Latest Cover of New Yorker Magazine Spotlights Journalistic “Amateur Hour” at its Finest
July 13, 2008
The New Yorker has apparently thrown any hint of class to the wayside, this conclusion was drawn from their decision to run a tasteless (this is putting it politely) cover illustration for this weeks publication. The cartoon portrays Michelle and Barack Obama perpetuating every single slanderous right wing stereotype. With the Oval office serving as the backdrop, a huge portrait of Osama Bin Laden as well as an American Flag in flames, adjacent to the fireplace rounds up the office decor. Obama appears in full Muslim garb, fist-bumping Michelle, who is depicted as the “afro’d out wife”, dressed in the military fatigues with a machine gun and ammo draped over her shoulder.
NBA Icon Dave Bing Announces that He Will Run for Mayor in Detroit
July 11, 2008
Dave Bing is a lot of things, he is one of the “NBA’s Top 50 Players of All time”, he was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1966-67, was named the NBA All-Star Game’s “Most Valuable Player” in 1976, and most importantly a fixture in Detroit’s rich tradition of sporting history. Earlier this morning, Dave Bing went ahead and announced that he had a new goal in mind – and that is becoming Mayor of the political nightmare known as Detroit.
*Brand New Video* Jesse Jackson’s “Insightful” Comments Caught on Tape
July 9, 2008
Good old Jesse Jackson seems to have just handed Barack Obama his “Sistah Soulja” moment on a shiny sliver platter. The incident came during an interview with FOX’s Bill O’Reilly during an “off air” conversation that Jackson thought wasn’t being recorded in fact was. Needless to say O’Reilly plans on running with this to the hills and back, while Jackson is already apologizing left and right.
What Makes FOX News Tick: The Bad, the Worse & the Ugly
July 6, 2008
FOX News is a lot of things to a lot of people. Some will tell you that it is their favorite news network, and that it is all the others that are bias in their reporting, not FOX. Then there are those like myself who feel as though FOX is the poster child of what is wrong with our mainstream media. The frame, fix, and put their own polish on the news opposed simply reporting it – which in all reality is their job, if they want to claim to be a legitimate news agency. It’s this split in opinion that makes the latest New York Times article which dissects the inside operations of FOX News that much more interesting.
FOX Stoops to a New Low: Caught Photo-shopping Images of Their Critics
July 4, 2008
Media Matters reports that on the July 2nd edition of MSNBC’s “Verdict with Dan Abrams“, host Dan Abrams asserted that Fox News “really outdid themselves this morning” – a reference to the July 2 edition of “Fox News’ Fox & Friends“, which, as Media Matters for America documented, featured photos of New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe that appeared to have been digitally altered. Specifically, the journalists’ teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and Reddicliffe’s hairline receded. Fox News gave no indication that the photos had been altered at the time.
DC Watchdog Group Files an Ethics Complaint Against Norm Coleman
July 1, 2008
Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics asking for an investigation into whether Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) violated the Senate gifts rule by accepting lodging from Republican operative Jeff Larson. The pdf copy of the complaint can be found here.
The following was posted on CREW’s website earlier today:
According to National Journal, in July 2007, Sen. Coleman began paying Mr. Larson $600 per month to rent a portion of a basement apartment in a Capitol Hill townhouse owned by Mr. Larson. After the magazine began making inquiries about the senator’s living arrangement, Sen. Coleman discovered” that he had failed to pay rent in November 2007 and January 2008, and his wife gave Mr. Larson a personal check for the $1,200. Last year, Sen. Coleman sold Mr. Larson some furniture — a couch, table and chairs and a desk — to cover one month’s rent, and Mr. Larson held onto Sen. Coleman’s March rent check for three months, until June 17, before cashing it only days after National Journal began asking questions.
Mr. Larson runs the telemarketing firm FLS Connect, which has been paid over a million dollars by Sen. Coleman’s campaign committees and leadership PAC since 2001. Mr. Larson is also the PAC’s treasurer and FLS has been providing it with office space in St. Paul. In addition, Mr. Larson’s wife, Dorene Kainz, has been working in Sen. Coleman’s St. Paul office, but after National Journal asked about her position, Sen. Coleman’s office announced that she would soon be leaving the office.
The Senate gifts rule generally prohibits members and staff from accepting gifts, but has two exceptions under which they may accept lodging: if based on personal friendship or, as long as the giver is not a lobbyist or foreign agent, if the gift constitutes personal hospitality. Because the relationship between Sen. Coleman and Mr. Larson appears to be more business than personal, the gift would not be permitted under the personal friendship” exception. Because Mr. Larson does not live in the townhouse, but rents it out to others, he is not hosting Sen. Coleman and the personal hospitality” exception would not apply.
CREW is asking the Senate Ethics Committee to look into whether or not Sen. Coleman is paying fair market value for the apartment, whether Sen. Coleman would have paid the November 2007 and January 2008 rent had National Journal not raised the non-payment as an issue, whether Sen. Coleman and Mr. Larson had agreed that Mr. Larson would not cash the March 2008 rent check, why Sen. Coleman suddenly made up his back rent after National Journal asked questions about it, and why Sen. Coleman’s office announced that Ms. Kainz would be leaving the senator’s employ after National Journal asked about her role.
After they formally filed the complaint with the proper authorities, CREW’s executive director Melanie Sloan issued this statement:
“Few Americans have landlords who sometimes fail to cash their rent checks, ignore unpaid rent, or accept furniture in lieu of rent. That Sen. Coleman has just such a landlord, who also happens to financially benefit from his relationship with the senator creates exactly the sort of appearance of impropriety that undermines the public’s faith in government. Senators must abide by the ethics rules at all times, not just when they get caught flouting them.”
This news must have Al Franken smiling. The former funny man has received the Minnesota Democrat’s endorsement to challenge Coleman’s Senate seat this upcoming November has been in a virtual dead heat with his GOP counterpart for weeks now. It will be interesting to see if this latest “dust up” reflects badly on Coleman in future polls.
McCain’s Military Record Comes Under Fire From Multiple Fronts
June 30, 2008
It seems as though some some Democratic hardliners are taking a new approach in the ongoing effort to point out John McCain’s faults, and surprisingly it includes highlighting some of McCain’s “less memorable” time spent in the military. These of course came before McCain was taken prisoner in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton”, but included a number of questionable bombing runs which have many of his critics on the far left, as well as those on the far right who are unhappy with his nomination asserting the notion that McCain may have committed war crimes throughout the 1960′s.
“New Yorker” Article Reveals that the U.S. Military is Conducting Operations Inside Iran *Video*
June 29, 2008
The upcoming July edition of the New Yorker features an article penned by Seymour Hersh that chronicles the “not so secretive” clandestine military operations currently taking place in Iran at the hands of United States military forces – which in every possible scenario is at the minimum a foreshadowing of a looming military conflict between Iraq’s neighbor, and the United States. Apparently special operations forces have been conducting cross-border operations launched from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since sometime last year.
Individual Behind the Slanderous Email Claiming Obama was a Muslim Has Finally Been Outted
June 29, 2008
You may or may not have received the infamous “email” that laid out what appears to be a legitimate background check, or “biography” per se, claiming that Barack Obama was in effect “concealing” his Muslim background. None of which of course is true, making this e-mail all the more slanderous, not to mention utterly unsubstantiated. For well over a year this farce of a email made its way in and out of email accounts across America, and is believed to have been a major factor in the 8%-13% of people who mistakenly believed the lie between November of 2007 and March of 2008.
Another ‘Senior Moment?’: Records Show McCain Failed to Pay Taxes on CA Beach House… The Last 4 Years
June 28, 2008
Someone tell John McCain to duck, because there is a fastball coming high and inside. Below is a “fresh from the press” Newsweek article regarding a highly embarrassing report that the McCain’s have failed to pay taxes on their beach-front condo in La Jolla, California. Not just once, not twice either, but the multi millionaires have failed to couch up their taxes for the last four years which has subsequently led them to their current “default” status.
