Talk show host Nancy Grace has delivered her warped sense of "justice" and claimed yet another victim. Toni Medrano, 29, of Minnesota, set herself afire and died just weeks after being ridiculed as "vodka mom" on national television for drunkenly rolling onto and asphyxiating her three-week-old son in November.

Via:

About a week after she was charged, flame-throwing CNN talk-show host Nancy Grace featured the case on her show. (See the video above.) Grace held up a fifth of cheap vodka and said she was going to see how many glasses she could get out of the bottle.

She poured at least nine as the words "vodka mom" appeared on the screen.

Grace said during the show that she had attempted to contact Medrano at her house. She then spoke to a reporter from her show and two officials unfamiliar with the case as she theorized that Medrano had been sleeping on her child for hours. "There was a long period of time that baby's life could have been saved," Grace said.

She said the baby was purple and one guest theorized that was from a "pooling of blood" because he had been dead for so long. "Why no murder one charges?" Grace asked, referring to the charge for premeditated murder.

Medrano's younger sister described Toni as being visibly shaken as she watched Grace's show discussing her case. Toni then told her sister that "life wasn't worth living," and that she "couldn't live with herself."

This should not be construed as an effort to excuse Medrano's actions leading to her child's death in any way. I simply despise Nancy Grace's efforts to sensationalize tragedies for entertainment and ratings purposes, and setting herself up in the role of television studio judge, prosecutor, and jury to do so. These are people's lives she is using to make a fast buck, consequences be damned.

Grace's previous victim, Melinda Duckett, the 21-year old mother of a missing two-year old son, Trenton, fatally shot herself after being battered by tough questions from the talk-show host in 2006.

Via:

Grace accused Duckett of hiding something, apparently because of her vague answers and unwillingness to take a lie-detector test. Police later named Duckett the prime suspect in the boy's disappearance.

Duckett committed suicide the day the taped interview was scheduled to air, Sept. 8, 2006. Soon after, her family filed a lawsuit charging Grace with the wrongful death of Duckett.

"Nancy Grace and the others, they just bashed her to the end," Duckett's grandfather, Bill Eubank, said following her death.

After Melinda Duckett's suicide, Grace told her viewers that "guilt" had driven the young woman to take her own life.

The lawsuit filed by Duckett's family against Grace and CNN was settled in 2010 for $200,000.

Probably needless to say, but calls and emails to Nancy Grace and her network went unanswered.

Whose idea was it to hold a GOP Candidate "Tea Party Twitter Debate" with questions from you, the Tweeters? They sure have a lot of Chootzpah.

A number of journalists are going to have a hard time following Rick Perry's answers, since he's blocked them.

The questions, sent to @140townhall will appear at the debate's website with the candidates appearing on Wednesday July 20 at 3 pm Eastern.

Clearly Newt Gingrich has been preparing and rehearsing endlessly for this question,

“You adamantly oppose gay rights… but you’ve also been married three times and admitted to having an affair with your current wife while you were still married to your second. As a successful politician who’s considering running for president, who would set the bar for moral conduct and be the voice of the American people, how do you reconcile this hypocritical interpretation of the religious values that you so vigorously defend?”

This question was asked, eloquently and with "due respect," by a college student, Isabel Friedman, who is President of the College Democrats at The University of Pennsylvania.

I assume she framed the question carefully so as not to give Newt ammunition against her. For instance, she did not bring up that this extramarital affair with now-wife Callista Gingrich lasted over six years, and overlapped with the time he was pushing for the impeachment of Bill Clinton with a lot of pro-family values talk. She did not bring up a host of other skeletons in the Gingrich closet, or the fact that he resigned his office as House Speaker on ethics grounds. No one in the mainstream media EVER brings THAT up.

Newt's answer, nevertheless, is extremely rehearsed.

“I’ve had a life which, on occasion, has had problems. I believe in a forgiving God, and the American people will have to decide whether that’s their primary concern. If the primary concern of the American people is my past, my candidacy would be irrelevant, if the primary concern of the American people is the future . . . that’s a debate I’ll be happy to have.”

On the other hand, "The American People" can't decide about the personal life of a candidate if David Gregory continues to have Newt on his show and never brings it up. And really, we're all to the point with Gingrich (and his blatant and not occasional hypocrisy about sex) that his permanent seat on Meet the Gregory (h/t Daily Show) says more about David Gregory than it does about Newt Gingrich, the end.

Yes, we can do some good here. I posted about Eddie Burke's cowardly act yesterday when he called the Alaska Women Reject Palin--maggots and exposed their personal information so they would be attacked.

Today I found out that he has been suspended:

Anchorage AM radio host Eddie Burke has been suspended after broadcasting the phone numbers of women involved in organizing a protest rally against Sarah Palin over the weekend, his station manager said Monday.

In a statement, KBYR-AM 700 station manager Justin McDonald said broadcasting the numbers last week was "breaking station policy." Burke will be suspended for one week without pay, he said.

"Though I do not agree with some of the comments he made, as a licensee, we attempt to respect everyone's First Amendment rights, including Eddie Burke's, our listeners' and our nonlisteners'," McDonald's statement said. "That does not mean I condone inciting violence or harm in any way to people wanting to voice their opinions with peaceful protest."

Acting like Michelle Malkin does have some consequences after all.

If that isn't a perfect microcosm of the muddied thinking of a neo-conservative, I don't know what is. It's the conservatives that suffer from bad p.r., that's all. It has nothing to do with the fact that their policies have been proven to either not work or just be monumentally bad for most of the country...they're so secure that their belief system is right that the only problem is they just don't have a good branding. Call it "chocolate" and immediately 65-70% of the people would want to be them.

PBS host of Think Tank Ben Wattenberg makes the very serious misjudgment of appearing on The Daily Show to push his book, Fighting Words, with his vague talking points that just don't hold up to Jon Stewart's logic, and the only thing he can say to Stewart is "be serious now." Dude, you're on Comedy Central and it's clear who the only clown on that stage was.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

I try very hard to be tolerant of others' beliefs. I don't pretend to have all the answers and I certainly don't want to begrudge others answers that work for them. However, I draw the line at the whole false equivalence of the Intelligent Design/Evolution argument. In fact, even though I recognize it goes against the Constitution, I'm not sure that shouldn't be a test for elected office: If you feel that the idea of Intelligent Design (which can not be proven in any kind of scientific way) should be taught alongside with evolution (which is as much a theory as gravity is), then you do not belong in a position where you can make that decision.

Which makes Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal all that more frightening for being on the short list for the Republican Veepstakes. On Face the Nation, Jindal tells guest host Chip Reid that even though we should teach our kids at the highest levels of science, it's wrong to "withhold" from them the concept of Intelligent Design.

As a parent, when my kids go to schools, when they go to public schools, I want them to be presented with the best thinking. I want them to be able to make decisions for themselves. I want them to see the best data. I personally think that the life, human life and the world we live in wasn't created accidentally. I do think that there's a creator. I'm a Christian. I do think that God played a role in creating not only earth, but mankind. Now, the way that he did it, I'd certainly want my kids to be exposed to the very best science. I don't want them to be--I don't want any facts or theories or explanations to be withheld from them because of political correctness. The way we're going to have smart, intelligent kids is exposing them to the very best science and let them not only decide, but also let them contribute to that body of knowledge.

Really? Should we also let students "decide" on whether the theory of gravity makes more sense to them than the notion of a benevolent God moving us around on puppet strings? Does that contribute to the body of scientific knowledge?

Transcripts below the fold:

Continue reading »

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

Host Bill Maher speaks to Jeffrey Sachs, author of Common Wealth, about the very critical need that we must acknowledge to find alternative fuel resources and focus on sustainable energy. That need is made more critical because with the priorities for funding placed by the Bush/Cheney White House, we're now eight years behind in terms of research.

Let me tell you, you know, if we put a little bit of thought to it, a small part of the Mohave Desert could provide more than half of the electricity needs of the United States without emitting any carbon dioxide, just using the solar power that’s available. Africa could be powering itself with the tremendous amount of solar power. But how much are we investing in this, Bill? We’re investing basically an hour or two of what we spend on the Pentagon for the whole year of our federal research budget right now. The total research budget of the Bush administration on sustainable energy resources has been between 2 and 3 billion dollars, which is 1 and 1 ½ days of what we spend on the Pentagon. So it’s been all war, no sustainability. And look where we are right now, right back into a corner and that’s the problem.

Download | play Download | play (h/t BillW)

President Bush made a cameo appearance on the NBC game show, Deal or No Deal, and even made fun of his own abysmal approval ratings in a prerecorded message to an Army officer who was a contestant on the show.

"Good evening, Captain Kobes. I'm thrilled to be on Deal or No Deal with you tonight. Come to think of it, I'm thrilled to be anywhere with high ratings these days."

The crowd roared with applause as the worst president in modern history made a complete fool out of himself in front of the world...again. He even invited host Howie Mandel to come to D.C. to play the game Capitol Hill-style:

"Howie, I don't know if you're free to come to Washington anytime soon but I have to reach an agreement with Congress on the federal budget. How'd you like to host a $3 trillion dollar 'Deal or No Deal?'" he joked.

At a recent appearance in San Francisco, Air America host Randi Rhodes went after Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton, calling them "whores" to a generally mixed reception by the audience.

"Hillary is a big f**king whore, too. You know why she's a big f**king whore? Because her deal is always, 'Read the fine print, a**hole!'"

Huffington Post:

Rhodes has been now been suspended from the network. Air America released the following statement:

Air America has suspended on-air host Randi Rhodes for making inappropriate statements about prominent figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, at a recent public appearance on behalf of Air America in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air America affiliate station.
"Air America encourages strong opinions about public affairs but does not condone such abusive, ad hominem language by our Hosts," said chair Charlie Kireker.

I'm a fan of Randi, but this is completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, this is the kind of thing that happens in the heat of a long, drawn out primary season.

TV Newser:

Insiders tell TVNewser Tucker Carlson's 6pmET show Tucker is getting the axe, but Carlson stays on as a political contributor to all MSNBC shows at least through the 2008 election. The official announcement, expected tomorrow, will include details about who will replace Tucker at 6pmET as well as other political programming additions. Sources say the network is going to beef up its schedule with more NBC News talent.

In recent days, Jossip, as well as other blogs, ratcheted up the talk that Tucker would be replaced "for a new project." In its 33-month run, Carlson's show has had two names, four time slots and multiple formats. At 6pmET, it builds on its Harbdall lead-in on some days, but loses audience on others.

Carlson is expected to host the show through next week, with his new role and title to take effect March 17. We're told he'll also be reporting from the campaign trail. Read on...

Finally! We have documented many of Tucker's atrocities during his time at MSNBC and have been asking for this for years. Carlson will remain at MSNBC as a contributor for the time being, but at last, there's a chance we'll see a reality based, progressive show in that time slot. Rumor has it Air America Radio's Rachel Maddow is working on a show for the network -- we can only hope she gets her shot. She's earned it.