On Juan Williams...

...and no, I did not mean that the way it sounded, so get your minds out of the gutter, dammit!

So let me get this straight; Juan Williams, a journalist, gets fired by NPR for...having an opinion. I thought that was one of the things we usually paid journalists for. Not only that, but it's made abundantly clear that he's been fired for holding an unpopular opinion, at least it's unpopular amongst what passes for intelligent people at NPR.

I say "made abundantly clear" because the tap dance NPR spokespeople and management have been doing to explain the otherwise-inexplicable makes it obvious that Williams crime was to give voice to what everyone pretty much already thinks but would never dare say aloud for fear of being banished from smart cocktail parties. Or of having a Libtard get in your face. The explanations make no sense, and there's been a lot of lawerly talk.

Except for the one remark about Williams needing a psychiatrist.

When it makes no sense, there's a bunch of lawyers involved, and they accuse you of being crazy, then you know they're full of shit.

This is 21st Century America in the Age of Barack Obama and Liberal Pieties, where a government-funded media outlet (why the hell do we have those? It can't be that difficult to make money in media when my cable system provides 250 channels of absolutely nothing to watch, and charges exorbitant rates for it) can deprive a man of the right to express his opinions.

All Williams said was what we all think; he worries when he sees an obvious Muslim getting on the same airplane he does. Normal people do.

Juan Williams will survive. He's a wonderful journalist (even if I don't often agree with him), and he seems a very decent sort of man. National Public Radio, however, shouldn't survive. It's time for NPR and PBS to go the way of the Dodo. If both were forced to compete in the marketplace, we'd see NPR vanish completely.

PBS would stick around solely on the strength of Big Bird and Elmo, and actually make money, so they wouldn't have to try and sell those gay and pretentious tote bags, anymore.

"This episode of Masterpiece Theatre is brought to you by the Letter 'L', and the number '4'...."

This is censorship, plain and simple. NPR could not get Williams to stop giving voice to his opinions, so they fired him. That this censorship is being paid for by the American taxpayer, for the benefit of people who could not survive otherwise in the marketplace of ideas, or if they had to get a real job, is an outrage. Contact your Congresscritter -- the new one you're likely to be getting next week, I mean -- and make it known that you want to ensure that this abomination -- National Public Radio --is no longer going to be lavishly funded with your stolen tax dollars.

But it's Not Like the Press is Biased or Something...

The Politico runs this little thing this morning about the travails of one Mara Liasson, a correspondent for National Public Radio, and staple of Fox News. Ms. (Mrs?) Liasson has been asked by NPR to re-consider her relationship with Fox News because, according to NPR, Fox is little more than a bullhorn for the Republican Party. This is a charge which was first floated by Anita Dunn (devotee of Mao and Mother Theresa), once President Obama's Communications Director, and by that asshole Obama sends out every afternoon to speak a steady stream of crapspeak...what the hell is his name again? Oh yeah, Robert Gibbs.

Now, the good folks at NPR hint that this whole 're-evaluation' thing is merely something Mara should do as a matter of journalistic integrity, but it's clear they wish her to sever her ties with Fox entirely, and there is a veiled hint of intimidation. One gets the impression that here is an implied threat.

Which is laughable. Because if NPR thinks it has as much clout, money, power or influence than Fox News, they're smoking something funny. If given a choice between being under contract to Fox or NPR, which to you seems the better career move?

I wonder, did they have the same conversation with Juan Williams? I would wonder which liberal taboos such action would violate, but given the history of the last election, it's obvious that liberals would rather stick it to a woman (figuratively) than to a black man, as black men are higher up on the victimhood scale. (NOTE: That was sarcasm. I happen to personally like both Williams and Liasson on TV. I find them to be at least honest and earnest correspondents).

Far from criticizing Fox for spouting the Republican line, perhaps NPR ought to be looking at it's own behavior for obvious signs of fascism. It is doing exactly what it accuses (falsely) it's opponents of doing, and doesn't recognize the obvious hypocrisy.

I'd say shame on NPR, but liberals (small 'l' intentional) never display that capacity.