The Malcontent

Exhausted by political vitriol, rankled by the failure of our elected officials to adequately safeguard the mechanisms of the American democratic process, and ever more surprised by the lengths to which those in power will go to keep that power, The Malcontent is on vacation through Nov. 1.

Ah, this is what politics is all about: neighbors talking with neighbors about why they support their candidate.

No wonder Jon Stewart is a little worked up.

(A little note to Novak and Carville. Stewart is brilliant, you guys are a-holes, and your 15 minutes are way, way up. James, go back to running campaigns and quit jumping into the goddamn spotlight. It is unbecoming. Bob, scamper back for the cover of the rock that you crawled out from under, and just hope that Valerie Plame’s colleagues aren’t waiting for you in the tall grass.)

….and his name is Ralph Nader.

–Look, we here at the Malcontent, where our motto is “We’re not satisfied,” clearly think that ol’ Uncle Ralph could not be engaging in his narcissistic games if the Democrats had been taking care of their base and crafting a vision of governance that is something more that the trite pseudo-populist crapola they have been shoveling. (In fact, we hereby declare the Democratic “populist” non-vision–and you know who we’re talking about, Shrummy– to be “poopulism.”) Still, knock it off, Ralph, you f***ing f***.

Well, I’m no ichthyologist, but this is clearly f***ed up.

And I’m not going to take it anymore! (What?!? Am I the only person under 40 who saw Network?)

Hold Sinclair responsible for their breach of the public trust. Challenge their ability to hold a public broadcast license. The license to broadcast carries concomitant responsibilities.

Cross-posted on MSD.

Science finally discovers something that matters. (Hey, screw penicillin and DNA!)

The empirical data about the 5-second rule.

(Also, the dangerous risks of country music were revealed! …Or is it just a government plot to reduce the numbers of rednecks in the U.S.?)

Thanks to AIR and the IgNobel Posse for bringing forth the knowledge.

The Washington Post’s Tom Shales takes apart the debate–with a critic’s eye, not a pundit’s spin–and we all benefit from his insight.

Shales points out the monotony, the irrelevancy, and the generally low caliber of the answers.

(The Malcontent thought he might have suffered a stroke and lost his ability to understand language while watching the debate–but no, the candidates are just surrealist masters of the nonresponsive answer. Particularly true of the President: Asked about minimum wage? Talk about education!)

Shales notes Bush’s flip, grinning, cheap approach to last night’s debate:

When Schieffer asked a question about jobs, Bush took his cheapest shot of the evening, ignoring the question to say to Kerry, “There’s a mainstream in American politics, and you sit right on the far left bank,” then adding that Kerry was so liberal he made Kennedy look like the conservative senator from Massachusetts.

It was crummy behavior for a president of the United States, the kind of thing better left to lap-dog pit bulls such as vice presidents.

Well said, Tom.

The smirking, giggling, bizarre affect of the President made The Malcontent wonder if he was over-medicated–but then his snide, vacuous statements made him appear to be his usual self.

Kerry, trying hard to appear to have a pulse, was adequate, if completely uninspiring. The President, on the other hand, seemed unhinged, which makes us here at The Malcontent Home Office a little more uneasy than usual.

Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns both the Fox and WB affiliates in Baltimore, is pushing an anti-Kerry “documentary” to be broadcast during the next two weeks, encouraging affiliates to pre-empt their regular programming.

This is fierce partisanship by a major broadcaster (a problem, because the airwaves belong to the public and play a critical role in a free democratic discourse–see Reed Hundt’s letter on Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo for a nice succinct take on this), completely ethically inappropriate, and potentially illegal.

Sinclair’s defense of their plan has also been completely foul–their VP Mark Hyman referred to those opposed to show the propaganda as being akin to Holocaust deniers, drawing a rapid rebuke from the ADL.

The blogosphere is on fire with this one. ( Josh Marshall has been blogging this pretty intensely, so The Malcontent thanks him for doing most of the legwork for what is linked in this entry.)

The Malcontent is based in Baltimore, and watches Fox for morning news and The Simpsons. Not anymore. We’ll be boycotting advertisers, AND we’ll be letting the local stations’ sales managers know this. Some advice on effective boycotting can be found here and here. Contact email for Sinclair executives? Here.

So what can The Malcontent add? Well, there was a boycott website, but it is either down or overloaded. So if you live in the Baltimore area, please feel free to comment with the names of advertisers on Baltimore’s Fox 45 or WB affiliate. (That way, when you call the sales manager, you can let them know exactly which businesses you will be contacting to inform them that you will no longer be buying their services or products.)

Some local businesses that I know advertise on Fox?

Sylvan Learning Centers/Laureate.

Antwerpen Auto.

Anyone want to move to Loving County, Texas? (The Malcontent would, but then that would ruin their big draw.)

Fugghedabouit.