From The Carpetbagger:

Al Gore has scheduled a major address for Monday. If you get the chance, you might want to check it out — it sounds like it'll be pretty powerful.

In a major address slated for delivery Monday in Washington, the former Vice President is expected to argue that the Bush administration has created a "Constitutional crisis" by acting without the authorization of the Congress and the courts to spy on Americans and otherwise abuse basic liberties.

…Indeed, his aides and allies are framing it as a "call to arms" in defense of the Bill of Rights and the rule of law in a time of executive excess.

I think we've reached a point in which describing Gore's addresses as "cautious and bureaucratic" no longer applies. In August, the former Vice President delivered a devastating critique of the national media and our political discourse. It followed robust and, dare I say, inspiring speeches on global warming, the political uses of fear, [and] the truth someday rising again.

It may seem odd in light of his history of moderation, but Al Gore has become one of the nation's most forceful and articulate progressive voices. If Monday will be a "call to arms," I'll be all ears.

Yeah, but the media won't. Even without Gore running for any office, the 24-hour wankcycle insists he's some deranged sore loser, despite the fact that he won the election. John Murtha got their attention because he's not seeking higher office, is beloved by the military people who aren't political appointees, and spoke directly. The SCLM allowed the Republicans to spin them on "Gore is a liar" so much that they can't present him as credible now or they'd be exposed.

I was thinking last night, before I even knew about this upcoming speech, that the national discussion about the Bush administration is not going to change significantly until a Murtha-like figure - someone who gains nothing personally by criticizing the President and who would normally be sympathetic to his agenda - says somewhere, on live TV (perhaps on the House or Senate floor), "The President is a lying sack of shit."

I don't think anything else is going to break through the wankcycle.

In the story Why I don't contribute to OETA, I mentioned my years of frustration with how our state's public television network treats America's Test Kitchen:

And while OETA can find the money to produce the [Lawrence] Welk show, and for other programs to air instead of the multiple viewpoints that PBS promises, it can't do the same for other popular PBS syndicated programs. According to Slate from six months ago, the highest-rated cooking show on public television is America's Test Kitchen, from the folks at "Cook's Illustrated" magazine, a food source I hold in esteem just slightly below Alton Brown. ATK is a great show that shows cooking methods, ingredient tasting, equipment testing, along with science and trivia. It deserves its high ratings.

So, of course, OETA runs it only at 10:30 AM on Saturday mornings, and pre-empts it several times per year for pledge drives. It's been off the air here for two weeks, returning just today with episodes from a new season that hadn't yet been seen in Oklahoma.

Despite spending 58% of its budget on broadcast and technical issues, however, OETA aired today's episode of ATK the same way it does at least once per month: with the video half a second ahead of the audio. I guess it's lucky none of the cooks are openly gay, or we might not see it at all, with or without audio.

I know from letters I get that people associated with OETA have read the story (though I don't know if they read the blog regularly), and I should note that I haven't seen ATK's audio and video out of sync in some time. More importantly, right now, OETA is showing the 2006 season premiere of ATK.

In January.

For as long as they've carried it, OETA has delayed the season premiere of ATK until May for no earthly identifiable reason, even though the producers are quite open that the show is produced every May for about a month t get all the shows ready for the following January. This year, for the first time, they're showing it when it's supposed to be shown.

OETA also pre-empted national PBS programming one Friday night in December to show a one-hour special on the composer Leroy Anderson, composer of Sleigh Ride, Bugler's Holiday, and other novelty tunes. He was a master arranger and composer ("fluff" is a lot harder to write than you think), and I've always been an Anderson fan, so I was quite pleased to run across it by accident. If I complain about OETA showing fuddy-duddy programs, I have to note approval when they show a fuddy-duddy program that I happen to like.

Now if OETA can get over its fear of Teh Gay and show more viewpoints, it might be worth supporting again.