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Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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December 06, 2003
No Sharpton on SNL for Iowa
Reverend Al Sharpton hosts Saturday Night Live tonight, but they won't be seeing it in Iowa. [STORY] All four local NBC affiliates in Iowa have decided not to run the live program, citing fears of getting tangled up in FCC Equal Time provisions in advance of his participation in the Democratic presidential caucuses in January.
Sharpton's campaign manager Charles Halloran had a clever retort. "Their lawyers must not have finished law school because NBC went through all sorts of research to make sure that it was appropriate."
Halloran had a cute remark, but it doesn't alter the underlying issue: all these FCC content rules stifle free expression. This makes a perfect example.
Sharpton's appearance on SNL may or may not be a violation of equal time provisions. It might be that none of the other candidates would complain. It might be that they would, but that the local stations would prevail in front of the FCC or in front of a court. Sharpton's manager might be exactly right.
On the other hand, screw it. The stations don't need the hassle, the possible liability or expense. They might well be judged not to be in any violation- after spending tens or conceivably hundreds of thousands of dollars defending themselves.
If it was my station, I would be inclined to put the show on as a matter of principle. This is a news event, even, besides a regularly scheduled network program, and voters who are interested absolutely SHOULD see this before making up their minds. Which might be a good argument against having me as a station manager, as my idea of principles would interfere with the most rational business judgment for what to do in such a situation.
The station managers have made what in fact looks like the best reasonable decision from the perspective of their job responsiblities. They are running businesses, not crusading for truth, justice and the American way. They are responsible for maximizing returns for stockholders. That is their principle job, and they don't need to be courting expense and problems over an episode of a late night comedy show.
It's hard enough to get businessmen to do the right thing by the community often times, and the more difficult you make it, obviously the less likely they are to do it. Fairness doctrines and equal time provisions and other content regulations actively turn the interests of business against open debate and thus against the true interest of the public.
posted by Al at 12/06/2003 04:52:00 PM
December 02, 2003
Jackass gets himself dead, arousing the ire of local NAACP
It is apparently the opinion of at least the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP that black folks have a right to attack police officers. Not only that, but if the officers defend themselves, then THEY are the bad guys, and their police chief should be fired. NEWS STORY
Nathaniel Jones passed out at a White Castle in Cincinnati in the 5 am hour Sunday, then woke up agitated. When officers showed up, this nearly 400 pound man is clearly seen swinging at officers and resisting arrest. He got hit with nightsticks about a dozen times before they were able to subdue him. He passed out and died within minutes, after being quickly rushed to the hospital.
Besides being morbidly obese, he was apparently diabetic and had an enlarged heart. Oh yeah, he also had cocaine and PCP in his blood.
Not that anyone would care about the facts, but the coroner says there was no sign of internal injuries from his altercation with police. He was not beaten to death. Early indications suggested some kind of diabetic reaction.
"If proper procedure means that you can use that kind of force to clobber people repeatedly who are clearly disarmed, then there's something wrong with the policy," said Calvert Smith, president of the local branch of the NAACP. Some members are calling for the firing of the police chief.
They are demanding changes in policy about the use of force. What changes would they have? Huge crazy guys out of their minds on angel dust should be able to create public disturbances and take a swing at police officers with impunity? Officers should just walk away?
I've watched the tape of this incident about a zillion times on local Cincinnati television. What do they think the cops were supposed to do, just let him go? He was absolutely a danger to anybody who had the misfortune to be around him at that point.
If you're 41 years old, morbidly obese and diabetic, taking cocaine and pcp, and then start attacking police officers and end up dead, I'd pretty well consider that a suicide. Indeed, I'd like to give posthumous thanks to Mr. Jones for voluntarily climbing his fool ass out of the gene pool.
Naturally, of course, Jesse Jackson had to call for state and federal investigations. "Police officers have options available to immobilize citizens short of death."
I understand why black folks might tend to be somewhat skeptical of police. There's bad history a lot of places. Still, this kind of foolishness destroys their credibility, and tends to make people unwilling to listen to them other times when they actually have legitimate beef. It shows a disconnect from reality. Some of these people are going to say the same thing, without any regard whatsoever to the actual facts of the case anytime a black man manages to get dead anywhere near a cop. This guy, however, was a danger to black folk and white folk alike.
Perhaps some policemen need to be reigned in sometimes. However, black folk perhaps need to be careful not to be doing stupid stuff to cause policemen to develop those bad attitudes. If Jesse Jackson actually cared about helping a black man, he'd be out doing his job as a supposed minister, leading his people unto paths of righteous behavior rather than demagoguing and rabble rousing every time some jackass gets himself dead.
Look, if a cracker such as myself got doped up and fell out with a big ol' heart attack while I was swinging at cops, no one would be hollering about police brutality- not even my family. The community would not be in turmoil, and national news hogs would not be getting involved.
Hey, I don't generally care that much for cops myself. That doesn't mean that they're all bad or always wrong. Also, you can't expect to violently resist arrest and not get knocked down.
Question: "How many of our people have to die before the city decides to do something about it?" Nathaniel Livingston Jr. of the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati.
Answer: "Just the violent, stupid ones"
posted by Al at 12/02/2003 02:51:00 AM
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