Two weeks after Jim Tressel was forced to resign in the midst of an NCAA investigation into a cover-up of improper benefits to football players, interim Ohio State coach Luke Fickell said Monday that he didn’t know of any rules violations. (June 13)
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Firefighters are confident they’ve stopped the northern advance of a massive wildfire burning in Arizona. Residents of two towns on the north edge of the fire were allowed to return home on Sunday. (June 13)
Continue reading …Scarborough Attacks Palin E-mail Hunt, Time’s Halperin Says the Reason Is ’50 Percent Bias Against Her’
June 13, 2011 No CommentIn the wake of the release of 24,000 emails from the office former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the media’s obsession with the former Vice Presidential candidate has reached such a fever pitch that even Morning Joe can no longer stand it.“Did you see the obsessive countdown to Sarah Palin's e-mails being released? Did they not make themselves look like fools and – and just prove – and again we have been harshly critical of Sarah Palin, but did the media not prove how biased , over the top biased they’ve been every step of the way on Sarah Palin?” host Joe Scarborough said this morning. (video after the break) Time magazine’s Mark Halperin admitted that press coverage has been driven both by bias and by the need of news outlets to compete amongst one another to get the best stories. “Fifty percent bias against her and fifty percent no one wanted to miss out on a big story – competition.” Halperin also mocked the media for reporting on the lack of any major stories in the Palin emails. “when the first few headlines out of the emails was ‘nothing in Sarah Palin e-mails,’ I decided I could spend the weekend working on my Tony pool.” Halperin told the panel. Scarborough went even further, and criticized the media for not investigating President Obama’s history in Chicago politics. “Well, you know at least they obsessed over Barack Obama's decade in Chicago politics as much as they obsessed over Sarah Palin's two years. Oh wait, actually, no they didn't.” Scarborough told the morning panel. “He ran Blagojevich's campaign in '02. He and Rahm, Rahm said it.” The Palin Derangement Syndrome exhibited by Morning Joe and its associated network have been well documented. When Palin critics like Scarborough begin attacking unfair press coverage, it is revealing of just how obsessive the press looks.
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Conan O’Brien earned an honorary degree from Dartmouth over the weekend, a fact he brought up in mocking, self-deprecating fashion while delivering the commencement address at the university on Sunday. “My first job as your commencement speaker is to illustrate that life is not fair,” he said. “For instance, you have worked tirelessly for four years to earn the diploma you’ll be receiving this weekend…. Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Hollywood Gossip Discovery Date : 13/06/2011 17:10 Number of articles : 3
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Conan O’Brien earned an honorary degree from Dartmouth over the weekend, a fact he brought up in mocking, self-deprecating fashion while delivering the commencement address at the university on Sunday. “My first job as your commencement speaker is to illustrate that life is not fair,” he said. “For instance, you have worked tirelessly for four years to earn the diploma you’ll be receiving this weekend…. Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Hollywood Gossip Discovery Date : 13/06/2011 17:10 Number of articles : 3
Continue reading …Can we all stop hyperventilating now? WILMINGTON – Police have closed an investigation into the online contact between Rep. Anthony Weiner and a 17-year-old Delaware girl who started following the New York Democrat online after a class trip to the nation’s capital earlier in the spring. C.R. McLeod, a spokesman for the New Castle County government, told the Associated Press on Saturday that investigators had concluded their probe and planned no further comment “unless something new arises that needs their attention.” Delaware police spoke with the girl and her mother on Friday, and, according to the girl’s Philadelphia lawyer, Daniel P. McElhatton, took the girl’s laptop and cellphone for analysis. The girl’s family voluntarily handed over the computer and phone, and police did not have a warrant, McElhatton said. “There was nothing of a sexual nature or any innuendo ,” McElhatton said of the communications between Weiner and the girl. He previously said in a statement that there was no exchange of photographs between the high school junior and the 46-year-old congressman.
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Click here to view this media Poor little old Rick Santorum just can’t seem to get a break. What has the world come to when an anti-gay zealot like Ricky has to suffer such harsh attacks as he received from CNN’s Don Lemon asking him if he actually has any gay friends? Or maybe not, but some right wing blogs that I refuse to link to thought that Don Lemon was terribly unfair to Santorum for having the nerve to make him answer questions about his bigotry towards gay people. Keep in mind here that Don Lemon has come out as not only being gay , but being a victim of pedophilia as well , so I doubt that Lemon would be anyone that would be expected to have a warm spot for Santorum in his heart to put it mildly. Given that background, I’d say he took it pretty easy on Santorum for his attacks on the gay community and his willingness to demonize them for political gain. Santorum once again proved that he should be considered the part of the clown show that is the GOP’s list of potential presidential candidates running for president in 2012 with this interview and good for Lemon for painting him as just another Stephen Colbert satire where he claims he has black friends as proof he’s not a racist. In the segment above, after citing a new CNN poll which shows that voters are less concerned about social issues and more concerned about the economy, CNN’s Don Lemon notes that those poll results might be “very interesting” to a presidential candidate like Rick Santorum, who he points out “can be very divisive on social issues, like gay rights.” That was putting it mildly and it was good to see someone like Santorum being put on the defensive for his stance on gay rights for once, even if it was tepid at best. I’m no fan of Don Lemon given his typical stenography for all things right wing on CNN and for a lot of his coverage on that network being little more than tabloid “journalism”, but I was glad to see him put Santorum on the defensive where he deserves to be during this segment. Rough transcript below the fold. LEMON: I was recently on Joy Behar and she said that, she called you, I think it was a bigot, I’m paraphrasing, bigoted or homophobic or what have you… Santorum: I have a difference of agreement on a public policy issue. That doesn’t mean I’m, you know, I hate anybody. I don’t hate anybody. And I’m called by my faith to love everybody. I do. I mean, I pray for people whether they’re for me or against me because that’s what I’m supposed to do. And just because I disagree with a, you know with what a definition, a legal definition of a marriage is doesn’t mean I dislike anybody or hate anybody or am spiteful of anybody or hate anybody or am spiteful of anybody because I think that’s what best for society. And we should be able to disagree without calling people bigots. LEMON: Yeah. SANTORUM: I think that’s really sad that you have people on the other side, because you stand up for something that has been an institution in this world for 2,000 years, that all of a sudden now, you’re a hater, you’re a mean person. I’m not. I’ve never been. LEMON: Do you have any gay friends? SANTORUM: Yeah. In fact I’ve had gay people work for me. LEMON: Yeah. And friends. SANTORUM: Yes! LEMON: You know when people say I have black friends. SANTORUM: I – well, I mean, yes, I have – in fact I was with a gay friend of mine just two days ago. I mean, so, yeah, I do. And they respect that I have differences of opinion on that. I talk about these things in front of them and we have conversations about it. They differ from me. But they know that I love them because they’re my friends. And they know that I respect and we have respect for their (inaudible). LEMON: You know that’s the headline — Rick Santorum has gay friends. SANTORUM: It shouldn’t be. It was well known that Rick Santorum had a leading gay Republican working for him for ten years. I don’t know what, I don’t know that the, what the shock value is here. I mean the fact of the matter is when for example, when there was a man, who was working as the Executive Director of the national Republican’s Senatorial Committee, who was outed by one of the gay papers, the first person who came to his aid was me. Because he was doing a great job. So I, I understand the narritive. It’s always easy to sort of hang a narrative; oh, this guy’s for, you know, standing up for traditional marriage, he must hate gay people. No. I don’t. I just disagree with what the issue of marriage should be.
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Click here to view this media Poor little old Rick Santorum just can’t seem to get a break. What has the world come to when an anti-gay zealot like Ricky has to suffer such harsh attacks as he received from CNN’s Don Lemon asking him if he actually has any gay friends? Or maybe not, but some right wing blogs that I refuse to link to thought that Don Lemon was terribly unfair to Santorum for having the nerve to make him answer questions about his bigotry towards gay people. Keep in mind here that Don Lemon has come out as not only being gay , but being a victim of pedophilia as well , so I doubt that Lemon would be anyone that would be expected to have a warm spot for Santorum in his heart to put it mildly. Given that background, I’d say he took it pretty easy on Santorum for his attacks on the gay community and his willingness to demonize them for political gain. Santorum once again proved that he should be considered the part of the clown show that is the GOP’s list of potential presidential candidates running for president in 2012 with this interview and good for Lemon for painting him as just another Stephen Colbert satire where he claims he has black friends as proof he’s not a racist. In the segment above, after citing a new CNN poll which shows that voters are less concerned about social issues and more concerned about the economy, CNN’s Don Lemon notes that those poll results might be “very interesting” to a presidential candidate like Rick Santorum, who he points out “can be very divisive on social issues, like gay rights.” That was putting it mildly and it was good to see someone like Santorum being put on the defensive for his stance on gay rights for once, even if it was tepid at best. I’m no fan of Don Lemon given his typical stenography for all things right wing on CNN and for a lot of his coverage on that network being little more than tabloid “journalism”, but I was glad to see him put Santorum on the defensive where he deserves to be during this segment. Rough transcript below the fold. LEMON: I was recently on Joy Behar and she said that, she called you, I think it was a bigot, I’m paraphrasing, bigoted or homophobic or what have you… Santorum: I have a difference of agreement on a public policy issue. That doesn’t mean I’m, you know, I hate anybody. I don’t hate anybody. And I’m called by my faith to love everybody. I do. I mean, I pray for people whether they’re for me or against me because that’s what I’m supposed to do. And just because I disagree with a, you know with what a definition, a legal definition of a marriage is doesn’t mean I dislike anybody or hate anybody or am spiteful of anybody or hate anybody or am spiteful of anybody because I think that’s what best for society. And we should be able to disagree without calling people bigots. LEMON: Yeah. SANTORUM: I think that’s really sad that you have people on the other side, because you stand up for something that has been an institution in this world for 2,000 years, that all of a sudden now, you’re a hater, you’re a mean person. I’m not. I’ve never been. LEMON: Do you have any gay friends? SANTORUM: Yeah. In fact I’ve had gay people work for me. LEMON: Yeah. And friends. SANTORUM: Yes! LEMON: You know when people say I have black friends. SANTORUM: I – well, I mean, yes, I have – in fact I was with a gay friend of mine just two days ago. I mean, so, yeah, I do. And they respect that I have differences of opinion on that. I talk about these things in front of them and we have conversations about it. They differ from me. But they know that I love them because they’re my friends. And they know that I respect and we have respect for their (inaudible). LEMON: You know that’s the headline — Rick Santorum has gay friends. SANTORUM: It shouldn’t be. It was well known that Rick Santorum had a leading gay Republican working for him for ten years. I don’t know what, I don’t know that the, what the shock value is here. I mean the fact of the matter is when for example, when there was a man, who was working as the Executive Director of the national Republican’s Senatorial Committee, who was outed by one of the gay papers, the first person who came to his aid was me. Because he was doing a great job. So I, I understand the narritive. It’s always easy to sort of hang a narrative; oh, this guy’s for, you know, standing up for traditional marriage, he must hate gay people. No. I don’t. I just disagree with what the issue of marriage should be.
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Click here for the full transcript HANOVER, N.H. — Conan O’Brien, a Harvard alumnus, had some teasing criticism for another Ivy League school Sunday. Speaking at Dartmouth’s graduation, he joked that the school had an inferiority complex. Pointing to the section of tree trunk he was standing behind, he said, “You don’t even think you deserve a real podium – it looks like you stole it from the set of `Survivor: Nova Scotia’ or that a bear would use at an AA meeting.” The school gave O’Brien an honorary doctorate of arts. He praised the 1,700 graduates for earning their degrees, then boasted that “Dartmouth is giving me the same degree for interviewing the fourth lead in `Twilight.’” O’Brien’s run as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show” was unexpectedly cut short last year amid sagging ratings and NBC’s need to find a home for Jay Leno, whose stint in prime-time was a flop. On Sunday, O’Brien deemed failure as “a catalyst for invention.” “There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized,” said O’Brien, now host of the late-night show “Conan” on TBS. “Whether you fear it or not, true disappointment will come but with disappointment comes clarity, conviction and true originality.” Speculating that some graduates’ majors or career paths may have changed during their time at Dartmouth, he told them that “whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change and that’s OK,” said O’Brien. And with a characteristic poker face, he added, “For many of you, your sexual orientation has changed. For some of you it changed since I began my speech. I know mine has.” WATCH:
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Click here for the full transcript HANOVER, N.H. — Conan O’Brien, a Harvard alumnus, had some teasing criticism for another Ivy League school Sunday. Speaking at Dartmouth’s graduation, he joked that the school had an inferiority complex. Pointing to the section of tree trunk he was standing behind, he said, “You don’t even think you deserve a real podium – it looks like you stole it from the set of `Survivor: Nova Scotia’ or that a bear would use at an AA meeting.” The school gave O’Brien an honorary doctorate of arts. He praised the 1,700 graduates for earning their degrees, then boasted that “Dartmouth is giving me the same degree for interviewing the fourth lead in `Twilight.’” O’Brien’s run as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show” was unexpectedly cut short last year amid sagging ratings and NBC’s need to find a home for Jay Leno, whose stint in prime-time was a flop. On Sunday, O’Brien deemed failure as “a catalyst for invention.” “There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized,” said O’Brien, now host of the late-night show “Conan” on TBS. “Whether you fear it or not, true disappointment will come but with disappointment comes clarity, conviction and true originality.” Speculating that some graduates’ majors or career paths may have changed during their time at Dartmouth, he told them that “whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change and that’s OK,” said O’Brien. And with a characteristic poker face, he added, “For many of you, your sexual orientation has changed. For some of you it changed since I began my speech. I know mine has.” WATCH:
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