Monday, July 27, 2009
CNN's Harris Calls Police Union Presser 'Incendiary'
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Around 12:31 PM, after the Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition held a press conference defending Sgt. Crowley’s conduct in the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Harris spoke to the CNN reporter on the scene, Don Lemon. Having been informed that one of the reasons the union decided to hold the press conference was a sinking morale among officers after President Obama’s remarks on the matter, Harris said:
HARRIS: I don't know why I was under the impression that this news conference, that by the end of it we would be closer to resolving this. I don't know why I thought that, but clearly, it looks like we may be more entrenched at this point with Cambridge police unions. The legal counsel for Cambridge police saying very clearly that they support the actions of the officer in this case and want an apology from the president.
It’s easy to see in the transcript alone that Harris was shocked at the tone of the press conference, wherein a request was issued for President Obama to apologize for his comments about the Cambridge Police Department behaving “stupidly.” The story here is not about the union’s response to President Obama; the story is the incredulity with which their response is received by Harris.
Even after Lemon goes out of his way to explain the reasons why the union decided to hold a press conference, Harris still does not acknowledge the external factors which led to the response. Lemon clearly noted that the police department was not allowing its officers to respond to Gates’ allegations – but that when the President of the United States became involved, the damage to police morale became too much to ignore.
Despite this fact, Harris calls the union’s press conference “incendiary.”
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Gates-Gate: Morning Shows Exclude Non-African-American Guests
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The networks might just as well have hung out a sign this morning: non-African-American experts on policing and racial profiling need not apply.
Good Morning America, the Early Show and Today had a total of six guests on the subject . . . and every one was African- American.
Among the highlights: a writer from Tina Brown's Daily Beast suggested that given our incarceration rate, the USA meets the definition of a "police state" ....
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Large turnout for election in Iraqi Kurdistan
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Election workers count ballots in the city of Irbil in the semiautonomous Kurdistan region. Many voters welcome the possibility that the Change list will provide a strong opposition voice in the 111-seat legislature.
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Obama Muffs History Also Says We Don’t Want ‘Victory’ in Afghanistan – Will Media Notice?
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It is telling that when Barack Obama pictures “victory” he doesn’t see in his head that famous photo of the U.S. Sailor kissing the pretty girl in Times Square on Victory Day. Instead, what is immediately conjured up in Obama’s mind is the bedraggled figure of a beaten Japanese Emperor groveling at the feet of U.S. military might.
Barack Obama said on TV this week that “victory” isn’t his “goal” in Afghanistan. Why not?
"I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur,"
It is hard to escape the feeling that Obama’s first thought when the word “victory” is broached is of our enemy, his sympathies with them, not us.
But that isn’t even the worst of it. Once again we see another example of Obama’s ignorance of history, even American history. In fact, Emperor Hirohito didn’t even sign the document that finalized the surrender of Japan to General MacArthur. That duty was performed by Japan’s Foreign Minister, Mamoru Shigemitsu, and one of its generals, Yoshijir Mumezu.
In fact, we didn’t destroy Japan’s Emperor, rather we allowed him to continue on in a ceremonial role to allow the Japanese to feel as if they hadn’t been entirely crushed and that some of their traditions might live on.
So, once again, Obama garbles history, disrespects his own country, and sets us up to be discounted as a viable force by foreign nations. Obama’s discounting of “victory” in Afghanistan is dangerous news for our troops. It signals a man that will not give our troops the support they need to win the war and come home with our pride and safety intact.
Now, will the Old Media realize this disastrous view of history, warfare and our national security? Or will the Old Media just move on as if nothing happened?
[Said July 23rd - anyone other than Fox covered yet?]
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Some influential Muslim groups question FBI's actions
As they sipped tea and nibbled on dates, more than 100 men and women listened to a litany of speakers sounding the same message: The FBI is not your friend.
"We're here today to say our mosques are off limits,"
Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for Greater Los Angeles, told the crowd last month at an Anaheim mosque...
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Eight-Year-Old Gang-Raped, Shunned by Family: CNN's Only Network On It
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An eight-year-old girl, gang-raped by four young boys in Phoenix, then blamed for the rape by her family and shunned: how quickly and heavily will the media respond? Where is President Obama, who can comment on local police matters in Cambridge, Massachusetts?
Here’s a summary from AP:
Authorities said Thursday that four boys ages 9 to 14 took turns raping an 8-year-old girl behind a shed for more than 10 minutes in what Phoenix police are calling one of the most horrific cases they've ever seen.
The outrage over the allegations intensified after police said the girl's parents criticized her after the attack and blamed her for bringing shame on the family.
"The father told the caseworker and an officer in her presence that he didn't want her back. He said, 'Take her, I don't want her,' " police Sgt. Andy Hill said.
...Phoenix investigators said the boys lured the girl to an empty shed July 16 under the pretense of offering her gum. The boys held the girl down while they took turns assaulting her, police said.
"She was brutally sexually assaulted for a period of about 10 to 15 minutes," Hill said.
Officers responding to an emergency call reporting hysterical screams found the girl partially clothed and the boys running from the scene.
So far, Nexis shows CNN is the first and only network on this story, which should captivate Nancy Grace and Greta van Susteren for weeks, not to mention network morning shows.Here's a story from ABC-15 in Phoenix. ["Who's to blame in sex assault of girl? Father says nobody"]
Will the major media's racial and religious sensitivities affect their coverage of the story?
[A Nation is its shared values. Our pot needs less focus on 'diversity' and more on melting...]
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Why Did MSNBC Edit Hillary’s CFR Speech?
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On July 15, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared before the Council on Foreign Relations, the much maligned organization often at the center of many global conspiracy theories.
It appears that MSNBC edited out Clinton’s opening statement thanking the CFR for having her. When reading what she said at the outset of the speech one might become suspicious that MSNBC was trying to provide cover for the Secretary of State whose comments opened her up to the tongue wagging of conspiracy buffs.
Here is how Hillary began her remarks (my bold):
“Thank you very much, Richard, and I am delighted to be here in these new headquarters. I have been often to, I guess, the mother ship in New York City, but it’s good to have an outpost of the Council right here down the street from the State Department. We get a lot of advice from the Council, so this will mean I won’t have as far to go to be told what we should be doing and how we should think about the future.”
Oopsie. If one were a conspiratorial minded sort, one might find Hillary’s claim that the Department of State needs to be told what to think by the Council on Foreign Relations is a bit shocking.
Yet, the video of Clinton’s remarks featured on MSNBC has mysteriously been cleansed of the assertion that Hillary needs to be told what to think by the CFR. [select image to play > ]Why?
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Third World Owes U.S. More Than Just Debt of Gratitude
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The left is constantly arguing for so-called “fair trade” to make up for previous unfair financial practices. “We need economic justice,” they scream.
I agree. It’s time for those greedy ingrates to pay their fair share. I mean the third world of course.
For too long the United States has carried the third world on its back, providing jobs, emergency aid and never-ending charity. Throw in a world’s worth of technology, countless vaccines, food and military aid and it’s no wonder that the world was even more messed up before 1776. Count the contributions of the rest of the developed world, the third worlders look even greedier.
And the world’s debt to the America doesn’t just include loans. We just give money outright to nations all around the globe.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development In 2008, direct foreign aid by the United States was $26 billion last year. That’s a 16.8% increase in the midst of a huge economic downturn. Even the recent low for U.S. foreign aid hit $8.4 billion in 1997. Think California wouldn’t have a use for $8.4 billion? But we just give it away and get slapped in the face for it. Maybe piggy third-worlders might remember that rather than bash the U.S.A.
How do these money grubbers repay us? They want more.
It’s like an epic game of extortion. Third world nations call us "exploiters." They act like spoiled children demanding more goodies and threaten to hold their breath if the rest of the world doesn’t do as they demand. Lately, those demands have come in the form of increased aid, especially in climate change bills... [snip]
India just announced it’s not going along with global warming weenies. But those same eco-nuts will want the U.S. to ship money and technology to India, while cutting our own emissions and jobs. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton groveled to the Indians, laying the groundwork for shipping even more goodies abroad, claiming “we along with other developed countries have contributed most significantly to” climate change.
She left out that we, along with other developed countries, have contributed most significantly to everything – freedom, art, computers, space travel and medicine to name a few... [snip]
But when you work for the Apologizer-in-Chief, blaming America is your only option...
For more of this op-ed and to see the media role in this global grabbiness, go here.
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Ballot proposals would drive final nails into Michigan's coffin
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Mark Brewer seems determined to prove that Michigan Democrats are incapable of providing responsible leadership during the state's moment of crisis.
The state Democratic Party chairman is proposing a package of ballot initiatives that would raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour, increase and extend unemployment insurance benefits, slash utility rates and place a moratorium on home foreclosures.
Brewer may as well add a proposal requiring the state to write every citizen a $1 million check...
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Indulging craziness
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We have been taught to indulge craziness. It's supposed to show that we're "compassionate".
Psychiatrists know this: If you let crazy folks set the rules, you have to get crazy right along with them...
[Recommended > ]
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Shocker: PBS/US News's Erbe Calls for Flat Tax, Bashes Surcharge on Rich
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Reliably liberal journalist Bonnie Erbe almost caused a few heads to explode here at Media Research Center headquarters today when yours truly passed along her July 21 blog post entitled, "Democrats' Meaningless "Tax the Rich" Proposals Will Lead to Class Warfare."
The PBS "To the Contrary" host and U.S. News & World Report contributing editor slammed the idea floating in Congress of adding a surtax on "the rich" to pay for health care... [snip]
Fortunately for us, and you, our cranial pressure reduced when we came across the requisite Bush-bashing packed deeper in her blog post...
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Discovery Channel States Bering Sea Is Cooling Yet Concludes Global Warming
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On "The Deadliest Catch" home page is this link: SEA ICE SCIENCE...New! Is global warming changing the Bering Sea? Get the answers now.
Curious for the answers, I clicked the link which brought me to Bering Sea Ice: Science Q&A by Helen Fields.
The Q&A presents overwhelming evidence that the Bering Sea has been getting colder lately.
Their conclusion? Global warming.
Amazing.
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'Treason against the planet'
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When the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed, by 7 votes, the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill, the cream of the American media punditariat weighed in with their opinions. And when it comes to that 'cream', none is any thicker than New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
His take on the narrow 219 to 212 vote ... uh ... victory, was to smear the 212 legislators who voted against, charging the naysayers had committed -- wait for it -- "a form of treason -- treason -- against the planet"
Reading Krugman's rant, it hit me -- folks like him have become the Joe McCarthys of modern American liberalism... [way late to the party, but better than never I guess -- snip]
But what came out of the House is a cap-and-trade stock market in which the government will give up to 85% of the carbon credits (i.e. the stock) to industry for free -- corporations that no doubt help finance the campaigns of many of Krugman's 219 ... uh ... saints, who voted for the bill.
Carbon credit giveaways not only undermine cap-and-trade's effectiveness, they help ensure the biggest costs will be borne by American consumers... [snip]
At the same time, cap-and-trade in combination with other so-called "green" initiatives (cap-and-trade is only the start) consigned millions of people into "fuel poverty" -- when high energy costs erode living standards.
Finally, the bill's supporters haven't explained how they're going to address the fraud and corruption that even environmentalists complain infects the global market in carbon credits and offsets.
Perhaps Krugman will address this some day -- when he isn't exposing commies ... I mean deniers...
[This scam has never been about climate - and we'll all pay dearly for not recognizing that and forcing our so-called representatives to reject it.]
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5 freedoms that will disappear under Obamacare
. Shawn Tully of Fortune Magazine has a list of 5 aspects of health care that we have now that will be lost if Obamacare becomes the law of the land:
A close reading of the two main bills, one backed by Democrats in the House and the other issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy's Health committee, contradict the President's assurances. To be sure, it isn't easy to comb through their 2,000 pages of tortured legal language. But page by page, the bills reveal a web of restrictions, fines, and mandates that would radically change your health-care coverage.
If you prize choosing your own cardiologist or urologist under your company's Preferred Provider Organization plan (PPO), if your employer rewards your non-smoking, healthy lifestyle with reduced premiums, if you love the bargain Health Savings Account (HSA) that insures you just for the essentials, or if you simply take comfort in the freedom to spend your own money for a policy that covers the newest drugs and diagnostic tests -- you may be shocked to learn that you could lose all of those good things under the rules proposed in the two bills that herald a health-care revolution.
In short, the Obama platform would mandate extremely full, expensive, and highly subsidized coverage -- including a lot of benefits people would never pay for with their own money -- but deliver it through a highly restrictive, HMO-style plan that will determine what care and tests you can and can't have. It's a revolution, all right, but in the wrong direction.
The only way the Democrats can sell this bill is by lying.
That's all they have left. And the lies are getting bigger and more obvious as we go along. They've lied about how much it will cost, that it won't add to the deficit, that your private insurance plan won't be affected, the small businesses will benefit, that you can still choose your own doctor...the list just keeps growing like some nightmare involving Pinocchio's nose.
The Democrats are banking on nobody paying attention right now as well as the hope that by the time the American people actually realize what kind of health care reform Congress has wrought, it will be too late to stop it. Most people really won't find out how bad it is unless or until they get sick.
By then, they may very well wish they had never heard of health care reform.
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CBO reveals that Obamacare is based on cooked numbers, AGAIN
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For the second time in less than a month, the Congressional Budget Office has dealt a severe blow to Obamacare's claims that it will pay of itself in health care savings.
The CBO, who earlier said that the plan would actually cost the government hundreds of billions over the next decade, put the kibosh on the notion that the Medicare reform proposed would save more than $2 billion over 10 years. And that's still about $450 billion short of what is needed.
In response, the White House, after touting the deal with Blue Dogs last Tuesday to have an independent panel make the Medicare savings decisions, turned around and tried to make it appear that they never said the savings would be realized in the next decade - an outright, shocking lie, says Chris Frates in Politico: [snip]
Ed Lasky adds:
First, the Congressional Budget Office head, Douglas Elmendorf, gets called into the White House for a "discussion" over his agency's findings that Obama Care will costs far in excess to what is being presented to America by Barack Obama; then Peter Orszag joins in the bullying by posting critical commentary on his blog about the CBO's analysis.
Of course, Orszag himself used budget tricks to get his budget projections to work out for Obama-including excluding hikes in doctors' fees for treating Medicare patients .
Barack Obama truly has a "bully" pulpit and he is the bully.
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Dems Flow Diag of Gov Health Care Sys
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[HT:MC:]
Here is something you may be able to use for your Netizen blog. The attachment is diagram of the inner workings and process of the Democrat's health plan. Tons of new committees and agencies. Predictably, this two trillion dollar health care plan creates a bureaucratic nightmare. This diagram was put together by Rep Brady (R).
This would make a government interventionist proud! Clearly, the Dems don't want people to know what they are doing, and are opposing republicans even mailing this out to their constituencies (so much for Pelosi's transparent government!).
[click to enlarge]
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God and Guns: CNN Pits Jesus Against Gun Ownership
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CNN anchor Carol Costello tacked to the left on gun rights in her interview with Kansas City auto dealer Mark Muller, who is giving away vouchers for Russian-made AK-47 rifles with the purchase of a new truck.
Although Muller explained that only customers who pass a federal background check at a licensed firearms dealer will be able to get a gun, Costello arbitrarily drew the line of responsibility at owning a handgun:
"You know, some people watching this might think, you know, owning a handgun is one thing, but owning an AK-47 is something else, and maybe this is just a tad irresponsible."
As if to put icing on the proverbial cake, Costello also hit Muller by trying to pick a theological fight of sorts, wondering if Jesus would approve of carrying guns... [snip]
Costello is attempting to marginalize Muller, pointing out the ‘God and guns’ connection. The problem is not God, nor is the problem guns; it is the combination of the two which classifies Muller – at least in Costello’s judgement – as a right-wing gun nut...
[And that was meant to be the {barely} subliminal take-away message of the piece, as always. If you believe your defense resides primarily with you and not Big Brother, you're an extremist, a.k.a. threat to 'society'...]
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"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."Thomas Jefferson
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Rush Limbaugh: 'The Press Has Met Their Waterloo and It's Obama'
“they have sacrificed whatever integrity, character, professionalism, ethics that they've had” so now “their total reason – most of them – for existence” is “propping this guy up.”
The nation's most popular talk radio host ridiculed MSNBC's “countdown clock” during the day Wednesday:
“Countdown clock: 8 hours, 25 minutes, 13 seconds until Obama's press conference!”
Audio: MP3 clip (1:30)
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[Well that's just silly - right? ...
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WaPo's Tom Shales: 'Barack Obama Still Seems Too Good to Be True'
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Washington Post TV reviewer Tom Shales offered yet another sappy A to President Obama after the latest prime-time press conference. He wrapped it up this way:
"Though polls show his popularity in slight decline, Obama did nothing at the news conference -- other than preempt or delay some prime-time shows -- that would seem potentially harmful to his image. About the most justifiable criticism that could likely be made:
"Barack Obama still seems too good to be true."
The headline was "Obama Goes Off-Topic, Clearly." That referred to Obama’s last answer saying the cops in Cambridge, Massachusetts acted "stupidly" in dealing with the screaming and yelling Harvard historian Henry Louis Gates. Shales thought it might require a little damage control, but he found it "refreshingly blunt."
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Who Fills the Cronkite Void? ABC Reporter Says Michelle Obama
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The Washington Post’s Style section conducted a survey of who could fill the most-trusted void left behind by Walter Cronkite. A series of liberal-media heroes were named: Brian Williams, Bill Moyers, Jim Lehrer, Barbara Walters, Fareed Zakaria, Garrison Keillor, and Jon Stewart. [Stewart is a comedian...]
But several people skipped the media stars and selected the Obamas. ABC Nightline correspondent Vicki Mabrey nominated Michelle as a Cronkite replacement:
"Rosie the Riveter for our times in a designer gown. You just want to be her best friend forever."
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[Yup: Limbaugh's definitely out to lunch again.]
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