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

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Breaking: Sarah Palin responsible for mass bird kills, genocide in the Sudan, and AT&T's loss of exclusive rights to the iPhone

Because there's just as much of a tie between Palin, those events and the tragic shootings in Tucson. Of course, to listen to many Democrats and those in legacy media, you'd think Sarah Palin had home-schooled Jared Lee Loughner.

The unmoored rhetoric of fools like Paul Krugman and Markos Moulitsas is not only divisive, it's destructive.


Which Democrats objected to the use of mass murder as a vehicle for disseminating propaganda?

I was wondering: which Democrats and liberals objected to those willing to politicize the mass murder in Tucson before the blood had even dried?

Not several unnamed Democrat operatives, reported to have said, "[we] need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers... Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people" and "[there is a] climate of bitter and virulent rhetoric against the government and Democrats."

Not the detestable twerp Markos Moulitsas who immediately tweeted, "Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin."

Not the perverted excuse for a 'news' 'man', Keith Olbermann, who invents threats of violence by conservatives on a nightly basis: "...if Sarah Palin whose Web site put and today scrubbed bull's-eyes targets on 20 Representatives, including Gabby Giffords, does not repudiate her own part - however tangential - in amplifying violence and violent imagery in American politics, she must be dismissed from politics."

Not the world's dumbest blogger, Matthew "Iggy" Yglesias, whose disgusting tweet read, "A reminder that gun imagery and electoral politics don't mix that well."

Not the loathsome and bizarre 'economist' Paul Krugman, who published a blog post on The New York Times website before the victims had even been identified: "We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was... for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona... And yes, she was on Sarah Palin’s infamous 'crosshairs' list."

Not the malevolent hack, Rep. Chris van Hollen (D-MD), who rushed to MSNBC to condemn the very same 'targeting' imagery used by Democrats since the 1980's, "I really think that that is crossing a line... In this particular environment I think it’s really dangerous to try and make your point in that particular way because there are people who are taking that kind of thing seriously."

Not the obsequious Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik who -- in the midst of his investigation -- couldn't wait to appear on Keith Olbermann's show to decry one particular political party though he had not a shred of evidence to suggest such a thing: "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous." And who, on Megyn Kelly's show, said that this kind of violence occurs when "one party is trying to do something to make this country a better country and the other party is trying to block them."

Not the back-bencher Democrat Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. of New Jersey, who blamed Fox News for the murders; immediately after the incident, he told a local newspaper: "There's an aura of hate and elected politicians feed it, certain people on Fox News feed it.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

But there are a handful of voices of reason, whose sanity in the face of partisanship should be acknowledged.

Howard Kurtz of The Daily Beast: "One of the first to be dragged into this sickening ritual of guilt by association: Sarah Palin... it's a long stretch from such excessive language and symbols [like crosshairs on a political map] to holding a public official accountable for a murderer who opens fire on a political gathering and kills a half-dozen people, including a 9-year-old girl."

CNN Senior Political Editor Mark Preston, who reported Palin adviser Rebecca Mansour's statement during an interview with radio personality Tammy Bruce: "People actually accuse Gov. Palin of this. It's appalling. Appalling. I cannot even express how disgusting that is."

Aaron Astor at The Moderate Voice: "We need to exercise caution about motives and consequences. In particular, be careful about lumping together Tea Party rhetoric – from Sarah Palin or anybody else – with this murder."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Those are about the only rational folks I've been able to locate thus far.

In the words of a not-so-great Chicago mayoral candidate, "Never let a crisis go to waste."

Every day the mask slips a little more.

I regret to say that there is a group of American citizens that hates its fellow citizens more than it hates murderous religious extremists and illegal alien invaders.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

'Who is Jared Loughner?'

KGUN Channel 9 attempts to answer the question: "Who is Jared Loughner?"

...Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told reporters Saturday night "he has mental issues".

The 22-year-old was taken into custody shortly after the shooting, and hasn't been seen publicly since... 9 On Your Side spoke with a young adult who went to school with Loughner in middle school and high school. The friend, who did not want her name used, told KGUN9 News, "When I knew him he was odd. Not psychopath, just odd. Most kids at 12, 13, 24 are weird. He was odd, but not that weird."

She went on to say, "When I heard it was him that did it, it was shocking. He never said creepy, psychopathic things. He would listen to hard core, heavy metal music. But when I knew him he wasn't like crazy our anything. Just odd. It was kind of weird to see this transformation from someone who is like a little bit odd, to like, crazy, 'I'm going to kill a bunch of people."

Loughner as posted some bizarre videos on his YouTube channel. The most controversial video shows someone in a mask lighting an American flag on fire. It's titled "America: your last memory in a terrorist country".

...Loughner has a criminal history and that campus officials at Pima Community College had difficulties with him on campus... What appears to be Loughner's myspace page was captured by website Good Politics before it was deleted. In one of the last messages left this morning, he wrote "Goodbye friends. Please don't be mad at me. The literacy rate is below 5%. I haven't talked to one person who is literate. I want to make it out alive. The longest war in the history of the United States. Goodbye. I'm saddened with the current currency and job employment. I had a bully at school. Thank you. P.S. --plead the fifth!"

Loughner went to Tortolita Middle School in Marana. A district spokesperson says that Loughner spent his freshman through junior years at Mountain View High School. Then, he withdrew from school before his senior year.

Pima Community College issued a statement about Loughner Saturday at 7:35 p.m. The statement described Loughner as a former student who withdrew from the college in October after being suspected for code of conduct violations.

"From February to September 2010, Loughner had five contacts with PCC police for classroom and library disruptions at Northwest and West campuses," the statement read. "On September 29, 2010, college police discovered on YouTube a Loughner-filmed video made at Northwest Campus. In the video, he claims that the College is illegal according to the U.S. Constitution, and makes other claims."

The college said it told Loughner that if he wanted to come back to school, he must "must resolve his Code of Conduct violations and obtain a mental health clearance indicating, in the opinion of a mental health professional, his presence at the College does not present a danger to himself or others." ...The college said it had no further contact with him after that...

The Arizona Star adds a few more details:

The man arrested on suspicion of [the shootings] tried to manipulate his dreams and posted rambling messages on the Internet... A former classmate of Loughner at Pima, from which he was suspended Sept. 29 for code-of-conduct violations, said he was "obviously very disturbed."

"He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts," said Lynda Sorenson, who took a math class with Loughner last summer at Pima Community College's Northwest campus... Dupnik said the suspected shooter has made death threats before and been contacted by law-enforcement officers. The threats weren't against Giffords, Dupnik said.

...As a middle school student, Loughner was "kind of an outcast," said Shannin Macey, who said via e-mail she attended Tortolita and Mountain View with him. In high school, Loughner was in jazz band and played the saxophone but he dropped out in junior year, said Tommy Marriotti, who was a high-school friend of Loughner.

At the time he dropped out, Loughner was having drug problems, Marriotti said, but he seemed to do well once he started taking classes at Pima... Loughner attended Pima courses from summer 2005 until he withdrew in October after his suspension, the college said.

He tried to enlist in the Army in 2008 but was rejected, said First Sgt. Brian Homme, who oversees Army recruiting in Tucson. Loughner was sent to Phoenix to take a test and physical, but "he was found to be unqualified," Homme said... Loughner registered to vote for the first time in 2006, said Chris Roads, Pima County's registrar of voters. He registered as an independent and last voted in the 2008 general election.

Sorenson, Loughner's classmate at Pima, said he was asked to leave the pre-algebra class several times and eventually was barred from class... Another Pima classmate, Lydian Ali, said Loughner would frequently laugh aloud to himself during the advanced-poetry class they attended. Only about 16 people were in the class, so Loughner's behavior stood out, Ali said... "It almost seemed like he was on his own planet, because his comments would have nothing to do with what we were talking about," Ali said.

Loughner's online accounts contain some political comments but are dominated by bizarre discussions of his desire to establish a new currency and his disdain for what he considered the public's low literacy rates. He also wrote threatening and despairing messages... "WOW! I'm glad i didn't kill myself. I'll see you on National T.v.! This is foreshadow .... why doesn't anyone talk to me?.." he posted on MySpace Dec. 14. [The day before,] he wrote: "I don't feel good: I'm ready to kill a police officer! I can say it." ... In a posting on YouTube, Loughner wrote repeatedly about a new currency.

Loughner has had at least two minor run-ins with police, online court records show... In October 2007, Loughner was cited by the Pima County Sheriff's Department for possession of drug paraphernalia, a charge that was dismissed in November 2007 when he completed a diversion program... One year later, in October 2008, Loughner faced a "local charge" in Marana Municipal Court. That charge was also dismissed following the completion of a diversion program in March 2009.

KOLD fleshes in Loughner's problems at community college.

[He] was a former PCC student who voluntarily withdrew last October after he was suspended for code of conduct violations...

...PCC says Loughner and his parents met administrators on October 4, 2010, and Loughner indicated he would withdraw from the College.

...Search warrants were served in the Tucson area, including the home of Loughner's parents in the 7700 bock of North Soledad Avenue, Pima County Sheriff's department spokesman Rick Kastigar said...

Deputies recovered a pistol with an extended handle [Ed: probably an extended magazine], Kastigar added...

Further information on what was seized by deputies was not immediately available.

Loughner's YouTube channel has three videos detailing his opinion on government failures.

Here's a look at Loughner's MySpace page, which has been restricted from public view.

This young man is a very sick individual, which makes the efforts of the Democrat Party and legacy media to politicize the shootings all the more disgusting.


The Poisonous Paul Krugman and Kos: Willing to Use Evil and Madness to Advance Their Political Agenda [Updated]

It took roughly seven seconds after the shooter was tackled in Tucson for the despicable loon known as Paul Krugman to blame conservatives.

The New York Times' Paul Krugman writes, "You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers."

In his eagerness to tar the alleged Arizona shooter as some sort of conservative tea-bagger, Paul Krugman has once again proven that he is completely unhinged.

Krugman's not the only one. The malevolent crackpot known as Kos is knee-deep in his usual agit-prop, blaming Sarah Palin for the shootings.

Turns out, however, that making political hay out of this tragedy -- while par for the course for the Leftists -- is so far off base that it's quite literally sickening.

Phoenix New Times:

Jared Loughner, Alleged Shooter in Gabrielle Giffords Attack, Described by Classmate as "Left-Wing Pothead"


A classmate of the man accused of shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords this morning describes him as "left wing" and a "pot head" in a series of posts on Twitter this afternoon... [she] paint[s] a picture of Jared Loughner as a substance-abusing loner who had met Giffords before the shooting. She says, Loughner described the congresswoman as "stupid and unintelligent."

...Parker "tweets" that she and Loughner were in the band together and were friends until 2007 when he became "reclusive" after getting alcohol poisoning and dropping out of college... She describes him as "quite liberal" and as a "political radical."

Arizona Star:
Saturday afternoon, police surrounded a house at 7700 N. Soledad Ave., which is the address listed by a man with the same name on a variety of online accounts and in the volunteer registry for the 2010 Tucson Festival of Books. The home is near West Magee Road and North Thornydale Road on the northwest side, about five miles from the shooting scene... The suspected shooter has made death threats before and been contacted by law-enforcement officers, but the threats weren't against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Dupnik said. The suspect is unstable, Dupnik said, but the sheriff would not say he is "insane."

A former classmate of Loughner at Pima Community College said he was "obviously very disturbed... He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts," said Lynda Sorenson, who took a math class with Loughner last summer at Pima Community College's Northwest campus... Sorenson doesn't recall if he ever made any threats or uttered political statements but he was very disruptive, she said. He was asked to leave the pre-algebra class several times and eventually was barred from class, said Sorenson, a Tucson resident.

Another Pima classmate, Lydian Ali, said Loughner would frequently laugh aloud to himself during the advanced-poetry class they attended. Only about 16 people were in the class, so Loughner's behavior stood out, Ali said.

As for Kos: Daily Kos blogger BoyBlue is alleged to be Loughner.

And Democrats -- including Kos -- routinely use bullseye symbols in their graphics.

The poison spilled by Krugman and Kos is harmful to society, for they are happy to use pure evil and madness to advance their political agenda.


Update: Democrats Plotted to Blame Tea Party for Slaughter:

Democrats plotted to blame the tea party patriots for yesterday’s slaugher in Arizona

A democratic operative admitted this to The Politico. Of course, Politico buried it in their story.
One veteran Democratic operative, who blames overheated rhetoric for the shooting, said President Barack Obama should carefully but forcefully do what his predecessor did.

“They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers,” said the Democrat. “Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.”Another Democratic strategist said the similarity is that Tucson and Oklahoma City both “take place in a climate of bitter and virulent rhetoric against the government and Democrats.”

This Democrat said that the time had come to insist that Republicans stand up when, for example, a figure such as Fox News commentator Glenn Beck says something incendiary.

The shooter was a pro-Marxist, anti-flag, anti-Constitution, anti-religious crackpot. He was hardly a tea partier.

So… Is this why DHS is going after a hate group that just happens to have Gadsden Flags ads on their website?… And, the media is trying to link the pro-Marxist lunatic to the tea party?

Does this really come as a surprise for a Party that lies as a matter of course?


Connecticut Media Invents New Term for Illegal Alien

You've got give WTNH some points for creativity.

Illegal cit. arrested for sex assault


CLINTON, Conn. (WTNH) - An arrest was made after a four month investigation involving a 19-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by illegal citizens.

Police say two men who are both from Ecuador have been arrested for the crime.

William Matute 36, and Carlos Celi 29, originally from have had federal detainers placed on them pending their deportation back to Ecuador.

The investigation alleges that Celi assisted Matute in the crime, but did not have sexual contact with the victim.

Both Celi and Matute will be arraigned in Middletown Superior Court on Jan. 10.

'Illegal citizen'? It would appear legacy media will do anything to confer rights on non-citizens while they race to blame actual citizens -- especially conservatives -- for random acts of madness.


Saturday, January 08, 2011

Media Matters Beclowns Itself Anew: Still Unable to Demonstrate a Single Fox News Lie After Four Attempts

The Soros-funded Marxist front group known as Media Matters has been busy trying to document a single lie by Fox News. The reason: they want the 1-oz. Krugerrand I pledged to the first person to describe a lie by FNC reporters. The rules are simple and Media Matters, to its credit, did try to follow them. Of the hundreds of other 'progressives' who responded, I think a grand total of two figured out what the grade-school-level rules were.

That said, let's examine Media Matters' track record -- the four lies they've attempted to document. Note, too, the nature of their entries -- they can't come up with real lies like the Dan Rather "Air National Guard Memo", or "If you like your health care plan you can keep it", or "Your premiums will go down an average of $2,500 a year", or the "Al Qaqaa" smears of our military or the "John McCain Lobbyist Affair" fabrication. Instead, Media Matters attempts to use slight variations in grammar or diction to document a "lie".

But don't believe me, check out their four attempts:

Attempt #1: Elena Kagan Never Banned Military Recruiters From Harvard Law


This was a particularly humorous attempt, since Kagan's ban of recruiters was well known and one of the more controversial aspects of her confirmation hearing. After I uncovered DOD emails from multiple branches of the service that described how they had been refused permission to visit and couldn't so much as even post a job opening on campus, I stopped hearing back from their representative, 'Matters' Gertz.

Attempt #2: The 'Slaughter Rule' was really a Democrat vote to pass health care


In the words of Media Matters, FNC "repeatedly reported that by passing health care reform through a self-executing rule, Democrats would be doing so 'without actually taking a vote'".

Of course that's precisely why Democrats attempted to pass health care reform without actually voting on it -- it was to avoid the scrutiny of voters if they could have deemed the bill as having been passed without a vote. Deem-and-pass, as it is known, had never been done with legislation this controversial, which is why it received so much attention in 2010 and was ultimately discarded as a tactic by Democrats.

But how were members of Congress, and other news reporters and analysts, describing this issue? Oh, gee, lookie here:

The New York Times: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is eyeing a strategy by which the Democrats include the Senate bill in the rule that will set the terms of the House floor debate on the health care legislation. Once the rule is adopted, the Senate bill would be “deemed” to have passed without House members actually voting on it."

The Wall Street Journal: "How Democrats may 'deem' ObamaCare into law, without voting... Under this amazing procedural ruse, the House would then vote only once on the reconciliation corrections, but not on the underlying Senate bill. If those reconciliation corrections pass, the self-executing rule would say that the Senate bill is presumptively approved by the House—even without a formal up-or-down vote on the actual words of the Senate bill."

John Boehner, House Minority Leader: "Democrats Prepare “Slaughter Solution” to Ram Unpopular Health Care Takeover Through Congress Without a Vote... House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday."

Daniel Foster, National Review: "The sense around here for the last week or so has been that 'only the House vote matters' in deciding the fate of Obamacare. But what if the Democrats can pass the bill with no House vote at all? Astoundingly, House Democrats appear to be preparing to do just that..."

Mark Tapscott, Washington Examiner: "House Democrats looking at 'Slaughter Solution' to pass Obamacare without a vote on Senate bill... "

The Heritage Foundation: "Yesterday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) endorsed the rumored Slaughter Rule to send the Senate passed Obamacare bill to the President without a direct up-or-down vote in the House. Don’t believe those on the left who are trying to argue that because Republicans used deeming resolutions when they were in power, it is okay for Democrats to use a similar tactic to pass legislation without a vote."

LifeNews: "House Republicans have unveiled a new move to force Democratic leaders to vote directly on the Senate pro-abortion health care bill. Democrats have been looking at using the controversial Slaughter Rule that would allow the House to adopt a procedural rule declaring the bill passed without voting on it."

In essence, Fox News Channel simply reported the Democrats' disgusting machinations regarding the Slaughter Rule using the same language that members of Congress (and others in the media on both sides of the aisle) were using.

Verdict: FAIL.

Attempt #3: ClimateGate Emails Really Didn't Show Scientists Trying To "Hide The Decline" In Global Temperatures


Gertz asserts that "Fox News reporters falsely claimed that stolen emails "reveal that scientists use, quote, 'tricks' to hide evidence of a decline in global temperature."

Unfortunately the real climate scientists agree with FNC.

So far one of the most circulated e-mails from the CRU hack is the following from Phil Jones to the original hockey stick authors – Michael Mann, Raymond Bradley, and Malcolm Hughes [which states] ' I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline...'

...The e-mail is about WMO statement on the status of the global climate in 1999 -report, or more specifically, about its cover image.

...grafting the thermometer onto a reconstruction is not actually the original “Mike’s Nature trick”! Mann did not fully graft the thermometer on a reconstruction, but he stopped the smoothed series in their end years. The trick is more sophisticated, and was uncovered by UC over here...

...When smoothing these time series, the Team had a problem: actual reconstructions “diverge” from the instrumental series in the last part of 20th century. For instance, in the original hockey stick (ending 1980) the last 30-40 years of data points slightly downwards. In order to smooth those time series one needs to “pad” the series beyond the end time, and no matter what method one uses, this leads to a smoothed graph pointing downwards in the end whereas the smoothed instrumental series is pointing upwards — a divergence. So Mann’s solution was to use the instrumental record for padding, which changes the smoothed series to point upwards as clearly seen in UC’s figure (violet original, green without “Mike’s Nature trick”).

...TGIF-magazine has already asked Jones about the e-mail, and he denied misleading anyone but did remember grafting... 'Jones told TGIF he had no idea what me meant by using the words “hide the decline”... “That was an email from ten years ago. Can you remember the exact context of what you wrote ten years ago?”'

Actually, FNC got it precisely right, which is why in 2007 about 17,200 scientists signed a petition to Congress disputing anthropogenic (man-caused) global warming. Or should I say 'glo-bull warming'?

Verdict: FAIL.

Attempt #4: Using Budget Reconciliation to Pass Obamacare Wasn't a 'Nuclear Option' and Didn't Involve a Violation of Senate Rules


In the words of Matters Gertz, "Fox News reporters claimed that by passing health care reform using the reconciliation process, Democrats would be 'changing the rules' and using the 'nuclear option'."

This is a curious attempt indeed, since it involves (among other things) relatively obscure nomenclature. Avoiding the filibuster by using the reconciliation process has been called by many parties (not just Fox) a 'nuclear option'.

Here's The New York Times describing this exact situation in 2009.

Some Republicans have likened the building struggle over budget reconciliation to the 2005 Senate fight over Democratic filibusters against judicial nominees chosen by President George W. Bush.

Frustrated at the opposition, Republicans warned they would invoke the “nuclear option” and change Senate rules to ban filibusters against executive branch nominations. Democrats characterized that as an assault on the very nature of the Senate... But now that they are in the minority, some Republicans have begun suggesting that if Democrats insist on reconciliation, Republicans will gum up the Senate works to the greatest extent possible, using their remaining procedural rights to essentially shut down the Senate.

...Republicans have another hurdle as well. The so-called nuclear option represented a change in Senate rules...

In other words, even the Democrat National Committee's public relations arm uses the term 'nuclear option' to describe wrapping a conventional bill into the protective coating of a budget reconciliation process.

But perhaps Matters intended to concentrate instead on the Senate rule process. If they did, Democrat Senator Robert Byrd, just before he passed away last year, described the real situation (much to Media Matters' chagrin).

Sen. Robert Byrd warned Democratic colleagues against changing filibuster rules in order to advance their legislative priorities... In a "Dear Colleague" letter dated Tuesday, Byrd, the longest-serving member of the Senate, said that the Senate's rules on ending debate shouldn't be changed, but he encouraged forcing senators to actually sustain debate in a real, live filibuster...

The frustration over the filibuster has been especially manifest in the healthcare debate, where all 41 Republicans, sticking together, have been able to sustain a filibuster.

So both The New York Times and Democrat icon Senator Robert Byrd effectively eviscerated this attempt.

Verdict: EPIC FAIL.

Say, Media Matters: what the hell are you doing with all of that money George Soros gave you? I do this for free, working on my blog perhaps 10 hours a week. You'd think all of that media watching would allow you to identify some real lies by Faux News.

If I were Soros, I'd ask for my money back.


Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Media Matters Says I Owe It $1,400 in Gold [Bumped & Updated!]

Update 1/8/11 8:31AM PST: All Four Media Matters Attempts Completely Blown Apart.

Update 1/5/11 16:32 PST: Just returned from work, then hit the gym, did some plinking in the backyard with my AK, played with my twin pit bulls and then prayed. Not to worry, any valid entries will be examined. I will certainly look at Media Matters' three new entries as time permits, probably reviewing in detail over the weekend. Promise.

The contest closes on 2/15, so new entries -- so long as they follow the very simple rules -- are still accepted. The reason there are a couple of basic ground-rules (and I'm open to suggestions as to how to gauge a "lie") is that I'm simply looking for the Fox equivalent of a Rathergate memo; an Al Qaqaa series of hit pieces; or a John McCain lobbyist affair fabrication. Game-changers, in those cases, all designed to turn elections. Real meaty lies, if you will.

Media Matters' big entry is that Elena Kagan didn't ban the military from Harvard Law? Everyone knows she did -- that's why it was such a huge issue at her confirmation hearing! And we have the DOD emails to prove it. That's the best lie they can come up with?

But I'm still hoping someone will come up with a real lie by Fox News Channel reporters. Just one! That's all I ask!

Update 1/4/11 17:31 PST: Media Matters pwnt. Hard.

Below, I've posted the actual emails from DOD recruiters that were entered into the Congressional record.

• Were military recruiters allowed to interview students on campus? No.
• Were military recruiters given any mechanism for interacting with candidate students on campus? No.
• Were military recruiters given permission to visit the campus in any recruiting capacity? No, they were refused permission.
• Were military recruiters even allowed to send in job openings for posting on a freaking law school bulletin board? No.
• Did the military believe their access to students was cut off? Yes.
• Did Kagan herself believe she had effectively cut off access to her students because of DADT? Yes.
• Was Kagan openly "hostile" to the idea of the military recruiting on campus? Yes.
• Did the military spend months trying to figure out how to get access to recruits? Yes.
• Did the military finally have to escalate, getting the USG to threaten to cut off $300 million in funding, before they could get access to students? Yes.

Recognizing their epic fail, Media Matters has posed three new "lies", which I will review as time permits. Remember, libs, the contest closes on 2/15. Considering only a handful of progressives have even figured out the very simple rules, you still have an awesome chance at winning the Krugerrand!

A couple of days ago, MSNBC media star Keith Olbermann appeared to suffer a Tourettes-like attack, cursing Fox News repeatedly on Twitter. His incisive message: the Fox News Channel is "100% bulls***".

Knowing that FNC kicks the crap out of every other cable news outlet, which means Americans find it the most trustworthy source of information, I launched my One Krugerrand Fox News challenge. The first person to document one lie repeated by Fox News Channel reporters can win a 1-oz. Krugerrand worth around $1,400.

There are only a few simple rules -- like providing a link to a transcript or video on a trustworthy site. Even so, amidst the hundreds of responses I received from outraged progressives, only a handful of budding Marxists even figured out how to post an entry that conforms to the rules.

Well, with nothing better to do during the day than respond to bloggers' challenges, Media Matters took a shot at the gold. Some crackpot named Matt Gertz wrote the following earlier today.

Following Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court, several Fox News reporters falsely claimed that while she was dean of Harvard Law School, Kagan "barred" military recruiters from campus:

Megyn Kelly: "[T]he criticism of Kagan is that while she was dean of Harvard Law School, and she was dean in 2003, she decided to continue a policy of banning the military from the campus because they didn't like the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy."

Bret Baier: "The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked the Pentagon about its recruitment efforts at Harvard while Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan was dean of the law school there. Kagan barred recruiters in protest of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy."

Carl Cameron: "In the Clinton White House, she recommended compromised policies that worry conservatives over abortion and guns. As dean of the Harvard Law School, she made headlines supporting a controversial wartime ban on campus military recruitment."

In fact, Kagan did not support a "ban on military recruitment" at Harvard Law, and Harvard law students had access to military recruiters during her entire tenure as dean. As we've
noted
:

Throughout Kagan's tenure as dean, Harvard law students had access to military recruiters -- either through Harvard's Office of Career Services or through the Harvard Law School Veterans Association. Kagan became dean of Harvard Law in June 2003. In accordance with Harvard's pre-existing nondiscrimination policy, she barred the school's Office of Career Services (OCS) from working with military recruiters or the spring 2005 semester after the U.S Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled that law schools could legally do so. During that one semester, students still had access to military recruiters via the Harvard Law School Veterans Association. During the fall 2005 semester, after the Bush administration threatened to revoke Harvard's federal funding, Kagan once again granted military recruiters access to OCS.

Indeed, according to data we obtained from Harvard Law School's public information officer, graduates entered the military during each year Kagan served as dean, and the number of graduates from each of the classes that could have been affected by the prohibition on Harvard Law's OCS working with military recruiters was equal to or greater than the number who entered the military from any of Harvard's previous five classes.

CNN accurately reported on Kagan's actions in this May 10, 2010...

Mr. Ross, you owe me one ounce of gold.

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Media Matters is a suitably trustworthy site. I know, it's a stretch.

Now, do I trust the Defense Department or a Soros-funded, Marxist front group?

Because the Defense Department has over 800 pages of documentation that says Media Matters is full of crap. Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback Machine for June of 2010.

Before her confirmation, the Christian Science Monitor reported the real details of how Kagan's recruiting ban worked:

The issue does not lend itself to 10-second sound-bite questions or responses... [but] In 2004, Kagan barred military recruiters from using the law school’s office of career services to meet with students interested in military service... The action was controversial because it came at a time when the United States was at war in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

...In her statement announcing that military recruiters would be barred from the school’s office of career services, Kagan said: “I am gratified by this result, and I look forward to the time when all law students have the opportunity to pursue any legal career they desire...”

...Administration officials and other Kagan supporters stressed that a student veterans group agreed to help facilitate student access to military recruiters during this period... The clear suggestion was that Kagan’s policy change had no real impact on military recruiters. But the recent release of 850 pages of Defense Department documents tells a different story.

Polite and patient military recruiters were told by Harvard officials to call back later. They received this response again, and again, for weeks until the recruiting season had ended... “The Army was stonewalled at Harvard. Phone calls and emails went unanswered,” an Army recruiter said in a March 2005 memo. “The [career services director] refused to inform students that we were coming to recruit and the [career services director] refused to collect resumes or provide any other assistance.”

One Air Force recruiter’s memo concludes: “We shouldn’t allow [Harvard Law School] to play this game.”

A de facto ban is still a ban. And the DOD itself says it "was stonewalled" by Kagan's policy. Gee, this is a tough one. Do I trust the DOD or Soros Matters?

Matt, you've really outdone yourself this time: that was quite an epic fail you pulled off. No gold for you!

Next time, try one of Fox' big lies. Like this one. Oops. That was The New York Times. My bad.

As an aside, Matt, do I rate my own tag yet, like Jammie Wearing Fool?


Update: Yes! They gave me my own tag. Does this mean they'll apologize for their Dealergate fabrications now?

Update II: Matt Gertz gets up off the canvas to post a humorous screed entitled, "Doug Ross Still Owes Me $1,400 In Gold."

In it, he summarizes all of the key positions. Except one.

Curiously, he fails to mention the military recruiters -- the most important parties to the affair -- who say they were banned, "stonewalled" in their words -- from recruiting. They could not get any access to Kagan's students.

Furthermore, Kagan said she was pleased with that development. "Gratified", was the word I think she used. She was gratified that the military could not get access to students -- not because of anything the DOD had done, but because of a policy created by Bill Clinton.

I just pwnt Media Matters so hard I think I pulled a muscle.

Update III: For the final word in this matter, let's go to Senator Jeff Sessions grilling Kagan, as documented in the Congressional Record:

01:02:03 I WOULD JUST SAY WHILE MY TIME IS -- IS RUNNING DOWN, I'M JUST A LITTLE TAKEN ABACK BY THE TONE OF YOUR REMARKS, BECAUSE IT IS UNCONNECTED TO REALITY.
01:02:17 I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AT HARVARD.
01:02:19 I KNOW YOU ARE AN OUTSPOKEN LEADER AGAINST THE MILITARY POLICY.
01:02:22 I KNOW YOU ACTED WITHOUT LEGAL AUTHORITY TO REVERSE HARVARD'S POLICY AND DENY THOSE MILITARY EQUAL ACCESS TO CAMPUS UNTIL YOU WERE THREATENED BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT OF LOSS OF FEDERAL FUNDS.
01:02:37 THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED.

Update IV: I suppose the ABA Journal, the DOD, and Senator Jeff Sessions are all "lying", too.

“I’m just a little taken aback by the tone of your remarks because it is unconnected with reality,” Sen. Sessions said near the end of his 30-minute question period, which he spent almost entirely on the recruiting issue. “I know you acted without legal authority to deny access to military recruiters...”

...“You did what DOD wanted [only] after they went to the university counsel and the president [of Harvard] and said [Harvard was] going to lose some $300 million in aid, isn’t that a fact?” Sessions asked... Kagan said the DOD’s request went through “a discussion,” and ultimately Harvard agreed to reinstate military recruiters’ access to the law school’s career office...

And from DOD emails entered into the Congressional Record:

To: Sullivan, John, Mr., DoD OGC, Koffsky, Paul, Mr., DoD OGC
Subject: FW: AF Phase I Letter to Harvard Background
I just got back and going through my e-mails . . . Harvard Law School is delaying and providing a ``slow role'' to Air Force's efforts to recruit during the Spring recruiting season. Seems they have delayed sufficiently in providing permission that the Season ending March 4th may already be ``too late''. Any advice? ...

Subject RE: Harvard Phase I Pushups
. . . checked with Army JAG Recruiting and Major Jackson provided the following.
``Hi, Ma'am--
The Army was stonewalled at Harvard Phone calls and emails went unanswered and the standard response was--we're waiting to hear from higher authority...

From: Carr, Bill, CIV, OSD-P&R
To: Dr. Curt Gilroy, SES, OSD-P&R
Subject: S: 3-22-06/Solomon Olive Branch--Or Not
...Dean Kagan is a case in point below as she reportedly ``encouraged students to demonstrate against the presence of recruiters . . . (and to) express their views clearly and forcefully.'' Not a true fan of ``equal in quality and scope'' it would appear. Despite that (or because of it) we'll want to reach out to academe to find a sober means of accomplishing our varied purposes within statutory intent, but we lack a venue . . . and AALS is too hostile to constructively . . .

Subject Harvard Law School
Thursday 10 March 2005
Sir, I just received a phone call from Mr. Mark Weber, Assistant Dean for Career Services, Harvard Law School. All my previous communication has been with one of his staff members, Ms. Kathleen Robinson, the recruitment manager. He stated that he was calling because he ``felt bad that they
had left us without an answer
'' and wanted to pass on the contact data of the president of the Harvard Veterans Student Group. He stated that the faculty had still not decided whether to allow us to participate in on-campus interviews and that the official on-campus interview program for Spring 2005...

... I asked him if I could at least post a job posting via their office and he said no. He stressed that I could contact interested students via the Harvard Veterans Student Group but that his office could not provide any support to us...

...By delaying until the last minute (or never providing an answer) to the AF request to recruit, the AF is unable to organize and schedule the recruiting effort in time to participate in the HLS program which ends on March 4, 2005. We shouldn't allow HLS to ``play this game.''...

Executive Summary:

• Was the military allowed to interact with students via -- or even post job openings -- at the Law School? No.
• Did the military believe their access to students was cut off? Yes.
• Did Kagan herself believe she had effectively cut off access to her students because of DADT? Yes.
• Was Kagan openly "hostile" to the idea of the military recruiting on campus? Yes.
• Did the military spend months trying to figure out how to get access to recruits? Yes.
• Did the military finally have to escalate, getting the USG to threaten to cut off funding, before they could get access to students? Yes.

Media Matters == pwnt.


Some edumucation for young progressives

Whom Despots Fear

What really happened

To the Congress:

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Newsweek Magaxelrod: marketing the "centrist" GOP candidates that no one's heard of to grease the skids for Obama in 2012

Newsweek Magazine, with its total market capitalization of one dollar, is doing its level best to clear the runway for the 2012 Obama reelection campaign.

To do so, it's following the traditional legacy media game-plan: positioning some obscure GOP "centrist" as a legitimate candidate. Spoiler: he's not.

The moderate Republican [ex-Utah governor Jon Huntsman] had once been considered a rising star in the GOP and a likely 2012 contender, with David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s campaign mastermind, even identifying Huntsman as the only Republican who made him “a wee bit queasy” about the next race...

...But speculation ended abruptly in 2009 when Obama tapped Huntsman for the ambassadorship. National pundits called the appointment a shrewd move by the White House to sideline a potential rival, and then promptly forgot about him...

...sources close to Huntsman (who requested anonymity to speak freely without his permission) say that during his December trip to the U.S., he met with several former political advisers in Washington and Salt Lake City to discuss a potential campaign. “I’m not saying he’s running,” says one supporter who has worked with him in the past. “But we’re a fire squad; if he says the word, we can get things going fast.” What’s more, Huntsman tells NEWSWEEK that when he accepted the ambassadorial appointment, he promised his family they would “come up for air” sometime in 2010 to decide how much longer they would stay in Beijing.

Cubachi accurately observes that the background of Huntsman (Gesundheit!) is distinctly problematic for conservatives.

There’s a reason why the Utah Tea Party booed Huntsman.

I couldn’t care less if he can speak Chinese or was governor of Utah... Huntsman is a progressive republican, and held liberal positions while in office. He is a liberal on social issues, an amnesty shill, and publicly endorsed cap and trade. After Obama’s election to the presidency, Huntsman even called for the republican party to move to the center to attract voters...

A wishy-washy Republican who is indistinguishable on core issues from Democrats can't win in a general election. November's thrashing of Democrats proves that Constitutional conservatism is on the ascendancy. And Huntsman is anything but a true conservative.

No offense to Mike Huckabee fans, but the media engaged in precisely this same form of information warfare in 2008. Huckabee was unelectable in the general election, as many of his prior positions were largely indistinguishable from those of Barack Obama, who was a far stronger campaigner.

Constitutional conservatives could and did take issue with many of Huckabee's prior positions including illegal immigration, global warming, higher taxes, crime and parole. In short, a weak, centrist GOP candidate had no chance against a Democrat without any track record and a distinct proclivity for lying.

If the Republican Party wants to win the presidential election, it had better nominate an articulate conservative who believes, first and foremost, in the United States Constitution. Huntsabee ain't it.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin and Memeorandum. Thanks!

The Gold Bullion Challenge to @KeithOlbermann -- Document a Single @FoxNews Lie and Win a $1,400 Krugerrand

Update 1/8/11 8:31AM PST: All Four Media Matters Attempts Completely Blown Apart.

The self-proclaimed "Queen of All Media" -- Perez Hilton -- points us to a blistering attack on Fox News by media superstar Keith Olbermann™.

Keith Olbermann has once again taken on Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, after Twitter users lashed out at him for supporting a liberal-slanted website... He responded by writing:

FYI: in reply to "highly ironic that you support Daily Kos yet think Fox News is slanted" I said: Fox News is 100% bulls**t. And it is.

@mtovet you're right: I don't have as much hate or as many lies in me as O'Reilly

@tonyperry1 I did it because his network is full of bulls**t & O'Reilly is full of bulls**t. & if you believe them you're full of bulls**t.

@DailyRushbo let's clarify this. Fox News is 100% Bulls**t. Rush Limbaugh is 100% Pigeons**t.

Wow! He is certainly not holding back, is he?!

Isn't Perez' use of punctuation intoxicating? But I digress.

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

The progressive left and its ilk -- like the man with the golden strap-on -- have a lot of descriptions for the country's dominant cable news channel. They claim that Fox fabricates news stories.

I want them to prove it. And I've got a 1-ounce Krugerrand from my Y2K bunker* (today's spot price: $1,400) waiting for Keith Olbermann or any '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 reported by at least two Fox News reporters (not analysts, reporters).

• The transcripts and/or video clips must be available on a suitably trustworthy site for verification.

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

Just one lie! That's all I'm asking for. This should be the easiest $1,400 you've ever made, Keith. You've got to have a whole database of Fox lies, right? Just post your correctly documented answer in the comments section before January 15, 2011. That's two freaking weeks!

And given the devaluation of our currency by President Training Wheels, the Krugerrand could easily be worth $1,500 by then.

Ready? Get set... go!


* Since converted to a super-secret 2038 Bunker.

Update: Media Matters submits its response. This ought to be good.

Hat tip: Ame.

Some edumucation for young progressives

Whom Despots Fear

What really happened

To the Congress:

Thursday, December 30, 2010

No one's buying your pathetic excuses, Ezra Klein: progressives are the enemies of the Constitution as surely as night follows day

Washington Post journolist Ezra Klein laid several eggs during a gaffe-filled interview on MSNBC earlier today.

Because the cable channel's ratings now trail reruns of Gilligan's Island and hospital sonograms, no one would have known except for the heroes over at NewsBusters.

They took the bullet for the rest of us and transcribed his statements regarding the new House requirement to read the Constitution at the start of the session. Among his remarks were these timeless gems:

[The Constitution] has no binding power on anything. And two, the issue of the Constitution is not that people don’t read the text and think they’re following. The issue of the Constitution is that the text is confusing because it was written more than 100 years ago and what people believe it says differs from person to person and differs depending on what they want to get done.

Well, gee Ira -- I mean Ezra, my mortgage note is nearly 30 years old. I don't really understand it very well, and my interpretation is probably different than the bank's, so our opinions as to what I should pay are amorphous -- confusing, even.

After realizing he'd become even more of a laughingstock than usual, Klein used his WaPo bully pulpit to claim he'd been misinterpreted and brutalized by conservatives.

This morning, I gave a quick interview to MSNBC where I made, I thought, some fairly banal points on the GOP's plan to honor the Constitution by having it read aloud on the House floor...

...The rather toxic implication of [my comments] is that one side respects the Constitution and the other doesn't. That's bunk, of course: It’s arguments over how the Constitution should be understood, not arguments over whether it should be followed, that cleave American politics. The Constitution was written more than 223 years ago, and despite the confidence various people have in their interpretation of the text, smart scholars of good faith continue to disagree about it. And they tend to disagree about it in ways that support their political ideology. I rarely meet a gun-lover who laments the Second Amendment's clear limits on bearing firearms, or someone who believes in universal health care but thinks the proper interpretation of the Commerce Clause doesn't leave room for such a policy.

Bzzzt! Wrong, schmuck!

Everyone with an iota of intellectual curiosity knows the history of the New Deal and how great swaths of it were ruled clearly unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It was only after FDR's threats to stack the Supreme Court -- to bring four new Elena Kagan members to bear -- that the Democrat president was able to bully the High Court into egregious rulings like Wickard vs. Filburn.

Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942), was a U.S. Supreme Court decision that dramatically increased the power of the federal government to regulate economic activity. A farmer, Roscoe Filburn, was growing wheat to feed his chickens. The U.S. government had imposed limits on wheat production based on acreage owned by a farmer, in order to drive up wheat prices during the Great Depression, and Filburn was growing more than the limits permitted. Filburn was ordered to destroy his crops and pay a fine, even though he was producing the excess wheat for his own use and had no intention of selling it.

The Supreme Court, interpreting the United States Constitution's Commerce Clause under Article 1 Section 8 (which permits the United States Congress "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;") decided that, because Filburn's wheat growing activities reduced the amount of wheat he would buy for chicken feed on the open market, and because wheat was traded nationally, Filburn's production of more wheat than he was allotted was affecting interstate commerce, and so could be regulated by the federal government.

You read that right: a cowed Supreme Court, which had been blatantly threatened by FDR, ruled that a farmer growing wheat for use on his own farm was engaging in interstate commerce.

A more outrageous court decision you'd be hard-pressed to find.

Wickard, in particular, opened the floodgates to expansive interpretations of the Commerce Clause, never before contemplated in American history and certainly foreign to the principles enunciated by the Framers in all of their writings.

So, yes, Klein is a lying schmuck who either knows little of the Constitution's history or simply doesn't care.

The very welfare state he supports is collapsing around us: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, "Great Society" and every other disastrous Democrat brainchild hatched since the Wickard decision has America literally teetering at the brink of economic collapse.

Question: how many years has the Congressional Budget Office warned that America's entitlement spending is "unsustainable"? More years than Klein's been alive, to be sure. Yet the progressives express an insatiable desire to confiscate private property, to centralize government and to ignore the Constitution while doing so, and see no limits to the scope of government.

This country's Framers studied Cicero, John Locke, the Baron de Montesquieu, Adam Smith and others whose timeless wisdom were used to help construct a society of vast wealth, infinite freedom and limited government.

In little more than two hundred years, Americans defeated slavery, Nazism, military Shintoism and Communism; refined mass production; invented human flight; created 75% of all medical innovations on the planet; put a man on the moon; invented the telephone, the Internet and the search engine; and advanced humankind in millions of other ways, in every field and endeavor. Those achievements weren't created because of the Democrats' welfare state -- they were created in spite of them.

Yet Klein ignores history, logic and reason and claims that progressives have some sort of equal claim to the Constitution. He is a bald-faced liar. This country's founders studied thousands of years of human history -- despotic regimes, authoritarian lunatics, totalitarian zealots -- and attempted to constrain government, not the individual.

Klein clearly refutes the notions of the God-given rights of man, of private property and of carefully constructed limits on an all-powerful, centralized, authoritarian government. For progressives can articulate no limits on government, no checks on their insatiable appetite for control over the individual.

The Founders of this country would despise you, Ezra Klein. You and your progressive ilk who reject the Constitution and the Declaration. You're a buffoon and a laughingstock -- and everyone knows it.


Hat tip: Memeorandum. Linked by: Michelle Malkin, Pundit & Pundette, and Adrienne. Thanks!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

In the Marketplace of Ideas, CNN and MSNBC Found Woefully Lacking

It would appear that CNN's ratings now trail airport radar and the big round sudsing window at the laundromat.

Fox Utterly Destroys Cable News Ratings Competition in 2010


The Nielsen numbers are in for 2010, and in the battle for cable news ratings supremacy, Fox News took the title for the ninth year in a row -- bludgeoning the competition for another year.

The blowout comes on the heels on Fox News’ surging 2009, when the News Corp.-owned channel posted its highest-rated year in the network’s 13-year history...

...Not only did Fox News wallop MSNBC and CNN, it ranked fourth among all cable networks in primetime, behind USA, ESPN and TNT. (MSNBC was 28th, CNN 32nd and HLN 37th.)

Fox owned the top 12 cable news shows in average total viewers and swept the top 10 among 25-54-year-olds (MSNBC's "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" came in 13th and 11th, respectively). Even the nightly repeat of the “O’Reilly Factor” averaged more viewers than MSNBC and CNN shows.

Seriously -- who watches The Mr. Ed Show or Keith Olbermann -- except for comic relief?


Hat tip: Memeorandum.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Cramer vs. Cramer, Gold Edition

Far be it from me to accuse anyone, especially experts with the very highest credibility -- like Jim Cramer -- of untoward behavior, but the following graphs certainly make you sit up and take notice.

First, here are the dates of some of Mr. Cramer's key recommendations (both buy and sell) for First Solar (FSLR), one of his favorite stocks in 2008 and 2009*.

Here is the performance of GLD (the exchange traded fund roughly representing the price of gold) versus First Solar over the same period:

When it comes to any so-called "expert" who claims they can help you time the market, remember the ancient advice: caveat emptor.


*Reference:

On March 7, 2008, Jim Cramer issued a strong recommendation to buy First Solar (FSLR).
On April 3, 2008, Cramer's Mad Money said FSLR "Is Hot" and issued another buy recommendation.
On May 8, 2009, Cramer listed FSLR as a Buy!
On June 1, 2009, Cramer said, "First Solar (FSLR) remains the only solar play that I want as oil goes higher."
On May 20, 2010, Cramer listed FSLR as a "Sell".
On November 16, 2010, Cramer again listed FSLR as a "Sell".

Monday, December 27, 2010

New York Times visits North Korea, unintentionally reveals the endgame of the Democrats' unchecked authoritarian agenda

A journalist from the The New York Times accompanied Bill Richardson on a private diplomatic trip to the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea, aka North Korea) and relayed a description of a miserable, desperate and starving society.

Of the nation’s 24 million citizens, the three million in Pyongyang are the most privileged. North Koreans need a special permit to live or come here. Still, signs of hardship are evident.

Commuters crammed into decrepit electric buses, packed as tightly as boxes of toothpicks. Pedestrians bowed beneath huge bundles strapped to their backs, apparently stuffed with goods for trade in private markets that have eclipsed the ill-supplied state stores. Most were women; one collapsed on the sidewalk under the weight of her load.

Economists say coal production is, at best, half that of two decades ago, and Pyongyang has regular power shortages. At the elite Foreign Language Revolution School, students warmed themselves around stoves fed by coal or wood. In much of the city, residents report only a few hours of electricity daily...

The DPRK's recipe for government is simple to understand: an all-powerful, centralized government that dictates every aspect of individuals' lives.

I have an honest question for the article's author, Sharon LaFraniere.

The Constitution purposefully and carefully set limits on the powers of the federal government. But if government ignores those limits to control more and more aspects of our lives, what prevents this society -- our society -- from descending into the same, nightmarish central planning endgame?

Is there a successful model that Democrats can point to? Cuba, Zimbabwe, North Korea and the Soviet Union are authoritarian societies that represent the failed "progressive" model taken to its inevitable conclusion.

'But those models are too extreme,' the progressive might retort, 'Democrats would never descend into a totalitarian, unchecked political regime of that sort.'

Fine. Then what are the limits on the Progressive Democrat Party? What amount of taxation would be sufficient? How many people should be categorized as "rich"? How many more aspects of our lives -- besides health care, energy, automobile design, carbon dioxide emissions, credit card interest rates, education -- must be controlled before Democrats say 'enough'?

Democrats never have -- and never will -- offer an answer to that question. And their view into the tragic, failed society of North Korea is a simple error: unintentionally revealing their endgame for all to see.


Hat tip: Hot Air.

An Open Letter to Media Matters: a Simple Holiday Request

Dear Sirs:

I was genuinely surprised to discover that Jammie Wearing Fool (one of the best news blogs around) has done such yeoman work defeating Statism that it merited its own tag at MediaMatters. Damn! That's impressive stuff.

While your organization is an award-winning, Soros-funded, Marxist front group (which is the term you prefer, I hear) -- and has mentioned this august journal on a number of occasions -- it has yet to produce a dedicated tag for me.

This, my friends, is an outrage. I demand consideration of my own, dedicated tag. This is the least you can do during this merry, secular Festivus season.

Best Regards, Doug

p.s., "Send news tips about conservative misinformation to Media Matters here:
mm-tips@mediamatters.org."

Sunday, December 26, 2010

New Lampoon Times: "Overall warming of the atmosphere is actually creating cold-weather"

No, seriously. It's amazing what you can do with a word processor and an agenda.

Some junior cub propagandist at The New York Times named Judah Cohen is in full Blizzard Explanation Mode.

The earth continues to get warmer, yet it’s feeling a lot colder outside. Over the past few weeks, subzero temperatures in Poland claimed 66 lives; snow arrived in Seattle well before the winter solstice, and fell heavily enough in Minneapolis to make the roof of the Metrodome collapse; and last week blizzards closed Europe’s busiest airports in London and Frankfurt for days, stranding holiday travelers. The snow and record cold have invaded the Eastern United States, with more bad weather predicted... overall warming of the atmosphere is actually creating cold-weather extremes...

...But one phenomenon that may be significant is the way in which seasonal snow cover has continued to increase even as other frozen areas are shrinking. In the past two decades, snow cover has expanded across the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Siberia, just north of a series of exceptionally high mountain ranges, including the Himalayas, the Tien Shan and the Altai.

Curiously, Propaganda Boy forgets to tell us which areas are actually warming.

Most forecasts have failed to predict these colder winters, however, because the primary drivers in their models are the oceans, which have been warming even as winters have grown chillier...

Oh, wait. He narrowed it down to "the oceans".

Who's going to accurately measure the temperature of "the oceans"?

No one. That's the point. The esteemed New York Times, preferred public relations newsletter of the Democrat Party, is literally lying its ass off to cover for the United Nations' disastrous global warming scam.

What is supposed to pass for science at the "newspaper of record" are quotes like: "We’re freezing not in spite of climate change but because of it."

When Judah Cohen gets laid off from the Times, he should definitely apply as a writer at SNL.


The 2010 Fabulous 50 Blog Award Winners #fab50

The moment you've been waiting for is here.

We're pleased to announce the winners of the 2010 Fabulous 50 Blog Awards, the most prestigious new media awards anywhere. Or at least in the 993 area code.

These awards recognize a variety of blogs and websites operating in the conservative hemisphere of the Internet, all of which have worked tirelessly to protect America from Statism -- some in very unique ways.

So, without further ado, may I have the envelopes, please?

Best Political Blog
Best Political Analyst
Best Conservative News Blog
Best Op-Ed Website
Best News Analysis Website
Best Talker's Website
Best New Media Family of Sites
Best Group Blog
Best Media Watching
Best Media Analysis
Best Media Analysis Story of 2010
Best Linker
Best Law Blogger
Best News Aggregator
Best Blog Aggregator
World's Dumbest Blogger (Lifetime Achievement Award)
The Rockwell Award for Best Artwork
The Krugman Award for Best Story Artwork of 2010
The Dali Award for Most Creative Blogging
Best Up-and-Coming Political Analysis Blog
Best European Blog
Best Middle East Media Watching
The Daniel Simpson Day Award for Snarkiest News Blog
The Elihu Smails Award for Up-and-Coming Snark Blog
Best Beltway Reporting
Best Government Watchdog
Best News Editor
Best Science Blog
The Stuxnet Award for Best Information Warfare Campaign
Best Blogger working in Legacy Media
Best JihadFighter
Best Designated Hitter
Best Latin American Coverage
The Mr. Peabody Award for Best Time-Travel Blogging
Best Legacy Media Columnist
Best Marxist Front Group
Best Econ Blog
Best First Lady Blog
Most Creative Use of Cursewords in Political Analysis
Best New Econ Blog
Best Blog Ring
The Watcher's Council (all 2010 members of the Watcher's Council are winners)


Frequently Asked Questions


Q: Okay, I won. Where do I get my damn award badges?
A: Right here. If you have questions about installing your badge, ask 'em in the comments.

Q: *Sob*. I didn't win. Can I use one of the badges anyhow?
A: Yes, the '90 x 40 Micro' badge was designed for use by anyone, even losers blogs that did not win.

Q: You suck -- I didn't win.
A: That's not a question.

Q: Where are the 2009 Fabulous 50 Award Winners?
A: Right here.