The Arizona Star today announced:

...we've decided that syndicated columnist Ann Coulter has worn out her welcome. Many readers find her shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives.

Taking her place on Saturdays will be Tony Snow, host of "The Tony Snow Show," syndicated nationally on Fox News Radio, and "Weekend Live with Tony Snow" on Fox News Channel. He has worked at a number of daily newspapers and is a former speechwriter for former President George H.W. Bush.

As long as Crooks and Liars and everyone else is ragging on the she-pundit with long blonde hair, I thought I'd mention that Labor Day Weekend, "God and Country," complete with the she-pundit, Zell Miller and Christian bands, is coming to Denver's Pepsi Center, our biggest arena - the one where the Stones will play in November.

The TL kid's dad has a big box there, above and close to the stage. I was thinking of asking for a few tickets, since I know he won't be going. Not to blog live - I couldn't stand it - but to be able to unfurl a banner while she speaks. It would be a large white sheet. Here's what it would look like.

On the other hand, I may have to grovel big-time for a seat for the Stones, and I'd hate to waste a favor on something so silly as the she-pundit and "God and Country."

Former federal prosecutor John Loftus anchors a segment on Fox News called "Inside Scoop with John Loftus." I've never seen it or even heard of it before. But, I likely won't be watching.

A couple whose home was wrongly identified on national television as belonging to an Islamic radical has faced harassment, and police are providing special protection.

But the alleged Islamic radical moved out three years ago. Randy and Ronnell Vorick are the current residents. Loftus gave out the home address on his show.

Digby's on fire - again. All of Digby's writing this summer has been exceptional - this is one of my favorites.

The time is coming when the Washington Press Corps, the Administration and even the networks won't dictate the stories and the slant of coverage. There are too many bloggers now ready to swarm, like a fly on the Administration's neck. They may swat us, but we will just show up again, on its arm, its shoulder, its cheek. They can't control the Cindy Sheehan stories, the takeover of our judiciary, the debacle of the War in Iraq and the War on Drugs. We are gaining.

European reporters have submitted a petition calling for the release of jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

Twenty-seven prominent Europeans including Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, German Nobel literature laureate Gunter Grass, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and British TV journalist Kate Adie have responded to an appeal from Reporters Without Borders and signed a petition urging the US courts to release New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who will have been in prison for 50 days tomorrow.

Bill Moyer, 73, wears a "Bulls**t Protector" flap over his ear while President George W. Bush addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

[Via Democratic Underground]

What's up with this? All three major networks have refused to air an ad about Darfur by BeAWitness?

American Progress created a television advertisement for BeAWitness.org, our netroots campaign that calls out the television news media for their deplorable coverage of the genocide in Darfur. Over the last few days, three Washington DC television affiliates, NBC-4, CBS-9, and ABC-7, informed us that they refuse to air the ad.

Go over and watch the ad. It's powerful and accurate. Then send your message to the networks demainding they air the ad.

Update: I'm not sure who wrote this article. The LA Times today has the same article up only says it is written by Robert Scheer. Thanks to the commenter below who pointed this out. I think it sounds like more like Conason, not Scheer.

*********
Joe Conason has an excellent column today at Working for Change, Embedded Over Her Head in Washington. He begins with Tim Robbins' 2003 play, "Embedded/Live," a filmed version of which is now showing on the Sundance Channel. The play was about how the media was tooled by the Administration into presenting its version of the war.

Conason quickly moves on to Judith Miller and her role as an embedded reporter, filing story after story that turned out to be false.

But what her avowedly principled defense of journalistic sources may turn out to be is a window into the practice of official corruption of journalistic integrity in times of war, which is what "Embedded/Live" so effectively highlights.

Conason wonders how Miller could be duped by the Adminstration for so long.

Raw ambition is one likely culprit, yet Miller's protection of her secret sources begs the question of whether she is ideologically loyal to the neocons who guided her for so long.

On a related note, yesterday Arianna wrote about the New York Times reverting to old habits, using Ahmed Chalabi as a source. [hat tip Patriot Daily.]

John at Crooks and Liars says he was completely drained after the finale of HBO's Six Feet Under last night. Me too. I had been dreading the end of the series. I was very happy with last night's show, particularly with the way they tied up so many of the subplots and then gave us the futures of the characters. I won't go into detail, for those who haven't seen it, but if you did see it, tell us what you thought in the comments. [Note to those who do intend to view it: don't read the comments.]

I don't think I missed a single episode in its five year run (thanks to the episodes being replayed during the week and tivo.) It had one lackluster season - last year's - but Sunday nights just won't be the same without it. And now we have to wait until March, 2006 for the return of the Sopranos.

Proving once again, you are never too old to rock and roll. I can't wait for Thanksgiving night when they'll be in Denver.

Fort Collins, Colorado, July, 1978

Boston, 2005

Bump and Update: More details from Saturday night's blastoff. The New York Times reports:

Jann Wenner, publisher of Rolling Stone, whose early history was entwined with Mr. Thompson's emerging career, said that Mr. Thompson was "the DNA of Rolling Stone" and called him "one of the greatest writers of the 20th century." ... Mr. Wenner recalled his drug-crazed exploits with Mr. Thompson but spoke of his feelings as well, saying at one point that he had been jealous of how close Mr. Depp had become to Mr. Thompson. "Now those days are gone," Mr. Wenner said. "Once I had Hunter all to myself, and now I don't have him at all. And none of us do."

....Mr. Thompson's fans were kept at bay, as were most of the news media, and guests were barred from bringing cellphones, cameras and recording devices. Orange cones marking a tow-away zone extended for three miles beyond Mr. Thompson's home off a narrow strip of rural roadway. Black-clad security guards, aided by a dozen county sheriff's deputies, patrolled the 40-acre property, which Mr. Thompson bought in 1968 for $50,000 and is now worth millions.

Anti-war and human rights activist Dr. Habib Siddiqui, has some unkind words for New York Times reporter Judith Miller. Writing for al-Jazeera, he calls her a "Yellow Journalist."

The role of a good reporter is like that of an intelligence analyst who digs for the truth, and not of a stenographer who simply reports what he/she hears without verification. Regrettably, Miller has been nothing but an eavesdropper, and if I may add, a terrible one in that. For the War Party she performed miracles by essentially becoming its spokeswoman. Earlier in the program, she described her role as the conveyor of official news rather than of a skeptical reporter: “My job was not to collect information and analyze it independently as an intelligence agency; my job was to tell readers of the New York Times as best as I could figure out, what people inside the governments who had very high security clearances, who were not supposed to talk to me, were saying to one another about what they thought Iraq had and did not have in the area of weapons of mass destruction.”

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]