Monday, February 21, 2005

Katrina vanden Heuvel: "This is an object lesson in why our kids should read books and not take drugs."

My apologies to members waiting for some pull quotes from Bill Scher's Thursday appearence on The Majority Report and Mark Karlin's Sunday appearence on The Laura Flanders Show. Neither episode is up yet at Air America Place.

I'll offer Katrina vanden Heuvel's appearence on The Majority Report Thursday (she's a regular guest on Thursday nights) which Air America Place has archived.

She addresses a number of subject (reproductive rights, Howard Dean, her belief that the mainstream media, etc.).

Here she is speaking on Rush Limbaugh:

Katrina vanden Heuvel: This is an object lesson in why our kids should read books and not take drugs.
. . .
I think there's a side of Rush that listeners need to know about. He finishes his rant on McCarthyism and goes on to argue that all women want to get married, even lesbians. It's not only offensive, but it's a little too much information about his fantasy life. . .
But I think there's just kind of a right-wing, beyond his misogny and slander, that's an issue hidden in his rant, and it's a kind of a right-wing prejudice that's there something wrong with single women.

Sam Seder [co-host of The Majority Report]: Why do you think that caught his eye? I mean, you're not someone that he's been regularly railing against? . . . Is he just trying to drum up some kind of angle right now?

KvH: I think he needs an angle. There's something tired about all of this fear mongering bigotry. You know, I think . . . I followed a segment on Howard Dean where he just had to do everything he could to make Howard Dean, who's in the mainstream in this country, a kook.
. . .
To go after my husband suggest something pretty sick in Rush. But again, as I say in my
weblog, you know, it [Limbaugh's commentary] was libelous. I'm not going to sue Rush. I attribute it to some of the addled brain cells that have been the result of his drug use.

This transcription should be considered a guide and not the gospel. Despite typos, I'm sure there are other mistakes. Go and listen to the episode yourself at Air America Place.

Where you'll find the note:

To help alleviate the speed problems we’re experiencing, I will only make the lower-rez versions available for the time being. We are trying to move to a BitTorrent model for the most current episodes to reduce the congestion.Please visit the following thread to help with the implementation of BitTorrent.

I'm sorry that they're having speed problems. (And have no idea what BitTorrent is.) But when I attempt to listen again to the segment to make sure the quotes are as close as I can get them, Real Player shuts down which is why I type that it's "a guide" and not "gospel."

The episodes with Karlin and Scher will probably go up later in the week. And the delay may be due to the problems noted in the note. The delay may also be due to Presidents Day and if so, I won't criticize. Rebecca shared her fear that burnout might set in (in me) and urged that I "take a day off or at least due some simple posts or something fun." As a result of that, I'm not going to play with Real Player to attempt to nail down the transcription. It is what it is, as Kat would say.

But warning, since it's not up today, I may not get to listen to those episodes until this weekend.
Tomorrow, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get some time in listening to Tori Amos' new album. (Which comes out tomorrow.)

For those e-mailing regarding Rebecca's web site, here is her official reply:

i was up all night saturday and sunday morning helping with the third estate sunday review editorial. as a result i took off sunday. today's presidents day and i already intended to take that day off. tell anyone who's asked that i'll be posting again on tuesday.

I'll note that I spent three hours this morning before posting to do personal replies to e-mails. I didn't pick and choose, I just grabbed the first seventy-five (starting with the most recent one and working backwards). That, to me, was fun. And I'm sorry that I'm not able to do that every day. (Or that today, I grabbed the first seventy-five and the most recent.) There were others and if Presidents Day was a two-day holiday, I would have attempted to reply to more of them.) (I do read every e-mail.) But one e-mailer has already noted their relief (an hour ago) that I was posting today and wrote: "I kept waiting and waiting and then thought, 'Well no posts today.'" There will be a Black History Month post today. (Lucy has e-mailed in her highlight.)
Other than that, I'm probably going to play it by ear after I finish reading the e-mails that I haven't got to yet.