BlatherWatch

Webb trial honors BlatherWatch!

Well, perhaps not intentionally. But in court proceedingly late last week, the second trial of former KIRO evening talk host Mike Webb on insurance fraud charges was, yet again, postponed. The new date: December 20.

Not only will Bla'M be thrilled to be back in our country (with its hallowed Second Amendment) just in time for Webb's trial after all, but the new trial date is one year to the day from that fateful day when BlatherWatch first broke the story of the charges against Webb. The rest, of course, has been history, insofar as Webb's career at KIRO, or any other actual radio station anyone has been able to locate, has been concerned. Webb has claimed that his nightly podcast is carried on a number of stations, but nobody can find them. And now nobody can find the podcast, either: it's been missing since Election Night.

The Mike Webb anniversary party is a fine, fitting tribute to Bla'M. (Anyone for balloons in the hall outside the courtroom? Might lend that festive touch.) But all these delays can't be helping Webb; it just makes the judicial apparatus that much more pissed that he cheated the system out of a conviction in the first trial in September, by having a mental breakdown conveniently timed so that four jurors saw him being led away in handcuffs outside the courthouse during a lunch break. More ominously, Webb had filed for bankruptcy a year ago, and certainly hasn't substantively worked since. You'd think he'd want the whole thing over with. But then, you don't use Mike Webb Logic.

("I spent 15 minutes online and I tried to save $5,000!" Somehow we doubt Webb's now-comatose production company will be getting that Geico voiceover work soon...)

Here's hoping Webb gets the help he needs. But even more so, here's hoping we all get a nice holiday and New Year's present, and this circus draws to a close soon...with Bla'M in attendance.

Any early suggestions for Mike Webb New Year's resolutions?

Trucker-talk Fleece-o-matic? 10-4!

This here's Merciful-Cletus and Meet the Stress with exclusive coverage of the Midnight Radio Network (710KIRO 12-5am) 
"Listening to trucker-talk 'cause no one else done gonna!"

One thing is for jack-smack sure:  It will be entertaining (or as we say 'round these parts: 'tainin'), to be a fly on Herr Clandening's wall when the ratings 18-wheeler rolls-in, I tell you what.    Any bets on how they will compare/contrast with Styblehead Boast-to-Boast? 

So how does one pick the diamonds from this radio hog-swill? 
Well, I'll give 'er my best out here in Baghdad Jim country.
Tonight's episode:
"Sorting actual trucker-talk from commercial-blather"  

It's now 12:56am.   For the past 30 minutes they've been talking about some newfangled federal regulatin' (shocking!).    BUT, intermixed with this has been an EXCLUSIVE interview with a Western Star Trucks, inc. dealer (no, I won't dignify them with a hyperlink).  Said dealer proceeds to give us   "helpful hints" on the many Western Star Trucks products  that can lesson the burden inflicted by the gal-dang federales! 

Genius.  Seriously, what saviors!   Thank-Cthulu we have the Midnight Radio Network around to help poor truckers (get poorer), while at the same time giving them a voice against the real enemy: Them Federal jack-booted thugs.   
"Sixteen Tons", anyone?   

Well done, Tom Clandening.  Simultaneously cancelling local programming (albeit weak), helping sell more souls to the company store, and borin' the living buh-jeezers out of Baghdad-Jim-country night-shifters.   
Okay, so maybe this wasn't a diamond from hog-swill. Rhinestone from a Bedazzler perhaps?  

Yaaaawn - Only 5 hours and counting until Mama switches-on
(The Stephanie Miller Show, 1090 KPTK, 6-9am)

This is Merciful-Cletus with Meet the Stress signing-off.
I love ya Albuquerque!
Over-&-out. 

Rush for Sale

Whodathunk.  Now, for only $19,500.00 you can purchase limbaugh.com.  Or, if you are the more frugal type, consider making a lower offer---minimum bid is $2,745.00.

Until you are able to purchase and populate your own potential slice of talk radio Americana on this virtual landscape, a helpful placeholder page of all things Limbaugh can be found at limbaugh.com.   

(Would this be called information superhighway robbery?)

There are at least two things missing from the page, however.   First of all, the category Medical Information fails to list  pilonidal cysts.   And secondly, this song & animation should be placed somewhere on the page.   

Anything else you noticed missing?

(Hattip: BartCop.)

Horse's ass radio: Ken Vogel and committee assignments, UCLA Taser games, and the Houston janitor strike

The David Goldstein Show is tonight from 7:00 to 10:00 pm on 710 KIRO.  During the first hour Goldy's guest will be Ken Vogel formerly a political writer of the Tacoma News Tribune.  Ken's new assignment is with a Capitol Hill paper (um...Capitol Hill on the other coast).   They will discuss the new committee assignments and the meaning of those assignments for the  Washington state delegation.

As of press time, Goldy was still lining up guests for the second and third hours.  I get the feeling that the UCLA Taser incident will come up during the second hour.  Goldy may also discuss the Houston janitor strike.  Just how much bail money should be required for scofflaws with the testicular fortitude to engage in public protest, anyway?

BlatherWatch takes a vacation

We're withdrawing to the gentle jungles and warm beaches of Central America for some much-needed R & R. We're thinking the death squads and banditos will be a welcome relief to the interfaces we've been having lately with election-disgruntled Republicans. 

We've invited some guest bloggers in here who will provide some  pith and feck- the only restrictions we've made on them is that they not get us arrested.

There should be some lively reading as new voices rake over and fluff up the slim pickings of talk radio, and politics.

Stay tuned for the Mike Webb trial coming up next week- we'll have team coverage. (he's gone missing since election night from his live stream "broadcast" from his Web site. Readers are asking, "has he jumped bail? Is he on the run?" We'll keep an eye open for him in Guatemala.

We'll be back in a couple weeks. Hasta Burrito!

Best of seattle radio, ho-hum...

Ron & Don (KIRO m-f, 4-7p) were feigning a stink last week because Dave Ross was named Readers' Choice for "Best Local Radio Talk Host," in Seattle Magazine's Best of 2006 issue, the annual orgy of Seattle superlatives now on newsstands.

We can't imagine why the Big Dumb Shits would think- with only months on the job, they'd share high radio honors with such as Ross, Dave Niehaus, John Richards, Jackie & Bender, and... BlatherWatch.

Yes, in a reader's poll with the scientific credibility of an on-line wig raffle, KOMO's Niehaus, the Mouth of the Mariners was chosen as Best Radio Newscaster; KEXP's Richards, as Local Radio Personality; Jackie & Bender, took the honors for Best Morning Drive Radio Team.

KUOW was chosen once again as the Best Talk Radio Station; KEXP won Best Radio Station at Work; Movin' 92.5 was picked for Best New Radio Station; KMPS held their place as best Country Station; and KNDD got Best Rock Station.

(What, who was chosen by the editors as the Best Reason to Turn Off the Radio? Why, that would be BlatherWatch, that's who... But that's not fair, you say, is not BlatherWatch's Michael Hood an "editor" of Seattle Magazine, you ask? You'd be correct- it says so in the masthead, but it turns out his Editorness is a ceremonial title bestowed upon him in lieu of meaningful remuneration; and to distract him with his own ego from the temptation to write for the competition).

As always, the magazine is invisible on the World Wide Web, so you must either subscribe to it, steal it or read it standing in the supermarket line.

Scientists ask: do republicans become serial killers or do serial killers become republicans?

Besides serially killing, what do Gary Ridgway, Ted Bundy, and Dennis Rader have in common?

They're all Republicans. Coincidence? New anecdotal studies give a resounding, "Perhaps."

Questions resonating within an alarmed law enforcement community: Are serial killers attracted to the Republican party? Or are the Republicans attracted to them?

In reports kept under wraps until after the recent elections, anecdotal researchers using new counterfactual technologies and fellacious methodologies have turned up startling hearsay and volumes of evidentiary spuriousness that point to both conclusions.

"The evidence is sophistic," says criminologist Dr. Edgar "Choch" Manaña, of the University of Alabama. "The speciousness of these reports is staggering."

Thanks, Darcy

We met you last January at the liberal bloggers' conference in Olympia, and while we loved what you had to say and were impressed that you sought us out- we never dreamed you could get so close to winning a place at the table for Democrats in the 8th District.

Losing the race is a disappointment, but the long shot you took and made so impressively, gives us great hopes. Let us list them:

First: despite you gave up so much to make this sacrifice, we hope that through some miracle or extra-natural calling you will have redoubled the commitment to your son's future that inspired this race. We hope you run again. You'll be even better at it next time, and your opponent's vulnerabilities will still be be there. Remember: politics are never over.

Second: we're hopeful and convinced that the 8th District is only an election cycle away from turning as blue as the Republicans' noses. Your near miss shows your abilities as a candidate and a policy thinker, and also that the 8th is within reach.

Third: we hope your use of the net roots will be a model for liberal campaigns everywhere.  This new techno/political medium was only beginning to gather its strength- many of us in it didn't know yet its potentials- but you'd already got it. You used us to raise some significant money, do some focused organizing, and get out your message in a way that's the old order's attention. The right-wing blogs haven't caught onto the concept yet, preferring to stand off to the side, and be snide.

You ran a righteous, smart, brave, and disciplined campaign that kept your opponent busy on defense. We admire how you accepted every invitation to speak or debate whether it be on Ron & Don (KIRO m-f, 4-7p) or NPR.

You had the R's pretty worried- they had to call in the big guns- The Prez, First Lady, Denny Hastert, John McCain, Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, Ron Silver, Puff Daddy, and the Pope.

It may not make you feel much better about losing, but the fierceness of your challenge forced the Republicans to spread their money and themselves thinner across the fruited plains.

You had everything but the most votes; but you helped other Democrats win in an astounding and historical blue sweep.

Thank you, Darcy. And should you want to come this way again, you can count on us.

John carlson calls for diane tebelius' head... well, almost

Heard on The Commentators (KVI m-f, 9a-12p) this ayem:

Carlson: the state Republican Party needs new leadership, that's for sure.

Schram: does Diane Tebelius need to go?

Carlson: [no response]

There was no doubt as to the meaning of the pregnant pause left where an answer should have been to Ken Schram's question by John Carlson, influential conservative Republican gadfly.

Out in the pained Republican bloggerlands the condemnation of the GOP Chairman isn't quite so subtle. 

ERNurseWilliam over at the ReaganWing wrote, "Let us not continue to fall under the delusion that Mehlman, Tebelius and company have foisted upon us. If Republicans ever want to hold the majority again, the RINOs have to go. Now. Without fanfare."

He and others are bemoaning among other things, the listless, harmless, and ultimately losing campaign of Mike McGavick. Many of them were opposed to his nomination in the first place; now they're even slurring President Bush with the most damning invective in their litanical tool boxes- "moderate."

(After all, the state's GOP has been on the whupped side most of time for the last 20 or so years, and is in a freefall after Tuesday's election. Maria Cantwell won easily; Reichert was nearly knocked over by a come-from-nowhere-newcomer; and both houses of the Legislature are in near Democratic super majorities. 2005 and 2006 marked five straight gubernatorial losses and four straight senatorial losses).

Blogging lite for a few days...

Although we're redeploying our office, and preparing for an invasion of Central America, we're staying the course until the job is done.

Stay tuned ...