Media Bias

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - Michael M. Bates - News - Society/Culture

Roddy, We Hardly Knew Ye

December 20, 2008 by

-By Michael M. Bates

Our president-elect said in 2002: “. . . right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as governor. . .” Obama’s White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has bragged that he, Obama, and two another party loyalists “were the top strategists of Blagojevich’s victory.” Like other major Democratic politicians, Obama had absolutely no doubts about the character of the man they made governor. That’s their story and they’re sticking with it.

What they had to have known back then was that their candidate, who ironically campaigned against Republican dishonesty, was himself a product of the Chicago Machine, hardly a prototype for good government. Roddy didn’t wed just any foul-mouthed gal; tactically, he aimed for the stars. His wife is the daughter of a powerful alderman.

In endorsing Rod’s opponent in 2002, the Chicago Tribune reported everything voters needed to know:
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00Publius Contributor - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

In Case You Forgot, AP Still Reminding Palin’s a ‘Failed Republican Vice Presidential Candidate’

December 19, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

I don’t know. Maybe the Associated Press thinks that no one is aware that John McCain lost his race for the White House? Maybe the AP thinks no one is aware that his choice for VP, Governor Sarah Palin, lost right along with him? Maybe the AP thinks that hardly any American has gotten the word that Obama and slow Joe Biden won on November 4th? The AP sure acts as if they think people still need it pointed out that Governor Sarah Palin is “the failed Republican vice presidential candidate.” At least if its current report on the latest doings in Alaska is concerned, anyway. After all, right in the middle of a report on Alaska state workers having sent around some race tinged joke emails, the AP helpfully reminds us that Palin is that aforementioned “failed Republican vice presidential candidate.” I mean, who knew she lost?

The AP is reporting on some race-y emails that were reported to them by a state worker, using it to needlessly jab the governor. At one point the AP sternly tells us all that, “State officials were unaware of the e-mails until asked about them by the AP,” as if something untoward was going on in the Administration itself. But, even the AP’s own report seems to show that a mountain is being made of a mole hill.

Naturally, the AP found Reverend Alonzo Patterson, Alaska’s own homegrown race baiter, to scold the Governor for not yet having said anything about an issue that is neither much investigated at this point, nor even in her initial purview in the first place.

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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - Media Bias - News - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture

The Ignoramus Americus

December 19, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

There is often a profound difference between morality and legality, and, if this were a just world, a good percentage of the American left would be tried for treason. If that seems a radical statement, I ask you: What price should be paid for sowing the seeds of your nation’s destruction? What should be the punishment for creating millions of people so ignorant, so effete, so corrupted in judgment that they are unable to sustain a free republic, resist enemies foreign and domestic, and perpetuate their culture? I’ll leave that to you to decide and just talk a bit about the state of the electorate.

I have often written about the ignorance that has resulted from decades of pathetic, dumbed-down parenting and schooling, and, sadly, there’s no shortage of material on this subject. In fact, you could probably read three large volumes on it and not know all Americans don’t know about what they should know. However, one short article recently written by economics professor and columnist Dr. Walter Williams perhaps tells us all we need to know. It is called “Ignorance reigns supreme” and relates the findings of a national survey measuring people’s knowledge of civics titled “Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions.” Its findings are staggering, although not at all surprising to me. For starters, 71 percent of Americans surveyed failed the test, and the average score on it was 49 percent. As for some details, Williams tells us (some of the following information he gleaned from sources other than the survey):
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00Publius Contributor - Business - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - History - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Thomas Brewton

The New Deal Would Have Worked, If…

December 19, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Liberal-progressive-socialists again eagerly anticipate returning to the disastrously failed economic policies of Franklin Roosevelt. Apparently religious faith in socialism outweighs rational consideration of evidence.

The standard liberal-progressive-socialist litany is that socialism, in the New Deal and subsequent years, would have succeeded, if only the government had spent more money for a longer time.

Many liberals lament that the New Deal didn’t go far enough in socializing the economy. That was a major reason for the savage antagonism between the liberal establishment of the 1960s and the New Left student radicals like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, the spiritual parents of president-elect Obama’s educational policies.
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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

After Attacking McCain for Them, Suddenly Newsweek Finds Lobbyists Are Just Fine After All

December 18, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

During the recently completed presidential campaign, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff was all excited over his “web exclusive” piece on staffers with the McCain campaign that had connections with past lobbying efforts. Back in those days Newsweek was all about the evils of those darn lobbyists. For their part, Obama supporters at the time ballyhooed the pledges that Barack Obama had made stating that his was going to be a kinder, gentler campaign, one that chased those evil lobbyists away. Phooey on those lobbyists, became the popular mantra. But, now that The One has made a successful and historic run for the Oval Office, Newsweek has suddenly discovered a newfound respect for that most venerable and important institution of lobbying.

That’s right, folks. Now lobbyists are “democracy in action” and as American as apple pie, dashikis and bailouts. According to Newsweek’s Robert J. Samuelson, if you are down on lobbyists, why, heck, you’re down on America itself!

This is, of course, quite a different attitude than Newsweek took when using its pages to beat down John McCain. In September, connections with lobbyists were enough to bring down a presidential candidate, yet by December they are the epitome of “democracy in action.” That is quite a head-spinning turn around, wouldn’t you say?

Continue reading “After Attacking McCain for Them, Suddenly Newsweek Finds Lobbyists Are Just Fine After All”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Energy - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Technology - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions to Organize for Jobs That Don’t Yet Exist?

December 18, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A recent AP piece lauded the fact that the envirosocialist movement and American labor unions are at long last beginning to walk hand in hand. At the “climate talks” in Poland, several American union groups sent representatives to announce common cause on going green.

The AP report noted that the Sierra Club, a longtime environmentalist group, announced support for the inaptly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) that features the undemocratic card check provision.

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00Publius Contributor - Communism - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Family - Media Bias - News - Religion - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Thomas Brewton

A Preacher for the Gnostic Religion of Socialism

December 18, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Naomi Klein, a Canadian and the new rock-star evangelist of secular socialism, is representative of the New Left activists who populate the Democrat/Socialist Party.

Radical-left activist doctrine ignores the historical fact that every cohesive and enduring political society must be ordered by a commonly held understanding of human nature and human morality.

The profile in the current issue of the New Yorker magazine is a long and revealing one. Outside Agitator: Naomi Klein and the new new left gives the reader a sympathetic view of the anti-everything orientation of the present-day progeny of early 20th century families who were thoroughly imbued with gnostic expectations of a socialist heaven on earth. Families who passionately believed in remaking human society and human nature to achieve blissful, benevolent social conditions by purely materialistic means.
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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Constitution - David Huntwork - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - The Law

Obama’s “Natural Born” Problem

December 18, 2008 by

-By David Huntwork

By now you are probably aware that there have been a multitude of lawsuits filed in regards to the question of whether or not President-elect Barack Obama is in fact eligible under the “natural born” provision of the Constitution of the United States of America to be the President of the United States (POTUS).

The Constitutional provisions are very specific when it comes to the minimal qualifications for President. One is to be over thirty-five. He is. Two, is being in the country fourteen years. He has been. Three, is to be a natural-born citizen. The latter remains unproven, a matter of contention, and appears to be increasingly unlikely to be true.
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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Race - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Sun-Times: Obama’s Senate Seat is a ‘Black Senate Seat’

December 17, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Betcha didn’t know that the elected office of Senator of the United States of America was a color coded position? Apparently, Laura Washington of the Chicago Sun-Times thinks it is, anyway, because she is warning that Obama’s “black Senate seat” will be lost because of this mess with Governor Rod Blagojevich getting arrested for trying to sell that “black seat” to the highest bidder.

In hers headlined “Black leaders see Senate seat being hijacked,” Washington is ostensibly reporting on what black community leaders and politicos in Chicago are saying about who should be appointed to fill Obama’s vacant seat. Still, Washington injected quite a lot of her own feelings into the tale of this gnashing of teeth and rending of cloth over the fate of that same seat to the effect that she endorses the idea that Obama’s position in the Senate is officially a “black seat” and should stay that way.

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00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

SEIU Again Accused of Fixing Vote

December 17, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A pattern has emerged concerning the expansion of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and that is one of rushed contracts that supposedly “give too much away” to the employers. Of course, I won’t comment of the supposed “giving too much away” aspect, but one thing that I will comment on is the propensity of the SEIU to get their contracts by hook or by crook.

This plan is of a piece with SEIU President Andy Stern’s quest to make the SEIU the biggest union in the nation. His has been a plan to simply glom onto as many new contracts and new members as possible no matter what else is going on. His avarice to gain new members and for adding locals by gobbling up lesser unions is so strong that he hasn’t paid much attention to the specifics of the contracts being signed. This sort of slipshod, barreling forward despite the specifics of the actual contracts has angered many of his membership.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Congress - Constitution - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture

Figurehead Of the United States

December 17, 2008 by

-By Dan Scott

It seems the American people have had a bait and switch played upon them. Everyone thought they were electing a president, but according to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Party leadership we elected a figurehead.

In talks with Emanuel and others, sources say, Pelosi has “set parameters” for what she wants from Barack Obama and his White House staff — no surprises, and no backdoor efforts to go around her and other Democratic leaders by cutting deals with moderate New Democrats or conservative Blue Dogs.

Specifically, Pelosi has told Emanuel that she wants to know when representatives of the incoming administration have any contact with her rank-and-file Democrats — and why, sources say…
…
Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are signaling that they won’t tolerate a repeat with a Democrat in the White House and Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate.

According to Pelosi’s dictum, America didn’t elect a President/leader, they elected a figurehead who will rubberstamp Democrat Party policy. I would characterize Obama as a puppet on a string doing the bidding of his political masters in the Democrat Party. A perfect example of Plantation Politics where the individual claims to be his own man, but displays no independent action apart from the group. Obama make his own decisions? It will be Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid with the rest of the Democrat leadership directing from the shadows. Barack Obama is an order taker, not a leader. As a narcissistic opportunist he will gladly take credit for all liberal ideas because he has become the face of liberalism, he has no need for depth, an empty suit is all that is necessary. The Democrat leadership will be allowed to pull Obama’s strings as it is a mutual pact between them.
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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s New School Chief Supported Creating Gay High School in Chicago

December 16, 2008 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

So, how often do you think that the Old Media will mention that Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of Education, Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, supported to be opened in Chicago a gay, lesbian and transgender high school? Any takers?

I have looked over many of the stories on Obama’s pick for Sec of Ed, but seen mention of his support of the gay high school only a few times. Only three stories mentioned it out of the first 20 I checked. Even the Wall Street Journal didn’t mention it in their announcement of the Obama pick.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Jobs - Media Bias - Military - News - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Taxes - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

AP: Preparing Country for Failing Obama Presidency, Excuses Abound

December 16, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Liz Sidoti of the Associated Press seems to be setting the table for a certain amount of failure from Barack Obama by helping lower expectations among the people. Her latest AP report is as much as warning that, since he is facing “heady challenges,” we shouldn’t expect too much from him. In other words, before he has even really faced anything at all, Sidoti is making excuses for him almost in the mold of an affirmative action hire. It seems a perfect example of using the soft bigotry of low expectations to make preemptory excuses for Obama.

At the start, she seems to be downplaying any possibility that Obama will shine by noting how tough are the challenges he faces. Even the headline warns that “Obama faces heady challenges, and they’re growing.” But, the reality is few presidents in modern time faced a placid world upon taking office. Obama does not face any worse times than did Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan or any number of modern American presidents.

But, Sidoti’s warning seems more angled to lower expectations with the hope of preventing Obama’s fans from early finger pointing than to offer any serious discussion of what Obama faces come January.

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00Publius Contributor - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Threatened Riots if No Bailout

December 16, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week, Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers union, threatened to foster riots if the $900 billion bailout didn’t get through Congress. “If we have Republicans who oppose us, we are going to take to the streets, we are going to occupy places. We are not going to allow any more of our members’ lives to be destroyed,” he warned in a conference call to journalists over the weekend.

A new coalition of union welfare seekers has been formed that goes by the name Campaign for America’s Future (CAF).

CAF, made up of more than two dozen labor unions, 127 lesser-known economists and assorted activists, hosted a press conference call to announce the proposed $900 billion Main Street proposal, which the group hopes will be ready for President-elect Barack Obama’s signature when he takes office on Jan. 20.

Yes, it’s all supposed to be legitimate and grown up of these folks lining up in front of Congress with their hands out for our tax dollars to be stuffed into their pockets to come together in a democratic styled coalition. But, as soon as a reporter seems to question these union thugs at all, the yelling begins.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - John Armor - Media Bias - News - President - Socialism - Society/Culture

Doncha Love Chicago Deep-Bleep Politics?

December 16, 2008 by

-By John Armor

Mark Twain noted that any word becomes funny when repeated often enough. The arrest of Illinois Governor Blagojevich provided proof of that, in the excerpts from the tapes.

Here’s my analysis of the Chicago situation (Blagojevich fought his way up from the South Side) in the language of the soon-to-be former Governor, and his equally articulate wife.
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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Marie Jon - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture

Five weeks before Obama’s inauguration

December 16, 2008 by

-By Marie Jon’

It’s only five weeks before Obama’s inauguration, and already we have a big scandal. Are you curious at all to see if the drive-by-media will have the same bloodlust for David Axelrod as they did for poor Scooter Libby?

It won’t be surprising if Axelrod is thrown under the bus like the rest of Obama’s minions. It’s the same-old same-old when Barack is caught in a lie. “I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so I was not aware of what was happening concerning any possible dealing about Blagojevich’s appointment of a successor.”

It again seems strange how disconnected Obama appears to be. Actually, it’s unbelievable. He never remembers or knows a thing about the people he has dealings with, especially when they are found in compromising positions.
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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Communism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

When Did Illinois Stop Being America?

December 15, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

This debacle of Governor Rod Blagojevich endeavoring to sell a U.S. Senate seat for mere personal enrichment proves once and for all that the state of Illinois is no longer an American state. It is so far around the bend that there is no longer any legitimacy to either the state or any local government. Illinois is no better than the worst banana republic.

We have arrived at a time when lucrative state posts have been multiplied without necessity, when people have become pensioners of the state without bounds, and government is the single largest employer summarily supplanting any hint of capitalism. We are mired in a universal policy of governing by bribery and corruption, with all businesses being ignored and trampled under the foot of regulators and their open palms. All offices here are bought and sold at extravagant prices and the debt for this thievery is laid on the shoulders of the people with the highest taxes in the country.

Yet, even as the money flows uninhibited into the pockets of our “elected” officials in both parties, Illinois is falling apart. Roads, bridges, hospitals and schools are crumbling and those that have been built are of the lowest quality because so much of the money has gone to grasping unions, bribes and graft.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - News - President - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

‘America’s Battered Image Among Muslims,’ Naturally All Bush’s Fault

December 15, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press is as much as blaming the victim for the attack again with theirs headlined “Obama says he wants to ‘reboot’ America’s battered image among Muslims.” In this report we get the AP saying that the reason the Muslim world is mad at us is because of George W. Bush. But not a word is mentioned about why Bush might have been in a position of interacting so heavily with the Muslim world in the first place. How soon the AP forgets a little thing we like to call 9/11.

Why is it that we have to apologize for our nation to Muslims is anyone’s guess. Was FDR groveling at the feet of Nazism, fascism and Shintoism in the middle of WWII?

Using Obama’s claim that he’ll use his full given name, Barack Hussein Obama, as he’s sworn into office, the AP trumpets how Obama will “repair America’s reputation worldwide” after that dastardly Bush leaves the Oval Office. AP’s thoughts on why Obama must undertake this grave effort, though, are interesting.

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00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Media Forgets That Wall Street Rip Off Artist is BIG Democrat Donor

December 15, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The wires services and the rest of the Old Media have also been reporting on a scandal that doesn’t have to do with Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich. But, like the Blago story line, the media seem to be forgetting one small aspect of the story of Wall Street rip off artist Bernard Madoff. Like Blago, Madoff’s connections to the Democrat Party seem to be of little interest to the media.

Very few media stories of the fraud perpetrated by former Nasdaq chairman Madoff mentions the heavy financial support that Madoff has donated to the Democrat Party. Campaign contributions by Madoff show many thousands of dollars going to Democrat candidates and causes. Including $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign, thousands to Charles Rangel (D, NY), Charles Schumer (D, NY), and $6,000 to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Madoff also gave generously to Senator Frank Lautenberg (D, NJ) who runs a charitable foundation that invested with Madoff.

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00Publius Contributor - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Auto Unions Reason for Senate Denial of Bailout

December 15, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

For helping put American auto makers in the mess it is currently in, one might say that the unions deserve this thumbs down vote. Congressional Republicans blocked the $14 billion auto bailout on Thursday and one of the main reasons was because of undue union excess of a sort that sees US cars over priced at thousands of dollars per vehicle compared to all other competition.

According to the Associated Press, the refusal of unions to revisit their contracts with an eye toward taking cuts is one of the reasons the bailout was denied.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R, KY) was concerned that the current bailout plan did not demand any changes occur in the industry ahead of the the payout from Congress.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - Media Bias - News - President - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture

Barack Obama: Neither Oblivious Nor Deceptive

December 15, 2008 by

-By Frank Salvato

Death by a thousand cuts. That is exactly what is happening to President-Elect Barack Obama’s credibility as he and his campaign continue to abuse the “plausible deniability” political tactic. As the list of radicals, political opportunists and ethically challenged elected officials that Mr. Obama portends not to know continues to grow, the voters who believed they voted for “hope” and “change” are starting to realize that the promise of an Obama presidency, well, it isn’t so much…

Admittedly, I did not vote for Barack Obama to be President of the United States. I didn’t support him not because of the color of his skin (in fact I would have voted for Michael Steele or even Ward Connerly should they have decided to run and made it to the ballot). I didn’t support Mr. Obama because of tangible reasons that included three significant facts:
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00Publius Contributor - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Media Bias - News - Selwyn Duke - Socialism - Society/Culture

The Socialist and the Stone

December 15, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

When I was still within a stones’ throw of ladhood, I had an acquaintance who was essentially a socialist. I can’t say for sure he proclaimed himself as such — although I believe he did — but that was certainly where his passions lay.

He was a man of about 60 years, and his exterior matched his ideology. Much of his hair and its melanin had obviously been redistributed, and he certainly was the very model of a modern minor socialist.

I’d say the year was about 1989, the tail end of the booming Reagan era, and the scene was a city park in the Bronx, New York. I was an aspiring tennis player, and it was where I used to hone my skills, although by this time I had moved on to better things and was only an infrequent visitor. The man in question had long been a recreational player at the park, although he never showed signs of enjoying the game very much. But, then, he didn’t really show signs of enjoying anything. Bubbling exuberance did not ooze from his pores.
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00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Chicago Tribune Stopped Working With Prosecutors, Forced Arrest of Ill. Gov. Too Early

December 15, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Looks like we can possibly thank our meddling media for another possibly bungled investigation, this time over the selling of Barack Obama’s Senate seat by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojavich. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune was working with Fitzgerald’s office on the investigation but decided to stop doing so in favor of printing the sensational story they were sitting on. This forced the arrest early so that the paper wouldn’t blow the whole investigation.

The story everyone thought they knew was that Fitzgerald moved when he did to stop a crime about to be committed. But, the WSJ reports that this isn’t the case. Apparently the WSJ found that members of Fitzgerald’s team wanted to let things roll for a little while longer so that they could catch the actual selling of the Senate seat with Governor Blagojevich, his facilitators and who ever was going to try to buy the seat all on the tape at once. But, the Chicago Tribune informed the prosecutors that they wouldn’t wait any longer to put off publishing their story on the investigation. Once the Trib reported on the investigation, it was over for Fitzgerald and his folks for the investigative phase of the case.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - News - President - Science - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Bush’s Newest Iraq Visit Already Drawing Media Swipes

December 14, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The country awoke to surprising news that President George W. Bush had flown off to visit Iraq in a sort of farewell tour of the place that drove his presidency. With an early report, Reuters gave a few backhanded slaps at Bush that we are sure to see grow throughout the Old Media as the day progresses.

In its very first sentence, Reuters reminded us all, as if we didn’t already know, that the war in Iraq is the “unpopular Iraq war” that Bush has bequeathed to Barack Obama. Even as the war has rebounded in approval ratings among the American people over the last year, Reuters is still stuck on portraying the war as troubled.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Israel - Media Bias - News - President - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Chgo Trib: If Clinton 1st Black Prez, Obama is 1st Jewish Prez

December 14, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In another ridiculously lionizing report, the Chicago Tribune has capitalized on the silly 1998 claim by Toni Morrison that Bill Clinton was the “first black president” by finding an Obama sycophant that is claiming Barack Obama is the “first Jewish president.” Will this nonsense ever cease?

Sadly, the report barely mentions the anti-Israel stances that Barack is taking much less the many close Obama associates, advisers and transition team members that are virulently anti-Jew. The piece does mention terror cheerleader Rashid Khalidi, but does not mention folks like Susan Power and Hamas booster Robert Malley, both on Obama’s foreign policy team. Any anti-Jewish sentiment that Obama has thus far shown in policy ideas and associates was given little notice by this Trib article in favor of the Jews pushing for The One.

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00Publius Contributor - Entertainment - Media Bias - Michael M. Bates - News - Society/Culture

Bring back test patterns

December 14, 2008 by

-By Michael M. Bates

The head of NBC told an investor conference Monday that his network may have to cut back on its programming. “Can we continue to program 22 hours of prime-time? Three of our competitors don’t. Can we afford to program seven nights a week? One of our competitors doesn’t,” he said.

His candid admission put me to dreaming of an appetizing if improbable prospect: That some television stations might actually go off the air, at least for the night.

Many baby boomers grew up before network and cable stations operated 24 hours a day. Not only that; most of us actually survived.

Much of today’s late night/early morning programming may be slightly less than scintillating (ever catch Bobby Vinton peddling the “Lifetime of Romance” oldies collection?), but most TV outlets refuse to go off the air, even for a few hours.
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00Publius Contributor - Censorship - Democrats/Leftists - Entertainment - Humor - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Sympathy Vote: Supporting a Terminally Stupid Man for Toledo’s Mayor

December 13, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Toledo’s mayor isn’t officially mentally challenged, of course. But he is a silly, bitter, idiot of a man… not to insult the word “man.” Back on December 8, good ol’ Carty “the Fink” Finkbeiner announced a grave concern that he had about the outrage by Toledo radio station WSPD. The station, caught red handed trying to inform the city of the work of a group that had formed to get the Finkster recalled, was violating the Federal Communication Commission’s rules by their focus on the flay-the-fink movement, the Mayor sonorously intoned.

Of course, Fiklegroaner has been after WSPD for a while now indulging in a years-long feud. This time WSPD, 1370 on your Toledo AM dial, came in for the Fink’s scolding for its supposed “vicious, one-sided diatribes” unleashed over the last three years. Now, as an aside, it is interesting that Carty would claim to know much about a “one-sided” anything seeing as how he has run as a candidate for just about every party in Toledo. Finkboner can’t be counted on much to see any “one side” of anything, unless it his his side. He’s at one time been a Republican, an Independent and a Democrat and rumor has it he’s next going to take a stab at asking the Klingon Party if he might take their nomination next time he runs for office.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Energy - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Raising Federal Gas Taxes Raised to… Stop Terrorism?

December 13, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Washington Post is directing a December 8 plea to the incoming Obama administration. The Post wants to raise the federal gas tax so high that it will stop people from driving. The Post thinks this will serve our national security purposes and add more money to rebuild our nation’s roads. Apparently, the Washington Post has the foolishly mistaken notion that federal gas tax receipts actually go where our Congress initially claimed it was going to go; our nation’s roads. In fact, nearly half of the federal gas tax receipts go to pork instead of roads and infrastructure.

But, despite the waste by government, here is the Washington Post trying to soak America’s drivers even more by suggesting Congress raise the federal gas tax by 46 cents a gallon. The Post thinks that recently falling gas prices offers a “golden opportunity” for the government to emulate Europe and pile taxes high on each gallon purchased. The Post is obviously unaware that the US did not become the greatest nation on earth by emulating Europe!

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture

President-Elect Oblivious

December 13, 2008 by 5 Comments

-By Dan Scott

The recent scandal involving Barack Obama’s former Illinois US Senate seat reveals a great deal about the man who would be President of these United States. So far Barack Obama has denied ever having spoken with Governor Blagojevich regarding his personal preference for the person to be selected for that position. It is well known that Valerie Jarrett was the person Obama wanted to take over for him and she was referenced as Candidate 1 in the FBI’s criminal complaint. That a discussion did occur between Blagojevich and Obama can’t be denied at this point since Blagojevich has publicly stated before the scandal broke that he and Obama were talking about it (whether that be face to face or via intermediaries, i.e. staffers). Obama is foolish for denying the obvious since this makes him look guilty of a cover up.

At this point Obama is being very careful so as not to get himself entangled in a conspiracy charge. However, this is a case where Obama’s lawyerly thinking is going to get him into trouble. The mere fact he and his staffers had discussions with Blagojevich could be viewed by the FBI as being part of the pay for play deal making. Giving Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt, what in all probability happened was his staffers relayed the offer, Obama rejected it and when Blagojevich threatened to hold the appointment hostage for his own purposes Obama pulled out of the discussions. If he were smart he would have characterized the whole episode as “my staff” upon hearing Governor Blagojevich’s demands/suggestions of pay for play did the right thing by taking the initiative and said the seat is not for sale, thus accounting for the Governor Blagojevich’s cussing mad outburst…MF comment regarding Obama. The MSM gave Obama the perfect opportunity at the press conference to say “his staffers” did talk with Blagojevich’s staffers (acknowledge the obvious) and they refused to play the game, but he chose the road of denial. It seems eventually Obama is going to claim he, Obama, was kept out of the loop by protective staffers once the documentation comes out that there were in fact discussions between staffers of both politicians. What could be going on here is Obama is playing things close to the vest because he doesn’t know what conversations were recorded between his and Blagojevich’s staffers.
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