GolfHos

...if you were a lefty-lib?

Yes, but only if I were allowed to wear a miniskirt and a halter top with a bare midriff.

Depends on the ROE.

If Kent Brockman on Smartline has taught me anything.......

Wouldn't that be, whatever the executive producer decided they would be after the segment was taped?

You really are a sushi freak.   [sm_shock]  :fish:

Not much, other than a free ride to and from.

Anyway, I slept on it and told them to pound sand. Long story short, our daughter's school has the audacity to want to promote a reality based education. In their unit on families, they actually admit that families with "two moms" or "two dads" exist. Some people in town prefer that our education system takes a more selective approach, and when dealing with topics that might make them uncomfortable it would be better to pretend that those uncomfortable things do not exist. In fact, many of them have been quite vocal about it (read "vocal" as: insane screaming at a district meeting that was so off the wall the police had to be called). All-in-all the environment has been quite intimidating.

My wife and I have made the "mistake" of supporting of the film. My wife is driven by the out-and-out hatred that is spewed by people who were speaking against the film, in part due to her feeling defensive about a little girl with two mom's who is in the Brownie troop she leads, but mostly by her sense of what is right. I am mostly driven by the desire to have my kid's taught the truth, and the need to address the logical fallacies being advanced by the opposition (i.e. no sir, saying that homo****ual couples exist does not undermine your ability to teach abstinence. And no maam, your argument that this is just like when they said we can't have an nativity scene in the school lobby doesn't really hold water. And yes maam, I know what the Bible says about homo****uals, do YOU know what the Bible says we should DO to those homo****uals? Maybe we should leave the Bible out of it...and so on). We're both driven by a sense of academic honesty and a desire to avoid a witch hunt mentality of those who are different than us, we are lefty-libs afterall. Anyway, it's been on the news and in the papers and O'Reilly tracked us down and wanted one of us on his show tonight.

We're not going to go, even though on some level I feel like I should go and confront this issue. However, there are a bunch of reasons not to go and they override my desire to have a go at O'Reilly.

1. My daughter is my #1 priority. She's a straight A student without an enemy in the world, and I don't want her becoming the focus of the offspring of some of these maniacs, or of the maniacs themselves. I'm not suggesting that everyone against the film is a maniac, far from it; most of them were calm and polite. But there was an element there that gave off that abortion clinic bomber vibe. In fact, we think some of them may have snuck in and didn't even have kids at the school because none of the teachers recognized them. These issues can bring some scary people out of the woodwork.

2. After the events of the last few days I've almost expected to walk outside in the morning and find my house egged or spray painted. I was mentally prepared for it. Thankfully it hasn't happened and I really don't want to push my luck. I'm concerned for my family, myself, and my stuff. This whole thing can blow over.

3. Voicing your opinion on an issue doesn't make you the de facto spokesperson for the issue.

4. You aren't going to convince anyone in the Fox audience anyway, and you know O'Reilly is there not to moderate on an issue like this. His position on the subject is well known, he's there to trip up the person on the left.

5. I don't trust that Fox, and O'Reilly in particular, will give us fair treatment. The local Fox affiliate did an absolute hatchet job in covering this story. All the other networks framed the issue as parents being upset at the video, but it wasn't all parents who were upset. All the other networks showed interviews of two parents who were against, and two who were in favor. Fox, on the other hand, said that parents were outraged, showed only parents who were against the issue, and did not make a single mention that even one single person was in favor of the issue. They knew that wasn't the case because they interviewed my wife, but they never used that footage. Instead they framed it as an out of control school board that had the parents of a district up in arms; the coverage was a disgrace. I'd expect that, or worse, from the "Factor". 

6. I can't believe that this is as big of an issue as it has become and I don't want to feed it anymore. As it stands the video will be shown and parents who do not want their kids to see it can opt out. I think that is a reasonable outcome so why continue to fight? I'd never suggest that kids should be forced to see this against the will of their parents, so as far as I'm concerned it's a done deal already. Soon it will be shown and this will be over (I hope, but we'll see). I don't want to toss fuel on the fire and bring the national religious coalitions with their money, man power, and legal teams, into this little town. Since there were so few people who were willing to stand up against the screaming mob at the meeting, if we don't go I'm not sure how many other parents they'll be able to find to speak in favor of the film. The show and the controversy might die if we take a pass, and I'm ok with that.

Ultimately I don't want to help O'Reilly target us in his "culture war", and that's what he's trying to do. I have other reasons too, but I can't even remember them at this point.


Anyway, it's been a crazy week. If any of you lefty libs want to buy me a beer in a completely hetero****ual way, I'd much appreciate it.

No, I would not go on the Bill O'Reilly show.

I'm always amazed when I catch a guest on one of those Fox news shows who is just left of neo-con.  WTF were they thinking?!!?

One time, Hannity and Colmes (sp?) had this conservative academic type guy on their program.  The guy had a sunny attitude, informal tweed jacket, was extremely well-spoken and logical in his approach, a beard/goatee, slightly unkept look about himself, etc.  He just looked and sounded like an ivory tower lib, but he wasn't.

 Hannity had the flaps down, so he couldn't seem to understand the guest was in complete agreement with his position.

Allow me to paraphrase the conversation:

Hannity: I'll rip you a new a$$hole, you liberal chump!

Colmes: er, Sean, he's on our side.

Guest: I totally agree with your position...we should lock 'em all up first.

Hannity: Nothing makes me more sick then limp wristed libs like yourself coming on MY program and thinking you can use it as a platform to express your twisted godless distortions.

Colmes:  er, Sean, he's not really saying that at all, in fact.....

Guest: And, I also fully support your position on this matter, Sean, and here is why...

Hannity: I've got the power to take your fetid, reeking rectum and turn it into something more flaccid then jellyfish slime, and don't think for one second I'm afraid to deploy this power....

Colmes:  er, Sean, let's go to a commercial, okay, buddy?

Guest: I'm in absolute agreement with you on the wider question and every single point you've enunciated

Hannity:  Well, there you have it, I suppose.  I'm glad to see you've come at last to see the right side of this issue.

What did I miss?  I didn't realize all this was going on.

Your instincts to avoid O'Riley are correct.  It's freak show stuff, and he's the carnival barker.

Wow, good luck with that.

(http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/style_emoticons/others/applause.gif)


 [sm_beertoast]

Wow, good luck.  Good move to think of your daughter/family first.

The blood from your tounge will never taste as bitter as the tears of your little girl.

I'm far from a lefty-lib.  I'm generally a moderate with a few opinions that push significantly left and a few that push significantly right.

Your post is spot on JD.  I think you did exactly the right thing by declining.  I further believe the majority of intelligent people without strange compulsions to seek the spotlight would come to the same conclusion.  That's why we have so many nut jobs, from both camps, on the tube.  They're all that remain available when the booking agents come a calling.

Good luck JD. I"ll buy you a beer anytime. I think you made the right call. I had the "opportunity" to be in your shoes, albeit at a much more local level, and it wasn't worth it.

Casa Blader is in a transitional community, one that for whatever reasons, has become very, very trendy.  It's attracting a pretty fair share of two-mom, two-dad households. 

These families are joining the neighborhood pool, and enrolling their kids in the athletic and other extracurricular programs.  Pretty much acting EXACTLY like any other family.  Blader Jr even tells me that one such kid is enrolled in his catholic grade school!!!

The kids do just fine with it...one of my daughter's best friends is from such a family. 

This sort of thing, in the practice of reality, when you are going about daily life, arranging carpools and pickups and play dates and what not for the kids, is just absolutely positively no big deal to all involved.

Perhaps we can arrange a temporary swap with your community?  You can have one of our two mom families for an entire little league season, and we can get one of your 1st generation removed from an organized crime family family. 

Maybe we can make a Fox Reality TV show format out of it? 

I like it.

"Family Swap"    We already have something called Wife Swap on the air. Expand on the concept.

LOL. It's funny, but I would have described our community much the same way you did. As I mentioned, we have non traditional families all around us. I think that is what has been most shocking about this entire episode, we had no idea there were so many people around us who feel that way. But in reality, I'm not sure that there really is that many.

Only a fraction of the parents in the district showed up for the meeting, and as you might imagine most of the ones who did were full of piss and vinegar. I think this whole thing is primed to go away soon, but O'Reilly, the "Culture Warrior", is doing his best to force it into a larger spotlight. There's a reason that CNN, MSNBC, et al., aren't calling and he is. It's not really that big of a story unless you have an agenda like Bill does. JMHO, but that's how I see it. My wife and I don't want to play the role of pawn in this game. I'm sure O'Reilly's objective is to see the film pulled here, and elsewhere. As it stands he is about to lose, so why give him a second life?

Of course you realize he probably will find someone to skewer, he'll make an issue out of it if he wants to.  I should try to watch a bit tonight to see if he's carrying the torch, but in all honestly, I can barely stomach more than 30 seconds of that show at one time.

That is not hyberbole

All I learned about the O'Reilly format I learned renovating our carriage house apartment after we bought our home, about 12 years ago.

I'd get home from work and go up there to do stuff for a few hours after my daughter would go to bed.  WSB-AM radio does stuff like sports and talk show in the evenings.  I'd rather listen to that than music when I was working.

They'd have a re-run sometimes of the daily Neal Boortz program (re-Boortz) and I'd listen to that.

He'd allow guests to call in to offer contrary opinion, and they just absolutely never had a chance to get in a word or to complete a thought.  He'd just be nasty and spiteful.  It had nothing to do with concepts. 

It may surprise the internets to know this, but I'm not exactly shy about expressing my POV, and have called things like baseball call-in shows to question strategies and trades etc on several occasions, but I quickly figured it would be a lost cause to try to call and argue with that Boortz guy.

O'Reilly's ratings come from the enjoyment his viewers receive in watching him beat the *feces* out of people who disagree with him.  That is all the brand is about. 

If he was from New Zealand and his expertise and entire focus was breeds of sheep, it would still be the same thing: If you didn't 100% agree with him that the East Friesian is THE breed for that climate, he'd make you look like a *goshdarn* goat herder.

Well, you know what they say about wrestling with pigs. I think you made the right call.

Yes, I realize that. His producer didn't seem to upset that we were turning him down, so I suspected that they may have their guest lined up. Or they found something better. Sadly, I'll have to tune in tonight to find out.

Oh, I didn't realize the question was based in reality. (I was hoping the imagined ROE might involve me being able to kick him in the nuts or something.) In that case, absolutely no way, no how would I go on Bill O'Reilly's show. I think you made the right choice. No way would you and your views be represented fairly.

The thing that amazes me is that people who have opinions that differ from his go on his show and actually believe they will be treated with fairness, respect, or even a modicum of journalistic integrity. O'Reilly is to journalism what Taco Bell is to fine Italian dining.

Mexican dining you dimwit

Nope.

Well, then we'll simply have to agree that you're mixing metaphors and move on

If mixed metaphors aren't allowed, I'll just make like a tree and get out of Dodge.

He obviously meant what Olive Garden is to fine Mexican dining.

Actually, I meant "what fritos are to Formula One racing."

Bull semen to Vidal Sasoon?

"what sobriety is to stroh"?




No, that one makes sense.

Vidal Baboon loves that stuff.