another opportunity to apply your sharpened stick to the eye of Fox News. I can supply you the emails and let you listen to Kelly's voice mail! Here is my contact info: stormbear [at] gmail.com 415-351-8497 Get it before Fox News sends out the lawyers with a cease and desist! Lastly, thank-you for your support of our troops.

The True Story Of Jesse Helms That No One Believes

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeWhat I am getting ready to tell you is a true story about my run-in with then Senator Jesse Helms. I used to have a film production office in Raleigh, North Carolina - two careers ago. I had the top corner office and the exact opposite corner of the building was Senator Helms' reelection campaign HQ. I never went in, but I did walk by a few times and it was just a few people at their desks typing and making phone calls. One day I was heading to the restroom and entered a stall. No, there were no hand gestures. A few seconds later Jesse Helms came in - his voice was very recognizable. Jesse entered the stall next to me and took a massive, juicy, explosive dump. Now, this should be a common tale but here is where it gets damn odd. While Jesse was evacuation his lower bowls with the robustness of a timpani drum, he was singing "What A Friend I Have In Jesus." Mouth agape, I couldn't pry my ears away from the horror of it all. The cacophony was something to witness with the cool help of Kentucky bourbon. But unfortunately, I was stone cold sober.

Brit Soldiers Paid To Attend Gay Pride Events - Breeders Outraged!

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeFrom The Telegraph: Homosexual soldiers are to be paid travelling expenses to attend Gay Pride parades, while troops are not allowed to claim for trips to the Queen's Garden Party. Gay troops have been told they can submit claims for their car mileage or train tickets to marches in London on Saturday and in Brighton next month. Heterosexual soldiers have criticised the move saying they are not allowed to claim money for trips to important functions, including the Queen's Garden Party. It will also be the first time Army and RAF troops will be allowed to march in uniform, Royal Navy soldiers are already allowed.

Fighting Religious Oppression With Smooches!

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargePride in Madrid... There is a tasteless Inquisition joke in here somewhere... In a country where Catholic majority views on homosexuality clash with the government's recognition of gay marriage, gay pride organizers use smaller regional venues to build momentum for a national parade in Madrid. [..] Spain's giant national gay pride parade is set for Saturday, July 5th in Madrid. An estimated 1.5 million people are expected for a gay pride parade winding down the streets of the country's capital city. Like parades in the U.S., Spaniards plan to celebrate recent gay rights victories. Re-election of the progressive Socialist party in the spring – despite condemnations by the Catholic church and the Pope – ensured gay marriage rights will not be rolled back anytime soon.

The Downside of Gay Pride

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge The Human Rights Campaign street team have packed up their clipboards. The sunglasses vendors have packed their unsold wares. All the t-shirts have been given away. The personal lube advocates are sleeping in. Yes, friends, Pride Weekend has come to a close in San Francisco. From the San Francisco Chronicle: There's nothing like celebrating marriage with hundreds of thousands of your closest friends. Less than two weeks after same-sex marriage became legal in California, drag queens, kids, politicians, shirtless men, married couples, straight couples and tourists flocked to San Francisco for the city's 38th annual San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration, which culminated Sunday with a huge parade. Marriage was in the air as scores of people lined Market Street for the annual event, where veils and wedding garb were the fashion choice of many parade participants and spectators. Of course, scantily clad boys and girls - and boys dressed as girls - were also on hand during a celebration that seemed to attract more people, and families, than in years past, although official crowd count numbers were not immediately available. Many of the speakers and parade participants took the opportunity to campaign against a measure on the November ballot that would overturn the recent court ruling and ban same-sex marriage in the state. Whoops and cheers began even before the parade, with some members of the giddy crowd scrambling on top of anything they could for a view of the more than 200 floats and other parade contingents. After a cool morning, the sun peeked out by noon, giving way to a warm afternoon. Later, revelers filled Civic Center, where the party continued with live music and speakers, drinking and eating. The all-ages, multicolored crowd seemed to represent the Bay Area's diversity, with high school students bumping shoulders with young parents, elderly gay, lesbian and straight couples and transgender people. Police said the event was largely peaceful, with just three arrests for public intoxication by 5:30 p.m. And a good time was had by all.