JonnyMac: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint. 'Ello, Miss?So see? Sunday at 5pm on KDKA!
Dayvoe: What do you mean "miss"?
JonnyMac: (pause) I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!
Dayvoe: We're closin' for lunch.
OMFG!!!!! There are state trucks driving around the city today with 30ft signs that say SHOW ID!!!! This is unbelievable!!!! Anyone know what numbers would be best to contact about this...if you dont know we DO NOT NEED to show ID on the 6thUnfortunately, he was going in the opposite direction, so no photograph was taken.
Reports from supporters/ voting rights advocates about the new "(small text) If you have it, (big text) Show it" bus ad campaign were the tipping point before we filed the latest complaint w/ Judge Simpson about the state misinforming voters.On top of that, what an incredible waste of state resources!
Nearly a month after a Pennsylvania court suspended the law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls this November, reports of misinformation on the voter ID law are still rolling in.And the text:
The latest misleading claim comes from CBS Pittburgh radio station KDKA, which is running an ad claiming that voters will need photo identification to go to the polls on November 6th, despite the fact that while voters may be asked to show ID, it is not required to vote. The ad aired on October 26, around 7:30 am immediately after a weather report for the Pittsburgh area.
NARRATOR: When you need to vote–Please please PLEASE tell me this isn't true. Please tell me this is was a simple mistake. Please tell me that you've already announced and apologized on the air for misleading your audience.
WOMAN: The voter ID law was just recently signed by the governor.
NARRATOR: You need to know –
WOMAN: You’re not going to be allowed to vote unless you present an acceptable photo identification. Get to a PennDOT licensing center and get a photo ID at the drivers’ license center.
NARRATOR: It’s your right, it’s your duty, it’s your choice –
WOMAN: And you will need an acceptable ID in order for you to vote.
NARRATOR: Decision 2012. KDKA. [Emphasis added.]
According to Lil Mayor Luke, the fact that his four city police bodyguards are "on pace to earn $200,000 in overtime for the past two years" is "not a story."
So, according to Ravenstahl:
Even though the mayor has threatened the city with police layoffs, the $200,000 in overtime pay "is not a story."Hat Tip to Ginny @ That's Church for picking up on the story which most missed when it was broadcast on the eve of Thanksgiving and thanks to KDKA for their original report!
Despite stopping the highly successful sweeps on the South Side after only four weeks with no reason given, the $200,000 in overtime pay "is not a story."
And, while it's completely inexplicable that there could be any overtime when his bodyguards work in shifts, the $200,000 in overtime pay "is not a story."
Nice to meet you, Jason! Thanks for reading us. :-) Here's a link to part three of Rich Lord's "Network" investigation for Carolyn. Thanks to Ginny for her shout-out to 2pj (good to finally meet you).
"We don't believe we can get a conviction."So does that mean that if only one police officer had brutalized Miles that they'd be more likely to pursue charges? By that logic, if Miles had been attacked by five officers, they'd be handing out medals to them.
[snip]
"It's three against one..."
Sources close to the investigation tell the KDKA Investigators if the Justice Department will not pursue charges, the district attorney's office won't either -- and the criminal investigation will soon be closed.A reminder that this is what Miles looked like after the attack:
.....
Unfortunately, my camera is slowly dying and it took forever to "warm up" so no photos of City Paper talk show host Lynn Cullen or KDKA's Jon Delano. But, you can see Lynn interviewed in the link above.
As Lynn said on her show yesterday, she wanted to find some ray of light and so hoped that the BP Oil mega clusterfuck (my phrase, not hers) could be a "teachable moment." She spoke about the co-dependent relationship that we have with oil and how we've made a deal with the devil. She also mentioned an article in this week's City Paper about the dangers of drilling in the Marcellus Shale fields (of which we were all standing above).
It was raining cats and dogs leading up to the rally and for the first ten or fifteen minutes, so kudos to all those who braved the weather.
Have we become so inured to all the violent imagery and talk being directed towards Democrats that we can accept seeing a cartoon depiction of the Speaker of the House being hit multiple times with laser-like beams and writhing in pain in a TV ad and simply shrug it off?
The commercial is by a group called Right Change (Pittsburgh City Paper's Chris Potter has background on them here) and it's part of an $83,000 ad buy in the Pittsburgh and Johnstown media markets.
Titled "The Attack of the 50-Foot Pelosi," it's pro Republican Tim Burns in the special election race for the late US Rep. John Murtha's seat. According to Right Change, "The ad uses new technology for political ads with humor and cutting-edge animation."
I'm so glad that "new technology" was used to depict torturing (possibly to death) an elected official. I'm guessing that "humor" is to be found because it's an animated piece that has a (straw man) monster.
Of course there's nothing really new in describing a strong woman as a "monster." It's actually pretty old hat even by South Park standards (Barbra Streisand was made into a mechanical Godzilla-like monster on the show over a decade ago).
I'm guessing that it was deemed perfectly acceptable to depict Nancy Pelosi WRITHING AND SCREAMING IN PAIN because she is a "monster" from San Francisco.
Ha ha!
But I don't accept that.
What's next?
A cartoon Pelosi being shot with cartoon bullets spilling cartoon blood?
Would that be alright?
Is it somehow more acceptable to try to kill the Speaker of the House with magical Tim Burns buttons than with guns?
Can you imagine the uproar that would be had over an ad that had similarly depicted Sarah Palin (or even George Bush or Dick Cheney)?
Now here's where I fully admit that I have not personally seen this ad on the air and that I only heard about it because my sister, Gina, saw it aired multiple times on KDKA TV and she was floored by it and kept telling me to check it out.
I called KDKA today hoping to ask someone there what standards they had for the ads they run. (Obviously they have some standards. They wouldn't run ads that, say, contain nudity or profanity. )
Someone at the station had to view the ad and approve it. (I once knew a woman who worked for NBC whose sole job was to make sure that their ads didn't conflict with their network programming content -- no diet product ads after a story on famine, for example.)
I was eventually directed to a woman who I assume is in their advertising department who said that I could not quote her and who hung up on me. Nice! (Yes, I gave my full name and identified myself as a blogger.) She seemed to think that my beef should be solely with the ad agency and the account and not the station.
Well, I've been blogging for nearly six years now and in all that time and in all my Photoshops I have managed to somehow never depict an elected official -- or anyone else for that matter -- being lasered and screaming in pain, and yet a television station has no problems broadcasting this on the public airwaves.
If you have a problem with this -- if you haven't been numbed to the outrageousness of it -- maybe you might want to consider calling KDKA and telling them that it is not acceptable to torture any politician -- even a cartoon one -- in a television commercial.
Their switchboard number is: 412-575-2200 (It rings for a very long time).
UPDATED: Heard it (was out of the room) on WTAE TV (local ABC affiliate) this morning: Main desk at 412-242-4300, Email hereFinally, here's the full ad in all its gory:
Caught part of it on WPXI TV (local NBC affiliate) last night: Phone: 412-237-1100
Tim Tebow is taking his star power to sport’s biggest stage.Now, I have no problem with CBS airing this ad in and of itself. (Although the ad, of course, fails to note while celebrating the choice Pam Tebow made, that they want to deny any other woman from having a choice to follow their own doctor's medical advice.)
The former Florida quarterback and his mother will appear in a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl next month. The Christian group Focus on the Family says the Tebows will share a personal story centering on the theme “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.”
The group isn’t releasing details, but the commercial is likely to be an anti-abortion message chronicling Pam Tebow’s 1987 pregnancy. After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child and gave birth to Tim.
In the letter from the CBS official to the United Church of Christ, the network said it refuses advertising that "touches on and/or takes a position on one side of a current controversial issue of public importance."What was the controversial issue in that ad?
So what to do? One thing you can do to weigh in locally is call the local CBS affiliate ... yes, that would be KDKA and let them know if you think CBS should be carrying such a controversial ad, especially given their history with UCC. The number for KDKA is +1-412-575-2288. You can weigh in via email here.
Weigh in with CBS here.
You can also join a national petitions at Change.Org here.
The Facebook page is here.
One point to keep in mind is there is no move from the UCC to run their ads (4 years later). It is simply a point of reference to hold CBS accountable for consistent decisions with regard to advertising decisions, especially those that promote a social issue agenda. So the message is clear -- don't run the Focus on the Family ad.
Longtime KDKA-AM radio talk host Fred Honsberger died this morning. He was 58.It probably goes without saying that Fred and I had real philosophical differences. Back when he had his TV show Honsberger Live I was a frequent caller and we argued pretty much all the major issues of the day. And, that goes to one thing that I highly respected about Fred: he wasn't afraid to hold up his opinions to criticism. I know that I was bumped up in the caller queue so that we could go at it. He wasn't an O'Reilly who cut people off when they were making real points (though he didn't suffer fools gladly). Fred relished the challenge. He was also extremely gracious when I met him in person.
The station reported that Mr. Honsberger died at home following a lengthy battle with medical issues.
Marty Griffin: Your political advisories, here's what they're going to say tomorrow. The mayor waited until after the election to do this. This thing's been falling apart for two years.
Luke Ravenstahl: Well, it hasn't been falling apart for two years. But we did wait. Uh, Erin and I, we've worked through this for, uh, almost a year now. Uh, we decided to wait, uh, because of those political reasons. We didn't want to mix this personal issue into the midst of a political campaign. We wanted to handle it on our terms. Uh, that was something that both her and I agreed to. Uh, and our political adversaries are going to say what they're going to say. Uh, you know, they'll spread rumors as they always have. Uh, you know, they'll throw stones as they always have. Uh, and we've dealt with that and we'll continue to deal with that. It does nobody any good. Um, but that's the nature of being the mayor and being in such a high profile position and both Erin and I have accepted that.
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