Archive for November 9, 2009
Don’t Believe the Fox News Spin About Poor Ken Hamidi
Always curious as to what Fox “News” is up to, I took a look at FoxNation a few minutes ago and this headline caught my eye:
My antennae went up immediately went up. Members of the SEIU aren’t prone to beating people up — hell, they’re used to sucking it up given the kind of bosses some of them work for – so I clicked on the link:
A state worker is recovering after a bloody brawl at a union hall. He says members of the local SEIU 1000 beat him up and sent him to the hospital all because he wanted to expose allegedl [sic] corruption within the union.
No investigation. No confirmation. Leave it to Fox to devote a big ol’ headline like this to something someone “says” — as long as what that person “says” fits their agenda. In this case, bashing unions.
The name of that “state worker” is Ken Hamidi. I Googled him and lo and behold, look at what I found:
– An April, 2008 YouTube video of SHOUT TV SoCal reporter Carly Perez interviewing Ken Hamidi, then a candidate for statewide office, SEIU Local 1000. (Compare the image of Hamidi in the video to the picture above. It’s the same guy.)
– A 2003 NYT article about a man named “Kourosh Kenneth Hamidi, known as Ken, who has spent eight years trying to rally employees at Intel, his former employer, to resist what he considers abusive workplace practices.” The article mentions that Mr. Hamidi was born in Tehran. Watch the YouTube video. Mr. Hamidi has an accent.
– In September of 2003, Iranian.com posted an article about Hamidi titled: “Governor Ken,” that seems to talk about Hamidi running for governor of California.
– A long list of recent interviews with Hamidi done by SHOUT TV.
There’s something fishy going on here. Hamidi seems to be the looking for attention — attention that Fox “News” is giving him. There’s more to this story and I’m going to stay on it. Meanwhile, beware if you hear Fox portraying this guy as the innocent victim of thuggish union brutes. Fox wants you to think of unions in that light but I think the thug might actually be Hamidi oh, and Fox “News.”
More on the House Democrats Who Voted to Oppress Women
Nate Silver over at FiveThirtyEight has some interesting insights into the Democrats who voted to oppress women (a/k/a they voted for the Stupak Amendment) on Saturday night:
I was surprised at the number of Democrats who have solid pro-choice voting records but who nevertheless voted for Stupak Amendment.
[...]
[I]t may also be revealing of how they perceive their own base: whereas health care is a sine qua non for most Democratic base voters, they [the Democrats who voted for Stupak] seem to be betting that the pro-choice position might no longer be.
Well, those Democrats lost that bet. We didn’t make noise about this amendment because we thought it was water under the bridge — that the law that made abortion legal as of 1973 would be respected. We fought that fight and won, or so we though. It never occurred to us that members of our own party would chip away at it for God’s sake.
We are shocked, disappointed and PISSED OFF!
Rupert Murdoch’s Determination to Spread His Ideology
I came across this post over at News Corpse speculating that Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post might be on its way down the crapper. Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see. What I do agree with though is this: Rupert Murdoch has shown,
great patience for money-losing operations. He deficit financed Fox News for five years. He has been losing money on both MySpace and the Fox Business Network for two years. He doesn’t seemed to be the least bit phased by Glenn Beck’s loss of some 80 advertisers.
What this demonstrates is that Murdoch is not just the greedy media baron some think. He obviously is committed to his ideologies and the “news” enterprises that disseminate them. And if it costs him a few tens of millions of dollars, so be it.
So true.
I Join Markos’ Call to Boycott the DCCC (But Let’s Include the DSCC Too)
I stopped giving to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) last year when I saw them supporting candidates I didn’t think were progressive enough, so I gladly join Markos in his call to ditch the DCCC.
(I stopped giving to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) in 2008 when the Democratic establishment in the Senate supported Joe Lieberman over Ned Lamont. So let’s add them to the list.)
Levi Johnston to Fight for Joint Custody of This Son
I’m surprised he doesn’t already have joint custody — guess he trusted Bristol which was apparently a mistake:
Levi told “The Insider” he is now going to take legal action because he had trouble when trying to see his infant son over the weekend.
Well this should be fun.
There’s Innovation And Then There’s the U.S.
While we mess around trying to find money to rebuild our basic infrastructure — roads, bridges, sewers, the electrical grid, etc. — other parts of the world are, in comparison, moving ahead at the speed of light: “Road trains” get ready to roll. Interesting idea.
Nations that don’t spend most of their money on war and all things having to do with making war, like the United States does, have the luxury of dreaming about a better future and of playing around and innovating in an effort to make those dreams come true.
The “War on Christmas” as Cash Cow
UPDATED BELOW
I don’t watch near the amount of television I did five or ten years ago. IMHO, all the “news” channels are pretty darn worthless. So I haven’t heard whether or not the 2009 edition of the “War on Christmas” has officially begun. Bill O’Reilly usually makes that announcement but I haven’t heard that he has yet.
At any rate, thus far, the screaming and yelling about how Christians are being persecuted hasn’t reached the same level as in prior years which is obviously irritating the Let’s Act Like Persecuted Christians So We Can Sucker Stupid People Into Sending us a Bunch of Money crowd, like the “Liberty Counsel.” So, the “Liberty Counsel” decided that today was as good a day as any to launch its, “Seventh Annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign.“
For a mere $25.00, you can purchase their “Christmas Action Pack:“
So, never mind that Catholic bishops are now writing our legislation; here’s a war on folks. Get your $25.00 action pack today! Oh, hey, and why not buy one for all of your friends and relatives too?
Gawd.
UPDATE: Oops. I was wrong. The Commander-in-Chief in the “War on Christmas” lead the charge last Thursday.
Christians for Hate
On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The Act basically added a ban on violence based on sexual orientation or gender to those that already exist protecting against violence based on race, color, religion or national origin.
Bravo. I don’t think anybody should be beaten up or murdered because they’re gay or lesbian or because they’re a man or a woman. But apparently there is a newly formed group of so-called Christians who — incredibly enough — like that idea. They have a new website. They’re calling for a march on Washington on November 16 during which “ministers from various denominations” will “preach from the Bible” about “the sin of homosexuality.”
So, they want this bill repealed, which can only be interpreted to mean that they have no problem with what happened to Matthew Shepard or James Byrd, Jr.
Despicable. I don’t think Jesus will be in Washington on November 16.
Calling on Joe Lieberman to Quit His Public Option Health Care Plan
The hypocrisy of Joe Lieberman (or any member of congress for that matter) saying he will filibuster the Senate health care bill is just unbelievable. The guy is insured, in essence, by a public option through the government-run health care plan offered to members of the Senate. So hey Joe, put your money where your mouth is: Cancel your government-run policy and buy private health insurance. Then we’ll talk.
Iran: Free the Three American Hikers!
I was shocked when I read this morning that Iran is going to charge the three American hikers it has held since late July with espionage. What? What are they thinking? What is behind this? Are they trying to prove how tough they are?
Just last night, Shannon Bauer, the sister of one of the hikers, Shane Bauer, held a candlelight vigil, pleading for the release of her brother. I have seen her interviewed on local television news and she is desperate. This has got to be devastating. From what I know about this situation, the idea that Bauer and the other two hikers are spies is absolutely absurd.
My heart goes out to Shannon, to her family, to the families of the other two hikers and to the hikers themselves. I’m sure this is a terrifying time for them.
Since When is it Acceptable to Lip-Sync at a Live Concert?
I guess I’m old fashioned but when I was looking around this morning, a headline about Australian fans walking out of a Britney Spears concert because she was lip-syncing caught my eye. Since when is it acceptable for a singer to even consider lip-syncing at a live concert, much less to do it? The whole point of a live concert is to listen to the live band and to see and hear the singer sing. Can you imagine Led Zepplin or the Moody Blues or the Beatles lip-syncing? It would be unheard of.
I don’t get how we’ve come to this place of cheapening live performances so much.
The United States of Iran
No, we don’t have Ayatollahs telling us how to live our lives, but we do have Catholic Bishops:
A restriction on abortion coverage, added late Saturday to the health care bill passed by the House, has energized abortion opponents with their biggest victory in years — emboldening them for a pitched battle in the Senate.
The provision would block the use of federal subsidies for insurance that covers elective abortions. Advocates on both sides are calling Saturday’s vote the biggest turning point in the battle over the procedure since the ban on so-called partial birth abortions six years ago.
Both sides credited a forceful lobbying effort by Roman Catholic bishops with the success of the provision, inserted in the bill under pressure from conservative Democrats.
The Founding Fathers must be turning over in their graves because this violates one of their fundamental, founding principles: The separation of church and state. It is absolutely outrageous and I think it’s time to think about revoking the tax-exempt status of churches.
