Open Thread with The Professional Left Weekly Podcast: Liberal Elitists? Maddow, Bright, Taibbi, and Yours Truly
November 21, 2010 No Comment
enlarge Credit: The Professional Left Time for your weekly podcast from two of my favorite “liberal elitists”, our own Driftglass and Bluegal . You can listen to past editions or make a donation to help keep these going at http://professionalleft.blogspot.com/ . And the links for this week which were mentioned in the podcast are: Rachel Maddow’s Lecture at Harvard’s Kennedy School Susie Bright: How will the mid-term Tea Party Triumph affect your sex life? Rolling Stone Roundtable with Gergen and Taibbi Have a great weekend everybody and I know Fran and Driftglass enjoy getting your feedback on the podcasts, so visit their site and drop them a line if you’d like to weigh in.
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2 women and an 11-year-old boy were stabbed to death and dismembered before their remains were put in garbage bags and lowered into a tree, a coroner said Saturday, the latest gruesome details of the murders that have stunned this tiny town. (Nov. 20)
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Sixth-ranked Wisconsin routed Michigan 48-28. No. 7 Stanford crushed California. No. 5 LSU edged Ole Miss, No. 8 Ohio State beat No. 21 Iowa. Illinois pounds Northwestern at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. (Nov. 20)
Continue reading …Circling The Wagons 1986 Style – Iran-Contra And The Expression Of Shock
November 21, 2010 No Comment
enlarge Credit: Herblock – 1986 Weaving crooked webs Click here to view this media President Reagan: “We did not, repeat; did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages. Nor will we”. Famous last words and words that would come back like a bad meal. But during this week of November in 1986 that’s what we heard, and a lot of it and it wasn’t going to end anytime soon. But the evidence to the contrary was coming thick and fast and finger pointing with a flurry of denials ensued. And within days the wagons had circled. By the time the week was out Congressional investigations would be underway and an odyssey going on for months, if not years would unfold. This clip – from the ABC World News This Week broadcast of November 16, 1986 provided some background on the brewing scandal. And many voices who came to be all-too familiar years later are heard. Even the Congressman from Wyoming Dick Cheney is there. Fun and games – history is just like that.
Continue reading …Canadian thieves steal $1 million in Sony PlayStation goods, couldn’t wait any longer for GT5
November 21, 2010 No Comment
Crime doesn’t pay, folks, but sometimes you have to be at least somewhat amused by the shenanigans of those who operate beneath the law. Workers at a shipping facility in Brampton, Ontario discovered on Monday that a trailer containing $500,000 worth of Sony goods was stolen. Apparently whatever measures they took to prevent a recurrence were insufficient, because the very next day a second trailer went missing containing even more PS3 and PSP games and hardware. The first truck looks something like the above, with Nebraska plates, while the second is an XTRA Lease model with Ontario tags. If you see either don’t tarry — call Kevin Butler immediately . Canadian thieves steal $1 million in Sony PlayStation goods, couldn’t wait any longer for GT5 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Nov 2010 22:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Fox News Watch Panel Ignores Their Off-Air Criticism of Palin While Bashing ‘Snobbery’ of Other Critics
November 21, 2010 No Comment
Click here to view this media Apparently Fox New Watch’s Jon Scott and Jim Pinkerton assume that none of their viewers know how to use the Internet or watched this clip of some of the off-air comments made about Sarah Palin on their show. Here’s what they said this week. Scott: Sarah Palin’s Alaska debuted on TLC last Sunday with record breaking ratings for that network. The show featuring the former Alaskan governor and her family as they explore our home state scored nearly five million viewers. TLC says it is the largest debut in the channel’s history and yet the media critics were ready to pounce on her for putting that show together. Kirsten Powers, you’re from Alaska. How about Kirsten Powers Alaska? […] She is a draw! […] Scott: Well and all kinds of critics were ready to pounce. In fact we said on this show last week there were some unsubstantiated reports that she was getting a million dollars or had asked for a million dollars an episode to do that show and I guess that turned out not to be the case. […] Pinkerton: Golfers measure themselves on how much money they make. I think the snobbery in the coverage of her show which is a hit among real people is so thick you can cut it with a knife. I just… it boggles me that critics would turn themselves into such a stereotype that they would do exactly what you’re expected to do which is pound away at her for being a Republican.
Continue reading …‘Name That Party’: AP Adds a Race Card to the Mix in Prince George’s Co. Md. Corruption Story
November 21, 2010 No Comment
A couple of NewsBusters posts during the past week — one from yours truly and another courtesy of Ken Shepherd — have pointed to the press's reluctance to identify the Democratic Party affiliations of indicted Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson and his also-indicted wife Leslie, who is a County Council member. Today, the Associated Press's Brian Witte kept up the wire service's tradition of either not naming the party of an indicted Democrat or deferring that identification until very late in the report (in the apparent hope that subscribing outlets picking up the story won't use it). Jack Johnson's party affiliation was saved for the 19th paragraph; Witte never identified his wife's party affiliation. Witte further quoted a Republican who commented on the situation in Paragraph 10, and noted that said Republican “ran against Johnson in 2002″ in Paragraph 11, leaving it vague as to whether it was a primary or general election contest. Finally, Witte gave voice to people who believes that the Johnsons and ultimately other county officials are being targeted based on their African-American ethnicity — in county where two-thirds of its residents are African-American. Here are selected paragraphs from Witte's report : read more
Continue reading …Hulk Smash Immigrants! Lou Ferrigno joins Sheriff Joe’s Latino-hunting posse
November 21, 2010 No Comment
Click here to view this media Well, we already knew that Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s plan to create a “citizens posse” to hunt down illegal immigrants was one of the stupidest publicity stunts we’d ever heard of (not to mention a profoundly bad idea bound to end badly). Now we get the proof : HULK SMASH IMMIGRANTS! Television ‘Hulk’ actor Lou Ferrigno has joined an Arizona sheriff’s posse targeting illegal immigrants in the Phoenix valley area, the sheriff’s office said on Wednesday. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Ferrigno, 59, a body builder who donned green makeup to star in the popular 1970s television series ‘The Incredible Hulk,’ was among 56 people sworn in as volunteers for an armed immigration posse. Arpaio said the posse would work with sheriff’s deputies in operations targeting smugglers and businesses suspected of employing illegal immigrants in the county, among other duties. Also sworn in alongside Ferrigno: Steven Segal, world’s biggest wanker action star. As a protester who showed up at the event said: “They must have sunk pretty low in their career to stand by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.” This whole scheme gives me the willies. You just know it’s going to turn out badly, for everyone involved.
Continue reading …Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik faces off against a robotic arm in a game of blitz chess
November 21, 2010 No Comment
Robots and artificial intelligence are no stranger to chess, but it’s not every day you get to witness an actual, fiery game of blitz chess between a World Champion and a robotic arm. Vladimir Kramnik, who was World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007, seems to take the game pretty casually, but the robo-arm’s quick, decisive moves feel just a little threatening to us. We get it, you’re a robot, you don’t have to go shouting it from the rooftops! Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik faces off against a robotic arm in a game of blitz chess originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Nov 2010 20:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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