Democracy Now! of the North Carolina High Country

Wholesome Local Radio

2009-12-08T18:56:00.004-05:00

Feeling like shopping for the holidays? Like to listen to the "local" radio stations? Then think about this before you step out and spend your hard earned cash at local businesses who knowingly advertise during this fine show:

LIMBAUGH: I got two more stories in the stack today about how black unemployment is through the roof. Black unemployment is terrible. The black frame of mind is terrible, they're depressed, they're down -- Obama's not doing anything for 'em. How is that hoax and change workin' for ya? They're all livid. I mean, they thought there were gonna be an exact 180-degree economic reversal and it's done nothing but get bad for everybody, but they're especially upset about it because they look at him as one of them, and now they feel abandoned. And I'm sure Tiger Woods' choice of females not helping 'em out with their attitudes there either.

For the defenders of the radio stations airing this garbage, and for the defenders of the show itself--who will undoubtedly declare that this statement was taken out of context, and that this was a totally isolated incident, we have some more:

"We are being told that we have to hope [Obama] succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black."

"[I]n Obama's America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering."

"Obama's entire economic program is reparations."

"Obama has disowned his white half ... he's decided he's got to go all in on the black side."

Limbaugh on Gates controversy: "Here you have a black president trying to destroy a white policeman."

More here.

Tis the season.

Little Blue Footballs

2009-12-07T19:15:00.003-05:00

Fair is fair. C'mon guys. You get to regulate the uterus, then we get to regulate your Viagra.

Support Our Teachers/Mercenaries

2009-12-02T19:51:00.004-05:00

Looks like a certain special someone may be looking for a job teaching high school history or economics--maybe even in North Carolina, if our kids are lucky. He's very familiar with the state--he used to be in charge of a 7,000 acre private military training compound here.

He has excellent real-world experience. He's well traveled, straight as an arrow, and is deeply, deeply familiar with how valuable public-private partnerships can be.

Oh, the things he can teach.

Also too, he's a good Christian:

Scahill: Blackwater USA was founded by a man named Eri[k] Prince. And Eri[k] Prince is ... currently in his late 30s, but at the time of founding Blackwater in 1996 he was believed to be the wealthiest person that had ever enlisted in the U.S. Navy SEALs, which is widely considered to be the most elite force within the U.S. military. And Eri[k] Prince came from a very conservative evangelical Christian family in the state of Michigan. His father was a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps businessman who started a very successful auto parts manufacturing business called Prince Manufacturing. And what the company was best known for was inventing the now ubiquitous lighted sun visor. Any time you’re in your car and you pull down that visor and it lights up, that’s Eri[k] Prince’s family that invented that. So this company was very successful throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and really, young Eri[k] Prince watched as his father used his very successful business as a cash-generating machine to fund the rise of the Republican revolution in 1994 that brought Newt Gingrich and the Contract With America to power. To give the kick-start money to Gary Bauer to start his group, the Family Research Council. They were heavy funders of James Dobson and Focus on the Family. And so young Eri[k] Prince grew up in this family that was very strict Calvinist in their religion and then real free-market-gospel followers. And so he saw this sort of model from his father, and that really has been the model that he has picked up and ran with as he’s built up his Blackwater empire.

Wednesday Night Sermon: The Trawling Edition

2009-11-18T19:28:00.001-05:00

Distract, Distract, Distract

2009-11-15T15:03:00.004-05:00

Whenever local pols start to do the stoopid, we tend to dig in a little bit more to try to find out exactly what it might be that these same pols are trying to distract us all from seeing.

These pols seem to know that if they can somehow make people frightened about something, then their constituents will re-direct their growing frustrations onto the scary/evil something the pols just invented.

Works like a charm, right? The last thing we all want to hear about is how poor we've gotten over the last several years.

The cumulative impact of the economic policies pursued by the Bush administration over the course of the last 8 years on North Carolina is staggering. In Wilkes County, according to a report by the North Carolina Justice Center, the poverty rate now stands at 25.2%. Fully ONE QUARTER of the population of Wilkes County now lives in poverty.

That is not a recession, it is a depression. And it's brutal.

What do we hear about this shocking news from the elected ones? Nothing. We hear nothing.

How about the "local" media? Gobluridge.net recently offered up these Pulitzer-worthy Wilkes County articles:

Haunted Wilkes Paranormal Conference Begins Tomorrow

929 Gallons of White Lightning Found in Wilkesboro

Motor Racing Network to Broadcast Live from Wilkes

Man Leasing North Wilkesboro Speedway Arrested

Looks like we can't count on the "local" media to call it straight either. Two peas in a pod.

The C Street Widening Project

2009-11-10T19:46:00.002-05:00

Heath Shuler is a Stupak:

The Oppressed Minority

2009-11-01T14:31:00.003-05:00

As holy activities in the High Country wind down for the day, we thought we'd quiz you. Who said this? We'll tell you at the end of the post.

"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."

Hint: He also said this:

The noose has tightened around the necks of Christians to keep them from speaking out on certain moral issues. And it all was embodied in something called the Hate crimes bill that President Obama said was a major victory for America. I’m not sure if America was the beneficiary. [...] We have voted into office a group of people who are opposed to many of the fundamental Christian beliefs of our nation.

Yes, in this country we are somehow supposed to believe that Christians are "oppressed". An oppressed minority in need of protection, even. The fact that that protection already exists seems not to matter, from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

Under Title VII:

Employers may not treat employees or applicants more or less favorably because of their religious beliefs or practices - except to the extent a religious accommodation is warranted. For example, an employer may not refuse to hire individuals of a certain religion, may not impose stricter promotion requirements for persons of a certain religion, and may not impose more or different work requirements on an employee because of that employee's religious beliefs or practices.
Employees cannot be forced to participate -- or not participate -- in a religious activity as a condition of employment.
Employers must reasonably accommodate employees' sincerely held religious practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious accommodation is any adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to practice his religion. An employer might accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices by allowing: flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers, modification of grooming requirements and other workplace practices, policies and/or procedures.
An employer is not required to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs and practices if doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employers' legitimate business interests. An employer can show undue hardship if accommodating an employee's religious practices requires more than ordinary administrative costs, diminishes efficiency in other jobs, infringes on other employees' job rights or benefits, impairs workplace safety, causes co-workers to carry the accommodated employee's share of potentially hazardous or burdensome work, or if the proposed accommodation conflicts with another law or regulation.
Employers must permit employees to engage in religious expression, unless the religious expression would impose an undue hardship on the employer. Generally, an employer may not place more restrictions on religious expression than on other forms of expression that have a comparable effect on workplace efficiency.
Employers must take steps to prevent religious harassment of their employees. An employer can reduce the chance that employees will engage unlawful religious harassment by implementing an anti-harassment policy and having an effective procedure for reporting, investigating and correcting harassing conduct.

It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on religion or for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under Title VII.

Looks like those evil, "special rights", librul laws protect Christians, too.

The viewpoints and stories of the truly oppressed are NEVER heard. The for-profit media world in which we live considers their viewpoints to be irrelevant, or worse--unprofitable. So, look around the dial in the High Country, and witness the oppression of the poor Christians in action:

There are at least nine radio stations used by the oppressed Christian minority to lament their plight. What a pity. Depending on where you live in the High Country, the oppressed Christians can be heard on up to nineteen radio stations.

Oh, the oppression! It hurts so bad!

The person quoted above? Pat Robertson.

Love LPFM

2009-10-28T19:25:00.001-04:00

You can bet that mainstream corporate radio is hating this:

How will they fight it? More bogus "studies"?

Forced Sterilization: Private Sector Style

2009-10-21T18:22:00.004-04:00

Ah, the private sector. Always right. And oh, so good for our society:

These women are just lazy.

Wednesday Night Sermon

2009-10-14T19:22:00.002-04:00

A Baptist Church near Asheville, N.C., is hosting a "Halloween book burning" to purge the area of "Satan's" works, which include all non-King James versions of the Bible, popular books by many religious authors and even country music.
The website for the Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C., says there are "scriptural bases" for the book burning.

...

The event also seeks to destroy "Satan's music" which includes every genre from country,rap and rock to "soft and easy"...

...

Full story from rawstory.com.

Authoritarian Mindset

2009-10-11T16:49:00.005-04:00

Why does it seem that Americans are so divided these days? Is it OK to ask this question? We think so.

There's a new book out there which examines the role that authoritarianism plays in contributing to the political divisiveness in our country today--as well as something known as the "authoritarian mindset". Very interesting stuff.

Glenn Greenwald had a good interview with one of the authors of the book--Jonathan Weiler of UNC-Chapel Hill. The book is backed up with empirical data, which makes it all the more fascinating.

Listen to the interview here. Glenn's full post here.

The book -- Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics -- examines newly available empirical evidence to contend that America's political culture is more stratified than ever before. It makes the case that higher levels of authoritarian behavior -- such as all-consuming tribalistic loyalties and rage over group blasphemy (i.e., criticism of the group and its leaders from within or without) -- is the primary culprit, particularly (though not exclusively) among right-wing movements.

...
Weiler and Hetherington's analysis builds on and, in many important respects, departs from the excellent books on the same topic by John Dean (which I wrote about here) and Canadian Psychology Professor Bob Altemeyer (which I wrote about many times, including here). What makes this book genuinely impressive is that it remains grounded at all times in hard empirical evidence while simultaneously advancing provocative arguments about America's political conflicts...

Scary

2009-10-08T20:25:00.000-04:00

Know Your Market

2009-10-06T21:30:00.004-04:00

The DNHC Team is receiving unconfirmed reports that there may be a major state university located in the mountains of western North Carolina...and that this university (still unconfirmed) may be situated in Watauga County...

What do large universities do for local economies? Well, they employ lots of people. They tend to be fairly stable places to work. They are for the most part relatively immune to the ups and downs of the economic cycle...at least so far. Lots of people get to learn about the world they live in--and about other people they may not be familiar with. When students graduate, many of them want to hang around, especially in a beautiful place like Boone. And these are all good things.

We're lucky to have a relatively stable economy in Boone. In this sense, Boone is somewhat like Chapel Hill. Although Chapel Hill is bigger, it too has an economy dominated by a large, relatively stable state university. But guess what else? Boone and Chapel Hill also have similar politics, i.e. a substantial number of progressives live in each community (both students and non-students), and the progressive segment of the population in each community is not subject to any appreciable variation. Look around the state, and you will see that the blue counties usually have universities located within their borders.

The focus of this blog is on local media issues, so lets get to it. It's no secret that radio advertising revenues are in the tank, generally. But one community's local radio station is doing very well: WCHL-AM, Chapel Hill. Why?

1) A large, relatively stable state university--with lots of jobs.

2) Local/syndicated progressive programming (Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz) which matches local listener preferences; leading to

3) Advertising that works for the customer, and generates revenue for the station.

But don't believe us, listen to the station's owner:

The station has benefited during the downturn from being a "local medium in a prosperous town," Heavner said. "Local advertisers find that their ads on WCHL continue to work."

All of this must lead to the obvious question: why does High Country Radio not understand their own market demographics--especially when their market (Boone) is fortunate enough to have a large state university located there? And a large progressive population to boot?

Could it be that the current owners of High Country Radio--Curtis Media--also once owned WCHL, but couldn't seem to figure out how to make that station work?

Just sayin'.

Does WXIT Hate America?

2009-10-03T17:22:00.003-04:00

That gleeful cheer you heard around the High Country yesterday--after it was announced that the U.S. would not be hosting the Olympics--was only made louder by WXIT's syndicated, all right-wing programming lineup.

By carrying this type of programming (listen to the audio link here), can it also be said that WXIT is also cheering for the failure of America? Why does conservative talk radio hate America?

For Emergency Use Only!

2009-09-22T20:11:00.002-04:00

Click the play arrow to induce vomiting:

Disgraced former Speaker of the House Tom Delay (R-Indicted) literally shakes his booty--alot--just for you. Wonder if he'll get to show off his new moves while doing a little time?

Fakery: Stage Right

2009-09-18T20:27:00.005-04:00

Watch as the Fox News producer (the woman in the green shirt) stage-manages the allegedly spontaneous 9/12 protesters in D.C.--coincidentally just in time for a live stand up with Griff Jenkins of Fox.

Gives a whole new meaning to "making" the news.

But you're probably OK with being propagandized, yes? Watch the video by clicking on "propagandized".

He Is Heavy...He's Our Birther

2009-09-15T19:13:00.003-04:00

Seems like every time we're in an airport, we can't get away from this guy. Yes, CNN's Lou Dobbs--the man who used to bill himself as "Mr. Independent"--has taken a hard turn to the right. He hangs out with known hate groups, demonizes minorities, and lends credence to whacked-out conspiracy theories.

But now, the pushback:

For years, Lou Dobbs has been one of the most dangerous hosts on cable news. He benefits enormously from the legitimacy of the CNN brand, which provides him with an unparalleled platform from which to mainstream the hate speech and racially charged conspiracy theories normally relegated to Fox News and other conservative news outlets
...
If CNN won't drop Dobbs, it's time that his advertisers did. It's time to do more than simply highlight the damage Dobbs does and the threat he poses. We must demand accountability from the advertisers who, by their purchase of airtime on his shows, actively support his hate speech.

Today, 11 organizations, including America's Voice, National Council of La Raza, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and many others, joined together to launch the Drop Dobbs campaign and DropDobbs.com. The effort aims to let companies know that their continued financial support of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight makes them complicit in the hate speech and wild conspiracy theories that he promotes.
...

62 companies have already dropped Glenn Beck. Time for round two.

We're Number 37...

2009-09-14T18:44:00.002-04:00

...and we wanna keep it that way! Wait until you see who number 1 is...oh noes!!

Incitement

2009-09-10T16:03:00.003-04:00

Maybe Curtis/Foothills/High Country Media will add this guy to their all-right wing programming line up. Listen as Mr. Quinn of Clear Channel's "The War Room With Quinn and Rose" offers up this dose of incitement to violence, from mediamatters.org:

Respectful Conservatives In Action: UPDATED

2009-09-09T21:26:00.004-04:00

During President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress tonight regarding health care reform, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) yelled out "lie" when the President said his health care bill would not mandate coverage for illegal immigrants.

Maybe this is how they teach their kids to be respectful when they keep them home from school.

You stay klassy, Joe.

Update via rawstory.com. Purely coincidental, no doubt:

Whether because of his outspokenness or in spite of it, Wilson is a major recipient of contributions from the health care industry.

In fact, over his entire congressional career, health professionals represent Wilson’s top industry contributors, donating a total of $244,196 to his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics OpenSecrets.org database. He received another $86,150 from pharmaceutical companies, $73,050 from insurance companies and $68,000 from hospitals and nursing homes.

Among Wilson’s top contributors are the American Hospital Association, a lobby group that represents the interests of hospitals and health networks, and the American Medical Association, which represents physicians.

Right Wing Radio, You Have A Call

2009-09-09T21:16:00.003-04:00

Our favorite part of the speech:

...
But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than improve it. I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now.

Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow. More families will go bankrupt. More businesses will close. More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it most. And more will die as a result. We know these things to be true.
...

High Country Mom Makes CNN

2009-09-08T18:41:00.005-04:00

High Country mom interviewed by CNN about the local reaction to Obama's speech:

For the ongoing wingnuttery, go here.

Dare To Be Dumb

2009-09-04T18:29:00.008-04:00

Let's hear it for Dare County, North Carolina! Dare County schools, to be specific. It seems that the Dare County school system is caving in to the latest Republican talking points about the terrible speech President Obama is about to unleash on the county's youth.

Why, Obama is going to talk to the kids about what used to be considered core conservative values: working hard, studying hard, and staying in school. But no, the Republican party seems to have local parents in a tizzy about these core, formerly conservative values--parents are demanding that their kids be able to opt-out of the speech:

In North Carolina, the Dare County School Board is taking similar measures. Another concerned parent, who wishes to remain anonymous, contacted Raw Story about a newsletter item that was sent out and posted on the board’s web site:

According to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, on Tuesday, September 8, at 12 noon, President Barack Obama will deliver a national address to encourage students to set high academic goals and to do their best to succeed in school.

Any parent who wishes for his/her children not to participate may “opt out” by contacting the school(s) where the children are enrolled. Principals will be contacting parents by various means, such as with forms, electronic mail, websites, or via an announcement on the educational television station. If parents have any questions, they should call the school(s) where the children attend.

The Dare County School Board did not return calls for comment.

Because to a conservative, what could possibly be scarier than working hard, studying hard, and staying in school?

Conservatives would much rather have presidents come and teach their kids about how to cope with the worst attack ever to occur on U.S. soil--by sitting around and reading "The Pet Goat" while Americans burned alive in the World Trade Center towers. Like this:

Or maybe these same conservatives would be made more comfortable by having the "Great Communicator" stop by to chat up the importance of deregulation and tax cuts for the rich. Much, much better.

On November 14, 1988, Reagan addressed and took questions from students from four area middle schools in the Old Executive Office Building. According to press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, the speech was broadcast live and rebroadcast by C-Span, and Instructional Television Network fed the program “t o schools nationwide on three different days.” Much of Reagan’s speech that day covered the American “vision of self-government” and the need “to keep faith with the unfinished vision of the greatness and wonder of America” but in the middle of the speech, the president went off on a tangent about the importance of low taxes...

Work hard, study hard, stay in school. Wow--how radical.

Call It What It Is

2009-09-02T19:05:00.001-04:00

Author/columnist Dan Savage:

“I reallly do think that the Michele Bachmanns of this world and the Glenn Becks of this world are actively and consciously — or subconsciously — trying to get — I’m just going to say it — trying to get the president killed,” Savage stated angrily. “That’s why they’re setting this up as kill-or-be-killed arguments. ‘He’s going to kill your grandma.’”

“Somebody’s got to put the brakes on it, and unfortunately in the Republican Party, there are no adults left in the room,” continued Savage. “There are only the Michele Bachmanns and the Glenn Becks and the Rush Limbaughs running the show.”

More here.

In Privatization We Trust

2009-09-01T17:42:00.002-04:00

Hey, look here! Youthful, privatization-obsessed conservatives/libertarians are taking things to the next level! Watch 'em go: