To: Bill O'Reilly, Re: Ambush Journalism, Or Viva La Papparazzi!

Let's Face It:
YOU'RE the Only One Who Thinks It's Journalism, Bill

From ThinkProgress.com:

Yesterday, Bill O’Reilly defended his top henchman, producer Jesse Watters, who is supposedly “the subject of far-left angst, because he goes out and talks to the bad guys.” During his conversation with Amanda Carpenter of the Washington Times — who agreed with everything the Fox News host was saying — O’Reilly defended his “ambush journalism” as a “legitimate brand of journalism.”

Quiz yourself, Bill: How many of the "Ten Commandments" of journalism do you really ascribe to? According to The Elements of Journalism, a book by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel:

1. Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.
   
2. Its first loyalty is to the citizens.
3. Its essence is discipline of verification.
4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
7. It must strive to make the significant interesting, and relevant.
8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.
9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.
10. It must recognize the rights and responsibilities of citizens
    

Now Bill, there are, as you know, different kinds (styles) of journalism: Sports, Science, Investigative, Yellow, Gonzo, Celebrity, Convergence and, your own, Ambush journalism. Of all kinds of journalism, Ambush journalism has been criticized by "legitimate" journalists as the most sensational and unethical. Many would not consider it journalism at all because of its blatant physical intrusion on a person.

You said "...goes out and talks to the bad guys." So you prejudge them as bad guys BEFORE you send Jesse Watters out to ambush them. And when they resist Watters (who is usually on their property), they look even worse, right? Very interesting.

Here's part of your interview with THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:

WHY ARE ACTORS SUCH FREQUENT TARGETS OF "THE FACTOR"?

O'Reilly: My job is to watch the powerful. A performer has a forum that other people do not, and all we ask is that they be fair. If they believe something and use their TV show, movie or concert to spout off about it, that's fine. But if we have some questions about their beliefs, I think they should answer them -- and not be drive-by people.

Hmmm. Okay. But Bill, would that have included Princess Diana? Maybe she wasn't a performer, but she was one of the powerful you talk about. Would you have been in the car with the paparazzi if you had the chance?

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:

HOW ABOUT CNN, YOUR FAVORITE COMPETITOR?

O'Reilly: I think Wolf Blitzer does a nice job, and Anderson Cooper is an honest guy.

But Bill, how would YOU know if Anderson Cooper is honest? Can you actually relate to a journalist who has won countless awards for his reporting on Katrina, Darfur, Ruwanda, the Asian Tsunami, Iraq and Bosnia?

And what does honesty have to do with "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox? Fox, of all places! The home of Sean Hannity? Fox, the place where no liberal dares to tread! Fox, the only news channel that panders slavishly to Sarah Palin and let's her do all the talking! Fox News, who actually thinks of Michelle Malkin as a kind of roving reporter! Come on, Bill.

Be realistic and honest, Bill. "The O'Reilly Factor" and its ambush style does not equal any kind of honest journalism. Scrap people like Malkin and Watters, dump the attacks on the people you think are "the bad guys," say "mea cupla" one hundred thousand times and maybe you'll enter the realm of real journalism.

Just a thought.

Ann Coulter(geist) Bites A Big One

Now We Know Who Ann Coulter Gets Her News From: Michelle Malkin! ?? !!!!!

By now, this story has captured the hearts of the all the progressive bloggers in the world, and I'm no exception.

O.K., April Fool's pranks can be treacherous - and down right humiliating - especially to someone like Ann Coulter.

From ThinkProgress.com:

As an April Fool’s joke, Car and Driver magazine posted a made-up story on its website claiming that “President Obama had ordered Chevrolet and Dodge out of NASCAR after the 2009 season.” The magazine “pulled the fake story” after it “turned into a sizzling Internet topic,” especially on anti-Obama right-wing websites.

Rush Limbaugh laughed at the gullibility of anyone who would believe the article:

Well, now, who’s going to believe this?

Well, that’s not the quite proper way to ask it. All good comedy requires an element of truth in it, and obviously there are people that believe this could come down the pike. But it hasn’t yet. Run this story tomorrow, if you want to play a practical joke on people.

But some people DID believe it. Ann Coulter is as gullible as she is rabid for any anti-Obama news:

If Obama can tell GM and Chrysler that their participation in NASCAR is an “unnecessary expenditure,” isn’t having public schools force students to follow Muslim rituals, recite Islamic prayers and plan “jihads” also an “unnecessary expenditure”? Are all those school condom purchases considered “necessary expenditures”?.*

And guess where she got the "force students to follow Muslim rituals", etc." Not from a reliable source, that's for sure: Michelle Malkin's June, 2007 post Hot Topic: Muslim Prayer in Public Schools. Malkin is the reigning queen of yellow "journalism." Every time she's put in as a "reporter" on Fox News (esp. Bill O'Reilly's "Factor"), she's never calm, cool or collected. She rants. She rales. She fumes. She screams as if someone is raping her (while SHE rapes the English language!)

And she gets most of her facts wrong. Or spins a story until it becomes the opposite of what it was before. With professional news reporting, the story about San Diego's Carver school is limited to ONE school. Carver. Singular. The circumstances were approved by the principal and teachers and it would have gone unnoticed if a Christofascist substitute teacher hadn't screamed to the press that "indocrination" was going on.

From The San Diego Tribune:

"An investigation by the San Diego Unified School District failed to substantiate the allegations."

Of course, none of that matters to people as hungry for hate as Malkin and Coulter. And the irony in all of this: one of Coulter's books was titled If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans.

Let's see: Ann Coulter - Michelle Malkin - Rush Limbaugh - Michael Steele - Bill O'Reilly - Sean Hannity - Sarah Palin - Bobby Jindal

My next book title:

If Republicans Had Any Brains, They'd Just Shut Up!

*They damn well are necessary!

Cheney's Got A MOLE!

No, Not THAT kind...
THIS kind:

Poor Dick Cheney. Nobody loves him! Maybe that's what's so attractive about him - to the media at least. His permanent sneer, his love of torture, his quest for more power than God. And now this:

(From NPR an interview with investigative journalist, Seymour Hersch)

HERSH: I’ll make it worse. I think he’s put people left. He’s put people back. They call it a stay behind. It’s sort of an intelligence term of art. When you leave a country and, you know, you’ve driven out the, you know, you’ve lost the war. You leave people behind. It’s a stay behind that you can continue to contacts with, to do sabotage, whatever you want to do. Cheney’s left a stay behind. He’s got people in a lot of agencies that still tell him what’s going on. Particularly in defense, obviously. Also in the NSA, there’s still people that talk to him. He still knows what’s going on. Can he still control policy up to a point? Probably up to a point, a minor point. But he’s still there. He’s still a presence.

With all due respect to Seymour Hersch, if you've got THAT many contacts in government, there is no such thing as a "minor point." You control policy - a lot.

So how many "friends" can Cheney count on if he decides to stage a "coup"?

Let's look at where he's been:

White House Staff Asisstant, 1971
Assistant of the Cost of Living Council 1971-1973
Deputy Assistant to the President 1974-1975
White House Chief of Staff - Ford Administration
Rep. from Wyoming (elected 1978) – re-elected five times
House Minority Whip (how appropriate)
Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush
Oversaw Operation Desert Storm
Chairman and CEO of Halliburton Company 1995 -2000*

Of all those positions, Cheney showed his true self as Deputy Assistant. It was in this position that he suggested to Donald Rumsfeld a questionable policy of vengeance against journalists, especially Seymour Hirsch of the New York Times.

So, if we are to make anything of Cheney's stay-behinds, how powerful a conspiracy are we talking about?

Depends on how ruthless you think Dick Cheney really is.

*During Cheney's tenure, Halliburton changed its accounting practices regarding revenue realization of disputed costs on major construction projects. Cheney resigned as CEO of Halliburton on July 25, 2000. As vice president, he argued that this step removed any conflict of interest. Cheney's net worth, estimated to be between $30 million and $100 million, is largely derived from his post at Halliburton, as well as the Cheneys' gross income of nearly $8.82 million.

Two Disgusting Cases Of Child Abuse: Which One Is Worse?

One Committed By A Cult, Or The Other By
The Governor Of South Carolina?

Today, I noted two tragic acts of child abuse. In a sense, they were both actions of people who did not know their children, or at least not how innocent children can be. Of the two, it is the second which is nonsensical. Governors should know better.

Of the Southern governors who have chosen not to accept Stimulus funds (all or in part), has any one governor tried to poll his constituency about what THEY want (or don't want)? Governors, after all, are not elected to perform as parents of their constituents. And since when do governors refuse money marked for education because they think it "harmful" in the long run?

How many states can afford to refuse money for education? Will their refusals result in better state education infrastructure? Will children learn more as a result? Will grateful children send their governors hand-written letters of thanks (forwarded, of course, by their almost non-existent teachers)?

O.K. Enough of that. Let's look at the two:

THIS IS CHILD ABUSE:

BALTIMORE (AP) — A former religious cult member pleaded guilty Monday to starving her 1-year-old son to death after making an unusual deal with prosecutors: If the child is resurrected, her plea will be withdrawn. Ria Ramkissoon, 22, also agreed to testify against four other members of the now-defunct religious group known as 1 Mind Ministries. All four are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Javon Thompson.

According to a statement of facts, the cult members stopped feeding the boy when he refused to say "Amen" after a meal. After Javon died, Ramkissoon sat next to his decomposing body and prayed for his resurrection.

AND THIS IS CHILD ABUSE:

(from ThinkProgress.com)

As Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) continues to wage an ideological war against $700 million of sorely-needed stimulus funds for his state, he has become more and more desperate to stave off his critics. Tonight on Glenn Beck’s Fox show, Sanford claimed that accepting the funds — 80 percent of which would fund education in his state — would be akin to “fiscal child abuse”

YES, "FISCAL CHILD ABUSE."

"...since those costs will be borne by the next generation, in fact it is sort of fiscal child abuse to do what we’re doing. "

Sanford counts on the fact that the "next generation" can't vote yet. He's in training for 2012, so today's kids don't really matter until they start paying taxes or (more importantly) start investing. It's a pity that today's South Carolina adults are too poor to relocate to a state that cares about their children's PRESENT education. Oh, and about 80% of those kids are African American. Sanford will scream that race is not a factor in "his" decision.

What does South Carolina really have to lose refusing the money? According to State Representative Dan Cooper (R), the state would lose up to 4,000 teachers and 700 prison guards.

Poor education is one of the factors leading to poverty and crime. More crime, but fewer prison guards. Hmmm. South Carolina is a beautiful place, but with poverty and crime escalating at the speed of light, would YOU want to live there? Yes, there are some very, very rich enclaves in SC, but they're considering moats stocked with crocodiles.

Crocodiles cost too much. They'll be bankrupt within a year. THEN, they'll be asking for stimulus money.

Just a thought.

West Virginia: We're Too Poor To Think About Banning Gay Marriage!

Hell! Banning ANYTHING Just Makes Us Poorer!

(And besides - it's not the right thing to do)

Christofascist Alert!

The Family Policy Council is now embroiled in "intimidation" of lawmakers.

By 365gay Newscenter Staff
03.30.2009 2:23pm EDT

(Charleston, West Virginia) A bid to advance an amendment to West Virginia’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage has failed.

Republicans and social conservatives [Christofascists] had pushed the amendment, but it languished in a House committee.

Earlier this month, the conservative Family Policy Council began a telemarketing campaign accusing two lawmakers - Delegates Carrie Webster and Barbara Fleischauer - of blocking a vote on the measure.

Webster and Fleischauer called the move “intimidation.” The bill was tied up in the House Committee on Constitutional Revision, which Fleischauer heads. If approved there, it would have gone to the House Judiciary committee headed by Webster..

Last year, the Family Policy Council unsuccessfully attempted to pressure Gov. Joe Manchin to recall the legislature to pass the proposed amendment. The measure was added to the legislature’s agenda this session.

Now let's have some background on this situation. West Virginia ranks 47th in the nation in terms of income per capita and 15st in the ratings of colleges and advanced education. (there are only 24 colleges and universities in West Virginia, - and that's counting bible-thumper schools). A great deal of West Virginia's youth sign up for the National Guard or for one of the armed services. When questioned why students are so eager to sign up: "To get an education so's I can get the hell out of West Virginia."

Foundations like the Family Policy Council usually thrive in such uneducated soil: they're allied with Family Research Council, Alliance Defense Fund and James Dobson's Focus on the Family. If you look at the wikipedia link, however, there are MANY Family Policy Councils, some of which provide services for LGBT families. So this one? Strongarmed Christofascists with a hate agenda a mile long!

A bit of an anomoly isn't it: one of the poorest states in the union, with a 75% solid "Christian" demographic and a poor showing for education, will not pass an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage.

My memory just passed a situation called Abu Ghraib. It was West Virginia's Joe Darby who turned in the photos because it was simply "the right thing to do." But when he came back to West Virginia, he and his wife had to have bodyguards for six months.

The Family Policy Council did not reckon with the deep-rooted family values of West Virginia.

Just a thought.

NOBODY Expects The Spanish Inquisition!

Monty Python's Flying Circus
Originally uploaded by twm1340

Least of All: Ex Bushites!

Spanish law allows courts to reach beyond national borders in cases of torture or war crimes under a doctrine of universal justice, though the government has recently said it hopes to limit the scope of the legal process.

From ThinkProgress.com:

A Spanish court “has agreed to consider opening a criminal case against six former Bush administration officials…over allegations they gave legal cover for torture at Guantanamo Bay.” The officials include former attorney general Alberto Gonzales, former undersecretary of defense for policy Douglas Feith, former Cheney chief of staff David Addington, Justice Department officials John Yoo and Jay S. Bybee, and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes.

Hmmm...is there a special place for them waiting in Paraguay? Wouldn't it be coincidental for these people to suddenly disappear at the same time? Hey, they're Bushites! They really are that dumb! Maybe they'll get indictments from all over the world!

France, Germany, Aregentina, India, Finland: WHAT'S KEEPING YOU? Come on! Any one of you can do better: why keep the number to six? Why not ten, or, maybe twenty? Think of the possibilities! You could hold the trials at Guantanamo! The follow-up movie would get Oscar buzz even before it came out in theaters! "Judgment At Gitmo!" Or "Gitmo's Revenge", starring Tom Cruise (or Philip Seymour Hoffmann if you're really serious about Oscar) as a "Gitmo Guard with a Guilt None Of Us Should Bear!"

Seriously, will this be the first incidence of righteousness and justice coming from a foreign country?

We can only hope.

Thank you, Spain, for helping to re-establish our faith in mankind!

Distancing Bill O'Reilly: Walking Away From Hearst Journalism Tactics

Remember the movie Citizen Kane? It's always listed as one of the top 10 great movies. Millions of people have seen it. But there was a time when it wasn't shown in certain theaters. The reason: it came too close to the image of someone still living - William Randolph Hearst, at one time, the most powerful man in America. Hearst's newspapers barely mentioned the flick. Theater chains were afraid to present it.

People are going to pillory me about this analogy, but, in a way, I don't really care. Kane was about a personality who became larger than life. William Randolph Hearst WAS larger than life.

Here's an oft-repeated story (but true): Famous artist Frederick Remington worked for Hearst newspapers and was sent to Cuba to view and send back drawings of the "conflict" there. "Mr. Hearst," he wrote back, "there's really nothing here. No battle, no conflict, no war. I'm trying to be considerate to the newspaper budget when I suggest I come back to the states to work on something else." Hearst shot back: "Do not leave! You provide the pictures. I'll provide the war!"

In a sense, this is what O'Reilly does. He piles on loads of misinformation, works up a subject, then tries to suppress dissent. HE will spout about something, build it up (as Hearst did) then make sure that people will be too afraid of his harassment to put things in the proper perspective.

Hearst, Kane and O'Reilly: three personalities steeped in the media and called journalists. Not! Hearst made wars when he wanted them, but he was no journalist. Kane wanted control of everything, but he was no journalist. Now Bill O'Reilly uses questionable (and possibly criminal) tactics on his dissenters, but he is certainly no journalist. He is a pundit. He is the trumpet in the brass section of a symphony that, because he only cares about himself, blows louder (and more off-key) than all the other instruments, souring the orchestra, the composer and the audience.

He is currently the only pundit who employs "henchmen" to run down dissenters and publicly harass them. He's giving ideas to the likes of Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck.

ThinkProgess.com has been attacked by O'Reilly and it's managing editor, Amanda Terkel, was harassed by Jesse Watters, a producer of O'Reilly's show.

Sadly, Amanda is just one of at least 40 different victims of O’Reilly’s Harassment Machine. O’Reilly has hired producers whose job is to track, harass, and intimidate anyone whom O’Reilly perceives as an opponent. That’s not “journalism” — that’s a mafia-style operation. And we need to put an end to it.

ThinkProgess' campaign against O'Reilly's tactics has worked so far (UPS has pulled out as a sponsor of the Fox show) but O'Reilly's "journalism" has to stop, or someone is going to get hurt.

An enterprising person used Google to find out what many Americans think of Bill O'Reilly. The results are funny as well as astounding. Sorry about the poor readability of the gif, but I couldn't get better resolution. Anyway, the most results for "Bill O'Reilly is..." are very telling: Highest: "Republican" (2,340,000 results), then "racist" (818,000), "joke" (809,000), "idiot" (654,000) and "insane" (424,000). I'm going to do the same for Ann Coulter and see what happens. Wish me luck.