http://media.nationalreview.com Media Blog en-us © National Review Online 2009. All Rights Reserved webmaster@nationalreview.com (NRO Webmaster) Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:20:15 -0500 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:20:15 -0500 NRO RSS Generator v1.0 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 5 http://www2.nationalreview.com/images/nro_rsslogo.jpg http://media.nationalreview.com 144 80 National Review Online webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tom Gross) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmUxN2JiOTMzMzBjYzhjZmVhZDZlZjY0ZjYwZWU3MWY= Some commentators on television are expressing amazement that the army major, Nidal Malik Hasan, suspected of <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/texas.fort.hood.shootings/index.html " target="_blank">murdering 12 and wounding 31</a> at Fort Hood in Texas today was a doctor of many years standing. It is too early to tell whether this is an act of domestic terrorism but if it is we should not be surprised that the shooter was a doctor.</p> <p>As I happened to write earlier this week, doctors have a long history of playing keys roles in terrorist movements. Among them, Al-Qaeda’s number 2 and (terror) operations chief, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is a qualified surgeon; Dr. Abd al-Aziz Rantissi the mastermind behind Hamas suicide bombings; and Dr. George Habash, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the instigator of many airline hijackings in the late 1960s and 1970s, and responsible for the deaths of dozens of passengers. Scroll down <a href="http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001067.html" target="_blank">to items 4 (and 3) here</a> for more details of these cases.</p> <p>There have been many other examples too, including several Palestinian suicide bombers and the British Muslim doctors who carried out an attempted suicide attack at Glasgow airport in Scotland two years ago.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmUxN2JiOTMzMzBjYzhjZmVhZDZlZjY0ZjYwZWU3MWY= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:51:33 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Yzk3Yzg2MGExZjZiMDQwOGVkNWFmMjI4NmU2ZDMwY2Y= Unfortunately, the Fort Hood environs has seen this sort of thing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hennard">before</a>.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Yzk3Yzg2MGExZjZiMDQwOGVkNWFmMjI4NmU2ZDMwY2Y= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:11:10 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjBiZjc3YjI3YzM1YTJlNWYwY2RjNGE2ZTg5NjhmNjQ= It is unfair to use an unmoderated comments section to tar the site that hosts it, I think, so while I wouldn't argue that this gives us any insight into what the folks at Salon.com think, it does seem to me representative of a certain habit of thought on the Left. (Using the word "thought" loosely.) In the wake of the Fort Hood shootings, one regular Salon commentor wrote:</p> <blockquote> <p>The Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld nazification of the United States military -- turning it into nothing more than a worldwide force for unmotivated aggressive war -- leads to the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis/Pakistanis/Afghanis (and many, many more of those to come) -- and this clown Benjamin asks why?</p> <p>Because there were no towelheads around to mass murder, that's why.</p> </blockquote> <p>I'm guessing that <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/soldiers-killed-fort-hood-shooting/story?id=9007938">Major Malik Nadal Hasan</a> was not the kind of guy who was looking for "towelheads" to murder. Just a hunch. But, of course, it's Bush's fault, and our troops are Nazis.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjBiZjc3YjI3YzM1YTJlNWYwY2RjNGE2ZTg5NjhmNjQ= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:51:25 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmNiMzU4OTE0MDAwOTA0MjJkYjhiZWE0YzUyYmE2YWI= Kinda funny. The American flag at the anti-Pelosicare rally falls over and Mark takes it from there (the "that" he's referring to is a copy of the Pelosicare bill):</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/03xG9VacVoI&feature" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/03xG9VacVoI&feature"></embed> </object> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmNiMzU4OTE0MDAwOTA0MjJkYjhiZWE0YzUyYmE2YWI= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:43:52 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjAyYzg2MGZjYWU5ZTgyOWU4ODg1NDE4MWVhZTk4ZDg= The optics of this won't be good for Team Obama. <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2009/db2009112_606442.htm"><em>Business Week</em> reports</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and other large city employers have started receiving small quantities of swine flu vaccine for high-risk employees</strong></p> </blockquote> <p>Maybe Timmy is just protecting our bailout investments?</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjAyYzg2MGZjYWU5ZTgyOWU4ODg1NDE4MWVhZTk4ZDg= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:43:21 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmE3NTBlM2MyNzkzYjY3M2EyMTY4ZDkxNDBjYTkyOTY= Hilarious:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="384" height="283" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="id" value="W4727a250e66f97234af3499150eb1877" /> <param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> <param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="src" value="http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/4af3499150eb1877/4af344b44c11f963/623ea65a/-cpid/2727460f20ce7b7" /><embed id="W4727a250e66f97234af3499150eb1877" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="384" height="283" src="http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/4af3499150eb1877/4af344b44c11f963/623ea65a/-cpid/2727460f20ce7b7" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" wmode="transparent"></embed> </object> </p> <p style="text-align: left;">Johnston's attorney, however, <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/05/levi-says-tonight-show-shat-on-him/">says the Tweets are not Johnston's </a>and is demanding NBC pull the above video.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmE3NTBlM2MyNzkzYjY3M2EyMTY4ZDkxNDBjYTkyOTY= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:57:15 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NWU3OWMxY2JjNjg1Mjg3NDZhOTIzMDBlNmJhMGNhOTM= Those photos of President Obama saluting as caskets are brought into Dover reminded me of this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/14/opinion/a-senseless-salute.html">column by John Lukacs</a>, which made a lot of conservatives I know very angry when it was published. I wonder if they will feel different about it now?</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NWU3OWMxY2JjNjg1Mjg3NDZhOTIzMDBlNmJhMGNhOTM= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:59:51 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjQ2OGY3OTgwOTczYThjMGUwY2E2NmEyNGVhMmJkYzg= Longtime reader and milblogger Boston Maggie sends <a href="http://bostonmaggie.blogspot.com/2009/10/project-valour-it-fundraiser-begins.html">this</a> along regarding the<a href="http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=project-valour-it"> "Project Valour" </a>fund-raiser for our wounded veterans. Navy is a little behind the Air Force, Army, and Marines, and could use a little help if you are so inclined. Go Navy!</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://bostonmaggie.blogspot.com/2009/10/project-valour-it-fundraiser-begins.html"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Project Valour-IT Fundraiser Begins</span></a></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <div class="post-body entry-content"><span><strong><span style="color: #660000;">This page will stay on top until November 11, 2009 and new stuff will post below</span>. </strong><br /></span><br />Are you onboard?<br /><br />First off, if you are a blogger who comes here, you should be on <strong><a href="http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=join-navy-team"><span style="color: #333399;">#TeamNavy</span></a></strong>. Once you are added to the Blogroll, you should automatically be directed to <strong><a href="http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=navy-codes"><span style="color: #333399;">the page that lets you add a widget</span></a></strong>. If you have any technical difficulties with the widget, email me, I've got people. And despite what <strong><a href="http://steeljawscribe.com/2009/10/26/valour-it-fundraiser-2009-edition-underway"><span style="color: #333399;">SJS</span></a></strong> says....they are not chained in the hull of a ship.<br /><br />Next, do you have a Twitter account? You can add a <a href="http://twibbon.com/join/Valour-IT-2"><span style="color: #333399;"><strong>#Valour-IT Twibbon </strong></span></a>to your avatar to show support. Then please retweet #Valour-IT tweets and use the hashtag.<br /><br />Ok, maybe you don't have a blog....but I bet you have a FaceBook account. That's great too! If you go to<strong><a href="http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=navy-codes"><span style="color: #333399;"> this page</span></a></strong>, select the FaceBook icon and fill in your FB info. It will post to your Facebook. We also have an<strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=valour-it&init=quick#/event.php?eid=118026381170&ref=ss"><span style="color: #333399;"> event page on FaceBook</span></a></strong>, go and RSVP.<br /><br />There is an official <a href="http://valour-it.blogspot.com/"><strong><span style="color: #333399;">Valour-IT blog</span></strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span></a>and of course, everything you could ever want to know is on their<strong><a href="http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=project-valour-it"><span style="color: #333399;"> webpage</span></a></strong>.<br /><br />So you've looked at everything above and you've decided that you are not comfortable with clicking through to donate online.....no problem, here's the mailing info<br /><em>Soldiers Angels</em><br /><em>1792 E. Washington Blvd</em><br /><em>Pasadena, CA 91104</em><br />I would simply request that you mark your check as being for #TeamNavy.<br /><br />OK, that was all the technical stuff. There will be posts below where I write about the accomplishments of the charity, post testimonials from Valour-IT technology recipients and link to other bloggers' Valour-IT posts. We have until November 11, 2009 to raise a pile of money to help bring this technology to our wounded military......raise awareness of the whole Project Valour-IT (it runs year round)......and to beat the snot out of the Army Team.</div> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjQ2OGY3OTgwOTczYThjMGUwY2E2NmEyNGVhMmJkYzg= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:56:45 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NWIxODJkNjc4MTBjMmZmMzc3NTMyNDNiOGI4MzBjMDA= How cute: <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/playing-hooky-keith-olbermann-goes-to-world-series-instead-of-hosting-countdown/">Mediaite has the adorable picture </a>of Keith Olbermann taking a picture of Sean Hannity taking a picture of Keith Olbermann at last night's World Series game.</p> <p>Hannity taped his show and then went to the game, Olbermann skipped out entirely, leaving the chair to Lawrence O'Donnell.</p> <p>But if all it takes is a Yankees World Series game to get Olbermann out of the studio, here's to November baseball and the Yankees in the big game in 2010 and 2012.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NWIxODJkNjc4MTBjMmZmMzc3NTMyNDNiOGI4MzBjMDA= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:55:31 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTA0ZmJjYjFiYTY4MDJkNTliOGM0NTk2M2VkMmU0OGU= I'm not sure if this is better or worse than Ben Franklin in a toga, but I like the headline: <a href="http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/tall-bronze-and-hideous">Tall, Bronze, and Hideous</a>:</p> <p><img id="__mce_tmp" src="http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2009/11/05/f094cbf08d7b8ee01d7bc1190e9e8a4d.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>Oh, the dreadful realism! One of the worst things about the Nineties was Bill Clinton and his single-buttoned jackets. (And that damned digital watch he wore with his suits.) Give this to Barack Obama: When he dresses up as JFK, he more or less gets it right.</p> <p>James Gardner, formerly of the (Weep! Gnash!) much-missed <em>New York Sun</em>, writes:</p> <blockquote> <p>[Clinton's] palpable unease was surely as much a question of aesthetics as a protestation of modesty. For the sculpture really is lousy. Though ultimately based on the ancient Prima Porta statue of Augustus Caesar, it can be more immediately traced back to those superhuman man-tractors representing the likes of Lenin, Brezhnev, and Ceauşescu that littered the Soviet Block [<em>sic</em>] in times gone by.</p> </blockquote> <p>An important discovery: We have finally found out what it takes to embarrass Bill Clinton. Well done, Pristina!</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTA0ZmJjYjFiYTY4MDJkNTliOGM0NTk2M2VkMmU0OGU= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:20:25 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tim Graham) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmFkMTA4NDE5OTYxYmM2OWI3MmY2MGJjMDhiZjk0ZjM= <em>Time</em> TV writer James Poniewozik tweeted that Dan Rather still has his collection of "wild-ass election similes," but I'd say this routine is just sad. Rather's perpetually upset that he's not breaking in on the CBS set as the news breaks out. Dissing all your colleagues means the cutesiness gets overpowered by the bitterness. <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29129.html">Michael Calderone and Daniel Libit report</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>"So much of what passed for political coverage last night was like watching a manure spreader in a windstorm,” Rather told POLITICO. “Much of it was just a constant stream of highly partisan political message points. Thoughtful analysis was as rare as a golden-fronted bowerbird."</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmFkMTA4NDE5OTYxYmM2OWI3MmY2MGJjMDhiZjk0ZjM= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:48:58 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2NhNWVmOGM1ZDEwNWUxYTBiZjJiNTUxNGMwMjYyMmI= <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/the-curious-case-of-cable-news-election-coverage/">Mediaite</a> is reporting that Keith Olbermann was visiting his dad in the hospital, which explains why he wasn't there at 10 p.m. But they also ask: Why didn't one of MSDNC's other anchors take over rather than go to a repeat?</p> <blockquote> <p>On MSNBC the program began with Olbermann tossing to <strong>Lawrence O’Donnell</strong>, who seemed to share anchoring duties with <strong>Chris Matthews</strong>. At first. Around 10:15pmET, there was a commercial break, and the repeat 8pmET <em>Countdown</em> kicked in. It aired the rest of the hour. We hear Olbermann was visiting his dad in the hospital, which accounted for his absence. But that doesn’t answer why O’Donnell or Matthews didn’t fill in during the prime results hour. In the MSNBC release Monday, it was listed as a live edition of <em>Countdown</em>.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2NhNWVmOGM1ZDEwNWUxYTBiZjJiNTUxNGMwMjYyMmI= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:47:58 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTM1YTEyNGYxZGZhNWE4NGMwNGQ0ZDczODBlOWE4ZDE= <a href="http://twitter.com/rolandsmartin/status/5442243206">CNN's Roland Martin</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Glenn Beck had an appendectomy today. He must have blown a gasket after Hoffman lost the NY-23. Keep crying, Glenn! <a class="tweet-url web" rel="nofollow" href="http://bit.ly/2EDHUB" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://bit.ly/2EDHUB</span></a></span></span></p> </blockquote> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">LOL!*</span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">*Martin engages in near-criminal overuse of "LOL" on his Twitter feed.</span></span></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTM1YTEyNGYxZGZhNWE4NGMwNGQ0ZDczODBlOWE4ZDE= Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:47:17 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tom Gross) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDFjNmQxZTNmMDlhZDRjMDM1ZTE2MGYwMGNmZDQwZjA= Not only did Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, today say that negotiating with the United States would be a “naive and perverted” thing to do (Khamenei revealed President Obama has approached him several times through oral and written messages which he has not replied to).</p> <p>Not only did Israeli commandos today intercept a ship carrying hundreds of tons of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon – the biggest ever seizure of arms on their way from Iran to its client terrorist militia, Hezbollah, which Iran plans to use as one element in its attempt to wipe the Jewish state off the map (BBC story and video <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8341737.stm" target="_blank">here</a>).<br /><br />Not only did Iran brutalize pro-democracy demonstrators once again on the streets of major Iranian cities today (there are several videos if you scroll down here from <a href="http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20091104-first-images-tehran-clashes-anti-american-demonstrations-30-anniversary" target="_blank">France 24</a>, and a report here by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/11/091104_og_video_aban_pckg.shtml" target="_blank">BBC Persian</a>).<br /><br />But in addition Iran has appointed as its new deputy culture minister, in charge of media and communications, Mohammad-Ali Ramin, who previously served as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s top advisor on Holocaust matters and is known as “the brain” behind the president’s strategy of Holocaust denial.</p> <p>Ramin hasn’t just repeatedly said that Jews invented the Holocaust, he has also said (sounding quite like Hitler) that “everyone knows Jews are filthy people who have spread lethal disease throughout history.”<br /><br />In his new post as official in charge of communications and the press, Ramin will be able to influence Iran’s media agenda, as his boss continues the rush to acquire nuclear weapons despite a phony deal that Barack Obama and other western powers seem to have been suckered into by the Iranian regime.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDFjNmQxZTNmMDlhZDRjMDM1ZTE2MGYwMGNmZDQwZjA= Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:48:13 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjI3ODBkYzY0MDZkNDQ0NWFiODlmZTRkYzc5YmJjYjI= Jim posted <a href="http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzA1MTE4ZWJlMDM0YmYyMjNlZWVjYmUzODdiMDM4NGE=">earlier</a> on MSDNC's absence at 10 p.m. with further election coverage. <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/politics/late_races_with_earlyending_coverage_142224.asp">TV Newser </a>-- kind of -- has the answer:</p> <blockquote> <p>Rather than running a full, live "Countdown," <strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/Lawrence-ODonnell-profile.html"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Lawrence O'Donnell</span></a></strong> broke in with a 20-minute update on the latest election results. Afterward, MSNBC finished the replay of <strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/Keith-Olbermann-profile.html"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Keith Olbermann</span></a></strong>'s 8pmET broadcast.</p> <p>With the exception of one segment, all of <strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/Rachel-Maddow-profile.html"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Rachel Maddow</span></a></strong>'s subsequent 11pmET program was live, as was 12amET's "Hardball."</p> <p>An MSNBC spokesperson tells TVNewser, "MSNBC was live with what needed to be live and provided coverage of all the results as they came in."</p> </blockquote> <p>Not really a good explanation. <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33620351/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann/">This</a> is how Olbermann finished his 8 p.m. broadcast:</p> <blockquote> <p class="textBodyBlack">OLBERMANN:  That‘s COUNTDOWN for this the 2,378^th day since the previous president declared mission accomplish in Iraq.  Lawrence O‘Donnell and I will be back with the latest on the votes in New York 23^rd, Virginia and New Jersey at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific.  Until then, I‘m Keith Olbermann, good night and good luck. </p> <p class="textBodyBlack">Now with the latest on tonight‘s votes, and Maine‘s bid to become the first state to vote to uphold same sex marriage, ladies and gentlemen, here is Rachel Maddow.  Good evening, Rachel.</p> </blockquote> <p class="textBodyBlack">I wonder whe he scooted early?</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjI3ODBkYzY0MDZkNDQ0NWFiODlmZTRkYzc5YmJjYjI= Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:32:32 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Zjk5Yzc3N2VhMjk2YjI2MzllMDk0ZWE5NmNjMjJmZmQ= Neal Cavuto, days before the election, thought this interview with Chris Christie on the Don Imus show might be a "game changer." In retrospect, maybe he was right. Either way, Christie's line "man up and call me fat" is one of the better lines in political history.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V5yJgqGz6nA&feature" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V5yJgqGz6nA&feature"></embed> </object> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Zjk5Yzc3N2VhMjk2YjI2MzllMDk0ZWE5NmNjMjJmZmQ= Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:45:18 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmI5Mzc3NGUxYzRmZDc3OTY4MmM0NGYwYTY4ZGQ2ZTc= Polo, the official outfitter for U.S. Olympic gear, has a strange way tof showing its patriotism. Why is the horse bigger than the flag?</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2009/11/04/84b868ef6fca408983db4f68e4b260a9.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>And. . .</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2009/11/04/8b2d149fe1a4b744ebbab817dda17c47.jpg" alt="" /></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmI5Mzc3NGUxYzRmZDc3OTY4MmM0NGYwYTY4ZGQ2ZTc= Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:45:38 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTA1NWNhZDY0ZWUzMGEzNjRhN2NlYzk1YjIzMjJjNjg= <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/09/world/americas/09iht-vote.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=&st=nyt"><em>New York Times</em> election coverage from four years ago</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>But the New Jersey gubernatorial contest between Senator Jon Corzine, a liberal Democrat, and another multimillionaire, the Republican businessman Douglas Forrester, and the Virginia race between Lieutenant Governor Timothy Kaine, a moderate Democrat, and Jerry Kilgore, a Republican former state attorney general, had been very close for weeks.</p> <p>So the fact that both Democrats not only won, but did so easily, Kaine by six points and Corzine by nine, raised speculation that Bush had not only failed to help Republicans but might have weighed them down as public concerns increase over the Iraq war, the CIA leak scandal and other matters.</p> <p>Kaine's comeback victory was also seen as a ringing endorsement by Virginia voters of his mentor, Governor Mark Warner, a possible 2008 presidential candidate who is positioning himself as a pragmatic centrist with appeal in the South. Polls show that more than 70 percent of Virginians approve of the job done by Warner, who was barred by law from seeking re-election.</p> <p>The president made a much-publicized election eve appearance with Kilgore in Richmond.</p> <p>Presidential aides had told reporters that the appearance was something of a gamble. They said they knew that if Kilgore did poorly, a "Bush effect" might be blamed, but they thought it was worth a try to help an ally in a state that has long leaned Republican. The president carried the state with 54 percent of the vote just a year ago.</p> </blockquote> <p>And before we criticize<a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/11/04/west_wing_sees_little_national.html"> David Axelrod for saying</a> this election was about local issues, note that this explanation has been used before:</p> <blockquote> <p>Republicans tried to play down their losses as not atypical in off-year elections, and largely reflecting local issues, not national concerns. Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, told The New York Times that in the past seven elections, the party that had won the White House the year before had lost the Virginia governor's race.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTA1NWNhZDY0ZWUzMGEzNjRhN2NlYzk1YjIzMjJjNjg= Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:33:36 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWFiZTdiYmQ2ZjE2NThhNDU0ZjQyZjRiMGYwNzFkODY= <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/03/stephen.colbert.winter.olympics/index.html">CNN</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>(CNN)</strong> -- Stephen Colbert may have lost his bid as an underdog presidential candidate last year, but he still wants to represent America any way he can.</p> <p>The "Colbert Report" host said that his viewers. the "Colbert Nation," will now be the primary sponsor for the U.S. Olympic speed skating team when the squad goes to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.</p> <p>The announcement was made on his show Monday night. Earlier, the Netherlands-based DSB Bank in the Netherlands had dropped out as a team sponsor.</p> <p>"We must ensure that it is America's 38-inch thighs on that medal platform!" Colbert exhorted.</p> <p>Bob Crowley, executive director of US Speedskating, said Colbert "embracing the US Speedskating Team will provide immeasurable exposure for our sport and very talented athletes."</p> <p>The team has quite the track record, including 75 Olympic medals and such alumni as Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair and Eric Heiden. It ranks as the most successful of any United States winter sports team.</p> <p>Donations can be made via <a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/" target="new"><span style="color: #0000ff;">www.colbertnation.com</span></a> or through <a href="https://webpoint.usspeedskating.org/wp/Transactions/Donate.asp" target="new"><span style="color: #0000ff;">US Speedskating's site</span></a>.</p> </blockquote> <p>It's actually a brilliant move that will bring more publicity to his show than would traditional advertising, at a far lower cost.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWFiZTdiYmQ2ZjE2NThhNDU0ZjQyZjRiMGYwNzFkODY= Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:44:37 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzhiMGE5NWI3Mjg3ZGUzMzg5MjQ4YTIxOWExZDdhZGM= It looks like Google is honoring President Obama's foreign-policy vision with today's logo:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img id="__mce_tmp" src="http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2009/11/04/341d249d3e87314f74d6f9b66092070b.jpg" alt="" /></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzhiMGE5NWI3Mjg3ZGUzMzg5MjQ4YTIxOWExZDdhZGM= Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:34:01 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjY0N2I4ZjA0YTcxYjUyODAyZTFjODQwNjc5MDllM2U= What Jim Geraghty <a href="http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzA1MTE4ZWJlMDM0YmYyMjNlZWVjYmUzODdiMDM4NGE=">said</a>.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjY0N2I4ZjA0YTcxYjUyODAyZTFjODQwNjc5MDllM2U= Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:26:22 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tom Gross) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTI3NGVhYjFkYzgzMTkyMzZiNDM2MzRlZWFmNWQyYjY= <br />I have attended three conferences in recent days in the Middle East. One of them, organized in Tel Aviv by Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), with the assistance of the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in Israel, specifically concerned the media.<br /><br />Titled “<em>Giving the Middle East context: Reporters view the world they cover</em>,” it featured leading Middle East correspondents from <em>The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor</em>, National Public Radio and several European papers and TV networks, who spoke on the question of media objectivity and how they covered the Middle East.<br /><br />Ethan Bronner, <em>The New York Times</em>’s Jerusalem bureau chief, gave an impressive talk, marred only by a couple of wisecracks he told about orthodox Jews at the start - which his fellow journalists laughed at heartily. (I doubt he would dare make similar jokes about Muslims, especially given the fact that only last week there were more arrests on terrorism charges of persons threatening to murder Danish cartoonists.) Bronner is, however, in general by far the most objective Middle East correspondent <em>The New York Times</em> has had for many years.<br /><br />The same cannot be said of his colleague Taghreed El-Khodary, who is <em>The New York Times</em>’s Gaza correspondent and virtually sounded like a propagandist for Hamas as she spoke.<br /><br />But perhaps the most shocking comments came from senior Dutch journalist Connie Mus, correspondent for the Dutch stations RTL 4 and RTL 5, and for Belgium’s VTM TV, about how wonderful the Saudi authorities are.<br /><br />My views on his talk are contained in the short video below for an Israeli TV and Web channel, which also contains an interview with the conference’s organizer, the respected Jerusalem-based journalist Hirsh Goodman.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><a style="border: 0px;" href=" http://wejew.com/jvan/www/jdel/avw.php?zoneid=18&cb=996021757&n=a19f03a4"><br /></a> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="FlashVars" value="config=http://wejew.com/flv_player/data/playerConfigEmbed/6640.xml" /> <param name="wmode" value="opaque" /> <param name="src" value="http://wejew.com/flv_player/Main.swf?f=6640&wju=0" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://wejew.com/flv_player/Main.swf?f=6640&wju=0" wmode="opaque" flashvars="config=http://wejew.com/flv_player/data/playerConfigEmbed/6640.xml"></embed> </object> <br /><a onclick="javascript: window.open('http://wejew.com/embed/6640/', 'child', 'width=390,height=430,scrollbars=no'); return false" href="javascript:void(0)"></a></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTI3NGVhYjFkYzgzMTkyMzZiNDM2MzRlZWFmNWQyYjY= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:49:57 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzMzMmMzYjIzODA2NzIwZTAzZWMwNTQ5MGNhOGVkYzk= The White House has released a debunking of "10 Recovery Act Myths." <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/03/10-recovery-act-myths">My favorite is No. 9:</a></p> <ul> <li><strong>Recovery Act funds are being used to build a bridge connecting two Microsoft campuses.</strong>  Reports have said that $11 million in Recovery Act funds are being used to connect two Microsoft campuses in Redmond, Washington. Actually, only about half of that amount is being used for this project, which is a vital transportation project strongly supported by both state and local officials in an area that supports over 44,000 jobs and was the region’s top priority after a rigorous, competitive review.</li> </ul> <p>Ha! Gotcha! We're only spending $5.5 million to bail out a company with <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=MSFT">$33 billion in cash</a> on its balance sheet.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzMzMmMzYjIzODA2NzIwZTAzZWMwNTQ5MGNhOGVkYzk= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:00:36 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWE1N2ZlNjljZWVkZGUyOGI0MWM2Mjg3MDA4MGE4ZDM= <a href="http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0911/punches_thrown_in_wapo_newsroom.html">Hey, can you punch up that lead a little? </a></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWE1N2ZlNjljZWVkZGUyOGI0MWM2Mjg3MDA4MGE4ZDM= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:43:58 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2Y0ZGJiZjg3OGNiZDRjOTc0MThkNGI1MTliZDM0ZjE= Media Matters posts: <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/200911030019">Fox News ignores that vaccinating Gitmo detainees benefits military personnel</a></p> <p>Guess who else ignores said benefits? <em>Boston Globe</em>: <a href="http://mobile.boston.com/siteserver/site?sid=boston&pid=JuicerHub&targetURL=http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/11/white_house_no.html">White House: No swine flu shots for Gitmo detainees</a></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2Y0ZGJiZjg3OGNiZDRjOTc0MThkNGI1MTliZDM0ZjE= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:00:40 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWZhNzNlZTAzZGU4MTk4YzZmNGVlNGJkN2VkOGRiZWQ= Mary Katharine Ham, Amanda Carpenter, Ed Morrissey, and Michael Goldfarb were all named "Worst Person in the World" last night for "tweets" on the White House visitors list. Their amusing responses are <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/four-out-of-five-keith-olbermanns-worst-persons-react-via-twitter/">here</a>. And Allahpundit defends Ed <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/02/awww-olby-names-ed-worst-person-in-the-world/">here</a>.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWZhNzNlZTAzZGU4MTk4YzZmNGVlNGJkN2VkOGRiZWQ= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:37:45 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDI1MTQ5MDc2ZjZmMGZjZmI5ZWIwYjM3OThhNzQyNjc= <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/opinion/03herbert.html?ref=opinion">Bob Herbert writes today </a>on President Obama's recent appearance in Florida on America's energy future:</p> <blockquote> <p>The president then made the conceptual leap from an innovative plant in rural Florida to a bold new landscape of energy for all of America. “We can imagine the day,” he said, “when you’ll be able to charge the battery on your plug-in hybrid car at night, because your smart meter reminded you that nighttime electricity is cheapest. In the daytime, when the sun is at its strongest, solar panels like these and electricity stored in car batteries will be able to power the grid with affordable, emission-free energy.</p> <p>“The stronger, more efficient grid would be able to transport power generated at dams and wind turbines from the smallest towns to the biggest cities. And, above all, we can see all this work that would be created for millions of Americans who need it and who want it, here in Florida and all across the country.”</p> <p>They were stirring words. It was a powerful and important call from a sitting president. On the same day, Vice President Biden announced in Wilmington, Del., that a General Motors plant that had been shut down would be reopened by a company that plans, with the help of loans from the federal government, to manufacture long-range, plug-in, electric hybrid vehicles.</p> <p>What was missing from these appearances by the president and vice president was the feeling of excitement that should accompany the early stages of an important national mission. Mr. Obama made his appearance in Arcadia, delivered his remarks and quickly moved on to other matters. The nation was not moved. The president’s remarks were not widely heard.</p> </blockquote> <p>They've become words. Just words.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDI1MTQ5MDc2ZjZmMGZjZmI5ZWIwYjM3OThhNzQyNjc= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:37:22 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tim Graham) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmIyNWFhODRiZjdiYjJhMWM1Y2Y2ZTEyYWVlMjgyNWY= Right next to <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/220523">Karl Rove's "Scrap Cap-and-Trade" piece</a> in <em>Newsweek</em> (a fraction of counterbalance to the cover package celebrating Al Gore as "The Thinking Man's Thinking Man") there's an unintentionally humorous fanboy ad for gift subscriptions to <em>Newsweek.</em> They contain implausible gift tags, with the "To: _________" spots followed by sticky valentines:</p> <blockquote> <p>-- "who updates her facebook status with Jon Alter aphorisms. Busted."</p> <p>-- "the aspiring politico down the hall who dreams of the day Jon Meacham decides to pen his biography."</p> <p>-- "who discusses Fareed Zakaria's feature on Afghanistan while waiting in line for coffee."</p> </blockquote> <p>What? No tags for female <em>Newsweek </em>writers, you sexist pigs? There's even a tag for a sap "who still tweets from Colbert's Iraq issue from May," and Colbert isn't even on staff. But the most sickening tag is the classic journalists-make-you-a-genius pitch:</p> <blockquote> <p>-- "the treadmill fiend at the gym. Read this and your mind will expanding in proportion to your quads."</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmIyNWFhODRiZjdiYjJhMWM1Y2Y2ZTEyYWVlMjgyNWY= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:36:37 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjQ0ZjI4NDFkM2NiNDg1MjA3MDFiYTVkODliNjUyMDU= <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/eye_on_the_ball_ynTOHDfvJNuJ36ORy7mpJJ">No more frolicking with the staff</a>.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjQ0ZjI4NDFkM2NiNDg1MjA3MDFiYTVkODliNjUyMDU= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:34:17 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjFhYWEyNjUwZmJmNmM2M2M3NzdkNWY2YjcxYjFlNDk= It's Election Day, right? You'd think Brooks might write on one of the major races happening today, but no. <br /><br />Today's column is on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/opinion/03brooks.html?ref=opinion">how text-messaging is ruining courtship</a>. <br /><br />Is courtship-reform a national issue that I somehow missed?</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjFhYWEyNjUwZmJmNmM2M2M3NzdkNWY2YjcxYjFlNDk= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:00:18 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjNiNzVhMjY4NzY1ZGRkYTMwZTI0YzVkMjMzOWIwM2Y= <p style="text-align: left;">Good stuff:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qM-r-qJXKQI&feature" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qM-r-qJXKQI&feature"></embed> </object> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjNiNzVhMjY4NzY1ZGRkYTMwZTI0YzVkMjMzOWIwM2Y= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:45:48 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWY0MWFlMDU1ZjM3NzBiNjZhNjMyNDNlNWUyZGUxNDk= <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/david-plouffe-fox-news.html">Now that it's time to sell his book.</a></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWY0MWFlMDU1ZjM3NzBiNjZhNjMyNDNlNWUyZGUxNDk= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:30:57 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWUxMTg2NzgxYzViZTdkODhmMjU1YTNmNDc4YWQxNDY= <a href="http://twitter.com/michael_yon">Michael Yon writes on his Twitter feed</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Just cease fire on helping pirates and kidnappers, please.</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5387030426"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">about 5 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Should also not reflect on Rohde. The man is good, as is most of their war team. NYT fields some of the best in Iraq/Afghanistan.</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5387025668"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">about 5 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Some in the British press have been endangering the hostages. Not just NYT. Was upset with NYT because they should be leaders on this.</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5387003500"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">about 5 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">The NYT openly admitted they paid Taliban -- but again, not the point. Just please stop helping criminals with free press.</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5386988198"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">about 5 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">But more importantly -- please stop giving free press to kidnappers...</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5386199677"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">about 6 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">NYT not denying money paid to Taliban: <a class="tweet-url web" rel="nofollow" href="http://bit.ly/17UQa4" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://bit.ly/17UQa4</span></a></span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5386191489"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">about 6 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">NYT admits "consultants" paid Taliban:"Security consultants who worked on our case said cash was paid to Taliban members who said they knew</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5386185023"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">about 6 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Will the New York Times stop giving hostage takers press? <a class="tweet-url web" rel="nofollow" href="http://bit.ly/17UQa4" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://bit.ly/17UQa4</span></a></span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5386079472"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">about 6 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWUxMTg2NzgxYzViZTdkODhmMjU1YTNmNDc4YWQxNDY= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:05:17 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjM4NWQ1NjgzOTcwYWU1N2M3ZjA0YWE1ZjU4ZDYzZGU= <a href="http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/times-responds-on-reporters-kidnapping/">The <em>New York Times</em> answers</a> mil-blogger <a href="http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzVlYzdjYzFkN2FlODhiZDE4MjdlNWE2YjMyMzgwY2Q=">Michael Yon's allegations</a> that they paid "millions" for the release of their reporter David Rohde and that the <em>Times</em>'s reporting is putting the British hostages in Somalia at risk:</p> <blockquote> <p>Several Web sites repeated Monday erroneous allegations that The New York Times had paid a ransom in the case of its reporter David Rohde, held by the Taliban for seven months. Bloggers also accused The Times of hypocrisy in reporting on a British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates while keeping quiet Mr. Rohde’s kidnapping.</p> <p>David Rohde, who detailed his experience in a five-part series in The Times that <a href="http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/times-responds-on-reporters-kidnapping/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">included an epilogue</span></a>, issued the following statement:</p> <p>“As I stated in the series on our captivity, no ransom was paid in our case and no one, including our guards, helped us escape. I would never have written -- and the newspaper would never have published -- a five-part-series based on a lie.”</p> <p>The relevant text from the epilogue to Rohde’s story is below:</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">After our escape, rumors circulated that a ransom had been paid or our guards bribed. My family and The New York Times paid no ransom. The Times has decided not to make public its efforts to secure our release because details could endanger correspondents and others working in the region.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">American government officials worked to free us, but they maintained their longstanding policy of not negotiating with kidnappers. They paid no ransom and exchanged no prisoners. Pakistani and Afghan officials said they also freed no prisoners and provided no money.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">Security consultants who worked on our case said cash was paid to Taliban members who said they knew our whereabouts. But the consultants said they were never able to identify or establish contact with the guards who were living with us.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">False reports persist. On Sept. 13, The Sunday Times in London reported that $9 million was paid for our release. Then it <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6838686.ece"><span style="color: #0000ff;">issued a full retraction</span></a>.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>The New York Times issued this statement:</em></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">The New York Times did not break the story of the kidnapping of Paul and Rachel Chandler, and during our reporting of it <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/world/africa/30pirates.html?scp=1&sq=collett&st=cse"><span style="color: #0000ff;">The Times consulted Christine Collett</span></a>, Ms. Chandler’s sister-in-law, to ask her if the family objected to the publication of any information regarding the case. Ms. Collett, who was quoted in the story, said the family had no objection to The Times reporting on the case.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">The Times has continued to abide by its policy of checking with family members or authorities in kidnapping cases to ensure that the information published does not further endanger the victims. The policy has been applied not only in the Chandler case, but to kidnapping victims elsewhere as well.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjM4NWQ1NjgzOTcwYWU1N2M3ZjA0YWE1ZjU4ZDYzZGU= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:00:12 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzQ1ZTkxNDlmOTdmNTE2OTAxNzRjNGVmOWY0ZGNkNzE= <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mike-sargent/2009/11/02/joe-scarborough-satirizes-keith-olbermanns-08-election-night-coverage">Newsbusters</a> has the hilarious video of Joe Scarborough mocking fellow MSDNCer Keith Olbermann. Enjoy:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="518" height="419" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="src" value="http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/eyeblast.swf?v=Gd6USU6U2G" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="518" height="419" src="http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/eyeblast.swf?v=Gd6USU6U2G" allowfullscreen="true"></embed> </object> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzQ1ZTkxNDlmOTdmNTE2OTAxNzRjNGVmOWY0ZGNkNzE= Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:45:42 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDVkNTQzNDcyOGNkNDkxZWRhZmIzY2ZlNGM5OTgwNjk= NY1, the local network that employs Dominic Carter, <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/ny_rips_abuser_for_bigshot_act_7TEcZPLq4fZmHRx20UZcAP">is not happy with its star anchor</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>NY1 anchor <a class="topiclink" href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Dominic_Carter"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Dominic Carter</span></a> violated "every principle of journalism" when he name-dropped his political allies and touted himself as a prominent journalist to strong-arm a Rockland County judge into tossing his domestic-violence case, his TV-station boss said yesterday.</p> <p>"Clearly, that kind of behavior is . . . something we would not tolerate," said NY1 General Manager Steve Paulus.</p> <p>Carter's brazen bigfooting came during a Dec. 11, 2008, hearing, where he was answering assault charges for allegedly punching, kicking and choking his wife, Marilyn, in their Pomona home two months earlier.</p> <p>"My wife was profiled last month in <a class="topiclink" href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Oprah_Winfrey"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Oprah Winfrey</span></a>'s magazine. I've appeared on the cover of The New York Times and <a class="topiclink" href="http://www.nypost.com/t/TV_Guide"><span style="color: #0000ff;">TV Guide</span></a>. This is not fair," Carter pleaded to Judge Arnold Etelson.</p> <p>"I covered the state attorney general [<a class="topiclink" href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Andrew_Cuomo"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Andrew Cuomo</span></a>] and chief judge of the court of the state of New York."</p> <p>That judge, "<a class="topiclink" href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Judith_Kaye"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Judith Kaye</span></a> is a personal friend," Carter whined. Manhattan DA "Bob Morgenthau is a personal friend of mine," Carter added.</p> <p>Etelson snapped, "Don't start dropping names! You know better than that."</p> <p>Carter also had argued: "I'm a political journalist . . . I will be at the inauguration next month. I travel constantly.</p> <p>"My schedule does not permit for that. I didn't do anything wrong, so I shouldn't be mandated by the court to do anything."</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDVkNTQzNDcyOGNkNDkxZWRhZmIzY2ZlNGM5OTgwNjk= Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:20:21 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZThiMDZkNTJiNWMxOTViOTliMjVlYzg2YjljZWM1MzI= <a href="http://gawker.com/5395309/did-the-new-york-times-lie-about-paying-a-ransom-for-david-rohdes-release">Gawker </a>has a reply from the <em>New York Times</em> regarding <a href="http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzVlYzdjYzFkN2FlODhiZDE4MjdlNWE2YjMyMzgwY2Q=">this earlier Media Blog post on Michael Yon</a> basically saying the<em> Times</em> is lying about the circumstances surrounding the "escape" of their reporter David Rohde earlier this year from the Taliban in Afghanistan:</p> <blockquote> <p>UPDATE: A <em>Times</em>' spokeswoman responds simply by quoting the epilogue to Rohde's series, in which he wrote, "My family and the <em>New York Times</em> paid no ransom. The <em>Times</em> has decided not to make public its efforts to secure our release because details could endanger correspondents and others working in the region."</p> </blockquote> <p>That leaves out quite of few folks who might have paid the ransom, however.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZThiMDZkNTJiNWMxOTViOTliMjVlYzg2YjljZWM1MzI= Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:45:58 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmM3OGYxNjE3OWJlODQzMzJlYWQwZjBhNmRmNmM5Yzk= Ellen Degeneres has been amusing her viewers by scaring her guests in the dressing room. Actually, it's kind of funny:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YGth7aSd0EM&feature" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YGth7aSd0EM&feature"></embed> </object> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmM3OGYxNjE3OWJlODQzMzJlYWQwZjBhNmRmNmM5Yzk= Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:54:44 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NWU3OWU1NTMzYWVjZGM5NmJlZTNmNDA1OWE0NDAxMWE= <a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/10307276/FOX-NFL-Sunday-to-host-special-from-Afghanistan">Fox Sports </a>will broadcast its NFL pregame show live from Afghanistan next Sunday.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NWU3OWU1NTMzYWVjZGM5NmJlZTNmNDA1OWE0NDAxMWE= Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:06:22 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZGI2YTljMjlkNjc5MWUyNGQ5ZjEzNGNmMDBhZmJlZjI= Funny stuff:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rcge8r-8VAY" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rcge8r-8VAY"></embed> </object> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZGI2YTljMjlkNjc5MWUyNGQ5ZjEzNGNmMDBhZmJlZjI= Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:49:49 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2U5MmUwZjlhZjc5ODQ0NWJkMzQ3YjVlYzdiMjIyNzQ= As the president might say: Let me be clear: Although I have read only this one account of what transpired, it's clear the police acted stupidly. <em><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/10/31/2009-10-31_al_sharptons_exwife_and_daughter_get_disorderly_conduct_tickets_after_speeding_a.html">New York Daily News</a></em>:</p> <blockquote> <p>The <a title="Al Sharpton" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Al+Sharpton"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Rev. Al Sharpton</span></a> lashed out Sunday at the "unfair" treatment of his daughter and ex-wife by cops who arrested the duo for arguing over a traffic ticket in <a title="Harlem" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Harlem"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Harlem</span></a>.</p> <p>"I cannot imagine how two unarmed women with no record, could be taken in cuffs from a traffic dispute with NO personal or property damage involved," Sharpton wrote in a string of angry postings on <a title="Twitter Inc." href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Twitter+Inc."><span style="color: #0000ff;">Twitter</span></a>. "Well this is what we deal with everyday. We will never accept unfairness."</p> <p>Sharpton's oldest daughter, <a title="Dominique Sharpton" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Dominique+Sharpton"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Dominique Sharpton</span></a>, 23, and ex-wife, <a title="Kathy Jordan" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Kathy+Jordan"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Kathy Jordan</span></a>, 53, were arrested Friday when they got into a heated verbal tussle with cops during a traffic stop, police said.</p> <p>Dominique Sharpton sped past a police car on Eighth Ave. at 110th St. and blasted through a red light before cops nabbed her, sources said.</p> <p>She called her mom, who rushed to the scene to find Dominique in the back of a police car, Sharpton's attorney said.</p> <p>Cops charged both with disorderly conduct and obstruction of governmental administration, issued them desk appearance tickets and let them go.</p> <p>"Kathy showed the concern any mother would show," Sharpton wrote.</p> <p>Sharpton wrote there were "no drugs or drinking at all" - making their treatment all the more worse. Sharpton lawyer <a title="Michael Hardy" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Michael+Hardy"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Michael Hardy</span></a> called the arrest "excessive" and said the police car Dominique drove around was unmarked.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2U5MmUwZjlhZjc5ODQ0NWJkMzQ3YjVlYzdiMjIyNzQ= Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:40:31 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWVjY2JiZTdlMzRlM2JhN2FmMmVhOGMyZGVhNDE5NTk= Setting aside, for a second, the hilarity of the <em>New York Times</em> publishing an article on partisan bias in the media, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/us/politics/02caucus.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper">this is no surprise</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Four years later, amid the Iraq war and President <a title="More articles about George W. Bush." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/george_w_bush/index.html?inline=nyt-per">George W. Bush</a>’s re-election campaign, the audience data had shifted. Fox News viewers had become 51 percent Republican and just 30.8 percent Democratic, while MSNBC viewers leaned Democratic by 41.7 percent to 40.4 percent. Viewers of CNN, Headline News, CNBC and Comedy Central grew slightly more Democratic.</p> </blockquote> <p>Comedy Central: no surprise. You run into a lot of tedious people if you follow politics, and one of the most tedious types is the Jon Stewart Sophisticate, the perpetually morally outraged guy with the <em>Daily Show </em>level of understanding, endlessly sputtering about "hypocrisy" but not quite knowing what it means. There ought to be some kind of reverse lifetime-achievement award for people like Jon Stewart.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWVjY2JiZTdlMzRlM2JhN2FmMmVhOGMyZGVhNDE5NTk= Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:20:17 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tom Gross) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTg2MjJjYzkxNTc0NzFmYjU0Y2NlYjhlNGQyYTM1MDM= There has been the most <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/oct/31/melanie-phillips-islamism-spectator" target="_blank">extraordinarily personalized and nasty attack</a> on one of Britain’s bravest journalists, Melanie Phillips (author of <a href="http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/Londonistan.html" target="_blank"><em>Londonistan</em></a>), in the British paper <em>The Guardian</em> this weekend. It was written by the British-government funded and supposedly moderate Muslim leader, Ed Husain.</p> <p>Making it all the more unpalatable, Phillips was employed by <em>The Guardian</em> as one of their leading journalists for many years.</p> <p>Phillips has been <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/5492961/ed-husain-and-me.thtml" target="_blank">swift to respond here</a>.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTg2MjJjYzkxNTc0NzFmYjU0Y2NlYjhlNGQyYTM1MDM= Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:59:02 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzVlYzdjYzFkN2FlODhiZDE4MjdlNWE2YjMyMzgwY2Q= Remember that reporter from the <em>New York Times</em>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_S._Rohde">David Rohde</a>, who "escaped" from the Taliban in June?</p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon">Michael Yon tweets</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Kept it all quiet for NYT. Now why are the NYT endangering British hostages in Somalia? NYT needs to shut up. They are endangering British.</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5334280819"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #666266;">about 3 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p id="status_5334251685" class="hentry u-Michael_Yon status"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">I have been told by very close sources that ex-CIA officers helped pay off release for Rohde. I knew this while it was ongoing.</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5334251685"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #666266;">about 3 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></p> <p id="status_5334231342" class="hentry u-Michael_Yon status"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">NYT is endangering the hostages in Somalia.</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5334231342"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #666266;">about 3 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></p> <p id="status_5334226197" class="hentry u-Michael_Yon status"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Am told by good sources Rohde is good guy, but still NYT cannot ask for discretion when they don't use it.</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5334226197"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #666266;">about 3 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p id="status_5334214588" class="hentry u-Michael_Yon status"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Numerous very well placed sources have told me New York Times/associates paid millions to get Rohde release.</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5334214588"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #666266;">about 3 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></p> <p id="status_5334207274" class="hentry u-Michael_Yon status"><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">New York Times cannot expect quiet about David Rohde when they blab all: <a class="tweet-url web" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/world/africa/01pirates.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #666266;">http://www.nytimes.com/2009...</span></a></span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/5334207274"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #666266;">about 3 hours ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="hentry u-Michael_Yon status"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta">Now, if you remember, there <a href="http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjRlMWE1M2ZmMDM1OWE4ZTM0ZWMxYmFhZTdmYjkxYWY=">was a second <em>New York Times</em> reporter, Stephen Farrell, </a>who was rescued in September from the Taliban, resulting in the death of a British commando. <a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1921263,00.html"><em>Time </em>magazine </a>reported on his rescue and why the questionable need for a military raid:</span></span></p> <blockquote> <p class="hentry u-Michael_Yon status"><span class="status-body"><span class="meta entry-meta">Negotiators were "optimistic" that Farrell and Munadi would be freed within days, without payment of a ransom. Hostage-taking is a long-standing Afghan practice and almost always ends with captives being freed in exchange for money after days or weeks of haggling. But in this case, sources tell TIME, the senior Taliban commanders of Kunduz were "acting reasonably" and seemed willing to hand the reporter and his aide over without a payoff. </span></span></p> <p>Hours before the British raid, Munadi was allowed to place a cell-phone call to his worried parents to reassure them that he and Farrell would soon be released. When the British commandos made their surprise attack on the house where the pair were being held, the two men rushed out. Munadi died in the firefight, shouting, "Journalist! Journalist!" Farrell recounted to his <em>Times</em> colleagues in Kabul. "He was lying in the same position as he fell," Farrell said. "That's all I know. I saw him go down in front of me. He did not move. He's dead. He was so close, he was just two feet in front of me when he dropped."</p> </blockquote> <p>I read this at the time and was suspicious of the "no ransom" reporting. Have the Taliban ever done that? If what Yon is saying about Rohde is true, it's reasonable to at least question if the <em>New York Times</em> was arranging a payment for Farrell and the translator. And if so, were they telling the military of their negotiations? Reporters at the <em>New York Times</em> and elsewhere owe it to the family of the fallen British soldier to act on Yon's tips and find out what management at the <em>New York Times</em> was up to.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzVlYzdjYzFkN2FlODhiZDE4MjdlNWE2YjMyMzgwY2Q= Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:50:18 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmRmOTE2MDk0MGZiNzNmMThjYWRlY2E4NGMwNWZiYzI= <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/30/did-white-house-pressure-nyt-into-changing-dover-story/">The <em>New York Times</em> get caught changing </a>its Obama-visiting-Dover-air-base story by taking out the section that made the visit seem like a staged photo-op. No correction or editiorial comment, of course, that such a change had been made.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmRmOTE2MDk0MGZiNzNmMThjYWRlY2E4NGMwNWZiYzI= Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:30:40 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTgzNTgyODM1ODNiMTI5MDgxNTdhOGIzNjdiNTZhYWQ= <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33548488/ns/entertainment-television/">AP</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p class="textBodyBlack">WASHINGTON - The ABC affiliate in Washington is airing a two-part series that takes a close — and unobscured — look at breast self-exams. The series is airing during the fall "sweeps" period critical for a TV station's ad revenue, prompting concern by a parental watchdog group. But WJLA insists it's not just a naked attempt to boost the ratings.</p> <p class="textBodyBlack">The two segments include clinical demonstrations of self-exams, and the breasts of the two volunteers are not blurred. They were to air during the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts Thursday and Friday.</p> <p class="textBodyBlack">WJLA officials said the segments are providing an important service because many women don't know how to properly check their breasts.</p> <p class="textBodyBlack">"In talking to women, we found out there really weren't a lot of women who knew how to do self breast exams," station manager Bill Lord said.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTgzNTgyODM1ODNiMTI5MDgxNTdhOGIzNjdiNTZhYWQ= Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:27:04 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjRhZmMzODhjZjdjYjgyZWMxYmU2ZmY3ZmM4NzgzY2M= <a href="http://entertainment.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/10/30/gore-vidal-thirteen-year-old-roman-polanski-rape-victim-was-a-hooker/?test=latestnews">He calls the 13-year-old </a>girl Roman Polanski raped a "hooker."</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjRhZmMzODhjZjdjYjgyZWMxYmU2ZmY3ZmM4NzgzY2M= Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:44:15 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tim Graham) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzA0MTk1ZjQ3YmJhM2Y5MjI1MDhiNWNjNmZlOTdkYmQ= At the end of another round of Levi Johnston-promoting interviews (two days and ten minutes of precious air time), the who-needs-substantiation folks at <em>The Early Show</em> on CBS read a statement Thursday from former governor Sarah Palin:</p> <blockquote> <p>After our interview yesterday, where Levi said that he heard Sarah Palin refer to her son, Trig, who has Down Syndrome, as her ‘retarded baby,’ Palin issued this statement, quote, these are her words. ‘We have purposefully ignored the mean spirited, malicious and untrue attacks on our family. We, like many, are appalled at the inflammatory statements being made or implied. Trig is our blessed little angel who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life. Even the thought that anyone would refer to Trig by any disparaging name is sickening and sad. CBS should be ashamed for continually providing a forum to propagate lies. Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies. Those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention.’</p> </blockquote> <p>After reading the statement, anchor Maggie Rodriguez tried to claim that her latest festival of wild accusations from the pistachio pitchman/<em>Playgirl</em> centerfold was perfectly acceptable, since she suggested these claims might not be factual.</p> <blockquote> <p>Of course you heard we raised all those questions about credibility and his motivation for doing this with Levi and you heard how he answered. But we should say that we’ve also offered more than a dozen times to interview Sarah Palin, but she has declined each of those requests.</p> </blockquote> <p>That's a little sloppy. Actually, Sarah Palin's parents appeared on the morning show in 2008, and of course Palin accepted a gotcha <em>Evening News</em> interview with Katie Couric on CBS as well.</p> <p>This is the journalistic equivalent of the old Tom Lehrer comedy song about Wernher von Braun: "Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? That’s not my department, said Wernher von Braun."</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzA0MTk1ZjQ3YmJhM2Y5MjI1MDhiNWNjNmZlOTdkYmQ= Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:22:56 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjU2YzhhNzk5N2M0MThiYmNlMGRiNjljNTNiOTU4NjQ= The story we <a href="http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWYxNDE2ZGFiZDliYjA0ZTBiZTkxN2M4MDZkMWM1ZDM=">posted</a> earlier has <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/carter_wife_says_ny_anchor_not_behind_CLDmnX91iEDVBxrOAFKmGJ">changed</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>The wife of hot-headed NY1 political anchor Dominic Carter testified today that it was a day laborer who beat her up last October in an argument over payment for work - not her volatile husband, as she originally had told cops that day.</p> <p>Marilyn Carter’s surprising testimony came on the first day of Dominic’s trial for allegedly assaulting his Manhattan College administrator wife during an argument in the Rockland County home on Oct. 22, 2008.</p> <p>A written statement she gave Ramapo Town Police, which was revealed today, said Dominic, 45, called her "dumb," "stupid," and "retarded," and that he also called her a "dumb project bitch" whom he had no respect for. And in a taped 911 call she made the day of the alleged assault, she told authorities Dominic had hit her.</p> <p>Police records obtained by The Post yesterday revealed that Carter was charged with third-degree assault a misdemeanor, after 52-year-old Marilyn told them Dominic twice punched her in the face, "causing a swollen bottom lip," and grabbed her around her throat, "causing scratches and minor bleeding from behind her left ear."</p> <p>Dominic also repeatedly punched her in the right upper arm and "kicked her in her lower right shin, causing a small cut with minor bleeding," the records said.</p> <p>But yesterday, Marilyn told the Ramapo court judge who is presiding over the case a radically different story to explain her injuries.</p> <p>Marilyn told the judge that she had hired a day laborer to do some yard work at the couple’s Pomona, NY, home. At some point during that day, she and Dominic had a shouting match, and her husband then stormed out of the house, Marilyn testified.</p> <p>Afterward, Marilyn said, she had a dispute over payment with the laborer, and he attacked her, she testified. Dominic was not home at that time, she said today.</p> </blockquote> <p>Are we really supposed to buy this?</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjU2YzhhNzk5N2M0MThiYmNlMGRiNjljNTNiOTU4NjQ= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:00:29 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTQwY2Y4YTE5ZTE5NjZkY2JiMzUyMWIyZWQ1Y2Q3Y2M= Since a re-run of Olbermann at 10 p.m. is competing, ratings wise, with Anderson Cooper's live show, MSDNC has decided against <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hl2e_TOLEL2J1OSZafsFSW83v7KwD9BK8M9O0">creating a new program for the time slot</a>. Or, they could do something drastic like put a conservative on the air who might actually siphon off viewers from Fox at 10 p.m., wacky as that sounds.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTQwY2Y4YTE5ZTE5NjZkY2JiMzUyMWIyZWQ1Y2Q3Y2M= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:44:10 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWE1MTk1ZTU4ZGFlNmI4YmM3NjVjNzFlZTA2ZWYyNmU= So says this Pew poll highlighted by <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/10/pew_political_iq_poll_republic.asp">Mary Katharine Ham </a>over at <em>The</em> <em>Weekly Standard.</em></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWE1MTk1ZTU4ZGFlNmI4YmM3NjVjNzFlZTA2ZWYyNmU= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:43:31 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjFmM2VhZTRhNDg4NGQ2N2U3ZDcxNjA2MTI0NjYyOGQ= <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/29/bridge.lessons.learned/index.html">CNN</a>, in regard to the cable that snapped on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco:</p> <blockquote> <p>Engineers: Bay Bridge woes show need for critical action</p> </blockquote> <p>But since the cable that snapped was from a section of the bridge that was repaired one year ago, a more accurate headline would be:</p> <blockquote> <p>Bay Bridge woes show need for critical action against engineers</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjFmM2VhZTRhNDg4NGQ2N2U3ZDcxNjA2MTI0NjYyOGQ= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:42:58 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWYxNDE2ZGFiZDliYjA0ZTBiZTkxN2M4MDZkMWM1ZDM= A few months ago<a href="http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjkxODYxZDQ2ZTU4ZTM1ODBkZTdjNTU5MTkxMjk2OGY="> I had some kind words </a>for Dominic Carter, a local personality here in New York City who moderates a polical show for the NY1 network.  Back then I said:</p> <blockquote> <p>Carter deserves a shot at the big-time not because of his skin color, but because he's good. He doesn't yell, so, he probably wouldn't fit in too well on cable, however.</p> </blockquote> <p>And then there's this from today's <em><a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/wife_ny_star_hit_choked_me_0cbySRqnaZtun7CQ6BeIdJ">New York Post</a></em>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Hot-headed NY1 political anchor Dominic Carter is due in court today after being accused by his wife of punching, choking and kicking her in their suburban home, The Post has learned.</p> <p>Cops were called to the Carters' Rockland County house four times in the last two years for domestic disputes, police records show.</p> <p>The most violent incident -- in which Carter, 46, was arrested for assault -- occurred Oct. 22, 2008.</p> <p>That night, Marilyn told cops, Dominic twice punched her in the face, "causing a swollen bottom lip," and grabbed her around her throat, "causing scratches and minor bleeding from behind her left ear," police records show.</p> <p>Dominic also repeatedly punched her in the right upper arm and "kicked her in her lower right shin, causing a small cut with minor bleeding," the records said.</p> <p>Marilyn Carter, 52, in recent days moved out of the couple's Pomona home, sources said. They also said Dominic Carter is scheduled to appear today in Rockland County Family Court.</p> <p>The domestic incidents came just after the anchor published a book, "No Momma's Boy," which revealed physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a young boy in The Bronx at the hands of his schizophrenic mother, who tried to strangle him as an infant.</p> <p>Neither Carter nor his wife responded to calls seeking comment.</p> <p>NY1 General Manager Steve Paulus said, "This is a domestic matter involving one of our employees and it's our policy not to comment."</p> <p>Hours after The Post's inquiries, Carter was noticeably absent from his seat hosting "Inside City Hall" last night.</p> </blockquote> <p>Oops.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWYxNDE2ZGFiZDliYjA0ZTBiZTkxN2M4MDZkMWM1ZDM= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:42:23 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjRhYjhhOWIyNDI2OTUxMGNjNzVmZDUzZDAxMzRjMDM= <a href="http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/29/nomination-of-donor-as-envoy-put-on-hold/">Senator Grassley has put the nomination </a>of  Alan Solomont as ambassador to Spain on hold until his committee starts receiving the documents it has asked for on the firing of Gerald Walpin as inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Media Blog background on Walpin<a href="http://search.nationalreview.com/?q=walpin&s=NA%3D%3D&a=&sdate=&edate="> here</a>.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjRhYjhhOWIyNDI2OTUxMGNjNzVmZDUzZDAxMzRjMDM= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:41:51 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmRhOGU5ODZmMjRjNmNmMWQwYWQ3MTYxNmY1OGUyZmI= Arnold's office is calling it a coincidence, but that's hardly believable. The first letter of each line of <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/10/28/MNBN1ABKB8.DTL&o=0">this letter </a>to the California legislature are what's creating the stir. Warning: the message rhymes with "duck moo."</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmRhOGU5ODZmMjRjNmNmMWQwYWQ3MTYxNmY1OGUyZmI= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:27:01 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDE1NDg2ODJiOGQ5NzE4ZjhlZTk4NGE1NGFjY2YzNWI= I was listening to Imus this morning while he was interviewing Chris Christie about the New Jersey governor's race when the conversation turned to autism and the swine flu vaccine.  Imus said something like, "If Dr. Oz, Oprah's doctor, doesn't feel safe about the swine flu vaccine and won't give it to his kids, why should we trust it?"</p> <p>But as far as I can tell, this is not Dr. Oz's position. <a href="http://www.kcra.com/mostpopular/21448082/detail.html">And according to this video</a>, he's going to get vaccinated on air.  Also from the video, Dr. Oz did say, however, that his wife won't get vaccinated or let their kids get vaccinated, but he's advising people to get the vaccine.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDE1NDg2ODJiOGQ5NzE4ZjhlZTk4NGE1NGFjY2YzNWI= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:22:48 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mjk5MjgxZWJhNzhlZjc2MGQwMmVmMTEyMWFmY2YxZDQ= Pretty soon only MSDNC will be left on the approved list of <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/29/number-jobs-credited-stimulus-overstated-thousands/?test=latestnews">White House news providers</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>The Obama administration on Thursday slammed a report from The Associated Press alleging the government had overstated by thousands the number of jobs it has created or saved with federal contracts under President Obama's $787 billion recovery program.</p> <p>The White House seized on an initial report from a government oversight board weeks ago that claimed federal contracts awarded to businesses under the recovery plan already had helped pay for more than 30,000 jobs. The administration said the number was evidence that the stimulus program had exceeded early expectations toward reaching the president's promise of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.</p> <p>But the 30,000 figure is overstated by thousands -- at the very least by nearly 5,000, or one in six, based on AP's limited review of some of the contracts -- because some federal agencies and recipients of the money provided incorrect job counts. The review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs were credited to stimulus spending when, in fact, none were produced.</p> <p>Within minutes of the publication of AP's story, the White House released a statement at 12:15 a.m. Thursday that it said was the "real facts" about how jobs were counted in the stimulus data distributed two weeks ago.</p> <p>"This story draws misleading conclusions from a handful of examples," Ed DeSeve, an Obama adviser helping to oversee the stimulus program, said.</p> <p>"Tomorrow, more than 100,000 recipient reports will be posted on Recovery.gov," DeSeve said. "Unlike the small number of reports reviewed by AP, these reports have been reviewed for weeks, errors have been spotted and corrected, and additional layers of review by state and local governments have further improved the data quality."</p> <p>Nevertheless, the White House said it is aware there are problems. In an interview, the advisor said agencies have been working with businesses that received the money to correct mistakes. It asserted that had been a test run of a small subset of data that had been subjected only to three days of reviews, that it had already corrected "virtually all" the mistakes identified by the AP and that the discovery of mistakes "does not provide a statistically significant indication of the quality of the full reporting that will come on Friday."</p> <p>"If there's an error that was made, let's get it fixed," DeSeve said.</p> <p>There's no evidence the White House sought to inflate job numbers in the report, but the administration embraced the flawed figures the moment they were released.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mjk5MjgxZWJhNzhlZjc2MGQwMmVmMTEyMWFmY2YxZDQ= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:21:53 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Fred Schwarz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjljMjhkZWE0OTYxYzAzZjcyZGUyNDlhODNhYjQxZDc= Kevin's title for his <a href="http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDFmY2U0NmViMDQ2NjMyYTMyNDFjYTI4NTFjMzBiYWU=">item about Ayn Rand</a> gets my nomination for Headline of the Month.  And the month is almost over.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjljMjhkZWE0OTYxYzAzZjcyZGUyNDlhODNhYjQxZDc= Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:20:02 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Guy Benson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWY3NWFkNDAyMGViMzUzODRhYzhmMWM0Zjg0OGQ2OTI= The administration's <a href="http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDhkNzk1ZmQ4MTM1ZDA2NDYzZTY3MWVkYjBjNTEyMzI=">control-freak media strategy</a> marches on. </p> <p><a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/top-obama-aide-blasts-fox-news-while-ducking-msnbc-question/">Appearing on CNN</a> Tuesday night (no word on whether <a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/cnn-drops-to-last-place-among-cable-news-networks/">anyone was actually watching</a>), White House adviser Valerie Jarrett didn't hesitate to smear Fox as "biased" when prompted -- but curiously demurred on the question of whether the same label might apply to Obama-approved MSNBC.  No huge surprise there.</p> <p>But in the course of her rambling answer, Jarrett said something utterly laughable.  She explained that in the ongoing public debate over major policy initiatives, the administration won't hesitate to "speak truth to power" in defending its positions.  Does Ms. Jarrett not realize that she's a top aide to <em>the president of the United States of America?</em></p> <p>This statement underscores the fact that no matter what this president and his people claim, they're not focused on looking forward.  Eric Holder's backward-looking, counter-productive, gratuitous efforts to investigate the CIA -- over <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/18/ex-cia-chiefs-decry-holder-interrogator-probe-letter-obama/">credible, serious objections</a> -- should suffice to prove that point.  But a pledge from the <em>White House</em> to "speak truth to power" illustrates how a reflexive anti-Bush mentality still permeates the highest levels of the administration.  They remain in perpetual campaign mode, incapable of coming to a full realization that they are now the ones in charge, and that they should behave as such.  As Charles Krauthammer <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/disgusting-krauthammer-condemns-obamas-blame-bush-routine/">devastatingly points out</a>, the president himself seems incurably afflicted with this condition.</p> <p>An even greater irony is that Jarrett made her preposterous comment in the process of maligning a major news outlet <em>precisely because</em> of its excessive "truth to power" reporting.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWY3NWFkNDAyMGViMzUzODRhYzhmMWM0Zjg0OGQ2OTI= Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:18:48 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDFmY2U0NmViMDQ2NjMyYTMyNDFjYTI4NTFjMzBiYWU= Sam Anderson has written an entertaining article about Ayn Rand for <a href="http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/60120/"><em>New York</em> </a>magazine. One sentence, however, stopped me:</p> <blockquote> <p>Few fellow creatures have had a more intensely odd personal flavor; her temperament could have neutered an ox at 40 paces.</p> </blockquote> <p>You cannot neuter an ox; it already is neutered -- that's why it is not a bull. I'm no rancher, but I did spend five years on the edges of a cult that worships a <a href="http://www.manzelloart.com/images/Bevo-lg.jpg">bovine eunuch.</a></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDFmY2U0NmViMDQ2NjMyYTMyNDFjYTI4NTFjMzBiYWU= Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:02:05 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Guy Benson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzdjM2M1MzRlNWYwYWI4NGI5ZGRkOGM4NjkwMTgzODU= Um, <em>what</em>?  Watch the words spill from the president's lips <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/10/27/obama_pelosi_will_go_down_as_one_of_greatest_speakers_of_all_time.html">here</a>.</p> <p>The verbatim:</p> <blockquote> <p>"I don't think people quite understand, Nancy Pelosi is not simply the first woman Speaker of the House -- I think she's going to go down as <strong>one of the greatest Speakers of all time</strong>. And<strong> she's very nice and she's very friendly</strong>, but, boy, she is tough."</p> </blockquote> <p>I'd argue the only part of that sentence that bears any resemblance to the <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/06/05/cheney-more-popular-pelosi-will-media-notice">public's view </a>of Madam Speaker is that people <em>don't quite understand</em> her to be any of the things Obama says about her.</p> <p>One wonders what the <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">brave professionals</span> "<a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/05/pelosi-cia-lied.html">liars</a>" at the CIA might think of the president's assessment.  Evidently, <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/05/cia_says_pelosi_was_briefed_on.html">shamelessly slandering </a>our intelligence community wins you high marks from this president.</p> <p>UPDATE: I almost forgot....Pelosi <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/GuyBenson/2009/05/15/in_defense_of_nancy_pelosi">was framed</a>!</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzdjM2M1MzRlNWYwYWI4NGI5ZGRkOGM4NjkwMTgzODU= Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:46:07 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmEzMGQxMDk0NWQyZGRmZmE4YWE3MDRmNDk5NDNjMzE= The Karzai brothers respond to the allegations in today's <em>New York Times</em> that Ahmed is in the employ of the C.I.A. <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-28/the-karzai-brothers-fight-back">and involved with the heroin trade</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-small;">It was probably a coincidence, but the gods had conspired to block the Karzais from getting on a phone or the Internet to see what had been dumped on them.</span></span></span><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-small;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-small;">But Wednesday morning, the Karzais came out swinging. I woke up to an email from Mahmoud. “Here we go again, a clear case of hearsay and rumors. NY Times is becoming an instrument for special interest of the evil-doers of the world to achieve their political goals. What Mr. Risen [New York Times reporter James Risen, who co-authored the Times’ report] has published against me, convinced me that presenting the truth about the world outside of the United States is not part of the agenda of the NY Times. In fact, misrepresentation of the international facts to the American people could be considered a serious national security threat to the United States of America. I will appreciate it if you could answer this propaganda, as I told you in the past, removing Ahmed Wali Karzai [sic] from Kandahar is a perfect strategy for Taliban to take over Kandahar.”</span></span></span><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-small;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-small;">I called Mahmoud. He, too, was angry. “This is being coordinated by the ISI (Pakistani intelligence service). They have been behind the assassinations of several provincial leaders who are against the Taliban. And my brother is the last major obstacle to them in the south. If they remove Ahmed Wali, the Taliban will fill the void.”</span></span></span><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-small;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-small;">Mahmoud had particular venom for The New York Times even though James Risen is one of the paper's most respected foreign affairs journalists and his article was replete with specifics and seemed a bullet-proof piece of reporting. “We [the Karzais] are being harassed by The New York Times. This is a smear campaign. James Risen has a vendetta against us. And the Times is obviously being fed by the far-left lobbyist groups who are paying them to do this. These leftists want Afghanistan destabilized, they want the Karzais out of power so there is a vacuum, and then they can say it is such a mess that the Americans should abandon the country. This is a coordinated plan, have no doubt about it.”</span></span></p> </blockquote> <p style="padding-bottom: 15px; margin: 0px auto; outline-style: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; color: #000000; padding-top: 0px;"> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmEzMGQxMDk0NWQyZGRmZmE4YWE3MDRmNDk5NDNjMzE= Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:44:29 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MGQxM2JjMzY3M2MwNDhmY2I2MjczZDAwM2I4MjliMmM= <a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010438.html?categoryid=13&cs=1"><em>Variety</em> reports on the next Jerry Bruckheimer video game project</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Jerry Bruckheimer is plotting a civil war at Disney, tapping J. Michael Straczynski to adapt 2K Games' "Shattered Union."</p> <p>In the game, states secede from the U.S. and form their own governments that wage a civil war against each other after Washington, D.C., is wiped out in a nuclear blast and chaos ravages the nation. Players control one of the warring group of states -- the California Commonwealth, Republic of Texas and New England Alliance are three of the six -- or a European peacekeeping unit sent to reunify America.</p> </blockquote> <p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="widows: 2; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font: medium 'Times New Roman'; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; letter-spacing: normal; color: #000000; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: left; , helvetica, 'MS Reference Sans Serif'; color: #333333; "><span style="New Roman; color: #000000; ">Hilarious: fear the European peacekeepers!</span></span></span></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MGQxM2JjMzY3M2MwNDhmY2I2MjczZDAwM2I4MjliMmM= Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:42:43 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWQ5ZDMxYmFmNDkyOTFjZDVjM2Y0NWI0ZGVlZjg1Mjk= A hilarious -- at least I think so -- first-person media account of life holed up in the Brazilian embassy with former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya:</p> <blockquote> <p>TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Nearly a month has passed since I slept in the dark.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">All night long, floodlights shine on the Brazilian Embassy where I have been holed up with ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya since he slipped back into the country.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">When I do manage to sleep, I'm awakened by high-pitched cat calls from the soldiers ringing the compound, and music so loud the windows vibrate.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Day or night, through every window, police officers and soldiers stare in at me and the other journalists through binoculars.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">When I'm not trying to do my job taking pictures of Zelaya and his entourage, I pass the time reading; I now know more about Brazil than I ever hoped to — the embassy has an impressive collection of books about the South American country.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Honduras' coup-installed government says soldiers will arrest Zelaya if he leaves the diplomatic mission. Zelaya says he is not going anywhere until he is reinstated as president, and the Brazilian government, which also wants him returned to power, has not pressured him or his supporters to leave.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">So we in the media who pushed our way in when Zelaya took up residence here on Sept. 21 are stuck. Once we leave, we can't get back in.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Still, time has taken its toll as the crisis drags on, and Zelaya's group of fist-waving supporters dwindles with each passing week. Even Zelaya's son went home recently, hugging his mother, who stayed behind.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Talks stalled again after interim President Roberto Micheletti refused to budge on allowing Zelaya to be reinstated — the central point of a power-sharing agreement the two sides are negotiating.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">A delegation headed by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon is headed to Honduras this week to urge the two sides to find a solution, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Tuesday.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Zelaya says if there is no breakthrough this week it will never happen, but he has not said what he would do then. In the meantime, Micheletti's government is banking on the Nov. 29 elections to end the crisis: Zelaya is not eligible to run since the Honduran constitution allows presidents to serve only one four-year term.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Meanwhile, those of us inside try to make the best of the situation; the other journalists and I wile away the hours playing endless games of Monopoly and cards.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Sleep is the biggest challenge.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The Zelaya supporters have put up a curtain to block the floodlights and covered windows with newspapers, but that has made little difference.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Soldiers bark like dogs, meow like cats and crow like roosters just as my REM cycle gets going and I'm jolted awake almost nightly.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Troops last week blasted us with music from 1:30 a.m. until 7 a.m. The playlist included the grating Spanish ballad "Two-legged Rat," an accordian-laced tirade against an ex-boyfriend made famous by Mexican singer Paquita La del Barrio. Its lyrics begin, "Filthy rat, crawling animal, scum of all life ..." and it got worse from there.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">That was a rough night.</p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <p>The rest <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_embassy_life">here.</a></p> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWQ5ZDMxYmFmNDkyOTFjZDVjM2Y0NWI0ZGVlZjg1Mjk= Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:14:17 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2YyNzFiYjYwMWQ0ZTMzYWNhYzE1YTg4NTU5NDJkYzY= <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tv_david_letterman;_ylt=AtlbcqqyGF1CwSZmBrtu4Das0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTM4MnNlYXRyBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDI4L3VzX3R2X2RhdmlkX2xldHRlcm1hbgRjcG9zAzEwBHBvcwM3BHB0A2hvbWVfY29rZQRzZWMDeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDZXgtbGV0dGVybWFu">Here come the complaints against David Letterman</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">LOS ANGELES - A former writer for David Letterman said she quit his NBC talk show in part because of alleged sexual favoritism and a hostile work environment.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Nell Scovell, writing for Vanity Fair online Tuesday, said she had no intention of filing a lawsuit and wasn't seeking revenge.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">"I wanted to shine a light on gender inequality in that particular workplace," Scovell, who went on to a successful Hollywood career, said in a telephone interview.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">In the Vanity Fair article, Scovell said Letterman didn't "hit on her" during her roughly five-month stint with NBC's "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1990.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">"Did he pay me enough extra attention that it was noted by another writer? Yes. Was I aware of rumors that Dave was having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes," Scovell wrote.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers as well, she alleges, and the women gained professional benefits from those relationships.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">"Did that make me feel demeaned? Completely. Did I say anything at the time? Sadly, no," wrote Scovell, whose credits include writing for the series "Coach" and "Monk" and creating "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." She's also produced and directed.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2YyNzFiYjYwMWQ0ZTMzYWNhYzE1YTg4NTU5NDJkYzY= Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:09:43 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tom Gross) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmRlMGY5YWM0NzU0MDlkN2U2YThmZmNjOWRhZDY3YTM= <em>The Mail on Sunday</em> (which is the Sunday sister paper of Britain’s <em>Daily Mail</em>) <a href=" http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1222722/British-police-intelligence-officers-sent-tackle-UK-funded-torturers-West-Bank.html" target="_blank">reports</a> that:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>The British government is sending police and intelligence officers to the West Bank to try to stop a wave of brutal torture by Palestinian security forces funded by UK taxpayers.</strong> Their mission is to set up and train a new “internal affairs” department with sweeping powers to investigate abuse and bring torturers to justice.<br /><br /><strong>On Saturday a senior official from the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank and its security agencies, admitted that torture, beatings and extra-judicial killings have been rife</strong> for the past two years, with hundreds of torture allegations and <strong>at least four murders in custody, the most recent in August</strong>. British detectives will also train the Palestinian police and Preventive Security forces in how to question suspects without torturing them. <strong>Britain spends £20 million a year funding the forces responsible for the abuse.</strong><br /><br />In the West Bank city of Nablus, Nasser al-Shaer, a former academic from Manchester University who was deputy prime minister in the short-lived Hamas Palestinian Authority government elected in 2006, said many of those released from detention in recent months were telling the same story - of torture, including beatings, being suspended from the ceiling, and electric shocks.</p> </blockquote> <p>Now none of this is new. In spite of what the paper says, it has been continuing not just for the past two years, but since <a href="http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/ArafatAllies.htm" target="_blank">Yasser Arafat</a> was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and took over most of the West Bank in 1993. What is new is that a major newspaper (<em>The Mail On Sunday</em> is one of Britain’s highest circulation respected newspapers) is reporting on it.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><img src="http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/img/arafat_3.jpg" alt="" width="156" height="200" /> <img src="http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/img/stamps.jpg" alt="" width="170" height="199" /></p> <p>Of course, the abuse of human rights and use of torture is even worse in other “moderate” Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan, and far worse in non-moderate countries like Syria (which yesterday the European Union eagerly signed an Association Agreement with).<br /><br />Many Palestinians I know yearn for the days when Israel ruled the West Bank before Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah took over most of the Palestinian-populated territories.</p> <p>Meanwhile, as Palestinian detainees are being tortured to death in Palestinian Authority jails, Palestinian prisoners (including convicted terrorists) in custody in Israel are studying for Israeli university degrees (at Israeli taxpayers’ expense) and also given <a href="http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001046.html" target="_blank">cable TV, IPods and dental treatment</a> - but international human rights groups instead criticize the treatment of prisoners in Israel, whose deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to Washington Danny Ayalon narrowly escaped <a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256557977033&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull" target="_blank">being arrested in Britain for “war crimes” yesterday</a>.</p> <p>And the world community that routinely and harshly condemns Israel even when Israel hasn’t done anything wrong, has failed to condemn the Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon which narrowly missed an Israeli town last night.<br /><br />It is a strange world.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmRlMGY5YWM0NzU0MDlkN2U2YThmZmNjOWRhZDY3YTM= Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:06:06 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZWNkYzY1MmFjZTBmYjM0ZTQxZjYzZTdjZmE1OTkyNDg= Kevin: Why in the world is Phil Angelides in charge of this commission?  He was the treasurer of California and on the board of the state's largest pension funds. Angelides should be in the witness chair answering all of the questions that Spitzer brings up, not the one asking the questions.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZWNkYzY1MmFjZTBmYjM0ZTQxZjYzZTdjZmE1OTkyNDg= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:12:56 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Guy Benson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Zjg2NWRhZGNhZmMyZTc0ZjA5MTRkZGRjZDNhZmQ4ZTI= Watching these clips back-to-back is simply remarkable.  Here we have a <a href="http://www.doughoffmanforcongress.com/">mainstream conservative candidate</a>, running in a consistently center-right district, being assailed by both major parties.</p> <p>The Democrats, recognizing the official "Republican" candidate's slide into the abyss, have turned their fire on viable (<a href="http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2009/10/cfg_poll_hoffman_leading_in_ny.php">front-running</a>?) third-party candidate, Doug Hoffman. Well, hello, politics of personal destruction and shameless class warfare:</p> <p> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/15L_TaolOqg" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/15L_TaolOqg"></embed> </object> </p> <p>Minor details like Hoffman's humble upbringing (which also shouldn't be an issue), and his lifetime of hard work, are ignored.  The success he's <em>earned</em> is used to bludgeon him -- which, ironically, reflects the prevailing Democratic position on taxation.</p> <p>The Republican ad isn't any better:</p> <p>  <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2mw7Bzh21DQ&feature" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2mw7Bzh21DQ&feature"></embed> </object> </p> <p>Did they record those voice-overs in someone's garage?</p> <p>Hoffman once supported civil unions? <em>Outrage</em>!  Good thing the actual GOP candidate is rock-solid on that whole marriage issue, right?  <a href="http://www.mrc.org/timeswatch/articles/2009/20091027030527.aspx">Oops</a>.</p> <p>Hoffman doesn't even live in the 23rd district!  What a carpet-bagger ... except the charge is <a href="http://rsmccain.blogspot.com/2009/10/ny23-newt-does-dedes-dirty-work.html">misleading and irrelevant.</a></p> <p>"Doug Hoffman: Running from himself" is the NRCC ad's tagline. Pitiful. In the NRCC's defense, however, it's still a bit better line than the Scozzafava camp's apparent new rallying cry: "Sprinting towards irrelevancy."</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Zjg2NWRhZGNhZmMyZTc0ZjA5MTRkZGRjZDNhZmQ4ZTI= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:20:54 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDg4NTViN2Q3MWJiZjNiNTk5OTFlZTBjYWY3NWZjOTQ= <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2233680/">I give him three out of four.</a></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDg4NTViN2Q3MWJiZjNiNTk5OTFlZTBjYWY3NWZjOTQ= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:06:11 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTRiZjViM2UwYTE0ZGUwNjQ5NDBiOGI0MzNhMjA5MWM= Attention White House: See, it's not so hard to let the people of New York City know what you're doing.  From the <a href="http://twitter.com/NYPDNEWS/status/5207153005">NYPD Twitter feed</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Bronx advisory- fly-over of Yankee Stadium tomorrow night, 10/ 28, at 8:00 p.m. (3 US Navy jets)to mark the opening game of the WS.</span></span></p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTRiZjViM2UwYTE0ZGUwNjQ5NDBiOGI0MzNhMjA5MWM= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:26:22 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTkwOGM2YTFjYzExYjI4NzZjNzJhM2RiMzQ1MDgyMDE= Whoa. An exchange between the two over an article of David's that Hugh said misstated his views on the NY-23:</p> <blockquote> <p>HH: I’m calling you out because you drove off of an on-ramp, you drove off of the highway, you ran by, sideswiped me, left your readers to believe that I was a hypocrite, because whether or not you intended it, it’s…I got calls on the radio saying, ‘why does David Frum think you’re a hypocrite?’ And it’s because you wrote this sloppily, you did no research, you can’t back it up, you didn’t bother to call me. In fact, it is the worst kind of drive-by punditry that I have seen in a long time from you.</p> <p>DF:  All right, I really don’t appreciate that.</p> <p>HH: Ha!</p> <p>DF: And I have to say, if you’re going to put it that way, that really is an act of astounding vanity. The point is not to make any point about you personally, It was to use your words to say here is a goof. It is presented as a joke. I did not use a word like hypocrisy at all. And I didn’t…and by the way, in the body of the article, I make the point that the people who support Hoffman and the people who support Daggett both have a point. They both have to be included in the party. And I’m not doing this as a slam. I’m not doing this as a criticism. I’m saying that we have got, we are very ready in the Republican and conservative world to broaden the party to the right. We’re not very ready to broaden the party to the middle. And here, I use your words, which were very ferocious on the subject of Daggett. I wasn’t accusing you of doing anything wrong. I was using them as a way to make a point.</p> <p>HH: Well, you say, “From the point of view of most Republican commenters online and on the air,” after you’ve just quoted me, “party loyalty is a highly variable principle,” which by the way implies hypocrisy. It is not a highly variable principle for me. It is for me, always, you vote for the most conservative person who has a chance of winning, and you support the party nominee unless, like Lincoln Chaffee, the only time I have never, not supported a party nominee. They have nothing in common. And you know, David, if you’re going to write this kind of stuff, you’ve got to be more careful. This is slapstick.</p> <p>DF: I…no, I’m sorry. Well…</p> <p>HH: This is absolutely irresponsible to leave your readers thinking that I was in favor of Doug Hoffman, and against Chris Daggett, and hypocritical in the process. It is really irresponsible of you.</p> <p>DF: Well, if you’re going to use that kind of tone, and I’ll say this, actually, the column is written extremely precisely. And it did not suggest that you supported any candidate in the 23^rd, and it said nothing about your views about that. So it is exactly, accurately written, if we’re going to be precise about it.</p> </blockquote> <p>You can read the entire exchange <a href="http://www.hughhewitt.com/transcripts.aspx?id=e25ff8b4-ea79-4bee-b250-5141be7df6b1">here</a>.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTkwOGM2YTFjYzExYjI4NzZjNzJhM2RiMzQ1MDgyMDE= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:03:45 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Stephen Spruiell) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTEzNDEwYTY0MDdlNzViMDg4M2UxMTgyOTdlOTM3ZmY= The <em>New York Times </em>has an interesting <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/us/27runaways.html">story</a> on teen runaways and prostitution. Apparently, the city of Dallas has had some success in fighting the latter by focusing on the former. The story ended with this accusatory graf:</p> <blockquote> <p>In 2007, Congress nearly approved a proposal to spend more than $55 million for cities to create pilot programs across the country modeled on the Dallas system. But after a dispute with President George W. Bush over the larger federal budget, the plan was dropped and Congress never appropriated the money.</p> </blockquote> <p>Of course. It was George W. Bush and those heartless budget hawks! But... wait a minute. How did Dallas manage to create its system? Indeed, how does <em>anyone </em>manage to do <em>anything </em>without a $55 million pilot program? My guess is the police department shifted resources from inefficient ways of fighting prostitution to this new, more efficient way of doing it. Would it be possible for other cities to emulate Dallas without spending $55 million?</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTEzNDEwYTY0MDdlNzViMDg4M2UxMTgyOTdlOTM3ZmY= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:57:46 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjI0MDIyMjc1MGYzNjU4MmRlMjU3YWM2ZWFkZDFhYzA= So says <a href="http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2009/10/27/obama-not-comfortable-with-women-in-basketball-golf--or-anywhere-else.html">Bonnie Erbe on President Obama</a>: </p> <blockquote> <p>President Obama could invite Chamique Holdsclaw to the private White House basketball court and Billie Jean King to play tennis with him. I still wouldn't believe he's any more comfortable dealing with women or concerned about "women's" issues than the dearly departed former Sen. Jesse Helms. President Obama talks the talk a lot better and a lot louder than Helms. But Jesse Helms was so rooted in his atavist traditions, he chose to remain true to his misogyny rather than pose for cameras with faux female golfing partners. President Obama must hide the side of his personality that is clearly uncomfortable with women because he needs their votes much more than Helms ever did.</p> <p>Whether it was his treatment of Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail (as in his condescending remark that she was "likeable enough") or his clearly career-oriented mate who has been toned down and remorphed into a Stepford Wife, I just don't get the impression this man is comfortable with women. Nor do I believe he cares about them beyond needing women's votes. It's an act and a thoroughly see-through, amateur one at that.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjI0MDIyMjc1MGYzNjU4MmRlMjU3YWM2ZWFkZDFhYzA= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:53:25 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjY1Njk4Yzc1MDdhZTU3MjA1MWI1MjczNTM3ZDk5ZjU= U.S. newspaper circulations <a href="http://www.theawl.com/2009/10/a-graphic-history-of-newspaper-circulation-over-the-last-two-decades">as graphed by the Awl:</a></p> <p><img src="http://www.theawl.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/circ2.jpg" alt="" width="490" height="1427" /></p> <p>Apparently the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> is doing its bit to fight media bias by ceasing to reach any readers.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjY1Njk4Yzc1MDdhZTU3MjA1MWI1MjczNTM3ZDk5ZjU= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:54:16 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmI3NzliMmVkZjlkMmI5YmU1N2NiNThlOWEyY2YxY2E= <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/business/media/27rating.html?_r=1&hpw">CNN is in last place</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>CNN, which created the all-news cable network almost 30 years ago, hit a new competitive low with its prime-time programs in October, with three of its four programs between 7 and 11 p.m. finishing fourth and last among the cable news networks.</p> <p>It was the first time that the programs had ever performed that poorly against their news network competitors. October was also the third month in the last year that CNN as a network finished fourth behind the three other cable news networks in prime time with the audience that the networks rely on for advertising sales.</p> </blockquote> <p>But let's be fair here. The difference between second, thirds, and fourth place is kind of small:</p> <blockquote> <p>For the month, CNN averaged 202,000 viewers, ages 25 to 54. That was far behind the dominant leader, Fox, which averaged 689,000. But it also trailed MSNBC which had 250,000 viewers in that group and HLN, which had 221,000 viewers.</p> </blockquote> <p>What don't we say CNN, HLN and MSDNC are all tied for last? </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmI3NzliMmVkZjlkMmI5YmU1N2NiNThlOWEyY2YxY2E= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:43:06 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2UxOWQ5ODExZDQ5NTNjMWE5NGQ0ZjFiYzFhMDQyN2U= "Are you accountable for the flu vaccine shortage?"</p> <p>As <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/What-a-difference-five-years-makes-on-flu-vaccine-shortage--66176452.html">Mark Tapscott points out in the <em>Washington Examiner</em></a>, that question was directed to George Bush in 2004, but not to President Obama in relation to this year's flu vaccine shortage.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2UxOWQ5ODExZDQ5NTNjMWE5NGQ0ZjFiYzFhMDQyN2U= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:40:03 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mzc2MTJmMDE5Y2M0YjUyZGMxYzcwM2Y1NDRkOTgyNGM= Oh, come on. Former ESPN analyst Steve Phillips, who was fired for having an affair with an intern, has checked himself into rehab to fight his "sex addiction."  <em><a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/espn_boots_brooke_phillips_in_rehab_ef99mpRjz6lAtxnT7zufkO">New York Post</a></em>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Phillips, 46, "really needs help, and this was the best way to do it," said his agent, Steve Lefkowitz, in describing his decision to attend a high-priced facility -- in a mystery location -- that specializes in sex-addiction treatment.</p> <p>"It was a bid to keep his life. He's going in for an illness," Lefkowitz said. "The problem is, he fell off the wagon."</p> <p>[...]</p> <p>It isn't his first trip to sex rehab. Phillips, while serving as the Met GM, took a brief leave back in 1998 to get counseling after admitting he had multiple extramarital affairs. His wife, Marni, last month sued for divorce after learning of his trysts with Hundley, 22.</p> </blockquote> <p>I wonder if "sex addiction" rehab will be covered by Obamacare?</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mzc2MTJmMDE5Y2M0YjUyZGMxYzcwM2Y1NDRkOTgyNGM= Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:00:58 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tom Gross) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTdjODA0MWRjODk3ZTYxYzIwZmI4MTdlNDU5NjI1ODI= Many of us find it odd, if not downright depressing, that Barack Obama can go to Oslo for the Nobel ceremony and to Copenhagen for the Olympic bid (i.e. trips undertaken for mainly personal reasons), but as leader of the free world he somehow can’t find time to travel to Berlin to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.</p> <p>After all, the fall of the Wall is the most significant event for the cause of freedom in the last 60 years, and Kofi Annan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa and other world leaders will all be there.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><img src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:jNy2zJSOWs_1UM:http://library.msstate.edu/libguidefiles/phillips/Berlin%2520Wall%2520Freedom.jpg" alt="" width="134" height="90" /> <img src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:3Z9M6fBnjwfvFM:http://europa.eu/abc/12lessons/images/content_berlin_wall.jpg" alt="" width="124" height="94" /> <img src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:VNwyPIGugK1m4M:http://swoosh22.com/resources/pictures/jpg/berlin/large/009_berlin_wall_open.jpg" alt="" width="131" height="88" /></p> <p><a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/embarrassment_ysgnpIlJWYMuwW5PZzdjBI" target="_blank">Michael Barone</a> theorizes that his big election campaign speech in Berlin may be haunting Obama: “Is Obama too embarrassed to give people an opportunity to compare Obama’s actions to his summer 2008 rhetoric?” he wonders.<br /><br />But <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/26/barone-why-obama-cant-go-to-berlin-wall-commemoration/" target="_blank">Ed Morrisey</a> has a simpler explanation: Berlin won’t be about Obama, he says. “It’s not that Obama doesn’t think that the fall of the wall is a good thing, but that it has nothing to do with him, and is therefore irrelevant.”</p> <p style="text-align:center"><img src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:WRSNTddVkC2SIM:http://watchfulraven.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/obama-halo-32.jpg" alt="" width="116" height="115" /></p> <p>For more on whether Obama actually believes in human rights, and about his decision not to go to Berlin (and not to meet the Dalai Lama, and not to support democracy activists in Egypt and Iran) <a href=" http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001065.html" target="_blank">please see here</a>.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTdjODA0MWRjODk3ZTYxYzIwZmI4MTdlNDU5NjI1ODI= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:46:00 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDNiYTBjZTk3OTRmZTcwOTU0NTRhM2NhNjcyNzhkZmY= I believe something similar happend on an episode of <em>The Office</em> when Ryan implemented a social-networking component for DunderMifflin.com. <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/user-submitted-racist-photos-posted-on-official-gop-facebook/">Mediaite</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>The new concerted effort by the Republican party to move online and skew younger keeps backfiring. First, the launch of <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/brand-hack-gop-com-not-exactly-great-for-the-republican-brand/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">GOP.com</span></a> was met with <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/left-right-whole-internet-agree-gop-com-not-very-good/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">intense mockery and meme-making</span></a>, then the Republican National Committee’s <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GOP"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Facebook page</span></a> left racist and hateful images — including photos of <strong>President Obama</strong> eating fried chicken along with a bigoted caption and others mocking <strong>John Kerry</strong> and <strong>Mother Theresa</strong> - in the fan photos section for nearly a week without moderation.</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GOP#/GOP?v=photos"><span style="color: #0000ff;">interactive part</span></a> of the page, removed as of 1:40pmET on Monday, was meant for user-submitted visual content, but as anyone versed in the internet knows, without a careful supervision the trolls come out quickly. Now, the GOP is learning the hard way just how careful of an eye is necessary after multiple offensive images sat untouched since October 20th. </p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDNiYTBjZTk3OTRmZTcwOTU0NTRhM2NhNjcyNzhkZmY= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:57:16 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Tim Graham) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTlkNmRkMDc0MWQyODUzODdjOGZhZjM1MGMyYzQ4Njk= Now that the dreaded era of "cowboy diplomacy" has ended, the world is ready for a new, more sensitive kind of foreign policy: muppet diplomacy. Agence France-Presse reports:</p> <blockquote> <p>JERUSALEM — Big Bird and his pals are trying hard to get access to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to talk about peaceful conflict resolution and carry out some Muppet Diplomacy, <em>Sesame Street</em> announced on Wednesday.</p> <p>"We know that it's an extremely volatile area, but we also feel that it's really important that we take these step forward to promote self esteem for Palestinians," said Gary Knell, president of the Sesame Workshop, the educational organisation behind the popular children's series.</p> <p>A Palestinian version of the series -- <em>Sharaa Simsim</em> -- is already shown in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but the signal does not reach Gaza, an impoverished and overcrowded territory struggling to recover from Israel's devastating military offensive at the turn of the year...</p> <p><em>Sesame Street</em> marks its 40th anniversary this year and is seen in more than 140 countries. That "has pretty much made it the longest street in the world," said Knell, who was rudely interrupted by grumps and groans from Moishe Oofnik, the Israeli cousin of Oscar the Grouch.</p> <p>It was only after a firm but polite intervention by Sivan, a disabled Muppet in a wheelchair who will debut in Israel in December, that Knell was able to resume speaking.</p> </blockquote> <p>This sentence from AFP is a classic example of <a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/2007/06/mickey-the-jihadist-rat-martyred-in-final-episode.html">diluting the obvious</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>He said he is particularly keen to send the famous Muppets to Gaza, where the station run by the Islamist Hamas has stirred international outrage with its cartoon characters <em>seen as</em> glorifying violence against Israel.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTlkNmRkMDc0MWQyODUzODdjOGZhZjM1MGMyYzQ4Njk= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:07:09 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTUzZjhjNGU3M2UzNTBjYjE1MGMyYTYyZDQ4M2ZlNmU= How bad is your country's economy when you can't <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=amu4.WTVaqjI">keep a McDonald's in business</a>?</p> <p>(On the upside, the story offers an invitation to repeat my favorite joke of the Great Recession. Q: What's the capital of Iceland? A: About 14 bucks.)</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTUzZjhjNGU3M2UzNTBjYjE1MGMyYTYyZDQ4M2ZlNmU= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:23:17 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2MzMjI2MmYwNDc0ODFjZmM3YjllZmRlMTNlNGU5NTk= You know, Greg, somebody out to point out to these class-warfare liberals that classic-car collecting isn't just for Hollywood types and plutocrats. One noted moderate with a lifetime of modestly paid public service has a fever for classic ... <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/03/04/automobiles/collectibles/04volvo_span.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/automobiles/collectibles/04VOLVO.html&usg=__LDb97Gi3iEmOIwmR1iEvFWOxq-k=&h=280&w=600&sz=78&hl=en&start=1&sig2=O6jjuPApGH77Gohta2EjkA&um=1&tbnid=use1zkreB75DaM:&tbnh=63&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%252B%2522Colin%2Bpowell%2522%2B%252B%2522volvos%2522%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1&ei=MtzlStjMI4K0Nu2Q4J4D">Volvos</a>. One of the few Colin Powell positions I endorse.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2MzMjI2MmYwNDc0ODFjZmM3YjllZmRlMTNlNGU5NTk= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:31:44 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzdhMTliNDg5MjBkZjFhNTViYzU1N2VlODFhMWVlZmE= <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1009/DCCC_goes_after_Hoffman.html"><em>Politico</em> reports</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, viewing Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman as a threat to win next week’s New York special election, is up with a new ad attacking him as an out-of-touch millionaire.<br /><br />"Millionaire Doug Hoffman has a waterfront island home -- even a classic car collection," the ad says. "But on our street, it's lost jobs, foreclosures and record debt. Hoffman supports more of the economic policies that failed us: Tax breaks for the wealthy, which added billions to the deficit. Doug Hoffman: Looking out for himself, not us."<br /><br />The DCCC’s decision to go after Hoffman is a sign that the Conservative party candidate is building momentum with just over a week to go until the election. </p> </blockquote> <p>Come on, Jay. Put Hoffman on your show so he can defend his, and your, honor.</p> <p>Robert Costa has more here on <em>NRO</em>'s new <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/finalcountdown/post/?q=ZGFiNTViOTEyNzU1NDZhYWY5ZGZmMDBjMjhlOWJhOTY=">"Final Countdown"</a> blog.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzdhMTliNDg5MjBkZjFhNTViYzU1N2VlODFhMWVlZmE= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:08:50 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjFmMmU5NzRiNzQ4YzEwN2RhYThiOWVlMzEzNjg0ODU= An excerpt from a James Carville/DSCC fundraising email:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Reform health care? Nope. Create jobs? Nada. Bring civility to Washington? Not on your life.</strong><br /><br />Frankly, the Republicans' only goal is to deep-six ours. And they're using every last lie and liar to make it happen:</p> <ul> <li>Fox News' Glenn Beck is a veritable fountain of untruths, including that President Obama is a "racist" and Marxists run the White House.</li> </ul> </blockquote> <p>Translation: "Hey, liberals: Give us money! We're doing everything we said we'd do against Fox News. Don't ask us about our other promises!"</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjFmMmU5NzRiNzQ4YzEwN2RhYThiOWVlMzEzNjg0ODU= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:54:53 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDYxNTA1MmU3OTlkNDI0M2NjYzI5NGVlN2Q0ZDViMTk= Bad news for the news biz: The decline is accelerating. Getting pretty lonely in those circulation departments, I imagine. Question: How do these editors and publishers keep their jobs? <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/BROKER/idUSN2633378520091026">Reuters reports:</a></p> <blockquote> <p>NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The plunge in U.S. newspaper circulation is accelerating, according to the latest figures released on Monday, as more people cancel their subscriptions and publishers cut distribution and sales of discounted copies.</p> <p>Average weekday circulation at 379 daily newspapers fell 10.6 percent to about 30.4 million copies for the six months that ended on Sept. 30, 2009 from the same period last year, according to the U.S. Audit Bureau of Circulations.</p> <p>The pace of decline more than doubled compared with last year. From September 2007 to September 2008, circulation fell 4.6 percent.</p> <p>Sunday circulation, which was measured at 562 papers, fell 7.5 percent to 40 million copies. Last year's Sunday decline was 4.9 percent. None of the top 25 papers by circulation made any Sunday gains in the latest figures.</p> </blockquote> <p>One wonders what it will take to get news executives' attention.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDYxNTA1MmU3OTlkNDI0M2NjYzI5NGVlN2Q0ZDViMTk= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:25:22 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Nzc4Y2I3Mzk3YjQ5NzFlMTE3YmUzNTdiZjY1NmM3YmI= <a href="http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2009/10/a_lesson_in_the_perils_of_pack.html">Paul Mulshine </a>writes in the <em>New Jersey Star Ledger</em> about Al Gore's recent <a href="http://planetgore.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjA1YzdkODkwZWFmNzVjMzRiN2IxNzgyZWFhNzVlMDc=">ducking of an inconvenient question </a>at a Wisconsin event:</p> <blockquote> <p>He tells McAleer that the judge actually ruled in favor of the movie, stating that it could be shown in British classrooms.</p> <p>Not quite. In fact <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/TenWays/story?id=3719791&page=1&page=1"><span style="color: #0000ff;">ABC news</span></a> reported that the judge ruled "screening the film in British secondary schools violated laws barring the promotion of partisan political views in the classroom. But he allowed the film to be shown on the condition that it is accompanied by guidance notes to balance Gore's 'one-sided' views, saying that the film's 'apocalyptic vision 'was not an impartial analysis of climate change.'"</p> <p>That's hardly a victory for Gore. And <a href="http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/pinocchio_time_for_al_gore_1.html"><span style="color: #0000ff;">an analysis</span></a> of the case by a genuine journalist, the Washington Post Fact Checker, revealed much shoddy work by the Gore team, both in the movie and in attacking the judge's ruling. A Gore spokeswoman, for example, said the judge had not cited "errors" in the film while the Fact Checker quotes the judge using that exact word.</p> <p>The Fact Checker goes on to note that "Scientists sympathetic to Gore have effectively conceded several errors or omissions in the movie."</p> <p>No wonder Gore ducks questions on the accuracy of his masterpiece. And when McAleer starts to get the better of Gore on the question of whether polar bear populations are increasing, the conference directors cut off his microphone. Meanwhile Gore gets away without answering the actual question asked: Has he made an attempt to correct the errors in this movie?</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Nzc4Y2I3Mzk3YjQ5NzFlMTE3YmUzNTdiZjY1NmM3YmI= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:17:48 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTJlZDFjMWM0YTI0MDc2NTY3Y2U3MmYxM2E4MGQ4YTg= <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/united-nations-investigator-launches-probe-into-us-housing-crisis/">Unbelievable</a>:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Fjl0TtvYz3k&feature" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Fjl0TtvYz3k&feature"></embed> </object> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTJlZDFjMWM0YTI0MDc2NTY3Y2U3MmYxM2E4MGQ4YTg= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:06:40 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Fred Schwarz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NGI4ZjZlYjNkNWU5YWUyYTE0NmZhNDhiYmFmZTk5NmI= <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "><a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/anchors_sink_on_jeopardy_otdWknnBnpH2jCseGGrJLL">Sending a CNN anchor to <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jeopardy</em></a> is like sending Dan Quayle to a spelling bee:</span></p> <blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; ">CNN should consider banning its anchors from appearing on “Celebrity Jeopardy” after the humiliating defeats of <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Wolf Blitzer</span> and <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Soledad_O'Brien"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Soledad O’Brien</span></a></span>. Wolf was blitzed last month, coming in last with minus-$4,600, behind comic <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Andy_Richter"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Andy Richter</span></a></span>, a past winner who racked up $68,000 for charity. “<a href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Desperate_Housewives"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;">Desperate Housewives</span></span></span></a><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;">“ star <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Dana_Delany"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Dana Delany</span></a></span> came in second. This month, it was O’Brien’s turn against NBA legend <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Kareem Abdul Jabbar</span> and <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Michael_McKean"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Michael McKean</span></a></span>, of “Spinal Tap,” “Laverne & Shirley” and “</span></span><a href="http://www.nypost.com/t/Saturday_Night_Live"><span style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;">Saturday Night Live</span></span></span></a><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style=",helvetica,sans-serif;">.” McKean, a previous winner, ended with $24,800, followed by Abdul Jabbar with $8,800 and O’Brien with $6,200. A CNN insider defended the journalists: “They are reporters, not trivia experts. And the buzzer is complicated. It’s not activated until <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Alex</span> [<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Trebek</span>] finishes the last syllable of the question. If you hit the button too soon, nothing happens.”</span></span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "><a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anchorman:_The_Legend_of_Ron_Burgundy">And besides</a>, t</span><span style="font-family: " lang="EN">hey don’t take in account houses that have more than two television sets, and <br />. . . other things of that nature . . .</span></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NGI4ZjZlYjNkNWU5YWUyYTE0NmZhNDhiYmFmZTk5NmI= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:18:53 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDZkMWM4MTk5MWU2ZmU1OTkzY2YxNWQ0ODQzZmU2Yzg= <em><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/10/bob-griese-juan-pablo-montoya.html">Los Angeles Times</a></em>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Another day, another ESPN analyst in trouble. On the heels of the Steve Phillips "Fatal Attraction" remake, ESPN football analyst Bob Griese apologized twice Saturday for a comment he made about NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya during ESPN's telecast of Ohio State and Minnesota.</p> <p>To promote Sunday's NASCAR race, ESPN displayed a graphic with the top five drivers in the Chase for the Cup race. Color commentator Chris Spielman asked "Where's Montoya?"</p> <p>"Out eating a taco," Griese responded.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDZkMWM4MTk5MWU2ZmU1OTkzY2YxNWQ0ODQzZmU2Yzg= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:26:16 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmZjZjY2MmFkODQyYTNmMjBhMTVlZWMwYWZiYmQ1MmY= Here's the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8910893">video</a> of the <em>This Week</em> panel Kathryn mentioned <a href="http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTMxNjUwMTEzMDY4MGM1Mjk5ZTg0M2NjMjlmMTJjNjk=">over in the Corner</a>.  Good stuff -- and stick around for the discussion on Afghanistan.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmZjZjY2MmFkODQyYTNmMjBhMTVlZWMwYWZiYmQ1MmY= Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:15:24 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDdmNTdmNjZhZjhkNGMyZWQ4YWUxZjAyNDZjZWQ5YmM= <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/21/cbsnews_investigates/main5404829.shtml">CNN:</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Washington (CNN) </strong>-- President Obama has declared a national emergency to deal with the "rapid increase in illness" from the H1N1 influenza virus.</p> <p>"The 2009 H1N1 pandemic continues to evolve. The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities," Obama said in a statement.</p> <p>"Thus, in recognition of the continuing progression of the pandemic, and in further preparation as a nation, we are taking additional steps to facilitate our response."</p> <p>The president signed the declaration late Friday and announced it Saturday.</p> </blockquote> <p>CBS News, however, disagrees with the threat.  Here's an excerpt, but read the whole thing:</p> <blockquote> <h2>CBS News Exclusive: Study Of State Results Finds H1N1 Not As Prevalent As Feared</h2> <p><strong>(CBS) </strong> If you've been diagnosed "probable" or "presumed" <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/qa.htm"><span style="color: #0000ff;">2009 H1N1 or "swine flu" </span></a>in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu. <br /><br />In fact, you probably didn’t have flu at all. That's according to state-by-state test results obtained in a three-month-long CBS News investigation. <br /><br />The ramifications of this finding are important. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Britain's National Health Service, once you have H1N1 flu, you're immune from future outbreaks of the same virus. Those who think they've had H1N1 flu -- but haven't -- might mistakenly presume they're immune. As a result, they might skip taking a vaccine that could help them, and expose themselves to others with H1N1 flu under the mistaken belief they won't catch it. Parents might not keep sick children home from school, mistakenly believing they've already had H1N1 flu. <br /><br />Why the uncertainty about who has and who hasn't had H1N1 flu? <br /><br />In late July, the CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting individual cases. The rationale given for the CDC guidance to forego testing and tracking individual cases was: why waste resources testing for H1N1 flu when the government has already confirmed there's an epidemic? <br /><br />Some public health officials privately disagreed with the decision to stop testing and counting, telling CBS News that continued tracking of this new and possibly changing virus was important because H1N1 has a different epidemiology, affects younger people more than seasonal flu and has been shown to have a higher case fatality rate than other flu virus strains.</p> </blockquote> <p>The rest <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/21/cbsnews_investigates/main5404829.shtml">here</a></p> <p>Watch out CBS, or the president will go to war with you, too, over this propaganda.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDdmNTdmNjZhZjhkNGMyZWQ4YWUxZjAyNDZjZWQ5YmM= Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:11:27 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzNjMjM5NjNiNGFlZWFhMDY4MTRkNDljMTIzYzJhNGI= But how long has MSDNC's parent company and Bill O'Reilly target GE been advertising on FoxNews.com?  Here they are sponsoring the "Latest News/Most Read" section of the site:</p> <p><img id="__mce_tmp" src="http://www2.nationalreview.com/dest/2009/10/24/9d5da4c72b79e44cb80e60fab42a6ed5.jpg" alt="" /></p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzNjMjM5NjNiNGFlZWFhMDY4MTRkNDljMTIzYzJhNGI= Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:16:44 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTQ5ZDNjOWYxOTk5YWY5MWIzMThlMTdmYTc5ZGU2MWY= <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/23/russia.skating.bear.death/index.html">Does anyone blame the bear?</a></p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Ice skating bear kills Russian circus hand</strong></p> <p><strong>MOSCOW, Russia (CNN)</strong> -- A bear on ice skates attacked two people during rehearsals at a circus in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, killing one of them, Kyrgyz officials said Friday.</p> <p>In the incident, which happened Thursday, the 5-year-old animal killed the circus administrator, Dmitry Potapov, and mauled an animal trainer, who was attempting to rescue him.</p> <p>"The incident occurred during a rehearsal by the Russian state circus company troupe which was performing in Bishkek with the program, Bears on Ice," Ministry of Culture and Information director Kurmangazy Isanayev told reporters.</p> <p>It is unclear what caused the bear to attack Potapov, 25, nearly severing one of his legs while dragging him across the ice by his neck. Medical personnel were unable to save Potapov, who died at the scene.</p> </blockquote> <p>It's unclear?  Unclear to whom?</p> <div class="cnnSnapShotHeader"> <div class="cnnStoryTools"> <ul> <!-- <li class="cnnOpinMosaic"> <mce:script language="JavaScript"><! //if (typeof(cnnSectionName) != "undefined") { //if(cnnSectionName == "Health"){ //O_GoT('<img src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/1.3/misc/opinionBlue.gif" mce_src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/1.3/misc/opinionBlue.gif" border="0" title="Feedback" style="margin-right:5px;" mce_style="margin-right:5px;">Feedback');}} // // --> --> </ul> </div> </div><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTQ5ZDNjOWYxOTk5YWY5MWIzMThlMTdmYTc5ZGU2MWY= Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:40:40 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzEzYzk4ZmRiYWE1N2EzMGI2MjZlZDExNjMxZGQ4ZTE= Over Tapper's defense of Fox News. <a href="http://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu">Via Rosen's Twitter feed</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Q's are your call, @<a class="tweet-url username" href="http://twitter.com/jaketapper"><span style="color: #0000ff;">jaketapper</span></a>. Your view of Fox as just another news organization is dangerously naive; it reflects very little thought.</span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">Fox News was founded to de-legitimate what you do, @<a class="tweet-url username" href="http://twitter.com/jaketapper"><span style="color: #0000ff;">jaketapper</span></a>. But you aren't thinking clearly enough to see that. <a class="tweet-url web" rel="nofollow" href="http://bit.ly/30WlE5" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://bit.ly/30WlE5</span></a></span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">@<a class="tweet-url username" href="http://twitter.com/jaketapper"><span style="color: #0000ff;">jaketapper</span></a> I think it's appropriate for the White House to argue for its view of a legitimate news organization, and take the heat if wrong</span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">See my point? <a class="tweet-url web" rel="nofollow" href="http://jr.ly/uude" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://jr.ly/uude</span></a> RT @<a class="tweet-url username" href="http://twitter.com/jaketapper"><span style="color: #0000ff;">jaketapper</span></a>: "all that was meant was a fellow credentialed member org. of the White House press corps."</span></span></p> <p><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">I don't think @<a class="tweet-url username" href="http://twitter.com/jaketapper"><span style="color: #0000ff;">jaketapper</span></a> had thought it through when he called Fox News a "sister organization" <a class="tweet-url web" rel="nofollow" href="http://jr.ly/w7bm" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://jr.ly/w7bm</span></a> Do you?</span><span class="meta entry-meta"><a class="entry-date" rel="bookmark" href="http://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/5098231348"><span class="published timestamp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">about 1 hour ago</span></span></a> <span>from web</span> </span></span></p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzEzYzk4ZmRiYWE1N2EzMGI2MjZlZDExNjMxZGQ4ZTE= Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:15:37 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWE3YTcwMTIwNDU4MmRhYjcyOTlmMTVkZjFmZjZhN2I= A great video over at <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/mkoldys/blog/rjo277998087.html">Johnny Dollar's Place</a> on just how serious the boycott is and how the White House's actions are a possible violation of the Constitution:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EMyKzxjUuS8&feature" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EMyKzxjUuS8&feature"></embed> </object> </p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWE3YTcwMTIwNDU4MmRhYjcyOTlmMTVkZjFmZjZhN2I= Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:31:26 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmUzYThhOTQ4M2M2ZTNlZjA0ZWM0ZjdhZDM1ZjI0OGE= <em>Vanity Fair </em>is chopping staff, but the boss, Graydon Carter, remains aloof. <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/graydon_awol_as_vanity_fair_cuts_k2uJbDGl9ydU0uTa0OE16K">The <em>Post </em>reports:</a></p> <blockquote> <p>Although Carter was said to have been at his restaurant, The Monkey Bar last night, he was a no-show at the office during the day.</p> <p>Vanity Fair's layoffs were said to be in the double-digit range, and hit as high as senior editors and as low as fact checkers, and were deep, in part, because Carter largely ignored the edict to chop 5 percent late last year.</p> <p>Additional people will be booted from the contributing editor ranks, a source said.</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmUzYThhOTQ4M2M2ZTNlZjA0ZWM0ZjdhZDM1ZjI0OGE= Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:15:44 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTQ2NzY4NzQ4MjI2NmI0ODAwNjRhZjE1MTc5OGRiMWQ= <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1009/Media_Matters_coordinates_campaign_against_lethal_Fox.html?showall"><em>Politico</em> has the Media Matters memo going around to liberal organizations</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Dear:<br /><br />In recent days, a new level of scrutiny has been directed toward Fox News, in no small part due to statements from the White House, and from Media Matters, challenging its standing as a news organization.<br /><br />Media Matters has monitored Fox News every day for more than 5 years. Our analysis of their programming has led us to the unavoidable conclusion that Fox is no longer operating as a “conservative news organization,” but as an outright partisan political operation - and brazenly so.<br /><br />Since the election of Barack Obama, the Fox News Channel has transformed itself into something truly unprecedented: a lethal 24/7 partisan political operation with an instantaneous national reach. Fox has declared war on this White House, the majority in the United States Congress, and progressive organizations and activists. For Fox News, victory is defined as the destruction of both the Obama administration and the entire progressive policy agenda. Fox News host Glenn Beck predicted last week that he will soon "take the administration down."<br /><br />The danger to progressive causes and the institution of journalism has become too significant to ignore. At Media Matters, we believe it is of paramount importance that progressive leaders have the information necessary to understand exactly what Fox News has become. We hope this brief memorandum will assist you in reaching your own decision on how best to engage this threat. <br /><br />As our evidence demonstrates, Fox News has exhibited a consistent willingness to ignore any and all journalistic standards to pursue political ends. The failure to recognize Fox News for what it is enables the network to continue waging a massive conservative political campaign disguised as journalism. <br /><br />We hope you find this information helpful. If you have any questions or would like any additional information, please feel free to contact Media Matters at your convenience. Together, we can hold Fox News accountable to the high standards of journalism every American has a right to expect from their media.<br /><br />Sincerely, <br /><br />David Brock<br />Founder & CEO, Media Matters for America</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTQ2NzY4NzQ4MjI2NmI0ODAwNjRhZjE1MTc5OGRiMWQ= Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:01:50 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTE2YTM4OGM2ODc5N2VhMDc4ZDQzOTIwMzcxMjhhZWE= Yesterday the White House tried to keep Fox News from interviewing "Pay Czar" Kenneth Feinberg and a surprising thing happened: The rest of the MSM outlets in the pool told the White House that if Fox doesn't get the interview, they would skip it as well.  <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2009/10/22/its-come-to-this-white-house-tries-to-bar-fox-news-from-interviewing-pay-czar/">Hot Air has the details</a>.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTE2YTM4OGM2ODc5N2VhMDc4ZDQzOTIwMzcxMjhhZWE= Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:19:31 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Greg Pollowitz) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDc1NjdlODI1YTRlYzVjYzc5YWUyMmU3ODk2YzllOTk= <a href="http://blogs.kansas.com/gov/2009/10/22/msnb-countdown-host-olbermann-disses-the-parking-lot-at-lawrence-dumont/">Over a parking lot?</a></p> <blockquote> <p>In mocking the anti-tax “tea party” movement, MSNBC “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann smeared the parking lot at Lawrence Dumont Stadium, where the “Tea Party Express” bus tour is scheduled to make a stop Nov. 4.</p> <p>This from <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/33423266#33423266"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Olbermann’s Wednesday night broadcast</span></a>:</p> <p>“Tea Party Express II launches this weekend, coming to 38 cities according to its press release; 37 on their Web site — Oh well.</p> <p>“Previous tea parties so successful they now have to hold them in such venues as Wichita’s Lawrence Dumont Stadium (pause) parking lot.”</p> <p>Note to Mr. Olbermann:</p> <p>Keith,</p> <p>As a national sports broadcaster, you should be aware that the parking lot at Lawrence Dumont Stadium — home of the mighty Wichita Wingnuts — is one of the premier parking venues in unaffiliated minor league baseball.</p> <p>It’s paved and striped and even has lights to help you find your car at night.</p> <p>With the stadium’s narrow concourses and incessant wind, the LD parking lot is one of the finest places in America to shag foul balls.</p> <p>In fact, we like it so well that we’re going to park there and shuttle to our new $205 million arena nearly a mile away.</p> <p>Admittedly, we may be a bit backward out here in flyover country. When the need arises to park a bus, we usually do that in a parking lot.</p> <p>Where do you put buses in Rockefeller Center?</p> </blockquote><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDc1NjdlODI1YTRlYzVjYzc5YWUyMmU3ODk2YzllOTk= Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:15:57 -0400 webmaster@nationalreview.com (Kevin D. Williamson) http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjA2ZDkwM2IxN2E2YjIxZDlhNTA1YzIzYmY3OTk4MTY= A: Very.</p> <p><a href="http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTNhZGQxYzVmMjU4NjY3NTIwMWFjMDQ0ZjJlODM0MzA=">Charles Krauthammer </a>is especially interesting on the White House vs. Fox business, but one thing about this is going to make my head explode: Freelance Mao apologist Anita Dunn dismisses Fox as "opinion journalism masquerading as news." Asked to cite a Fox story that was unfair, Robert Gibbs said to tune in at 5 p.m. and find out. So, Glenn Beck is in the 5 p.m. slot, and much of what Dunn and Gibbs and the rest of the White House bedwetters lament on Fox is Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, etc. But that is not "opinion journalism masquerading as news." That's opinion journalism masquerading as opinion journalism. Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are not news anchors and don't pretend to be. (Seriously? Beck? An anchor? With the funny Kermit voices?)</p> <p>On the other hand, the "objective" news media at CNN, the networks, and elsewhere just disgraced themselves by smearing Rush Limbaugh with a bunch of quotes that were made up. They tried to take down George W. Bush with fraudulent documents. They blow up cars for dramatic effect. That's not "opinion journalism masquerading as news," either, that's fiction masquerading as news. Dan Rather's ideological bias was every bit as obvious as Beck's, but Rather was a news anchor. In fact, Fox is one of the last places you'll ever find "opinion journalism masquerading as news" because so much of their programming is opinion journalism, advertised as such.</p><br /><hr width=100% size=2><br /> http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjA2ZDkwM2IxN2E2YjIxZDlhNTA1YzIzYmY3OTk4MTY= Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:05:40 -0400