Archive for January 15, 2010
CNN Says the UN is Pulling Its Doctors Out of Port-au-Prince Hospital
As of 11:01 p.m ET, CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta are reporting that the UN has pulled its doctors out of at least one major hospital in Port-au-Prince.
They’re scared. They’re scared of people who have been without food and water for three days.
Who are the freakin’ adults here?
Larry King Asks the Stupidest Question of the Day
Ivan Watson was on Larry King Live just now (9:03 p.m. ET) reporting on the death of a 13 year-old-girl who was freed late last night after being trapped in the rubble in Haiti for more than three days. One of her legs was crushed and, insofar as there was no medical facility in the country that could treat her injuries, she died today.
Larry’s question: “How is her family handling it?”
HOW DO YOU THINK THEY’RE HANDLING IT LARRY?
What’s the subliminal message here? Poor black people are so bent on robbing and murdering that they have no feelings? I mean really. What in the world is Larry King thinking? Or is he thinking? And if he isn’t, why is he on teevee and why do we, myself included*, watch the moron?
Jesus.
* I stopped watching the Larry King Show about six years ago but tonight I tuned in because I was out for most of the day and I wanted to know what was happening in Haiti.
Scott Brown Voted Against Benefits for 9/11 Recovery Workers
Yo, Massachusetts, are you sure you want this guy to be your senator?
Really? I mean, r-e-a-l-l-y?
Ed Schultz on the GOP’s Top Ten Most Hated List
The GOP put out its “Ten Most Wanted List” today — I call it the Ten Most Hated List — and guess who’s #4. Radio talk show host Ed Schultz.
Now, I have a lot of problems with Ed Schultz but my God, the wingers have Neal Boortz, Michael Reagan, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and Michael Savage to name but a few, and they’re scared of Ed Schultz?
Again, I have problems with Ed but if the GOP is this afraid of him, he must be hittin’ some of their buttons big time, so YOU GO ED!
David Axelrod Rips Karl Rove a New One
It’s about time someone told Big Liar Karl Rove where to go:
During eight years in office, the Bush administration passed two major tax cuts skewed to the wealthiest Americans, enacted a costly Medicare prescription-drug benefit and waged two wars, without paying for any of it…. To put the breathtaking scope of this irresponsibility in perspective, the Bush administration’s swing from surpluses to deficits added more debt in its eight years than all the previous administrations in the history of our republic combined. And its spending spree is the unwelcome gift that keeps on giving: Going forward, these unpaid-for policies will continue to add trillions to our deficit.
There’s an old saying that everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts. The next time Karl Rove would like to offer us some advice, I’d urge him to take that to heart.
But Karl went whining to that liberal bastion, the Washington Post, and they’re going to give him space to reply over the weekend, as if he doesn’t have enough of a voice being on every other Faux show all week long:
Per another Tweet (see above link), he’s going to be on Faux’s “Greta Wire” tonight. Why doesn’t he just respond then (which I guess he will) and leave it at that? Because he wants a wider, more legitimate and prestigious audience, that’s why, and the WaPo is going to give him the space to do that, and to lie some more.
Starving People as “Looters”
What would you do if you hadn’t had any yfood or water for three days and you didn’t know how or when you were going to get some? Might you be tempted to steal something to eat or drink?
God forbid that the media might have a little more compassion than to refer to the people in Haiti as “looters.” Yes, technically I guess they are but come on; talk about extenuating circumstances.
U.S. Media Ignores Cuba’s Role in Haitian Relief Efforts
We Americans are, of course, supposed to hate Cuba. It’s governed by old, insane men who flail their arms around while giving 8-hour speeches during which they criticize the pure-of-heart U.S. It’s a dark, menacing place where bad people live.
So when Cuba does something that might run counter to what we’re supposed to believe, we just don’t hear about it:
Like the fact that,
completely unmentioned is the reality that Cuba already had over 340 doctors, EMTs and other medical personnel posted to Haiti to help with the day-to-day health needs of this poorest nation in the Americas, and that those medical professionals were the first to respond to the disaster, setting up a hospital right next to the main hospital in Port-au-Prince which collapsed in the earthquake.
Or if we do hear about it, it’s propagandized as was the case (shocking, I know) with Faux News, which claimed, “that the Cubans were absent from the list of neighboring Caribbean countries providing aid.”
Propaganda isn’t always limited to misinformation or lies. Propaganda can be the omission of information as well, which is pretty much what we get around here when it comes to Cuba.
Jumping the Gun
So, is the Associated Press so anxious to report “breaking news” that it has stopped fact checking?
AP withdraws entire Traverse City, Mich., bomb threat report; police say there was no threat and no one was arrested.
Massachusetts
Looks like Martha Coakley (and the entire Democratic establishment?) took an enthusiastic Democratic base for granted, but it wasn’t there, and now she may have blown it.
I have mixed feelings about this. If the Republican, Scott Brown, wins, the Senate is going to be in gridlock for the next two years which is something the country can’t afford. On the other hand, I hope this is a wake-up call for the Democratic establishment. They need to know that some of us out here are pretty darn pissed off at Democrats and they can’t count on us flocking to the polls to vote because the Dem is “less bad than” the Republican. Seems to me a lot of us are tired of that.
And then, just on a personal note, it is so sad that Ted Kennedy’s seat — which has been held by one Kennedy or another for something like 40 years — very well could go down to a Republican. Ol’ Ted deserves better than that.
Our Tax Dollars at Work
It’s bonus time on Wall Street:
An analysis by The Wall Street Journal shows that executives, traders, investment bankers, money managers and others at 38 top financial companies can expect to earn nearly 18% more than they did in 2008—and slightly more than in the record year of 2007.
Heidi Collins Leaving CNN
This morning, CNN anchor Heidi Collins announced that she is leaving the network.
Good riddance.
When I see her I can’t help but remember when she worked at a television station in Denver — probably ten years ago — and I saw her reporting about a visit Ted Kennedy made to the city. The station showed video of Kennedy getting off a plane, followed by Ethel Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy’s widow. Collins obviously had no idea who Ethel Kennedy was, but she didn’t say that. She identified Ethel Kennedy as either Ted Kennedy’s wife or his mother. I don’t remember which.
I haven’t trusted her since.
