Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

Is this the begining of the MSM choosing survival over Obama?

Posted: September 21, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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Andrew Breitbart said this on Big Government:

Everything you needed to know about the unorthodox roll out of the now-notorious ACORN sting videos was hidden in plain sight in my Sept. 7 column, “Katie Couric, Look in the Mirror.” ACORN was not the only target of those videos; so were Katie, Brian, Charlie and every other mainstream media pooh-bah.

When you read the whole thing you realize how successful this has been. Acorns defenders in the print media are now forced to make their defense to a public that has seen the videos and Jay Leno and John Stewart mockery of Acorn has left guys like Errol Lewis in effect asking readers: “Who are you going to believe? Me or your own eyes?”

The media is now on the spot and choices had to be made. The Washington post chose to go after the filmmakers as it was very hard to go after the film.

Michael Barone commented:

The Post, like almost all of “mainstream media,” waddled in late on this story. I remember one time in the 1980s when the Wall Street Journal beat the Post was beaten on a story based on public information in Montgomery County, Maryland, court files. Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of the Post at the time, did not whine as New York Times managing editor Jill Abramson did on the ACORN story about how the bureau was short-staffed and, gee, it’s hard to stay on top of every story. Bradlee was furious—scooped in our own backyard!—and as I recall heads fell. But that was then and this is now. “Mainstream media” is complacent about suppressing a story that is embarrassing to the Obama administration and the Democratic party, and its response after getting scooped is to waddle in with attempts to discredit it. Pathetic.

The AP wasn’t far behind playing defense as they attempt to make excuses for Acorn:

ACORN has portrayed its problems as the unfortunate work of a few employees. In the best case, that suggests it made bad hires and gave them poor training and supervision. But when the founder of a national organization admits attempting to keep quiet his brother’s theft of more than $900,000, it’s a sign that ACORN’s problems may rise high and run deep.

How did ACORN wind up in this mess? Did it simply grow too big for its own good?

Oh I see poor Acorn betrayed by their own success. Peg’s (proudly banned from lgf yesterday) personal friends at Powerline (proudly banned from little green footballs last week) had this to say:

The AP takes the cue and puts the words in O’Keefe’s mouth. It’s quite a racket they’ve got going here, and someone really should call them on it.

They actually contacted the Washington post before putting up their entry and are still waiting a response.

Between this and the Van Jones issue the media is now faced with a choice: Unwavering defense of the administration or to act like, you know reporters.

This week George Stephanopolis made that choice and caught the president totally by surprise:

Save money on your state-mandated auto insurance with GEICO? Pass your signature legislation while holding the White House, a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and a 70+ seat majority in the House? Obtusely obfuscate the lawyerly difference between a dollar seized by the government through fine and a dollar appropriated by the government by tax? Confuse the practical utility of automobile liability insurance and health insurance?

Now, technically Obama is right in the Stephanopolis interview. A fine is not a tax. The net effect is the same but he’s the kind of technically right you might expect a Constitutional lawyer to be on this issue. He’s stuck on the hot seat, though, because he’d look like a dick nattering about what kind revenue generating bill originates in which house of Congress. So deny it, impugn Merriam Webster (a fine, upstanding woman I’m told), and misdirect with a fallacious comparison to state-mandated auto liability insurance.

Who’s the genius that cooked up that line of reasoning? It’s a flawed argument for a couple of obvious reasons.

This wasn’t a confrontational interview but that was an actual challenging question, the type that I used to hear reporters ask decades ago, and this president couldn’t handle it. I thought the guy was supposed to be the Liberal Ronald Reagan?

Morning Joe is all over the Steph clip today, it’s news but the real news is that he followed up. I submit that he would not be doing that if it wasn’t for the Acorn Tapes, Andrew Breitbart, James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. That is the real news. The combination of Van Jones and Acorn are going to force the media to be either advocates or reporters and in at least some cases they are choosing to be reporters.

Related: This howler from Newsbusters:

But check out Tom Rosenstiel (formerly of Newsweek and the L.A. Times) gritting his rhetorical teeth at Alexander’s point even as he calls the liberal media “non-ideological”:

It “can’t be discounted,” said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. “Complaints by conservatives are slower to be picked up by non-ideological media because there are not enough conservatives and too many liberals in most newsrooms.”

“They just don’t see the resonance of these issues. They don’t hear about them as fast [and] they’re not naturally watching as much,” he added.

The “non-ideological media” have “too many liberals in most newsrooms”?

Expect a lot more of this. The worm has turned.

That wasn’t a face that you would want Bikini pictures of

Posted: September 21, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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I was up much too late last night posting over being proudly banned from little green footballs so instead of going upstairs to bed I crashed on the couch since I didn’t want to ruin the wife’s sleep.

So I turn on the TV and what do I see? Richard Hass saying out loud to that the United States isn’t going to be shooting down Israeli Jets. Considering what her father said that had to be one of the most uncomfortable moments for her. She looked like she wanted to be somewhere else very bad.

She certainly isn’t going to disavow her father on national TV and anyone who would ask her to do so would be low. That’s family, you don’t dis the man who raised you. (Then again maybe she agrees with him, who knows?)

Hotair says something that I hate to say I agree with:

As for Brzezinski’s creepy anticipation of a new U.S.S. Liberty incident, whether “in reverse” or not, Goldfarb’s got that right too. Maybe not for ZB but for many others, that’s not a bug in the plan, it’s a feature.

Exit question: Considering that Hotair is also proudly banned from Little Green Footballs these days? Would Zbigniew Brzezinski be? Charles seems to be running out of supporters of Israel to post there.

6:58 Did Mika just say “show me my Willie?” did Barnicle just shout to answer “Do it live!”

The Pope, the Prez and the PhD

Posted: September 20, 2009 by datechguy in catholic, internet/free speech, opinion/news
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Although his Papacy and his faith were very powerful, practically a renaissance for Catholics Pope John Paul the II had one weakness that I believe affected his ability to deal with the Pedophile scandal among primarily gay priests in the US.

Although the Catechism of the Catholic Church released and confirmed by John Paul II says the following:

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

…he grew up in an era where Homosexuality was considered scandalous, not just in terms of sin but in terms of society as a whole.

Now consider living 35 years in such an era under Communist Rule. False personal scandal was (and is) a basic weapon used to discredit foes of the state under communist rule. I’m sure over the years he saw it many times.

That experience that stood him in good stead when his actions combined with Reagan and Thatcher helped speed the demise of the soviet block but it left a blind spot when the scandals broke.

Consider Boston, the papers were hitting the church long before the scandals, and the pols were claiming to be Catholic while acting and voting nothing of the sort. When this stuff came out and was pushed by the Boston Globe of all places it must have sounded all too familar. It is significant that Pope Benedict has been much more effective in this situation.

And on that note we turn to today’s news and Jimmy Carter and Bill Cosbey…

Carter was born the same year as my mother (1924) he grew up in the Jim Crow South of the Talmadges and Russell the great defenders of segregation. Any pol in the mid 50’s who wanted to have a future in Georgia was unlikely to be too loud in his opposition to segregation.

But no matter what he actually believed his views concerning racism were shaped by those days and it that perspective that he brings to the table.

In the same way Bill Cosby born 13 years later than Carter has those same memories and naturally has the same reaction. That should not surprise anyone as he dealt with this same thing but what my fellow conservatives forget it’s for that very same reason and the pre-great society strength and independence of the black family that and his memory of it that causes him to preach the gospel of self reliance and personal responsibility.

As a person who was brought up by parents born in the 20’s this is more viable to me than perhaps most. My upbringing would have been typical for someone born in the 40’s and 50’s like my brothers and sisters but my experiences were shaped by the culture of the 70’s and 80’s where I grew up and I can tell Mr. Carter and Mr. Cosby that this just isn’t the way most people in their 50’s or earlier think.

I’m reminded of a comment in a thread at Riehl’s world view that was deleted along with others in that thread. LGF had a screen capture of it and it encapsulates this argument perfectly.

I was beat up numerous times as a kid in the 70s and 80s for no other reason than for being white,it made me a racist. I hate black people for the most part.

Posted by: jimmy | Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 04:16 PM

Reading that quote one can certainly understand Jimmy’s admitted racism, but just because one understands it doesn’t make it right or excusable.

As Jonah Goldberg would undoubtedly remember Spock addressed this very thing in A taste of Armageddon to quote:

Kirk is visibly horrified, but Spock notes that there is “a certain scientific logic” about the whole thing. “I’m glad you approve,” Anan 7 says, but Spock quickly corrects him: “I do not approve. I understand.” Anan 7 goes on to say that as a valid target, the Enterprise had been attacked by Vendikar—and classified as destroyed.

The full episode is here if you want to see the clip it is at about 12:20.

Part of growth is to be able to reach beyond limits. On this topic President Carter and Dr. Cosby have not, but there is a difference.

In Dr. Cosby’s case like Pope John Paul II it is a fault living in a long distinguished positive effect on. In Jimmy Carter’s case it is one more stone he has placed in the shoe of America.

Oh My God! Did I read Brzezinski right?

Posted: September 19, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news, war
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Via the Hot air headlines The Weekly standard finds a bombshell hidden in this daily beast story!

How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest?
We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?

What if they fly over anyway?
Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse. [Israeli jet fighters and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty in international waters, off the Sinai Peninsula, during the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel later claimed the ship was the object of friendly fire.]

It’s interesting to note that the Beast fails to mention the subsequent apology and payment of over $12,800,000 in compensation for the dead and wounded and for damage to the ship itself.

Zbigniew Brzezinski I would remind you was Jimmy Carter’s National Security adviser.

In his newly published book The Army Insider. (My review here, Buy It!) Retired Sgt Major David C. Carden says this about the Jimmy Carter years on page 141:

Circa 1977 to 1981. There are more learned people than me that can write about Jimmy Carter’s presidency. I can only say that from day one, the Military started belt tightening; there was a 444 day black mark painted on the United States of America: eight American Servicemen died attempting to wipe away that black mark: and one payback is still owed.

There must have been something good during those years when Zbigniew was national security adviser. Dave?

The best thing that happened for the military Services and America during the Carter administration was that Ronald Reagan was elected the next president of the United states.

I’d have to agree.

Apparently like Buchanan ol Ziggy hasn’t gotten over the Liberty either.

His daughter is still a handsome woman no matter what Robert Stacy McCain says.

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