Sort of Serious Stuff

White House Chronicle host Llewellyn King has a fierce new interest: He has become a voice for people who suffer from an incurable disease, myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

After writing a slew of columns for the Hearst-New York Times syndicate on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and receiving hundreds of letters of gratitude from those who suffer with the disease, he has started a dedicated YouTube channel, MECFSAlert. In various taped episodes, King says he wants to educate people and convince Congress to spend the bucks to find a cure. The channel is also a place for the afflicted to offer one another suggestions and comfort on how to best live with the disease.

“This is right up there with the most important stories I’ve ever covered,” he said. “There are a million victims in the United States – 17 million worldwide – who are the living dead. Their suffering is appalling. They need to be heard in the medical establishment, in Congress and in the general media.”

Want to wind down before your afternoon siesta? Watch him here.

Crain’s Chicago Business politics writer Greg Hinz is taking a bold stance on the health of 52-year-old Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) who suffered a severe stroke nearly three months ago. Namely, he wants to know what’s happening. It’s time, he says.

For the kid gloves. Hinz boldly went there, but managed to show some tact. An excerpt:

“I can appreciate the desire for privacy from the senator’s staff and family — and perhaps Mr. Kirk himself. He quite possibly has suffered some left-side motor damage and is entitled to work his way through the painful struggles that recovery likely requires without the indignity of having film on the 6 o’clock news. But Mark Kirk is not just any official. He’s a United States senator, one of just 100 in a body in which one vote often makes a huge difference.  …Can he do that job? Apparently not today. Will he be able to do it in a month, a quarter, or a year? No one is saying.”

Read the full story here.

Jason Mattera, editor-at-large for Human Events, was terminated last week. He has been replaced by conservative columnist David Harsanyi.

Mattera released a new book in mid-March. FBDC hears there was an agreement between he and Human Events‘ publisher Joe Guerriero to remain employed with the conservative weekly until the publicity tour for the book was complete. Evidently, the tour has ended.

Mattera’s dismissal comes on the heels of two other Human Events writers who no longer write for the publication. While Tony Lee was terminated,  Brian Darling‘s column was discontinued. Darling is employed with the Heritage Foundation.

Developing…

For far too long FBDC has trafficked in snark, gossip and petty news. We’re giving it up.

Starting today we’ll move away from the sin we’ve been pedaling and shift to more highbrow content, written through a Christian perspective. Naturally this means we’ll be honing in on more wholesome outlets like the CBN, Real Clear Religion and DCist.

The reason for the change: Betsy, Peter and I have consulted our conscience, our respective houses of worship and Politico‘s Mike Allen, an avowed Christian, on how to live more Christ-like.

Their advice to us after the jump.

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If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em. That’s what D.C. über publicist Wendy Gordon said to herself as she accepted a part-time contributor gig with FishbowlDC over the weekend.

Despite what has been perceived to be a rift, FBDC and Gordon have mended ways and she will now be handling the infamous feature “Wendy Wednesday.” During the grueling and at times awkward interview process, Wendy remarked that she wanted to have more than just one measly day to call her own. We delicately explained that “Wendy Thursday” doesn’t have quite the same ring as Wendy Wednesday. “What about Wendy Tuesday?” she persisted. No, Wendy, no, we explained. FBDC’s Peter Ogburn nearly lost it when Wendy suggested “Wendy Monday.” He piped up, “Wendy, get your head out of the champagne bottle you’ve photoshoppped yourself into and listen up. I handle Wendy Wednesday and that’s the way it’s going to be.” Clearly we have a few internal issues to work out here as we divvy up the tasks.

See Wendy’s salary requirements after the jump…

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Cathy Taylor is barely four months into her gig as the editor of Human Events and the conservative weekly is already facing a massive shakeup under her leadership.

Taylor recently terminated Tony Lee who spearheaded the publication’s election blog and also dropped Brian H. Darling, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a regular columnist for nearly four years. FishbowlDC hears there are more major changes on the horizon and possibly more layoffs.

Sources close to Human Events tell us Taylor is moving the news outlet, known for its hard right conservatism, into a more “big tent” direction with an emphasis on original reporting. There will be a relaunch of the paper product and website in mid April.

Despite not pulling in a profit, Human Events isn’t thought to be in financial trouble. It is funded by its parent company Eagle Publishing.

Dismissing Lee

Lee joined Human Events in late 2010. He was initially hired to report on politics and culture but moved into political analysis with the website’s launch of “The Chase,” an opinion blog on the Republican presidential field.

Lee faced long-term health issues before and during his tenure at Human Events. A source close to the publication told FishbowlDC that this was likely a major factor in his termination, but there was also a series of conflicts between him and Taylor regarding the direction of Human Events into more centrist territory. Multiple sources expressed doubt over Taylor’s bona fides as a conservative.

The New Direction

At the core of Human Event‘s makeover…

Read more

We brought you the news yesterday of former Roll Call Features Editor and Intern Coordinator Debbie Bruno, who wrote a controversial op-ed for The Christian Science Monitor in which she recalls questionable hiring practices. She said she was told to hire interns based on race.

Roll Call Editorial Director Mike Mills shot back at her late Wednesday afternoon, saying, Bruno was “wrong” and was doing a disservice her former colleagues. (See his full quote in the link above.)

Late last night, we reached Bruno in Beijing, who had this stinging response for Mills: “I’ll give Mike Mills the benefit of the doubt that he just didn’t know about the order,” she wrote by email. “But it’s been heartwarming to hear from so many current and former Roll Callers, who don’t feel I’ve done them a disservice at all. I guess they appreciate the truth.”

But some Roll Call staffers are less than thrilled about the op-ed and are chalking Bruno’s deed up to an ex-editor trying to burn as many bridges as possible. On that note, Bruno joked over email, “And now I’m going to go get a tattoo of a burned bridge on my arm.”

Here is this week’s installment of “Ask Piranhamous Anything.”  If you have a question you’d like “snarked to death,” send it to FishbowlDC@mediabistro.com. This isn’t an advice column. Piranhamous doesn’t know what the hell you should do with your life any more than you do — and worse, he doesn’t care. Try to keep your questions short — we want to keep this fun, simple, funny and insightful.

Why is Dave Weigel so Weigelicious on Twitter?

Asking this question is like asking why the sun rises in the east – it just does. Before he got busted for steroid use, the Boston sports media used to have a saying for when Manny Ramirez was acting like a jackass. They’d say, “That’s just Manny being Manny.” Well, that’s just Weigel being Weigel. He’s good enough people in person, but he can be endlessly verbose on Twitter. Considering he’ll get attacked by one side or the other no matter what he writes, and he’s friends with a bunch of Boybanders, you can’t really expect the guy to not be an ass all the time. Be happy his fits are limited to 140 characters, rather than verbal while chasing people around a bar.

Do you think it was a good idea for Meghan McCain to do the Playboy interview? (She didn’t pose nude but in a sexy dress. They tried to make it seem like her bottom might be uncovered but it was — in a dress.)

I don’t think Meghan McCain is a good idea, so anything she does is just the chocolate icing on the turd sandwich I already consider this mental lightweight to be. The real question is was this interview a good idea for Playboy? If you’re in the business of publishing pictures of hot naked chicks, is it a good idea to have a huge pile of saltpeter right in the middle of it? It kind of makes it difficult to use the magazine for what everyone knows it’s designed for…reading the articles, of course. (Get your mind out of the gutter, perv!)

….that one of those House Beautiful green chairs will be in Georgetown in the vicinity of Cady’s Alley around 1:30. The chair is a Palace Chair from Baker’s Jacques Garcia Collection.

What the hell are you waiting for? Go get it. It’s free! (And psst…picture this white number in green. This is the style.)

As we told you earlier in the week, House Beautiful Magazine is giving away a whopping 19 green chairs this week. And they’re not the ugly ones — they’re beautiful green-hued chairs in all shapes, designs and shades of green.

Update: That same birdy tells us that at 2:15ish they’re placing an Arhaus Modesto Lime Chair near Chinatown’s Friendship Arch.

Update #2: The birdy is a regular chatty Cathy. Around 3ish, a “fabulous” chair from The Container Store will appear in the U Street Corridor, in vicinity of U and 12th Streets.

Update #3 (last one of the day): Farragut Square gets its turn between 3:45 and 4:15 today when HB will place the Phillipe Chair from Room Service somewhere near I/Eye and 17th streets NW.

Here is this week’s installment of “Ask Piranhamous Anything.”  If you have a question you’d like “snarked to death,” send it to FishbowlDC@mediabistro.com. This isn’t an advice column. Piranhamous doesn’t know what the hell you should do with your life any more than you do — and worse, he doesn’t care. Try to keep your questions short — we want to keep this fun, simple, funny and insightful.

1. Do you think online Twitter fighting has gotten out of control? Why, you wanna fight? Absolutely not! Fighting is what Twitter was made for. With only 140 characters you can’t exactly convey the genius of Milton Friedman, but you can call someone an asshole. And since there are plenty more assholes than Friedman’s out there, Twitter is custom-made for pointing them out. You want a serious discussion of policy, start a blog. Twitter is for pointing out how big of a jackass someone is while adding a link to your rant justifying it.

2. Why is there such infighting amongst GOP bloggers like WaPo‘s Jennifer Rubin and the rest such as RedState and CNN’s Erick Erickson? There’s a huge difference between being a member of the GOP and being a conservative. The GOP has leaders like Mitch McConnell, who rambles with the same monotone whether he’s giving a floor speech on something that makes him “angry” or passing a stone. Rubin wasn’t picked to write for the Post because she’s conservative, she was picked because she’s a Republican. Erickson is a conservative. The difference between a Republican and a conservative is the difference between someone who wants to step gingerly, rather than stomp, in cow manure (the way they envision the Founding Fathers would’ve liked) and someone who doesn’t want to step in it at all. I’m not saying Rubin smells…but I’m also not saying she doesn’t.

3. Who is better looking, FNC’s Ed Henry or Bret Baier? Tough call. They both look like they just fell out of a catalog, but Henry has to lose this one. Baier always looks put together, as does Henry, but Bret does so while looking like it was effortless, like he woke up that way. Ed comes off as the type who not only always has a pocket square, but spent 15 minutes with a ruler and protractor making sure it conforms with the Brooks Brothers style guide. It’s the difference between simply being an A student and being an A-minus student who kisses the teacher’s butt to get the upgrade. Sure, you’re both getting an A, and both were “earned,” but only sort of.