The Salt Lick

Summation and Sabbatical

2008-01-15T09:34:00.000-05:00

The Salt Dome HQ -- See summary of salt shakings at the bottom of this post

Someone once told a tired Truman Capote that he shouldn't complain so much about the demands of being a writer. After all, the friend admonished him, Jack Kerouac just sat down and wrote whatever came into his head. Capote replied, "That's not writing, that's typing."

Bloggers know what Capote meant, and so it has been with the Salt Lick. I hate placing this site "on hold," I really do. It's lots of fun. Other projects, however, demand the time otherwise spent keeping the Salt Lick current. When the dust settles, I'll reevaluate and see whether to continue digging or close the salt mine.

In the meantime, I can rest easy knowing Jerry, Steve, Darrell, Spacecraft, "John," Norman, Will, and the folks at WikiRoanoke keep a watchful eye for the days the Roanoke Times careens off into the land of delusion, spleen, and moonbat rage. And hopefully some of the other new blogs popping up all over Virginia will help them as well. I will continue to visit and comment at other sites until I decide what to do with this one. I'll also check the comments on this post periodically if anyone wants to contact me.

I've listed links below that lead to some of my posts detailing Roanoke Times bias. One thing I'm immensely proud of is having assembled a catalogue proving what many SW Virginians allege -- that the Roanoke Times is a mean-spirited, left-wing, Democratic house organ. Publisher Wendy Zomparelli's response to critical readers that "bias lies in the eyes of the beholder" has been revealed for the disingenous, arrogant, dodge it is. In the past nine months she and Tommy Denton have had several opportunities to hire a moderate or conservative to balance their editorial staff. They've chosen each time to hire someone whose past work speaks "left wing" or "liberal." Despite what some journalists think, actions speak louder than words.

The people that control the Roanoke Times have no respect for intellectual diversity; they don't want it at their newspaper. They've become arrogant and dismissive, insular and narrow-minded, bigoted and hateful. The election of George Bush seems to have pushed them into a region of self-righteous rage where they feel justified in doing whatever it takes to twist the citizens of SW Virginia to their agenda. Roanoke no longer has a newspaper written by real journalists, but only bumf onto which is poured the undiapered leavings of incontinent minds.

Frankly, these people are just not that interesting to me anymore. For anyone desirous of stepping in where Salt Lick leaves off, however, here are stories yet to be researched and written:

-- Compilation and posting of the Roanoke Times' most frequent local business advertisers. Ultimately, advertisers are the best way to make a newspaper sit up and listen.

-- Editorial page editor Tommy Denton's career as press aide to Democratic Lloyd Bentsen and his tenure as editor at The Fort Worth Star Telegram, in George Bush's home state of Texas.

-- Editorial page editor Dan Radmacher's views on the evils of capitalism. His published writings on this bear scrutiny.

-- Connections between the owners of Landmark Communications -- the Roanoke Times parent company -- and Virginia Democrats, some of whose campaigns they donate to.

-- Introductory piece on new editorial page editor Luanne Traud. I started this but didn't have time to finish. As I said, she appears to be a reasonable liberal, not a moonbat.

-- A comprehensive study of the RT's "news" side, analyzing the stories Mike Riley chooses, where he puts them, and what headline he writes for them.

OK -- for new readers blundering into the Salt Lick, or for long-time readers wishing to relive the clanging, teeth-grinding screech of posts unmasking the Roanoke Times' bias, here are our "greatest hits."

Bias? Don't believe your lying eyes.

Do Tommy Denton and George Bush go waaaay back?

Tommy Denton gets that old time left-wing religion

God's Democrat

Yes, it's that Dan Radmacher

Attention news editor Mike Riley -- your credibility is in the toilet, even if the Koran isn't

Bill Moyers, Patron Saint of the Roanoke Times

The hypocrisy of Bill Moyers, Patron Saint of the Roanoke Times

Hidden racial prejudice at the Roanoke Times?

Roanoke Times and minorities -- do as I say, not as I do

So the Roanoke Times is racially and intellectually bigoted?

Roanoke Times' fear of intellectual diversity?

Democrats are mostly Jews, blacks, and atheists?

Is the Roanoke Times deceiving the elderly?

Roanoke Times -- the dog that wouldn't bark

Editorial roundup -- Bush McHitlerburton is just plain evil

Pictures are worth a thousand words -- Roanoke Times political cartoon roundup -- Republicans are evil

Cries and Whispers in the Roanoke Times newsroom

Maybe their priorities are off?

2005-08-05T05:37:00.000-04:00

Who does this remind you of?

Volunteer Group Blamed for Destroying Turtle Nest During Search for Missing Teen in Aruba

By Peter Prengaman Associated Press Writer
Published: Aug 4, 2005

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) - An Aruban park ranger on Thursday accused a Texas volunteer group of destroying a nest of endangered sea turtle eggs while searching for a missing U.S. teen on a beach,

Mountain music and "Down the Crooked Road"

2005-08-04T05:51:00.000-04:00

Steve's post reminded me that I've been meaning to draw everyone's attention to yet another attraction of Virginia's Little Switzerland -- our music venues.

Reporter Ralph Berrier and his associates at the Roanoke Times have created a wonderful multi-part series showcasing bluegrass and Old Time music and musicians in Southwest Virginia.

Now, I know some of you flatlanders are saying "I'm not driving 3 hours just to watch Hee-Haw." But oh, you are so far wide of the mark. One of the amazing things about this music is the diversity of people who carry on the tradition. Scratch a mountain musician and you're just as likely to find an old California hippie who's turned to acoustic as a Rockbridge County doctor who collects expensive banjos. (I know both.) Just remember, at Tractor Supply they don't make you show an Appalachian ID before they sell you overalls.

Salt Lick has visited most of the stops on "The Crooked Road," and jammed at a few of them, a couple of times with Ralph Berrier and some of the musicians pictured in the RT series. But don't get any big ideas. "Jammed with" in mountain music can mean, "Me and my fiddle picked a stump at the back of the band and played along just loud enough for us and nobody else to hear." That's one of the wonderful things about the music scene here -- it's very open, welcoming. Everyone is welcome. Well, maybe not accordians. But only because they're so loud.

One of the best venues for a "tourist" to visit is the General Store in Floyd on Friday night.(Not the Friday night after this one because the Galax Old Time Fiddler's Festival will be on-going and everyone will be there, not in Floyd.) Have dinner at the Pine Tavern Inn or Chateau Morrissette Vineyards, then drive into Floyd where the streets are full of pedestrians and the bands are overflowing onto the sidewalk for pick-up jams. Buy an RC Cola and a Moonpie or a cone of handdipped ice cream and sit back and enjoy the dancing at the back of the General Store.

All part of Virginia's Little Switzerland.

Skull and Bones was not the real threat

2005-08-04T05:47:00.000-04:00

George Bush, John Bolton, and Wolfowitz -- members of secret 1970's "World Domination Moustache Society."

Some time ago, the sharp-eyed Will Vehrs of Bacon's Rebellion spotted John Bolton hovering in the background of this photo of George Bush at Yale. Additional research reveals the man seated to Bush's right as none other than Paul Wolfowitz, adding fuel to the theory that this sneaky Jew/neocon stuff started very long ago. (Heh, caught you Wolfowitz. A shave and hair-straightener only goes so far, you Shylock, you.)

But they're improving all the time

2005-08-04T05:46:00.000-04:00

A Hollins University professor uses the Roanoke Times writing to illustrate, uh... mediocrity?

I'm not questioning their patriotism, but...

2005-08-04T05:41:00.000-04:00

A masked group identifying itself as the "Roanoke Times Editorial Staff Liberation Army" has seized Iraqi children visiting Roanoke and threatened to shoot a child every day until the Bush McHitlerburton administration razes Gitmo and releases photos of nekkid men in Abu Ghraib prison.

"Well, sure it's and extreme demand, and maybe it does support the terrorists a bit," said the masked leader, "but you have to put things in perspective. One or two Iraqi children are nothing compared to stopping torture. Have you ever felt the pain and humiliation of wearing panties on your head? No? Well then, Luanne -- I mean Comrade Xena -- give me your panties and -- What do you mean you aren't wearing any? Didn't Wendy mention the dress code in the interview? Never mind. Elizab -- uh, Comrade Fonda -- What? Dammit! Isn't anyone wearing... Oh, thanks Dan -- uh, Comrade Mustafa."

Developing....

Tiny Dancer -- Aghanistan to California and back -- this will make you cry

2005-08-04T05:38:00.000-04:00

Do you want to feel like Scrooge on Christmas morning? Watch the story of this Afghani girl. I saw it at Florida Cracker, but can't get the link to work to her blog. SO, go to the page I've linked and click "video files" in the middle of the page. There are other links there, but "video files" gives you the most complete story.

It's the best thing you will see this summer.

Kaine getting Soros' leftovers?

2005-08-03T12:15:00.000-04:00

First I read THIS about the demise of Soros' ACT, then I read blue dog's take on this.

"Blue Dog? Igor, time to send out the flying monkey dogcatchers."

Journalist-blogger murdered in Iraq -- RIP

2005-08-03T09:43:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I read a very informative article by Stephen Vincent in the New York Times and today he is dead. This guy was a treasure.

"I stood that morning [9/11] on the roof of my building in lower Manhattan and watched United Airlines Flight 175 strike the south tower of the World Trade Center," Vincent said in a December 2004 interview with Frontpage Magazine.

"At that moment, I realized my country was at war -- because of the 1993 attack on the Trade Center, I figured our enemy was Islamic terrorism -- and I wanted to do my part in the conflict. I'm too old to enlist in the armed services, so I decided to put my writing talents to use."

In that interview Vincent described the weapons with which he intended to fight.

"Words matter. Words convey moral clarity. Without moral clarity, we will not succeed in Iraq. That is why the terms the press uses to cover this conflict are so vital. For example, take the word “guerillas.” As you noted, mainstream media sources like the New York Times often use the terms “insurgents” or “guerillas” to describe the Sunni Triangle gunmen, as if these murderous thugs represented a traditional national liberation movement. But when the Times reports on similar groups of masked reactionary killers operating in Latin American countries, they utilize the phrase “paramilitary death squads.” Same murderers, different designations."

Tiger hawk has more as does Michelle Malkin.

Read Vincent's last post.

Get 'er done, John!

2005-08-03T05:39:00.000-04:00

(Found down at Salt Lick's local Country Store.)

Roanoke Times confuses Carribean clubs

2005-08-03T05:36:00.000-04:00

"...snarling dogs, chains, shackles, women's underwear placed on prisoners' heads, lap dances and other sexual humiliation..."

The Roanoke Times' Bush Derangement Syndrome flares again over torture allegations which most of the world now understands have been proven untrue. Yet, despite the fact an investigation uncovered four unpunished abuses out of 24,000 interviews at Gitmo, or 0.000167 percent of all interrogations, the Times continues its campaign to undermine and defeat the real enemy, Chimpy Bush McHitlerburton. Meanwhile, Jeff Goldstein at Protein Widsom tries to explain to them that hyperbolic rhetoric matters.

But you know, even if there were torture occurring at Gitmo, would that be morally as bad as the Iraqi citizens killed every day by homicide bombers whipped into a frenzy by an irresponsible press? I mean, arern't the lives of Iraq children worth more than the joy of revealing a man's wearing size 12 women's panties on his head?

Every silver lining (should) have a cloud

2005-08-03T05:00:00.000-04:00

Jerry's post about the Roanoke Times' theater critic reminded me of the last time I saw "Grease." (At Wolfhart Theater in Wytheville, Jerry, whose productions arer usually enjoyable.) In that version, the "good girl" not only wound up a happy slutty tramp, but the leader of the "bad" girls "liberated" herself from her out-of-wedlock pregnancy by -- you guessed it -- having an abortion. It served as a joyous moment for the whole cast to break out in song!

Of course, Beth might have prefered she die from a back-alley job. For gravitas. Or drama. Or something.

Summer's almost gone -- Y'all come

2005-08-02T20:17:00.000-04:00

barter

One of my favorite places in Southwest Virginia is pictured above -- the Barter Theater, located in Abingdon, Virginia. The Barter is the state theater of Virginia, in case you didn't know. It gets its name from Great Depression days, when farmers paid admission with food. (Heck, old Salt Lick woulda' paid all his taters to see Marlene Dietrich if she'd have ever appeared at the Barter.)

Seriously, the Barter productions are usually first rate. And Steve's Abingdon is one of the loveliest little towns in all of Virginia to walk around. Here is a typical visit-schedule to Abingdon by my wife and I, before kids and dogs:

Eat at the historic and very cool Martha Washington Inn directly across the street from the Barter. Walk about town to clear the zinfandel from the head. Go to the theater. Get up the next morning and ride The Virginia Creeper Trail, which begins in Abingdon's downtown, to Damascus and back. Here's more info on the Trail and you can rent bikes here near the trail head.

So, inasmuch as the powers-that-be continue to ignore Salt Lick and Jerry's jeremiads against a tourist-based economy for Southwest Virginia, and inasmuch as it's summer and we are supposed to have FUN in summer, Salt Lick urges all you NOVA and Eastern Virginia types to bring your money down and enjoy Virginia's Little Switzerland.

Here's the Barter schedule. Y'all come.

Robert Byrd carnival of bloggers

2005-08-02T07:52:00.000-04:00

As long as there is Senator Robert Byrd, we can always say, "Well, at least we're not West Virginia."

"White Mullahs" and "Black Mullahs"

2005-08-02T07:06:00.000-04:00

One of the sicknesses that infects todays mainstream media is its penchant for inapt comparison, founded on the premise that there is no right and wrong, no "us" or "them." Recently, for example, both Chris Matthews and Brian Williams have compared terrorist in Iraq to America's founding fathers. Another example dates back to the election of Pope John Paul II:

The Western press gave the Pope extensive coverage [upon his return to Poland in 1979]. Adam Michnik, speaking from the secular left, thought that the Westerners made far too much of what [he] regarded as a bizarre analogy; between the Pope's return to Poland and the Ayatollah Khomeini's return to Iran. It would not, however, be the last time that the press tried to draw analogies between the "white mullah" and the "black mullahs." In "Witness to Hope," by George Weigel.

And by their fruits ye shall know them.

Another opportunity for diversity at the Roanoke Times

2005-08-02T05:34:00.000-04:00

The imminent departure of Roanoke Times New River Valley Editorial writer Gerry Davies offers yet another opportunity to the Roanoke Times to broaden its staff's intellectual diversity. Having failed twice with new hires in the past six months to add a conservative or even moderate voice to its editorial staff, the RT continues to display an ideological inflexibility that ill-serves its readership. True knowledge comes from many and diverse voices examining issues together.

Or maybe the thought of looking across that editorial meeting room and seeing someone who disagrees with you is just too much, Tommy. You could always make them use a separate drinking fountain or something.

Roanoke Times provides "balance." Right.

2005-08-02T05:24:00.000-04:00

Go to this webpage version of a letter to the editor supporting George Bush and look at the bottom of the page. See the adds for anti-Bush bumper stickers?

Isn't that cute?

Republican out front in protecting property rights

2005-08-01T05:42:00.000-04:00

Rep. Goodlatte joins effort to limit Kelo.

THEY DID WHAT?!

2005-07-30T14:48:00.000-04:00

(Collegiate Times -- Hard Copy)

Oh. Never mind. (On-line version).

The Bush Revolution continues in the Middle East

2005-07-30T14:39:00.000-04:00

Pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.

Meanwhile, for the second year in a row, Roanoke Times editor Dan Radmacher recycled his Arizona Diet Green Tea bottles and felt very good about himself. No cutting and running for him, no sir.

The undiapered leavings of incontinent minds

2005-07-29T07:44:00.000-04:00

A Roanoke Times editorial this morning addresses proposed troop withdrawals from Iraq. It's title is "Cutting and running is the worst option."

Cutting and running. Think about the sheer pettiness of the mind that composed that title. For over two years now, George Bush has shown himself willing to stick to his guns in Iraq and "stay the course," as his father was wont to say. His concern for the well-being of American troops is undoubted by all fair-minded citizens. While there has been honest debate about the correctness of Bush's response, no one but rank, hateful partisans question that after 9/11 his main goal has been to uphold his oath "to protect and defend the United States."

Meanwhile, the Roanoke Times has does everything it can, in both its editorial pages and news pages, to undermine, mock, belittle, denigrate, insult, disparage, and smear Bush's efforts. When he visited Iraq in Thanksgiving 2003, the Times called him a turkey. The following Memorial Day, it defiled the memory of our dead by using the day for an editorial attacking George Bush. A few days prior to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, the Times ran a bogus report that the Iraq invasion may have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. The day before the Iraq elections the Times headline blared that "panic" reined in the streets of Baghdad. Subsequent editorials have accused the Bush administration of deliberately cutting Veterans benefits, of using the war to enrich friendly corporations, and of embarking on a torture campaign equal to the gulags of Russia. The Roanoke Times pages serve as a case study for a news and editorial staff that have lost their moral compass.

Is it any wonder that most Southwest Virginians who still take the Times open it in the morning with all the pleasure of changing the day's first diaper?

Proving you can take it with you

2005-07-29T07:34:00.000-04:00

Recent polling showing gains by Tim Kaine prompt Elbert and Myrtle Payne to face the Kelo decision proactively.

"Over There" is way out there

2005-07-28T07:40:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine, a retired Army Special Forces sergeant, sent the following to a few of us last night.

I am about halfway through watching a show on FX called "Over
There". It has been hailed as the first war drama ever aired on TV while
the war was still going on. It is made by Steven Bochco, a big name
producer.
However I am warning all of y'all, this show is a stinker. It
puts the term "sucks" to a new level.
Think of every stereotype you ever heard from Viet Nam, and then
place it in Iraq. It has soldiers smoking dope, NCOs who hate their men,
Officers who try to kill their men, Generals who have no idea what to do,
the black guy who hates the army and thinks all the white guys are
against them, the dumb Southern boy, the highly educated Yankee boy who
waxes philosophy about what savages we truly are. The Black choir boy who
writes an anti-war song about how bad it is and that they are all being
killed over there (even though up to that point in the show none of them
had been killed). The soldiers then go off on their own to get liquor,
taking a truck and a HUMV, and then get blown up.
It was a doozy.
Don't watch it, and don't believe the hype that will most likely
follow. Its a stinker. I'm annoyed that I wasted an hour of my life on
it.

Seven nuclear devices already in the U.S.?

2005-07-28T06:04:00.000-04:00

Want to feel your stomach churn? Read this at Protein Wisdom.

The hypocrisy of Bill Moyers, patron saint of the Roanoke Times

2005-07-28T06:01:00.000-04:00

Remember Roanoke Times' editorial page editor Tommy Denton saying how Bill Moyers was one of his journalistic heroes? This would be a sad tale if not for Moyers' moralistic, self-righteous denunciations of the "abuse of power" by the Bush administration.

From The Wall Street Journal.

BY LAURENCE H. SILBERMAN
Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Only a few weeks before the 1964 election, a powerful presidential assistant, Walter Jenkins, was arrested in a men's room in Washington. Evidently, [President Johnson] was concerned that Barry Goldwater would use that against him in the election. Another assistant, Bill Moyers, was tasked to direct Hoover to do an investigation of Goldwater's staff to find similar evidence of homosexual activity. Mr. Moyers' memo to the FBI was in one of the files [I reviewed for the House Judiciary Committee].

When the press reported this, I received a call in my office from Mr. Moyers. Several of my assistants were with me. He was outraged; he claimed that this was another example of the Bureau salting its files with phony CIA memos. I was taken aback. I offered to conduct an investigation, which if his contention was correct, would lead me to publicly exonerate him. There was a pause on the line and then he said, "I was very young. How will I explain this to my children?" And then he rang off. I thought to myself that a number of the Watergate figures, some of whom the department was prosecuting, were very young, too...

I have always thought that the most heinous act in which a democratic government can engage is to use its law enforcement machinery for political ends.

(h/t to The Ombudsgod.)

Brave New World?

2005-07-27T19:10:00.000-04:00

A letter from a Unitarian appears in the Roanoke Times today, expressing "empathy, love and support" to "the entire gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community...and support of marriage equality." It reminded me of the joke, "What do you get when you cross a Unitarian with a Jehovah's Witness? Someone who wanders around the neighborhood knocking on doors, but they aren't sure why."

So, exactly how do you support marriage and bisexuality at the same time? Oh yeah, I forgot. We are redefining the whole thing.

Attention Hokies -- An edifice of ominous power

2005-07-27T18:15:00.000-04:00

Go HERE and click on the stadium picture for slides of the on-going construction at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium.

I passed this site several times today. The web pictures don't do the new stadium justice. When you are standing in its shadow, you sense an ominous power. Let me repeat that -- an OMINOUS ("having the character of an evil omen; threatening; sinister") POWER ("the ability to control others; authority; sway").

The structure is not asthetically pleasing. Instead, it's scary -- a true "House of Pain." Visiting teams will look out their bus windows, see the fortress-like walls looming over them, and hear the Blacksburg wind whisper their fate --- "doom, Doom, DOOM, DOOOOOM!"

You can bet on it.

82% of all African American births [in Richmond] are to single mothers?

2005-07-27T07:07:00.000-04:00

I read this over at "River City Rapids."

Eighty-two percent? In Richmond?

Good golly. I thought we were making progress on this. Apropos of the Roanoke Times' frequently expressed desire for higher taxes and more government services, I found a webpage (the pdf file of which I cannot access) which says 23% of Virginia children are enrolled in Medicaid. How much of this is paid by the state? Because if it pays a big part, we must be looking at a huge budget for indigent child care, not to mention other strands of the "safety net."

So maybe Roanoke Times' columnist Shanna Flowers should worry less about crazy white girls ("the Runaway Bride") falsely accusing minorities of rape and more about black girls just giving it up for free.

And it couldn't hurt, Shanna, if you'd show even a slight disapproval of running off to the islands to "get your groove back." 'Cause, honey, over in Richmond, a girl can come back with a lot more "in tow" than a false lover.

Remember this? "Diversity" can kill

2005-07-26T06:21:00.000-04:00

The London bombings have certainly got us on the edge of our seats here in the U.S., don't they? I can only imagine the tension of the metro riders as they climb into those packed tubes up around D.C.

You can't watch the random searches of blonde-haired, blue-eyed subway riders in New York and not think maybe it's time to stop thinking of dark-skinned, foreign-looking people as privileged victims, and start thinking of them as our equals. You know, equally concerned with human life and getting the hell blown up.

Maybe it's time to remember the story of the woman who could have stopped Mohammad Atta and maybe 9/11.

More here.

Either we win or they do

2005-07-26T05:47:00.000-04:00

A few days ago, the Roanoke Times ran a self-serving editorial proclaiming:

The most compelling argument for the patriotism inherent in criticism is this: If the administration had heeded some of its critics, the nation could be in far better shape in Iraq and the fight against terrorism.

This is fine, but it's a thin veil for the kind of rabid anti-Bush rhetoric and slanted wire-story selection that flows off the Roanoke Times pages.

This comment on a thread at protein wisdom perfectly explains the bottom line to Bush-haters like those on the Roanoke Times editorial board.

Citizen Journalist:

I’m skipping most of the comments because I want to talk to you directly, right now.

I don’t CARE whether the Leftists [who are demanding timetables for withdrawal, or equating our military troops to Nazis and Pol Pot, or marching in the street with giant puppets of Bu$Hitler] have “pure motives” or are operating in “good faith.”

There may have been legitimate debatable reasons to oppose the invasion of Iraq BEFORE IT HAPPENED. Now, to do so, is immoral and indecent. We are in a war and you have but two choices. America and the Iraqi people win, or the Islamists do. And every thing Leftists do to undercut the American effort is a choice that American loses.

Even Charles Lindbergh, who crossed the country giving speeches that American was being “tricked” into war by a conspiracy formed by FDR, England and Jews (now doesn’t THAT sound familiar!) had the common decency to shut the f*ck up after Pearl Harbor.

Why don’t you do the same.

The media lies, our men die

2005-07-25T05:02:00.000-04:00

I know that the war my men and I fought is a totally different war than the one I see being reported by almost the entire media.

A terrific letter from a soldier back from Iraq -- at small dead animals.

How many homicide bombers have been whipped into action by the media's focus on
Abu Ghraib and Gitmo? How many killers have been encouraged by editorials like the one written by the Roanoke Times, referring to George Bush as "a turkey?" There is no way of calculating the exact number of dead, but only a fool would deny a connection. And somewhere along the line, the media have made the conscious decision to bet the lives of soldiers and civilians against their desire to damage the Bush administration.

When the history of the War on Terror is one day written, the role of a self-centered, preening media consumed with blind hatred will provide one of its most interesting and tragic chapters. And the chapter will not be titled "Their Finest Hour."

Write the Roanoke Times' advertisers, not their editors

2005-07-25T04:29:00.000-04:00

Want the Roanoke Times to really hear you? American Digest tells you how.

Quit Being a Chump and Start Being Effective: Here's How to Make Your Views Matter to the Mass Media.

Tim Kaine and religion -- "Please, Lord, bless all the starving pygmyies"

2005-07-22T19:58:00.000-04:00

"[Bill Clinton's] point was that Democrats can’t win the presidency if they don’t campaign earnestly among churchgoing Christians—he noted that he got 75 percent more Evangelical votes in 1996 than John Kerry did in 2004."
(Report on Clinton at the Aspen Institute’s first annual weeklong Ideas Festival.)

"I'm not going to change my religious views to get elected to public office," Kaine said. "And I won't let anyone push me around for my religious views."
(Tim Kaine interviewed after Saturday's debate with Jerry Kilgore.)

Watching Tim Kaine defend his "religious views" after the Kilgore/Kaine "debate," I couldn't help but think of a recent visit Tim Kaine paid to Floyd County, Virginia, a jurisdiction with one stoplight and so far back in the woods you have to pump in daylight.

It's not that the visit couldn't have been productive. After all, the wine and cheese festival crowd which Kaine visited are a likely demographic for a liberal Democrat. What was odd was that Kaine, fresh off what some called his public "meltdown" at the Salem Fair the day before, didn't seem to know where he was, or who he was talking to. A reporter from the Floyd Press wrote:

The Lt. Governor was asked what he wanted citizens to know about him both as a man and as a candidate. He replied that he had been a missionary in Honduras... At which point the crowd looked down at their brie and swirled their wine while murmuring polite little hobbit noises.

Actually, I made up that last sentence, because it sorta fit. After all, this was a wine festival crowd, not the regulars at the Tuggles Gap diner a few miles down the road. All I can figure is Tim's missionary service is included in the talking points he spouts regardless of where he is and who he's talking to. Either that or he looked around, saw mountains and trees, muttered, "Toto, we're not in Richmond any more," and said what he thought would mollify the natives. Kaine's awkwardness stood in stark contrast to the country fair atmosphere of Governor Warner's visit only days later.

But seriously, does it seem to anyone else that Kaine tries to shoehorn his religiosity into political conversation at odd moments? He did so at the wine festival and he did so after the aforementioned debate. Likewise, in an interview in February he responded to a question: "Who's the last person you wrote a letter to?" "A missionary in Honduras." Add those things to the television campaign add where Kaine says, "As a missionary in South America I learned that life is sacred," and you've got to be intrigued.

Kaine began speaking about the issue of faith early in the campaign, back in February:

"Kaine, in addressing about 1,000 people at the party's annual Jefferson-Jackson fund-raising dinner, said he would not tolerate attacks on his Roman Catholic faith nor would he condone Democratic attacks on the Religious Right.

"I will never cede to any other party or any other candidate the label of the faith and values party, because Democrats are about faith and values," Kaine said.

"Sometimes our candidates have trashed the religious right, when what we meant to trash is a bad idea," he said, prompting more than a few hard-core Democrats to squirm in their seats. "We should never, never label people who are from the religious right."

And shortly thereafter, Kaine told the American Prospect:

"The second thing that Democrats have to do better on is not attacking the 'religious right.' I think that has been a standard bogeyman that Democrats have often used in campaigns, including campaigns in Virginia. If somebody advances an idea or position that's wrong, then attack them for having a bad idea. But they are not wrong because they are religious. When Democrats kind of cavalierly attack the religious right or go after Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, our candidates have sent the signal to a lot of religious people, 'Well, I guess they are not interested in me.'"

So far, this is fine, even positive. There is certainly nothing wrong in a candidate's grounding his principles in his faith. We often hear of how important George Bush's faith is to him. Wasn't it Bush who, in the 2000 campaign, named Jesus Christ as the most important person in his life? And Republicans and conservatives certainly don't have a lock on religious convictions.

The side of me that dislikes cynicism whispers that Tim Kaine may very well be a sincere Christian who honestly dislikes the growing anti-religious element that increasingly controls his party. Perhaps Kaine was uncomfortable with the MoveOn representatives that came from out-of-state to help his campaign effort at Virginia's shad planking. It's well-known that one of MoveOn major contributors is billionaire George Soros, whose hatred for George Bush derives partly from his contempt for religion. We'd naturally expect a religious person to be uncomfortable with Soros as a bed-fellow. Maybe Kaine's religion talk is a brave attempt to recapture his party and make common-cause with religious conservatives.

The Washington Post, however, offered a more cynical analysis:

"Kaine, an observant Roman Catholic, has apparently decided to compete directly for the religious vote with his likely opponent, former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore (R). His advisers think the faith issue plays well in regions where Democrats traditionally do poorly -- the southwest and Hampton Roads. They also see Kaine's faith as a shield against his position on the death penalty, which he opposes but pledges to enforce.

The religion strategy should come as no surprise. Kaine has been telegraphing that part of his campaign at every opportunity."

"Religion strategy?"

Wait a minute... Now that they mention it, there is an eerie similarity between Kaine's "my religion" statements and John Kerry's emphasis on his military service during the Presidential campaign. Remember how Kerry attempted to inoculate himself against criticism of his anti-war protests by highlighting his Vietnam service? Remember how Kerry cried "How dare you question my patriotism!" at every mention of his anti-military voting record? Now Tim Kaine cries "Stop attacking my religious beliefs!" at every mention of his liberal political stances. Not only did he do so after the debate, but in an earlier skirmish where Kilgore asked whether Kaine, with respect to the death penalty, would follow his conscience or his oath as governor, Kaine responded by saying, "So are we saying that people with strong religious beliefs who take oaths of office can't be trusted to mean what they say when they utter that oath? I would hope not."

That response, of course, does indeed sound like a "strategy," not an answer.

Unfortunately for Kaine, it's not just Kilgore asking such questions.

As Washington Post reporter Melanie Scarborough wrote:

Kaine says that his Catholic faith leads him to oppose both abortion and the death penalty but that he would not, as governor, try to thwart either practice. Why not?

Kaine’s opposition to the death penalty dates from his days as a law student. What sort of person spends his adult life campaigning against the death penalty, but — if given the power to commute death sentences — would decline to use it?

Either Kaine’s beliefs are not strongly held, or he is being disingenuous.

Not strongly held, or disingenous? I don't know, but the more I hear Kaine talk about his religious faith, the more he sounds like Larry the Cable Guy talking about starvin' pygmyies. And friends, that won't get 'er done.

Free John Muhammad

2005-07-22T12:30:00.000-04:00

One of the most contentious exchanges at last Saturday's gubernatorial debate concerned Tim Kaine's opposition to the death penalty, specifically as it related to gang-related assassinations. Jerry Kilgore pointed out the law says the governor can commute death sentences for virtually no reason at all. He asked if Tim Kaine would take advantage of that power to follow his personal convictions against the death penalty.

Now, Salt Lick is not smart about such things, but doesn’t the War on Terrorism also bear mentioning here? Remember a fellow named John Muhammad, the D.C. sniper? He was convicted and sentenced to death by a Virginia jury. I presume this means he will be executed in a Virginia prison.

Would Tim Kaine be opposed to Muhammad's execution? And I'm not just talking about whether, if Kaine becomes governor, he'd commute Muhammad's sentence to life. What I want to know is if Kaine opposes the death penalty for the types of baby-killer terrorists we see routinely on our televisions. Does Kaine consider their lives "sacred?" Or will Kaine, like John Kerry, decide to make a death penalty exception for terrorists as the election, and the war, continues?

I'd like to know. Because I don't want someone like John Muhammad spending the rest of his life suffering in our inhumane Gitmo-like prisons. That's cruel. Almost like a persistent vegetative state.

We were at war and didn't know it

2005-07-22T12:27:00.000-04:00

The next time someone tells you our invasion of Iraq caused terrorism, direct them to this site and these pictures.

A first in Virginia newspaper history?

2005-07-22T12:14:00.000-04:00

I was visiting WikiRoanoke and blundered into what may very well be the first podcasting journal devoted to critiquing a regional newspaper -- in this case, The Roanoke Times.

Listening to the podcast, I was delighted to hear that "RoanokeJournal Podcast" intends in its next program/cast to examine some of the Salt Lick's discoveries regarding the sources of liberal bias at the Roanoke Times. What a surprise. Bill, I will try to post a "Table of Contents" to these posts this weekend.

Go here to listen.

At least he's not blind

2005-07-21T07:58:00.000-04:00

I doubt they're letting new editorial page member Luanne Traud write editorials by herself yet, but I wonder if we aren't seeing her moderating influence in the Roanoke Times' less than hysterical, even measured, response to the nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court.

"...nothing so far marks him as a blind ideologue...Democrats will only erode their credibility if they leap to negative conclusions without a thorough and honest examination of Roberts' record."

Then again, maybe it's just that weak circulation numbers have taught the old staff some lessons about yellow journalism and eroded credibility.

I just hope he's housebroken

2005-07-21T07:56:00.000-04:00

A new mutt wandered into the blogohood and I just had to take him in. (Added to the bottom of my Virginia blogroll.)

Of Angels and Bombs

2005-07-21T07:50:00.000-04:00

I recently added Michael Yon's Iraq theater of action blog to my blogroll. Go read the last two posts and you will, too.

Lots of pictures.

"Toys R Us" suspends sales of "Hooked on Phonics" toys

2005-07-19T20:04:00.000-04:00

-- says it will rename all inner-city stores "We B Toys."

Michael Sluss does a good job

2005-07-18T06:39:00.000-04:00

Old Salt Lick doesn't know much about politics beyond what the other fellows on the loafer's bench downtown tell him, but it seems to him that Roanoke Times reporter Michael Sluss does a good job of reporting, not interpreting Virginia's political news to us.

Keep it up, son. At the Roanoke Times you must feel like the last kernel of corn in a barrel of rat turds.

Separated at birth?

2005-07-18T05:25:00.000-04:00

Baghdad Bob -- "No, no, my friends. I swear to you. The American infidels never left Kuwait. Those sounds are the sewers exploding. Happens all the time."

Winchester Russ: "In the last months of this election, this election will be between Tim Kaine and Russ Potts."

1998 ABC video documenting Terrorist/Iraq connections

2005-07-16T09:42:00.000-04:00

At Power Line.

Stunning.

But prompting the question -- "If a car bomber blows up children, but Bill Clinton isn't president, is the killer a terrorist, or an 'insurgent?'"

More Highway 11 -- I didn't ask if this one is "fireproof"

2005-07-16T06:01:00.000-04:00

Dogwood Lodge -- Lee Highway

For years I've driven past the Dogwood Motel on U.S. 11, Lee Highway, just outside of Radford, and thought of taking a room. And all because of this sign. Isn't this a great sign? It must have been quite an investment in the days when U.S. 11 was an important highway. I love these old pre-chain motels and their individuality.

A few weeks ago, I finally stopped in on the Dogwood, hoping to score a postcard from days gone by. Entering the office, I instantly realized from the smell of incense and pictures of a safron-garbed swami on the wall that I was in a "Potel," a motel owned and run by Asian Indians.

Did you know that Asian Indians own approximately 50% of the motels in the United States? The early entrepeneurs mostly bore the name "Patel," an Indian surname as common as "Jones." Thus, the name "potel" for "motel." Their rise is a great success story based on family ties and hard work. America, land of opportunity.

My wife and I, stuck in our nostalgic Peace Corps traveling days, began taking rooms in potels long ago when they were at the low-end of luxury. It reminded us of traveling in Africa and Asia where Indian entrepeneurs run so many motels. At one potel in Mississippi, we smelled curry in the air (curry in Mississippi -- is this a great country or what?) and told the owner-operators we'd like to buy a meal off of them. They were so delighted they prepared a feast for us.

A bit too much curry, though. Afterwards, I was wishing I was "fireproof."

More info on the Indian community in America.

UPDATE: Mrs. Salt says "saffron" is spelled with two "f's" and that it's important to note the Patels are Gujaratis, well-known for their entrepeneurial talents in East Africa and elsewhere. Many were run out of Tanzania when "forward thinking" socialist President Julius Nyerere appropriated their businesses.

"Super City" forming in SW Virginia?

2005-07-14T19:05:00.000-04:00

Jethro says if this is true, he plans to be the "Superman of the Hills."

Breaking up the "Virginia jihad network"

2005-07-14T07:58:00.000-04:00

Yes, we've got 'em here."

Molly Ivins tries to refill the hole

2005-07-14T07:25:00.000-04:00

Roanoke Times editor Tommy Denton's favorite good 'ol girl Molly Ivins tries to cover up her Bush McHitlerburton exaggerations at Michele Malkin.

Might want to borrow her shovel, Tommy.

Republicans call for state amendment to limit eminent domain

2005-07-14T07:10:00.001-04:00

I didn't see this statement discussed in the blogosphere much yesterday. I think it's noteworthy that while candidates of both parties have criticized the Kelo decision, it's the Republicans who seem most pro-active about limiting it and protecting property rights.

Roanoke Times helps Warner prepare for 2008

2005-07-14T07:10:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, you can't see the FOUR BIG PICTURES of Governor Warner that accompanied the hardcopy version of this love note to Mark Warner. I had to smile at this, having been told just yesterday by a gay Democratic-activist moonbat friend that he wants Mark Warner for his party's next Presidential candidate.

From his lips to the Roanoke Times' ears.

Karl Rove deserves an award

2005-07-13T07:07:00.000-04:00

The Roanoke Times is predictably calling Bush McHitlerburton's aide Karl Rove to resign.

I can't find a better antidote to RT poison than Power Line's take on this.

More insight into the Roanoke Times

2005-07-13T05:25:00.000-04:00

Remember the Roanoke Times editorial staff citing Julianne Malveaux as an authority for one of its opinions?

Ms. Malveaux is back in the news, calling George Bush "a terrorist" and America "a terrorist nation."

No, Howard, when Jesus returns he won't bring toys

2005-07-12T05:20:00.000-04:00

Tommy Denton's favorite Religious Left leader says Democratic National Committee Chairman "Howard Dean doesn't understand religion very much."

Church people
"As if mouthy Howard Dean didn't have enough troubles, now comes a left-leaning evangelical, much in demand by the Democratic Party, telling the party boss to shut up about religion," Paul Bedard writes in the Washington Whispers column of U.S. News & World Report.
"'Dean doesn't understand religion very much,' says Jim Wallis, who has advised many Democratic leaders. He meets with Dean this week as part of the chairman's effort to woo the church-going crowd," Mr. Bedard said.
"Now promoting his book 'God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It,' Wallis says he'll tell Dean not to fake it on religion. 'The worst thing people could do is be inauthentic,' he says.

(h/t Ankle Biting Pundits.)

Dean shocks the Southern Baptist Convention by "reaching out" with his innovative "hard rock baptism."

Lost and Found -- thoughts for a sabbath

2005-07-10T15:12:00.000-04:00

THE CLASSICAL THEMES of art have always been -- virtue, nobility, patriotism.

Since I practiced none of these in my youth, and throughout much of my career worked actively or passively to undermine them, I came -- at last -- to yearn to discover what they could possibly be in this blighted age...

Since the beginning of this century, the more I surveyed the vast and troubled social sea on which I had finally awakened adrift with the rest of the wreckage, the more I saw that these virtues -- in a shriveled and shrunken form -- seemed only to be found in the scattered sanctuaries of the Church and what remained to the Republican Party. But looking long at both these institutions I found I could not fit in either one or the other or some amalgam of both.

Gerard Van der Leun, American Digest.

Daily Kos purges moonbats -- this is not a joke

2005-07-10T15:03:00.000-04:00

Just as William F. Buckley saved the conservative movement by condemning anti-Semites, perhaps more actions like this could save liberalism from irrelevancy.

(h/t Small Dead Animals

Ms. Luanne Traud -- recent addition to the Roanoke Times editorial staff

2005-07-09T20:46:00.000-04:00

See? She does look a bit like MoDo (Actually, this picture is from her old newspaper, the Uniontown, PA Herald Standard. This is how she looks now).

My apologies, but I'm breaking my promise to provide a write-up on Ms. Traud today. Too much going on at the Salt Lick.

But I do promise, however, that Luanne's a reasonable liberal, a huge improvement for the Roanoke Times. And I'll get Jethro to working overtime on showing that to you soon.

Musical "tag" blogging

2005-07-09T14:31:00.000-04:00

Old Salt Lick was slow to understand what Florida Cracker was doing when she "tagged" him for musical Q & A. Lordy, I only own one CD player (that runs on a converter off the cassette player in my car), and I don't buy much music these days. Nevertheless, here goes:

1. Total volume of music files on my computer: 0
2. Last CD I bought: Bob Dylan -- Live 1966
3. Song Playing Right Now: Nothing
4. Five Songs (or Albums) I listen to a lot or that move me:

-- Blonde on Blonde -- Dylan
-- Remember When -- Alan Jackson
-- Red, White & Blue -- Toby Keith
-- Softly, Tenderly (Jesus is Calling) -- Cynthia Clawson version from "Trip to Bountiful"
-- Lead me to that rock -- Stephen Hill

5. Tag 3 others:

-- Commonwealth Conservative.
-- Southern Conservative.
-- The Spacecraft.

I feel so inadequate. I'm going to buy some CD's today and download some tunes. Maybe that Allman Brothers anthology I've been thinking about.

Blogs that watchdog the MainStream Media

2005-07-09T07:08:00.000-04:00

Sharing with neighbors is an important tradition out here in the country, so Salt Lick has posted a bloglist of sites devoted to watchdogging and cataloguing the bias of the High Priests of the MainStream Media (see The Salt Lick's right-hand column under "Journalism Watch blogs.")

Speaking Truth to Power -- in minutes. What an amazing revolution.

It really is a war

2005-07-08T05:45:00.000-04:00

Never forget.

The finest on-the-ground Iraq reporting available

2005-07-07T19:40:00.000-04:00

If you want to stay in touch with what our troops are experiencing in Iraq, Soldier Michael Yon's daily combat blog reads like the modern version of "Band of Brothers."

Here's an excerpt about the aftermath of an IED (improvised explosive device):

"Whenever we gather up at the scene of an IED, I expect every moment to be when the car bomb will drive into us. Time for the secondary IEDs to explode. Now come the machine guns. Any second now, those mortars should be coming in. RPGs. Nothing happens.

They set the plan and we mount up, and I pull my seat belt on, then take it off again. We drive across the dirt median--this is where the land mine will explode --nothing happens. I put the seat belt back on. We leave the road--this is where the real ambush kicks off . . . I unsnap the seat belt . . . the enemy probably let themselves be seen knowing we would come 'round to attack them. Nothing happens.

We ride off and partially envelope the suspect area--there are probably bombs under and around us --nothing happens. We move to different locations--mortars should be dropping any second. Nothing happens....

We keep pushing back further into farmland, and sure enough, the 3rd ID guys flush a suspicious car that starts evading. We drive down treacherous canal roads where one slip on the wheel and we'd slide down to the same watery end that has met many a soldier in Iraq, but luckily, the man at the wheel of my Humvee, SGT Mahoney, is a very good driver. But I start un-strapping combat gear in case there is a swimming drama around the next curve. Seat belt on or seat belt off? I snap and unsnap it without looking.

The 3rd ID guys are talking on the headset that the suspect car got away, but they see a group of kids up ahead. Keep scanning out the window. They stop at a little house and give some treats to the kids, then head back to the road to Baghdad.

Next day, CSM Mellinger told me that seven people had been found shot to death in a car just near the IED, and he said, "Sometimes you get the chicken, sometimes you get the feathers."

"Bush probably ordered the London bombings..."

2005-07-07T19:20:00.000-04:00

Every now and again, I wade into websites like the Democratic Underground to remind myself that Democrats must never, ever, be allowed to regain control of our government so long as the War on Terror is ongoing.

Roanoke Times issues "apology"

2005-07-06T06:52:00.000-04:00

The Roanoke Times editorial board apologizes today for its nationally recognized substandard reporting on last month's "hate crime" in Blacksburg, Virginia. These paragraphs in the "apology" say worlds about the editorial staff:

When some prominent religious and national leaders insist on sowing fear of all things Muslim, linking all to terrorists, their followers tend to react in kind.

And when news stories report that Muslims were offended when U.S. agents desecrated Qurans to entice Iraqi prisoners to cooperate, it is easy to think "copy cat" when burned Qurans turn up at a neighborhood mosque.

I guess it's better than the "Twinkie Defense."

(New editorial staff member Luann Traud must be wondering what she's gotten herself into. We'll offer readers some information on Ms. Traud this weekend. Don't worry, she may look like Maureen Dowd, but she's not quite that bad.)

They can't hit a moving target

2005-07-06T05:25:00.000-04:00

Despite assurances from all Virginia gubernatorial candidates, Jimmy Hatfield tells governments state and local to "kiss my *ss," and finds a way to avoid the ramifications of the Kelo decision. "Of course, I'll have to give up blogging, but I'd have probably just had to kick somebody's butt sooner or later."

More on Kelo and Virginia politics here. (hat tip to Commonwealth Conservative.)

Thoughts of a wounded soldier on George Bush

2005-07-06T05:15:00.000-04:00

Like so much of America's political left these days, the Roanoke Times is rarely satisfied with merely arguing against George Bush's policies. Instead, the Times' staff wants its readers to believe that Bush McHitlerburton is an unfeeling, evil man who deliberately misleads the public and intentionally cuts soldiers' benefits.

Take, for instance, the Times' response to Bush's speech to soldiers at Fort Bragg about a week ago.

Bush told the military audience, "...Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it?" The president says it is. Wounded soldiers, receiving rationed care, and who realize they were misled, may be forgiven for not answering the same.

Coincidentally, here's what one wounded soldier said just days later:

"You can talk about our President, his politics, and his family, but you can never talk about his character. I met him face-to-face today and I will protect him as well as I protect my own."

(Med-evacuated to the states, the soldier also writes "Great, now I'm surrounded by a bunch of Virginians!")

Anyone with friends in the military knows George Bush is admired, often even loved, by our soldiers. The Roanoke Times' attempt to drive a wedge between these men and women and Bush is the lowest form of yellow journalism. Sadly, it's what we've come to expect.

More at Michelle Malkin.

Koran burned in Blacksburg, VA -- by a Muslim

2005-07-05T12:35:00.000-04:00

Want to see a textbook case of the kind of media hysteria and journalistic malpractice that is inflaming jihad? Look no further than the Roanoke Times' irresponsibile reporting of this incident.

This would never have happened if the Roanoke Times staff were more intellectually balanced. Bush Derangement Syndrome strikes again. And it's killing American troops.

UPDATE: The Spacecraft offers links to past hasty coverage of this controversy which Salt Lick, presently limited to dial-up, did not have time to link.

UPDATE: Links at Michelle Malkin on Blacksburg's non-existent "hate crime."

Roanoke Times' favorite good ol' girl does the math

2005-07-05T04:45:00.000-04:00

Remember how much Roanoke Times' editor Tommy Denton likes to quote his fellow Texan and former Fort Worth Star-Telegram co-worker Molly Ivins?

Well, good ol' girl Molly
tells us:

I think we have created more terrorists than we faced to start with and that our good name has been sullied. I think we have alienated our allies and have killed more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein ever did.

We've killed more than half a million people? Ruh, oh.

Michelle Malkin carries analysis of Molly Math here.

Watch how often the names of Molly Ivins, Bill Moyers, and Jim Wallis appear in the Roanoke Times. Think about what your mind would look like if you constantly read only these type commentators. And then imagine what goes on in a newsroom where everyone thinks the same. Then you'll understand the RT's lack of intellectual diversity, and its descent from professional newspaper to partisan tabloid.

Happy Fourth

2005-07-04T05:02:00.000-04:00

"Rebellion? My dear woman, I know these colonials like the back of my hand. Once they understand the benefits of these taxes, they'll be grateful we're looking out for their best interests."

How much of your Roanoke Times' subscription money goes to Tim Kaine?

2005-07-02T09:08:00.000-04:00

Well, we've got all the standing water vaccumed up and are taking a newspaper and coffee break. And what does old Salt Lick spy? An article by Roanoke Times' political reporter Michael Sluss detailing charges by the Kaine campaign that Jerry Kilgore showed favoritism to a political donor when he was Attorney Kilgore. (I can't access the online RT. Guess they're blocking old Salt Lick again.)

Being only a CITIZEN JOURNALIST, Salt Lick doesn't know much about such big-time politics, but Kaine's charges do bring to mind Salt Lick's previous discovery ("Bias? Don't believe your lying eyes.") that Frank Batten, Sr, founder and present Chairman of the Executive Board of the Roanoke Times' parent company, Landmark Communications, donated $25,000 dollars to the Kaine campaign in 2004, before the governer's race officially began. And a quick check showed, lo and behold, that Batten donated another $25,000 to Kaine early this year.

Hmmm. Of course, it's not like Landmark CEO and former Carter White House employee Decker Anstrom donated money to Kaine. Or former Democratic press aide and Roanoke Times' editor Tommy Denton. Or former CNN producer and Roanoke Times' news editor Mike Riley.

But we all do what we can, don't we boys?

Water, water everywhere

2005-07-02T07:22:00.000-04:00

Nothing like waking up to 2 inches of water in your basement, courtesy of a malfunctioning water-softener.

Blogging will be light at the old Salt Lick.

Full Court Press

2005-07-01T09:58:00.000-04:00

As the old Salt noted in a comment below, the wise old common-taters at the Roanoke Times have weighed in on the President's State of the War speech: Honor the troops in deed, not just words. Not surprisingly, they seem to have cherry-picked their complaint list from every talking point memo they could find, including the soon-to-be-forgotten Downing Street Memos. And, of course, their tired old eyes are bleeding at the President's references to September 11, as if the unfortunate incidents of that day could have anything to do with World War IV.

I think another reason the Times waited a couple of days to weigh in was so they could find some additional anti-Bush columns for the other half of the op-ed pages, and they bagged a couple of doozies, neither of which are available on the online version of the paper. One piece, by some fellow named Horowitz, purported to be an alternate version of the President's speech, and was pure poppycock. I'm sure Mr. Horowitz thought he was being funny, but actually he just proved that he is an idiot of the first water. The whole applause meme is just plain embarrassing for the poor fellow. The second piece is about 9 pages long (the link is to its San Jose Mercury News version). Well, all right, it's only about 9/10 of one page long, but whew! The author, Larry Diamond, is a Hoover Fellow. I could quip that that's why his thinking sucks, but I won't. Anyhow, his thesis is that the U.S. is bad and needs to get out of Iras so that the insurgents will quit insurging. Surely they will quit blowing up innocent Iraqis if only the bad U.S. nazis would leave. He's also the author of Squandered Victory, so it's pretty clear what his personal agenda is.

I'm going back out into the woods.

Club Gitmo -- the horror

2005-07-01T07:11:00.000-04:00

I read this and ask, "Why can't the Richmond Times-Dispatch open a branch in Roanoke?"

For Darrell -- Pope John Paul II was a moron

2005-07-01T07:10:00.000-04:00

"The [Polish Communist] regime's security paranoia could have its amusing aspects. Cardinal Wojtyla was skiing once in the Tatras near the Czechoslovak border and was stopped by a border patrol. The cardinal handed over his papers, but the militiaman, not recognizing him, began to berate Wojtyla: 'You moron, do you realize whose identity papers you've stolen? This is going to put you away for a long time.' When Wojtyla protested his innocence, the militiaman shot back, 'A skiing cardinal? Do you think I'm crazy?' Wojtyla, who was once asked whether it was becoming for a cardinal to ski and answered that it was unbecoming for a cardinal to ski badly, finally sorted things out with the militiaman's superior."

From "Witness to Hope," by George Weigel.

More history of Lee Highway -- U.S. 11 -- This motel is also "fireproof."

2005-07-01T07:02:00.000-04:00

Greystone Motel

"Greystone Motel & Coffee Shop. Located at City Limits on U.S. Highway 11E, Johnson City, Tennessee. New, Modern, and Fireproof. Phone 4259."

Still no Times Commentary on the President's Speech

2005-06-30T15:46:00.000-04:00

Today's Times editorial page left the President's speech on Iraq unanswered. Perhaps it's taking them a while to assimilate all the big MSM editorials and to rearrange all the juiciest sentences to make them their own. One of the predictable (as Captain Ed says) complaints about the President's speech is that he dares to mention 9/11 in the context of the War in Iraq. How darest he?

James Taranto, in one of the other MSM publications, reminds us of a speech given by a fairly well-known U.S. Senator who is not now the President, but who did serve his country in Vietnam:

September 11 changed a lot, but other things have changed: Globalization, technology, a smaller planet, the difficulties of radical fundamentalism, the crosscurrents of religion and politics. We are living in an age where the dangers are different and they require a different response, different thinking, and different approaches than we have applied in the past. . . .

A brutal, oppressive dictator, guilty of personally murdering and condoning murder and torture, grotesque violence against women, execution of political opponents, a war criminal who used chemical weapons against another nation and, of course, as we know, against his own people, the Kurds. He has diverted funds from the Oil-for-Food program, intended by the international community to go to his own people. He has supported and harbored terrorist groups, particularly radical Palestinian groups such as Abu Nidal, and he has given money to families of suicide murderers in Israel.

Read the rest of Taranto's commentary in today's Best of the Web Today.

Bush's Speech

2005-06-29T12:20:00.000-04:00

Notably, the Roanoke Times did not editorialize about the President's speech last night on the Iraq War. I'm guessing that they're waiting to read the editorials in WaPo, NYT and LAT so they can figure out what they think. For a preview, then, read the Captain's Quarters post: Editorial Response To Bush Speech: Predictable.

Legalizing Thievery

2005-06-29T12:00:00.000-04:00

What a bunch of bullsh*t this recent Supreme Court decision on Kelo v. New London is. Interestingly, the editorial staff of the Roanoke Times agrees:

But in Kelo v. City of New London, the court stretched the definition past the breaking point by allowing property to be taken from unwilling sellers (still, at least, with the Fifth Amendment's required "just compensation") for the sole purpose of economic development.

What the Times' editors don't mention is that the Court's liberals, Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer were the ones who voted to uphold the thievery, while Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas dissented along with O'Connor (whose "impassioned dissent" is quoted in the editorial). Furthermore, the Times takes some comfort in the "required 'just compensation'", without wondering who gets to decide what constitutes "just compensation".

On the bright side, it appears that a game is afoot to build a hotel on land currently owned by Justice Souter. The new hotel will be called The Lost Liberty Hotel, and will surely create higher tax revenues for the city of Weare, New Hampshire than Justice Souter is currently providing. I hope they get the three votes they need.

Kaine declares self "the do-nothing candidate"

2005-06-27T05:16:00.000-04:00

In what Virginia Democratic political consultant Dave "Mudcat" Saunders labels an "absolutely f**king brilliant piece of g*dd*mn rural Southern political strategy," Tim Kaine has promised that though he believes Virginia's transportation grid is deteriorating and his religious faith makes him oppose the death penalty, he will neither raise taxes or oppose executions if elected Governor. These policy statements come hard on the heels of Kaine's vow to leave gun owners alone though he personally desires more gun control, further solidifying Kaine's vow to be the "do nothing candidate."

Kaine says he will close transportation budget shortfall with low-bid road work.

"This is boudacious," said Mudcat as he gutted something small with fur on it. "This is what I've been trying to tell people, g*dd*mmit. Rural voters can do business with a Democrat who promises to do absolutely f**king nothing, hell yes. Rednecks are open to proposals that challenge their assumptions about the world, as long as those ideas don't come from someone who seems to disrespect what they believe. And since the Democratic party disrespects everything they do believe, why not promise to do nothing? Liberal, my ass. A liberal is always going to meddle in your sh*t, and Kaine's promising he won't. It's f**king brilliant, I'm telling you. Give me that Mason jar, willya?"

Visitors from the County

2005-06-24T10:04:00.000-04:00

I stopped by Salt Lick World Headquarters on my way to vacation, just to check up on things. Some folks from the county were there, measuring and taking pictures. They were real pleasant, inquiring about about Salt Lick's health and whether he had an attorney. They must have just come off of vacation themselves because they were jabbering about "New London." I guess the only bad thing they saw there was a Ms. Kelo, who sounded like a cantankerous old biddy who'd just soon sue you as look at you, but I was in a hurry and didn't have time to get that story.

I'm sure everything will be in order when Salt Lick gets back. I sure wish my county would check up on my place while I'm gone.

Out Hunting

2005-06-13T13:18:00.000-04:00

Weel, after a slow start that seems to have fizzled out altogether, the Grouse Hunter has been mostly AWOL. Chalk it up to summertime blues, and going out hunting other game. As a matter of fact, I canceled my Roanoke Times subscription, so I haven't even been reading what ol' man Denton has been writing these days. I'll be back in the Salt Lick woods soon, though. Over and out (for now).

Incognito

2005-06-12T14:06:00.000-04:00

Well, Salt Lick, I've been hiding in the weeds near your headquarters, hoping for a glimpse of the Grouse Hunter, but I've haven't seen any sign of him. It's hot as hell so I'm going to find a watering hole. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll see one of the candidates.

I tried to find something outrageous in your Roanoke Times, but nothing stood out. Your boy Tommy Denton is all fired up about ending the estate tax, but what else is new? They want an energy policy, but they don't like those windmills up in Highland County, apparently because they don't generate enough electricity. It's tough to please those folks.

Please come back, Salt. It's lonely here.

Visiting with kin

2005-06-11T05:25:00.000-04:00

Jethro's packed up the jalopy and we're a heading for the hills to see some kin folk. I hear Sam Drucker has an internet connection in his General Store these days, so I may check in at the old Salt Lick, but don't count on it. When I get with the kin, I don't feel like doing nothing but enjoying myself.

Those two rascals City Slicker and Grouse Hunter have the keys to Salt Lick International Headquarters, though I'm not sure it's a good idea. I might get back and find all the game shot up, Granny's shine gone, and a new bypass through the property. Lordy.

Anyone suffering withdrawal pains from Roanoke Times hectoring while I'm gone should click my blogroll links to -- From on High, The Roanoke Slant, One Man's Trash, and occasionally, Commonwealth Conservative.

Y'all enjoy what's left of Spring.

Congressman Rick Boucher being testy, or being tested?

2005-06-10T14:30:00.000-04:00

Today's Roanoke Times hardcopy carries a commentary (apparently unavailable online) by 9th Congressional District Representative Rick Boucher titled "The Patriot Act was a rush job that abused the legislative process."

Interestingly, Boucher's piece comes only days after RT editor Dan Radmacher's self-humiliation in a Patriot Act "debate" with U.S. Attorney John Brownlee. Cavalry to the rescue? Now that would be constituent service.

Salt Lick understands that reasonable men and women differ on Patriot Act, and notes that some liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have joined in suggesting change in certain of the act's provisions. That Boucher may join these calls is unremarkable. What caught Salt Lick's eye in Boucher's piece, however, was its sharp tone. Boucher is normally the deliberate chess player, keeping his rhetoric under control, stating his case in a lawyerly manner. In public pronouncements, he usually stays above "politics" and personal attacks. Salt Lick has admired this and thinks it's been a secret to Boucher's success. This time, however, Boucher's language is harsh and accusatory, far beyond the nevertheless supportive critiques of the act by self-proclaimed liberals like former Mayor Ed Koch, for example.

Boucher writes:

...the Patriot Act...tramples on the basic rights of Americans...[its]enactment...grossly abused the legislative process...

...the Ashcroft bill was too extreme...sweeping invasions of civil liberties.

In my 23 years in Congress, I have never witnessed a greater abuse of the legislative process or a more careless act by the leadership of the House.

The law was passed at a time when the country was traumatized by the attacks of 9/11. Ashcroft and a compliant House leadership took advantage of the public's fear to circumvent long-honored legislative procedures and place an unworthy statute on the books.

This is a remarkable departure for Boucher. He is not just accusing his opponents of having bad ideas, he's accusing them of bad faith -- of fear-mongering and abuse of power.

These claims of abuse are interesting stuff coming from a man who, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, read a statement supporting Bill Clinton and voted against his impeachment for abuse of power. Likewise, the concern for an overbearing government is intriguing coming from a Congressman whose aides, presumably while on government payroll, watch local newspapers for dissenting opinions and mail their opponents unsolicited letters answering them personally (as they did Salt Lick). Not that there is anything wrong with that. Constituent outreach, you know. (And any blogger who thinks he can attack Boucher anonymously needs to remember Boucher is very active in internet issues and technology. Constituent outreach, you know.)

Then there is the question of why play the "John Ashcroft card?" Few figures in the Bush administration raised liberal hackles more. But Ashcroft is gone. It's as if Boucher hopes to taint the Patriot Act not by argument, but by insinuation.

So, what's going on? Why this huge departure in style for Boucher? Has Rick caught the Washington bloviating fever? Was he sincerely upset because he respects the processes of legislature? Or is he just angry he was left out of the power loop in the House?

Or is it something else? Something connected with the fact that if the Democrats retake Congress, Boucher's seniority (23 years in a secure district) will place him high in the ruling ranks? He does, after all sit on two key committees -- Commerce and Energy, and Judiciary. And Commerce and Energy are very important to Southwest Virginia's coal industry. The prospect of acquiring these plumbs would be tempting to a politician of either party.

"Abuse." "Trample our rights." We've heard similar words from Democrats and their allies frequently in recent months.

Senate Minority leader Harry Reid at a recent Democratic fundraiser:

[Republicans] want to scrap rules that have been in place since our nation's beginning that give every Senator the right to speak their mind and say their piece. They are demanding a power no president has ever had: the ability to all-but personally hand out lifetime jobs to judges without giving the other party any say.

That's too much power for one person. That's too much power for one President. That's too much power for one political party.

Or the press releases of House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi:

"Republicans have broken their promises, betrayed the public trust, and abused their power... They have undermined the ethics of the House, abandoned any principle of procedural fairness or democratic accountability, and overreached into private family matters and the federal judiciary.

Hillary Clinton e-mailed supporters:

What I see happening in Washington is a concerted effort by the Administration and the leadership in Congress to really create absolute power.

and said at a recent fundraiser:

There has never been an administration, I don’t believe in our history, more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda.

Offical Democratic Party websites warn:

Republicans Warn against Frist-DeLay-Bush Power Consolidation

which matches the anti-Bush hysteria of others such as Bill Moyers and the Roanoke Times.

So again, what's going on? Why so many Democrats saying the same thing? Could these be talking points supporting an...

ELECTION STRATEGY?

Salt Lick doesn't know. He wonders if Boucher received marching orders from somewhere to get with the Democratic program. It would be a shame if Southwest Virginians' congressman moved to the Howard Dean wing of his party. And Salt Lick thinks it's a shame we have no Southwest Virginia newspaper willing to seriously watchdog our representative's intent and motives, to find out for us what's going on.

Now, that kind of journalistic integrity needs to be tested.

Every slice of Bacon has two sides

2005-06-10T07:34:00.000-04:00

Heretofore, the only picture of Jim Bacon Salt Lick has known is the scholarly, dignified visage at his website. I think the photo may have been cooked.

HERE is raw Bacon.

Promoting balance in public broadcasting -- Get 'er done, Ken

2005-06-10T05:03:00.000-04:00

The most recent edition of the Weekly Standard offers an update on resistance to Kenneth Tomlinson's efforts to bring balance to PBS, including additions to the Salt Lick's analysis of Roanoke Times' patron saint Bill Moyers.

Republican Chairman Ken Mehlman -- "Democrats are mostly Jews and Blacks and Atheists"

2005-06-10T04:57:00.000-04:00

Actually, Mehlman didn't say that. But if he had, do you think it would have appeared in the Roanoke Times?

So why has there been no -- zero, zip, nada -- coverage of the recent storm over Howard Dean's dismissive remarks about Republicans being mostly narrow-minded "white Christians?" The controversy has made the evening network news. It's been covered by The Washington Post and other major news outlets.

Even RT news editor Mike Riley's old employer, CNN (the Clinton News Newtwork), has covered the story.

Oh, now I remember. Mr. Riley once managed the CNN website "AllPolitics."

All politics. I forgot.

Southwest Virginia -- Little Switzerland

2005-06-09T09:54:00.000-04:00

The Radmacher children revolt. "You promised only one hour, Daddy. These liederhosen itch and this dog stinks. I wanna go home."

Jerry over at From on High is again questioning the prevailing mantra that Southwest Virginia's economic future lies in tourism.

Salt Lick saw enough big-time "economic development" in the Peace Corps to know it's beyond his expertise (did I mention Africa is still poor?). Some of those wonks over at "Bacon's Rebellion - the Blog" could probably figure it out if they tore themselves away from how to travel 10 miles in less that 1 hour in major Virginia urban areas. But with the delights of Dollywood and Pigeon Forge four hours south, and Washington, D.C. and Williamsburg about 5 hours northward, I do wonder if what we'll get here is low-spending, anti-globalization granola heads.

Oh well, as long as they don't try to get Jethro to smoke crawdads again.

I guess it's a step up from "crabby old men"

2005-06-09T05:45:00.000-04:00

The Roanoke Times continues showing how much it respects bloggers, even those on its offical blogroll. Consider cub journalist Peter Dybdahl's sidebar for today's article on blogging -- "Ax-grind online" -- taken from the the Roanoke Times' soulmate Atlanta Journal-Constitution (not available online):

"It used to be that if you wanted to get your message out, you got a loudspeaker and a soapbox and put on a special helmet to protect yourself from alien laser beams. Now you start a blog...

Everything I just wrote is ridiculously biased, according to Lars Hagen, roanokeslant.blogspot.com."

No Petey, everything you just wrote is sophomoric, uninformed, and, come to think of it, pretty much suits you for the Roanoke Times.

The Patriot Act vs. just acting out

2005-06-08T07:10:00.000-04:00

Truth be told, I knew very little about the Patriot Act last night when I began listening to the debate between U.S. Attorney John Brownlee and Roanoke Times editor Dan Radmacher. My guess was that given the American system of checks, balances, and high sensitivity to obtrusive government, it was unlikely the Act was the proverbial camel's nose of tyranny under the tent of individual privacy. Dan Radmacher said nothing that changed my mind.

Despite Salt Lick's smart-alecky (Jethro says "snarky") remarks about Roanoke Times' editors, he has nothing against them personally. In fact, he felt downright sorry for Dan Radmacher last night as John Brownlee figuratively took his hand, patted it, and said, "You're going to be fine, Dan, you're going to be fine."

At first, I thought maybe Radmacher had not had time to prepare properly, he sounded so uninformed. We are all busy these days, and sometimes we just get caught out. But that didn't make sense. Lberal newspapers such as the Roanoke Times have screeched about the Patriot Act since its enactment several years ago.

As the "debate" went on, I recognized the real motivation of Radmacher and his fellow travelers -- our old friend Liberal Hysteria. It was the current left-wing theme of Bush McHitlerburton is getting too much power. We are living in a fascist state, etc. For example, while discussing the appointment of special judges (FISA judges), Radmacher said danger lay in these judges because they are appointed solely by Chief Justice Rehnquist. Now, if you are critiquing a system, why not say "the Chief justice of the Supreme Court?" Why "Chief Justice Rehnquist?" I was tempted to call in and ask if it would be OK as long as Justices Scalia and Thomas helped Rehnquist choose.

Then Radmacher repeated what is apparently an urban legend about a librarian vs. FBI standoff that tested the Patriot Act. I Googled it, but found absolutely nothing. This is the type of stuff created by the liberal American Library Association, a liberal group that howls about the potential problems of the Patriot Act but won't condemn Castro when he throws librarians in jail. Oh yeah, we all know those librarians are one tightly wound group (sorry, Sis), but for a journalist to traffic in anti-globalization camp scuttlebutt...

Program callers supporting Radmacher didn't much help his case. My favorite was the fellow who related how his friend "Geronimo" has been followed by the FBI for nearly 30 years. (Maybe this guy and Geronimo were the "scrotum inflators" with Ward "Walking Eagle" Churchill at the Anarchist Book Fair?)

Then someone named "Dewey" (last name "Eyed?"), perhaps one of Radmacher's associates from his work with the environmental movement, called in to say he knew George Bush would use the Patriot Act to stifle environmental protests and for George "to bring it on." (Psst. Dewey. The frequency is 710 AM, WFNR.)

The real tragedy is that the Roanoke Times could avoid falling for some of this hysteria if its staff were intellectually diverse. Reasonable men can, and do, differ on whether to keep the Patriot Act. Former New York Mayor and liberal Ed Koch and former conservative congressman Bob Barr, for instance, both want changes. That's the greatness of America. We reason, we debate. And we usually get it right.

Come on, Wendy and Tommy, hire a conservative or two into your editorial staff. It would be a patriotic act.

Sorry to burst your bubble...

2005-06-08T05:11:00.000-04:00

George Bush at Yale.

...but it appears from Commonwealth Conservative that our young hero made higher grades than the supposedly brilliant and nuanced John F'ing Kerry. (Did I mention the Cheney's daughter is a lesbian?)

Gee, I had no idea Frank Zappa was in George's class.

TONIGHT: The Patriot Act -- Roanoke Times' editor debates U.S. Attorney

2005-06-07T19:15:00.000-04:00

Roanoke Times editor Dan "Yes-I-am-a-liberal" Radmacher will debate the Patriot Act with John Brownlee, United States Attorney for Western Virgina, tonight (Tuesday, June 7) at 7:00 p.m. on National People's Radio station WVTF .

UPDATE at 7:15 pm: Heck, I can't find it. Maybe 7:30?

UPDATE at 7:30: OK, it's on.

So when will Tommy Denton hit bottom?

2005-06-07T05:40:00.000-04:00

Roanoke Times editor Tommy Denton's Sunday column quoted pundit Molly Ivins' "First Rule of Holes: When you're in one, quit digging."

Oh yeah, Molly "I'm-a-Bush-hater" Ivins, the nationally syndicated columnist for Tommy's former employer, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Oh yeah, Molly Ivins, author of "Bushwacked: Life in George W. Bush's America."

And this Molly Ivins, too.

Wait, what's that it says about "Her television commentaries have been featured on National Public Radio and the McNeil/Lehrer program?"

NPR? PBS McNeil/Lehrer? Aren't those part of the same biased Corporation for Public Broadcasting that has made left-wing pundit Bill Moyers wealthy and into which Ken Tomlinson is trying to inject some balance?

I'm not sure that's dirt you're shoveling Tommy, but you're definitely in over your head.

Our slithering country friends

2005-06-07T05:30:00.000-04:00

Jerry over at From On High has a photo and a post most of us in the country can identify with -- big 'ol black snake. I saw one of these "pets" stretched out in my yard while I was mowing last weekend. He was the same size as Jerry's, and wet and shiny. I assume he'd just molted his skin. I had to mow around him until one of the cats came over and bopped him on the head and made him leave.

One of my friend's wives will actually stop mowing, pick one of these things up, and move it out of her way. We know another couple that lives with several in their attic, though they occasionally come down into the living quarters. They are real good at keeping the mice under control.

Farm living is the life for me. Keep Manhattan, just gimme that countryside.

Casino consultin'

2005-06-06T05:05:00.000-04:00

Salt Lick International HQ -- The Salt Dome

Blogging will be light at Salt Lick International Headquarters over the next few weeks. Jethro has asked me to act as what he called "a consultant" to his new "Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Mansion & Casino in Carson City, Nevada.

Lord, I hope this turns out better than when he wanted to be a double-naught spy or an astronaut.

I hate to say it, but sometimes I think that if brains was lard, Jethro couldn't grease a pan.

(h/t to Florida Cracker)

D-Day, June 6, 1944

2005-06-06T05:03:00.000-04:00

The National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia

Roanoke Times editorial roundup

2005-06-06T05:01:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, May 31 -- Real Estate taxes: problem and symptom. Plans to stem rising assesments should take into account local needs, and federal and state governments' failure to meet their obligations. Kaine...acknowledges that real estate tax relief would require increased state aid to localities. Kilgore apparently would tie communities' hands and walk away.

Wednesday, June 1 -- The real cost of development. Impact fees could help local governments pay for infrastructure needs generated by new growth -- but only if the General Assembly will allow it. In most parts of the country, the fairy tale that development pays for itself has been laid to rest. Virginia should recognize that reality, and grant local government the ability to recoup the costs associated with new growth.

A president at odds with reality. Iraq, Afghanistan and the terrorist threat all contradict Bush's misleading rhetoric.

Thursday, June 2 -- Holding Virgina on the road. The outgoing transportation chief forced the state's road agency back on course. Whether it stays there will depend a lot on the next governor. Virginia has an estimated $25 billion in long-term transportation needs. The General Assembly, supposedly flush with revenues from a small tax increase that anti-tax idelogues decry as folly, gave highways an $848 million fusion this year. The state has far, far to go.

Friday, June 3 -- Scott voter registrar should step down. A mom [Willie Mae Kilgore] and election official with two sons on the ballot has a higher duty to the public interest.

Saturday, June 4 -- Bad news for investors. SEC nominee Christopher Cox lacks the current commissioner's commitment to reforms necessary to restore confidence in financial markets... President Bush's nomination of Cox paid lip service to the importance of financial market integrity

Sunday, June 5 -- The widening gap in child care. OK, demand more work from parents getting government aide, but they'll need more help watching the kids. Need now exceeds subsidies...In Bush's America, more workers are poor, and the poor on TANF will have to work more.

If not a U.S. gulag, far too much like one. Abusive secretive treatment of prisoners from Iraq and Afghanistan is troublingly similar. President Bush dismissed as "absurd" Amnesty International's charge that his administration has set up a Soveiet-style "gulag" for prisoners in the so-called war of terrorism. But Amnesty is off the mark in degree, not substance. The Soviet Union...

Monday, June 6 -- America Inc., up for sale. Lobbyists, spreading money strategically across party lines, exert undue influence in Washington. The people need to take back their government. The influence-peddling that barely masquerades as lobbying in Washington - the "free expression" of "political views" that increasingly amounts to the purchase of public policy by big campaign contributors - is rotting the republic at its foundation of representative democracy.

Bill Moyers, patron saint of the Roanoke Times?

2005-06-03T05:30:00.000-04:00

“I share the sentiments of Bill Moyers, one of my journalistic heroes.”

So wrote Tommy Denton, Editorial Page Editor of the Roanoke Times, for an address ("Why Not Blame the Media?") he delivered as a visiting scholar last year at Tarleton State University. Denton wasn't speaking lightly. His address mentions Moyers nine times.

Tommy Denton's admiration for Moyers isn't surprising. Besides being journalists, both are Texans and Texas political insiders, having served powerful Democratic politicans -- Denton as a press aide to Senator Lloyd Bentsen, arch rival of another Texas political family -- the Bushes -- and Moyers as press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson. While Denton appears to have labored in relative obscurity and only for a few years, Moyers served Johnson in some of his most heady and troubled times. In fact, Moyers headed the Johnson campaign team responsible for the infamous "daisy" ad which insinuated a vote for Goldwater was a vote for nuclear war. At the time, Moyers wrote Johnson, "[W]hile we paid for the ad only once on NBC last Monday night, ABC and CBS both ran it on their news shows Friday. So we got it shown on all three networks for the price of one." Some believe that ad and Moyers' subsequent career helped create today's toxic take-no-prisoners politics.

It's likely that the Roanoke Times' Bill Moyers' fan club includes more staff than just Tommy Denton. Moyers once praised the work of recent Roanoke Times hire and Tommy Denton admirer, "Yes, I am a liberal" Dan Radmacher. Moreover, long-time Roanoke Times readers often see Moyers quoted in the Times' editorials as if he were an important authority. So, for anyone wanting to understand the Roanoke Times, it's important to ask -- just who is Bill Moyers?

Bill Moyers

If you are totally unfamiliar with Moyers, a good place to start is the basic information in the on-line encylopedia Wikipedia. Most folks, however, know Moyers as the moderator and producer of a variety of PBS documentaries, and most recently, the PBS weekly program "NOW with Bill Moyers." He retired last year but has been in the news lately expressing his outrage that Kenneth Tomlinson, the new Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has launched a personal crusade aimed at "eliminating the perception of political bias" in PBS programs.

(Here's something that makes Salt Lick chuckle -- Kenneth Tomlinson grew up just outside of Galax, Virginia! Tomlinson and Salt Lick! Southwest Virginia against Texas! IT'S A VAST RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY! Read about it here. )

Tomlinson is not alone. For some time now, many -- other -- people have said Moyers has used PBS not only to broadcast his own left-wing ideology, but to enrich himself and his family. Others simply note the imbalance in PBS programing and cite Moyers as a chief example.

It does indeed seem that the original PBS logo has changed slightly over the years.

The Donkey in PBS

As mentioned, Moyers is often quoted in Roanoke Times' editorials. And there are many similarities in how Moyers and editor Tommy Denton express their ideas. Both frequently cite famous figures. Moyers can name-drop an astounding number of intellectuals into anything he writes or speaks, no doubt the harvest of his many documentaries. Ben Franklin appears to be a favorite of Denton's.

Likewise, as the "new media" of cable news, talk radio, and bloggers raised serious doubts of "old media's" objectivity and accuracy, both men have recently sounded an almost apocalyptic note about America's future. Last December, Moyers bewailed the new challenges to old media and said,

What I know to be real is that we are in for the fight of our lives. I am not a romantic about democracy or journalism... journalism and democracy are deeply linked in whatever chance we human beings have to redress our grievances, renew our politics, and reclaim our revolutionary ideals. Those are difficult tasks at any time, and they are even more difficult in a cynical age as this, when a deep and pervasive corruption has settled upon the republic. But too much is at stake for our spirits to flag...

While Tommy Denton ended his "Why not Blame the Media?" with,

...freedom and democracy are hard labor — yours and mine, not just the politicians’ and not just the media’s. So I invite you to ponder the response of Ben Franklin in 1787 as he left Constitution Hall after completion of the new Constitution, to the woman who asked: “What, Dr. Franklin, have you wrought?”
“A republic, madam,” he said, “if you can keep it.”

Another interesting similarity in Moyers' and Denton's style is their use of religion. While both condemn an intolerant "Religious Right," each cites faith, morals, and "authorities" of the "Religious Left" in support of their arguments. Denton, for example, once grounded the better part of a column on the words of Religious Left leader Jim Wallis. Similarly, Moyers weaves religious quotations and imagery into his work so often that some have dubbed him "PBS's Evangelist."

Lately, Moyers seems to have gone off the deep end of this theme. He got so worked up in one speech this year he smeared James Watt, Ronald Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior, by saying Watt and many other Republicans wanted to cut down all trees to hasten the second coming of Christ. To his credit, Moyers apologized.

But perhaps weirdest of all was Moyers' comparison of himself to Jesus Christ and his claim of having God on his side. In an interview widely quoted, but often parsed to eliminate the weirder parts, Moyers reacted to Tomlinson's investigation of PBS bias:

First, let me assure you that I take in stride attacks by the radical right wingers who have not given up demonizing me although I retired over six months ago. They’ve been after me for years now, and I suspect they will be stomping on my grave to make sure I don’t come back from the dead. I should point out to them that one of our boys pulled it off some two thousand years ago after the Pharisees, the Sadducees and Caesar surrogates thought they had shut him up for good. I won’t be expecting that kind of miracle, but I should put my detractors on notice, they might just compel me out of the rocking chair and back into the anchor chair.

"...stomping on my grave... to make sure I don't come back ... one of our boys pulled it off..." (?)

Woo boy. At 70, Moyers probably doesn't have too many years left in his first life. Get ready for the Rapture.

There's plenty vintage Moyers' invective here and here and here and here, if you want to read it. If you are a long-time reader of the Roanoke Times, you'll recognize some of it as having been repeated there word for word. And you'll begin to understand one source of the Roanoke Times' left-wing tone.

So there you have it. Tommy Denton admires the work of Bill Moyers, who admires the work of Dan Radmacher, who admires the work of Tommy Denton. And they're all pursued by Salt Lick and his newfound journalistic hero, Kenneth Tomlinson.

Which reminds me of something Benjamin Franklin said which applies to preachy, invective-ladling journalists who simultaneously call for more "diversity" and civil public dialogue.

"The bell calls others to Church, but itself never minds the sermon."

Good man, old Ben.

But which one will respect us the morning after?

2005-06-02T07:55:00.000-04:00

Salt Lick rarely understands the ins and outs of politics, but for what its worth, last night Channel 10 out of Roanoke reported on Southwest Virginia: 2005 Battleground, stating that since the end of the legislative session Tim Kaine has visited SW Virginia 18 times (10 times in May; more than twice a week), and Jerry Kilgore has visited 12 times since mid-March.

Our regional political commentator, Virginia Tech's Dr. Robert Denton (often referred to locally as "Dr. Bob") told Channel 10 that rural Virginia would be the main battleground in the Governor's race, so old Salt Lick perked up at that.

Battleground? Oh Lord, it's gonna be sign wars all over again.

A soldier in Iraq puts it in perspective

2005-06-02T07:53:00.000-04:00

One of Power Line's regular correspondents, a U.S. Army Major reports the real story in Iraq.

BBC broadcasts and online reports... could easily persuade a viewer that my BBC acquaintance’s "sky is falling" prediction was the most accurate. In fact, even when reporting the results, the network focused not on the achievement of yet another milestone in Iraq’s transition from tyranny to democracy, but instead on some minor Sunni minister who was unhappy with his post. I think it was the Minister of the Environment, so perhaps his next step will be to contact Christine Todd Whitman's literary agent.

Anyway, the episode reminded me of how the media tends to view such events—always as potential cataclysms, rather than as small, positive steps forward. Portraying events that way probably gets more television viewers and sells more newspapers. But the growth of alternative media indicates that the public is learning that they may not be getting the story as objectively as claimed, which creates a thirst for other sources of information, whether it be Fox News, emails from troops, or blogs.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for all of the support you and your readers give to the troops.

Of course, if enough mainstream news organizations like the Roanoke Times and Newsweek keep using the news to create more terrorists, many more innocent people will die.

Read the whole thing.

So, the Roanoke Times is racially and intellectually bigoted?

2005-06-02T05:35:00.000-04:00

"I'm telling you, Billy, it's a sign. Tommy Denton is ready to come out of the closet and under the sheets. Do you realize this means our group'll finally have somebody that can write?"

Oh, probably not, but the Times would definitely hint at "institutional racism" if these figures applied to a business or other entity it didn't like. A 50% decline in newsroom diversity in the last ten years? A minority workforce far below the minority percentage of Virginia's population? Racism? Or just a sign that the Roanoke Times might be experiencing the same difficulties in attracting qualified minority candidates as other corporate and academic entities? Probably the latter.

More at Poynter Online concering the lack of "diversity" at most newspapers.

Of course, there are other, more important forms of "diversity" than skin color.

All this certainly brings back memories of a terrible chapter in American history -- the story of The Old Negro Space Program.

Those Pesky Congressional Globetrotters

2005-06-01T12:23:00.000-04:00

Today's Briefly Put remarks that

At least 43 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and nearly 200 aides have belatedly reported trips financed by special interests.

Of course, the Roanoke Times also suggests that the attention is due to the fact that Tom DeLay is among the 43.

But, as Lars Hagen pointed out three weeks ago,

Since 2000 members of Congress have taken 5,410 trips, half were sponsored by non-profit groups that don't have to disclose who is providing the money. Democrats took 3,025 trips; Republicans 2,375, Independents, 10. Rep. Harold Ford, Democrat of Tenn. took the most trips: 63. Delay (clearly not one of the worst offenders) took 14 trips. He [Delay] ranked 28th for value of trips, and 114th in the number taken (data: usa-today 4/26 -- clearly not one of Delay's supporters).

(emphasis added)

Just another example of the Roanoke Times' inability to pay attention to any of the facts that don't fit their particular bias.

Paying My Debt to Society

2005-06-01T11:05:00.000-04:00

Thank you, Salt Lick, for inviting me to join The Salt Lick. I will endeavor not to grouse too much, but the Roanoke Times can ruffle my feathers from time to time.

(picture pinched from Grouse Hunter Magazine)

See ya'll in the woods,
Grouse Hunter