Jane Hamsher: Another Victim of Obamabottery

Jane Hamsher, Queen Bee of a curious, dying online breed known as the Dilettante White Left (AKA 'the .35 of one percenters') has filed for Chapter 7 dissolution of CommonSense Media, an internet advertising network founded in 2007.

From the vantage point of your intrepid reporter, this latest sign of financial woe within the Hamsher Cult is both entirely predictable and richly [intentional pun alert] deserved.


Creditors include, among others the Daily Kos, National Review Online, the Drudge Report, plus Firedoglake and Hamsher herself.

Hamsher's audience dwindled during previous years as her reader's blog, MyFDL, came to be increasingly dominated during the first Obama term by the inchoate and often incoherent rants of elderly white people railing against America's first African-American President, scapegoating him personally for virtually every single social, economic and foreign policy problem, both real and imagined, most of which have dogged the United States at least since the 1980s.

Over time, MyFDL became known mostly as a sort of  a 'crazy aunt in the progressive blogosphere's attic' laughingstock. Hamsher herself steadily lost personal mojo among the blogging elite as her readership polarised itself into little more than yet another cranky third-Green Party adjunct group during the 2012 election.

Meanwhile, as everyone now knows, the political zeitgeist had changed in ways that were not discerned by self-absorbed ranters of either the Tea Party or Fake leftist nut fringes. President Obama quietly won a relatively easy and resounding victory in his 2012 re-election bid.

The finances of donor and ad supported blogs such as Firedoglake and Daily Kos tend to be shrouded in secrecy as privately-held businesses are not required to publicly disclose earnings.

Hamsher, reached by phone, referred The Huffington Post to her attorney, Warren Gorman, who declined to comment.

In the absence of transparency which is the ironic byword of many so-called progressive blogs, a reading of the tea leaves indicates that Hamsher's FDL donation stream may very well have spiralled downward along with her readership since the 2008 election.

For one thing, as the 2012 election season deepened into summer and blog participation increased cyclically across most political web sites, it was not uncommon for solicitors masquerading as anonymous commenters to directly or indirectly solicit donations from other commenters in My FDL threads, sometimes using cult-style shaming tactics in the process. Whether these were officially promoted by Hamsher or simply volunteer FDL acolytes is not known.

Another 'tell', FDL's two most renowned staff bloggers, Marcy Wheeler and David Dayen, have both left the blog in recent years. While their terminations were described as mutual decisions, left unanswered are questions of whether these were simply layoffs in a bad economy or the result of ideological differences or some other reason.

Hamsher's exceptionally good at getting people to put their money where her mouth is. But because Firedoglake is a blog that's dependent on financial support from PACs, it makes me wonder how much of her outrage is real and how much is driven by the constant need to fire up donors.

I posed that question to David Ferguson, who used to be in charge of Firedoglake's "Late Night FDL" feature under his pseudonym TRex. He replied, "I would hope that Jane wouldn't be so cynical as to exploit her readers in any way. I do know that working for her, there was a constant sense of crisis. Everything was always a blazing, four-alarm emergency, and I think some of that is what comes through on her blog. I don't know whether that's something she's working for effect or if that's just the way she is. Some of her alliances over the last year have genuinely surprised me, though, particularly with regard to the flap over the health care bill."  

Hamsher was widely criticised  for her handling of two PACs that collected nearly a half million dollars of donations for numerous "progressive causes" as regularly advertised on FDL.

The FEC reports show that Hamsher's PACs are a significant source of income for Firedoglake, but my experience trying to question her about them suggests that she's not big on transparency.

FDL Action PAC supports liberal causes and candidates, often with targeted campaigns such as "Tell Blanche Lincoln and Mike Ross to Act Like Democrats." Accountability Now's stated goal is to recruit primary challengers against members of Congress who "sell out the interests of their constituents in favor of corporations," according to its site.

Accountability Now collected $113,695 in donations during 2009, as it reported to the FEC, and spent $169,992 that year on nine consultants. Six of those people managed the committee: The PAC paid Hamsher $24,000, another $24,000 to PAC cofounder Glenn Greenwald of Salon.Com, $65,710 to two executive directors and $38,047 to two management consultants.

Time to Make the Donuts; Five Blog Entries in One

screenshot to go with blog title

The following were written quite a while ago. I'll lightly edit and add updates to each story.

God bless the audience

#1 The Mother-In-Law From Hell?

This is one of those stories that is tough to look away from.

In the white corner, the bride. In the pink, the mother-in-law from hell...

The last thing any bride-to-be wants is to fall foul of her future mother-in-law - particularly when her damning criticism of your behaviour goes viral on the internet.

Mother-in-law sends worst email ever to bride: forgivable?


Heidi Withers and Freddie Bourne

I'm not suggesting anyone spend too much time on this one. It's interesting, but then one starts to wonder whether the whole thing has been rigged.

Mother in law email from Carolyn Bourne to Heidi Withers

Anonymous said...

Go ahead and laugh, but the joke's on you. This is just a publicity stunt.

They'll have television producers with wads of cash knocking down their door in 3... 2... 1...

Catherine said...

As someone said earlier: "the joke's on you." How easy it is to fool the masses. Clearly, Mrs Bourne has friends in the media. Nice stunt to get her name out there. Sometime soon we'll be hearing about a book deal or a TV prog on "good" manners perhaps. *Yawn, yawn*

BTW did you hear that 121 women were raped by government troops in Congo last month? I know it's trivial compared to the Bourne Identity, but thought I'd let you know....

I've heard a lot of the stories on Jerry Springer and other so-called reality shows were fake. This one smells fishy too.

*** UPDATE: I had forgotten about this one. Apparently it hit the zeitgeist in June 2011 and soon withered. At the time it was an entertaining and juicy flamefest to follow. Yet, after the fact it was a "here today, gone tomorrow" or one-hit wonder. I googled "Carolyn Bourne Heidi Withers" and nothing more recent than that time frame popped up. This one needs to be tossed into the blogospheric shredder. Next. *** END OF UPDATE

#2 Is Roger Ebert a Jackass?

I was viewing that show Jackass a few years ago. I didn't like it. Watching people hurt themselves seemed pointless.

One of them killed himself and a co-worker through drinking and driving.

Ebert tweeted something about friends not letting jackasses drink and drive. I don't think that kind of comment should be causing such a brewhaha, pun intended. Sure it was insensitive, but the degree of backlash against him is unwarranted. He had his facebook removed for a while. He's getting called all sorts of names. This thing has gone viral. Stupid is as stupid does.

There is always more to a story than what's on the surface. It turns out Ebert is an alcoholic who promotes Alcoholics Anonymous.

He says it's totally unfounded to refer to them as a cult. Yet, the truth is they probably are one. Anyone can research this and decide for his or herself.

The moral of the story is we are a lost nation. The educational system has hit an all-time low. As explained by Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, we have lost our gumption, an ability to think for ourselves.

We are too absorbed in the cult of personality. We are always seeking out experts. Film critics like Ebert tell us what movies to watch. Politicians authorise illegal wars and wiretapping for our own so-called good. Sports authorities such as Bob Ryan tell us what a great coach Doc Rivers is. Then he must be!

I was okay with Ebert's tweet. It probably would have been better to not refer to the deceased as a jackass, despite that being the title for his movies. The deceased was horrifically irresponsible. (see fact, conspiracy)

Ebert shouldn't have said it. The Devil's Advocate says the dude himself used the word and simply did something Ebert feels strongly against.

The thing was blown out of proportion.

I just watched a very funny Letterman top ten with Justin Bieber. Dave was in total snark mode. If Bieber knew Letterman's history, he could've gone into Cher mode, if you know what I mean.

So Yahoo decides to blow it out of proportion with an article titled, "What Happened to Justin Bieber's Bromance With David Letterman?"

It's crazy what gets passed off for news.

***(UPDATE): Via Rolling Stone Magazine - Selena Gomez and David Letterman on Making Justin Bieber Cry END OF UPDATE ***

#3 ABE VIGODA IS ALIVE!



Yahoo is my homepage. So when I turn on my computer, I usually get at least a glimpse of their various highlighted stories. They also have a feature where they give the top ten yahoo search requests. Today's was very scary. Abe Vigoda was #2. I was like, damn, please no. Fish is meant to live forever.

It turns out the big story is that Abe Vigoda was on The Today Show. Wtf? Just for that, he's the #2 search item?


There is something sick going on called celebrity death pools. Dissemination of false rumours appears to be on the rise. These things go viral and cause a degree of personal distress for each victim. This has happened a bunch of times to Vigoda. It's happened to Bill Cosby, Sinbad and even the lovely and talented Betty White.

10 Celebrities You Think Are Dead But Are Still Alive





Two older celebrities you don't hear much about are the old-school, actress sisters Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine. They are both in their nineties, God bless them.

They have been hating on each other since they were little kids and haven't spoken to one other for over 35 years. This article explains that their animosity developed because their mom kept flip-flopping on who was her favorite daughter.

Yet the cause of their estrangement goes far beyond professional sibling-rivalry. Its real roots lie in festering family jealousy and in the desperate battle waged by both women for the love of their mother, Lilian — who switched her affection bewilderingly from one sister to the other for more than half a century.

My theory is the two are hanging on to see who can last the longest in spite of the other. I say the two need to grow up, make up, and perhaps do so on a Barbara Walters or Oprah special. Now that would be must-see tv.

*** UPDATE: Betty White at age 91 is still going strong with appearances in all 71 episodes of Hot in Cleveland.

Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine are still alive. Olivia turns 97 in July. Her last acting credit is from a 1988 tv movie. Fontaine turns 96 in October. Her last acting credit is a 1994 tv movie.

Abe Vigoda turned 92 in February. He is currently involved in a comedy in production titled, Mobster Movie.

Sinbad will be 57 in November. He is rumoured to be starring in a movie in production titled, The Independents.

Bill Cosby turns 76 in July. His Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was remade in 2012 for approximately seven episodes. END OF UPDATE ***

#4 Memorial Day

I was reading a post from a right wing blogger on the essence of Memorial Day. He had kind words for folks who have lost family due to soldiering. To wingnuts, they have some crazy notion people die in wars for some legitimate cause. The tip of the iceberg is usually they died protecting our way of life. Uhm, no.

The way I see it, someone like this can post what I feel is propaganda and not run the risk of being called out for it. On the other hand, if someone were to write an anti-war essay, they'd probably be attacked for being a commie agitator. The blogger's last sentence was straight out of Orwell's 1984.

I don't get how being a soldier and working for the military-industrial complex protects peace. Now if someone could direct me to any wingnut posts calling out the Bush Administration for its prosecution of an illegal war, I'd be more quick to give such people the benefit of the doubt.

I'm also not some pacifist no matter what. Hitler and fascism did need to be put down through the use of violence.

However, war and the death industry need to be stopped. Imagine all the good that could be accomplished if the money put into death and destruction were instead used for creating job growth, good schools, housing, protecting the environment, and all other bipartisan ideals.

Peace and war are polar opposites. It is the height of doublespeak to proclaim that war protects peace. War by definition is the bane of humanity. Our biggest enemy is perhaps ourselves.

It is true defense contractors and chicken hawk politicians deserve the scorn more than soldiers do. I think most sign up due to the economy and because most schools are bad. The right waves the flag and typically has pledged allegiance from the earliest of ages. It's thus no surprise many end up enlisting. Many feel there is no other opportunity to go to college or have a real so-called career.

For all of Ted Kennedy's flaws, he was against the Iraq War from before it even started. Now his seat is occupied by a Republican, not because the people like Scott Brown, but because they didn't like Coakley's establishment ties. It was a protest vote. Now we have one less "voice of reason" in the Senate.

The House of Reps is always open to corruption due to gerrymandering. I don't know what's up with possible(?) shenanigans centered around Kucinich's seat.

Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. We had no right invading Iraq. It should't have been done. It went against the reasoning of why we went into the big wars, to protect human life and borders.

At least with Iraq War #1, Kuwait had been invaded with the U.S. not acting alone.

Plus, there's always this gnawing fact that the U.S. picks and chooses which countries to invade. It ends up looking racist and more to do with greed without even a touch of a humanitarian principle being involved.

Many Americans are fully aware that the U.S. has always been corrupt and full of war profiteers. But we lack any political clout. Guys like Kucinich and Ron Paul are deemed as crackpots.

Maybe they are. I do respect their anti-war stances. Too bad Obama has continued with the previous administration's methods for the most part. The first hints that we are up the creek, to me, was when Pelosi "took impeachment off the table" for GW Bush.

Wtf? And Obama seems to love all that spying and war as much as Bush and Cheney. It all reeks of good cop, bad cop. We need another FDR, someone who's going to strongly point out that the world has hit rock bottom. That to get things back on track, we are going to have to lift up the people. This same old, same old of war and blood sucking capitalism is absolutely destroying the planet.

*** UPDATE: Haha, yes that was a good rant. It is also further documentation of yours truly's truly leftier than thou status.

The Ted Kennedy Senate seat was won back by the good guys. What's her name, Elizabeth Warren or something? I am really out of the loop. END OF UPDATE ***

Let's wrap up this mailed-in entry with journalistic coverage of ...

#5 Kurt Cobain's Daughter's Middle Name Is Bean

Web Searches Surge for Frances Bean

Kurt Cobain gave his daughter the name of Frances Bean. He thought she looked like a kidney bean after looking at the ultrasound. Her godfather is Michael Stipe. Her godmother is Drew Barrymore.

I got this info from Yahoo. They say people on the internet are into finding out more about her. It comes up with these quirky, fun kind of stories Huffington does but their pages load a heck of a lot faster.

Frances Bean Cobain sounds kinda groovy. She seems a mix of goth and hippie. She just turned 18.



She's kind of an internet troll, which is not always a bad thing. I mean, a lot of great people in history have been considered bad news by conformists. Here is what she wrote on her twitter page showing that it's not cool to live off of other's names. Maybe she learned such humility from Drew Barrymore.

She clearly has problems with those who, in her opinion, rely on famous family members. In 2009, she let those thoughts be known on social networking site Twitter. Frances ranted about Lindsay Lohan's younger sister Ali. To Ali, she wrote: "You blatently (sic) don't care how your recognized, its the objective to get famous and that is what makes you replaceable and a recycled idea."

She appears to have a good head on her shoulders, all things considered. We know what happened with Kurt, and her mom appears perhaps a tad unhinged. Maybe in their personal lives, Frances Bean is more of the mom with Courtney role-playing the daughter.

*** UPDATE Frances Bean turns 21 in August.

Wow, I don't know what's up with some of the stories listed at this link. Haha, Courtney and Frances exchange tweets. And omg there is something about a home invasion and attempted murder.

Frances Bean Cobain News END OF UPDATE ***

Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Veil!

You, so concerned with your legacy, should cringe. Instead of being remembered proudly as the first African American President, one who changed the domestic political zeitgeist away from the prevailing conservativism of the prior forty years, you will be remembered as the one who finished shredding the first amendment for the war against an adjec...adver...er ah...whatever.

Not the liberal who boldly nationalised the auto industry, who sorta-kinda-almost boldly championed a weakened, privatised version of national healthcare reform, who raised tax rates on the wealthy for the first time in a generation, who, against historical partisan opposition did better manage to mitigate the worst effects of austerity during a deep recession than an "enlightened" Western Europe, which dove headlong into triple dip territory.

Yes, you will certainly be remembered for your skin pigmentation.

And your wall of secrecy.

Remember LBJ?

Less than a present day Lincoln, you are beginning to remind me of a postmodern Johnson.

Johnson spoke often about wanting to be the "president of all the people." He had great skill in crafting decisions that offered up something for everyone. In Vietnam increased bombing raids were conducted to appease the "hawks," while gradual troop increases and intermittent efforts at negotiation were touted to please the "doves." Johnson's efforts at consensus building on Vietnam often meant avoiding the more difficult decisions inherent in leadership positions.

If the record of Lyndon Johnson's presidency were to end in 1965, his would surely be ranked among our nation's finest. Thrust into the role of Chief Executive on that tragic day in Dallas in November 1963, Johnson reassured an emotionally devastated public by pledging to honor, and build upon, the legacy of his slain predecessor -- "John Kennedy's death commands what his life conveyed -- that America must move forward." Johnson did indeed move forward, presenting a program of domestic reforms originally crafted in the mold of the New Deal and imbued with the vigor of the New Frontier. By 1965, Johnson had devised and signed into law more than 200 pieces of major legislation, including a sizable tax cut, a billion dollar anti-poverty program, and a groundbreaking civil rights bill. But the promises of his Great Society were swallowed up in the quagmire of Vietnam.

The boldness with which Johnson moved on the domestic front was undermined by his own hesitance and duplicity concerning Vietnam. By March 1968 a Gallup poll recorded that only 26 percent of the American people approved of his handling of the war. Most damaging to the man and to the presidency itself was the opening up of a "credibility gap." Lyndon Johnson, who had done so much to fulfill the idealism of the Kennedy era, was blamed for ushering in an era of increased public cynicism toward official Washington.</blockquote>

Wake the fock up, looser Mr. President.

A common thread that runs through many of the American foreign-policy misadventures of the last couple of generations—the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran and of Allende in Chile, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Vietnam War, the Iran-Contra debacle, the catastrophic Iraq war that was launched ten years ago this week, the torture scandal—is the manipulation of secrecy, deceit, and unchecked executive power. The Obama Administration’s so-far-unaccountable drone war may never rival the damage of any of those. But isn’t it bad enough that it has somehow managed to cast Rand Paul—who would abrogate the American social contract, consolidate the country’s transformation into a merciless plutocracy, and destroy the global power of the United States not just for ill but, in both senses, for good—as the conscience of a nation and the hero of its enlightened youth?