The New York Times reports that National Public Radio yesterday terminated its employment contract with contributor Juan Williams over comments he made on Bill O’Reilly’s talk show expressing fear and mistrust of Muslims who dressed in traditional clothing:

The move came after Mr. Williams, who is also a Fox News political analyst, appeared on the “The O’Reilly Factor” on Monday. On the show, the host, Bill O’Reilly, asked him to respond to the notion that the United States was facing a “Muslim dilemma.” Mr. O’Reilly said, “The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet.”

Mr. Williams said he concurred with Mr. O’Reilly.

He continued: “I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

Juan Williams and other non-partisan journalists’ participation in Fox News roundtables have concerned media watchdogs for some time. The conservative opinion channel has long waged a dishonest propaganda campaign aimed at discrediting mainstream media organizations by labelling them as politically biased. One of the techniques the channel most frequently employs to propagate the idea consists of putting together discussion roundtables comprised of Right-wing partisan opinion journalists such as Charles Krauthammer and William Kristol one one side and mainstream media journalists on the other –with a partisan Fox News host (such as Brit Hume) acting as supposed impartial arbiter. Though there have been others over the years, Juan Williams was perhaps the most frequent and notable of the “useful idiots” who compromized their employers’ credibility and impartiality in exchange for lucrative face time on Fox News.

The move is long overdue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Os0cwpCQE

Just so you know who to blame: “The decline of America began in Colorado in 1967,” declares PersonhoodUSA is this delightful recap of every wingnut meme of the past two generations. (Don’t miss the special cameo by Barack Obama as the Angel of Death!)

Why Colorado? Something to do with legalizing abortion. You can fill in the rest.

But why this ad? Why now? Well, seems Colorado has an anti-abortion amendment on the ballot:

Read more »

Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione dead at 79 [AP/Houston Chronicle]

The part that shouldn’t surprise you:

A textbook distributed to Virginia fourth-graders says that thousands of African Americans fought for the South during the Civil War — a claim rejected by most historians but often made by groups seeking to play down slavery’s role as a cause of the conflict.

The part that should frighten the hell out of you:

When Masoff began work on the textbook, she said she consulted a variety of sources — history books, experts and the Internet. But when it came to one of the Civil War’s most controversial themes — the role of African Americans in the Confederacy — she relied primarily on an Internet search.

The book’s publisher, Five Ponds Press, based in Weston, Conn., sent a Post reporter three of the links Masoff found on the Internet. Each referred to work by Sons of the Confederate Veterans or others who contend that the fight over slavery was not the main cause of the Civil War.

Review Question: When the Northern Hemisphere goes down the toilet, which direction does the idiocy spin?

Virginia 4th-grade textbook criticized over claims on black Confederate soldiers [WaPo]

America’s Losers bumper sticker [Stinqueria]

But note the vague sourcing: “The United States has ruled out a Golden Temple visit [in India], according to an American official involved in planning. Temple officials said that American advance teams had gone to Amritsar, the holy city that is the site of the temple, to discuss a possible visit. But the plan appears to have foundered on the thorny question of how Mr. Obama would cover his head, as Sikh tradition requires, while visiting the temple.” [NYT]

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips keeps the DADT injunction: “The public has an interest in military readiness, unit cohesion, and the preservation of fundamental constitutional rights. While Defendants’ interests in [preserving] the status quo and enforcing its laws are important, these interests are outweighed by the compelling public interest of safeguarding fundamental constitutional rights.” [ThinkProgress]

Our guest columnist this morning is Virginia Thomas, wife of the Supreme Court justice, who has generously provided her own premise, alleviating us of the need to imagine an absurdly comedic situation where she would call Anita Hill at 7:31 a.m. on a Saturday.

Good morning Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband.

So give it some thought. And certainly pray about this and hope that one day you will help us understand why you did what you did. O.K., have a good day.

We now return to 1991, already in progress.

Clarence Thomas’s Wife Asks Anita Hill for Apology [NYT]