Dean No ‘moderate’

The Pissburg Trib-review has a bit up called Dean no ‘moderate’ … which suggests among other things that the DNC is in damage control mode, following Dean’s election as DNC chair. Apparently, they already know the damage they’ve done to themselves.

Ironic part here is Dean doesn’t and he’s running the show.

I don’t think I need to add much in commentary to a Bozel write-up called Attack of the blogs, do I/

Excellent as usual.

It’s so unusual for the local fishwrapper… the Democrat and Chronicle.. (Know hereabouts as the Chronic Democrat) to get something right, that I stopped taking the paper over 10 years ago and never regretted it.

But, You Big Mouth, You! apparently still checiks their website now and again. And they seemingly have caught on that there’s something to this thing with a buch of pajama-clad people with computers…

Just how fast-moving is our world? Well, online “bloggers,” or writers of Web logs or diaries, are gaining serious clout in the mass-media vortex before many Americans even know what or who the heck they are.

What they are, by and large, are informed, opinionated, often thoughtful, sometimes outrageous observers of the provinces of politics and journalism. Comfortable pooh-bahs from those lands aren’t used to the scrutiny of a skeptical public with access to an enormous communication engine, which is a PC hooked to the Web. They had best get used to it.

Well now… a few years of bloggers, and several people losing their jobs due to teh scrutiny created by these Pajama People… only gotta hit these guys upside the head with that 2*4 a few times to get their attention…. (Snicker)

Good catch, Chuck.

Accuracy in Media

WASHINGTON — Accuracy in Media charged today that a liberal activist and associate of Ralph Nader has been obtaining access to White House press briefings while claiming to be a legitimate news reporter.

Russell Mokhiber, who sells a $795 a year newsletter that bashes corporations, attends the briefings to make obscure anti-Bush political points. Recently, for example, he asked spokesman Scott McClellan whether President Bush violated one of the Ten Commandments by invading Iraq. Mokhiber, who told AIM that he has never taken a journalism class in his life and was denied a permanent White House press pass, posts his ludicrous questions and answers on a far-left web site under the title “Scottie & Me.”

Like I said yesterday… it’s the message they’re trying to kill. The stated complaints against Gannon are just so much bilge.

This story will quietly slip away because teh SM really doesn’t care about it’s stated objections to Gannon.

My mother in law is still in the Hospital. Apparently the setback was a minor one; Basicly an infection casued it. She’s more stable and looking better. She’ll be moving back to rehab soon enough.

The dog as of this morning was still an issue. I see I have some mail on my feedback account, but I can’t get to it from here; I’ll check when I get home for dinner.

Blogger seems to be stable, yet, so that’s a help. I’ll be posting catchups tonight when I get home from the hospital.

For the first time since I’ve been on Blogger, it’s ticking me off.
I’ve had several problems logging in today and more problems once I did manage to get in, where quickie posts I managed to fire off ended up getting posted several times. Looks better at the moment, but could relapse at any time, I’m afraid.

This kinda junk kills my hitrates, and tees me off.
Must be all that Google money going to the DNC.

I’ve cleaned up the best I could given the problems, and will try to put up some of what I wrote when I get home tonight.

Techdirt has an interesting article up today about lawsuits against those Spammers promising “Natural male enhancement’, etc. Says Techdirt:

Of course, what some folks probably don’t know is that the Wall Street Journal (of all places) checked out a bunch of these pills a few years ago and found that, not only did they not work, but that they were often harmful for you and included “fecal contamination.”

Well, if you look at my inbox you’ll find a good deal of what I would call fecal contamination from those people.

That aside, though… can you imagine leveling such a lawsuit? I mean they must have figured themselves to be nearly lawsuit proof. Imagine the prospect of standing up in open court and admitting “”I’m not big enough, and even these pills didn’t help”.

The newspapers are saying Jacko is down with the flu.
Doctor Bithead to the rescue with just the cure:
St. Joseph’s Asprin for Children.

Ed at the Captain’s Quarters notes a NY Observer story…(They hardly being a bastion of right-wing philosophy) that makes it look like Moonves isn’t out of this jam yet, and given the coniditons, I doubt he will be before he loses his job.

Good.

SI is reporting that the NHL season will be cancelled on Wednesday.

I think a larger news story would be SI finding someone outside of the NHL who actually cared.

To answer a troll;

Americans through John Kerry, learned that the medals system in our military can, like anything else, get ‘gamed’.  People get medals they don’t deserve if they are of a low enough moral standing. Like, for example, Kerry.

Our resident troll claims that Max Cleland is a hero. I say he’s nothing of the sort, as does Cleland himself as quoted in this post by Tom Alday of about a year back .

In Cleland’s own words: “I didn’t see any heroism in all that. It wasn’t an act of heroism. I didn’t know the grenade was live. It was an act of fate.”

So, if one wanted to be a ‘nice guy’ and better Cleland’s position following the war, one could always ‘gild the lilly’ a bit.  And given that the system is fairly easy to ‘game’ as John Kerry so aptly demonstrated, it wouldn’t be hard to do. Let’s say he’s on his way TO having a beer instead of coming BACK from having a few, they reason…  because, after all, if we say he’d had a few beers in him at the time of the accident, he’d not get nearly the benefits, wouldn’t be called a ‘war hero’, and so on. And who’s it gonna hurt if we portray the story that way?

So, the press has covered things in this way over the years…
“He told the pilot he was going to stay awhile. Maybe have a few beers with friends. … Then Cleland looked down and saw a grenade. Where’d that come from? He walked toward it, bent down, and crossed the line between before and after.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec. 5, 1999)

“(Cleland) didn’t step on a land mine. He wasn’t wounded in a firefight. He couldn’t blame the Viet Cong or friendly fire. The Silver Star and Bronze Star medals he received only embarrassed him. He was no hero. He blew himself up.” (The Baltimore Sun, Oct. 24, 1999)

“Cleland was no war hero, but his sacrifice was great. … Democratic Senate candidate Max Cleland is a victim of war, not a casualty of combat. He lost three limbs on a long-forgotten hill near Khe Sanh because of some American’s mistake …” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sept. 29, 1996)

Ah, so nobody gets the blame that way… including Cleland, himself.

Cleland even admitted that, but for his accident, he would have “probably been some frustrated history teacher, teaching American government at some junior college.”

We know what the ‘official’ record states. All the news accounts told the exact same story for 30 years — including that Cleland had stopped to have beer with friends when the accident occurred. But these were all drawn from the official record, which we now know to be at least questionable, if not flawed.  It’s amazing how these half truths become legend. But, we also know what’s more likley than the official record.

And speaking of bending the record for the advanacement of Cleland and the Democrats, would someone please explain to me why we’re still hearing the often disproved claim that Cleland was injured in the battle for Khe Sanh?

Easier to sell him to voters that way one supposes.

The Democrats have built up this myth of Cleland because they needed something to try to tear down George W Bush with. And God help anyone who questions that myth.  You end up with Foraming Trolls like Arne.

Bottom line: Given the proclivity of Democrats to pump up the military record of their own, (see the publicly disputed record of John Kerry) I suppose Cleland to be among these. And what I’m saying is not slander. Slander assumes facts no longer on record.  The ‘official record’, having been proven as open to being faked, ala Mr. Kerry, cannot be taken as fact. Thereby are all ‘readings’ on the matter equal again.

Have the defenders of Cleland else to offer?

And if we are to take as a given what it says in the official record, does this mean we should also take as a given that President George W. Bush served his country with honor, as it says in the official record? Funny how that point gives the left a miss..

Now, Anre, I know you’re playing games with your addresses, but I also know where that’s coming from. Do you suppose your employers will like that info?

this from his site today:

“Oppose everything this administration proposes root-and-branch. That’s the only rational position that anyone can hold. “

That he considers this rational only goes to show how unhinged the Bush-haters have become.

Need evdience that the MSM is coming unglued over those fools in Pajamas? Look no father than this Michelle Malkin post of this morning.

Kaus raises an interesting question about Gannon.

I’m trying to get up to speed on Gannongate, but I keep getting confused. If “Gannon” did get a leak of classified documents, would that make him more of a fake reporter or more of a real reporter?

The question is revealing, I think. If the issue here is the revealing of classified documents, why the complaints? Wasn’t one of the big feathers in the cap of the NYT, for example, the fact that they printed “The Pentegon papers”? 

I don’t recall anyone of the press getting upset by the attempted ‘leak’ of documents about George W. Bush’s supposed service record… (The documents later proved to be forgeries… a point the MSM lost no time in trying to discredit)

But no… let the unproven accusation of a leaked document come out against someone supposedly freindly to a Republican… and now suddenly the howls of outrage from the MSM are deafening.

The conclusion one draws from this is rather clear; It’s OK to leak documents if the target of the leak is a Republican. That makes you a ‘real journalist’ whatever the hell THAT means, anymore.

But suddenly your press credentials become invalid if what you are acused of leaking makes a Democrat look bad… or, worse, a Republican look GOOD. When you do that, you can’t be a ‘real journalist’.

The problem with these people is not the bona fides of the people involved…. Had Gannon come up with somehting dirty on Mr. Bush, the MSM would have welcomed his being there with open arms, and doubtless, job offers.

The problem is, the message.

The MSM still can’t figure out why Pajamas are more popular then Newspapers.

(Shake of the head)

Kaus raises an interesting question about Gannon.

I’m trying to get up to speed on Gannongate, but I keep getting confused. If “Gannon” did get a leak of classified documents, would that make him more of a fake reporter or more of a real reporter?

The question is revealing, I think. If the issue here is the revealing of classified documents, why the complaints? Wasn’t one of the big feathers in the cap of the NYT, for example, the fact that they printed “The Pentegon papers”? 

I don’t recall anyone of the press getting upset by the attempted ‘leak’ of documents about George W. Bush’s supposed service record… (The documents later proved to be forgeries… a point the MSM lost no time in trying to discredit)

But no… let the unproven accusation of a leaked document come out against someone supposedly freindly to a Republican… and now suddenly the howls of outrage from the MSM are deafening.

The conclusion one draws from this is rather clear; It’s OK to leak documents if the target of the leak is a Republican. That makes you a ‘real journalist’ whatever the hell THAT means, anymore.

But suddenly your press credentials become invalid if what you are acused of leaking makes a Democrat look bad… or, worse, a Republican look GOOD. When you do that, you can’t be a ‘real journalist’.

The problem with these people is not the bona fides of the people involved…. Had Gannon come up with somehting dirty on Mr. Bush, the MSM would have welcomed his being there with open arms, and doubtless, job offers.

The problem is, the message.

The MSM still can’t figure out why Pajamas are more popular then Newspapers.

(Shake of the head)