Listen to this episode:
Podcast: Play in new window
Some idiot on twitter just took issue with my use of the term "assault weapons". The neanderthal in question then excoriated me for blocking its feed rather than "learning" from it. Seriously.
Call it a rifle, machine gun or weapon of mass destruction, I don't really care. We're not talking semantics. We're talking life or death. And for 12 people in Aurora, CO on Friday just after midnight, it was death at the hands - and weapons - of a madman.
As the song says,
- Maybe it's the movies, maybe it's the books
- Maybe it's the bullets, maybe it's the real crooks
- Maybe it's the drugs, maybe it's the parents
- Maybe it's the colors everybody's wearin
- Maybe it's the President, maybe it's the last one
- Maybe it's the one before that, what he done
- Maybe it's the high schools, maybe it's the teachers
- Maybe it's the tattooed children in the bleachers
- Maybe it's the Bible, maybe it's the lack
- Maybe it's the music, maybe it's the crack
- Maybe it's the hairdos, maybe it's the TV
- Maybe it's the cigarettes, maybe it's the family
- Maybe it's the fast food, maybe it's the news
- Maybe it's divorce, maybe it's abuse
- Maybe it's the lawyers, maybe it's the prisons
- Maybe it's the Senators, maybe it's the system
- Maybe it's the fathers, maybe it's the sons
- Maybe it's the sisters, maybe it's the moms
- Maybe it's the radio, maybe it's road rage
- Maybe El Nino, or UV rays
- Maybe it's the army, maybe it's the liquor
- Maybe it's the papers, maybe the militia
- Maybe it's the athletes, maybe it's the ads
- Maybe it's the sports fans, maybe it's a fad
- Maybe it's the magazines, maybe it's the internet
- Maybe it's the lottery, maybe it's the immigrants
- Maybe it's taxes, big business
- Maybe it's the KKK and the skinheads
- Maybe it's the communists, maybe it's the Catholics
- Maybe it's the hippies, maybe it's the addicts
- Maybe it's the art, maybe it's the sex
- Maybe it's the homeless, maybe it's the banks
- Maybe it's the clearcut, maybe it's the ozone
- Maybe it's the chemicals, maybe it's the car phones
- Maybe it's the fertilizer, maybe it's the nose rings
- Maybe it's the end, but I know one thing.
... Whatever the cause,
if it were up to me, I'd take away the guns.
( © 1997 Cheryl Wheeler "If It Were Up To Me")
Instead of talking about how to put the toothpaste back in the tubes, the wingnuts on twitter just want to scream that we( who worry about the proliferation of these weapons on the streets and the ease in which they're obtained by society's sickest) want to take away their freedom! Some sick fuck on twitter said that people like me are trying to "strip away" her "freedoms". What about the freedom of these 12 people to live?
Should we protect the freedom of an insane gun toting madman to shoot and kill innocent people? What about the freedom of 6-year old Veronica Moser-Sullivan to have a 7th birthday? Does her "freedom" not matter?
What about the other 11 people who are now dead? What about their freedoms?
Alex Sullivan, 27
-
Before heading for the theater, Sullivan tweeted that this would be "the best birthday ever." The next big date on his calendar would be Sunday, his first wedding anniversary.
Saturday, his widow, Cassie, was too distraught to speak after a long night of the family searching, hoping to find him alive in a hospital.
A man who identified himself only as Cassie's cousin said Alex Sullivan had recently given the cousin's daughter a Batgirl T-shirt.
Marianne Laborde, 26, who lived across the alley from the Sullivan's row house, called him "the biggest softie ever."
Laborde met him the day she and her husband moved in. The newcomers were struggling unsuccessfully with a refrigerator when a broad-shouldered, 6-foot-4 stranger appeared "in the blink if an eye," she says. "He didn't say anything, he just took care of the refrigerator all by himself."
It was the beginning of a lasting friendship, Laborde says. She watched her neighbors' dog when they got married, and the couples enjoyed barbecues together.
Handout via KUSA
Jessica Ghawi's death was a complete shock, her brother said.
Holding back tears, Laborde said she still hadn't processed what happened. "I've been thinking about him a lot; I just haven't formed what to say."
Handout via KUSA
Alex Sullivan died on his 27th birthday.
Joe Loewenguth, Sullivan's uncle, called his nephew "a very, very good young man. He always had a smile, always made you laugh. He had a little bit of comic in him. Witty, smart. He was loving, had a big heart."
Micayla Medek, 23
Medek called herself on her Facebook page "a simple independent girl who's just trying to get her life together while still having fun."
According to the New York Daily News, she was student at Community College of Aurora and worked at a Subway store.
Saturday, the street where she lived was blocked by a semicircle of large SUVs and pickup trucks. One man, a friend of the family who declined to give his name, stood in front, turning reporters away.
The man struggled to maintain his composure as he said his daughters and the girls in Medek's family had grown up playing together.
Moments later, friends of the family stopped by, hugged and made small talk in the street.
On Friday, Anita Busch, Medek's father's cousin, said the family had waited in agony for news. Now, they were heartbroken. Yet, Busch said, "I hope this evil act … doesn't shake people's faith in God."
Jessica Ghawi, 24
A rising sportscaster and enthusiastic blogger, Ghawi narrowly missed a shooting scene where two died at the Eaton Center Mall in Toronto earlier this summer. Ghawi blogged about how the experience made her freshly aware of the fragility of life.
"I was reminded that we don't know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath," she wrote.
Her death at the theater has left the family in "complete and utter shock," her brother, Jordan Ghawi, told KUSA.
According to the Daily News, her boyfriend, minor league hockey player Jay Meloff, posted on Twitter: "Never wanted to fall asleep because it meant missing time with you."
And broadcast colleagues say they lost a future star.
"She was the person we strived to be," said Mike Lavender on MSNBC on Saturday. When he worked with her at the NCAA women's basketball Final Four in Denver this year, he found her to be "sweet and amazing, smart. And never once did I ever see her put her head in the sand or get depressed about anything. … She was on her way. We were about to be wowed by a light in the sports media world," Lavender said.
Peter Burns, a radio sports show host with Mile High Sports Radio in Denver, where Ghawi recently interned, said, "She was always kind of a sponge as far as how she could be an even better journalist and sports broadcaster."
Ghawi moved to Denver from Texas about a year ago and friends and colleagues described her as outgoing, smart and witty.
Former colleague Mike Taylor, a sports host at KTKR-AM in San Antonio, described how she reluctantly changed her name for her career, taking the name "Redfield" as a play on her red hair because it was easier to say than her given name.
Her last, happy tweet, in all capital letters: "THE MOVIE DOESN'T START FOR 20 MINUTES."
Navy Petty Officer John Larimer, 27
Four sailors from the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. Tenth Fleet at Buckley Air Force Base went to the Dark Night Rises. One, Larimer, never came home. A Navy notification team told his family at the next midnight that he never would.
"I am incredibly saddened by the loss of Petty Officer John Larimer — he was an outstanding shipmate," said Cmdr. Jeffrey Jakuboski, Larimer's commanding officer, according to the New York Daily News. "A valued member of our Navy team, he will be missed by all who knew him."
At Crystal Lake South High School in a suburb of Chicago, where Larimer graduated in 2003, English teacher and theater director Ben Stoner told the Daily Herald, "He was a unique individual with a really strong idea of right and wrong."
Rebecca Wingo, 32
Wingo was a mother of two and a Community College of Aurora student pursuing an associate in arts degree, according to the Denver Post.
When the gunman burst in to the theater, throwing gas canisters and then opening fire, Marcus Weaver, sitting in the fifth row, fell to the floor, shielding two women, including his friend Wingo. Only two survived.
Weaver told TV station WGNT they endured "round after round. It was insane. People screaming, bullets flying. I pulled her out but she was unconscious. I was shot in the arm and have fragments in my shoulder. I'm thankful to be alive. Please pray for Rebecca Wingo and all the wounded. I can't believe this."
Her Facebook page says she is originally from Quinlan, Texas, and graduated from W.H. Ford High School in 1997. She also served in the Air Force.
The Denver paper said Wingo's father, Steve Hernandez, posted to Facebook:
"I lost my daughter yesterday to a mad man. My grief right now is inconsolable, I hear she died instantly, without pain, however the pain is unbearable. … Rest in peace my baby!"
Matthew McQuinn, 27
When the shooting began in the movie theater, Matthew McQuinn hurled himself over his girlfriend, Samantha Yowler. She lived, shot in the leg, Yowler's grandmother Elsie Windle told the Dayton Daily News. He did not.
McQuinn graduated from Vandalia-Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio, in 2004, where he participated in the Occupational World Experience program. "I learned how to hold a job," he wrote in his 2004 senior yearbook.
He met Yowler when they both worked at the Springfield Target store.
McQuinn and Yowler transferred to work at a Denver Target last November. They were at the midnight movie with her brother, Nick Yowler. It was Nick who called their mother, Ann Massie, at 3:30 a.m. to tell his family about the shooting.
Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6
Ashley Moser, who was hospitalized in critical condition with bullets in her abdomen and her throat, could only say one thing Saturday: Where was her little girl?
Ashley's aunt, Annie Dalton, told the Associated Press no one could bear to tell her that Veronica was dead.
This was a little girl, as "excited about life as she could be," said the mournful Dalton. The plan for the little girl's summer: Swimming lessons set to start on Tuesday.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Jesse Childress, 29
An Air Force statement released Saturday said reservist Childress, from Thornton, Colo., was a cybersystems operator on active duty orders with the 310th Forces Support Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base.
Alexander Boik, 17
Boik was at the movies with his girlfriend, Lasamoa Cross, when he was killed. His family posted a tribute online:
AJ Boik was a wonderful, handsome and loving eighteen year old young man with a warm and loving heart. He graduated from Gateway High School this year, where he had many friends.
He enjoyed his friends and family and always brought a smile and quick wit to every occasion. He was a talented young man who enjoyed baseball, making pottery and music. He was accepted at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design where he planned on attending classes in the fall. After completing college his dream was to become an art teacher and open his own studio. He was dating a beautiful young lady who was with him at the time and we are blessed that she survived this incident.
We want to try and focus on the beautiful lives that were ended and not the evil that is responsible. This is a time for us to remember our loved ones and cherish the memories we have of them.
Boik's page filled rapidly with memorials from friends to his sweetness and humor. The teenager listed his favorite activities, beyond baseball, as lacrosse, skateboarding, break dancing and partying.
His summer job was working as a distributor for OrganoGold, an organic coffee company.
Alexander Teves, 24
According to the New YorkDaily News, he recently graduated from the University of Denver and was planning to start graduate school for physical therapy. His aunt, Barbara Slivinske, told the newspaper, "He was a wonderful person. He didn't have a mean bone in his body. He was loved by everyone. He was a lot of fun, he had a great sense of humor, and he was very intelligent. He loved everybody and everybody loved him."
And woman named Caitlin, who wrote on Twitter: "Alex Teves was one of the best men I ever knew. The world isn't as good a place without him/ Alex Teves was an Arizona basketball fan, loved Spider-Man, was an amazing therapist, and died a hero. … He could make us all laugh with his Gollum impression. I'll never forget that."
Jonathan Blunk, 26
Jansen Young told the Today Show she survived the shooting after her boyfriend, Jonathan T. Blunk, a Navy veteran and father of two, shielded her from the bullets by lying on top of her.
"Jon just took a bullet for me," she said.
Blunk always wanted to be a hero, his estranged wife, Chantel Blunk, of Reno, Nev., toldNBC News.
"He always talked about if he were going to die, he wanted to die a hero," Chantel Blunk said.
The couple had met at Reno's Procter Hug High School in 2004 before he enlisted in the Navy, serving out of San Diego aboard the USS Nimitz. They were married in 2007 and their children are a girl, 4, and a boy, 2.
He left the service in 2009 and after separating from his wife moved to Colorado, where he worked at a hardware store.
Gordon Cowdon, 51
Neighbors recalled Gordon Cowdon, 51, and the oldest person to be killed in the shooting, as a divorced single dad who loved to spend time with his children.
"He was a family guy, always with his kids, always walking around the neighborhood," said Ismael Botello, 26, who lives next door.
Botello said Cowdon would walk with his daughter, who'd walk barefoot, and he'd always wave or shout a greeting.
Cowdon's three daughters and one son are in their late teens and early twenties. He hired a tutor to home school the girls and his son was studying at the Merchant Marine Academy in New York, said another neighbor, Mike Paszel, 61.
Paszel said Cowdon, a property appraiser, worked mostly from his home office. He worked long hours, but he also had time to ski in the Rockies nearby, to bird hunt in Brazil, and to play an occasional game of touch football with the kids, Paszel said.
Cowdon was not very mechanically inclined, so Paszel would help him with odd jobs, such as fixing the fence and installing a new dishwasher, Paszel said. Now, looking at the empty driveway next door, he feels the loss.
Cowdon's sister and children moved all the vehicles Saturday, he said.
"It's surreal," he said. "Everything is gone. Him, the girls, the cars. All gone."
I guess, according to the "2nd Amendment defenders" theirs don't matter so much, as long as the crazies can keep their guns....
Today on the show, I spoke with Blue America's latest endorsee - Nate Shinagawa, running for Congress from NY-23. He'll be available for your questions tomorrow, 2pm ET, in a Blue America chat at Crooks and Liars.
I checked in with some old friends to talk about something very new and exciting! My old radio pal Mimi Chen and her brilliant husband Leslie Spring are behind the most exciting technology I've seen outside of the movies.. SILVIA Artificial Intelligence... Find out more on their site at Cognitive Code.
And finally, it's Monday. That means Nicole Belle of Crooks & Liars and Fools on the Hill...
Obviously the senseless tragedy in Aurora sucked most of the oxygen in the room, making it difficult for other stories to get traction. But unfortunately, for as much attention as was paid to the shooting, more time was spent doing anything but advocating for sensible gun control or regulations.
For example, Michelle Rhee (why is she even considered a credible pundit when she’s under investigation for cheating and fraud?) couldn’t upset her conservative union-busting buddies and gave a mealy-mouthed shrug on the complexity of the problem. If there’s no silver bullet answer, why bother, right?
Perennial Sunday show guest John McCain assured us that gun control would do nothing to alleviate the problem. After all, Norway has gun control and they still ended up with Anders Breivik killing people. Never mind that this was the only incident like this in Norway and we have daily incidences of gun violence.
And Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper was formerly a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, so you would have thought that he would advocate for some sensible regulations. But no, Hickenlooper completely wimps out at the thought of facing the wrath of the NRA.
Most egregious of all, tea party nut job Sen. Ron Johnson told Chris Wallace that 100-round drums are a “basic freedom.” It’s amazing to me that women cannot have the freedom to decide what to do with their own bodies without congressional intervention, but they will stand up for military grade weaponry that only is intended to mow human people down.
But not all of the clips were pro-NRA. Surprisingly, I’ve found common ground with Bill Kristol, for which I will have to re-think my claim that he is never correct. Because Kristol said what many liberals have said for years: People don’t have a right to assault rifles.
I'd take away the guns....
In case you haven't yet heard about today's tragedy ... At least 12 people are confirmed dead and another 50 were taken to area hospitals after a gunman - armed with an assault rifle, shotgun, two hand guns and, reportedly, two canisters of some sort of gas - opened fire inside a packed movie theater in Aurora Colorado during the midnight premiere of the new Batman movie.
Although I had played the song a few times on the air at the then-awesome radio station KSCA (fm 101.9) in Los Angeles, it wasn't until the horror of the mass shooting/murders at Columbine High School in Colorado on April 20, 1999 that it became a sad duty for me. From that time forward, every time I heard the news of another sick, demented sorry excuse for a human being going a murderous rampage with these weapons that serve no other purpose other than to kill, I play it again - in whatever venue I have.
Today, I'll be guest hosting the Randi Rhodes Show, and will start things off with this important song.
By the way, I wanted to post the song to my Facebook and Twitter accounts this morning. That's when I realized there wasn't an official video. The only ones I could find were wholly inadequate. So, I put the one on this page together.
As Cheryl Wheeler gave permission for this song to be given away in the wake of the Columbine massacre, I don't think she'd mind my production of the video this morning.
One of the 12 people confirmed dead is aspiring sportscaster Jessica Redfield. Her blog only contains two posts; the second one written on June 5, after she narrowly escaped another deranged gunman who opened fire in a mall in Toronto. She wrote about how fate and a "funny feeling" probably saved her life...
Late Night Thoughts on the Eaton Center Shooting
Posted by Jessica Redfield in Uncategorized on June 5, 2012
I can’t get this odd feeling out of my chest. This empty, almost sickening feeling won’t go away. I noticed this feeling when I was in the Eaton Center in Toronto just seconds before someone opened fire in the food court. An odd feeling which led me to go outside and unknowingly out of harm‘s way. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a weird feeling saved me from being in the middle of a deadly shooting.
What started off as a trip to the mall to get sushi and shop, ended up as a day that has forever changed my life. I was on a mission to eat sushi that day, and when I’m on a mission, nothing will deter me. When I arrived at the Eaton Center mall, I walked down to the food court and spotted a sushi restaurant. Instead of walking in, sitting down and enjoying sushi, I changed my mind, which is very unlike me, and decided that a greasy burger and poutine would do the trick. I rushed through my dinner. I found out after seeing a map of the scene, that minutes later a man was standing in the same spot I just ate at and opened fire in the food court full of people. Had I had sushi, I would’ve been in the same place where one of the victims was found.
My receipt shows my purchase was made at 6:20 pm. After that purchase I said I felt funny. It wasn’t the kind of funny you feel after spending money you know you shouldn’t have spent. It was almost a panicky feeling that left my chest feeling like something was missing. A feeling that was overwhelming enough to lead me to head outside in the rain to get fresh air instead of continuing back into the food court to go shopping at SportChek. The gunshots rung out at 6:23. Had I not gone outside, I would’ve been in the midst of gunfire.
I walked around the outside of the mall. People started funneling out of every exit. When I got back to the front, I saw a police car, an ambulance, and a fire truck. I initially thought that maybe the street performer that was drumming there earlier had a heart attack or something. But more and more police officers, ambulances, and fire trucks started showing up. Something terrible has happened. I overheard a panicked guy say, “There was a shooting in the food court.” I thought that there was no way, I was just down there. I asked him what happened. He said “Some guy just opened fire. Shot about 8 shots. It sounded like balloons popping. The guy is still on the loose.” I’m not sure what made me stick around at this point instead of running as far away from the mall as possible. Shock? Curiosity? Human nature? Who knows.
Standing there in the midst of the chaos all around us, police started yelling to get back and make room. I saw a young shirtless boy, writhing on a stretcher, with his face and head covered by the EMS as they rushed him by us to get him into an ambulance. The moment was surprisingly calm. The EMTs helping the boy weren’t yelling orders and no one was screaming like a night time medical drama. It was as if it was one swift movement to get the boy out of the mall and into the ambulance. That’s when it really hit me. I felt nauseas. Who would go into a mall full of thousands of innocent people and open fire? Is this really the world we live in?
Police start yelling again “GET BACK NOW!” Another stretcher came rushing out of the mall. I saw a man on a stretcher, the blanket underneath him spotted with blood. Multiple gunshot holes in his chest, side, and neck were visible. It’s not like in the movies when you see someone shot and they’re bleeding continuously from the wound. There was no blood flowing from the wounds, I could only see the holes. Numerous gaping holes, as if his skin was putty and someone stuck their finger in it. Except these wounds were caused by bullets. Bullets shot out of hatred. His dark skin on his torso was tinted red with what I assume was his own blood. He was rushed into the ambulance and taken away.
More people joined the crowd at the scene and asked what happened. “There was a shooting in the food court,” kept being whispered through the crowd like a game of telephone. I was standing near a security guard when I heard him say over his walkie talkie, “One fatality.” At this point I was convinced I was going to throw up. I’m not an EMT or a police officer. I’m not trained to handle crime and murder. Gun crimes are fairly common where I grew up in Texas, but I never imagined I’d experience a violent crime first hand. I’m on vacation and wanted to eat and go shopping. Everyone else at the mall probably wanted the same thing. I doubt anyone left for the mall imagined they witness a shooting.
I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening.
I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.
I feel like I am overreacting about what I experienced. But I can’t help but be thankful for whatever caused me to make the choices that I made that day. My mind keeps replaying what I saw over in my head. I hope the victims make a full recovery. I wish I could shake this odd feeling from my chest. The feeling that’s reminding me how blessed I am. The same feeling that made me leave the Eaton Center. The feeling that may have potentially saved my life.
Listen to this episode:
Podcast: Play in new window
Today, we heard two sides from the left. From the Democratic party, chair of the DNC - Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz joined in to talk about President Obama's visit to Florida (tomorrow and Friday - info & ticket sign-up can be found here!).
Debbie and I have been been speaking on the radio for a number of years now, and I've always challenged her with the tough questions. Today was no different. I asked about a few things on my mind, including why the Democratic party uses contributor dollars to support Blue Dogs and other "Dems" who vote with the Republican Party the majority of the time; why the DNC was largely absent for Wisconsin's Scott Walker recall, and more...
From the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, Down With Tyranny/Blue America PAC's Howie Klein gave the rebuttal to Debbie's answers...
At the end, Howie broke some real news that I think we'll all be hearing a lot more about in the coming weeks and months. According to Klein, Congressman Buck McKeon (R-CA25) has a serious gambling problem, and owes lots and lots of money to Sheldon Adelson's casinos in China! Oh what a tangled web....
If this story turns out to be true (and I have no reason to doubt it), California 25 will be represented in Congress by the tres awesome Dr. Lee Rogers!
I'll be out tomorrow.... but Jacob Dean of Filter Free Radio will fill in for me. And I'll be in for Randi Rhodes again on Friday! Talk to you then!
Listen to this episode:
Podcast: Play in new window
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are back from their latest vacations, but they weren't on my TV last night. That's because Viacom (who owns Comedy Central along with, apparently 387 other channels) and DirecTV are in a pissing contest. I honestly don't care that MTV, VH1, CMT and the other 383 Viacom channels are also blacked out. But I want need my daily fix of The Daily Show and Colbert Report.
I don't care that I'm usually asleep by the time 11pm ET rolls around or that I can get both shows the next morning at Hulu. The fact of the matter is that we pay good money for DirecTV's service, and I want to know that Stewart and Colbert are on my television while I'm sleeping.
This morning, interspersed between their opening monologues on Mitt Romney's Bain and tax return troubles, I called both DirecTV and Viacom, respectively. Although it was a naive young guy at DirecTV who assured me that "they" had made both of my shows available (he directed me to Hulu.com, which I assured him was NOT a service provided by DirecTV), at least he was here in the US and did speak with me, human to human, I was not so lucky at Viacom. Alas, I had to leave my comments on voicemail. Hopefully whomever is charged with listening will get some joy out of my long-winded rant.
As to which party is more at fault for we long-suffering DirecTV subscribers not having our CCTV, I think it's a draw. We pay a pretty penny (or several thousand) every month for the right to have the signal go out with every hint of a raindrop here in South Florida, and the constant outages due to the contract dispute du jour. I'm frankly sick and tired of having to pay the price every time they can't come to terms with one of their program suppliers. Can you imagine any other service industry in which the customer loses the service for which they pay handsomely just because a supplier raises its rates?
And then there's Viacom. Apparently, they want DirecTV to pony up an additional $1 billion each year for the right to re-transmit their offerings. The last time I checked, Viacom sells advertising on all of its channels. They're getting paid by the advertisers and getting paid by those of us watching. Local television is free to the viewer because we watch the damned commercials. Radio is free to the listeners because we listen to the damned commercials. Viacom is getting it from both ends. And they'd lose both subscriber fees and commercial revenue if, all of a sudden, they lost the multitudes of viewing households that DirecTV customers represent.
So to the two parties: FIX THIS NOW!
In the meantime... here's how Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert brought us up to speed on Mitt's RMoney problems..
Also on the show today, as we do every Tuesday morning, I visited with GottaLaff of The Political Carnival. Today, we talked about these stories and more:
Oops! Team Romney campaign ad “no longer available due to copyright claim”
Woman claims Trayvon Martin killer Zimmerman molested her for more than a decade, his family members “proud racists”
Video- Mike Huckabee ’08: Money in offshore bank accounts could take US out of recession if it wasn’t “parked offshore.”
Plus 2 more (all short): Cayman Island bank accounts are "sheltered" because his 2008 GOP primary opponents "don't want to pay taxes on that."
Cayman Islands bank accounts are "tax free income. HERE: http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/mike-huckabee-is-no-fan-of-offshore-cayman-island
VIDEO: 35 Questions Mitt Romney Must Answer About Bain Capital Before The Issue Can Go Away
PhotOH! Mitt Romney-themed “narcissistic” Salt Lake City Olympics pins
PhotOH! Mitt Romney broke a Facebook rule. Do we sense a pattern?
Dave Johnson's post: “If Bain was claiming Romney was still there in SEC docs, I think this was fraud, it was about reassuring partners & co-investors”
Listen to this episode:
Podcast: Play in new window
I'm a little under the weather (and Nicole Belle had to take a week off from our regular Monday morning Fools on the Hill segment), so we finished today's show with a trip in the Wayback Machine to November 9, 2007. It was a year away from the 2008 election. I was hosting the morning show at then-progressive talk 940 WINZ in Miami and, that morning, hosted my first and only interview with Chris Matthews. He was having so much fun that he stayed on for an extra segment - and we both proved to be horrible at making political predictions.
At the top of the show, I chatted with Dave Johnson, fellow at the Campaign for America's Future, and whose blog Seeing the Forest is celebrating its 10th anniversary today, about Mitt Romney's problems with his Bain history and his tax returns.
And after news from the Talk Radio News Service, we checked in with Chase Madar, author of the new book, The Passion of Bradley Manning: The Story of the Suspect Behind the Largest Security Breach in U.S. History. Today begins at least a week of pre-trial hearings for Manning.
I'm going to go drink some tea with honey and rest. Talk to you tomorrow... radio or not!
