Open Thread


For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: renewed violence in Iraq (paragraph break removed):

Iraqi authorities say the death toll from five days of intense fighting between Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militias has surged to more than 200. Many of the casualties have occurred in Baghdad's Sadr City, a stronghold of militias loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. A spokesman for the Iraqi Health Ministry says at least 75 people have been killed and nearly 500 wounded in clashes and U.S.-led airstrikes.

Will media go back to paying to attention to the war not that it's getting hot again? Will this be fresh fodder to claim the surge is a failure? Will this hurt McCain given his support of the war and the surge?

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Sean vs Debbie

Folks can try to ignore it all they want, I don't think this one's gonna go-away...Sauce for the goose!
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

Con man

Sorry, sarc, that person -- debbie shussel -- is a con man. Here's what she says: "I will release to the public, all the tape recordings I have between me and Sean Hannity both on and off the air IF, by April 15, 2008, those 100,000 readers of Huffington Post send me one dollar (or more) each until such time as I receive One-Hundred-Thousand Dollars ($100,000.) AND the deadline for the money arriving is April 15. If I receive the $100K by April 15, I will release via tape, CD and download from this site, all the "dicey" conversations we had. If I do not receive at least $100,000, by April 15, I will not release the tapes."

Don't get caught up in her so-called discussions.

___________________________________ 

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

she's QUOTING the conman

Who also happens to be a racist named Hal Turner. Read more-carefully...She's not dumb, and she's not a man, either. I don't agree with Debbie on everything, but I do agree with her that Hal Turner's a problem for Sean Hannity. Who knows what the tapes say, but IMO they're irrelevant considering the other evidence there.
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

Apples and Oranges, as usual

This is all a smokescreen, pumped up by this Debbie person. There is a big difference between a causual relationship that ended 8 years ago and an on-going, very personal relationship between Obama and his pastor. Liberals are always trying to mix those apples and oranges in the hope that someone buys their false "equivalency" argument.

___________________________________ 

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

the relationship looks more than casual to me.

But then, I don't get Sean's private phone number. And the point isn't that the relationship ended 8 years ago, because if Debbie's right, according to Sean the relationship with Turner never happened. Color me dubious...I'd say apples and apples, and even though I'm not giving a penny to the tape fund, it'll be amusing if tape gets released...
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

One HUGE difference here, Sarc

Sean Hannity isn't running for President. He's a talkshow host who
relies on sensationalism. Barak Hussein Obama is a candidate running
for the most powerful office in the world. Obama's thoughts and
opinions deserve weight in the public arena, Sean's only matter to his
listening audience. This is another attempt by liberals to take another
conservative talk show host off the air. This will end up just like all
of the Rush Limbaugh issues end up. He'll still be popular and he'll
still be on the air. Before you say it, no, I do not like nor listen to
Sean Hannity.

Stultus est sicut stultus facit

Good point, OS....and on

Good point, OS....and on that note, Barack Obama is still defending Jeremiah Wright ....most recently on "The View."

Televangelist

If this woman was a televangelists those who believe here would be considred gullible relgious fools.

Didn't one of them pull a similar number a few years ago threatening the end of the world if he didn't get a million bucks in donations or something like that?

»→ sarc's geese-n-sauce

Sarc, I don't see this as a problem for Hannity unless it's true.

If the evidence is there, it will come out and Hannity will be toast by association.

Then it would be interesting to see how other racists treat him.

Of course if he donated $27,500 last year to that racist organization he'd really be in hot water.

♣ a seal

unless it's true...

Debbie's not too big on "false," (folks here should be happy I said that -- she's a conservative and I don't say it about all of 'em) so I doubt the Hal Turner issue will be going away for Sean anytime soon. My larger point regarding guilt by association will eventually become clear, if it's not already, if I'm right about this one. Saying it is one thing, having it happen to "your" guy is another, as some of us are now learning firsthand...
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

Will the MSM ever link al

Will the MSM ever link al Sadr to Iran, and then report on how Iran, al Sadr, and Hezzbola are the agitators in the Middle East? Or will they continue to point the finger at evil Israel and eeeevvill America as the source of the world's problems?

___________________________________ 

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

Silly man

Or course not.  Of course so. 

David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive

 

LOL ______________________

LOL

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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

This may be the End of Sadr and company

al Sadr Could be done in by the Iraq Army, representing the Iraq People.   They don't Torture Terrorists, they kill them. 

IF the Iraq leadership can pull this off, the legitimate Govt. of the Iraq people may gain some respect from the militias . . .Don't mess with the American Trained Iraq Army. . .they enforce the laws of the land.

Let's hope this succeeds, and let's hope the Iraq Govt. does not understand how to conduct a Harry Reid Retreat.  We've learned so much about "Encouraging the Enemy" from Congress, lets hope no one in the Iraq Army reads the NY Times.  

Wait a minute.....That's a LOT of Hopes here . . . well, someone has to take Obama's Place, he's self destructing.

 

Maliki vs Sadr

IF the Iraq leadership can pull this off, the legitimate Govt. of the Iraq people may gain some respect from the militias .

I always hated fiction where the sub-plots were overly complex. Looks like world affairs are getting to that point.

OK, but it seems to me that Maliki is just as much a in bed with the Iranians as Sadr. He has more influence in getting the government forces to back his own militias, even if he may have smaller militia support of his own on the ground. But so why take sides?

Also, I can't see that the "legitimate" government of Iraq is really all that legitimate considering there is only one semi-successful vote on the record, and it's really rather dubious if there is any real consensus among the population -- especially at the rate things keep changing. Of course, it becomes a lesson to the inhabitants of Iraq that who you elect really does matter. Pyrrhic education??

Can't quite figure if the idea is to keep the Iraqis fighting each other, but it must be that, or else Bush would encourage them to make peace with each other. Granted Sadr is openly anti-American, so maybe it's just more of that typical vindictive assertion of power the Bush team has opted for so often. Kill Sadr before he gets his doctorate in Theology? make him fight, and kill him before he widens his political appeal -- don't let him switch to civil struggle because he might win? Is it all as Machiavellian as that?

the movie stop loss

you think they should recan stop loss and base it off of hollywood instead of iraq, because they are the ones losing. 

another "america is bad" movie and it flopped in a superb fashion. but yet 21 is doing well, even though kevin spacey is a big liberal it looks to be good and demonstrates conservative values albeit in a flashy setting that if you use your head and try hard you can succeed even against tremendous odds.

i wonder if kevin realized he was making a movie that was rooted in a conservative thought process.

lunaticcringeradio

double

double post

I wasn't going to say THAT...

Believe me, Debbie's a lot of things, but one of them is not a lefty...

I'm sure she's a pundit who wants his salary (hell, so do I -- I think I could infuriate Colmes just as well as Sean does!) and she obviously resents when stuff is lifted without attribution, but I don't think she's doing this to hurt her own party. She's pissed at him.

And, to be brutally-frank about it, IMO the conservative movement would suffer no great intellectual loss if this scandalette DID get Sean off the air. If anything, that loss probably happened when Bob Grant was dumped for Sean in the first place, and over a similar scandal. Radio talk show hosts like to step up racial controversy, and it sometimes bites them in the ass.
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

I listen to Hannity's radio

I listen to Hannity's radio program once or twice a week. On it, he has had callers that begin spouting racist remarks (white and black) and he immediately cuts them off. They are not given air time. So, this person that claims that he has given this white racist air time is just wrong. Hannity does a great job taking liberals to task. While he is a Republican, he is a conservative first. That means that he has also taken our president to task where he thought he was wrong. For example, Hannity championed, as did several other talk show hosts, the call-ins and write-ins to our congress when they were trying to pass an amnesty bill. If it weren't for Hannity and other conservatives this bill would have passed. In all the time that I have listened to Hannity, either on his radio program or his two TV programs, I have never heard him utter a racist remark. By the way, Hannity has done much to assist our service member's families with his Freedom Concerts. On his web site he has several worthy programs that help our soldiers right now. Why don't you promote those programs instead of this Debbie person's agenda? Don't you think that would be more useful?

What's useful to me is the truth.

I do think he has given this racist air time, repeatedly, and what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander when it comes to me. That's why I'm hated, and that's also why I'm loved. After all these years, it's also an aspect of me that's quite unlikely to change...1 standard, folks.
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

sarco

when you explore the whole thing has the person in question been banned by hannity?  is hannity running for POTUS?  was RP running for POTUS?

sauce for the goose as you say.......... 

"Television is where you watch people in your living room that you would not want near your house."       Groucho

Ad Revenue for Newspapers

 

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003781895

Link basically says newspapers had biggest loss of ad revenue in 50 years.

js

and this applies to racism and association as applied to Obama, Hannity and Paul exactly how? 

"Television is where you watch people in your living room that you would not want near your house."       Groucho

I wasn't the one who first brought up the name

Paul. Or Obama, for that matter. That was deliberate, and might function as an argument for "apples." Sorry, but I detect...um...."golden delicious" in between today & yesterday, when I began the mockin'! :)
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

the video at debbies site you linked

was about Obama so uh yes you did bring up Obama

and around here you have made yourself reference to R. Paul

one standard J

"Television is where you watch people in your living room that you would not want near your house."       Groucho

Nope.

Debbie did. One standard is right. And I keep saying Paul's irrelevant, but how he was treated, even if I'm right, is not. I'm among either activists or ignorers, as I already said.
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

nope? then

you brought up nothing?

====ignore the link nothing to see=== 

???????

"Television is where you watch people in your living room that you would not want near your house."       Groucho

More like...

I deliberately brought up NO politicians' names. Imagine it's 3 years ago... I'm busily pestering Prof. Walter Williams to run for President, with absolutely no idea that Dr. Ron Paul plans to run instead. You also know nothing about the coming 3 years in this scenario.

What would you think of this issue, then. That's the issue, and that's why I tried to keep the focus on Hannity and his (denied...) friend, even though I knew from experience that it would lead to this eventually...
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

backtrack to today

has hannity banned said person from the show? 

"Television is where you watch people in your living room that you would not want near your house."       Groucho

Yep, as I understand it. BUT

That's not the standard others are being judged-by, is it? He's not a Presidential candidate. It's a totally different question in this era's context...The real question to ask seems more like "has Hannity denied a relationship with said person," but the answer to that one's a bit less convenient.
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

hannity is in a field where

hannity is in a field where you must be freindly with all kinds of people you disagree with.

Hellz J i like you does that make me an RP supporter.  There is a large difference between a horizontal relationship and a verticle one.  Was this dude a hannity mentor/teacher as a pastor is? 

Sauce for the goose compared to stuffing imo  

"Television is where you watch people in your living room that you would not want near your house."       Groucho

Hmmm....

"hannity is in a field where you must be freindly with all kinds of people you disagree with."

Sounds like politics, but that doesn't mean you give just anyone your personal phone# and then get to deny what looks like a very close relationship when it's inconvenient. Hal wasn't just any ordinary caller, and we both know it. And yes, by this single standard of "logic" you're guilty by association. Hence my repeated invocations of sauce for geese.
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

Yep, sauce for the goose.

He was banned once he was no-longer useful. Their very relationship was denied despite a few interesting phone numbers and what might be some very-interesting tapes that are currently in the hands of the racist. And NJ law says those tapes can be legally sold.

Look, I experienced here people who first vehemently denied the racism of an obviously-racist (in both history and present-fact) drugwar, only to then attack Dr. Paul as a racist for things he obviously didn't write & disavowed repeatedly over the decades. I'm not going to be easy to impress with the idea that conservatives have a single standard here, because I've seen & shown that SOME of them clearly don't, like it or not.

Around here, it seems I'm either among callous racism-ignorers one day and hypersensitive racial activists the next -- all depending on the issue's politics and convenience. You know me, so you can expect feet to be held to the single-standard fire on this kind of hypocrisy by yours truly, and that's what's been happening in today's & yesterday's open threads, much to my amusement.

The issue is not, as I already said, going away, especially now that Debbie's on it. And something tells me, the more I think about it, that those tapes'll get released pretty soon whether or not the racist gets all/any of the money. How else can he get his name in the news???
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

You didn't answer my

You didn't answer my questions. 

Do you have dates, times, and content for your accusations or are you just supporting another blogger who wants to make money on a scandal or else? 

By the way, stop trying to use the "Slick Willy" defense (I am lying philanderer, but hey! everybody does it, defense).  bambi aka Hussien Obamba is a racist, America is wrong, hate monger like his "pastor" who he tells us is his closest friend, mentor, contributor to, associated with for 20+ years, etc., etc.   He not only doesn't deserve to be a candidate for the presidency, he should be forced to resign from the senate. 

I did answer.

I believe Debbie, check her site for info. And I'm not using any "defense," I'm holding people to one standard, as I've said. You just don't like it, and that only means it's apparently working as planned, so thanks! :)
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

Just because you believe

Just because you believe someone who makes a claim, doesn't make it a reality. There is no "same standard," since no wrongdoing on Hannity's part has been proved.  You are nothing more than than a neo-liberal (which is what most "Libertarians" really are). So you buying Debbie's forced claims (gee, surprising that she came out with these claims right after Obama was tagged for what she claims Hannity did) is not surprising. Like liberals you detest Fox News, and hate conservatives because they refuse to buy the anarchistic side of the neo-liberal "philosophy." "Let's legalize all drugs, we hate to see thong gang members and pushers get killed over it, we'll put them out of  business so legitimate big business can make heroin, crack and ecstasy even more available to the masses! FCC should stay out of child pornography on TV!"  These are also opinions treasured by liberals, who love smut and want to use the money for the drug war to expand welfare and other programs, and also because they are souless, hedonistic morons who stand for no true principles. Another thing they share who so-called libertarians, aka. neo-liberals.

You also have the liberals paranoia, anytime you are rebuked, you ignore facts and resort to rambling conspiracy theories  and nut bag twaddle about secret CIA drug helicopters and who knows what other bullcrap.

Hannity bans the guy from the air, and your response of, "duh, because he served his purpose," is typical of liberals. When someone does the right thing you use twisted logic to make it sound as evidence of wrongdoing. Would you have bought it if Hannity had kept the guy on the air and said, "I didn't ban him from my show, because people would have thought I only did it because he already served my purposes?" You would, you're stupid enough to do so, since you don't find Debbie's behavior of holding "evidence" unless she gets paid money as suspicious. And don't respond by posting links to other websites to support your "evidence," posting links to other idiots opinions like you don't mean much.  Just like liberals, you response to someone of your ilk being exposed is to then try to find someone on the other side to bemoan as doing the same thing so you can say, "see, they're no better!" You tend to jump on whichever conservative the liberals drag out to retaliate when one of their troops is taken out, so your claims this is only "to use the same standard" rings hollow. You like liberals, love to tar every conservative as a racist, don't you? 

You're worst than any of the regular out-in-the-open lefties, you drug-pushing, anarchistic, slandering piece of garbage.

 

Everything must be free, of course

Two NYT opinion pieces really irritate me today. The first tries to promote free internet. As the Times puts it, "The neighborhoods that most need low-cost, public wireless service...". Needs!?!* What the he?? I've got news for you. I also "need" free wireless -- along with a free PC, a housing voucher, and food stamps so I can also afford my Game Boy, and beer as I surf. I'm tired of the so-called fees and taxes that promote all this free stuff.

The other article is designed to bash credit card companies because they are deceptive and, of course, prey on all of us. Now, mind you, the Daily KOs has just suggested that liberals are the smartest people in the land, and only conservatives are dumb enough to fall prey to these tactics, so why is the NYT trying to protect all of us conservatives that are so stupid as to be taken in by these evil credit card companies? And of course, the only way out of this mess is proposed by Congressional Democrats, which the Times lauds.

___________________________________ 

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

Two NYT opinion pieces

Two NYT opinion pieces really irritate me today. The first tries to promote free internet. . . .

Perhaps it's time we all wrote to the NYT and told them they should use their windfall profits to provide free newspapers to us all. We should also demand they hire only illegals and fire all the elite journalists they have working for them.

D

Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.

"The other article is

"The other article is designed to bash credit card companies because they are deceptive and, of course, prey on all of us."

In other words they don't give away their services for free, and horrors of horrors try to make a profit from it! In even simplier words, they are a business and not a charity, so that's that.

Just wanted to say Good

Just wanted to say Good Luck to the Bruins later today!

"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill

go Xavier

and UT, Kansas, NC.

 

"Television is where you watch people in your living room that you would not want near your house."       Groucho

UK forces Cut and Run strategy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/dec/17/iraq.military

 Whadya expect ya scarpers? A ruddy pary in your wake?

 

Fitma, was on live leak (they caved) still up on youtube,???

10 min. Geert Wilders

<wake up>SAVVVE The Whales N' Earth; conserve N' recycle !

IranianUranium<sleep>Infrastructure/repair?/ROFLMAO

 

Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. IRAN FOUND HIS ASKING PRICE

The shite dude finally is getting paid by iran to do what he does, stinking KILLER..

The iraq army on the ground, USA IN THE AIR Great combo.

Iraq army has NO liability issues, at all; zip zero nadda.

<wake up>SAVVVE The Whales N' Earth; conserve N' recycle !

IranianUranium<sleep>Infrastructure/repair?/ROFLMAO

 

Deleted  ________________

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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber