Mike's Blog Roundup
Billmon is back!
TBogg; Cry. Wolf.
The Pump Handle: Bayer CropScience officials repeatedly refused to give local emergency responders details about last week's explosion and fire,
Crooked Timber: Presidential speech wordles
OFF THE BEATEN PATH: CharlieHipHop, Mortaljive, Politicker, Olly's Onions
ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: The media's other new crush...ABC, CBS aired no analysis from Dems during RNC...The state of journalism...WaPo death spiral watch...Maverick no matter what...Philly radio talker called NOW the "National Organization for Whores"...Fox recycling 2004 attacks...Obama is winning the Web...Discover what the world thinks about U.S...Al Jazeera covers the conventions...Journos should write what they know and think...How would NPR cover the emergence of a police state?...Covering religious views...Van Susteren plays PR agent for Palin...Brokaw warns Dems to lay off McCain, and tells a lie...Possibly staged news pics...
Frizz!!
Wow, what a shocker! ABC & CBS offered NO Democratic analysis during the RNC?
Whodathunkit?
I knew that was coming the moment I saw Rudy Giuliani being interviewed by Katie 'Scary Biased' Couric during the DNC.
Re: Billmon is back: why fixate on community organizer? The same reason that there was and is a fixation on "elitist". Community organizer is a code word associated with black leaders. It is said in a derogatory fashion to elicit contempt from racist voters, specifically those in the South. Elitist = uppity; community organizer = SNCC, MLK, Malcohm X, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc.
Palin: Science is for wimps. Now give me that gun and get outta my way!
Surging Blue Lensman @ 4:
The Scots Irish have had more of an effect on the American ethos than any other immigrant group. Here are a few you will recognize:
* Belief that no law is above God's law, not even the US Constitution.
* Hyper patriotism. A fighting defence of native land, home and heart, even when it is not actually threatened: ie, Iraq, Panama, Grenada, Somalia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Haiti and dozens more with righteous operations titles such as Enduring Freedom, Restore Hope, and Just Cause.
* A love of guns and tremendous respect for the warrior ideal. Along with this comes a strong sense of fealty and loyalty. Fealty to wartime leaders, whether it be FDR or George Bush.
* Self effacement, humility. We are usually the butt of our own jokes, in an effort not to appear aloof among one another.
* Belief that most things outside our own community and nation are inferior and threatening, that the world is jealous of the American lifestyle.
* Personal pride in equality. No man, however rich or powerful, is better than me.
* Perseverance and belief in hard work. If a man or a family is poor, it is because they did not work hard enough. God rewards those who work hard enough. So does the American system.
* The only free country in the world is the United States, and the only reason we ever go to war is to protect that freedom.
* Belief that no law is above God's law, not even the US Constitution.
* Hyper patriotism. A fighting defence of native land, home and heart, even when it is not actually threatened: ie, Iraq, Panama, Grenada, Somalia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Haiti and dozens more with righteous operations titles such as Enduring Freedom, Restore Hope, and Just Cause.
* A love of guns and tremendous respect for the warrior ideal. Along with this comes a strong sense of fealty and loyalty. Fealty to wartime leaders, whether it be FDR or George Bush.
* Self effacement, humility. We are usually the butt of our own jokes, in an effort not to appear aloof among one another.
* Belief that most things outside our own community and nation are inferior and threatening, that the world is jealous of the American lifestyle.
* Personal pride in equality. No man, however rich or powerful, is better than me.
* Perseverance and belief in hard work. If a man or a family is poor, it is because they did not work hard enough. God rewards those who work hard enough. So does the American system.
* The only free country in the world is the United States, and the only reason we ever go to war is to protect that freedom.
Make that Fritz
http://www.cineyestrellas.com/images/Frankenstein_1.jpg
For a medical assistant not much for bedside manner.
Uppity and slick? Not us ...
We come in one size: extra large. We are sometimes insolent and often quick to fight. We love competitive spectacle such as NASCAR and paintball, and believe gun ownership is the eleventh commandment.
We fry things nobody ever considered friable -- things like cupcakes, banana sandwiches and batter dipped artificial cheese ... even pickles.
And most of all we are defiant and suspicious of authority, and people who are "uppity" (sophisticated) and "slick" (people who use words with more than three syllables). Two should be enough for anybody.
And that is one of the reasons that, mystifying as it is to the outside world, John McCain's choice of the moose-shooting Alaskan woman with the pregnant unmarried teen daughter appeals to many redneck and working class Americans.
We all understand that there is a political class which dominates in America, and that Sarah Palin for damned sure is not one of them. And the more she is attacked by liberal Democratic elements (translation: elite highly-educated big city people) the more America's working mooks will come to her defence. Her daughter had a baby out of wedlock? Big deal. What family has not? She is a Christian fundamentalist who believes God spat on his beefy paws and made the world in seven days? So do at least 150 million other Americans. She snowmobiles and fishes and she is a looker to boot. She's a redneck.
**A Must Read**
A test for the media
On MSNBC on
Thursday, Time's
Jay Carney offered an assessment of the McCain campaign's most recent
assault on the media: "Clearly,
the campaign has decided that one way to win is to attack the media. Now, that
could work. It does not have a great history of working. 'Annoy the Media: Re-Elect George Bush,' 1992 -- Bush got, I think, 39 percent of the vote or 37 percent of the
vote."
[Deleted. Way way way way too long. Excerpt and link only, please-Sitemonitor]
The next two months will constitute a test for reporters: If they fall for the idea
that they're treating unfairly a candidate who has long referred to them
as his "base," what won't they fall for? If they won't
stand up to these attacks, what will they stand up to?
MediaMatters
Surging Blue Lensman @ 4:
Everything seemed to work fine during the long stable period when our cheap oil economy was chugging along.
Correction: Jim Quinn called NOW the National Organization of Whores, not Sally.
Olly's Onions "Permanently drunk, pill-popping, sharp-tongued floozy Karen Walker [of Will and Grace] appears to be running for US Vice President. Electors are expecting tax breaks on uppers, downers and vodka. Her opinion on the South Ossetia conflict is not known."
Hadn't heard that one yet. Great!
Why the hell didn't he warn GW Bush to cease criticizing McCain in 2000? Why was it not dangerous for Republicans to do that to him then but dangerous for the Democrats to do it now?
Who does Brokaw think he's fooling?
The current fuss about McCain actually leading in the popular vote or not, forgets that the popular vote does not elect the President!
The Electoral College count does that. How soon they forget. Money and efforts in places like Michigan, Missouri, Wisc., etc will win in the long run.
Obama leads, or is closer in the race to 270.
U.S. leaders actually ...killed enormous numbers of Indochinese civilians, and wounded and made homeless over ten million more, by dropping 6,727,084 tons of bombs (and firing as much ground ordinance from army bases and giant navy ships) on tiny Indochina, more than triple the bombing of all Europe and the Pacific theater, inhabited by hundreds of millions, in World War II. Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara has estimated that 3.4 million Vietnamese died in the war. A sizable number of these were civilians, as were the enormous number of Laotian and Cambodian peasants who died from years of U.S. bombing of their towns and villages.
the country/people will never own to their culpability in this massive exercise in super-power imperialism... kerry was vilified, rejected and humiliated for announcing his guilt in the slaughter--i dint see any puyrple-heart bandaids in St Paul this year, didja?
brokaw, like his laste, unlamented, ass-hole pal, the potato-headed Tim Russett, is a spokesman for the conventional wisdom--which utterly refuses to acknowledge that the vietnam adventure was wrong in every way, at every moment, and still festers like an abscess...
anney @ 12:
Average Murkins...and it works like a fuuking charm...
Here's the one thing I would love to see in the VP debate: Biden should ask Palin to renounce all of the anti-abortion terrorists that have attacked America for decades.
In fact, McCain, in fanning the fires of the anti-abortionists, ought to be saddled as well with the long history of clinic bombings and shootings, executions, anthrax hoaxes and god knows what other criminal, terroristic activities that make up the history of the right-to-lifers in this country.
Apparently terrorist religious warriors are okay if they're homegrown?
Better learn to shape shift into a Red Neck.
tx @ 8:
The corporate media will not give in to the Republican machine...that ship has sailed. The corporate media is part and parcel of the Republican fascist Party and propaganda machine.
Republican successes include convincing the sheeple that the media is liberally biased, tht community organizers are a threat to the country, that Obama is a muslim, that Obama will raise YOUR taxes, that the surge has won the war in Iraq, that McCain is an agent of change, and that Palin is a rising star who is just one of us.
It's another great day in the Fatherland, especially if your an investor.
henry wallace @ 18:
Ya need to shorten ur' posts pardner! Speakin of it, ya got any chew I can bum?
please update your link to tbogg in your sidebar...
I disagree that journalists should "write what they know and think". Writing and preaching is what they do now. I'm interested in UNBIASED REPORTING OF FACTS AS THEY ARE VIEWED. Let us make up our own minds. Stop spoon-feeding the ignorant masses.
Republican red faces as regulators close bank
A bank with ties to the family of John McCain was shut down by federal regulators on Friday, marking the 11th US bank failure this year and threatening to cause ripples across the presidential election campaign
Andrew McCain, son of the Republican presidential nominee, was a director of Nevada-based Silver State Bank until resigning in July for “personal reasons”
He was a member of Silver State’s audit committee, which has responsibility for overseeing the bank’s financial accounts
Silver State was heavily exposed to construction and land development loans that have come under pressure as the housing market slumps
Much of the bank’s business was concentrated in Las Vegas and other western cities that have suffered some of the sharpest falls in land prices after years of rapid growth and heavy speculation
Silver State had about $2bn of assets and $1.7bn in deposits at the end of June and reported a second-quarter net loss of $72.3m.
Its failure is expected to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures bank deposits up to $100,000, about $450m-$550m
There is no evidence that Mr McCain did anything wrong nor that his departure was connected to the bank’s financial troubles
But the episode is a potential embarrassment to his father at a time when bank failures are adding to a broader sense of gloom and economic insecurity among US voters
It could revive memories of John McCain’s role in the “Keating Five” scandal during the 1980s savings and loans crisis, when he was reprimanded by a Senate watchdog for lobbying on behalf of a campaign donor whose mortgage lending institution was under investigation by regulators
The younger McCain joined the board of Silver State in February after it acquired Arizona-based Choice Bank, for whom he had served as a director since 2006
He is an adopted son from his father’s first marriage but also has close ties to the senator’s second wife, Cindy, in his role as chief financial officer of Hensley & Co, the Arizona-based beer distribution company controlled by Mrs McCain
The 11 bank failures in the US this year compare with three in all of 2007 and none in the preceding two years. More are expected.
The number of so-called “problem” banks grew from 90 institutions at the end of the first quarter to 117 at the end of June, the highest level since 2003, according to the FDIC. It is drawing up plans to raise additional capital to shore up its insurance fund that has been depleted by this year’s bank rescues. The fund currently holds about $45bn.
Che's Lounge @ 19:
Yip! Them uppity typeas get al the breaks! Thank GOD DubaU lowered our taxes!
It's that gosh darn doggy old stage magician's trick of diverting the audience's attention again!
anney @ 12:
He gave a swarmy interview with Joe Biden on Sunday. Biden was courteous and charming, but he certainly didn't hold back.
CMINCA @ 25:
Oh yeah real charming.
Best prepare for President Palin
Can't touch McCain because he was a POW
Can't touch Palin because she is a woman.
Damn, who makes these rules?
I don't give a damn if Palin is a woman or a man, her history and her beliefs scare the hell out of me. The fact that she can deliver a snarky sentence, does not in my book qualify her to be vice president and god forbid, president. Where is her substance? What little we have seen was frightening as hell.
lj @ 13:
I've very sceptical about polls, whether they are going one way or the other. I think it was Zogby that was being interviewed and was explaining how many hundreds of calls are made before someone is actually willing to speak to a pollster. Then, the way the person is polled really matters and so on. I, for one, do not answer calls from unknown numbers, so I wouldn't be a participant, neither are cell phone users. It is an interesting line of work and I always wonder who is willing to sit through the pollsters questions. I also wonder how representative their group.
Face it. The Dems are obviously idiots.
Losing is us!
L.A. Confidential @ 26:
Joe wasn't my pick either, but I'm trying to know more about him and also trying to do it with an open mind. Palin, as the alternative, is a scary American Taliban psycho.
I felt Joe held his own during the interview, although the interview was full of inane, nonsensical questions, constantly trying to raise some dander on the Palin issue. Particularly impressive was his succinct, (he has a tendency to ramble and not finish his thoughts) and complete answer on abortion and his views on the "progress" in Iraq.
The national organization for whores?
And this is ok? This is acceptable and not worthy of at the very least a fine??
Like some of the comments on the OP site say, 'It's Germany in the 30's. Just put "muslim" in place of the word "Jew" and you're there.'
Or you could replace it with 'woman' or 'GBLT' or 'atheist' or 'democrat'. And the reich wingers would applaud like the revolting hate-filled trained seals they all are.
Nada @ 31:
Don't forget liberal, uppity person, etc.
It can't happen here?
Re Sarah Palin's religious beliefs (and as a hand-picked candidate of James Dobson and his ilk): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-fbcy1tRoA
L.A. Confidential @ 32:
Or substitute the word Jew for the word liberal.
CMINCA @ 34:
Right I get the drift. Bottom line is without the German Rednecks-Lower Classes Hitler would have never been taken seriously and most likely no one would have ever heard of him.
tx @ 8:
Over at FDL, a post of that length will promptly get you moderator-slapped down.
When is someone going to ask McSame/Palin (or the talking heads) why they aren't starting a third party, since they have apparently been fighting Republican corruption, special interest groups, and lobbyists, for so long? McSame wants to knock "his" party but the Repubs don't seem to mind at all. Start asking specific Repubs if McSame means THEM when he talks about BAD guys.
He should have to name names. Or would he run out of time because the list is too long?
I really don't like being a pessimist but this is not looking good at all.
I am still marveling this morning over the Photoshop excellence I ran across yesterday, LOL!
http://willrhodes1961.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/domination.jpg
Let's get back to McCain's (both Cindy and John's) alleged family values
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-c...
The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind
By Sharon Churcher
Last updated at 1:45 AM on 08th June 2008
"‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’
‘I thought, of course, we would live happily ever after,’ says Carol. But as a war hero, McCain was moving in ever-more elevated circles.
Through Ross Perot, he met Ronald Reagan, then Governor of California. A sympathetic Nancy Reagan took Carol under her wing.
But already the McCains’ marriage had begun to fray. ‘John started carousing and running around with women,’ said Robert Timberg.
McCain has acknowledged that he had girlfriends during this time, without going into details. Some friends blame his dissatisfaction with Carol, but others give some credence to her theory of a mid-life crisis.
He was also fiercely ambitious, but it was clear he would never become an admiral like his illustrious father and grandfather and his thoughts were turning to politics.
In 1979 – while still married to Carol – he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage.
Carol and her children were devastated. ‘It was a complete surprise,’ says Nancy Reynolds, a former Reagan aide.
‘They never displayed any difficulties between themselves. I know the Reagans were quite shocked because they loved and respected both Carol and John.’
Another friend added: ‘Carol didn’t fight him. She felt her infirmity made her an impediment to him. She justified his actions because of all he had gone through. She used to say, “He just wants to make up for lost time.”’
Indeed, to many in their circle the saddest part of the break-up was Carol’s decision to resign herself to losing a man she says she still adores.
Friends confirm she has remained friends with McCain and backed him in all his campaigns. ‘He was very generous to her in the divorce but of course he could afford to be, since he was marrying Cindy,’ one observed.
MCCAIN DITCHED HIS HANDICAPPED WIFE. CINDY HAD AN AFFAIR WITH A MARRIED MAN WITH A WIFE WHO WAS HANDICAPPED
REAL FAMILY VALUES. PUKE
L.A. Confidential @ 38:
The importance of down races has been significantly elevated, 'eh?
Although, maybe it won't matter. McSame will spend the first year or so further fucking up the economy, before he manages to set the world ablaze in nuclear catastrophe. We may never even get to an anti-Roe SCOTUS lineup.
woody, tokin librul @ 14:
The 'war' in Vietnam was another illegal war of imperialism.
We were standing in for the French colonialists to begin with. Then the war profiteers overtook the rationale.
War is a racket, it has always been a racket.
-------
'Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.'
'The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.'
'We all agree that pessimism is a mark of superior intellect.'
John Kenneth Galbraith
Yep, I've stopped donating to my local Public Radio station a long time ago when I found out that NPR didn't give a shit about reporting facts anymore.
MSNBC troops must have gotten the word from above this weekend. The Republican convention is over but they are getting all the positive coverage this morning.
If they want to dispute this they can check "the films." I have been counting on MSNBC to be a bit more balanced, but now I'm not sure.
What is the Democratic leadership doing to help win this election? NOTHING! Obama/Biden start each sentence either praising McCain/Palin or apologizing "Oh I shouldn't have said that about abortion" or "I didn't mean Bush when I was talking impeachment". Hillary is flat and Pelosi is weak. Why are they allowing the debates to be led by McCain flunkies? Why are they not revealing how biased the MSM is? Why did they allow the Saddleback fiasco? Is this election just a SHAM?
I sent an email to tom brokaw with my thoughts about the MSM, here is what I had to say.
Mr Brokaw
In light of your recent statement that democrats had to be careful about criticizing John McCain because of his Vietnam experience. I was wondering how his time as a POW has anything to do with being president? Mr McCain was not the only POW from the Vietnam conflict. I am 57 years old and I remember those times very well. It was another place we had no business being just like Iraq is now. I do not understand how McCain is any better then any other person that participated in that police action, not a war?
In that instance the people were lied to just like this one. But what really gets me anout what you have said is, Why should the people believe what you or anyone else who works for the Big Business, corporate controled media. Their is no other place on earth that you or any other so called journalist could be paid as much for so long as you and the other so called journalists could make so much money. Therefore you have no credibility to speak on this subject. I used to watch the MSM and in particular meet the press every sunday. But in 2003 during the run up to the attack on Iraq it became very clear that the media is a bunch of paid liars!
If you or anyone else on the "TV news" says anything not approved by the corporate owners you would not be getting your very over paid salary and you or no one else that works for the MSM can be trusted to tell the truth. I know I have heard all the arguments, you people saying no one tells you what to say but you and I both know that is a lie also. You continue to be a prostitute for your corporate masters.
I will keep track of what you and your fellow liars have to say on the internet but I will never waste my time watching you or any of the MSM. I hope you find this insulting enough to get you to give up your big salary and become an American again and not just a corporate tool!
Keith Olbermann is under fire right now, why aren't blogs like Crooks And Liars doing more to support him? Maybe I missed it but Keith is one of us and he needs help. People need to contact MSNBC and express their outrage on their turning their back on what has made them more popular then the all republican all the time news chanels.
Anthony F @ 47:
While Keith's views reflect my own he has at times gone over the top. No reason to knock him out of that spot, because he tell the truth about the Bush administration and brings up the war in Iraq (come on MSNBC does not like the Iraq war mentioned)
Chris Matthews is being knocked out that spot too. No matter how much Matthews bashing goes on here at Crooks and Liars. There are the facts. Matthews has been hammering on those who lied our nation into Iraq as soon as he realized he had been duped. He has hammered Bill Kristol, David Frum, Bolton and others who were part and parcel to a war of choice. He was one of the only MSMers to bring up how the Dems were not bringing up the most critical issues at the convention. The false intelligence, Niger Documents, outing of Valerie Plame. Chris Matthews kept bringing these issues up.
Matthews pisses me off a great deal but he should that is the job of the News to play all sides. Ask the questions hard questions. Matthews does.
Robert Kennedy covers it all in his interview with Amy Goodman
this is a must watch
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/8/we_need_to_remind_people_that
Republicans are 95% corrupt
Democrats are 75% corrupt
Why no Impeachment?
sherrill @ 45:
nailed it!
Always good to see you link to NPR Check! That site helps to keep me sane. Especially because it reminds me that NPR's claim to smooth-sailing sanity is among this culture's most insane inflictions on the national consciousness.
I think we can say with full confidence now that Tom Brokaw is a complete jerkoff.
HEY! Change that reference to Sally Quinn (about saying N.O.W. is a "national organization for whores.") It's JIM Quinn, whoever he is, not Sally Quinn. Aren't any of the administrators of this site old enough to know who Sally Quinn is? If you were you'd know it's highly unlikely she'd ever say such a thing. She and her husband are liberal Dems., at least I'm sure he is. He is one of the great heroes of Watergate, Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post who took Nixon on. You owe Mrs. Ben Bradlee an apology.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq6-2008sep06,0,22...
Iraq politician Ahmad Chalabi survives assassination attempt
A suicide bomber kills six guards in Chalabi's convoy. At least 17 people are injured.
By Ned Parker and Saif Hameed, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
September 6, 2008
BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber tried to assassinate politician Ahmad Chalabi on Friday night, killing six of his guards when he rammed his car into the Shiite Muslim politician's speeding convoy, Chalabi's spokesman said.
Chalabi, who has survived at least three previous attempts on his life, was returning to his home in the west Baghdad district of Mansour when the bomber in a sport utility vehicle struck, spokesman Iyad Kadhim Sabti said. At least 17 people were wounded, including nine of Chalabi's guards, police said. Chalabi was unharmed.
Don't people fall for this cramp. Obama is going to win unless the republicans steal the election again. Everyone make sure you bring someone to the poll and make sure you they have some identification card. Republicans are already trying in Ohio and Va to get people of the rolls. You young people get out there and help. I wish I could be my health and age doesn't permit me.
Billmon is back!
Somewhere Driftglass and the Sadly No! folks just had an orgasm.
james Ratliff @ 44:
Nicely said. .." You continue to be a prostitute"..- a perennially constipated one.
And, Brokaw the trollop had never seen this one, of course:
Former POW says McCain is “not cut out to be President”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KjsEs46C70
Added: September 02, 2008
Decorated veteran who was a prisoner with McCain in Vietnam is explaining loud and clear that being a POW does not qualify McCain to lead our country.
.
Get off the double talk express!
Oyy, our MSM.
jward @ 51:
The NYT thread almost empty - you need to register (I think Foghorn Leghorn will fly..) to leave the comment.
We need to fan wider - GOPs have salaried trolls ("Linda"-one of the jumpy ones- is gracing C&L w/ her/his bs also. Was arguing here recently saying his/her salary is 130K. I didn't know gops trolling pays THAT well..)
September 8, 2008, 9:08 am
Congress Still Needs to Deal With I.S.P. Snooping
By Saul Hansell
Internet Privacy
Even though Congress has growled loudly enough to get Internet service providers to back off their plans to sell information about their customers’ Web surfing to advertising companies, one prominent legal expert argues that the law governing the issue should still be made tougher.
The issue was examined in a new paper, “The Rise and Fall of Invasive ISP Surveillance”, by Paul Ohm, a former Justice Department official who now is a professor of law at the University of Colorado.
Mr. Ohm argues that the prospect of Internet service providers using new technology to monitor what their customers do online is a grave threat to privacy.
“Google doesn’t know what I do when I’m on MSN,” he said. “But your I.S.P. does. There is no hiding from your I.S.P.”
SCARY---Daily Kos reports: Colorado dumped 1/5 off all voter registrations-largest in history. Florida is refusing to accept 85,000 new registrants--overwhelmingly blacks. New Mexico purged 1/2 of the Democrats in Mora County (hispanics) and 600,000 mailers were returned. Ohio and Nevada are scrubbing thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosures.
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