N&O Still Selling Photos of Bogus Swim Story

Thanks to JammieWearingFool and McClatchy Watch who both link to this post and include "heroic" photos.
____________________________

Yesterday I posted N&O Fell For Bogus Atlantic Swimmer Story.


The short of it: On Feb. 7 the McClatchy Company's Raleigh N&O went with an AP story about 56-year-old Jennifer Figge becoming "the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean" while "battling waves of up to 30 feet" along the way.

Nice.

Except the story was bogus and the AP and the N&O have since published corrections.

BUT!!!

McClatchy's N&O has copyrights on photos of Figge and her "event" that you'll find linked at newsobserver.com beside the story.

You can click on the "Buy" button which will take to N&O Photo Store.

Go there and you'll see the N&O has some great deals. A 5 by 7 photo is only $9.99 unframed or $54.95 framed.

I'm sure the N&O hopes you decide that for the special someone you love, a framed 16 by 20 Figge photo at just $119.95 is the perfect Valentine gift.

Question: Was the N&O influenced to go with Figge's bogus story because it could sell the photos and frames?

Now for any who believe McClatchy's N&O is so serious about its "journalistic standards" that days after admitting the story was bogus it wouldn't still be selling framed photos of Figge and her "event," just look below at what I copied a few minutes ago.

newsobserver.com

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Galleries >Caribbean Trans Atlan... Login| Cart Any copyright watermarks shown above do NOT appear on prints. The image above is for display purposes only and may appear blurry on your screen. Actual prints are made from high-resolution files for perfect reproduction. [Caption Will Be Printed Here] Choose Your Crop Center Top Bottom None Center Left Right None Any copyright watermarks shown above do NOT appear on prints. The image above is for display purposes only and may appear blurry on your screen. Actual prints are made from high-resolution files for perfect reproduction. Framed + Unframed Prints Photo Gifts Select Size - Select A Size - 4x6 Prints (4-pack) 5x7 Print -available framed 8x10 Print -available framed 11x14 Print -available framed 16x20 Print -available framed 20x30 Print Select Size 7" Print in Standard Frame10" Print in Standard Frame14" Print in Standard Frame20" Print in Standard Frame Select Frame See Unframed Black Metal FrameBlack Wood FrameMahogany Wood FrameNatural Wood FramePewter Metal Frame Select Mat Select Mat Size Choose Your Crop Center Top Bottom None Custom Crop Center Left Right None Custom Crop Select Quantity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Price $54.95 each Modify Item Add To Cart Product Details Prices Size Unframed Framed 4x6 Prints (4-pack) $14.99 5x7 $9.99 $54.95 8x10 $14.99 $74.95 11x14 $29.99 $99.95 16x20 $49.99 $119.95 20x30 $89.99 Gifts From $14.95

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Thanks, Dianne

From the chicagotribune.com - - -

A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an airbase inside that country, a revelation likely to embarrass the Pakistani government and complicate its counterterrorism collaboration with the United States.

The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.

At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise at Pakistani opposition to the ongoing campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Al Qaeda targets along Pakistan's northwest border.

"As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base," she said of the planes.

The basing of the pilotless aircraft in Pakistan suggests a much deeper relationship with the United States on counterterrorism matters than has been publicly acknowledged. Such an arrangement would be at odds with protests lodged by officials in Islamabad and could inflame anti-American sentiment in the country. . . .

The rest of the story’s here.

Message to Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and America’s other enemies: There’s still plenty of time to send Feinstein Valentine flowers and cards.

Hat tip: AC

A Lincoln Tribute

I’m a day late with it. As most of you know, yesterday was the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Former Senator and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern has recently completed a biography of the man he says is our greatest President, a judgment many of us share.

Yesterday at Huffington Post McGovern paid tribute to Lincoln. Here’s part of what McGovern wrote. I think it will interest you and I pass it on as my way of paying tribute to President Abraham Lincoln.

. . . One could cite a number of reasons why Lincoln remains such a highly regarded president to all the generations since his assassination so many years ago.

Certainly one of those factors has been the inspired and masterful speeches that came from his heart, mind, and soul.

No other president possessed such compelling literary power and grace. Perhaps Thomas Jefferson and Woodrow Wilson would rate second and third among the presidents who crafted their own addresses.

I recall vividly during my years in the excellent public schools of Mitchell, South Dakota, being required to memorize and recite Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. That address stirred my respect for Lincoln then as it does today. It belongs with the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights among our greatest state papers.

Each of us might add others to that list. In my case I would add Lincoln's two inaugurals and the farewell addresses of two generals who served as president, George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower.

Lincoln worked diligently on his speeches. He would begin by reading the better speeches of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and he would draw upon his knowledge of the Bible, Shakespeare, Aesop's Fables and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. He also kept at hand a file of his own previous speeches. He would then begin to write in longhand a draft of his speech, which he would further refine each time he read it.

This process of reading selected works, digesting the most stirring and eloquent passages of other speeches, and then laboriously writing his own thoughts and words could sometimes take weeks or even months.

When he finally had a draft that satisfied him he would call in a critic -- perhaps his secretary of state, William H. Seward -- and ask him to read the speech aloud in Lincoln's presence. Then the president would read it aloud to Seward and the two men would discuss where the draft might be improved.

It was through this give and take that Seward suggested a phrase for Lincoln's first inaugural address that in the final draft became the now immortal phrase "the better angels of our nature."

The Churchill Series - Feb.12, 2009

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Reader’s Note: Previous posts dealing with John (Jack) Strange Spencer Churchill (1880-1947) and his relationship with his only brother and sibling, Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965), are here, here and here.

On January 28, 1900, Jack Churchill arrived in Durban, South Africa, aboard a hospital ship, Maine, which his mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, had helped raise funds to equip. Recently commissioned in the Territorials, Jack had volunteered to serve in the Boer War.

Within a week of his arrival Jack observed his twentieth birthday and was serving alongside his brother Winston, five years his senior and, by then, an experienced combat officer who’d seen action along what is now the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, in Sudan, and South Africa.

The brothers’ first combat action together occurred on Feb. 12 when they were part of a mounted scouting patrol which encountered a much larger Boer force. The British patrol retreated under fire and appeared to have ridden clear of the Boers. Winston tells us what happened next:

I looked back over my shoulder from time to time at Hussar Hill or surveyed the large brown masses of our rearmost squadrons riding so placidly home across the rolling veldt. I remarked to my companion, “We are still much too near those fellows.”

The words were hardly out of my mouth when a shot rang out, followed by the rattle of magazine fire from two or three hundred Mauser rifles. A hail of bullets whistled among our squadrons, emptying a few saddles and bringing down a few horses.

Instinctively our whole cavalcade spread out into open order and scampered over the crest now nearly two hundreds yards away. Here we leapt off our horses, which were hurried into cover, threw ourselves on the grass and returned the fire. …

Jack was lying by my side. All of a sudden he jumped and wriggled back a yard or two from the line. He had been shot in the calf, in this his very first skirmish. …

I helped him from the firing-line and saw (that he received medical attention).

After treatment at a field hospital, Jack was evacuated to the Maine to complete his recovery. His mother had come out with the hospital ship and Winston soon joined them on board for a period of some days.

Jack later returned to the fighting. He was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Queen’s Medal with five clasps.

For some years before WW I , Jack and Winston served together in the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, at the time a reserve unit whose members pursued civilian careers while training periodically.

Jack was on active duty throughout WWI. He served first near Dunkirk where the British fought to stop the German’s initial advance along the channel coast. Afterwards he served on the Western front, later at Gallipoli and, finally, back again on the Western front after British forces were withdrawn from Gallipoli.

As in the Boer War, Jack served with distinction. He was mentioned in dispatches; and in 1918 was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

Most historians say the quality Churchill most admired in a man was physical bravery. Jack, he knew, was such a man.

In tomorrow’s post the brothers marry within a month of each other; their wives become close friends; and the two couples move through life sharing good times and bad until death parts them.
________________________________
For this post I’ve drawn from Speaking for Themselves: The personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill (Mary Soames, Editor), Martin Gilbert’s Churchill: A Life, Richard Hough’s Winston and Clementine: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Churchills,and John Keegan’s Winston Churchill.

N&O Fell For Bogus Atlantic Swimmer Story

A few days ago the McClatchy Company’s liberal/leftist Raleigh News & Observer headlined

56-year-old becomes 1st woman to swim Atlantic

The story, under AP reporter Danica Coto’s byline, begins:

Jennifer Figge pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand, exhilarated and exhausted as she touched land this week for the first time in almost a month.

Reaching a beach in Trinidad, she became the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean - a dream she'd had since the early 1960s, when a stormy trans-Atlantic flight got her thinking she could don a life vest and swim the rest of the way if needed.

The 56-year-old left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa's western coast on Jan. 12, battling waves of up to 30 feet (9 meters) and strong winds.

The rest of the story’s here.

If you’re thinking: “This sounds too good to be true,” you’re right. The story’s bogus and after much pressure the AP has finally printed a correction which is available at newsobserver.com.

Why did N&O news editors publish a literally unbelievable story without doing a little fact-checking?

JammieWearingFool has been on this story and today provides background and sharp commentary.

McClatchy Watch adds more, including the fact Coto is a former McClatchy reporter.

Give both bloggers a look.

You’ll then be shaking your head and wondering why the AP, McClatchy and the N&O are always boasting about their hundreds of editors who do all that fact-checking.

The Churchill Series - Feb.11, 2009

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Reader’s Note: Previous posts dealing with John Strange Spencer Churchill (1880-1947) and his relationship with his only brother and sibling, Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965), are here and here.

Neglected by their parents, Winston and Jack received the care and love their parents owed them from their nanny, Mrs. Ann Everest, whom the Churchills first employed when Winston was born. The boys reciprocated Everest’s love.

That they would each love Everest is understandable. What’s extraordinary is that they developed in childhood feelings for each other of deep affection, admiration, concern, and devotion that would last their lifetimes.

There were so many factors that could have helped lead the brothers to an envious rivalry. Jack displaced Winston as the only object of Everest’s love and attention. Family and friends often let the boys know Jack was “good,” “really a dear,” while Winnie was “troublesome” and “a worry.” When Churchill’s father, Lord Randolph, spoke or wrote to Winston, he often held Jack up as an example of what Winston should be, usually using harsh, even brutal, language.

An act of Winston’s at the time of Mrs. Everest death on July 3, 1893 reveals his concern for Jack, then a thirteen year old school boy at Harrow.

When Churchill heard Everest was ill, he rushed to her bedside in London. Realizing her condition was serious, he arranged at his expense for a noted physician to attend her and engaged a nurse. But Everest died within a day of his arrival.

Common practice at the time called for Churchill to send Jack news of Everest’s death via telegram. There was also the matter of Churchill having interrupted his military training to go to Everest. He was falling behind each day he was away. He needed to return to his post.

Nevertheless, at a time of great personal sorrow, Churchill was mindful of Jack’s feelings. So he took the train to Harrow and spared Jack the shock of learning the news from a telegram. In doing so, Churchill was also making sure there would be someone at Harrow who understood and shared Jack’s grief.

At the time of Everest’s death Churchill was 18.

In tomorrow’s post, Churchill leaves for South Africa to report and fight in the Boer War. Jack joins him there. The brothers literally fight side by side and narrowly escape death, although Jack is wounded.
________________________________
For this post I’ve drawn from Speaking for Themselves: The personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill (Mary Soames, Editor), Martin Gilbert’s Churchill: A Life, Richard Hough’s Winston and Clementine: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Churchills, and John Keegan’s Winston Churchill.

Paglia:“Arrogant Elitists” Are Lib Talk Radio’s Problems

Readers Note: As first published this post didn't include links to my previous posts calling attention to Sen. Stabenow's conflict of interest. A commenter alerted me. The links have been added. I thank the commenter.

John
____________________________________________

Camille Paglia in her latest Salon.com column - - -

. . . Speaking of talk radio (which I listen to constantly), I remain incredulous that any Democrat who professes liberal values would give a moment's thought to supporting a return of the Fairness Doctrine to muzzle conservative shows. (My latest manifesto on this subject appeared in my last column.)

The failure of liberals to master the vibrant medium of talk radio remains puzzling. To reach the radio audience (whether the topic is sports, politics or car repair), a host must have populist instincts and use the robust common voice.

Too many Democrats have become arrogant elitists, speaking down in snide, condescending tones toward tradition-minded middle Americans whom they stereotype as rubes and buffoons.

But the bottom line is that government surveillance of the ideological content of talk radio is a shocking first step toward totalitarianism.

One of the nuggets I've gleaned from several radio sources is that Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who has been in the aggressive forefront of the campaign to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, is married to Tom Athans, who works extensively with left-wing radio organizations and was once the executive vice-president of Air America, the liberal radio syndicate that, despite massive publicity from major media, has failed miserably to win a national audience.

Stabenow's outrageous conflict of interest has of course been largely ignored by the prestige press, which should have been demanding that she recuse herself from all political involvement with this issue. . . .

Paglia’s entire column’s here.
____________________________________________

My comments:

Paglia’ right: Stabenow has gross conflict of interest. I’ve recently posted about it in (Updated) Dem Sen.: Talk Radio Informs “Incorrectly;” Supports Hearings and Dem Sen. Stabenow’s conflict of interest.

IMO the most important and worrisome sentence in her column excerpt here is:

But the bottom line is that government surveillance of the ideological content of talk radio is a shocking first step toward totalitarianism.

What Paglia calls “the prestige press” won’t demand Stabenow recuse herself for three reasons.

For one, most of “the prestige” newspapers tank for the Dems either because they share the Dems’ ideology or because they’re afraid to challenge it.

Second, most newspapers see conservative talk radio shows as competitors who drain off readers.

Third, newspaper publishers and editors don’t like conservative talk radio hosts pointing out all the mistakes and liberal bias in their papers.

N&O’s Interest Conflict In Lobbyist Newsletter Deal

The McClatchy Company’s liberal/leftist Raleigh News & Observer claims to be “a “watchdog” that looks out for the public’s interest.

Last December N&O public editor Ted Vaden, self-described “ readers’ advocate,” penned a column - “The watchdog still barks -- and bites” – in which he gushed about he N&O’s “continuing commitment to performing the watchdog function.”

But just this past Sunday Vaden's column was a justification of “the public’s watchdog's” entering into what’s meant to be a moneymaking deal for both a lobbyist whose clients include pharmaceutical and other health care companies and the N&O.

Here, in italics, is some of what Vaden said, with my comments interspersed in plain - - -

The "readers' advocate" began - - -

The relationship between one of The News & Observer's subsidiary publications and a Raleigh lobbyist has raised questions about independence of news coverage.

The N&O last month launched an e-mail newsletter called N.C. Legislative HealthWatch to cover health-related legislation in the General Assembly. The newsletter is written by Harrison J. Kaplan, a lawyer with the firm of McGuire Woods in Raleigh.

It is produced in partnership with The Insider, a state government affairs newsletter owned by The N&O. The Insider does the production, distribution and marketing of the health care newsletter, for which a subscription costs $399 a year.

Kaplan’s ties to health care interests prompted questions from Adam Searing, project director of the N.C. Justice Center's Health Access Coalition.

"(T)his new partnership raises questions about whether a health industry lobbyist should be joining with one of the largest media companies in the state to report on health issues," Searing wrote in a blog for N.C. Policy Watch, a liberal public policy advocacy group. "What gets reported on in this sort of newsletter may well end up in the more mainstream media. And, even with good will and the best of intentions all around, Kaplan's business provides an appearance of a conflict of interest regarding how and what he chooses to cover."

. . .

Folks, I can't see any problem with Kaplan writing a newsletter, covering whatever he wants and charging what the market will bear. His clients can decide if they’re OK with what he does.

The serious interest conflict involves the N&O, which is supposed to report the news, and its readers who expect the paper to do that.

If the N&O reports what’s newsworthy in Kaplan’s newsletter, than who’s going to pay $399 for it when they can read Kaplan’s news in the N&O which anyone can buy now at close to giveaway subscription prices?

The N&O knows that. So why would it do anything which would hurt the subscription sales of Kaplan’s $399 newsletter and the profit the N&O will make from The Insider's producing and distributing it?

Kaplan said that criticism reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the newsletter. It is intended not as a traditional news coverage medium, he said, but as an insider tip sheet for health care attorneys and other professionals following bills in the legislature.

Don’t insider tip sheets often contain important news? Isn’t that why “attorneys and other professionals following bills in the legislature” pay big bucks for them? Do you think Kaplan, Vaden, and everyone else at the N&O don’t know that?

"The purpose is not to report the news like the newspaper does," he told me. "It was to let people know what is happening down at the legislature from someone who is down there all the time."

But isn’t that what the N&O assures readers it does?

Dowell said Kaplan is compensated based on the success of subscription sales. (Well of course.)

Kaplan and Dowell both said they saw no conflict between Kaplan's reporting product and his representation of clients who might be affected by the material he covers.

Once again, the very serious conflict here does not involve Kaplan and his clients who can cut him loose anytime.

The conflict involves the N&O, which if it reports the newsworthy material in Kaplan’s newsletter will take away people’s motivation to pay $399 for its tip sheet information and the N&O's readers who count on it to report that information in the paper.

With that in mind, look at what Vadan tells readers next.

John Drescher, executive editor of The News & Observer, said he doesn't see any conflict with The N&O's news coverage mission because the Insider and HealthWatch are separate entities not associated with his newsroom. "We're completely independent from them. I have no control over them, and they have no control over me. So it's not anything that would compromise the independence of the newsroom."

Drescher and Vaden really want you to believe that. That's why throughout his column Vaden shills the red herring of a possible lobbyist-newsletter conflict while ignoring the N&O's very serious news reporting conflict.

Drescher said material from Kaplan's newsletter would not end up in The N&O.

Of course not. As I've already said if the N&O did that, it would be killing what it hopes will be a nice moneymaking arrangement. Without making some money, how can the N&O pay Drescher, Vadan and its other employees salaries?

Can you believe there are N&O readers who swallow the N&O's baloney about its "public watchdog" role?

There’s a lot more in Vaden’s column, all of it meant to justify the Kaplan-N&O moneymaking partnership and to leave readers ignorant of the N&O's serious conflict of interest.

You can read it all here in Vaden's column with the misleading headline:"Looking at a lobbyist-newsletter relationship"

The Churchill Series - Feb. 10, 2009

(One of a series of weekday posts about the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

John Strange Spencer Churchill, Winston’s only brother and sibling, was born Feb. 4, 1880, in Dublin, Ireland, where the brothers’ father, Lord Randolph, was serving as Vice-Regent.

Sixty-five years later, Churchill recalled the day: “I remember my father coming into my bedroom at Vice-Regal Lodge in Dublin and telling me (aged 5), ‘You have a little brother.’” Shortly thereafter, the family returned to England.

The brothers’ parents were indifferent to their emotional needs and often away, even at Christmas. When they were at home, they often arranged for the boys to stay elsewhere, lest they distract the Churchills from their political and social pursuits.

But Winston and Jack were not totally denied the kind of care and attention parents owe their children. They received it from a servant: their nanny, Ann Elizabeth Everest.

“My nurse was my confidante, Churchill later wrote. “Mrs. Everest it was who looked after me and tended all my wants. It was to her I poured out my many troubles.”

Everest had been employed when Winston was a baby. As a toddler he began calling her “Woom.”

With Jack’s birth, Woom was no longer just “Winnie’s nanny;” she became “the boys’ nanny.” Everest gave Jack the same deep affection and care she gave Winston.

Jack’s birth and Woom’s care, really love, for Jack confronted Churchill with the first great crisis of his life.

A five year old can be very angry and resentful when a sib arrives. Often, those emotions are directed savagely at parents, cherished caregivers and/or the sib. They can last a person’s whole life.

But a five year old can also take on a “big brother/ big sister” role, “helping” parents or caregivers nurture the new sib.

We know how Winston resolved his crisis. Whatever anger or resentment he may have felt toward his parents, “Woom” and Jack, must have been slight and well-repressed. Historians and documents I’ve read note no change in Winston’s feelings or behavior toward “Woom” following Jack’s birth.

Everything we know about the brothers’ relationship in their early years suggests it was then as it was as it remained throughout their lives: warm, affectionate and caring; in a word loving.

A five year old who resolves a great crisis in the way Churchill did has taken a long stride toward a confident, generous adulthood. He’s already shown that faced with threats to himself and the risk of losing what he holds most dear, he has within himself the resources to master such threats and preserve what’s most dear.

The old expression comes to mind: “The child is father to the man.”
_____________________________________________
Churchill's recollection of his father telling him of Jack's birth is found in Martin Gilbert's Churchill: A Life (p. 2). This post draws on that work, John Keegan's Winston Churchill, and Speaking for Themselves: The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill (Mary Soames, Editor) for background.

The discussion regarding Jack’s birth as a crisis and Winston's resolution of it is my responsibility.

I want to say to Sen. Schumer

You're right. A lot of American's don't care about what you call "those little, tiny - yes - porky amendments" that are such a big part of President Obama's Porkulus Plan.

But Obama's Chicago Daley machine cronies, you're pals Sens. Dodd and Reid, Speaker Pelosi, Rep. Rangel, Washington's high-paid influence peddlers and so many more like them do care.

That's why those amendments are in Obama's Porkulus Plan.

I bet you already knew that, didn't you?

You're just counting on the public's not caring, right?

These “Man-Made Climate Change” Comments

from cks - - -

Global warming is out - climate change is in.

I guess Al Gore was getting too many questions about how the world could be getting warmer when the winters here in the US have been getting nastier - - snow in New Orleans, Tuscaloosa, thick ice encrustations in Little Rock and in Louisville.

Here in Cincinnati our latest "dusting" in less than two weeks resulted in another nine inches (on top of the nine inch dusting from the week before).

"Climate change" allows Gore to claim anything out of the ordinary is man's fault for his large carbon footprint!

Anon @ 9:48 - - -

CKS hit it on the head. Gore's "global warming" has been "rebranded" to "climate change" since the warming has not cooperated.

They claim to understand climate, insist they have the ability to model it, and use the prediction of certain doomsayers to stampede us into action. Yet, just a couple of years ago, they were equally certain that we would be experiencing monotonic increases in temperature; and temperature is a factor that is much less complex than climate.

They got the answers wrong on a second grade math test and want us to believe they are ready for calculus.

Scott S. - - -

Well the how global warming/climate change bs has botten a boost in Australia. We've had a record heat wave towards the end of our summer. 46c (around 110f) and some of, if not the worst bushfires ever.

I'm already hearing about 'global warming' being the cause. Of course these same idiots forget that south eastern Australia is one of the most bush fire prone parts of the world and we've had bush fires hear since day one.

Drew - - -

I can faintly recall that a few decades ago, it was "settled science" that the earth was entering a global cooling phase, and that the "problem" was going to be freezing, not warmth.

How did the science get "unsettled" such that it could now be "settled" again on a premise that is 180 degrees opposite of the first?

It seems to me that those who would tell you that there is no room to argue the underlying premise are those who don't have the science or the facts on their side. Rather than rely on the objectivity of facts and science, they stifle examination and discussion by starting mid-way through the process, with an a priori presumption.

Then, it's neither an argument, nor a discussion; it's a lecture.

Tarheel Hawkeye - - -

Rule #1: Never, ever, believe anyone who refuses to allow another opinion to be heard. Period.

and Anon @ 4:59 - - -

I think this article from Reason puts the climate stuff into proper perspective.

Enjoy (especially the question posed at the end)!

are all, IMO, really cool comments.

I thank the commenters.

John

Crawl Reveals Reuters’ Obama Plan Bias

At lot of financially-savvy people have been warning President Obama’s “stimulus” plans will mostly reward the least productive parts of our economy while adding trillions to America’s already huge debt and all but guaranteeing a sharp rise in inflation.

But for all of that, the leftist Reuters news org at 7:45 PM today runs on its news crawl:

U. S. Offers $2 Trillion Bank Plan But Stocks Fall (emphasis added)

If the financially-savvy people I just referred to were wording Reuters’ crawl, I think we would have read:

U. S. Offers $2 Trillion Bank Plan And Stocks Fall

A "neutral" crawl headline would have been

U. S. Offers $2 Trillion Bank Plan; Stocks Fall

That just reports what happened and leaves readers to draw their own conclusions.

The Chronicle Reports Gorelick’s Hiring: A Look Back

Just over a year ago– Feb. 7, 2008 to be exact - The Chronicle (TC) ran a story headlined: “University hires lawyer for civil suit.” Here’s that TC in full with my comments following below the star line.

TC began - - -

Duke has hired former U.S. deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick to assist in the defense against the federal civil rights lawsuit filed by three unindicted members of the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team, University officials confirmed Wednesday.

"At different times, we hire different attorneys depending on what skills we are looking for," said John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations. "Jamie Gorelick is one of the most respected lawyers in this country and having her on our team of lawyers working on this matter will be very helpful."

Professor of Law Thomas Metzloff said Gorelick will be able to help by sorting through the 379-page-long complaint and thinking through the "creative" civil rights theories it employs.

A partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Washington, D.C., Gorelick served as deputy attorney general from 1994 to 1997 and as vice chair of Fannie Mae from 1997 to 2003 and was also a member of the 9/11 Commission, which investigated the events leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"It is good to have that level of expertise to make sure you have a consistent and coordinated level of response," Metzloff said.

He added that the plaintiffs-senior Ryan McFadyen, Matt Wilson, Trinity '06, and former Duke student Breck Archer-have submitted "a lot of unusual claims under federal rights laws."

The lengthy suit alleges a "consortium" of more than 30 defendants, including President Richard Brodhead and other top administrators, Duke University Health System, former Durham district attorney Mike Nifong and the director of the laboratory that examined the DNA among others conspired against Duke students in prolonging the now-discredited Duke lacrosse rape case.

"'Consortium' is not a legal term to me," Metzloff said. "The average complaint is less than 20 to 30 pages, but it depends on the context of the complaint. I read thousands of complaints, and this one is significantly longer than any I have heard of."

McFadyen, Wilson and Archer claim they were "railroaded as either principals or accomplices" in relation to exotic dancer Crystal Mangum's rape claims in the March 2006 case against three lacrosse players.

Duke administration officials have said the lawsuit was misdirected toward the University-a sentiment Metzloff echoed.

"I'd like this whole thing to go away," he said.

*******************************************

Comments:

My reactions reading the story today are the same as they were last Feb. 7: It’s very one-sided and fails to report what Gorelick’s hiring really meant.

I’ve no problem with TC’s repeated quoting of Professor Metzloff, beginning with his sneering reference to the complaint's "’creative’" civil rights theories[.]”

But why is Metzloff, who in TC’s story just echoes what we’d already heard from the Allen Building, the only attorney TC quotes?

Any candid attorney could’ve told TC what it should have told its readers: Duke’s hiring Gorelick meant Duke - - contrary to its dismissive public comments about the complaint - - realized it was in for a very tough battle defending itself against the complaint’s allegations.

But the story makes no mention of TC trying to get a reaction from anyone other than Metzloff and VP Burness.

I can understand TC placing early in the story Duke’s public explanation for hiring Gorelick:

"At different times, we hire different attorneys depending on what skills we are looking for," said John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations. "Jamie Gorelick is one of the most respected lawyers in this country and having her on our team of lawyers working on this matter will be very helpful."

But TC failed its readers by not questioning Burness once he’d provided his bromide explanation.

The two most obvious questions TC should have asked Burness were: “Doesn’t hiring Gorelick mean Duke takes Eckstrand’s complaint very seriously?” and “Gorelick’s had very little, if any, experience litigating in the complex areas the Ekstrand suit involves. So why was she selected?”

I can't find anything in TC's story the Allen Building could complain about. On the other hand, TC readers were shorted.

Politico’s Understated Obama Headline

After days of fear-mongering by President Obama who claims “catastrophe” awaits America unless Congress immediately approves his pork-laden, near trillion dollar “stimulus” bill, Politico headlines:

Obama paints bleak economic picture

Talk about understatement.

The Churchill Series - Feb. 9, 2009

(One of a series of weekday posts about the life of Winston S. Churchill)

Did you know Churchill had a brother?

People are often surprised to learn that. Here, for example, is an inquiry typical of many The Churchill Centre receives each year :

While watching “Young Churchill” the other day, I heard a reference to his brother. I have since learned he had a younger brother named Jack. I am highly surprised I have never heard about him before. Could you tell me something about him?

The Centre replied with a “bare bones” sketch, some of which follows :

John Strange Spencer Churchill, 1880-1947, known as Jack, a stockbroker.

Wounded in action in the Boer War, 1899.

Served at Dunkirk, 1914; on Sir John French's staff 1914-15; on Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton's staff at Gallipoli, 1915; on General Birdwood's staff 1916-18.

Married Lady Gwendeline Bertie (1884-1941), daughter of the 7th Earl of Abingdon, in 1908.

Jack and Winston were very close; their descendants still are.

In the next two posts, I’ll put some “flesh” on those “bones.”

Jack was a person of amiable temperament, generous, brave, and possessed of what we used to call “a fine character.” He and Churchill loved each other and always got along. After their marriages (both in 1908), the brothers’ wives became became close friends and confidants.

It followed than that each couple was the other’s “best friend.” They shared the good and the bad of their lives until first Gwendeline’s (always called “Goonie” in the family) died in 1941, followed by Jack in 1947.

Jack and Goonie will tell us a lot about Winston. And Clementine, too.

I hope you're back tomorrow.

Firsthand Report From Australia

About the fires and devastation “close to home,” Scott emails from Australia:

The whole thing is beyond belief (I can understand how Americans felt during Hurricane Katrina).

It is close to home. I've been to some of these towns (or at least driven through them) and some friends have people who live around there (they've had no bad news so far).

It's just the scale of destruction and the fact it was so unexpected that has shocked most people.

We get bushfires in Victoria every summer. We have one of the most bushfire prone areas in the world and one of the largest volunteer fire fighting forces in the world. But fires of this number and destruction have come as a surprise to everyone.

One good thing is that the country is coming together. Volunteer fire fighters are coming in from interstate to help out. Money is flowing in from government, industry, sports figures and private sources, around $14 million so far (in one day with Australia’s population of 20 million).

The weird part is that Queensland (in the north east) is in the middle of major floods, but it is all but forgotten, though the rain would sure be helpful here.

Here are some news sites for your readers:

The Herald Sun is the most popular paper in Victoria.

The other big paper here is The Age.

Another news site is ninemsm.

Here’s a good article which explains why Melbourne and the country side around it is in danger of bushfires.

Many thanks, Scott, for taking time in such difficult circumstances to share your observations and send us the links.

I’m not surprised Australians are pulling together and being generous. You were that was to us after 9/11 and to each other after Bali.

Folks, my wife and I contributed, and any of you who wish to donate can do so through the Australian Red Cross here.

Outstanding Prosecutorial Immunity Debate

At Liestoppers Meeting sceptical notes:

There has been a good debate about prosecutorial immunity in the comments section of DIW featuring Prof. Bill Anderson (anti) and "One Spook" (pro).

Sceptical pastes in some key parts of the debate. They serve as a nice “starter.” Read them here. As you scroll down you'll see Bill Anderson comes along and adds some words.

I hope sceptical's "starter" tempts you to read the debate on this Durham-in-Wonderland thread if you haven't done so already. Start at the top and keep scrolling.

Hat tips to Bill Anderson and One Spook. It’s a pleasure to read such informed, civil, on point and thought-provoking argument.

And thanks to sceptical and Liestoppers Meeting for spreading the word, and to KC Johnson for "hosting" the debate.

Obama Administration’s “Public Be Damned” Attitude

From Blomberg today - - -

The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages.

The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged to provide up to $5.7 trillion more if needed. . . ..

Only the stimulus package to be approved this week, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program passed four months ago and $168 billion in tax cuts and rebates approved in 2008 have been voted on by lawmakers.

The remaining $8 trillion in commitments are lending programs and guarantees, almost all under the authority of the Fed and the FDIC. The recipients’ names have not been disclosed.

“We’ve seen money go out the back door of this government unlike any time in the history of our country,” Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said on the Senate floor Feb. 3. “Nobody knows what went out of the Federal Reserve Board, to whom and for what purpose. How much from the FDIC? How much from TARP? When? Why?”(all emphasis added. . .

Bloomberg News tabulated data from the Fed, Treasury and FDIC and interviewed regulators, economists and academic researchers to gauge the full extent of the government’s rescue effort. .. .

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner postponed an announcement scheduled for today that was to focus on new guarantees for illiquid assets to insure against losses without taking them off banks’ balance sheets. The Treasury said it would delay the announcement until after the Senate votes on the stimulus package.

The Federal Reserve so far is refusing to disclose loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in return. Collateral is an asset pledged by a borrower in the event a loan payment isn’t made.

Bloomberg requested details of Fed lending under the Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit against the central bank Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure of borrower banks and their collateral. Arguments in the suit may be heard as soon as this month, according to the court docket.

Bloomberg asked the Treasury in an FOIA request Jan. 28 for a detailed list of the securities it planned to guarantee for Citigroup and Bank of America. Bloomberg hasn’t received a response to the request.

The Bloomberg lawsuit is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-9595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

The entire Bloomberg article’s here.

**********************************************

My comments:

Do you believe President Obama’s given up on “Hope” and “Change we can believe in?”

I do.

What he’s providing now is “Fear” and “Massive government expansion the left can believe in."

Treasury Secretary Geithner refuses to discuss “new guarantees for illiquid assets to insure against losses without taking them off banks’ balance sheets” that taxpayers are responsible for, until after the Senate votes on the latest stimulus package.

What Bloombarg reports today and what Geithner is doing amount to a “public be damned” attitude on the part of the Obama administration.

Yes, I know Obama will be out in Indiana today "talking to the people;" and it’s Florida tomorrow, with a press conference tonight.

But what Obama says in the next few days won't change the fact that his governance to date can be summed up as steamrolling, fear-mongering, and catering to his special interest supporters, all wrapped in a public-be-damned, “I won” attitude.

If Obama Could Only Meet Milton Friedman

Here's my vote for the best two minutes in video today. The man seeming tired and perplex is the liberal Donahue who by the time of this video has endured the previous 25 minutes having his liberal legs knocked out from him (figuratively of course).

Enjoy listening to and watching a good and wise man.




HT - AC

Thoughts & Prayers For Australia

On a Net page filled with text and visual news links, The Daily Telegraph report begins:

Victoria remains under a shroud of smoke and grief today with thousands homeless and at least 108 people dead after the worst bushfires in the nation's history.

Entire towns were wiped out in the weekend's fires, which the Prime Minister described as hell's fury unleashed.

The DT’s entire page is here.

Australia's population is about 20 million.

America’s population is about 300 million.

So a proportionate death toll for Americans works out to roughly 15 times what the Aussies have experienced or about 1600 dead.

Our thoughts and prayers go the Australian people.

Let’s keep a watch out for how we in the States can help.

Perhaps Scott S. who’s down there in southern Australia and looks in at JinC often will give us a lead on how we can help a great people and their country in a terrible time.

When Does Tax-Cheating Become Just A “Tax Quandary?”

For that to happen, four conditions must be met:

1) The tax cheat must be both a powerful Democrat and a Washington influence peddler.

2) He must be in good graces with “fighters for the little guy” such as Dem Sens. Kerry, Schumer, Leahy and Kennedy. ( If he’s their former Senate colleague, that’s a bonus.)

3) At least one “senior political analyst” must be quoted as saying things like: “[o]ne cannot underestimate how widely admired” the tax cheat is in Washington and “He's got a lot of support in this White House, starting with the president."

4) A liberal/leftist news organization must be willing to call what the tax cheat did a “tax quandary.”

All four required conditions come together in the middle of this CNN “news report”

Shortly after news of the tax quandary broke, a number of Democratic senators released statements expressing their support for Daschle, including Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Charles Schumer of New York, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. In their opinions, Daschle identified the problem and corrected it.

Daschle's supporters said that given his record of three decades of public service, he was still the right man for the job.

"One cannot underestimate how widely admired Tom Daschle is in Washington for his integrity, for his public service. And many, many Democrats look to him as one of the favorite people. He's got a lot of support in this White House, starting with the president," said David Gergen, a senior political analyst for CNN.

I just now came upon CNN’s description of Daschle’s tax cheating amounting to over $125,000 thousand a “tax quandary.”

Even allowing that CNN is a fiercely pro-Dem outfit, I’m shocked and can’t think of anything to say now beyond that.

But I wanted to share what I found with you ASAP because I’m sure most of you haven’t read this recent example of CNN’s tanking for Dems.

I’ll say more in a day or two about CNN and what it calls I’ll Daschle’s “tax quandary.”

What do you think?

Here's one more link to the CNN piece.

Dem Sen. Stabenow’s conflict of interest

I recently posted - Dem. Sen.: Talk Radio Informs “Incorrectly,” Supports Hearing

The short of it: Michigan Dem. Sen. Debbie Stabenow believes airwaves are "dominated by one view" that "overwhelms people's opinions -- and, unfortunately, incorrectly." According to Stabenow, the bad guys are "right-wing conservative talk hosts." She wants government hearings and “a standard.”

An Anon commenter let me know Stabenow’s husband is Tom Athans, a career liberal talks radio executive who was formally a head honcho at the failed liberal talk radio Air America network.

For more about Athans, who a while back was caught up in a Detroit prostitution ring sting, read here.

My thanks to the Anon for the heads up.

I've updated the "Dem. Sen.:Talk Radio ...." post to include the information about Athans ties to liberal talk radio and the conflict of interests it represents for Stabanow.

More soon.

Follow-up to: Informed commentary re: Duke/Durham discovery

On this thread Steve Hoffman (Duke ’77, Parent ’10) commented in part:

You never posted [follow-up comments to Informed commentary re: Duke/Durham discovery] as you promised.

The “Informed commentary …” post contains three very informative reader comments. I didn’t say anything in response to them because the post was clear, had a topical coherence, and was long.

But, as Steve says, I promised follow-up comments and didn’t do that.

I apologize to Steve and others. I also thank Steve for his nice words about this blog and for reminding me to do what I promised.

And now I’ll do it:

From the Ex-prosecutor’s “Informed commentary …” comment:

[O]nce the depositions begin, I'll bet that all defendants, including those from Duke, will try to lay it off on each other.

and from Drew’s:

[During discovery in cases] with multiple [defendants] there's never any guarantee that you won't find yourself thrown under the bus, either by "your" counsel (who occasionally has a vested interest in defending the employer just a little bit harder), or by one of your co-respondents, who thinks they can dodge a bullet by re-aiming the gun at someone else.

I’m sure just about all of us agree with the Ex-prosecutor and Drew.

So who among the defendants is likely to throw whom under the bus?

The default answer, of course, is everyone else will throw Nifong there.

Running through President Brodhead’s public comments since December 2006 when Nifong was shown in open court to have withheld DNA evidence exculpatory for the lacrosse players, and running through Duke’s suit filings are statements that amount to: “’Throw Nifong under the bus?’ That works for us.”

But it’s not going to work for Brodhead, Duke and almost all the other defendants.

Yes, I know some reasonable people disagree.

But I think such a strategy – understood and not explicitly talked about among the defendants – will be no more effective for most of them than was Duke’s “throw the students under the bus” strategy in response to Mangum’s and Nifong’s lies, and what followed.

A "throw Nifong" strategy won’t work for almost all the defendants because it's so far from the reality of what happened.

Nifong may have asked for FERPA-protected student information.

But it was Duke’s decision to release it to him.

Weeks afterward, to cover-up the illegal information release, Nifong lied to the court and said he was seeking it.

He’s responsible for that deception.

But if was Duke’ counsel’s office which sent letters to the students and/or their parents asking for permission to release the FERPA-protected information Duke knew it had already given Nifong.

Duke’s responsible for that deception.

And on we could go with examples of actions and inactions other defendants won't be able to lay off on Nifong.

To sum up:

I’m confident we’ll have discovery and at least some portion of a trial (Mid-trial settlements are possible).

I think Ex-prosecutor and Drew are bang on about defendants finding themselves thrown under the bus by other defendants.

I see no way a “throw Nifong” strategy will, with maybe a few exceptions (Addison, Michael, & Himan come to mind), be much help to the individual defendants; and it could backfire on those who try it.

I see no way defendant organizations - Duke, Durham City/DPD and DNA Security - can successfully pass the buck to Nifong for things they did and shouldn't have done or for things they didn't do which they should have.

What do you think?

Again, thanks Steve.

This Made Me Smile

I was reading on the Net one of those supercilious man-made global warming articles.

You know - the kind that pitch the “it’s a settled question” meme beginning with stuff like:

A United Nations report by the world's top climate scientists said global warning was man-made and would bring higher temperatures and a steady rise in sea levels for centuries to come.

When I finished the article, I went on and began reading the comments. Here’s one of the first:

I hope they do something about man-made global warming before we all freeze to death!

(Updated)Dem Sen.: Talk Radio Informs “Incorrectly;” Supports Hearings

Update: Thanks to an informed commenter I've learned Stabenow's husband is liberal radio exec Tom Athans. I wish Radio Ink Magazine had disclosed her conflict of interest in its story I posted about here.

John
______________________________
Radio Ink Magazine reports - - -

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) told nationally syndicated talk host Bill Press this morning that the recent flips of liberal Talk stations in several markets were a "disservice to the public."

Stabenow said that, in the day of the Fairness Doctrine, "you had to have balance," and continued, "I think something that requires that in a market with owners that have multiple stations that they have got to have balance -- there has to be some community interest -- balance, you know, standard that says both sides have to be heard."

Stabenow told Press that the airwaves are "dominated by one view" that "overwhelms people's opinions -- and, unfortunately, incorrectly," and said that "right-wing conservative talk hosts" are "trying to make people angry and saying all kinds of things that aren't true and so on."

When Press asked if it is time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, Stabenow responded, "I think it's absolutely time to pass a standard."

To Press' inquiry as to whether she will push for hearings in the Seante (sic) "to bring these owners in and hold them accountable," Stabenow replied, "I have already had some discussions with colleagues, and, you know, I feel like that's going to happen. Yep."

_____________________________________________

My comments:

Are you asking yourself, “Debbie Stabenow? Debbie Stabenow? Hasn’t she been a long-time supporter of Detroit’s recently jailed former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick?”

If you are, you’re got that right.

Are you also asking yourself: “Why is a liberal like Stabenow worried about talk radio? The largest talk radio network – NPR – is so liberal it makes Al Franken seem like a statesman instead of a comedian. Surely Stabenow remembers that during the recent presidential campaign NPR programming presented Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s anti-white, anti-American ravings as just “snippets?”

Now Sen. Stabenow wants her Dem colleagues and President Obama to set a “standard” for talk radio programming.

That’s troubling.