NPR Style Book

When the US Government does it NPR it's called "harsh interrogation."

But when another country, like Chile, does the same thing NPR call's it "torture":

Ship Brings Peace, And Chile's Grim History, To Port : NPR:

"Chile's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Amnesty International have documented more than 100 cases of torture aboard the Esmeralda.

The victims recounted beatings, death threats and electric shocks to their genitals.

Alex Taylor, Amnesty International's Chile expert, says it is high time for the Navy to admit what it did."

Another day, another example of NPR's selective moral outrage.

Karma's a Bitch

Man Dies After Being Stabbed by Rooster | KSEE 24 News - Central Valley's News Station: Fresno-Visalia - News, Sports, Weather | Local News:

"The Kern Country Sheriff's Department made it official Friday: An autopsy determined that Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, died after being stabbed in the right calf by a rooster.

The Bakersfield Californian reported that the incident occurred during a cockfight in which the birds are strapped with razor-like knives to fight each other, often times to their death."

Pres. McCain, Traitor Joe, & Sen. Huckleberry, walk into a hokkam bar with Qaddifi, . . .

Via Wikileaks the "nothing important news leak" leak:

"Senator McCain assured Muatassim that the United States wanted to provide Libya with the equipment it needs for its TRIPOLI 00000677 002.2 OF 002 security. He stated that he understood Libya's requests regarding the rehabilitation of its eight C130s (ref D) and pledged to see what he could do to move things forward in Congress. He encouraged Muatassim to keep in mind the long-term perspective of bilateral security engagement and to remember that small obstacles will emerge from time to time that can be overcome. He described the bilateral military relationship as strong and pointed to Libyan officer training at U.S. Command, Staff, and War colleges as some of the best programs for Libyan military participation."

Here's a nice summary of the memo:

Leaked Cable: McCain Promised Qaddafi To Help Secure Military Equipment From U.S. | ThinkProgress
"For all the braying by the Senate’s top three hawks about how the U.S. wasn’t doing enough to oust Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Qaddafi from power, one might be surprised to learn that exactly two years ago, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) were in Tripoli meeting with the erratic leader and giving him assurances that relations between the nations were on the mend."

Not Buying Their Products Anymore, . . .

John Baer: Maybe Hershey foreign workers are all-day suckers - Philly.com:

The students, on work, travel and cultural visas from China, Ghana and Eastern Europe, say Hershey gave them not culture but back-aching, production-line work on round-the-clock shifts at a candy-packaging warehouse.

They get about $8 an hour, minus charges for housing.

The kids there now protest mistreatment and say their initial complaints drew threats of deportation. The State Department is investigating and a team of academic labor lawyers showed up yesterday to talk with students. Among the lawyers, according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News, is Sarah Paoletti, director of Penn's Transnational Legal Clinic.

Another irony? Hershey laid off 700 full-time workers over the past four years and plans to lay off another 500 next year. One might wonder if cheap-labor kids from other countries were always part of the plan.

Meanwhile, Hershey reports a profit for the quarter just ended of $130 million, up from $46 million a year ago. And sales jumped 7.5 percent to $1.3 billion.

The company is distancing itself from the student flap on grounds that vendors and other temporary-hiring companies made all the arrangements. One such company now says it won't use exchange students again, and all of the companies involved say they'll offer the students a free trip to U.S. landmarks

Perry Does Appears Presidential

Critics Want Perry as President — of Confederacy — 2012 Presidential Election | The Texas Tribune:

A few protesters gathered in historic Charleston to jokingly welcome Gov. Rick Perry into the race for president — of the Confederacy.

In the state that was the first to secede before the U.S. Civil War and in the city where the first shots of that conflict were fired, protesters dressed in Confederate garb poked fun at Perry's controversial remarks, made two years ago, about the possibility that modern-day Texas could exit the federal union.

Carrying signs that said "Secede NOW!" and "Perry for President," the protesters joked that they had been waiting for more than a century for a secessionist to get into the race.

Palling around with Terroists

"Rember when President McCain's VP Quitter Girl claimed that Obama Is 'Palling Around With Terrorists' - NYTimes.com?

Turns out McCain, 24 months ago, was hanging around with a real honsest to God, American blood on his hands terrorist:



The courting of Libya | The Australian:

Indeed, while politicians and senior administration officials were expressing dismay early last week at the release of a convicted terrorist, a congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate, was in Libya.

McCain reported via Twitter that he had met Gaddafi, whom he described as "an interesting man". McCain was reported by the Libyan news agency to have praised Gaddafi's peace-making efforts in Africa and to have called for expanded US ties with Libya. Exxon and Chevron, the American oil giants, are among companies vying for new exploration contracts.

On Saturday, Robert Mueller, the head of the FBI, said Megrahi's release "rewards a terrorist". Nevertheless, diplomatic sources say Washington expects Gaddafi to pay his first visit to the US later this year for the next UN general assembly.

No Racism Here Dept.

Coburn Goes from Bad to Worse | Talking Points Memo:

"As an African-American male," Coburn said, Obama received "tremendous advantage from a lot of these programs."

Just ask the 20+ innocent African American men here in Dallas that have spent more than two decades of their lives in prison for crimes they didn't commit about the "tremendous advantages" of being a Black male in America.

Ouch, well Reagn would be "Socialist" to today's Tea Birthers.

Former Reagan Official: 'Rick Perry's An Idiot' | TPMDC: Ronald Reagan's chief domestic policy adviser took Texas governor Rick Perry to the woodshed Friday for recent controversial statements -- in particular about his suggestion that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would be committing treason by printing money to boost economic growth.

"Rick Perry's an idiot, and I don't think anyone would disagree with that," Bruce Bartlett said on CNN's American Morning.

Gov. Good Hair's Bad Day In New Hampshire

He met educated voters, . . .

For Rick Perry, visit to New Hampshire town turns into an ambush - Poten & Partners:

Alan Cronheim, a Portsmouth lawyer, engaged Perry in a cordial, low-octane chat about health care, asking him to explain how 30 million uninsured Americans would fare if he succeeds in repealing the Obama overhaul.

"I just happen to think it can be delivered better by the states than by the federal government," Perry told him.

That hasn't worked out so well in Texas, Cronheim said, noting that after a decade under Perry, a quarter of residents still lack coverage.

"He did nothing to deal with the plight of those who can't afford health care," Cronheim said.

Interesting, the press considers educated voters asking intelligent questions an "ambush".

The GOP Primary so far, . .

Nice summary of the GOP parade of clown thus far by MarioPiperniDotComThe Republican Primary – Act 2:

"Perry – the gun-slinging, Bush wannabe, has just made Romney’s pursuit to the top a little more stressful. Similar to Bachmann, he has the persona/Jesus ratio just about right but comes a bit short on the crazy scale, but not by much. His strength lies in his ability to appeal to all factions of a Republican party – from Religious Right zealots to establishment type Reaganites. It’s a potent mix in a Republican primary but less so when trying to appeal to independents still shaken from eight hellish years of Bush"

Graphic from his website, love it.

The Texas "Miracle"?

Dean Baker looks at some numbers that challenges Gov Good Hairs' meme:

Perry's Growth Failure in Texas | Beat the Press:

"There are all sorts of reasons that Texas's per capita GDP growth might have slowed relative to the rest of the country that have nothing to do with the effectiveness of Perry's policies. However, if we are looking for quick comparisons, per capita GDP growth is a common one, and it goes the wrong way for the Perry economic miracle story. "

Eric Alterman explains what's wrong with NPR,

it's not that it's bias, it's cowardice. From the Center for American Progress:

Think Again: NPR: Still Bending Over Backward:

"What is really going on here? Why would NPR, home to so many liberals and, one presumes, quite a few gay people, bend over so far backward to offer credibility to something associated with conservative efforts to discriminate against and persecute gay people? Alas, it’s a familiar syndrome. Journalists have been so cowed by conservative attempts to “work the refs” that they end up writing reports that raise the question of whether President Obama might be a Muslim or whether global warming is a conspiracy of a power-hungry mad scientist.

A particularly egregious example of this tendency occurred last year on NPR when it saw fit to quote the discredited right-wing zealot David Horowitz in an obituary for leftist historian Howard Zinn. 'There is absolutely nothing in Howard Zinn's intellectual output that is worthy of any kind of respect,' he explained."

Truthiness in not just for the GOP anymore, . . .

Times-Picayune writer reveals there’s no lobster in Zabar’s ‘lobster salad’ | Poynter.:

"We really didn’t think that we were doing anything that was not completely up and up, but there was an element that might be confusing, and with all this stuff going on, I decided now’s the time to clarify."

Texas & Perry We're no. 1! We're no. 1!

Perry Presides Over 235th Execution, Most Of Any Modern Governor | ThinkProgress: "Gov. Rick Perry (R) oversaw his 235th execution as governor yesterday — the most of any modern governor by far, and nearly half of those conducted in Texas since the death penalty went into effect in 1976."

Tea Party Profiles In Courage

The Tea Birthers experts on fiscal responsibility and economics:

"Georgia Rep. Tom Graves (R), who castigates Washington for fiscal irresponsibility, reached an out of court settlement Wednesday after he was sued for defaulting on a $2.2 million loan, . . ."

Tea Party Rep: Bank Should Have Known I Wouldn't Be Able To Repay $2.2 Million Loan | TPMMuckraker: "Georgia Rep. Tom Graves (R), who castigates Washington for fiscal irresponsibility, reached an out of court settlement Wednesday after he was sued for defaulting on a $2.2 million loan"

Not Going well, that's only 2 out of 50.

Wonder if Gov. Good Hair will even show up?

AP: Texas Gov. Perry's day of prayer shadows 2012 bid:

"'Given the trials that beset our nation and world, from the global economic downturn to natural disasters, the lingering danger of terrorism and continued debasement of our culture, I believe it is time to convene the leaders from each of our United States in a day of prayer and fasting,' Perry wrote in the invitation he sent to all of the other governors in the United States, members of Congress, the Obama administration and the Texas Legislature, among others.

But only one of those politicians, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, has said he will attend. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is running for Senate, and state House Speaker Joe Straus, who is Jewish, have declined. About 8,000 people have registered for the free event, leaving the prospect of 64,000 empty seats in the stadium. By comparison, nearby Lakewood Church — the nation's largest megachurch, headlined by the Rev. Joel Osteen — averages 30,000 worshippers a week."

Are You a Minority? How to get the GOP to vote for you,

tell them you wish you were white.

Nikki Haley: State’s First Minority Governor … Or Not?:

"The daughter of Sikh immigrants from India, Haley downplayed her race during her come-from-behind campaign for governor in the 2010 elections; however, the national media has often played up her Indian-American heritage.

While the governor self-identifies as white, her sister self-identifies as Asian on her voter registration card, according to an official at the Lexington County Election Commission.

The options when filling out a South Carolina voter registration card are white, black/African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American and other (specify), according to State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire."

WTF Obama?

Tell me again, why did I vote for you?

Obama Nominates Top Advisor To Tea Party Senator As U.S. Attorney | ThinkProgress:

"Barlow’s decision to leave a successful and lucrative law practice in order to work for someone with Lee’s contempt for the Constitution raises serious concerns about Barlow’s fitness to serve as Utah’s top federal attorney. It is, of course, possible that Barlow does not share his boss’ views — indeed it is even possible that Barlow sought the U.S. Attorney job because he wanted a face-saving way to leave a job that forces him to push a dangerous and radical interpretation of the Constitution."

NPR's View From No Where, . . .

is intellectually dishonest and corrupts journalism, while normalizing extremism.

Who Really Runs NPR—Liberals? Right-Wingers? Dollar Signs? | The Philly Post:

"If you listen carefully to Spiegel’s report, you can detect the bias—in favor of sanity. The bulk of the report is a sharp rebuke to conversion therapy, including an interview with a therapist who calls the practice “distorted at its core.” This accords with Spiegel’s accomplished mental health reporting throughout the years. She is an experienced writer and reporter who has done superb work. There is little possibility that she believes, personally, that conversion therapy is legitimate. But she appears to be hamstrung by “balance.”"

Clip and use

It's like a as Bingo Card for the Beltway Media talking points for the past week, . . .

Media Malpractice on Debt Ceiling

Another day in the GOP Utopia, . . .

The Associated Press reported that up to 100,000 of the state's 330,000 teachers might lose their positions. Officials at the Texas State Teachers Association estimate that about 12,000 teachers have lost their jobs so far, and they warn more teachers could be laid off in the second year of budget cuts. The Austin Independent School District has already given pink slips to nearly 500 employees.

Day 1: Thousands of Texas Teachers Losing Jobs — Public Education | The Texas Tribune

The Press and the GOP seem to have never heard of a man named Hoover.

Reviews are in. Not good for "the Juan".

Juan Williams' victory lap: On the Media - latimes.com: James Rainey, LA Times media critic, points out that Williams career at nPR was in a death spiral well before he was fired:

"Williams had already become an ineffective and diminished figure at NPR well before the firing — a fact that got lost in all the hoo-hah last year. He would blame that on executives who thwarted him mostly, in his opinion, because of their displeasure that he had gone to work as a commentator for the conservative standard-bearer, Fox. He argues in 'Muzzled' that NPR's news bosses demanded liberal orthodoxy and wouldn't tolerate dissent.

But many of his co-workers at the radio network had been displeased with Williams for some time. There were editors and reporters who didn't like to work with him, because they felt he often wasn't adequately prepared for the subjects of the day. Williams wanted to be more pundit than reporter, they believed, desiring to bring something like the wide-open rat-a-tat-tat of the cable bazaar to the staid academy that is public radio."