Carnival Of The Liberals, #74

This edition of the Carnival of The Liberals was insane ~ not just because our times and politics are Crazy with a capital 'C' but because I had nearly 70 fabulous entries. Seriously.

They were so good I wish I could have just pasted 'em all in here, but rules being rules for a reason (like will you read them all?) I trimmed as best I could...

You may want to begin with a reality check on your own political views... In The Biology of Politics: Is It For Real? GrrlScientist (of Living the Scientific Life) poses a mind-blowing question: Do we have free will or are we "programmed" by our genes to be "defensive" in our political views?

Laugh yer ass off (then when the reality hits you, toss yer cookies) with Ron Britton's Rorschach Test posted at Bay of Fundie.

Greta Christina's The Obligatory Sarah Palin Column, or, Why I Don’t Care About A Pregnant 17 Year Old (posted at The Blowfish Blog) is already an Internet classic. Read it because years from now people will remember where they were when they read it ~ and ask you where you were. Don't look like a loser.

In It's time to pay your bar tab, sir..., The Whited Sepulchre asks a question oft upon my lips, "Why aren't people rioting in the streets?" Bonus points for the image (and a beer or whatnot if he'll get me one of those t-shirts!)

In Congratulations, Did You Pray Today?, Menstrual Poetry recounts her visit to the Bloomsburg Fair:

I was walking merrily along, minding my own business, trying to catch up with the rest of my family that had obviously grown tired of my collecting process by then, when all of a sudden I hear a woman’s voice squeal with delight “I see you have a rosary! Congratulations, did you pray today?” I, of course, stop and look around because by then my head has been down for far too long trying to organize everything I was carrying and who knows where this woman came from. So I look up from my loot and I am greeted with this middle-aged woman’s face, staring at me with a polite smile on her face and I look up a little more and see little baby fetuses among a table in the biggest pro-life tent I have ever seen in my life.

Is it enough to make you consider being an atheist? Then check out Daylight Atheism's A Voice in the Crowd for a "novel" approach to the movement.

Just who is actually harmed by the Administration's public lands funding cuts? The Birdist, aka Nicholas Lund, tells you in Arizona Park Fees Rise.

Two sides of the same coin:

Jeffrey Stingerstein's When Are People Going Realize that Gay Marriage IS a Civil Rights Battle? posted at Disillusioned Words

and

The Ridger's Heart. Cockles. Warmed. posted at The Greenbelt.

Helene Zemel exposes how health insurance companies are exploiting a loophole in HIPAA and using prescription use databases to exclude people from health insurance in Big Brother Is Watching Your Health Care at Health Plans Plus.

These guys swear in their posts and I like that; politics without passion is far too often a meaningless pile of crap and this stuff should make us all foul-mouthed. But you've been warned:

Montag's The Middle Class of Whatever posted at Stump Lane

and

Jason Buckley's Get Your Union Facts Straight posted at Washington Interns Gone Bad.

Can Idiot/Savant get an "Amen!" for None of their damn business at No Right Turn? I'll say it. "Amen!"

According to yesterday's Herald, an Auckland primary school is concerned that one of their teachers is moonlighting as a prostitute. They shouldn't be. Or rather, if it doesn't affect her work output or pose a conflict of interest (and there's no suggestion of either), then it is simply none of their damn business. Quite apart from the fact that prostitution is not a crime anymore, what goes on in the privacy of people's bedrooms between consenting adults is their own concern, and absolutely no business of their employer.

Since I can barely keep up with my local issues and (I hope) the majority of national issues, these bits from other places were, um, horrific to read.

Ames presents In Colorado, Where an Unconstitutional Constitution is Par for the Course, Life May Soon Begin at Conception posted at Submitted to a Candid World,

Lose your house, lose your vote posted at archy, and

Denise Dennis: Right-Wing Terror Film Delivered To Swing-State NY Times Readers posted at HuffingtonPost.com.

Kudos for scaring me, kids.

Because Free Speech matters, this is the "last but certainly not least!" post: Yoo at at Stochastic Scribbles presents A downward trend for free speech.

That reminds me...

You are invited to attend XXBN's Election Night Coverage.

When: November 4th, from 10 p.m. to Midnight (Eastern)

Where: On XXBN ~ listen live, talk in the chat room, & even be on-air!

Why: There's this little thing called a presidential election, as well as lots of local elections going on that night and we'll be bringing you the news, results and (fingers-crossed!) the laughs and sighs of relief. (If not we'll be crying, ranting, barfing... possibly renting U-Hauls to cross a border...)

Please join us ~ no need to RSVP, just be there. You can even join the show by calling in at 646.200.3136.

The next Carnival of The Liberals will be October 8, 2008, at Clashing Culture; why not submit something?

Sex, Lies & Media Ownership

For those who still can't wrap their minds around the fact that gender & race are still barriers...

In Calling All Women and Minority Media Owners (But Not Too Loudly), Kristal Brent Zook covers the Access to Capital Conference where Democrats had FCC reform in mind ~ and "a desire to highlight ongoing federal barriers to accessing capital and media licenses."

She writes:

Today it’s virtually impossible for an individual woman to buy a full power television station, said [Barbara] Lawrence. The sentiment was echoed by others. Unless one inherits a station, the only real possibilities are in low-power television, and even then, mostly in small and medium sized markets.

“It takes tens of billions of dollars to own a station,” said Lawrence. “There are FCC issues, legal issues, engineering issues, financial issues. It takes a lifetime of work.”

Diane Sutton of ShootingStar Broadcasting said that she was able to become an owner because she had two things, information and access. Sutton, who now does training for potential media owners, says that it’s important to know “how to write a business plan, how to secure equity, and how to get to know the brokers and bankers before you need the money.”

She also spoke about the virtues of the tax certificate, a federal policy incentive that was repealed in 1995 despite the fact that it increased minority ownership by fivefold during its 17 years of existence. Part of a larger Minority Ownership Policy instituted by an innovative young FCC attorney, Frank Washington, it rewarded radio or TV station owners by allowing them to defer capital gains tax if they sold stations to minority members.

Not only should the tax certificate have been preserved, argued Diane Sutton, but it should have also been expanded to include women “which, surprisingly, it did not.”

This explains so too much.