Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2009

My $1,000 Fox News Challenge to Lefties: Document Just One Lie


"Faux News." "Liars." "Not really a news organization." "A right-wing propaganda machine."

The Leftists have a lot of descriptions for the country's increasingly dominant cable news channel. They claim that Fox fabricates news stories.

I want them to prove it. And I've got a 1-ounce Kruggerand from my Y2K bunker* (today's spot price: $1,040) waiting for the first 'progressive' who can provide me with a documented lie repeated by Fox News reporters.

There are just four simple rules:

• Typos don't qualify ("ooh, the news ticker used a 'D' after his name, not an 'R'!").

• The lie must have been repeated by at least two national Fox News reporters and left uncorrected.

• The transcripts and/or video clips must be available on the Fox News website for verification.

• The story, refuting the Fox News lie, must have been correctly reported at around the same time by news reporters from CNN and MSNBC (with links and/or transcripts from their sites).

Just one lie! That's all I'm asking for. This should be the easiest $1,000 you've ever made, libs. Just post your answer in the comments section along with your email address before November 3, 2009.

And given the devaluation of our currency by President Training Wheels, the Kruggerand could be worth $1,500 next week.

Ready? Get set... go!


* Since converted to a super-secret 2038 Bunker.


Update: Comment from the Greenroom:

Oh, I’ve got it.

Fox News falsely claimed that the President had shirked in his duties in the National Guard, and in fact produced fake documents to back up their assertion!!!

Now, do I get my $1K? Oh, that was CBS? Oops…

Ok, I’ve got it! Fox News set out to prove a safety defect with some trucks. But when they couldn’t get the trucks to blow up, they rigged them with explosives. Oh, darn it, that wasn’t Fox News either?

Alright, how about when they made up accusations of American troops using chemical weapons against defectors in Vietnam? Oh dear – again this wasn’t Fox?

It is almost like Fox is in fact the lone bastion of journalistic integrity out of the big news networks or something…

18-1 on October 27, 2009 at 12:36 AM



Linked by: Grand Rants. Thanks!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

CNN and MSNBC excuse Obama's attempted Fox ban: the network is probably guilty of sedition


Visiting MSNBC, Time's Joe Klein offered a unique rationale for President Obama's outrageous treatment of Fox News.

Let me be precise here: Fox News peddles a fair amount of hateful crap. Some of it borders on sedition. Much of it is flat out untrue...

...[the] problem is that stories [are] bloated far beyond their actual importance--ACORN's corruption, Van Jones's radical past--are in danger of leaching out of the Fox hothouse into the general media...

If the problem is broader--that Fox News spreads seditious lies to its demographic sliver of an audience--the Administration should probably be stoic: the wingnuts will always be with us. The best antidote to their garbage is elegant, intelligent governance. [Ed: cue the rimshot]...

...The next-best antidote is occasional engagement: I thought Obama came away from his O'Reilly and Chris Wallace interviews much the better for it...

(Though you don't want to sit down with a thug like Hannity or a weirdo like Beck.)

How is it that Joe Klein hasn't made it big in middle America?

Nice Deb turns the spotlight on CNN’s Rick Sanchez, who uses a similar theme to excuse President Chavez Obama: 'Lincoln suppressed the media, too!.

On May 18, 1864 Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order to arrest some of the journalists and editors of two New York publications that printed and published what they knew to be a forged Presidential proclamation calling for 400,000 more troops and a new draft. It was an act of treason to raise up resistance to the Union during a time of war. The act warranted imprisonment.

Again, Lincoln’s situation and Obama’s attack of Fox News should not be mentioned together. The two situations don’t even vaguely have any points of comparison... And Sanchez does it to help excuse Obama for his poor behavior.

Dissent used to be patriotic. Remember this 2004 missive published in The Nation?

If there was any lingering doubt that this President rules by sowing division and fear it has been put to rest in these last weeks. As Dana Milbank's chilling front-page story in last Friday's Washington Post details, Bush and leading Republicans dare to argue that a vote for John Kerry is a vote for Al Qaeda.

...These are Republicans who breed a culture of fundamentalism and intolerance, who betray the guiding and founding values of America. If a truly great Republican--Theodore Roosevelt--were among us today, he would expose the despicable politics of these fifth-rate offspring of the Grand Old Party and tell them--as he told the nation in 1918:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

Dissent is patriotic...? I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.


Update: "Ferret-Faced Freak: Fox News is Seditious."


The media 'forgot' to cover the pollution story during the Olympics


Bob points us to a stunning gallery that illustrates China's complete disregard for its citizens and the environment.











See it all and make sure you read the description of the kids' lives.


Thursday, October 22, 2009

Unprecedented: White House Tries to Ban Fox from Press Pool


Today the White House stepped up its attack on Fox News, announcing that the network would no longer be able to conduct interviews with officials as a member of the Press Pool. The Pool is a five-member group consisting of ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC organized by the White House Correspondents Association. Its membership is not subject to oversight by the government.

Before an interview with "Pay Czar" Kenneth Feinberg, the administration announced that Fox News would be banned from the press pool. This marks the first time in history that an administration had attempted to ban an entire network from the press pool.

To their credit, the other networks objected. They told the White House that if Fox were banned, none of the other networks would participate. The White House relented, but in an apparent act of petulant retaliation, it restricted each network to a two-minute interview instead of the standard five.

Interestingly, this behavior completely contradicts an opinion rendered Tuesday by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs when questioned by ABC's Jake Tapper.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: We render opinion based on some their coverage and the fairness of that coverage.

Tapper: That's a pretty sweeping declaration that they're not a news organization. How are they different from, say another, say ABC, MSNBC, Univision?

Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o'clock tonight or five this afternoon.

Tapper: I'm not talking about their opinion programs. Or issues you have with certain reports. I'm talking about saying that thousands of individuals who work for a media organization do not work for a news organization. Why is that appropriate for the White House to say?

Gibbs: That is our opinion.

Carol E. Lee, Politico: Does that mean the White House doesn't believe they should be part of the press pool?

Gibbs: The press pool is decide by the White House Correspondents Association.

Lee: So you have no opinion on whether they should be ...

Gibbs: I'm not going to delineate for the White House Correspondents Association how the pool is conducted. That's not my job.

So the administration contradicted itself within 48 hours. That's about twice as long as normal.

Perhaps the White House will next try to pull Fox News' press pass.

That would be entirely consistent with the Hugo Chavez-style of government that President Axelrod and his advisers are trying to install.

I'm patiently waiting for the ACLU to stand up for freedom of the press and complain to President Obama about quashing Fox's First Amendment rights.



Update: Dan Riehl: "For the first time in my life I'm actually uncomfortable knowing that this guy has control of our military and Federal police forces. If he thinks he can simply shut down a member of the press on a whim, how long before he goes full Chavez?"

Update II: Hope for America has the video report.

Update III: Memeorandum, American Thinker, Jules Crittenden, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Monthly, Pundit & Pundette and Sister Toldjah link. Thanks!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

ACORN and Media Matters Ensnared in Breitbart's Roach Motel


Moonbats check in, but they don't check out. That should be the slogan for Andrew Breitbart's phenomenally successful Big Government website. It set a trap for ACORN and ensnared not only that crooked group but several other rotten fish for good measure.

After the first series of illegal immigration-child prostitution videos emerged, ACORN and its sycophants claimed that those were aberrations. Media Matters asserted, for instance, that ACORN's Philadelphia office had booted the faux pimp and prostitute and reported them to the police.

It turns out that, like so much of what Media Matters says, those claims were bald-faced lies. And conservative filmmakers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles have the video- and audiotape to prove it.

Furthermore, the Washington Post and various Philadelphia papers repeated the ACORN-Media Matters party line.

We won't hold our breaths waiting for retractions.



Update: Memeorandum, The Washington Independent, Blue Crab Boulevard, American Power, Wizbang and Hot Air are also reporting.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

"President Obama will not appear on FOX for the rest of this year"


The Soros-funded front group MoveOn.org has announced its complete solidarity with President Obama's campaign to isolate and silence a mainstream news organization.

I just received this email from the anti-American, moonbat leftists I fondly refer to as MorOn.org. I think that's the name they prefer. Got Marx?

All year, FOX has worked 24/7 to block President Obama's agenda—repeating lies about "death panels," promoting Tea Party protests, and whipping up fake political scandals.

Now, President Obama is fighting back. The White House communications director said FOX is a "wing of the Republican Party...let's not pretend they're a news network." To draw attention to its biased coverage, President Obama will not appear on FOX for the rest of this year.

It's about time Democrats stood up to FOX! Can you sign this petition asking Democrats to support President Obama's stance by staying off FOX as long as he does? We'll deliver it to Democratic leaders. Clicking here will add your name:

http://civic.moveon.org/foxobama/o.pl?id=sUcK%20It%20SoR0s&t=3

The petition says: "Democrats should support President Obama's effort to call out FOX. Please stay off FOX for as long as he does."

Democrats often appear on FOX in hopes of reaching out to conservative viewers. But FOX cuts off their mic, distorts what they say, or runs biased headlines at the bottom of the screen...

...In the end, Democrats always lose on FOX.

Yes, Democrats tend to lose on Fox. Badly.

That's because they have to face facts, logic and reason.

And, in the marketplace of ideas, conservatism almost always wins. Remember the money pit called "Air America"? Home of failed radio host Al "Spiteful Troll" Franken? Its Nielsen ratings tended to trail airport radar, the tumble-dry setting at the laundromat, and sonograms.

History treats the Democrat brand of Socialism very unkindly. And the hard left puppet-masters -- such as George Soros -- don't want arguments or criticism.

They want Caracas.

They want a chorus.

And that's precisely why Fox will continue to kick MorOn.org's a$$. They just haven't figured it out yet.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Know an Obama Voter Who Has Regrets? Dutch TV Wants an Interview!

Know someone who voted for hope n' change and got a heapin' helpin' of partisan hackery instead?


Dutch State Television is interested in conducting interviews for a feature on Obama voters who may be harboring some regrets and resentment:

...we are trying to get in touch with Obama voters who see things, let’s say, differently a year after the election...

Extra points if you attended the Democratic Convention in Denver.

Email me your contact info (include your email address and/or telephone number) to me at and I'll relay it to the producer.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Since We're Making Up Quotes for Media Figures...


Since the no-holds-barred leftists are willing to make up Rush Limbaugh quotes from whole cloth...

...The newest basis for the assertion that Limbaugh is an eeeeeevil racist is as follows, according to Whitlock:

Here are two quotes attributed to Limbaugh in a 2006 book, “101 People Who Are Really Screwing America,” by Jack Huberman.


• “You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray (Dr. King’s assassin). We miss you, James. Godspeed.”


• “Let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: Slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back. I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”

The first of these quotes has already been debunked most thoroughly, long before Rush’s bid to buy the Rams. It is self-evidently the complete fabrication of someone with a wiki account, which was then picked up by the unscrupulous Huberman and reported as fact (with no citations at all) in his book. The other, also attributed to Huberman, has never been sourced, and Huberman has never cited any original article, or even given any indication as to when this alleged statement was made...

I always find it fascinating that Limbaugh, who helped expose black libertarian/conservative academicians Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams to a huge new audience through their repeated guest-host slots during Rush’s frequent Carson-esque days off, is smeared as a racist.

Well, now that this sort of fabrication is in vogue, I've got several quotes from media pundits that I'd like to make you aware of.

Chris Matthews: "...I've often fantasized about Janet Reno, dressed in a corset and lace stockings, using a riding crop on me. That sends a thrill up my flanks."

Maureen Dowd: "Anothersh Tanq-and-tonic, shweety? *hic*"

Keith Olbermann: "Yes, it's true that I've been both the subject and the object of a unique device known to some as a 'strap-on'."

Brian Williams: "Bounce and sheen, not just volume, are the key to an anchorman's hair. Believe me when I tell you this -- I'm deadly serious, here."

Charlie Gibson: "You really can see Russia from Alaska? What the f***? I'm sick of these f***ing embarrassments -- someone's getting fired!"

It's truly shocking that these made-up quotes haven't gotten more attention from the press.


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Liberal Media Split on Obama's Enemies List


ABC's Jake Tapper describes the salient aspects of the administration's Stalinist tactics to ostracize the Fox News channel.

It turns out last month's decision by the White House to leave out Fox News Sunday when the president made the rounds of Sunday shows was part of a larger campaign launched against the cable news network.

White House communications director Anita Dunn told TIME that FNC is "opinion journalism masquerading as news," and went on CNN's "Reliable Sources" earlier this week to talk more about the White House's view of the cable news network.

"The reality of it is that FOX News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party," Dunn said. "And it's not ideological. Obviously, there are many commentators who have conservative, liberal, centrist, and everybody understands that. But I think what is fair to say about FOX and certainly the way we view it is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party."

"It really is not a news network at this point," Dunn said...


To their credit, some liberal media outlets are pillorying the Obama administration for maintaining a very public enemies list.

The Nation calls Obama the "Whiner-in-Chief."

The Huffington Post says the administration has "been met with a surprising backlash."

The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik wrote in the Baltimore Sun that Dunn was wrong and dangerous, to boot: "I have to say I was surprised to hear a senior White House staffer sounding so uninformed and blatantly biased. This campaign by the Obama administration is dangerous to press freedom, and it should concern everyone in the press."

The Kansas City Star's editorial page asks, "Fox News and MSNBC: Who's the bigger shill?"

Of course, the usual cadre of First Amendment-hating Chavez-supporters openly applauded Fox's vilification.

One assumes they also approved of Nixon's enemies list.



Sunday, October 11, 2009

Online Disaster at the New York Times


It's not just the newsprint side of The New York Times that is hemorrhaging readers. The online side of the business has experienced a catastrophic, double-digit drop in readership on a year-over-year basis.

July 2009 vs. July 2008:

1 NYTimes.com -- 14,277,000 -- (-27%)
4 New York Daily News Online Edition -- 9,131,000 -- 112%
5 Wall Street Journal Online -- 8,341,000 -- (-4%)
6 New York Post -- 6,535,000 -- 32%
12 NJ.com -- 2,926,000 -- 41%
20 The Washington Times -- 1,803,000 -- 56%

August 2009 vs. August 2008:

1 NYTimes.com -- 17,183,000 -- (-13%)
3 Wall Street Journal Online -- 10,867,000 -- 42%
6 New York Daily News Online Edition -- 8,573,000 -- 90%
8 New York Post -- 4,843,000 -- 46%
12 NJ.com -- 2,894,000 -- 71%
18 The Washington Times -- 2,082,000 -- 76%

For comparison purposes, I've included other New York area periodicals in the list as well as The Washington Times.

It would appear that the residents of the northeast have had enough with the Times' longstanding selective reporting policy ("All the news fit to print, so long as it is negative for conservatism or positive for socialism").

It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of propagandists.


Thursday, October 08, 2009

To Err Is Human: The Journal's House Liberal


Dan from New York:

The Wall Street Journal (bless ‘em) upholds an affirmative action policy on its editorial pages and keeps one column reserved for a liberal - regardless of merit. Owing to the overwhelming leftward bias of our nation’s media, demand must be high and recruits must be scarce in this writing category because those who’ve taken the job have been intellectual mediocrities, even by liberal standards (sic).

For years the fort was held down by Al Hunt, whose writing crackled with cynicism, anger and bitterness – and that was on days he wasn’t hung over. The Journal finally threw Hunt overboard a few years ago and mercifully left the slot vacant until the spring of ’08, when I assume they felt the need to have a “liberal voice” in place for the election, and hired Thomas Frank to write left-leaning cogitations (once every other week).

No doubt, Frank had much to recommend him: a proven track record for keeping his finger on the pulse of liberalism. Frank managed to turn a standard-issue Upper West Side wisecrack – What’s The Matter With Kansas? – into a book-length explanation of why folks from the fly-over are too dumb to vote their interests. Pure genius.

Well, the election has come and gone, but Frank still has his Dow Jones laptop. In case you’ve managed to live without his comedy stylings until now, the headline and subhead of today’s composition tell you all you need to know about Frank and the topsy-turvy world he’s trapped in. Health Care and the 'Predator State' It is corporate power, not the government, that we need to worry about.

Thomas Frank versus John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison... gee, that's not a tough call.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

How close is CBS to bankruptcy?


Not to belabor the CBS meme, but Business Insider's Henry Blodget offers some cautionary notes regarding the network's tenuous financial condition ("Is CBS Really Going Bankrupt?"). The phrase "stick a fork in 'em" comes to mind.

Two weeks ago, we noted that CBS had been pinpointed by Audit Integrity as one of 10 big companies at risk of bankruptcy... This prompted an outraged denial by CBS... Here's the bottom line:

...CBS has ...blown billions in recent years stupidly buying back its own stock at much higher prices--shareholder value destruction at its finest.  So the company's weak financial position is very much of its own making.

THE SITUATION

Here's a snapshot of CBS's current financial position:

Cash: $341 million
Debt: $7 billion
That's called leverage!

Meanwhile, CBS's cash flows have been precipitously declining:

2006 Free Cash Flow: $1.5 billion
2007 Free Cash Flow: $1.7 billion
2008 Free Cash Flow: $1.7 billion
2008 Free Cash Flow (through June): $1.4 billion
2009 Free Cash Flow (through June): $250 million

In other words, cash flow for the first six months (operations less capex) dropped from $1.4 billion to $250 million in a single year.  CBS had better hope those trends don't continue.

Blodget believes that a near-term bankruptcy probably isn't the cards for CBS -- unless the economy continues to worsen.

But, he concludes, it "is in a weak and deteriorating financial position, however. And this condition is in large part due to its own stupidity."

Meanwhile, the sole center-right television news outlet -- Fox News -- is absolutely pulverizing its competition (September ratings from Mediaite [PDF]).

And, rather than pushing its news operation's viewpoint closer to the center, CBS instead continuously attempts to discredit the conservative media.

Fortunately, those efforts are about as effective as President Obama's policies. Which is to say: they're Rather-iffic!


Exclusive: CBS Human Resources Employee Handbook!


You'll never guess what Cub Reporter Biff Spackle coaxed someone at CBS into faxing him:


Looks like Letterman was following the rules after all.

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Top Ten Reasons David Letterman Was Boinking His Staffers


10. Wanted to be known as the Eliot Spitzer of late night television
9. Helped overcome the bullying I received over my bizarre, gap-tooth grin
8. Paul Schaffer's fault: it was a bet over who could boink more underlings
7. As heir to the Letterman Condom fortune, I'm required to do all of the testing
6. Without this incident, my biography was too boring for an E True Hollywood Story
5. Hot Fresh Delivery isn't just for pizza!
4. Had to show Todd Palin who's boss
3. Would you believe... I thought this was an episode of "Punk'd"?
2. Does the phrase "stimulus package" ring a bell?
1. I thought Bubba Clinton legalized this years ago


With apologies to: David Letterman's Top Ten Eliot Spitzer Excuses.

Last Gasp of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Democrat Hack Karen Heller Defends ACORN's Last Spit of Turf Like Custer at Little Big Horn


The Philadelphia Inquirer filed for bankruptcy earlier this year because you can download Democrat Party press releases for free at dnc.org. But party shill and journalist Karen Heller never got the memo. She's too busy reading the "conservative media" that dominates today's reporting.

In today's edition of the Inquirer, Heller defends ACORN from the "conservative 'media echo chamber' [that] successfully 'framed' ACORN coverage last year."

Who are these evil, awful ACORN people conservatives keep attacking? Grandmothers and great-grandmothers like Junette Marcano and Miriam McKnight, organizers of the West Oak Lane branch.

Do the ends justify the means, Karen?

Aside from its illegal, "non-profit" agenda of getting liberals elected, ACORN works ceaselessly to advance progressive efforts that ultimately harm the urban poor.

They lobby to increase the minimum wage, which destroys teen employment opportunities. They work against school choice, which would benefit the children of the urban poor. They erode the integrity of our electoral process through a pattern of corrupt activities, which are under investigation in 14 states and criminally charged in Nevada for voter fraud.

And, as an added bonus, ACORN played a substantial role in the mortgage meltdown by working to systematize "liar's loans" for the poor and indigent. These "no doc, no proof of citizenship, no proof of income" loans were the toxic chemicals swirling through the circulatory system of the financial world.

Acorn led the way in this movement. In 1986, for instance, it protested a potential acquisition by Louisiana Bancshares, a Southern institution, until the bank agreed to new, "flexible credit and underwriting standards" for minority borrowers which included counting public assistance and food stamps as income in mortgage applications.

Acorn also put pressure on the two quasi-government purchasers of mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to lower their standards, complaining that they were "strictly by-the-book interpreters" who stood in the way of new lending programs. Under pressure both organizations committed to backing billions of dollars in affordable housing loans under so-called "alternative qualifying" programs which approved loans to individuals who didn't qualify under traditional standards, including those who agreed to go to mortgage counseling classes run by community groups like Acorn...

...Under pressure from these threats, the trade group that represented mortgage bankers announced an agreement with HUD to sharply boost lending in low-income areas. These mortgage bankers... agreed to "voluntarily" help develop new mortgage products with laxer underwriting standards. The first member of the trade group to sign onto the new program was Countrywide Financial, which partnered with Fannie Mae to commit to $2.5 billion in lending in minority communities under new, lower standards.

Put simply ACORN was at the very heart of the financial crisis.

But Heller purposefully omits these points and instead highlights all of the good work that ACORN's done.

...critics seem infuriated by ACORN's voter-registration efforts in economically disadvantaged communities, among Latinos and people of color, folks who tend to vote Democratic. ACORN reports registering nearly 1.7 million voters in the 2004 and 2006 elections, and 1.3 million voters last year, 144,000 in Pennsylvania, more than half in Philadelphia.

Interestingly, Heller conveniently redacts the fact that ACORN produced at least 400,000 bogus voter registrations in 2008 alone.

When angry, embittered, increasingly disenfranchised people don't like what they see, they smear opponents by questioning their legitimacy, politics, methods, and goals. ACORN has been targeted by Berman & Co., a Washington outfit known for "Astroturf lobbying," launching fake grassroots efforts through Web sites, protests, and dubious front organizations funded by corporate clients.

Nice slur, Hackler, but I've never heard of "Berman & Co." and I suspect 99% of those investigating ACORN haven't either.

No, you partisan shill, taxpayers are rightfully angered that tens of millions of their dollars have been deposited into the bank accounts of a partisan criminal enterprise, the sole goal of which appears to be undermining the integrity of our elections.

So go collect your final paycheck, Heller, and then report to the DNC for your first day of work. They need someone to fax press releases to other dying newspapers in the Midwest.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

A Conservative Calendar Faces Off Against a Progressive Calendar


Larwyn sends along Don Surber's latest news alert: Carrie Prejean will headline the fifth annual calendar of conservative women to benefit the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, according to Fox News.




The entire calendar can be found here.

Word has it that Democrats are mobilizing their beauties for a photo shoot, which will feature, among other stunners, Hillary Clinton, Madeline Albright and Helen Thomas.




Update: Don also has the 2010 Sarah Palin Calendar. Countdown to liberal head kerplosions: 3-2-....

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Keith Olbermann's doing football highlights on NBC?


It's 6pm central time on a Sunday. Time to flip on the NFL highlights in high-def. Unfortunately, I selected the first pro football channel that came up. It was NBC.

Greeted with the discomfiting visage and intonation of Keith "Strap-On" Olbermann, I reflexively jammed the speed-dial for SportsCenter.

Ahhh, much better.

I wonder if Nielsen could tell the geniuses at NBC just how much advertising money they're hemorrhaging using a despicable partisan hack on their football broadcasts. I'll bet it's in the tens of millions of dollars.


Update: BlackFive: "Boot Olbermann."

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Five Questions for NBC and Jane Stone, regarding BlackBerry-Gate


In case you missed the NBC scandal that erupted last night, the following is a brief synopsis of the events, based upon reports filed at Big Government.

Step 1: NBC Dateline producer Jane Stone receives an email urging Congress to defund ACORN. The email was sent by Alex Rosenwald, director of media outreach for Americans for Limited Government (ALG).

Step 2: Stone (or someone who had access to her BlackBerry) is alleged by ALG to have sent a four word reply to Rosenwald, namely, "Bite me, Jew Boy!"

Step 3: Writing in Politico, Michael Calderone relays a vehement denial from NBC News President Steve Capus, who said he was "outraged that this reckless organization would go out with such a defamatory, irresponsible statement... We have done a complete email analysis, all of our IT, all of our records."

Step 4: ALG promptly issues a press release asserting confirmation that their email system did indeed hold the original "Bite me" message seemingly sent from Stone's account.

Step 5: NBC hastily offered a caustic retort, stating that "Americans for Limited Government has chosen to launch an outrageous, reckless attack and smear campaign against an NBC News employee. Faced with irrefutable evidence that our employee did nothing more than ask to be removed from an email mailing list, the organization has maliciously published a fabricated email... Our employee never sent any such email... She is completely innocent of the outrageous charges and is being used by an organization to make a self-serving point..."

And that appears to be where we stand at the moment.

Several questions spring to mind, aimed at NBC management, which could be answered in minutes by their IT specialists:

1. Why has Ms. Stone not provided photographs of the BlackBerry showing her sent email?
2. Why has NBC not provided a copy of Ms. Stone's sent email complete with all mail headers?
3. Why has NBC not provided a screencap of the Microsoft Exchange Administration Panel showing Ms. Stone's message?
4. Why has NBC not provided a snippet of its mail gateway server log for the email in question?
5. Why has NBC not provided a screencap of its data-loss prevention system, showing Ms. Stone's message?

Any one -- or, better yet, a combination of these would provide first-pass validation of NBC's position.

I'm sure Chris Matthews (host of Screwball on Screwball) and Keith "Strap On" Olbermann (host of Countdown to No Ratings) will fully investigate Stone-gate for their respective Monday broadcasts.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Bill Ayers' Bathroom Reading


Hide the hand towels.


I'm pretty sure it's published by the Sulzberger family. Which would explain a lot.

Maureen Dowd and Thomas Friedman, for instance.