Dec 27 2008

AP reporting of Israel’s attack on Hamas

Category: Hamas,Islam,Israel,media — harmonicminer @ 8:06 pm

AP has done worse in its reporting, though this report has some of the usual weasel wording, calling Hamas terrorists “security forces” and so on. And the AP report puts this very interesting bit in paragraph ELEVEN, after reporting on the carnage.

Militants often operate against Israel from civilian areas. Late Saturday, thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language cell-phone messages from the Israeli military, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons.

I would have thought such an interesting paragraph might have been, say, paragraph two, because that would have made the story more sequential.  Instead, we hear a great deal about the attack and its consequences, and only then do we hear about Israel’s attempt to reduce civilian casualties with warnings before the attacks.  But at least the AP mentioned it.  It usually does not, though this is common Israeli practice.

Once again, the lie of any moral equivalence between Israel and terrorist Palestinians is made very clear.  I’m actually surprised that the AP admitted that Hamas terrorists (called “militants” by the AP) operate from civilian areas.  At least the AP saw fit to include Israel’s warning messages to civilians who were perhaps not directly involved in Hamas’ terrorist activities.

Can anyone recall ANY similar warning ever given to ANY population, Jewish, Islamic, European, American, whatever, when Islamist terrorists are preparing an attack?  Of course, the whole point of such attacks is usually to kill civilians.  And when they attack American military targets, they wouldn’t need to warn civilians anyway, because American forces do not use civilians as “human shields.”

Israel’s major aims are two-fold: to kill Hamas leaders and terrorist personnel, and also to destroy weapons, bomb, and missile caches.  Israel has no designs on Palestinian civilians who are not attacking it.

Tags: , , ,

Dec 18 2008

Incoherent ignorance, squared

Category: education,higher education,media — harmonicminer @ 11:57 am

In a recent survey listing medical workers as the most trusted, educators scored very high in trustworthiness.

Other eligible — and admired — professions were education, at 14 percent, and science and technology, at 10 percent.

Educators and doctors were also voted the most trusted by an overwhelming 86 and 87 percent, followed by homemakers and those in science and technology.

Only one percent picked retail professionals as partner-material, and those in media and marketing, as well as entertainers, did little better at two and three percent.

These professions were also among the least trusted by respondents, who, across the seven markets, picked the media as the single least trusted group.

Why is this incoherently ignorant?  Simple.  The professoriate and the major media agree about almost everything. Education is no longer primarily about learning facts and how to reason from them, it is now mostly about indoctrination in left-wing “principles.”  Just like the major media.  If you trust one, and not the other, it means you don’t know what either are really about these days.

Apparently, all have been doing a great job in informing and educating the public, since the public seems largely unaware of this, and actually thinks modern educators and the media are up to different things, when in fact they are two of the great arms of the grand left-ward slide of our culture, the third being government entitlement programs, upon which both depend, but in different ways.

Tags: ,

Dec 08 2008

The Imam’s new clothes: naked Jihad is apparently still beyond notice

Category: Islam,media,national security,terrorism — harmonicminer @ 1:09 pm

In his usual brilliantly entertaining way, Mark Steyn points out the apparently un-point-outable in a piece called “Silence = Acceptance”, in which he reminds us that, at some point, acqueisance to evil IS evil:

Silence=Acceptance

Rabbi Holtzberg was not murdered because of a territorial dispute over Kashmir or because of Bush’s foreign policy.

Shortly after the London Tube bombings in 2005, a reader of Tim Blair, the Sydney Daily Telegraph’s columnar wag, sent him a note-perfect parody of a typical newspaper headline: “British Muslims Fear Repercussions Over Tomorrow’s Train Bombing.”

Indeed. And so it goes. This time round, Bombay, it was the Associated Press that filed a story about how Muslims “found themselves on the defensive once again about bloodshed linked to their religion.”

Oh, I don’t know about that. In fact, you’d be hard pressed from most news reports to figure out the bloodshed was “linked” to any religion, least of all one beginning with “I-” and ending in “-slam.” In the three years since those British bombings, the media have more or less entirely abandoned the offending formulations, “Islamic terrorists,” “Muslim extremists”, and by the time of the assault on Bombay found it easier just to call the alleged perpetrators “militants” or “gunmen” or “teenage gunmen,” as in the opening line of this report in the Australian: “An Adelaide woman in India for her wedding is lucky to be alive after teenage gunmen ran amok…”

Kids today, eh? Always running amok in an aimless fashion.

Read the whole thing, and try to grapple with the questions it raises. Why do our media and government agencies try so hard to avoid saying the obvious?

If you doubt any of Steyn’s perspective on this (it is, after all, only a brief article, and perhaps you think he’s cherry picked a few anecdotes), you should consider reading his book, America Alone. I know, all you jihad deniers think that “most muslims” wouldn’t do such things, but would they acquiesce to them? What kind of data would you need to have that demonstrated to you? At what point do about a zillion “anecodotes” start to add up to real data?

The “moderate Muslims” in our communities know who the extremists are in their own orbit.  If they don’t, they are being willfully blind and ignorant. Why don’t they report them?

I am prolife. I positively despise abortion, and think it is the greatest contemporary stain on American culture. If I attended a meeting somewhere in which some yahoo talked glowingly about maybe blowing up an abortion clinic as the only moral thing to do, and God’s will to punish the ungodly, I’d be on the phone with the cops in about three seconds out of the meeting.  And I’d be doing the fool a favor.  Better to be watched closely than to become a murderer.

Talk similar to that is directly quoted from the Koran and Hadith, and effusively praised, in mosques every week in non-majority-Muslim countries.   Jihadists who do horrible things are routinely held up as objects of praise.  How many phone calls do you think are made alerting authorities? Free speech is supposed to stop at conspiracy to murder or incitement to terrorism, isn’t it?

Tags: , , ,

Dec 04 2008

The Kossacks spin till they drop: UPDATE

Category: media — harmonicminer @ 9:54 am

Now the Daily KOS is trying hard to blunt the evident facts of how poorly Obama voters were informed, on average, by slicing out of an interview of John Ziegler (on Hannity & Colmes) the smallest possible little thread to try to make it seem as if John Ziegler thinks it make sense for voters to think Obama is a Muslim.  That is not what he was saying, at all, it is his assessment that there is at least a small factual background for that, in Obama’s childhood.   But it’s the best the Kossacks can do to criticize the poll Ziegler is quoting.  Compare the video at this link to the tiny snippet Daily Kos shows above, and form your own conclusion.  It was really clear that Colmes was just trying to stop Ziegler from talking, always a sign that you don’t want the other side to even have a chance to make their case, because you’re afraid of the evidence.

UPDATE:  Be sure to READ THE COMMENTS at the Kos link.  Read them all.  Get a feel for these people.  Understand the world they live in.  If you voted for Obama, ask yourself if these are people you want to associate yourself with.  I invite you to go look at Right leaning websites to see if you can find people confessing to crimes and laughing about it.  And then there’s the out and out hate speech.

Tags:

Dec 02 2008

“How Obama Got Elected”: UPDATED *AGAIN* WITH NEW POLL RESULTS!

Category: election 2008,media — harmonicminer @ 10:33 am

Below the asterisk line is some background I put up yesterday.  Go read it and watch the video, then come back to the top.

John Ziegler has released the results of his new poll.  The short story:  McCain voters appear to be about twice as well informed as Obama voters.  35% of McCain voters got 10 or more of 13 questions correct, while only 18% of Obama voters could do the same.  Full results of the poll and video of Ziegler on Hannity & Colmes are here.

Remember:  Ziegler isn’t saying there is something wrong with Obama voters.  He IS saying that there is something seriously wrong with the media reporting and coverage, the selection of topics to stress or even mention, the quality of the analysis provided, and so on.  In other words, Ziegler is indicting the media for abject failure to do right, because they were in the tank for Obama.

For internals on the poll, methodology, etc., go here.

****************************************************************************************************

READ THIS FIRST, THEN BACK TO THE TOP TO CONTINUE:

I referred a few days back to a new film by John Ziegler, that features the results of polls taken of Obama voters regarding their knowledge of the candidates. Politico covered the controversy ignited by the poll and viral video (at the link above, 1.5 millions views and counting, and utterly fascinating) and discussed Ziegler’s plans for a more complete documentary on the topic.  Here’s a bit of the Politico article, which goes into more detail on Ziegler’s plans.

The controversial “How Obama Got Elected” video by John Ziegler is only part of a longer documentary that the conservative talk radio host hopes to release early next year.

Wouldn’t it be great if when they mentioned Oprah, or Larry King, or Chris Matthews, they said “the liberal talkshow host”? Sigh. Apparently in a “middle of the road” source like Politico, it’s still worth mentioning if someone is “conservative”, but not if they’re “liberal”. Par for the course, I suppose.

The viral video of interviews with Obama voters, one that Ziegler said shows the highly selective news consumption habits of Barack Obama supporters, has received more than 1.5 million views on YouTube. Thanks to an accompanying Zogby poll (later criticized by John Zogby himself), the video sparked high-profile stories on cable news shows, political blogs and other outlets, including Politico.

Ziegler, who recently branched out into filmmaking with the documentary “Blocking ‘The Path to 9/11, says the popular viral clip is only a small element of a longer video that may debut in February at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He’s been accumulating hours of newscasts, so much so he says he can put together a “Gone With the Wind”-length epic.

“I’m into actually showing bias,” says Ziegler, who hopes to show in his unfinished film how those who voted for Obama consumed information only from pro-Obama news sources, and, he believes, were therefore less informed.

Later in the article, we see this nugget:

“Redistributing the wealth” â€” While a radio interview with Obama dating back to 2001 got lots of play on Drudge for its alleged comment about wealth distribution, the mainstream media all but ignored it, Ziegler says. The radio interview with WBEZ-FM was, in fact, discussed on CNBC, MSNBC, and in The New York Times, among other outlets.

Does Politico think that mention on two lower rated cable channels and page H77 of the NY Times somehow contravenes Ziegler’s point?  Nothing from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, WaPo, etc., and probably only a single brief mention in the sources they cite.  Certainly nothing like sustained coverage and analysis anywhere in the “major media”.

Ziegler is certainly not alone in his assessment of the media’s performance. Near the end of the article, Politico reports:

Following a recent panel discussion at the University of Southern California that was co-hosted by Politico, Time Magazine editor-at-large and political analyst Mark Halperin came under fire for his remarks about media bias.

“It’s the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq War,” Halperin said. “It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage.” After his remarks, left-leaning blogs went ballistic, as did right-wing talk radio hosts – obviously for different reasons.

What’s funny here, of course, is that if you’re on the Left, you’re only “left-leaning”, but if you’re on the Right, you’re full-on “right-wing”. Notice the different shade of meaning if the sentence was this:

After his remarks, left-wing blogs went ballistic, as did right-leaning talk radio hosts – obviously for different reasons.

Obviously, the shades of meaning are different.  And the funniest part of all is that Politico can’t help but let its bias show, even while reporting on charges of media bias.

Ziegler has continued working on the new documentary, “How Obama Got Elected”, and now has poll results of both McCain and Obama voters, which he plans to reveal in just a couple of days.  Ziegler’s thesis is simple:  Obama got elected because disproportionate numbers of people who voted for him simply didn’t know much about him, and the fault for that lies mainly with the major media.

For a preview and some background on this important exposure of media bias, watch “Hannity & Colmes” on Tuesday, Dec 2.  (Check your local listings for the FOX NEWS CHANNEL, but probably 9 pm and midnight eastern time.)  It should be fascinating.  Make popcorn.

Tags: ,

Nov 28 2008

So now the source of the money matters

Category: election 2008,media — harmonicminer @ 11:41 pm

‘Unbelievable’ sum of money in Ga. runoff – USATODAY.com

Republicans are pouring millions into Georgia’s Senate runoff contest in the final days of the race as they try to prevent Democrats from adding to their Election Day gains.

Georgia’s Senate race, one of two still undecided, is drawing national attention as it heads to a runoff Dec. 2. The outcome will determine whether Democrats have a chance to control the 60 seats they need to block Republican-led filibusters.

Both candidates are aggressively fundraising, but Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss is benefiting more from interest groups and large donors than Democratic challenger Jim Martin.

Funny how the corrupting influence of money on elections wasn’t much of a subject during the Obama campaign.

Look for newspaper articles on the homeless to dry up almost entirely after Obama is inaugurated, even though in the current economic times there must surely be more of them. The media is so predictable that it would be funny, if it wasn’t dangerous.

Tags: ,

Nov 23 2008

Nothing new here, except that they admit it

Category: media,politics — harmonicminer @ 9:13 pm

I’ve written on the credibility problems of the major media, so just consider this to be one more data point in the case. I think this is just the beginning of the fallout for the major media.  There will be more.  Lots more.  The major media spent ALL its meager remaining capital of trust on this campaign.  But the truth is going to come out, in a way that will be persuasive to all but the 20-30% of people who are totally committed to the Left, no matter what… call them “blue dog socialists”, I guess.

TANSTAAFL.  The major media will pay for this, in coin of which they have little, even if they don’t know it yet.

The mainstream media’s support for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was so biased that even major insiders are now admitting they were shocked by its depth and depravity.

Continue reading “Nothing new here, except that they admit it”

Tags: ,

Nov 22 2008

John Ziegler is at it again, thank God

Category: media,Obama — harmonicminer @ 6:43 pm

John Ziegler, whose earlier efforts in documenting ABC’s and Disney’s torpedoing of the mini series “The Path to 911” I mentioned here, has now scored again with How Obama Got Elected. The official description of the film:

On November 4th, 2008 millions of Americans were shocked that a man of Barack Obama’s limited experience, extreme liberal positions and radical political alliances could be elected President of the United States. For many of these Americans, the explanation was rather simple… the news media, completely enamored with Obama, simply refused to do their job.

On Election day twelve Obama voters were interviewed extensively right after they voted to learn how the news media impacted their knowledge of what occurred during the campaign. These voters were chosen for their apparent intelligence/verbal abilities and willingness to express their opinions to a large audience. The rather shocking video below seeks to provide some insight into which information broke through the news media clutter and which did not.

And without further ado:

Mr. Ziegler, the filmmaker, has been the target of various attacks, to which he responds here.

The Left is touchy, isn’t it?

Tags: ,

Nov 22 2008

The huge, huge credibility problem for the major media

Category: election 2008,media — harmonicminer @ 9:17 am

In what appears to be a sort of penultimate post for the time being, the Bidinotto Blog has a post titled Belated mea culpas from the MSM.   There are links in the post, and some of them link to other links, so if you’re in doubt, there’s plenty of information there and linked there to make the point.

The gist is simple:  all over the media, print and broadcast, “journalists” and “ombudsmen” are finally admitting what any slightly intelligent person already knew, that the media essentially abdicated its responsibility to do honest reporting and full investigation of Obama and Biden, to follow up leads, to air information rebutting their claims, etc., while going overboard in attacking Palin and McCain.

It isn’t up for discussion:  they’ve basically admitted it.  And their admission has great credibility in itself, because it is an admission against interest.  So, now, what will they do?  I’ve already weighed in on that.

I suspect that over time, the nation may well develop a huge case of buyer’s remorse, and blame it on the used car salesmen masquerading as journalists who lied by what they said, lied by what they didn’t say, lied by what they claimed not to know, and lied by not looking for anything that might turn out to be damaging to the Obama campaign.

While it’s been a joke in the center-right blogosphere that the major media are another wing of the DNC public relations machine, or even just directly an arm of the Obama campaign, that appears to be the literal truth.

And in the final irony, the Democrat Congress seems poised to impose a “fairness doctrine” on talk radio, and to push Obama to sign it, or even just do it administratively via the FCC.  There will never, of course, be a “fairness doctrine” for broadcast television….  THAT would be prior restraint of free speech.

Tags: ,

Nov 20 2008

The 650 Million Dollar Man

Category: media,Obama — harmonicminer @ 3:01 pm

Have you noticed the enormous number of articles in the major media, engaging in hand wringing over the amount of money Obama spent on his campaign?  Lamenting how we need to “get the money out of politics”?  Crying over the tens (or hundreds) of millions of unaccountable donations he collected?

Me either.  Suddenly, money in politics isn’t a bad thing, it’s just evidence of how loved Obama is by everyone.

Also, look for virtually all reporting on the homeless problem to cease within six months of the Incarnation… er, excuse me, I meant, the Inauguration.

Tags: ,

« Previous Page — Next Page »