More on our media and the death of honest journalism

Mark down 2013 as part of the Dark Days of Journalism.
LA Times bans letters from climate skeptics;  "Paul Thornton, editor of the paper’s letters section, recently wrote a letter of his own, stating flatly that he won't publish some letters from those skeptical of man’s role in our planet’s warming climate. In Thornton’s eyes, those people are often wrong -- and he doesn’t print obviously wrong statements."  Much more on this here.
Hat tip to David N. Wagner in flyover country.

The pattern of free speech censorship by this same source   “ 'Useless Discourse”, perhaps?" was the phrase used by representatives of Jewish Voice for Peace a couple of years back when they came to the UC Irvine campus and referred to opinions of those who support the state of Israel. That meant that Israel supporters really shouldn’t  have a right to free speech nor a right to feel comfortable on college campuses."
Did they teach you about Yellow Journalism in school?

Yellow journalism, in short, is biased opinion masquerading as objective fact.

MSNBC's Matthews: Tea Party Racist by Using Word 'We'  "...Chris Matthews explained that Tea Party use of the word “we” was racist, and that Tea Partiers presumably still counted black people as “three-fifths” of a person. The leg-tingling host who last week explained that the term “black hole” was racist when applied to the city of Newark, added “we” to his hit list of bigotry..." 

Juan Williams Slams MSNBC: ‘I Don't Think They Even Have Any Pretense of Balance’

Media Ramp Up Rhetoric Against Right  "Just two years after launching the New Tone-era, media elites are now openly wishing conservatives dead while comparing them to terrorists, criminals, and segregationists."

MLK speaking in 1967 about the silencing of antiwar protestors
“Nothing can be more destructive of our fundamental democratic traditions than the vicious effort to silence dissenters.”
Back then it was a matter of not trusting government; today we are told to not trust anyone opposed to government's power.
Once people rebelled against government's power over us,  But today people riot in the streets, calling for government to run our lives for us. And the media have become their willing enablers.

Just words?

Even Oprah isn’t on board with ObamaCare

NY Post

"As the White House was gearing up to sell ObamaCare to the American people last summer, Valerie Jarrett, the president’s pointwoman on a host of issues, phoned Oprah Winfrey.

"She invited the Queen of All Media to join celebrities, including Amy Poehler, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys, to meet with President Obama and discuss how they could generate publicity for his health-care law.

"Oprah refused."

The Love-fest is Over--Oprah and Obama No Longer BFFs
"Apparently Oprah was promised tremendous access to the White House, and exclusive material she could use for programs on her OWN network as a reward for her campaigning during the 2008 campaign.

"Now this may surprise you, but the President didn't keep his promise."

Here's how the UK Daily Mail covers it: The President asked Oprah to help him promote Obamacare 'but she refused because she feels burned by the White House'  "According to Klein, the slight is just the talk show host's latest way of getting back at the Obama administration for failing to live up to the alleged promises that they agreed to when Winfrey campaigned for Obama in 2008."

In a move out of Orwell or the Soviet Union, television shows are being asked to include propaganda about ObamaCare  Here's a line from "Breaking Bad":

Lung cancer, am I right? Say, did you know that under the Affordable Care Act, your pre-existing health condition is no longer anything to worry about?

orlandosentinel

Conservative Arguments Stand No Chance With Media Who Drool over Protester with Confederate Flag.

The dummy should have known that when he broke that flag out of his closet. Unless he is a Democrat plant, in which case we should expect more such sights since libs have found out how well this works.

Read the visceral slams by Democrats in this post and look for intelligent arguments.

 

Media Drool over Lone Million Vet March Protester with Confederate Flag 

"On Sunday, with throngs of veterans marching through Washington D.C. to protest President Obama’s closure of war memorials, the media focused on one man in particular: a random dude with a Confederate flag at the White House. In the apparent belief that they had found the conservative Professor Moriarty standing behind the current government shutdown, media members descended as one on the flagman:"...  

 

From a TW post several days ago: One Confederate flag at the veterans rally? What do we make of a Soviet flag at a pro-Obama rally? That Che Guevara poster at an Obama office?  "Yet the mainstream media doesn't seem to find this worth mentioning."

 

The Obama campaign disavowed this as I'm sure the right will disavow the Confederate flag. But the MSM was more than happy to buy the Obama disclaimer.

 

 

 Patricia at Hold the Liberal Media and our Politicans accountable! writes:

Stop saying the confederate flag is the symbol of the Republican Party.
The Confederate flag has always been the flag of the defeated Democrat Party that lost the Civil War to the Republican Party.

Have you seen the movie,"The Help"? In real society back then, those ladies would have been mostly Democrats. 

Moral Incoherence in the Call for Academic Boycotts Against Israeli Scholars

Scholars For Peace in the Middle East  "....why argue the case for academic boycotts specifically targeting Israeli scholars and academic institutions?   Reciting the list of Israel’s perceived ongoing human rights abuses against the long-suffering Palestinians is, of course, a favorite pastime of the academic Left, in the U.S., Britain, and Ireland (not to mention, ironically, inside of Israel’s own universities), so it is no surprise that the litany of complaints lodged on behalf the victim group of the moment show themselves here as justification for the shunning of Israel scholars from campuses worldwide.

The problem, however, is that this view of Israel is the result of a long campaign of historical distortion, outright lies, and propaganda on the part of the Arab world and their apologists and same-thinking colleagues on campuses in the United States.

"The Journal of Academic Freedom [Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions] issue demonstrates the extent to which American academic organizations continue to be an arena for BDS activists, many of whom move from one platform to another. This usefully demonstrates again the organized nature of BDS and the determination of activists to penetrate all aspects of academia. The use of “academic freedom” as a means to vilify and expel Israel from the global academic community is certain to intensify." Via ISRAELI FRONTLINE

Yeah, well boycott this! Again: Arabs Fly Nazi Flag Near Road  "In a recent key speech, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu quoted numerous historical sources showing that the leader of the Palestinian Arabs in the first half of the 20th century, Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, was “one of the initiators of the Holocaust of the Jews of Europe,” and that he was constantly encouraging the Nazi leadership to annihilate the Jews, throughout the war. He cited evidence that the Mufti even visited the gas chambers at Auschwitz with Adolf Eichmann." Poor Arab victims of the Jews.

Why Europe Has a Problem with Israel   "Why do so many in Europe feel so much hostility to the most open and liberal democracy in the Middle East? Daniel Gordis, President of the Shalem Center, zeroes in on the source of the problem in this fascinating look at the complex relationship between Europe, Israel and the Arab World."

Hillary Takes Veiled Shots at Obama in McAuliffe Endorsement Speech

Big Government  "Clinton also took a shot at people who are corrupted by ideology, by special interests, or both--another sideswipe at Obama. Much of the liberal base of the Democratic Party is upset that Obama has not been stricter with Wall Street and is similarly upset that he seems more consumed with ideology than with solving problems.
“ 'If it’s only about yourself, if it’s only about you wanting to get a job and get the perks that go with it and, you know, have people stand up when you come into a room, that’s not enough anymore because it’s hard,” Clinton said. “Politics is hard, as the lieutenant governor and attorney general candidates know, because people are weary.' "

Pity the poor drones who serve the Clintons:
'They treated us like the hired help': Clinton bodyguard criticises 'aloof' Hillary and 'arrogant' staff     Snopes calls this "undetermined"

Memo Places Hillary Clinton At Core of Travel Office Case   "A memorandum by a former Presidential aide depicts Hillary Rodham Clinton as the central figure in the 1993 travel office dismissals, a politically damaging episode that the aide said had resulted from a climate of fear in which officials did not dare question Mrs. Clinton's wishes."

Oh, yeah, this:

 

Premiums for young healthy people will jump in 45 states under Obamacare

Washington Examiner  "Young people in 45 states will see their health insurance premiums increase under Obamacare because the law relies on the money they pay into the system to offset the cost of caring for older enrollees, according to a new study.
"Virginia leads the pack, as individuals aged 27 and under will see their health insurance premiums jump by 252.5 percent -- $416.55 -- according to the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis.
"Virginians under the age of 50 will see their premiums jump by an even greater percentage, rising from $228 to $991.03."

Former UK government health director dies after operation is cancelled four times at her own hospital

UK Daily Mail  "A former NHS director died after waiting for nine months for an operation - at her own hospital.
"Margaret Hutchon, a former mayor, had been waiting since last June for a follow-up stomach operation at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex.
But her appointments to go under the knife were cancelled four times and she barely regained consciousness after finally having surgery.
"Her devastated husband, Jim, is now demanding answers from Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust..."
Hat tip to Ronbo at Freedom Fighter's Journal

 

What is the NHS?  "The four publicly funded healthcare systems in the countries of the United Kingdom, and the overall system, make up the National Health Service (NHS).
"The systems are primarily funded through central taxation. The services provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use for residents of the United Kingdom. The four systems are quite independent, and operate under different management, rules, and political authority."

Does this seem familiar to you?  Government bureaucrats administering what medical professionals used to do and should be doing.

I was curious about this Shakespearean phrase in the story above: hoist by one's own petard;
(idiomatic) To be hurt, or destroyed by one's own plot or device, of one's own doing which one intended for another; to be "blown up by one's own bomb".

He has no one to blame but himself; he was hoisted by his own petard.   

   From the play Hamlet (III.iv.207) by Shakespeare

 

The Mood of 1980; Next year could be a frightening one, in the fashion of 1979–80.

Victor Davis Hanson   "Because of the failure to negotiate a single residual base in Iraq, Iran has appropriated a vast air corridor to the Middle East. John Kerry speaks sonorously to Russia and China, but apparently assumes that diplomacy follows gentlemanly New England yacht protocols, the right of way given to the more sober, judicious, and pontificating.
"When Obamacare comes on line full bore, I think the American people could be quite depressed over the strange things they encounter. The economy offers only marginal encouragement, given that unemployment is still high and growth low; printing money at a record pace is not sustainable. Only gas and oil production is encouraging — and that is despite, not because of, administration efforts."....

...."The Snowden extradition affair in and of itself could be small potatoes, but it takes on enormous iconic importance when the Chinese and Russians feel no compunction about publicly snubbing the administration — with North Korea, Iran, and many in the Middle East watching and drawing the conclusion that there are no consequences to getting on the bad side of the United States. Or perhaps they no longer see a bad side at all and consider us complacent neutral observers."...

"Red lines, deadlines, ultimatums, “make no mistake about it,” “let me be perfectly clear,” the Nobel Peace Prize — all that is the stuff of yesteryear, its currency depleted by the years of speaking quite loudly while carrying a tiny stick."

Amazing Gracelessness; Praise the Lord and pass the spending ammunition!

The American Spectator "Whether or not an unlimited federal regulatory, welfare entitlement state is the logical outcome of Jesus’ love is surely debatable. Clerics are supposed to point to transcendent truths that call everyone to repentance and holiness, not crassly exploit church office for partisan jibes and demonstrations. Perhaps the marching, hymn singing religious lobbyists on “pilgrimage” could have more helpfully prayed for and encouraged all lawmakers toward common purpose instead of just targeting Republicans."
 

Transgender Goofiness Reaches Logical Conclusion At Colorado School: Girls Being Harassed In Restroom By A Boy

America is rapidly becoming California.

cartoonsbyhenry

Conservative Blogs Central   "A high school in the Colorado Springs area
has been plunged into controversy after a male student who says he is “transgender” was permitted to use the girls’ restroom facilities, and was subsequently accused of harassment – a claim that has been denied by the school."
....
"According to [Pacific Justice Institute], when girls at the school complained about the alleged harassment, they were told that state law was on the boy's side – in 2008, Colorado passed a sweeping anti-discrimination law which banned all discrimination based on “sexual orientation.”
"PJI said the girls were warned that if they continued to speak out against the boy's presence in their restrooms, they could face punishment including being removed from the school’s athletic teams or even charged with hate crimes.  "The group also claims the girls were told that if they didn’t like sharing a bathroom with the boy, they could simply refrain from using those facilities at all."

The counter argument is that this did not happen and that the only mention of this is from the Pacific Justice Institute.

As long as we're on the subject: Transgender Group Demands Free Mammograms Under Obamacare…   "Current federal guidance says that only women who are “genetically female” are eligible for subsidized mammograms."    How narrow-minded and bigoted.

Seriously? The Republicans Have No Health Plan?

Forbes  "Too many people conveniently ignore that in his 2007 State of the Union message President Bush proposed a sweeping health reform plan that would have replaced the current tax exclusion for employer-provided coverage with standard tax deductions for all individuals and families. The Bush plan called for a tax deduction that would have applied to payroll taxes as well as income taxes. Moreover, if one were worried about non-filers, the subsidy could easily have instead been structured as a refundable tax credit in which case even those without any income taxes would have gotten an additional amount. This is the kind of policy detail that easily could have been negotiated had the Democrats been in a cooperative mood in 2007. They were not. On the contrary, President Bush’s health plan was declared “dead on arrival” by Democrats in 2007. Yet it is Republicans who were tagged as being uncooperative and intransigent when they resisted the misguided direction that Obamacare seemed to be headed."

Also from Forbes: Obamacare's Website Is Crashing Because It Doesn't Want You To Know How Costly Its Plans Are