Joe the Plumber Data Dive Whistleblower Was Threatened with Firing; Me
The Columbus Dispatch has done some impressive work exposing the unauthorized and arguably illegal database diving done by State of Ohio employees into the records of Joe the Plumber in October. The rest of Ohio's and the nation's media have been virtually asleep. In a previous post (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted that Vanessa Niekamp, the state employee who blew the lid off the…
Lefty Granny Sues Army Over Embed SNAFU
The Oakland Tribune reports the story of a hipster granny from Berkeley that has decided to sue the U.S. military over a reporter embed she arranged in Iraq that was abruptly canceled by the government. While the Oakland Trib and the hippie granny try their hardest to make the U.S. military the villain, it's a bit hard to feel too sorry for her when the facts are considered. On top of that, the…
Oprah Whines that Sarah Hasn't Come on Oprah Show
Oprah cries: "She talked to Greta. She talked to Matt. She talked to Larry. But she didn’t talk to me…"
Apparently, Oprah is whining that Sarah Palin won't come on her show now that the election is over. But, who can blame Governor Palin for snubbing Oprah after the nasty things Oprah reportedly said about her before the election?
In an interview with TV tabloid schlocker Extra, Oprah acted all…
Follow-up: Former CA Speaker's Son Enters Murder Plea; Dem Party ID Bu
Updating Kerry Picket's NewsBusters post yesterday on the arrest of former (as of four days ago) Democratic California Assembly member Fabian Nuñez's son on murder charges -- Esteban Nuñez and others charged with murder pled not guilty Thursday. The party-ID treatment of Fabian Nuñez, whose term as California Assemly Speaker ended on May 13, but whose term in the Assembly ended just this past…
Matthews: From Thrilled to Hypocritical in Under a Minute
Budding United States Senate candidate and still current MSNBC Hardball anchor Chris Matthews finds few things in life as thrilling as President-elect Barack Obama. Republican in-fighting, certainly, comes close.As we saw on Tuesday, when Chris the Contender gleefully reported on another potential Senate challenge, of current Alaska GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski by her Governor, Sarah Palin. There…
LA Times: A Medium of One
The Los Angeles Times recently created a stir among the Pentagon press corps, running a page one story implying that the Defense Department was cheating wounded warriors out of their disability pay.The LAT shared the story of a Marine “wounded twice in Iraq -- by a roadside bomb and a land mine” and a soldier who “crushed her back and knees diving for cover during a mortar attack in Iraq.” The…
My Day On Campus: No 'Out' Republicans Among Budding Media Professiona
The future of a media dominated by left-leaning professionals seems assured. At least, it is if my experience addressing an Ithaca College course today is any indication. Professor Wenmouth Williams, Jr. kindly invited me in to address two sections of his course on media and politics at Ithaca College's Park School of Communications.Prof. Williams—who identified himself as a registered Dem—…
AP Touts Alabama County Resolution: Barack Obama Day
A small county in rural Alabama is making national news for passing a motion declaring that the second Monday in November will be forever recognized as "Barack Obama Day". Normally small county resolutions that affect a mere 40 of this nation's 301 million residents would not capture a national audience. In this case however the AP has discovered one of those pivotal occasions where they can…
Reuters Calls Name Calling a 'Violent Hate Crime' Against Arab-America
Apparently, if one calls an Arab-American an A** H*le, Reuters and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee want all Americans to know that this is to be considered a "violent hate crime." At least that is what it seems when looking over the very lose and sloppy definition of "violent hate crimes" in a recent story on the falling numbers of such crimes against Arab-Americans in the U.S.…
Bigger Buffoon Face-Off: Is It Rendell on Napolitano, or Campbell Brow
At first glance, it's hard to figure out who is the bigger buffoon: Is it Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, for suggesting that Arizona Governor and Obama Homeland Security Secretary-Designate Janet Napolitano is perfect for her presumptive position because she's single and can therefore "have no life"?Or is it CNN's Campbell Brown, for criticizing Rendell's sexism and bias against employees who…
NPR: 'Tennessee Racists Vote for McCain, Elect Republicans to State Le
Against the odds, GOP candidates in the state of Tennessee experienced a historic win. In addition to delivering the state to John McCain, Republicans won both chambers of the state legislature. And, as the Wall Street Journal reported, "Sen. Lamar Alexander became the first Republican to carry all but one county in his re-election win -- even taking a quarter of Tennessee's black votes." NPR was…
Harry Reid's 'Smelly Tourists' Comment: No Republican or Conservative
Some think that Harry Reid must live a charmed life. After all, he asserted last year that the Iraq War "is lost." Now it looks like victory, at least to seasoned on-the-ground observers like Michael Yon. He has fretted over how fossil fuels like coal make us sick. Never mind that life expectancy, largely, uh, fueled by industrialization and its accompanying higher living standards, continues to…
Unsurprisingly, Illegal Deported for Armed Robbery Finds NYT in His Co
A criminal without legal status deported by US immigration officials is the subject of the latest pity party thrown by The New York Times. The Times seems to find it lamentable that this gang member and armed robber was deported from "his homeland" -- that would be the USA -- to Cambodia, the land of his birth (one he left when he was a 3-year-old). Why does the NYTimes bemoan the deportation of…
Silent Success: Nov. US Troop Deaths from Hostile Action in Iraq Tie A
How can you tell that the news from Iraq about American casualties continues to be good? You barely hear about it. It would be better to report no deaths, of course. But according to icasualities.org, 17 US soldiers died in Iraq during November. Only seven of those deaths were the result of hostile enemy action, tying an all-time low: And here's another "surprise," considering how we were told…
