An interesting “Mia Culpa” from the New York Times this morning, in the form of an article from Clark Hoyt, The Times “Public Editor”

Clark Hoyt Public Editor, New York Times

ON Sept. 12, an Associated Press article inside The Times reported that the Census Bureau had severed its ties to Acorn, the community organizing group. Robert Groves, the census director, was quoted as saying that Acorn, one of thousands of unpaid organizations promoting the 2010 census, had become “a distraction.”

What the article didn’t say — but what followers of Fox News and conservative commentators already knew — was that a video sting had caught Acorn workers counseling a bogus prostitute and pimp on how to set up a brothel staffed by under-age girls, avoid detection and cheat on taxes. The young woman in streetwalker’s clothes and her companion were actually undercover conservative activists with a hidden camera.

It was an intriguing story: employees of a controversial outfit, long criticized by Republicans as corrupt, appearing to engage in outrageous, if not illegal, behavior. An Acorn worker in Baltimore was shown telling the “prostitute” that she could describe herself to tax authorities as an “independent artist” and claim 15-year-old prostitutes, supposedly illegal immigrants, as dependents.

Hoyt goes on:

It was an intriguing story: employees of a controversial outfit, long criticized by Republicans as corrupt, appearing to engage in outrageous, if not illegal, behavior. An Acorn worker in Baltimore was shown telling the “prostitute” that she could describe herself to tax authorities as an “independent artist” and claim 15-year-old prostitutes, supposedly illegal immigrants, as dependents.

But for days, as more videos were posted and government authorities rushed to distance themselves from Acorn, The Times stood still. Its slow reflexes — closely following its slow response to a controversy that forced the resignation of Van Jones, a White House adviser — suggested that it has trouble dealing with stories arising from the polemical world of talk radio, cable television and partisan blogs. Some stories, lacking facts, never catch fire. But others do, and a newspaper like The Times needs to be alert to them or wind up looking clueless or, worse, partisan itself.

Of course, what we have here is an admission that it LOOKS like the Times is a partisan palace… not that it actually is. And Hoyt, of course initially mentions the one instance of this behavior. Such behavior on the part of ACORN has been shown as far from unique. What is remarkable is that the Times even in this admission of Hoyt’s can’t admit that point.

An interesting sub-plot is here, in Hoyt’s article:

Some conservatives think O’Keefe and Giles were doing work that should have been done by the mainstream media. But most news organizations consider such tactics unethical — The Times specifically prohibits reporters from misrepresenting themselves or making secret recordings.

Ah. So it’s not good if reporters do it but apparently the Times will go to the mat for people who do unethical things FOR them, while not officially in their employ. (Can you say”Pentegon Papers”?) Nor is the Times the only one doing this. As Ed Driscoll points up at PJM:

Ed Driscoll of Pajamas Media

So what does the former home of Woodward & Bernstein have to say? First they attempted to discredit Hannah Giles by way of her father. (Pay no attention to the background of Carl Bernstein’s parents of course.) Then Howard Kurtz adds:

The labeling debate is pointless. It was ideologically driven reporting. [As opposed to the Post’s coverage of the 2006 and 2008 elections? — Ed] It was two activists using deception to try to make an organization look bad — all the more reason for skepticism.

But the pair hit paydirt. The ACORNers’ behavior was nutty. Who offers advice about pimping out 13-year-old girls? What planet were these people living on?

Howard Kurtz

Did O’Keefe and Giles produce a fair and balanced story that included how many ACORN offices rejected their scheme? No. They released the worst stuff. But they’ve never hidden their motivation. Nor has their ally and Web guru, Andrew Breitbart, whose company was also named in the ACORN suit.

I don’t put much stock in the argument that mainstream journalists should have done something like this. People may think we’re whores, but we don’t look good in the getup. Plus, lying is a firing offense at many news organizations.

Huh. And yet Diane Sawyer still has a job at ABC, after bluffing her way into the rubble of the World Trade Center with a hidden camera on the evening of September 11th, 2001. 60 Minutes has been on the air for over forty years doing one hidden camera sting after another. And five years before he was fired from CBS, Dan Rather told Bill O’Reilly — with a remarkably straight face -“I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things”:

O’REILLY: I want to ask you flat out. Do you think President Clinton’s an honest man?

RATHER: Yes, I think he’s an honest man.

O’REILLY: Do you? Really?

RATHER: I do, I do.

O’REILLY: Even though he lied to Jim Lehrer’s face about the Lewinsky….

RATHER: Who among us has not lied about something?

O’REILLY: Well, I didn’t lie to anybody’s face on national television. I don’t think you have.

RATHER: I don’t think I ever have. At least I hope I never have.

O’REILLY: No. How can you say he’s an honest guy then?

RATHER: Well, cause I think he is. I think at core he’s an honest person. I know that you have a different view. I know that you consider it sort of astonishing that anybody would say so. But I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things.

Meanwhile back at the Times, Hoyt continues to limp through this:

And the two were sloppy with facts. One Acorn employee who bragged about killing one of her former husbands said she knew she was being scammed and was playing along. The police said they found her ex-husbands alive.

No mention of the more obvious conclusion that the woman was simply being the pathological liar she is.  Apparently a positive trait among ACORN folks…. one the liberal media, the Times in the lead, ignores. Think about it this way:

“You were being scammed”

“Of COURSE I knew that…. I was playing along”

Sounds like a conversation between Norm and Cliff on “Cheers”, doesn’t it?

Nor is this the first such instance of being in bed with the far left for the Times. Or with Hoyt himself for that matter, as Michelle Malkin points up:

Michelle Malkin

“Not liberal bias,” eh? Then how to explain the institutional refusal of the Times — Hoyt included — to address directly and openly the paper’s own complicity in covering up the ACORN story before Election Day?

For the benefit of the Times’ anonymous Opinion Media Monitor, whoever you are, here is what your paper’s belated coverage of ACORN is still missing — reprinted from my Sept. 16 blog post, “What’s missing from the New York Times coverage of ACORN.”

One has to figure that the only reason that these guys think they deserve a GM style bail out from the Democrats running Congress and the White House is because they are willing to run blocker for those self same Democrats.

Dan Riehl bottom lines this for us insofar as the Times goes:

Dan Riehl (Gotta get you a better picture, Dan)

It’s not even worth discussing, really. It’s too late and the paper will never turn itself around under Pinch. And he’s built up such a team of liberal hacks underneath him, it would now take a generation to ferret them out. They don’t have that much time.

Quite right. But alas, that’s not the biggest part of the problem. The rest have been following the lead of the Times, and show no signs of halting their left-leaning, when… not if, but when… the Times falls over into it’s own pudding.

As a closing note, I am reminded from several sources to ask you to hit Stacy McCain’s Tip jar. As Moe Lane puts it:

I don’t actually want to see newspapers go away, seeing as they’ve got structural advantages on news gathering that I envy.  Like actual budgets: when someone like Robert Stacy McCain** decides that he’s going to go down to Kentucky and cover the Bill Sparkman murder, he has to shake the tip jar, write a few posts highlighting the issue, and hope that somebody comes through for his expenses.  The equivalent NYT editor simply calls up the relevant department and has somebody set it up.  The ability to follow stories that easily is a powerful ability; would that the NYT was willing to take advantage of it.

Ain’t it real, folks. Ain’t it real.

More at Memeorandum.

A rule that is being phased in this year requires that the names on IDs and tickets match perfectly; it’s not permissible to have an ID that reads “John Smith,” your legal name, and a ticket as “Jack Smith,” the name you use in everyday life.
Read more at NYTimes Travel Practical Traveler

Does Obama use more Botox than Mrs. Pelosi.  The last item that saw that moved less than  Obama’s face had pigeon droppings on it, video:

Barack Obama’s amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

Hat tip: Fausta.

Armenia, with a population of three million, has won the last two men’s world team chess championships, beating opponents including Russia, China, and the US. What is their secret? David Edmonds travelled to the country to find out.
Read more at BBC News: Chess Prowess

The old emo standbys, Hot Topic and Spencer’s, have a few men’s styles, but the real motherlode is the Topman store in SoHo. The men’s jewelry section offers probably 40 or 50 different varieties, from dangling daggers to an Eiffel Tower and a neon pink star. So guys, whatever style you choose and whichever ear you decided to pierce or repierce, the message is clear: men’s earrings are back.

The New York Times has an article up on the subject you might find of interest.

Mel Douglass

ADDENDUM:(Eric)

This post marks the first to contribution to BitsBlog from old friend  Mel Douglass.  Mel and I have known each other for years, from the GT NETWORK days (Think late 70’s early 80’s) , and we’re proud to have him. Mel will be looking at little bits of culture and life as they catch his eye, and adding his own life perspective on the world around us.

Welcome, Mel… we’re proud to have you here at BitsBlog.

(Updated for flow, Eric)

Steven Benen,  Washington Monthly, has his knickers in a twist because he believes free citizens should forced by the federal government to cover the costs of a woman’s pregnancy.   Benen blasts  Arizona Senator Jon Kyl for having the audacity to propose that citizens and not the federal government choose their level of health care coverage:

It generated laughter in the hearing room, and with good reason, but it’s worth emphasizing why Kyl’s argument is worthy of derision. In the hopes of making insurance cheaper, Kyl is comfortable with not covering basic maternity care. The status quo — only 21 states require insurers to provide maternity care benefits — is just fine with the #2 senator in the GOP leadership. If discriminatory practices boost industry profits, it’s just the free market working as it should.

The Lord only knows on what planet Benen resides, but in the United States, since 1973,  a woman”s pregnancy has been an entirely voluntary condition.   That is, it is entirely the woman’s choice to go to term.   Being that pregnancy is entirely a woman’s choice, it should be entirely her obligation to foot the bill for the costs of her decisions.

Insurance was intended to cover the costs of unexpected high cost events.    Insurance should not be bastardized to cover routine, expected and planned events.   You buy insurance on your house to cover in case of fire or flood, but not for mowing the law and painting the exterior.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere….The BigsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the Corner Store Edition

• SCALPER: Don Surber mentions how the scalps are starting to pile up around Glenn Beck.
• WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? Explain to me the difference between what we saw in Nazi Germany and in the Soviet Union, and this.  And look at who defends this stuff. Tels it all, that does.
• G20 PROTESTS: It’s my guess the majority of them can’t count quite that high.
• IRAN HAS A SEOCND NUKE PLANT: and of course our own Dear Leader didn’t know a damn thing about it…
• MORE ACORN: For profit venture, and political efforts. Both of which are against the law for such a group.
• EVER HEARD OF TESLA MOTORS? You may want to look into it
• I KNOW, BILLY:  I know how that affects someone. Yes, I know it well. Try it with someone only 12 years old.

A rare day after a storm, where tunring one way, you can see rainbows, and in the other, a sunset like few others. Drill each pic to get the full sized version

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere…. The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the “Burgers and Fries and Cherry Pies” Edition. Ah, Charley Pride.

• NEW WORLD ORDER: Does anyone remember when that phrase used to send the left into spastics? Not anymore. Yet another of the many double standards of the left.
• HOW SCREWED YOU ARE DEPENDS WHERE THE PRAISE COMES FROM: Obama is getting praised by world leaders. Castro, and  Gaddafi, for example.
• AND THE SCHOOLS? Yeah, they’re teaching school kids to priase Obama, too.
• ACORN: SILENCING THE WHISTLE-BLOWERS? You know that’s all this is about.
• MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE IRS: They’ve severed ties with ACORN. Does this mean Barry’s tossing ACORN under the bus? So much for the love story.
• REMEMBER US? For all the statements to the contrary, Terrorism is still real and still an issue. So maybe, the claims that Bush was making terrorism a political issue was an attempt on the part of the Democrats to politicize the issue. Hmmm?
• OIL DISCOVERIES ON THE RISE: So reports the New York Times. So why are we still acting like we’re short of the stuff? Oh, yes… Obama’s “No Domestic Drilling” policy. I keep forgetting that if we don’t have an oil shortage crisis, government won’t be able to move you out of safe and comfortable autos.
• DID BILL AYERS WRITE “DREAMS OF MY FATHER?“ Ron Radosh thinks so. So do I.
• THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: Auto sales are at an all time low, once the “Cash for Clunkers” idiocy was removed from the picture.  Gee, can you imagine why? Maybe most people don’t want the thimbles on wheels the government is herding us into? Witness: Used car sales are up, and have been since Obama took office.
• HONEYMOON OVER: With young voters, Obama isn’t quite so popular anymore
• IT’S PALIN: Glenn is running a poll at his place asking “Who would you most favor as the GOP nominee in 2012?” As of this morning when I noticed it, by nearly 2 to 1 over the next closest name, the pull-away winner is Sarah Palin.  Perhaps a look at what she’s been saying should help others decide which is the winning path. If they’re smart, that is.
• BIRTHDAY WISHES: Birthday wishes go out to Donald Douglas of American Power. And, a quiet noting of the birthday of my father, who passed on back in 2000. If you’ve got someone whose birthday you’d like to see mentioned here, drop me a line at [email protected] a week or so in advance, and I’ll do the rest.
• NOW IT COMES OUT:Liberal Blogger Admits: We Claimed to Support “The Good War” in Afghanistan as Political Strategy to Prove Our “Macho” Credentials; We Never Meant It BBCT: Lorie Byrd via Facebook.
• BUMPER STICKER OF THE DAY: When liberals start saving babies, I’ll start saving trees.

Is it just me, or do you find it creepy that school children are taught to chant the name  Barack Hussein Obama to tune of John Brown’s body?

Video:

Hat tip: Michelle

Points to ponder:

• Prior to the one’s election, were told it was racist to use Obama middle name Hussien.  Now we are teaching mere school children to chant racist names.    David Axelrod call your office.
• The Yankee war song,  Battle Hymn of the Republic, was also set to the tune of John Brown’ s Body.   A public school having school children sing the tune of a Yankee war song.    Cindy Sheehan call your office.
• John Brown is a dead white man.   School children singing the tune which lauds a dead white male.    Al Sharpton and Susan Estrich call your offices.

The perp here is one, Charisse Carney-Nunes.  Michelle has all kinds of goods on  her.

Drew M. Ace of Spades quips:

Kim Jong-il emails to say, “Dude, that’s a little over the top, no?”

You are entitled to your view regarding John Brown.   However I think it fair to say, right or wrong,  Brown was man of his convictions.    Barack Hussien Obama is no John Brown.

CBS News has learned that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will name former Democratic National Committee chairman Paul Kirk to the Senate seat left vacant by Ted Kennedy’s death last month.

After all the screaming about the the way Mass state laws were written as regards succession of office in the Senate , it seems they’re not so worried about the will of the people, now, as they were when a Republican was Govenor there.

There’s something about a road leading off into the distance that makes one want to follow, even when you don’t know, and can’t see, where it leads.

There’s something about a nightfall, that makes the darkness seem inviting.

There’s something about the sound of truck tires in the distance, that calls to the soul of a traveler.

We want to know, we want to experience it all. We want the adventure.  We want to live our dreams.

There’s something about the road not taken that always makes us wonder why we didn’t.  The road not taken, you see, is always an easier sell than hard reality, because it only haunts one’s memory, and memory has a stretchable quality to it. We can mold it to match our dreams. And sometimes, the biggest heartbreak we as humans face, is turning away from that dream.

Welcome to the most intense nightly read on the ‘sphere The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the “Where’s the Fire” Edition

• So, Barney Frank wants an investigation…. Of the people who investigated and reported on ACORN. A retaliatory strike, if you will.  Go ahead and tell me how this isn’t politically motivated. I suppose that such a call is not unexpected.  After all, what was ACORN shown to be doing ?  Supporting pimps.  Given that we know there was a prostitution ring being run out of old slobbering Barney’s Washington appartment, a few years ago one can easily understand why he would want to launch an investigation in support of like minded individuals. (Yes, clippers, there’s your quote)
• Meanwhile John Fund comments on ACORN and it’s Obama ties. If a Republican had these ties the Democrats would be screaming bloody murder.  Yeah, OK, maybe they’d be screaming bloody murder anyway.
• “Obama the Impotent.” That’s what The Guardian is calling him.  That’s the second paper from the UK in two days to levels that kind of charge against the man.  Offhand, I’d say the honeymoon is over.  I would also suggest that no amount of campaign like rhetoric is going to solve that perception for him.   Meanwhile the Telegraph renews it’s commentary on the subject today, and says the reason the UN loves the man is because he’s a weak leader.
• ABOUT THOSE STINGS: Frank Flemming examines that at PJM
• RUDE? Rasmussen says, 75% of adults say Americans are becoming ruder and less civilized. Well, up theirs.
• CHARLES MANSON WAS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER. Nuff said.
• GLENN BECK IS NOT THE ENEMY: Stacy McCain says it well:
  

  ..Lots of strong reaction to yesterday’s dust-up. Yes, I know Dan Riehl is quoting Wehner, and yes, I know Mark Levin slammed Beck. That’s OK with me.

  

  Stacy McCain

  Unlike a certain deranged blogger who sees enemies everywhere, I am not interested in running a personality cult where everyone who disagrees with me is a “fascist.” The fact that Think Progress wants to see a Levin vs. Beck smackdown should be all the proof any conservative needs that such a fight is a bad idea..

  Well, exactly. And while I usually find Levin insightful, he’s got his bean firmly installed in his booty on this one. THe fact of the matter is, Beck is quite correct when it comes to John McCain. As Stacy says:

  By his disgraceful defeat and unprincipled politics, John McCain has disgraced not only himself, but has imputed an ineradicable stain to his innocent kindred. (The first time I was introduced to Ann Coulter, her greeting was, “A most unfortunate name.”) And let’s not even bring his idiot daughter into this, OK? If the blonde-joke punchline can’t stop at three margaritas, that’s certainly not my fault.

  When Beck gets criticized for slamming Maverick as a “weird progressive like Theodore Roosevelt was,” it’s hard for honest men to disagree….

  And see, there’s the key…. Honesty.  Does Mark Levin, or any of the crowd currently nipping at Beck’s heels, honestly consider that McCain was at all acting like a conservative in the campaign, or for that matter, before or since? Remember, the reason W won the nomination and McCain lost it in 2000 was, McCain came down to the left of W.

  And I’m not even going to get into the business of Beck’s supposed support of Ron Paul, except to echo Stacy’s comment:

  People who want to talk about the “New Majority” or “The Next Right” or “Republican renewal” need to get used to the idea that the conservative coalition of the future will be a loud, rowdy and unruly bunch, composed of diverse people with disparate beliefs.

  “One of the basic principles of military strategy is to reinforce success. If you see a man who fights and wins, give him reinforcements, and bid others to emulate his success.”

  We need fighters, and I suspect Beck will fight ’til ev’ry foe is vanquished..

  The reference to “Next Right” is particularly potent in this context. Then again, I’m even inclined to agree with Henke every so often.. when he’s correct. I wonder if the 8 year point has been driven home there, yet.

  Oh… Ron Radosh has a good piece up on this too and raises an interesting point about Frum. For the record, being dissed by Frum is not necessarily a bad thing. Roger Simon has one, as well. The reason everyone is pissed at Beck right now is rather simple.  He’s making things uncomfortable for some people. Frankly, there’s a number of people in this mix that I think being made uncomfortable should be considered a public service.

  But as to the current outcry in some quarters about Beck, think about this: There’s a lot of people out there… talk show hosts and whatnot who are far more serious problems for the right, than anything Beck brings to the table Consider Micheal Savage. Consider Alex Jones. No outcry around them, is there?  Think about it. And does anyone recall they were leveling the same nonsense at Limbaugh? Think about why that’s so… why the real nut cases are being ignored while the biggies get lambasted like this, and get back to me when you figure this out..

• SPEAKING OF STACY: He documents that Charles Johnson is still an idiot. Malkin, again? Comon, Charles. And yes, I’m linking LGF2 now.

Joe Scarborough,  demonstrates the the MSNBC  doctrine, those without ratings should attack those with ratings.   Scarborough tried to claw his way up the rating ladder by attacking who he perceives to be conservative, to wit Glenn Back:

“You cannot call the President of the United States a racist.”

Moaning  Joe faces two problems,  no besides having shave in the morning.  One Barack Obama is a racist and two Glenn Beck, is not now, nor ever been a conservative.   Beck bills himself a libertarian.

As to Obama the racist, ACE and Newbusters,  quote the one’s diversity Czar, Mark Lloyd

And unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays, other people in those positions we will not change the problem. We’re in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power.

So next time you a wheeled into the emerency room do you want to have your attending physician selected on the basis of merit or his skin color?   Further, I bet if Moaning Joe were ever to strapped to a grunney and rolled in to the ER,  he would not want a affirmative action doctor either.   And you?

Lastly, only libtards are into this cult of personality thing.   Conservatives don’t worship mere mortal men.

Hank Johnson,congresscritter from Georgia, thinks that there be racists:

I’ve taken a lot of flak for saying that [Congressman’s Joe] Wilson’s comments winked at a racist element within the ranks of those who most bitterly condemn the Obama administration.

I’ve also been criticized for observing that there is a dangerous, racially motivated fringe within the ranks of those who oppose the administration’s policies. I stand by both statements.

This isn’t the race card. It’s a reality check

Hank you are right.    There are racists:

I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side… Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.

Congressman, you are right and some are closer than you think.

Hat tip:  Ace.