This is the third blog post I've written this week. I scrapped the other two because I couldn't seem to say what I wanted to say. Do you ever do that? I've abandoned that subject altogether. Here's my current effort. This time, I bet I get it posted.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (lovingly referred to as "the DOG") has dropped Gene Lyons' column from their Op-Ed pages. Too liberal for them, I guess. He lives in the Little Rock area and his syndicated columns are printed in other publications, so all I had to do was make a little search. He appears occasionally in Salon.com, but isn't listed as a regular contributor, so I kept looking. Just when I thought I wouldn't be able to find him again, I went to the Arkansas Times website and there he was. I hope he'll appear there regularly. He fits right in.
It was from his column that I learned a few things that I didn't know before about one of his former colleagues at the DOG, Harrison's own Mike Masterson. Mike is the real subject of this blog.
Mike seemed fairly moderate early in his career but has just gotten more and more conservative with age. He comes by his Republican leanings honestly. Most individuals growing up in Harrison usually have to leave home to find people of the more liberal persuasion. Mike only went as far as Fayetteville, and his connections here are strong and none of the liberal ideas of Fayetteville have rubbed off on him. According to Gene Lyons, Mike's wife is Director of Grass Roots for Arkansas, which is funded by Americans for Prosperity, who is funded by the Koch brothers. Obviously, she has led him over the brink to the dark side.
Now, there is nothing wrong with a columnist having a wife who works for a purely political organization. Lots of media types are inbred in that way. But, I do think that, in the interest of full disclosure, they should have to reveal their partisan connections so we can all see exactly where their opinions come from. Just knowing about his wife goes a long way toward explaining why he wrote a particularly nasty op-ed piece about the Occupy Wall Street group. To give you some idea, here's part of what Gene Lyons wrote about Masterson's column: "He described Occupy Wall Street protestors as an "unwashed, whining, smelly mob occupying and infesting Wall Street." Infesting, no less. "The Flea Party," the man called them, blood sucking insects "being paid by big-bucks special interests...to create violent confrontations." Elsewhere, he likened the protestors to Nazis."
Now, he has a right to his opinion, but not to his outright lies. And, elsewhere, in less partisan publications, likening people to Nazis has gotten people fired. All we can hope for is that Masterson has finally shown his true colors, not to mention the limits of his intellect.
Stay tuned.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (lovingly referred to as "the DOG") has dropped Gene Lyons' column from their Op-Ed pages. Too liberal for them, I guess. He lives in the Little Rock area and his syndicated columns are printed in other publications, so all I had to do was make a little search. He appears occasionally in Salon.com, but isn't listed as a regular contributor, so I kept looking. Just when I thought I wouldn't be able to find him again, I went to the Arkansas Times website and there he was. I hope he'll appear there regularly. He fits right in.
It was from his column that I learned a few things that I didn't know before about one of his former colleagues at the DOG, Harrison's own Mike Masterson. Mike is the real subject of this blog.
Mike seemed fairly moderate early in his career but has just gotten more and more conservative with age. He comes by his Republican leanings honestly. Most individuals growing up in Harrison usually have to leave home to find people of the more liberal persuasion. Mike only went as far as Fayetteville, and his connections here are strong and none of the liberal ideas of Fayetteville have rubbed off on him. According to Gene Lyons, Mike's wife is Director of Grass Roots for Arkansas, which is funded by Americans for Prosperity, who is funded by the Koch brothers. Obviously, she has led him over the brink to the dark side. Now, there is nothing wrong with a columnist having a wife who works for a purely political organization. Lots of media types are inbred in that way. But, I do think that, in the interest of full disclosure, they should have to reveal their partisan connections so we can all see exactly where their opinions come from. Just knowing about his wife goes a long way toward explaining why he wrote a particularly nasty op-ed piece about the Occupy Wall Street group. To give you some idea, here's part of what Gene Lyons wrote about Masterson's column: "He described Occupy Wall Street protestors as an "unwashed, whining, smelly mob occupying and infesting Wall Street." Infesting, no less. "The Flea Party," the man called them, blood sucking insects "being paid by big-bucks special interests...to create violent confrontations." Elsewhere, he likened the protestors to Nazis."
Now, he has a right to his opinion, but not to his outright lies. And, elsewhere, in less partisan publications, likening people to Nazis has gotten people fired. All we can hope for is that Masterson has finally shown his true colors, not to mention the limits of his intellect.
Stay tuned.
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3 comments:
The "Occupy" groups are being maligned all over this country. Anyone who cares enough to read their websites or FB pages knows that they are, for the most part, trying to conduct themselves peacefully and in a way that represents the good citizens they are. I don't know how the media (Fox news in particular) get away with the lies and distortions they've foisted on the public for the past few years. What I find even more distressing, though, is the huge number of ignorant people who take them at their word without trying to discover the truth. Oh, and also? Also distressing is the huge number of conservative citizens who KNOW when something's a lie (the Obama birth certificate issue, for example) and still do all they can to perpetuate the myth. Now I'm gettin' all riled up.
Yup, the third one was a charm. I like this post. I have no idea who any of the people are that you are writing about, but there are similar stories all over the country. The media (oh,sorry, the liberal,elite media.....that was when they covered the tea party with flowers?) are now either not covering or purposely misstating the situation with the OWS folks. It is sickening, and is part of the reason the OWS folks are so justified in their protests. This country has been taken over at the corporate, financial and media levels by hoodlums with millions. A hoodlum is a hoodlum whether rich or poor. Yeah, I'm riled up now, too!
I am part of our small Occupy group here in my part of Ohio and am tired of people who just dismiss us as nuts. We are standing up for the 99% of Americans who are having a difficult time while the Kochs say "Let 'em eat cake!" A pox on those who criticize us!
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