October Surprise!!

Oh no.
We never saw this coming.
Headline: : "Bin Laden's Location Pinpointed"

Best quote:

Former Navy Secretary John Lehman said Thursday that the Pentagon has pinpointed the location of Osama bin Laden in the Baluchistan Region of Western Pakistan, but is holding back on rounding him up because it could destabilize the government of Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf.

Nice run-on sentence. The next paragraph is just one sentence as well.

Another quality quote:

"There is an American presence in the area, but we can't just send in troops," he told the Sun. "If we did, we could have another Vietnam, and the United States cannot afford that right now."

Look, if we can handle two concurrent Viet Nams while going it alone, we can totally handle three. I can't believe we have been right all along.

Ugh. Hopefully everyone heeded Howard Dean's warning about this.

Surprise Surprise!

Well the surprise of the week came off this Friday. We won. Sinclair yielded and aired a "fair and balanced" documentary representing, not one but TWO points of view. Now, I have not seen this myself, as I live in a state without Sinclair, however those in charge of the boycotts say it went very, very well. I believe the boycotts are off. Not sure. Still not going to ever buy anything from those nazis at General Mills. They are Carlsons.

Anyhow, I sent a nice letter to comments@sbgi.net just saying "Thank you." I think they will understand.

Re: General Mills' Position Regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group

Unfortunately, I very strongly disagree with your position. I am very much a free-speech libertarian, however I do not believe that political propaganda from the hands of the conservative power elite, the week before an election qualifies as "free speech."

The boycott will commence and General Mills will be included. Once again, this is not an issue of one candidate over the other, but an egregious abuse of a public resource (the broadcast spectrum).

I strongly urge you to reconsider your position before 10pm. From the tone of your press release, I suspect that will not happen. It appears General Mills has engaged in partisanship. I encourage you to watch this site on your website and observe the effects.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=74271&p=irol-stockchart

Brian Gist
http://civan93-politicalrants.blogspace.com

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 15:08:39 -0500, Consumer Services-Help
wrote:


Thank you for contacting General Mills.

Many consumers have written to share their views on this issue. Some have urged General Mills to use its influence as an advertiser to ensure that the media reports the news in an unbiased manner. Some have urged General Mills to continue advertising, and have threatened to withdraw support for our products if we alter our advertising plans. Passions run deep on both sides, particularly this close to an election.

Whenever possible, General Mills does strive to preview the programs on which our advertising appears. We do so to assure that we do not advertise on programs inconsistent with the family-oriented nature of our products. This works well with entertainment programs produced and available for advance screening, but pre-screening of news broadcasts is usually not possible.

Our view in this area is clear. We believe one of the fundamental elements of our society is the freedom of the press. Companies such as ours, in our view, should not attempt to influence, control or pre-empt the content of news through the leverage of advertising sponsorship. To do so would undermine that fundamental freedom.

From time to time, any one of us as viewers may consider a particular news story to be inaccurate or imbalanced. News organizations do err. Judgment is not always well applied. One major news organization recently acknowledged that errors were made in stories relating to the current presidential election. When such errors occur, certainly a price is paid in terms of reputation. But errors and questionable judgment are an acceptable price to pay, in our view, to assure the presence of a free and independent media in our society.

As viewers, each of us is free to make a choice. We can choose to patronize or not patronize programs with our viewership. We can choose to patronize or not patronize particular television stations, or even entire networks.

Similarly, advertisers may choose not to sponsor certain broadcasts, a particular network or specific publications because of their journalistic standards and judgment. But advertisers should not attempt to control or pre-empt news programming prior to broadcast or publication. That, in our view, would be inappropriate.

In this instance, as in the example cited earlier, passionate voices are calling on advertisers to insert themselves into the election by threatening to boycott those who remove or who do not remove their advertising. We choose to stand with freedom of the press.

We welcome the views that you and others have shared with us. You may rest
assured that we will remind the networks we sponsor that the integrity of their reporting reflects on the companies that advertise during their broadcasts.

Hopefully, you will understand our views and the importance we place on a free press.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us and share your views.

Sincerely,
General Mills

Letter from MoveOn's Leave No Voter Behind

From: moveon-help@list.moveon.org
Subject: AMAZING! Let's go for 125,000!
Date: October 21, 2004 1:19:54 PM MDT

Dear Brian,

As you can probably tell from the subject line, I'm excited this morning. That's because you've just about blown away the 100,000-voter contact goal we had set for Friday. As of right now, we're at 107,242 voter contacts for the week so far. And if we all get out and pound the pavement tonight, we could hit 125,000 by tomorrow morning -- exceeding our goal by 25%.

Letter to the Networks

From: Brian Gist
Reply-To: Brian Gist
To: alex.wallau@abc.com, randy.falco@nbc.com, ntellem@cbs.com, anne.sweeney@abc.com, leslie.moonves@tvc.cbs.com, jeff.zucker@nbcuni.com, brad.turell@thewb.com
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 10:17:49 -0600
Subject: Sinclair Broadcasting

I am writing concerning the preemptive broadcast of the politically charged, politically motivated anti-Kerry "news" special on Friday by affiliate stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting.

I'm sure this isn't the first letter you have received, and it probably won't be the last. I will keep this short and to the point.

I believe Sinclair is acting in an unconscionable way which is
detrimental to America, our freedoms, and our democracy. To preempt network programming with an unpaid propaganda "news" article bashing one candidate, while not accepting offers to pay to provide a counterpoint is not news, nor is it responsible reporting.

Sinclair has acted in a way that is out of step with freedom, and more akin to the type of media we in the West formerly associated with oppressive regimes in the (former) Soviet Union. The decision to not run the Nightline edition (sorry to the CBS, NBC, and WB networks) with a roll call of fallen soldiers is reprehensible. The decision to air a full hour political campaign piece is unconscionable.

I do not know if you, the networks, have any influence over Sinclair's final decision. I hope you do and will use that influence to bring them back into line with their responsibility as a media conglomerate. We, the American people, allowed conglomerates to form because we believed it would produce a free, competitive market for broadcasting. Instead, it has created a monopoly on political influence. Please act to protect the American people, and in so doing protect the respectability of the networks, and the future of media.

Thank you for your time, and your consideration,

Brian Gist
http://civan93-politicalrants.blogspot.com

Sinclair woes

A quote from the WSJ

Some shareholders went public in criticizing management, while the producers of "Going Upriver," a more favorable documentary on Mr. Kerry's wartime experience, teamed up with a philanthropist and said they were trying to buy time on Sinclair stations to show an excerpt of that film as a response.

In a letter to Mr. Smith, New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, a Democrat who is trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, accused Sinclair of putting its political agenda ahead of protecting shareholder value. The $115 billion pension fund for New York state employees holds 256,000 Sinclair shares. Sinclair General Counsel Barry Faber said he hadn't seen the letter from Mr. Hevesi. As for the request to air parts of "Going Upriver," Mr. Faber said Sinclair wouldn't sell time to run them in prime time but was open to discussing other time slots.

How to stop Sinclair

What we need to do to stop them. First the outline, then the specifics.

1. Stop their revenue stream
1. Boycott Sinclair
1. Boycott advertisers
1. Boycott ABC/NBC if they won't pull Sinclair's charter
2. Protect yourself from damaging losses
1. (i.e. the ones that the owners will incur when you take these steps)
2. Sell all Sinclair stock
3. Sell all funds which own Sinclair stock
4. Speak to your broker to make sure they sell anything involving Sinclair
5. Perhaps you want to play in the short market with Sinclair stock?
3. Legislate, legislate, legislate
1. Contact your senator, congressman, etc
2. Contact your state government if you live in a Sinclair state
3. contact the FCC

Now how to get started ...
The folks at boycottsbg.org have put together an informative list.

• This page has a list of the advertisers and the email addresses
  
• This page is the top 10 must email advertisers
• This page has a nifty "Send all these douchebags this canned letter" button
• (ed. This page is broken. Perhaps hacked? grassrootsnation.com is MIA)
Then here are some other informative and useful links

• Here is the petition you should sign to stop Sinclair
• Here are institutional holders of Sinclair stock (including mutuals)
• Here is a list of Sinclair stations
• A wiki encyclopedia article on Sinclair
Most importantly, send a letter to your representatives

• I pre-wrote a letter. All you need to do is add your name and address and your congressman's name. (Super-duper important!!!)
  
• Go to www.senate.gov or www.house.gov and find your representative and send a letter
• Go to your state's website and send a letter to your governor and your local senator and assemblyman (I totally don't see this happening)


Do it do it do it do it!! If you don't get involved, we will lose!

Iams Reply to Sinclair

From: Customer.Service@Iams.Com
Subject: A Message from Tina @ Iams!
Date: October 19, 2004 4:36:53 PM MDT

Dear Concerned Consumer:

Thanks for contacting us about Sinclair Broadcast Group's plans to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal."

We haven't reviewed the content of this program, nor would we advertise in it. One of our guiding principles is that we don't advertise in programs where there is expression for or against a given political candidate.

The way we spend our advertising dollar is important to us. For most TV programming, we're able to review the content on a show by show basis before making any advertising decisions. You may see some of our commercials air on the Sinclair Broadcast Group's network during shows that we've already agreed to appear in. The networks also have control over TV programming and can choose to preempt regularly scheduled programming with different programs, such as this one.

We appreciate your comments and I'm sharing them with those responsible for television sponsorship.

Sincerely,
Tina
Iams Consumer Care, North America

StopSinclar.org update

Brian,

Thanks to you we have gathered more than 120,000 signatures for our StopSinclair petition in one week. On Friday, we brought our interim petition to the headquarters of Sinclair Broadcast Group in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Today, we are asking for your help to make sure that Sinclair doesn't get away with misleading swing states voters.

To counter this $9.9 million dollar illegal campaign contribution from Sinclair Broadcasting Group to the Bush/Cheney campaign we will run full-page newspaper ads on Thursday and Friday to put the spotlight back on the Bush/Cheney record.

Yesterday, we asked the first 94,000 people who signed the petition for help. The response was amazing. Today, we are asking you -- the next 25,000 signers -- for your help.

We need to raise $25,000 in the next 24 hours to execute our advertising plan.

Donate Today: http://stopsinclair.kintera.org

It costs $11,077 to run a full-page ad in the Dayton Daily News. It costs $19,500 to run a full-page ad in the Columbus Dispatch. We are also developing a strategy to run TV ads... Info on these to come soon, but we need the money today to develop the ads.

The bottom line is: we need to raise $25,000 in the next 12 hours. We need your help. Please contribute $50 today to defend John Kerry against Sinclair's slander.

Click here to contribute now: http://stopsinclair.kintera.org

Thanks for your support and we will continue to update you as this story progresses. We may not Stop Sinclair from airing this attack ad, but we will stop them from illegally helping George W. Bush win this election.

The Stop Sinclair Team
www.StopSinclair.org

First response from an advertiser

From: Curtis_George@circuitcity.com
Subject: Curtis George/MIS/Circuit City is out of the office.
Date: October 19, 2004 11:37:58 AM MDT

I will be out of the office starting 10/18/2004 and will not return until
11/03/2004.

I will respond to your message when I return.

Political Cartoon

Quote from Sinclair

Hyman, who in a Sun interview calls Leiberman "a disgruntled employee," has said it's "absolutely absurd" to call the program a contribution to the Bush campaign.

"Would they suggest that our reporting a car bomb in Iraq is an in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign? Would they suggest that our reporting on job losses is an in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign?" said Hyman. "It's the news. It is what it is. We're reporting the news."

BOYCOTT SINCLAIR

Visit the BOYCOTT SINCLAIR blog. They have more live coverage than I do.

Sinclair update

Internal strife has claimed a victim inside Sinclair. Washington bureau chief Jon Sinclair was dismissed from Sinclair and "Escorted out of the building" after being publically critical of the decision to air "Stolen Honor"

CBS story

Sinclair Share Price

Sinclair Share Price
Originally uploaded by civan93.

Watch the share price tumble. Just think, every $1 down represents nearly $50 million personally lost by the oh-so-savy owning family.

Sinclair news

First, read up on the story

• Amy Goodman has an article here
• John McCain comments on Sinclair pre-empting Nightline listing all names of American soldiers killed in action here
• Michael Powell's response here
• More including the only interview with Sinclair here
• Visit the Sinclair website (Anyone know any script kiddies?)
• The Democrats respond here
• Watch the Sinclair stock tumble

We will see what comes next.

Sinclair Media

This one is INSANE.

I'm sure everyone has heard about the Sinclair Broadcasting partisanship. They are going to force all 64 of their member stations, in 39 markets to air, prime time the propeganda "documentary" Stolen Honor a supposed story of John Kerry in Viet Nam.

Where to begin?

First, this should clearly be illegal under the McCain/Feingold Campaign Finance Reform bill. This is clearly an in-kind contribution to the Bush/Cheney campaign.

This should also be illegal under Federal Election laws.

However, who is in charge of the FCC? Michael Powell. Mikey, love your dad, but you have got to go. Mikey has made many interesting decisions, including forcing out non-RBOC phone providers by removing competition pricing, locked up the 3G wireless network by not allowing the spectrum to be freed, returned many spectrums from public to military, faught for less regulation for media companies (like Sinclair), and rewarded these companies with no contest or no cost license renewals.

Powell says they will not interfere with any broadcasting. Freedom of speech.

It is just wrong. Of course, I'll have many rants following this.

Bush Pollution

Here is another petition to sign to oppose the repeal of the "roadless forests" act.

Click here to visit bushpollution.com

GODvsBUSH

GODvsBUSH
Originally uploaded by civan93.

A nice outline of the war between the Red States and the God they claim to worship

UGH -- 1st Amendment Oppression

Ok so these articles have been disturbing me.

http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/Columns/Guest/guest42a.htm

http://www.bend.com/news/ar_view^3Far_id^3D18712.htm

And I wouldn't say exactly that I'm a victim as well. But right after calling the Kerry/Edwards office (to interview them on a policy position on social security), my cell phone has ceased working. No, really.

This is especially difficult because I don't have a land-line.