00Publius Contributor

00Publius Contributor - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Senator Tom Coburn (R OK), Hero of Cutting Gov’t Spending

July 28, 2008 by

I don’t usually just reprint another website’s article in full, but this one bears repeating.

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Coburn’s cognition

By David Keene, The Hill

Tom Coburn’s Senate colleagues don’t know quite what to make of the doctor from Oklahoma. Many of them find him personally likable, but they can’t understand why he seems to want to change the way the exclusive club to which they all belong has been doing business for so long.

And what’s worse, they have no way of controlling the man. Coburn (R) left the House in 2000 after three terms there because he had voluntarily term-limited himself, and he says that he’ll retire from the Senate after two terms there to go back to practicing medicine in Oklahoma. What that means, of course, is that he won’t be around quite long enough to chair an important committee even if the GOP should retake the Senate at some point — and that, therefore, he doesn’t have to watch his manners lest party leaders squelch his ambitions.
Continue reading “Senator Tom Coburn (R OK), Hero of Cutting Gov’t Spending”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Germany’s Spiegel Quotes Me…

July 28, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

And now, as an International man of mystery, I find that the famed German magazine Der Spiegel has quoted me making fun of one of their competitors, Bild newspaper.

In my July 25th piece on the “gushingly immature” Bild newspaper reporter that had a workout with Barack Obama, I lambasted the German daily for acting like a “rock-star struck teeny bopper” instead of a serious, adult reporter.

Well, now Der Spiegel, one of the largest selling German language magazines in the world, ran a story today reporting that Barack Obama is claiming he was “hustled” by the Bild reporter. In the Spiegel report, my July 25th piece is quoted and I am referenced by name.

The translated Bild report was rapidly picked up by US blogs, where it became the subject of endless derision.

Blogger Warner Todd Huston wrote: “Apparently, Bild, a newspaper in Germany, hires 14-year-old, starry-eyed, fan-girls as reporters instead of serious grown-ups. Or, at least one would be excused in thinking this reporter was a rock-star struck teeny bopper upon reading her gushingly immature account of having an exercise workout with Barack Obama on the German leg of his trip.”

Bonesky is actually 27. “Let’s enjoy her sexytime memories, together,” the Washington blog Wonkette said, recalling the encounter in a wooden translation of the Bild report that evokes fictional reporter Borat in his comedy “Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

So, me and the Wonkette are heard ’round the world.

This is so much fun!

Continue reading “Germany’s Spiegel Quotes Me…”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - News - Patriotism - Religion - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

NYT Complaint: Not Enough Photos Of Mutilated American Soldiers in This War

July 28, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

** Now With Update… A Soldier Speaks **

The New York Times is miffed. They aren’t happy that there has been a dearth of news photos showing dead American soldiers in the war in Iraq. The Times is lamenting that there have been “4,000 U.S. Combat Deaths, and Just a Handful of Images,” so more carnage and death is their druthers. Well, more American dead, anyway. They aren’t interested in the dead of the enemy, to be sure.

Using the story of photog Zoriah Miller who had his embed status removed when he publicized photos of dead U.S. Marines after a suicide bombing, the Times reveals their pique over the fact that not enough dead Americans have been peddled to the American public. The Times denounces the military for protecting the troops and their families saying, “after five years and more than 4,000 American combat deaths, searches and interviews turned up fewer than a half-dozen graphic photographs of dead American soldiers.”

Complaining for opponents of the war that the lack of casualty photos has created a a situation where the “public portrayal of the war is being sanitized,” the Times wonders if the homefront is being badly served because we here are not seeing the “human cost of a war that polls consistently show is unpopular with Americans.”

Continue reading “NYT Complaint: Not Enough Photos Of Mutilated American Soldiers in This War”

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

Timesonline Overreacts: If Islam is Extreme Let’s ban ALL Religion

July 28, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

In yet another example of why the west might not beat the onslaught of radical Islamofascism, Minette Marrin of the Timesonline thinks she has found a solution to the clash of cultures. Marrin details the extremism evinced by too many Muslims in England and then posits a solution: ban all religion. Talk about an absurd idea. It’s as foolish as throwing out the baby with the bath water. It also discounts thousands of years of worthy and enlightened western culture influenced, guided and based on Christian philosophy.

In To beat extremism we must dissolve religious groups, Marrin’s wooly headed prescription also serves as a fine example of the most shallow of PC, postmodern “thinking.” Famed French mathematician Jules Henri Poincaré once said that, “to doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.” It is a lesson in discernment and critical thinking that escapes most on the left, and specifically this prosaic, anti-intellectual Timesonline columnist.

The first half of Marrin’s piece details recent poll results revealing the extremist leaning of Muslim students in England and it is alarming information, indeed. These poll results show, for instance, that four out of ten Muslim students in Britain support Sharia law in the UK. One third said that killing in the name of religion was justified. It shows that a quarter think women are not equals to men. The poll also shows that, among other results, 57% believe Muslim soldiers in the British army should be allowed to opt out of the war on terror. This alarming YouGov poll will be released on Monday, July 28. To sum up, Marrin says of the poll:

The authors make it clear that the majority of Muslim students support secularism and democratic values and are broadly tolerant of others. However, the CSC points out that the incidence of conservative and separatist Muslim beliefs has been growing and is more prevalent in young Muslims than in their parents’ generation. British Muslims used to be much more moderate.

It is an alarming poll. Of course, who can doubt such results? The Brits have for decades been collectively turning their back on western society with politically correct teaching that holds that their own culture is no more than just another culture and, therefore, not deserving of special consideration. Like most left leaning provocateurs, British liberals have become fond of morally equating their own culture with the worst lot of humanity. On the other hand, these young Muslims are taught from birth that their religion is superior. Not only that, but Islam is a political system as well as a mere religion. So why shouldn’t British Muslims seek to replace the British culture with one they are taught is superior? If the English aren’t going to insist their culture is optimal, why should anyone else?

In all this England is reaping what it has sown. Also in this they aren’t much different than the French, the Germans, Spain, Canada, and to a lesser extent, even the U.S.A.

Continue reading “Timesonline Overreacts: If Islam is Extreme Let’s ban ALL Religion”

00Publius Contributor - China - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - Military - Nancy Salvato - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

The 180lbs. “Guerrilla”: China’s Military Aspirations

July 28, 2008 by

-By Nancy Salvato

As the mainstream media is dominated by its attention to the preparations for Beijing Olympics being held August 8-24 this year, an obvious truth is being ignored or going unaddressed. The more important story is that China is on a mission to dominate the United States and the rest of the world militarily by building nuclear weaponry meant to defeat the United States on the world stage. The actual Olympics pale in comparison to this upcoming event. And while our people continue to be distracted by a variety of “shiny things” meant to divert their attention, the Chinese continue their march to dominance in the military sphere. What serves to distract our nation from such an important subject?

Let’s first look at the notion of Global Warming. Despite the fact that, “There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution,” (Daily Tech) the mainstream media continues to report on a phenomenon that has not been proven as though it is fact. Furthermore, policy around carbon emissions is being developed based on this misinformation. “In the past 70 years the Sun was more active than at almost any other time in the past 11,400 years…Mars, Jupiter, Neptune’s largest moon, and Pluto warmed at the same time as Earth.” (IBID)

The upcoming election serves as a distraction — in that the really important issues are not discussed and instead media attention is focused on Barak Obama’s associations, i.e., Jesse Jackson using the “N” word (in two different ways, mind you); Jeremiah Wright and the novel idea (sarcasm) that there is a contingent of black people who do not like white people; fellow democrat Kucinich, who during his first presidential campaign quoted the Koran and roused his Muslim audience to chant Alahu akbar (Daniel Pipes) wants us to spend oodles of tax payer dollars to impeach George Bush (and at the end of his term of office, completely irresponsible), and Tony Rezko, a slumlord connected to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (who may also, rightly so due to his mismanagement of Illinois government, face impeachment). None of this enlightens the electorate on Obama’s strategic plan for the defense of our country, if he was to be elected to the highest office of the land. If Obama had plans to aggressively fight terror, secure our borders, and defend our sovereignty, I think it would be safe to say that most of the people who want to see this on his platform would ignore all the rest.

Continue reading “The 180lbs. “Guerrilla”: China’s Military Aspirations”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - History - Media Bias - News - Podcasting - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

It’s Me, It’s Me, It’s WT on Skewz Podcast #14

July 27, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I had the great pleasure to sit down with Vipul Vyas of skewz.com last week and the result was what they are wonderfully titling Skewz Podcast #14: A Romp Through The History of Media Bias with Warner Todd Huston of Newsbusters.org. It may be a mouthful of a title, but it was a mouthful of an interview. That Vipul Vyas fellow can really talk. Why I hardly got a word in edgewise… well, OK. I had a few things to say.

Ostensibly, Vipul and I were going to discuss my work with NewsBusters.org — which we did — but the discussion ranged over quite a bit more ground than just that and it was nice to have enough time to just let the conversation go where it would. Vipul was a gracious and intelligent host, as well, and he made the interview a breeze.

Be sure and range on over to the podcast and take a listen. It was a lot of fun and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

Continue reading “It’s Me, It’s Me, It’s WT on Skewz Podcast #14”

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

Brother of ACORN’s Chief Embezzles $1 Million of Organization’s $$

July 27, 2008 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s home political supporters, the leftist “community” organization called ACORN, is guilty of hiding the theft of one million dollars of its funds by the brother of the organization’s founder, Wade Rathke. But, it is even worse than just a case of common embezzlement. It turns out that the ACORN board and brother Wade, leader of the political activist group, tried to cover up the theft so that his bro wouldn’t get caught up with the Feds and punished for his theft.

This from the July 9th edition of The New York Times:

Acorn chose to treat the embezzlement of nearly $1 million eight years ago as an internal matter and did not even notify its board. After Points of Light noticed financial irregularities in early June, it took less than a month for management to alert federal prosecutors, although group officials say they have no clear idea yet what the financial impact may be.

The brother, Dale Rathke, embezzled nearly $1 million from Acorn and affiliated charitable organizations in 1999 and 2000, Acorn officials said, but a small group of executives decided to keep the information from almost all of the group’s board members and not to alert law enforcement.

These are the kind of ner-do-wells we are dealing with where it concerns ACORN. Cronyism, theft, embezzlement, cover ups…. and these are the people behind the many union efforts across the nation, as well as the Barack Obama campaign. It is also the group that Obama grew into political maturity with.

If these facts don’t show you what sort of nefarious characters we are dealing with… well, you aren’t interested in truth.
Continue reading “Brother of ACORN’s Chief Embezzles $1 Million of Organization’s $$”

00Publius Contributor - Abortion - Democrats/Leftists - Health - Morals/Sex - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Abortion Provider Closes Doors Instead of Obeying Laws, Old Media Silent

July 27, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now here is an interesting little story that doesn’t seem to be getting any media coverage. In South Dakota after being held up in courts since 2005, a new law finally took effect on July 21 requiring any abortion doctor to read a statement covering the possible ill effects that abortions have on women — both mental and physical — at least two hours before the procedure occurs. The one Planned Parenthood office in South Dakota had taken the state to court to stop this law being implemented, but lost their case on the 18th. On the day the law was to take effect, though, the Planned Parenthood office did not open its doors for “business,” refusing to abide by the new laws. Doesn’t this refusal to operate tend to confirm that Planned Parenthood is in the game for ideological reasons as opposed to being only interested in women’s health?

This is a big defeat for Planned Parenthood, and a great victory for anti-abortion supporters yet the media is silent on the issue. That seems rather curious.

The new notification law requires a doctor to read a prepared script filled with the sort of info that PP tries desperately to exclude in their normal day-to-day operations. The Washington Post had a story about the new law on July 20.

Continue reading “Abortion Provider Closes Doors Instead of Obeying Laws, Old Media Silent”

00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

ACORN and its Connection to Organized Labor

July 27, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

We have been reporting a bit on the Association of Community Organizations for Reform (ACORN) this week on the Union Label Blog and ACORN is an organization that bears close watch. It was reported that ACORN made $2.9 million from organized labor last year and a lot of this money seems to be slipping past Federal regulators raising significant questions of ACORN ties to big labor.

This money paid to ACORN supposedly covered the expenses for a number of shadowy union activities.

  • Training organizers to devise and implement anti-corporate campaigns
  • Providing “strike support”
  • Conducting campaign research and providing staffing
  • “Protecting market share”

Some of these services ware also paid on retainer and not just after services rendered.

ACORN has developed very close ties to the labor movement becoming a sort of “one-stop shop for unions looking to contract out labor activities,” according to Maverick Strategies. ACORN’s efforts have thus far flown under the radar for Federal regulatory agencies that act as watchdogs and regulators over union activities.

Continue reading “ACORN and its Connection to Organized Labor”

00Publius Contributor - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture

Have we gone insane?

July 27, 2008 by

-By Michael M. Bates

Last week’s poll sponsored by Time magazine and the Rockefeller Foundation found 85 percent of the respondents believe the country is on the wrong track. Time’s Web site carried a story on the study that noted:

“Most intriguing, a majority of those surveyed believe in the power of Big Government to solve the biggest problems of our time. They support major government investments that create jobs – 82% favor public works projects – and they remain sympathetic to the economy’s victims: 70% say more government programs should help those now struggling.”

All of which leads to this obvious question: Where in the world have these people been all their lives?
Continue reading “Have we gone insane?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Entertainment - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

Parson Moyers’s Prevarication

July 27, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Bill Moyers’s PBS presentation on Cleveland’s real estate foreclosure problem was a product, either of economic ignorance, or of deliberate distortion for political purposes.

Friday night’s Bill Moyers’ Journal on PBS placed the blame for Cleveland’s very real foreclosure problem on financial institutions’ greed, along with the Bush administration’s indifference to human suffering.

Applying the same analysis to the spread of AIDS, Parson Moyers might conclude that AIDS became a scourge because manufacturers of condoms were greedy. He would demand new Federal regulations to prevent AIDS, when, in fact, the root cause is immoral individuals’ rampant sexual promiscuity. If everyone had practiced sexual abstinence outside marriage, AIDS would be a minor footnote in medical journals.
Continue reading “Parson Moyers’s Prevarication”

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

DNC Boondoggle: Carbon Credits Fund Broken Turbine

July 27, 2008 by 1 Comment

Looks like the DNC is passing off a tiny, little fib as a “green” measure to save the planet. The so-called “offsets” they are offering the participants to the Democratic National Convention are… well… meaningless.

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DNC Boondoggle: Carbon Credits Fund Broken Turbine

The eastern Colorado wind turbine tapped for the Democratic National Convention’s carbon-offset program has one problem: It doesn’t generate any electricity. Convention organizers are now being questioned for their eagerness to market those credits to delegates.

The DNC has contracted with Vermont-based NativeEnergy to offer delegates “Green challenge” carbon offsets to soften the environmental impact of convention travel. That money is then invested in carbon-free “green” energy sources around the country, including a wind turbine installed this year by the Wray School District RD-2. But a Face The State investigation reveals the district’s turbine has never produced marketable energy due to massive equipment malfunctions.

See the rest at Facethestate.com, “Colorado’s Front Page.”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Follow the Money from Journalists to Democrats

July 27, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

No one should be surprised, but journalists — you know, those fair, balanced and unbiased professionals — give more of their political donations to Democrats than they do Republicans. Not by just a little, either. By a 15 to 1 margin.

Brit Hume has a small bit on his Political Grapevine about political donations and he mentions an IBD editorial on the money trail. The piece is by William Tate (a better version of Tate’s piece is at Americanthinker.com) and it shows a whopping bias towards the Democrats in donations from our fourth estate (or is that fifth column?).

Continue reading “Follow the Money from Journalists to Democrats”

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

Liberals Spy Comcast ‘Conspiracy’

July 26, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I do believe that liberals in this country have their tin foils hats on way too tight these days. At least, it’s easy to think that over the new national conspiracy theory that lefties are all balled up over lately. You see, it is being imagined in the dim, dark recesses of the left’s collective consciousness that cable company Comcast is out to silence them.

Apparently, Comcast has come down from their circling black helicopters and decided to target the left by moving MSNBC from their basic cable package to their more expensive premium services. This will, you see, “marginalize outspoken liberal voices” like Keith Olbermann.

It couldn’t be that Comcast is just trying to make more cash by moving popular channels to their ever expanding digital service in preparation for when the whole country goes digital, right? It has to be some deep, dark, anti-left conspiracy by an eeeevil corporate monster, it must be supposed.

Wild-eyed lefties from Portland, Oregon to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are calling foul over Comcast’s billing change and it’s all because, they imagine, Comcast is out to destroy them.

Cue the dramatic music.

Just look at this specious conspiracy “reasoning”:

Continue reading “Liberals Spy Comcast ‘Conspiracy’”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Family - Health - Media Bias - News - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture - Technology

Judge-mentally Impaired Should Get Off Michael Savage’s Back

July 26, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

It seems as if taking offense is the recreation of choice in modern America. The latest example (of which I’m aware; I’m sure our UPS {umbrage per second} statistic is sky high) has resulted in a planned protest at WOR Radio in Manhattan over some comments radio talk show host Michael Savage made concerning autism. Or, to be precise, the commentary involved not that condition but behavior that might be misdiagnosed as autism. Here is what Savage said, as reported by wcbstv.com:

During the July 16 edition of his show, Savage claimed that autism is “[a] fraud, a racket. … I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’”

One person who took exception to this commentary was Martin Schwartzman, the father of an autistic child. He opined:

“I couldn’t understand why someone could be so heartless and so insensitive, and also so ignorant for a national talk show host . . . . It was so hurtful to all individuals with disabilities, particularly those with autism, but I really think he should be removed from the air.”

For all I know, Mr. Schwartzman may be a very decent man, but evident is that he has never listened to Savage’s show. If he had, there are a few things he would probably understand.
Continue reading “Judge-mentally Impaired Should Get Off Michael Savage’s Back”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Gushing Immaturity: German Reporter’s Workout With Barack Obama

July 25, 2008 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently, Bild, a newspaper in Germany, hires 14-year-old, starry-eyed, fan-girls as reporters instead of serious grownups. Or, at least one would be excused in thinking this reporter was a rock-star struck teeny bopper upon reading her gushingly immature account of having an exercise work out with Barack Obama on the German leg of his trip. This report is so obsequious, so saccharine, that it is painful to read. The whole incident is really banal and uneventful in retrospect, but this reporter builds it into orgasmic proportions showing how the press, even in Europe, have allowed hero worship to overtake even the tiniest shred of journalistic integrity.

Judith Bonesky’s breathless account so overplays reality that it is sickening. Even the title shows that the writer was acting like a goofy child unable to restrain her boundless enthusiasm. Like a teenaged, Hannah Montana fan, Bonesky blurts out excitedly, “I worked out with Obama!” — yes, even with an exclamation point at the end. So much for objective, dispassionate reporting.

The excitable girl became all tingly in hotel a gym in which Barack began his work out session. The subtitle informs us that little Judy Bonesky “met Barack all alone – in the gym!” and that she has an “incredible account of… meeting” Barack. Then Bonesky writes that a “man in a suit” approached her in the gym and mentioned that Obama would soon arrive to start his work out. And, guess what? Bonesky happily says, “half past four and he actually arrives! ” (be prepared for a lot of exclamation points in this over emoted report.)

Continue reading “Gushing Immaturity: German Reporter’s Workout With Barack Obama”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Bloomberg: Don’t Worry America, to Arabs Obama ‘Just an American With Muslim Middle Name’

July 25, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Bloomberg News is acting as if they know how “many Muslims around the world” feel about Barack Obama. In Bloomberg’s considered opinion, Obama is “just an American with a Muslim middle name” and won’t “advance” the “interests” of Muslims. The main point that Bloomberg seems to be trying to sell is that Barack Obama’s Muslim past will not make him tend to bow to world-wide Muslim sentiment. Bloomberg is obviously doing their best to prop up the Obama campaign by trying to allay fears that Obama will be a disaster on foreign policy. This is a perfect example of agenda journalism disguised as news.

So, how do the folks at Bloomberg know what the world’s Muslims think about Barack Obama? Is it polls? Did they conduct extensive interviews or research on how Muslims feel about Obama? No, it seems more like Bloomberg’s opinion is loosely based on the opinions of the three Muslims they quote and a broad interpretation of one poll on Obama and one on Muslim opinion of the US in general. It seems a rather wild leap in logic from the “evidence” they present to assume that they have a firm grasp on the opinion about Obama of all the world’s Muslims.

Bloomberg gives us the doubt about Obama’s effectiveness for implementing policy favorable to Muslims exhibited by a 24-year-old Palestinian medical student named Wessam al-Ghoul. We are also treated to the disappointment that University of Toulouse (France) professor Habib Samarkandi had over a recent Obama foreign policy speech and similar disappointment from Egyptian writer Atef Ghamri. These three men represents Bloomberg’s extensive interviews.

Wow. Three guys to represent all of Islam! That was conclusive, and all encompassing “proof,” eh?

Continue reading “Bloomberg: Don’t Worry America, to Arabs Obama ‘Just an American With Muslim Middle Name’”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

WaPo: As Obama Makes Gaffe After Gaffe, Let’s Talk About McCain’s ‘Flubs’

July 25, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember when McCain said that he had visited all 57 States during his campaign? Then there was the time that McCain said “Well let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s.” Oh, and what about the time that McCain said “10,000 people died” in the Kansas tornadoes (death toll really 12). Crazy stuff, eh? Wait, let’s not forget when McCain said that Arkansas was a “nearby” state to Kentucky. Man was that a major flub showing a complete lack of knowledge of simple geography.

Hmm, wait a minute. I might be making a flub myself, here. Didn’t Obama make all those gaffes (and many, many more)? Why, yes, he did. So, why, amidst an ever growing list of Obama flubs and gaffes, did the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz just pen a story titled “Is McCain’s Age Showing? Tongues Wag Over Flubs”? It’s as if the Obamessiah has spoken in flawless, if not mellifluous, English with nary a gaffe uttered throughout the campaign.

“We interrupt the nonstop coverage of Barack Obama’s overseas trip,” Kurtz writes, “to bring you some breaking whispers about John McCain.”

Continue reading “WaPo: As Obama Makes Gaffe After Gaffe, Let’s Talk About McCain’s ‘Flubs’”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Google - Inernet - Media Bias - News - Scott Cleland - Technology

Why Google is the Biggest Threat to Americans’ Privacy:

July 25, 2008 by

-By Scott Cleland

The Detailed Case from my House Testimony

In my testimony Thursday on Internet privacy before Chairman Markey’s House Internet Subcommittee, I documented for Congress the detailed case of how Google, which is subject to no Federal privacy laws, is the single biggest threat to Americans’ privacy today.

The evidence assembled here shows how Google’s mission and culture are hostile to privacy, how Google’s unprecedented scale and scope enable a breath-taking collection of intimate “blackmail-able” information, and how Google’s track record is not worthy of trust.

From my testimony:

Case Study: How Google Systematically Threatens Americans’ Privacy

To begin, I am not alone in believing Google’s privacy practices are a particularly serious consumer protection problem.

  • Privacy watchdog, Privacy International, ranked Google worst in its world survey on privacy in 2007 and described Google as “hostile to privacy.”
  • EPIC, CDD, and USPIRG filed suit with the FTC last year challenging Google’s privacy practices as deceptive trade practices.

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  • Recently, a broad coalition of privacy advocates pressured Google to finally comply with California privacy law and put a link to their privacy policy on their home page.

First, Google’s mission is antithetical to privacy

Google’s megalomaniacal “mission is to organize the world’s information and make it accessible and useful.” Google’s mission is so uniquely antithetical to privacy–it actually warrants the creation of a new term: “publicacy.” Google’s unique and radical “publicacy” mission believes “the world’s information,” is (and should be) public not private. (Note the mission statement puts no qualifier on “information” other than “the world’s”.)
Continue reading “Why Google is the Biggest Threat to Americans’ Privacy:”

00Publius Contributor - Family - News - Religion - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

Worshipping Idols

July 25, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

We must reject comfortable ritual and live the Christian life.

Sunday’s sermon at Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut) was preached by Captain Brian Thomas, leader of Stamford’s Salvation Army unit.

An effective Salvation Army leader who desires to lead souls to Jesus Christ can’t mindlessly and endlessly repeat old rituals. In Captain Thomas’s case, that meant dropping the old Salvation Army standard of the brass band playing on street corners to draw the unchurched into church services. Not enough people in today’s circumstances respond.

Instead he went into the low-income housing projects and began bussing children to church services and bussing them back to their homes. Just as did the liberal-progressive educators led by John Dewey early in the 20th century, aiming to destroy our Judeo-Christian heritage and replace it with a socialistic society, Captain Thomas recognized that the future belongs to those who educate our children. They must hear the truth of the gospel in some venue, because our secular public educational system is busily inculcating them with godless materialism.
Continue reading “Worshipping Idols”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Europe - History - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Hits a Wall! Will Media Highlight MAJOR Obama Gaffe in Berlin Speech?

July 24, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s speech today in Berlin, hailed as a “major” address, has at least one major, glaring error that shows that nether Obama nor his handlers and speech writers were thoroughly familiar with the facts. Obama’s main theme was about the “walls” that separate all of us one from another. He claims that many of these “walls” have been taken down and hails that as progress. But in at least one instance he is wrong. In fact more walls have been built where Obama claimed they were taken down.

First the relevant section of Obama’s misconception (my bold for emphasis):

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid.

(Full Obama speech transcript here.)

Obama claims that the walls built to separate Protestant from Catholic have come down in Belfast. Well, in fact, they have not. In reality MORE ARE BEING BUILT all the time.

Continue reading “Obama Hits a Wall! Will Media Highlight MAJOR Obama Gaffe in Berlin Speech?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Newspaper Misspells its OWN Name on Front Page

July 24, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

For a little humorous break from the world of hard news, we have the embarrassing story of the Valley News that serves Vermont and New Hampshire misspelling its own name on the front page of the July 21 issue.

The big oopsie was followed on July 22 with an egg-on-the-face, editor’s note apologizing to the readers for this ridiculous mistake.

Editor’s Note – Readers may have noticed that the Valley News misspelled its own name on yesterday’s front page. Given that we routinely call on other institutions to hold them accountable for their mistakes, let us say for the record: We sure feel silly.

Gosh darn it but don’t they look silly? Still, it’s great that they took the gaffe in good humor. After all, with a mistake that absurd, what else could you do?

Continue reading “Newspaper Misspells its OWN Name on Front Page”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

MSNBC Prez Claims They’re Not Liberal On Purpose, But ‘You Can’t Trust A Word’ Fox Says

July 24, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again MSNBC president Phil Griffin is claiming that his cable outlet is not liberal on purpose. (I know what you’re saying, if you believe that he has a bridge to sell you) In an interview with a TV reviewer for the Kansas City Star, Griffin once again made the claim that the extreme leftward tilt that MSNBC has taken over the last few years was a complete accident and that they aren’t “tied to ideology” like Fox News is. Griffin also attacked Fox News saying that, “you can’t trust a word they say.”

It all started when Aaron Barnhart of the Star asked Griffin for his reaction to statements made by Fox News executive John Moody who said that MSNBC only gained their current market share because of the “messianic ranting” of its anchors, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews. This set Griffin off at the outset of the interview.

“Look,” said Griffin. “I totally respect Fox News and what they did. But it’s totally cynical. For them to say that is outrageous. They saw an opportunity years ago to create an ideological channel. And they did. I give them total credit. I tip my hat to them. They scored. But it was ideological and opportunistic. It was a business plan.

Ah, but you see, MSNBC is different. Their ideological tilt was purely an accident… so it doesn’t count.

Continue reading “MSNBC Prez Claims They’re Not Liberal On Purpose, But ‘You Can’t Trust A Word’ Fox Says”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture

President Bush and the Fat Lady!

July 24, 2008 by

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

The fat lady was standing in the wings ready to sing while President Bush was speaking on July 15 to the American people attempting to assure them that the economy is sound and hoping they will not storm the banks to get their money. He was using his “bully pulpit” to cower us into submission. You will note that he will not use that “pulpit” on behalf of traditional marriage, immigration, protecting the unborn and other “hot” issues that a “compassionate conservative” should espouse.

On the same day in Europe, the bears were growling and “blood” was flowing in the streets. England is now entering a recession, a little ahead of the U.S. Professor Tim Congdon from the London School of Economics said the United Kingdom was “lurching from boom to bust,” and “it is going to get worse.” Roger Bootle from Capital Economics said Britain could be facing a “real economic crisis and a financial collapse.” Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reported on June 27, that Barclays Capital has advised clients to “batten down the hatches for a worldwide financial storm.” That was worldwide!

The London Telegraph declared on July 17, “European recession looms as Spain crumbles.” Pedro Solbes, Spain’s finance minister admitted that Spain “faces the worst economic crisis in its history.” The story used such buzzwords as “spiralling,” “worst crisis,” and “dire straits.” Italy, France, Portugal, and Germany are also bleeding.

Continue reading “President Bush and the Fat Lady!”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Inernet - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Technology - Warner Todd Huston

House Speaker Pelosi Claims Al Gore Invented Internet Technology?

July 23, 2008 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

I’m sure by now we are all aware of the Netroots Nation conference that happened in Austin, Texas last weekend. Well, did you know that without Al Gore it wouldn’t have happened? That’s right, since Al Gore invented the Internet… I know, I know, that is the old Al Gore joke where he famously claimed that he invented the World Wide Web. Everyone knows that AL Gore had little to do with the Internet, of course. But at least one person, obviously one rather easy to bamboozle, still thinks Al Gore did invent the Internet. In fact she thinks he invented all the technology inherent in that Internet. And she is currently the Speaker of the House of Representatives, sadly enough.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi attended the Nutrooters gathering and, as reported in the Houston Chronicle, let loose with this gem while introducing Al Gore to those assembled: “Without him, there would be no Netroots Nation. There wouldn’t be the technology.”

Huh? Without Al Gore “there wouldn’t be the technology” to have an Internet based gathering like Netroots Nation?

She has to be kidding, right?

Nancy, um, I’d like to help you out, babe. See, Al Gore didn’t invent the Internet and he is NOT responsible for any of the technology that is connected with it. Not a single line of code did he write, not one piece of hardware was created by the former VP and current global warming snake oil salesman.

Continue reading “House Speaker Pelosi Claims Al Gore Invented Internet Technology?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Inernet - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Technology - Warner Todd Huston

PCMag.com: Attack of the Geeks on John McCain

July 23, 2008 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Someone peed in Lance Ulanoff’s pocket protector and it must have been a Republican, because Ulanoff, one of PCMag.com’s chief geeks, unloaded on the “tech illiterate” John McCain in a July 16th article, insisting that McCain isn’t “tech savvy enough to run this country.”

Ulanoff is filled with all sorts of assumptions and with faux indignation that John McCain dares run for president even though he has admitted that he doesn’t know a whole lot about computers. Naturally, Ulanoff begins with the left’s favorite talking point du jour, that McCain is too old.

John McCain, the oldest presidential candidate this nation has ever had, has now proven, by his own admission, that he’s not tech savvy enough to run this country.

So, what is uber geek Ulanoff’s reason that McCain isn’t able to lead this country in a “tech” age? Why its because McCain says he can’t use a computer that’s why. Oh, and he’s old… let’s not forget that

Continue reading “PCMag.com: Attack of the Geeks on John McCain”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Dan Scott - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Energy - Media Bias - News - Science - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

The Panacea of the Oil Free Economy

July 23, 2008 by 6 Comments

-By Dan Scott

The one thing we can credit liberals for is their very creative minds. They have this ability to imagine whimsically how the world can be refashioned to suite their various constituencies and accompanying agendas. In all of these lofty goals liberals are extremely adept at selling a goal by glossing over the negative consequences of their advocacy. In glossing over the negatives, they sell the goal as having magical abilities to solve all kinds of problems, in the real world we call this a panacea. Panaceas are born of wishful thinking by people who lack the ability, knowledge, skill or education to come up with practical solutions. One such liberal panacea is the oil free economy advocated by the environmentalists.

Environmentalists these days are people who see any human impact upon nature as a despoiling of it. They tend also to believe they, being the stewards of the planet’s ecology, have the right to dictate, according to their knowledge, what is good or bad. More often than not, this knowledge is more of a display of their ignorance of nature, not the wisdom of understanding. Knowledge and wisdom are not the same, nor does it automatically follow with the accumulation of knowledge that wisdom results. Knowledge without wisdom is ignorance and when combined with self-righteousness results in arrogance. One of the foremost points of ignorance by environmentalists is that nature is static, that is what we see today is what nature intends to be there tomorrow, next year, the next decade, a hundred years from now and has always been so in the past. Nature demonstrates via weather it is constantly changing, climate likewise is not static in nature. Any cursory research of climate for the last 100,000 years reveals that it does CHANGE quite dramatically from the ice age to warm periods (interglacials) such as we now enjoy. This is also true of the ocean level where at the end of the last ice age it was some 450 feet lower than it was today. How many wildlife habitats were drowned by the rising of the oceans? It seems nature is all about CHANGE and destructive at that.
Continue reading “The Panacea of the Oil Free Economy”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Israel Teitelbaum - News - Society/Culture

School Choice Advocates: Act Now!

July 23, 2008 by

-By Israel Teitelbaum

It was a sign of true leadership for John McCain to address the NAACP on the importance of parental choice in education. The NAACP has long opposed this, to the great detriment of inner-city youth, and others, who cannot afford good private schools. Competition will undoubtedly improve the quality and efficiency of education, just as it does for enterprise.

Now that school choice has become an issue in this presidential campaign, this is a most opportune time for voters to speak out and petition for their constitutional right to raise and nurture their children without government interference. A nation founded upon individual and religious liberty should not be financially coercing parents to send their children to government run schools.

There is now a proposal before members of Congress to sponsor the Civil Rights Act for Equal Educational Opportunity. This would require the states to equitably fund the education of children in public and non-public schools, while respecting the liberty of schools in hiring and provision of services.

We can change the tenor of this election campaign by calling upon our representatives in Washington, at 202-224-3121, and urging them to sponsor this legislation.
Continue reading “School Choice Advocates: Act Now!”

00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Family - Immigration/Immigrants - News - Race - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Never Deported Illegal Murders Family

July 22, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Another indictment against the so-called “sanctuary city.” A woman suffers her entire family murdered by an illegal alien and known convict because San Francisco shields illegals from Federal deportation. A husband and two sons are murdered over this illegal scumbag’s “road rage.”