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Local News & Opinion
Ref. : Local Newsbriefs Travel
Letters
Ref. : Letters to the editor Open Letters:
03.05 Open Letter to Congressman Bart Stupak Health & Environment
Video National Health Care Systems In Other Countries 03.12 Slick Barry and the $100-Billion Medicaid/Medicare Fraud Claim 03.09 Kill Bill: Death to Obamacare! 03.09 Obama’s Rhetoric May Be “Fiery,” But His Health Care Reform Is Still Lukewarm 02.24 Obama’s New Plan 02.21 Time to Pass the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 Media Watching
03.16 WPost Blames Obama First, on Israel 03.16 Letter to the New York Times' Editor: Stovepiping To Persia 03.12 Cud and Complicity: Burying the Alternatives to Empire's Dominion 03.11 NYT and the ACORN Hoax 03.05 Sorry, Rove, Bush Did Lie About Iraq 03.03 It's Snow News 03.03 The Woeful Washington Post 02.28 The NYT Veers Neocon 02.18 US Media Replays Iraq Fiasco on Iran Ref. : The Daily Howler Legal Matters
02.26 America's Supremes: Court Over Constitution US Politics, Policy & Culture
03.11 Power Rangers: Policing the System With the "Fightin' Progressives" 03.09 Thinking About Countings 03.07 Unnatural Acts: Breaking the Fever of Militarism 02.25 Future Shock: A Better World Beyond the Imperium 02.24 The Last Flight of Joe Stack 02.22 Thinking About Sadie 02.18 All Systems Go: No Dysfunction in Profitable Afghan Enterprise High Crimes?
03.16 America's Secret Prisons 03.13 Palestinian Dispossession in East Jerusalem 03.12 Israeli Settlement Expansions Continue 03.11 Brutalizing Palestinian Children 03.08 The Russell Tribunal on Palestine: Barcelona Session 03.05 Targeting Israeli Apartheid 03.01 America's Permanent War Agenda 02.25 Global Sweatshop Wage Slavery 02.23 Israeli Unaccountability and Denial: Suppressing the Practice of Torture 02.22 American Genocides: is Haiti Next? 02.18 Israeli Abusive Administrative Detentions 02.16 MK-ULTRA: The CIA's Mind Control Program Economics & Business Non/Mis/Malfeasance
03.14 The Crisis in America's Telecommunications Network 03.09 The Business of Water: Privatizing An Essential Resource 03.05 Is the Recovery Real? 03.04 IMF-Style Austerity Measures come to America: What “Fiscal Responsibility” Means To You 03.04 Barry C. Lynn's "Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and Economics of Destruction" 03.01 Thinking About Fees 02.22 Campaigning for State-Owned Banks 02.22 Social Security Will Fall To Obama Before The Taliban Do 02.19 Obama’s Stealth Entitlement Commission 02.19 Selling Out America to Wall Street International
03.15 Peace Process Hypocrisy: Stillborn from Inception 03.03 Muslim Disunity 03.02 Funding Israeli Militarism, Belligerence and Occupation 02.26 Iran Captures a 'Good' Terrorist 02.24 The Dubai Hit 02.22 Holland Has Had Enough: Killing of Innocent Civilians Goes On Apace in Afghanistan 02.19 The Placeman Cometh: New IAEA Chief Stokes Iran War Fever for the Bush-Obama Regime We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
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MEDIA COMMENTARY:Sarah Palin on SNL? Just Say No!Can you think of any other Rapture-ready theocrat, or radical anti-environmentalist, or male supremacist, or stealth secessonist, who would be welcome on that show?
The New York Post reports that Sarah Palin has been scheduled to host NBC's "SaturdayNight Live" on 10/25:The New York Post is reporting that Palin's appearance on Oct. 25 is signed, sealed, and delivered.
Now, if Joe Biden is guest-hosting on the Saturday before or after, then it's fair enough that Palin get to do it, too. (By rights, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney and Bob Barr should also have their turns.) But if the network has been pressured to have Palin on—whether by GE or by the GOP, or both—to "balance" Tina Fey's satiric thrusts, then it is not okay. SNL should not have any major candidates, or mainstream politicans, on as hosts, because the ties between the media and the political establishment are too tight and too many as it is. But having Palin on is indefensible on several other grounds as well. First of all, there's her extremism. Can you think of any other Rapture-ready theocrat, or radical anti-environmentalist, or male supremacist, or stealth secessonist, who would be welcome on that show? The fact that most Americans have not yet heard that those are her positions makes it all the worse that she would guest-host SNL, which shouldn't be a part of her campaign's attempt to cast her as your average "hockey mom." (Those of you who've seen "Bob Roberts" no doubt feel a certain chill right now.) And then there's Palin's on-the-stump behavior—which most of us have heard about. Stoked by her infuriating lies and homicidal innuendo (the woman's very good at that), the crowds around her whoop it up like lynch mobs, calling for Obama's death (the Secret Service is investigating one such outburst) and otherwise exulting in their hatred:
(See the video—wait through the ad—click here.) What is NBC's excuse, and/or Lorne Michaels', for giving her an opportunity, ten days before Election Day, to wink and grin and say "Doggone it!" and "You betcha!" (and also, winningly, to mock herself for doing so)? So why would SNL help "humanize" this vicious character? What is NBC's excuse, and/or Lorne Michaels', for giving her an opportunity, ten days before Election Day, to wink and grin and say "Doggone it!" and "You betcha!" (and also, winningly, to mock herself for doing so)? And how can all the show's hip regulars, including Tina Fey, put up with this? The fact is that they shouldn't have to: Sarah Palin has no place on SNL, and you should let them know:
NBC: 212-664-4444 NBC and GE are both headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, NY, NY, 10112. You may also make your views known on NBC's FAQ online or google "NBC contact" and there will be a drop-down menu of programs—just click onto "Saturday Night Live" and write your message. Mark Crispin Miller is a professor of media studies at New York University and the author of The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder and other books. Copyright © 2008 The Baltimore News Network. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. Baltimore News Network, Inc., sponsor of this web site, is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed in stories posted on this web site are the authors' own. This story was published on October 13, 2008. |
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