ABC7 and Cablevision have made significant progress and have reached an agreement in principle that recognizes the fair value of ABC7, with deal points that we expect to finalize with Cablevision. Given this movement, we're pleased to announce that ABC7 will return to Cablevision households while we work to complete our negotiations.
Channel 7 went dark in parts of New Jersey this morning as Disney and Cablevision remained mired in a distribution stalemate.
The midnight blackout occurred just hours before ABC's telecast of the Academy Awards - slated for 8 tonight - leaving millions of viewers in doubt as to whether a deal will be reached in time for them to watch the star-studded annual awards show.
The move came after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on how much Cablevision should pay to carry the ABC channel. Some 3 million Cablevision subscribers in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut will feel the pain of this public fight over money. Senator Lautenberg put out a letter today voicing his displeasure with the move:
"New Jersey families should not be used as pawns in this battle between two large corporations," stated Lautenberg, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. "Disney should not cut off access to the Oscars and critical news programming for so many New Jersey families. Both sides need to get back to the negotiating table and work this out immediately."
"We have sent Cablevision a new proposal, and are awaiting their response. If Cablevision is serious about doing right by their customers and returning ABC7 and its programming to them, then they need to act now. The ball is in their court."
It's amazing when this much money is on the line, that the two sides can't come to some kind of agreement before they piss off all their customers in the process. If they don't come to an understanding in a few hours, many will be calling their neighbor to see who their signal provider is.
In case any of you missed probably the ONLY interview Sarah Palin will give for quite a while, you NEED to see this.
I have a lot of thoughts on the choice of Sarah Palin for VP. I have some perspective based on my limited experience. I know that even though Bush and Cheney have made a complete mess of the country, we absolutely CANNOT assume that Obama will win, simply because the previous Republicans have screwed up.
This may seem off topic, but bear with me: a few years ago, a Councilman from my town - a Democrat - was arrested on drug charges in Newark. He held on to his office - tighter than Joe Ferriero is hanging on to his Chairmanship. Despite us privately begging and pleading for him to step, down, he went through with his swearing in - quite embarrassing - and a few months longer than that even. He protested his innocence up and down and the committee folks - as nice as they are - hoped this was some kind of misunderstanding. They believed him because they wanted to believe him. Until he dashed all their hopes by pleading guilty in JULY after being busted in NOVEMBER. 8 Months of lying to everyone until he finally pled guilty. You would THINK that that would make it very hard to elect Democrats for the next - oh century - as the Republicans were reported to have told themselves. And so, the Republicans didn't campaign very hard.
That was in 2006. There were 3 of us on the Dem ticket in town, facing two well-liked incumbent Republicans. The disgraced Councilman, before he pled guilty, offered $$$ and help for the campaign. We said - No Thank You. SERIOUSLY, No Thank You. Then we tried to run a campaign for 3 seats with less than $9,000. We stayed completely positive - not one negative ad against our opponents. We had a message of greening our town and we stayed on- message. We won all three seats.
My point of this little anecdote - is that it doesn't matter what the previous administration does or is accused of, or how much they have screwed up - you CANNOT just run on that. You cannot let your guard down - not for one moment. You cannot assume a cakewalk. Every election can go either way no matter what came before. So get people looking forward - that is what we did. Obama WILL need as much help as we can give - no matter how much Bush screwed up. We cannot let down our guard.
And so we have to run on the FUTURE. We need to tell folks about OBAMA and Biden. AND we need to tell people that Sarah Palin has absolutely no qualifications for this job. Just look at her unscripted answers. She is a Beauty pageant contestant. I find it almost amusing that for months they pilloried Obama for his "celebrity" and his oratory skills although he has never behaved any differently than a thoughtful, calm, dignified, man of principle who can think on his feet AND he writes his OWN speeches. The Republicans then have the nerve to fawn all over a pretty bubble headed un-curious BEAUTY contestant who can read from a teleprompter but can't think on her feet. Obama showed excellent judgment by choosing a person ready to lead in Joe Biden. John McCain showed a lack of judgment of frightening proportions by choosing a Governor who has absolutely NO experience in foreign affairs and is the very first VP candidate - according to Keith Olbermann, who has NEVER MET A FOREIGN HEAD OF STATE before being chosen. She had only been to Canada and Mexico before. Now reports are that the folks who brought you 9/11 have regained their previous strength thanks to George Bush the Bewildered. And so the FUTURE demands that we WILL need COMPETENCE in the White House. We will need SKILL. We will need DIPLOMACY. We will need EXCELLENT JUDGMENT. All traits SERIOUSLY lacking in John McCain and Sarah Palin and on display in HD in that interview with Charlie Gibson. Traits that Obama and Biden have in abundance.
We need competent clear thinkers with INTELLIGENCE like Obama and Biden.
And so, I submit to you that the Sarah Palin interview should win the award for the SCARIEST FILM of the entire year. Because if the Hot Head and The Bubble Head win, our FUTURE is too horrifying to even contemplate.
The best review - She's Not Ready by Bob Herbert who gave us a thoughtful take on how we should judge Sarah solely on her qualifications, not her family life:
The US Justice Dept. states that forcing telephone companies to comply with subpeonas issued by the NJ Attorney General's Office may reveal state secrets. Our Fair State wants to investigate the release of customer records to the NSA, and counters that since everybody and their cousin knows about the program, there are no 'secrets' to be revealed. The State also argued that the federal lawsuit oversteps the boundary of state sovereignty.
The city of Newark may lay off up to 20% of its municipal workforce in response to a huge budget deficit. Between 400 and 800 employees could lose their jobs in an attempt to cut waste and slow spending, according to Mayor Cory Booker.
Union Local President Jerry Collins is "cautiously optimistic" that the nurses' strike at RWJ University Hospital will end this week. A federal mediator has become involved in talks between the hospital and the nurses, who have been on strike for almost three weeks.
An airline employee let a relative bypass security yesterday, resulting in a shutdown of part of terminal C in Newark Liberty Airport. The man was stopped when he tried to board an airplane without a boarding pass. On the 9/11 anniversary. Really.
The civil trial about the Trenton Mayoral election began yesterday, with Tony Mack attempting to show election fraud, including disenfranchised voters and other election law violations. If Mack wins the case, the May 9th vote re-electing Mayor Doug Palmer may be declared void.
Some contamination: Gov. Corzine and local residents feel that plans allowed or being considered by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission for decontamination at two South Jersey sites are inadequate. The former Heritage Minerals in Manchester Twp (Ocean County) has removed radioactive waste to levels acceptable years ago when the plan was developed and plans to build 2,450 senior housing units on the site; critics want it cleaned up to currently acceptable levels. ShieldAlloy in Newfield (Gloucester County) wants to cap their radioactive waste on-site "with dirt and rocks" at a significant cost savings rather than ship it to specialized landfills.
State Sen. Bill Gormley is pushing for Atlantic City to become a leader in off-shore wind power, proposing at least 100 windmills. State DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson has said the state will take a serious look at offshore wind to meet the goal of 20% of the state's power by renewable resources by 2020.
Tom Kean Sr has revealed his true colors. His motivations for so forcefully promoting the fictional 9/11 movie are purely political - it's all about his son's campaign. From the New York Daily News:
Asked if he had apologized to Clinton for inaccuracies in the movie, Kean quipped, "No, he was out campaigning against my son yesterday, so I didn't reach out to him at all!"
This movie, which uses completely fabricated events to lay the blame for 9/11 on Clinton, is his chance for revenge. It's not surprising that Tom Kean seems to be putting political expediency above the truth, since he's always blamed Clinton for al Qaeda (from 2004):
Kean: Clinton Blew Best Chance to Get bin Laden
The chairman of the independent commission probing the 9/11 attacks said Sunday that the U.S. probably missed its best chance to take Osama bin Laden out during the Clinton administration, when the notorious terrorist left Sudan for Afghanistan in 1996.
"If we had acted earlier on al-Qaida when al-Qaida was smaller and just getting started, even before bin Laden went to Afghanistan, there were times we could have gotten him," former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean told NBC's "Meet the Press."
So now, Tom Kean Sr is using his position of credibilty and trust as chairman of the 9/11 Commission to blame Democrats for the attacks on 9/11. This is all about politics, and it's all about putting his son's campaign above the truth.
New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell, a former high school teacher, will join Congresswoman Louise Slaughter this afternoon to hold a joint press conference calling on Scholastic Inc and ABC to keep the factually-challenged mockudrama The Path to 9/11 out of our schools.
Scholastic is currently planning on shopping the docudrama to as many as 100,000 teachers, and has already produced lesson plans containing questionable information and analysis.
We've covered the situation before here, here and here.
UPDATE: There's reason to be cautiously optimistic. Scholastic appears to be reversing course. They issued a statement saying "We determined that the materials did not meet our high standards for dealing with controversial issues." Instead, their new material will focus on:
1. Media Literacy - what is a docudrama; how does it differ from a documentary; what are the differences between factual reporting and a dramatization?
2. Background to 9/11 - what are some of the causes of unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world that give rise to attacks on the U.S. and other countries?
3. Geography and Culture -- there is a long history of conflict in the Middle East. How well do students understand each of the countries involved and what influences their behavior?
A word of caution. Their press release notes that "the program can provide a springboard to discussion about the issues leading up to 9/11, terrorism and the Middle East." If that means they will still encourage teachers to show this in the classroom, that's unacceptable.
Disney, ABC, Tom Kean and the right wing's attempts to teach our kids propaganda about 9/11 may have suffered a huge setback. Tom Kean Sr had personally written a letter to educators urging teachers to use of the movie and related teaching materials in the classroom. Scholastic had posted the letter, and teaching materials on its site, but it appears the teaching materials may have been removed. For now, Kean's letter is still available on their site. (UPDATE: Think Progress reports that Scholastic plans to put the materials back online.)
"When we were attacked, all the politicians sang 'God Bless America,'" Cosby said. "Then they went in a back room and said 'Let's make some cutbacks (to veterans programs.)"
Jon Corzine yesterday picked executive director of the NJ Institute for Social Justice, Kenneth Zimmerman to replace Stuart Rabner as his chief counsel.
"Ken Zimmerman is an ethical, talented attorney with a wealth of legal experience and strongly held principles. I will rely on his guidance and I am confident he will pursue the people's interests with the single-minded focus he has demonstrated throughout his career."
Paul Aronsohn reiterated his challenge to Scott Garrett for a series of debates. A running "debate clock" on Aronsohn's site shows that it's been 17 days, 9 hours, 38 minutes and 27 seconds of silence from Garrett since Aronsohn first issued his debate challenge.
Bill Clinton spoke at a fundraiser for Senator Bob Menendez yesterday about the importance of winning back the Congress:
“This is a real simple deal: in the last six years the White House and Congress have been under the iron grip not of the Republican Party, but a narrow strip of the most right-wing, the most ideological, the most dominated by the corporate special interests in the Republican Party. They’ve had it their way for six years and they tried their ideas, they implemented their policies and we can see their results."
The Clinton event raised about $750,000 for Menendez, while George H. W. Bush's fundraiser for Kean Jr raised roughly $300,000.
Just when you thought Tom Kean Sr had no credibility left to lose, we get another bombshell. Tonight Keith Olbermann played a clip of Tom Kean Sr - a paid consultant for the ABC 9/11 docudrama - talking about his role in the movie. Kean explains how he had the power to make changes to any inaccurate aspects of the movie script (emphasis mine):
"The writer and I worked together on the project so that he would share the script with me. And I could look it over from the point of view of the accuracy of the events that he was portraying, and where I thought suggestions needed to be made or changes needed to be made, I could do that.
And ABC and the writer in particular were very, very sensitive to that. And any time I said that "this isn't the way it happened" or "I don't think it happened this way," they were very, very good to make changes that were necessary."
As reported by Hopeful earlier today, Tom Kean Sr has allowed himself to be used to promote a "docudrama" about the events leading up to 9/11 despite knowing that it is full of inaccuracies.
In one key scene in the movie, bin Laden is close to being captured, but the effort is cancelled by the Clinton administration. Former counter-terrorism advisor Richard Clarke says it was all made up:
“It didn’t happen. There were no troops in Afghanistan about to snatch bin Laden. There were no C.I.A. personnel about to snatch bin Laden. It’s utterly invented.”
Faced with the facts, it looks like even Tom Kean Sr is slowly starting to admit the truth. He admitted to the New York Times that the scene isn't factually accurate (h/t to Matt Stoller at the Open Letter to ABC):
Mr. Kean conceded that some points might have been more drama than documentary. “Some of the people shown there probably weren’t there,” he said.
Knowing that the movie is factually inaccurate, why does he still endorse this mockudrama? More importantly, why is he associating himself with a right wing effort to teach revisionist information to school children about the country's history and events leading up to 9/11?
The Honorable Tom Kean, Sr., garnered widespread praise for his role as co-chair of the 9/11 Commission. The bestselling, readable report remains the best source for what happened leading up to that tragic day. Now, ABC is promoting a "docudrama" to be aired next week as "based on the 9/11 commission report." There's no question this is being promoted as a truthful -- indeed 'historic' -- account of the event. Yet, it is full of fictional -- that being a kind word for untrue -- scenes that leave an entirely misleading view of how close the United States was to stopping the attack. Tom Kean has been closely connected to this project and endorses it. He has allowed himself to be a major part of what has turned out to be a right-wing propaganda project, and it will soon damage his standing as the traditional media picks up his role. This follows renewed attention to his fundraising, ethics, and voter suppression history.
