The Cody News (August 8, 2005)

How about The Cody News then? But -- today's is a special "Little Brother is Watching You (trademark, btw)" edition of R and R stemming from having noticed a recurring theme in the NY Times' National Briefing section this weekend:

ARKANSAS: REALLY REALITY TV Viewers of a late-night cable TV program in Fort Smith called the police late Thursday when they realized that instead of "Shopping Mania" they were hearing an attempted robbery. Two men were later arrested. Gary Spirito, who runs the auction "Shopping Mania" program out of a rented warehouse, said viewers heard the robbers off camera demanding the keys to a car after they invaded the building. Several viewers telephoned the police, and the robbers fled when officers arrived. (AP)
How cool! Of course, dollars to donuts I'd bet that "Shopping Mania" is on a public access channel -- which of course then begs the question of whether this is Little Brother Watching, or Big.

As an aside, as I once asked when the topic came up on CNBC: why is it that the private broadcasters like NBC and ABC don't have the right to show whatever they want -- tasteless, pornographic or otherwise -- but public access channels can show outright pornography. If you've ever flipped through the channels at 2am on a sleepless night, you've seen those advertisements for "escort" services and 900 numbers. Heck, taking this another level -- aren't those "escort services" actually hooker services, anyway? (Not that I'd know about that stuff...cranberry juice, anyone?)

But come on, so it's okay to not only show porn on public access but even to allow prostitution, a private enterprise that's supposedly illegal in this country (rights to do what you want with your own body be damned!), to advertise on public access channels?! What the heck kind of logic is this. Man, do I hate those bureuacratic law makers who've muddled such simple concepts so badly.

NORTH CAROLINA: CANDIDATE DROPS OUT A candidate for the Charlotte City Council dropped out of the race after it was disclosed that he had posted comments to a white supremacist Internet bulletin board more than 4,000 times. The candidate, Doug Hanks, said the postings on the site were fictional and were designed to win white supremacists' trust while he researched a novel he was writing. Mr. Hanks was seeking an at-large council seat as a Republican. The postings were spread over the past three years and were reported Thursday in The Rhinoceros Times, a weekly newspaper. (AP)
Wanna be racist and come to power? Not in this country, not in this age. Racism, as an institution, is dying.

GIFTS FROM LOBBYISTS Five lawmakers accepted lobbyist donations to their legal defense funds despite rules prohibiting such contributions, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan organization that conducts investigative research and reporting on public policy issues. The five are Senators Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, and Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, and Representatives Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, Henry J. Hyde, Republican of Illinois, and Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington. Some of the money has been returned. Lawmakers can establish defense funds to help pay legal bills for ethics and criminal investigations or other legal matters including recounts. (AP)
Busted, punks! Let's all work to vote these hypocrites out in the next few decades, okay?

Those are just from Saturday's NY Times. I'll be back with a regular ol' fashioned R and R in the next couple days. Stay "tuned"...er logged in....er on the Net. Oh, hell -- how about....keep it real.