The mainstream press on the drug PC

When I first read the story in the Washington Post today of Brittany Norwood brutally murdering her co-worker Jayna Murray in a Yoga store of Bethesda, MD of all things, I thought two things immediately: 1) Yoga--that eastern religion that’s supposed to bring peace? and 2) how can any woman stab another 331 times, then stage her own assault to deflect the guilt, and not have some prior warning that she was evil to the core?

I read the whole thing, and saw the photos of Jayna’s family (for awhile I thought the photo of Jayna's mother was actually a photo of Brittany the killer so I thought the perp was a white woman) without any knowledge that Brittany was black and Jayna was white. If it had been reversed, if the victim was black and the killer white, do you suppose any reader of the Washington Post could have come across that story and not known that?

Another item in this case not reported in WaPo is that the employees of an Apple store next door could hear the screams of the victim, and did nothing.

The mainstream press on the drug PC.

Guantanamo Bay: How the White House lost the fight to close it

Verbs and nouns matter. So do biases. While the press wrote or implied, "Bush lied (about everything)," when it comes to Obama, it's a much more delicate wrap up of his campaign promise to close Guantanamo, the reason so many moderates voted for him (other than a pretty face and empty rhetoric). According to WaPo, on that promise he just made a pragmatic decision, a miscalculation, his plans were undermined, there was confusion, even timidity and passivity that reflects his "style." Oh crap. The man lied to get in office. About everything. He didn't even write his own autobiography which created the empty suit. The only things he has followed through on, some within days of taking office, are funding embryonic stem cell research, removing religious symbols in public events even if it's a church's building, redistributing wealth from the upper class to the middle class, and weakening our position in the Middle East. Although that last one he's apparently had second thoughts about with decisions to bomb Libya.

Shame, shame on the Washington Post writers Peter Finn and Anne E. Kornblut. Not that I expected anything different, but shame is the only word to describe WaPo's fall from being a watchdog to being a lapdog.

Guantanamo Bay: How the White House lost the fight to close it - The Washington Post

Washington Post Apologizes For 'Substantial' Plagiarism In Two Stories

Borrowed? Ten out of 15 paragraphs in two articles? I wonder if Pulitzer Prize winner Sari Horwitz, who is from Arizona, has read the new White House White paper on intellectual property on increasing the prison terms? I think that came out today and it looks pretty grim and over reaching.

Washington Post Apologizes For 'Substantial' Plagiarism In Two Stories

Obama and the banks

When the clutch/herd/murder/band/covey/swarm of advisers around Obama saw the stock market rally Monday at even the hint that Scott Brown might win, they squashed it on Wednesday with Obama's announcement of more bank regulation. I never had an economics course, but I was listening to Michele Bachmann, the lone voice of sanity in Minnesota (and the next legislator I'll support), yesterday who says Pelosi has painted a bulls eye on her forehead. Let me paraphrase until I can look her up. "Just get out of the way--no more new regulations or taxes and reduce what we already have. The economy will start to turn around in a quarter." Obama's move was a real smack down for any even considering saving the economy, a pay back for Tuesday's vote. I think he was responding to Brown's clear message, "Brown ran on a very specific, very clear agenda. Stop health care. Don't Mirandize terrorists. Don't raise taxes; cut them. And no more secret backroom deals with special interests." Krauthammer link.

But how was this portrayed by WaPo, which continues to carry his water even after all the disastrous moves (I won't call them mistakes, because I think they were intentional) with the economy, national security, and the environment of his first year. Here's what showed up in my e-mail--"The populist brushfire that has burned through Democratic fortunes this week threatened Friday to claim Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, imperiling his nomination for a second term and sending an unsettled stock market tumbling for the third straight day." Not a peep that the stock market tumble was as a direct result of Obama's announcement. Nope--just those stupid independent voters, those misinformed racist chicken littles out there running around like their heads were cut off. Why did this hurt the economy when unemployment is over 10%--and much higher here in Ohio?

"Daniel Ariens, whose company manufactures and markets snowblowers and lawnmowers, works closely with two regional banks in Chicago. If you want to stimulate the economy, he says, you can't keep "beating down on people who finance the infrastructure of this economy."

Todd Teske, CEO of Briggs & Stratton Corp., is concerned about who will pay for more regulation. "I've heard this has the potential for driving up costs for the banks," he said. "To the extent those costs are passed on to their customer base, that becomes problematic."

"Uncertainty over financial regulatory authority and what it means to the largest financial providers to the economy is not good," Keith Sherin, chief financial officer of General Electric Co., said Friday. GE is challenging some proposals in Washington that could change how its bruised finance arm, GE Capital, is structured, regulated or taxed. A recently proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee could cost GE Capital $500 million, after taxes, for a full year." WSJ Link

Could the problem be that no one in the Obama administration has ever worked for any sector other than the government which only sees higher taxes and more regulations as the way to recovery and/or growth? Think about it. Gov. Granholm of Michigan is one of his economic advisers.

What crisis at home? ACORN?

I realize journalists don't write the headlines for their stories that appear in the paper or our WaPo e-mail alerts, but exactly what "crisis at home" is Patrick Gaspard dealing with that would come anywhere close to what's happening in Haiti? One news talking head referred to the Massachusetts race as a "crisis at home." Really? And as I recall the Hurricane of 2008 response was quite large. If he could do little then, as reported, was it because he wasn't on staff, didn't have enough money, didn't volunteer, or because Bush was in office and WaPo can never think of a thing good or decent to say about him?

Here's the lead-in headline this morning to a personal story about Patrick Gaspard of the Obama administration, who is not a native Haitian, but grew up there. "A White House portrait of grace under pressure; Adviser balances crises in Haiti and at home (By Jason Horowitz and Anne Kornblut, The Washington Post)

Just how big is Gaspard in the Obama administration? Huge, says the same journalist at another publication.

"Earlier this year, Mr. Gaspard, a Brooklyn-based, 41-year-old Democratic operative, succeeded Karl Rove as the White House director of the office of political affairs. Unlike Mr. Rove, Mr. Gaspard is at his most comfortable making his presence felt without actually being seen.

“He’s become a real player in the White House, the president himself told me,” said Representative Gregory Meeks. “He’s a low key, behind-the-scenes, no-fingerprints kind of guy. I need something, I call Patrick. And if he calls, it’s a big deal. He’s close to the president.”

Mr. Gaspard’s official responsibility is to provide the president with an accurate assessment of the political dynamics affecting the work of his administration, and to remain in close contact with powerbrokers around the country to help push the president’s agenda."

So perhaps Obama's falling numbers and crashing support for health care is a "crisis," for this very far left adviser. And if Karl Rove was "seen" in the Bush WH, it was because the media decided he was the other half of Cheney's brain and Bush was just a puppet.

New Zeal probably has the best run down on Gaspard's communist ties, via New Party, Working Families Party, ACORN, SEIU, etc.