So many debates on TV I just can't keep up. What scares me is that TV might be having too much of an influence on voters. Information is good, and I want to make informed decisions when I vote, but the information being provided by the major television networks is being filtered by the people who own the TV networks. They decide whether or not to exclude a Dennis Kucinich or a Ron Paul. Whether you like them or not, both Kucinich and Paul have millions of followers. In fact Paul did twice as well as Giuliani in the Michigan primary (6%). I have not seen Giuliani excluded from any debates. In his words "that's absurd."I think the broadcasters have done a pretty poor job in choosing questions during debates. Many of the same questions keep getting repeated. During last night's Dem. debate a heckler in the audience yelled out "these are race-based questions." I thought he said "race-baiting questions." After the first thirty or so minutes of the race issue, I turned off the debate, and missed the next segment which was about the economy. What about education?
I guess I could just choose to turn it off. But it's not right that the broadcast media has so much influence on the election and that they can make arbitrary decisions about excluding candidates.
Please click on the above image "television reaches a new zenith."
![Irv Muchnick, Concussion Inc. [The Only Honest Reporting on Martin vs Villa/SLAPP]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPD2coV7RQATuCUf-3rw1R677yxUImhkVfkwctN91m7yfi3nNdoiPeWor3ZFheb8-GpJgZmYhLB110qFaj3cJ-Chizn5_-t0OCc58nBiQZ8ExJNvSonqN7DCj2ETWDi4Wy0_OObaC3JgJ5_i8VJtUJ3RFDUDQf0VyiSghcV4xshIX6yCIdMs4SUh6t=s220)
![[Reneged] City Solicitor Kloiber Bans Cousin Jeffrey Anthony Defamation & Harassment of Villas](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrGZtm_TCRriA3DHGTVASeEr_XIZD_pQqaf-fCuaf2k-ApQAze7ZAeVU-I6gHcE8Tt6WXadtqw_hAOHjaJe11PiUx2MPPSCMN-MC5RBeCcjKX_DjAhw7IS0eWcKGimIJ9oImiqAkx3jw5l6mT-LnUEQ3U2JmCZyik1BNyiLbXmHr-MSBjt3fMiO6k4=s310)
![[Reneged] Villa Defense Witness: "Judge" Anthony](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YbbiFKB_4_s/WTQcC2PWEvI/AAAAAAAAJaU/4V6Arexg61QpHi3GeQ2PpNNwYV2ChIv7ACK4B/s220/10653495_508198589366170_7055316366826361693_n.jpg)
27 comments:
I was waiting for moderator and NBC news anchor Brian Williams to ask the Dem candidates what they would do about Brittany Spears and if, before doing anything, they would insist that she wear panties.
Mr. Goldwater!
Be careful or I will have to remove you from my blog. ;-)
dottie, as you may know, being excluded from a debate is a sore point with me. in my case i was the second only independent in allentown's modern history(perhaps period). the most damaging thing was the newspaper ad everyday for the upcoming debate, showing only two candidates. although many west end theater district residents will take exception to this, muhlenberg college staff and administration are worms. take the zoning overlay district, no more than two students per house. replace the word student with jew or negro and what do you have. they went along with, and hosted the morning calls mayoral debate. their poll (muhlenberg)showed heydt ahead by 7pts., he lost by 20, which means they were 27pts. off. ignorant worms
it occurs to me that i might offend somebody by calling the muhlenberg people ignorant worms. it's possible they put out wrong figures to both energize some voters and discourage others, so perhaps their deceitful worms.
Dottie, I was merely commenting satirically on the sorry state of news and "journalism" these days don't get your undies in a knot ...
MM,
Excluding candidates disenfranchises voters. It's un-American. And in your case, it's not like there were a large number of people running for mayor! I wish I would have been able to hear more about your policies and ideas during that time.
I don't understand what you mean by " zoning overlay district" and replacing the word student with "jew or negro."Please explain.
I think there is a band called "The Arrogant Worms." One would think a college would have higher standards.
allentown has a special zoning district called the Muhlenberg Overlay District. although 4 unrelated adults may inhabit any dwelling, in the overlay district only two muhlenberg students may live in any one house. it's totally unconstitutional, and the college laid down and didn't oppose it in court. if it had applied to jews or blacks instead of muhlenberg students, the discrimination factor would be much more obvious.
MM,
Who came up with this "overlay district?" Was it pushed by some influential west-end big shots?
Mr. Goldwater,
I get your drift, and my undies are fine.
my answer will be a surprise to the lvpoligblog which labeled me a closet republican. it was the muhlenberg area crime watch which pushed it under heydt. that movement propelled tom burke, and i believe pam varkony, into local politics . this was a golden era for the neighborhood groups, as scott armstrong stated in his essay on bernies blog. they passed the rental inspection law which apparently has not fulfilled their expectations. they passed the west park historic district in spite of the majority of property owners being opposed. i led the opposition to both these movements, because i foresaw the unintended consequences. although i remain committed to property rights, i comply with these new regulations, and hopefully in an exempiary fashion.
um restrictions on off-campus housing options are totally par for the course of any campus located in a residential neighborhood. The comparison doesn't really work for me. Also I have NO IDEA how you are able to jump from topic point A to topic point R so quickly, but uh... kudos.
check out this article my friend wrote for Rolling Stone, somewhat relevant to the original discussion:
Here
lolv, the overlay district is not a housing rule by muhlenberg for its students, it is a city zoning law specifically against their students. you state it's par for the course, please provide examples from other municipalities
LOLV,
I just read that Rolling Stone piece, it's great, thanks for the link. We get the magazine, it must be in the bathroom!
Wow, you are friends with a famous writer! I enjoy his writing. His perspective from actually being on the scene of all this nonsense is interesting to read.
MM,
The overlay district is an interesting topic, and I'd like to know more, but we are getting pretty far off topic. Thanks.
dottie, excuse me, but i differ about getting off topic. your blog is entitled "lehigh Valley--" right here in the valley the morning call manipulates elections, often using muhlenberg college poly sc. polling as
their legitimization. you ASKED me to elaborate on the overlay district, and lolv stated such zoning is commonplace. if we are content to not question such overtly political practices (debate exclusion, discriminatory zoning) in our own back yard, why discuss national trends?
MM RE:"if we are content to not question such overtly political practices (debate exclusion, discriminatory zoning) in our own back yard, why discuss national trends?"
I think I have been mostly blogging about local issues, and intend to do more of that in the future. I'm all for questioning local political practices like zoning laws, and you are right I did ASK you because I did not have a clue. But if the discussion only focuses on the Muhlenberg overlay district then some people may feel excluded and not want to comment on the point I was trying to make about the media. The issue of The Morning Call excluding you is much more relevant to the topic. But I understand your point.
"Zenith, the quality goes in before the name goes on"
Dottie, you had it right all the time. Even with the writer's strike out in Hollywood, Jay Leno and David Letterman made special deals to have new shows... and why?? When they came back on the air their first guests were presidential candidates. Money talks while people walk the picket line.
dottie i posted the thing about leno and letterman, just so you know. The leave your comment thing wasn't working properly.
here's a link to an article which shows various solutions which cities have used to deal with community impact of off-campus student housing.
http://www.prairienet.org/wuna/whitepaper/WhitePaperRegulatoryActions.pdf
also I looked it up and according to PA State Supreme Court, College students are not a protected population group, so they are not subject to discrimination laws. This seemingly varies state to state.
thanks, for your note through my blog. although students may legally not be a protected class, one might expect the affected college to assert themselves.
the college actually did challenge the zoning overlay distcrict. their original appeal was denied and the supreme court refused to hear the case.
River, you are right, money talks. Actually it SCREAMS!
lolv, you put much emphasis on finding references and statistics. i would bet there are plenty of schools which successfully fought such zoning. muhlenberg chose to end it's appeal at that point; i suspect that had more to do with it's board of directors than any legal deadend.
"money talks. Actually it SCREAMS!"
"Money doesn't talk, it swears." -Bob Dylan
MM, you bring up the board of directors at Muhlenberg. Just how influential are these people, and do you think they colluded with The Morning Call to exclude you from the debate? (Sorry I don't want to put you in the awkward position of commenting on someone's personal ethics instead of policies, but you did call them ignorant worms earlier)
i didn't call the trustee's worms, but their certainly power brokers; they forced arthur taylor out from the college presidency, this man was president of CBS and founded the Entertainment Channel. no, i do not believe the board was involved with the debate decision. it was a Morning Call decision, and they used Muhlenberg to help justify it.
Post a Comment