MichaelW on May 09 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Foreign affairs, Media, MichaelW's Page
It should be clear by now to anyone who frequently reads blogs that the MSM is not terribly accurate in its reporting, nor does it seem to have any intention of getting better at it. Whether you think the media leans left (as I think it demonstrably does) or right, there is no denying [...]
MichaelW on May 06 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Media, MichaelW's Page, Race, Religion and theology
I haven’t had much time to grace the pages of ASHC lately, but I was skimming through Memeorandum and just couldn’t resist saying something about this little screed:
Wright issue will haunt conservative media elite
By Roland S. Martin
CNN Contributor
Now that Sen. Barack Obama has denounced his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, many of his critics, [...]
Joshua Foust on May 03 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war
This is the latest post in a running commentary on a new meme to emerge from the PR folks in Afghanistan: the security benefits of building roads. The argument, advanced by a few American reporters and one David Kilcullen, is that building paved roads reduces the IED threat and contributes to the security necessary for [...]
ChrisB on May 01 2008 | Filed under: Chris' Page, Media, science
Reading Instapundit I came across this story from BBC about a man who’s used a special powder of pig bladder cells to regrow the tip of his finger that he’d chopped off. I share the professor’s futurist view and optimism, but I’m not so sure that it’s warranted in this case.
You see, it’s not that [...]
Joshua Foust on Apr 29 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Media
A few weeks ago, my friend Megan Carpentier wondered on Glamocracy why there aren’t more prominent female political bloggers out there:
But does it have to be that way? Blogs are supposed to be populist and thus it would seem like women could more easily level the playing field here than in other media. Red State’s [...]
Joshua Foust on Apr 28 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Media
Question the timing! That old mantra from the halcyon days of 2002-4, when the Left would be mocked by the Right for wondering about the suspicious timing of terror alerts, is universally applicable to the Presidency. In the case of the Syrian nuclear facility—the underlying story of which isn’t significant—what the intelligence community is choosing [...]
Peg on Apr 25 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Law, Libertarianism, Media
John McCain was one politician I admired greatly. While I still believe that the man is a true hero, and while I still do applaud some of what he does, the veil has been lifted from my eyes for one major reason: McCain-Feingold.
Although I, like so many others, wish that we lived in [...]
Peg on Apr 25 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, Media, Peg's Page, regulation
One of my girlfriends is smart as a whip and a talented artist to boot. Cathy is also hard of hearing.
While Cathy can read lips and she also has a device that allows her to converse in very small groups, she is unable to hear in most other settings. Last year, the two of us [...]
MichaelW on Apr 24 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Media, MichaelW's Page, Notes on the war
This is a positive development:
Iraq’s largest Sunni bloc has agreed to return to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s cabinet after a nine-month boycott, several Sunni leaders said on Thursday, citing a recently passed amnesty law and the Maliki government’s crackdown on Shiite militias as reasons for the move.
The Sunni leaders said they were still working [...]
Joshua Foust on Apr 14 2008 | Filed under: Media
Gawker Media has decided to sell Wonkette to managing editor Ken Layne. Missing in the “internal emails” published on both Wonkette and Politico is the key fact that after Layne fired associate editor Megan Carpentier (full Disclosure: she’s a good friend), about 2/3 of the site’s regular visitors staged a months-long boycott, tanking the site’s [...]
Synova on Apr 08 2008 | Filed under: Firearms, Media, Synova's Page
h/t Instapundit
I’m not convinced that the two incidents contrasted in this video from Ed Driscoll are similar enough to be compared to each other but he does say something that I said about the Aguilar report at the time. Someone edited, prepared, and made the decision to air the segment of her badgering the [...]
MichaelW on Mar 11 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Media, MichaelW's Page, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Apparently rumors have been swirling around for awhile that Fallon was on his way out. Well, today he resigned and the speculation is that it was over a recent interview he did in Esquire, written by Thomas P.M. Barnett (regarding which Josh noted Fallon’s strange reaction last week). However, you can rest assured [...]
Joshua Foust on Mar 10 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Media
Posted first at Registan.net.
A few thousand people in Afghanistan have begun protesting the reprinting in Denmark of cartoon images of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), as well as a Dutch film that supposedly portrays the Koran as fascist. They are burning Danish and Dutch flags, shouting provocative slogans, and generally behaving as protesters.
Now before we all [...]
MichaelW on Mar 07 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Glenn Greenwald's Carnival of Fisking, Media, MichaelW's Page
The inscrutable and vainglorious Boi from Brazil weighs in to explain why Republicans find Obama’s candidacy “scary”:
Conservatives love to claim that Obama supporters have excess reverence for their candidate and see him as some sort of transcendent messiah figure. There is a small minority of Obama supporters — as is true for most candidates and [...]
Joshua Foust on Mar 03 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Media
Something has been bugging me a lot lately, but it’s been tough to put my fingers to it. I have been a faithful subscriber to Foreign Affairs for many years; since college I have deeply appreciated the insight and perspective those essays gave on the world. For much of that same span of time, I [...]
MichaelW on Mar 01 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Media, MichaelW's Page
“Why are the letters ‘NIG’ on the child’s pajamas?”
Asks a commenter — “Tom” — on my post about the new Hillary Clinton commercial, the one that shows several children sleeping and then Clinton taking a national security phone call in the middle of the night. You can see the commercial at the link, and the [...]
MichaelW on Feb 29 2008 | Filed under: Humor, Media, MichaelW's Page
Story here [via: Instapundit]
After reading the story, you will probably need a new one of these:
addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F02%2F29%2Fhelping-the-nyt-find-media-bias%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Helping+The+NYT+Find+Media+Bias’;
addthis_pub = ”;
Sphere: Related Content
MichaelW on Feb 29 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Law, Media, MichaelW's Page
Does it strike anyone else as tragically ironic that, if indeed John McCain were declared not to be a “natural-born citizen” due to the locus of his birth, then an “anchor baby” could be elected President but the child of an Armed Services member born overseas could not?
Think about that. Child of illegal aliens [...]
Peg on Feb 28 2008 | Filed under: Media, Peg's Page
Many of my liberal friends believe that the line “Fox News; Fair and Balanced” is a joke. I happen to think it’s pretty accurate, but - who knows? Perhaps it is indeed my bias that lends me to that opinion.
I defy my friends on the left, however, to read this post by Ed [...]
MichaelW on Feb 28 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Law, Media, MichaelW's Page
THE LATEST non-issue hyped by (who else?) the New York Times is that “some” people are questioning whether or not John McCain is eligible to be a sitting President:
The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the continental United States for generations: Dare their children aspire to grow up [...]
Joshua Foust on Feb 26 2008 | Filed under: Culture, Media
Two shows on Nickelodeon are teaching Chinese values to the kids. The first, Ni Hao, Kai-lan is meant to teach pre-schoolers Mandarin Chinese and Chinese values. It sounds innocent enough (and certainly a welcome change to the insipid Dora the Explorer), even though those values include “being a good member of a group,” and the [...]
Peg on Feb 21 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Media, Peg's Page, Race
Two funerals in a week. Work commitments. Continuing education. Coverage of a junior bridge tournament.
Who has time to blog?
Fortunately, my (younger) friend Shay is like the U.S. Postal Service: come rain or shine, she does it!
Millions of words have been written about Michelle Obama’s statement the other day [...]
MichaelW on Feb 21 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Media, MichaelW's Page
I am not a fan of John McCain, but the rumor-based smear leveled at him by the New York Times is more than a little unfair.
Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.
A female lobbyist had been turning up [...]
Lee on Feb 07 2008 | Filed under: Blogs, Culture, Lee's Page, Media
image: Dead Central (see alternate posters at ZNN)
George Romero is evidently taking on the dynamics of social networking and new media culture, in his latest apocalyptic zombie film Diary of the Dead. George, in an interview for the AP:
“If Hitler were alive today, he wouldn’t have to stand out in that square. He could just [...]
ChrisB on Feb 07 2008 | Filed under: Chris' Page, Media, Religion and theology, Society, Technology
After their success getting the Muhammad cartoons banned, some Muslims have now set their sights on wikipedia. Recently a large group of Muslims have started an email campaign asking wikipedia to remove their images of their holy prophet Muhammad, even going so far as to start an online petition that has received over 80,000 [...]
Lance on Feb 02 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Environment, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page, Media
Bill got a lot of heat over a video released by ABC News and an accompanying news story:
Former President Bill Clinton was in Denver, Colorado, stumping for his wife yesterday.
In a long, and interesting speech, he characterized what the U.S. and other industrialized nations need to do to combat global warming this way: “We just [...]
Peg on Feb 02 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Libertarianism, Media, Peg's Page, regulation
(Cross Posted at Whatif?)
When John McCain and George W. Bush were vying for their party’s nomination, I was a McCain fan. How could a person not be impressed by the man who refused to leave Vietnam’s prison camp to stand by his men?
As time has progressed, however, my admiration for McCain lessened. [...]
Lance on Feb 02 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Lance's Page, Media, Military Matters
Bob Owens tackles the lazy reductionist thinking behind claims that the recent use of air strikes in Iraq shows a worsening situation, or is at odds with the counterinsurgency strategy we should be pursuing.
I especially like this quote from Human Rights Watch, no friends of the administration:
…the air surge has not caused “an appreciable loss [...]
Lance on Jan 28 2008 | Filed under: Economics, Lance's Page, Media
Paul Krugman roasted in study:
Left Out: A Critique of Paul Krugman Based on a Comprehensive Account of His New York Times Columns, 1997 through 2006
Daniel B. Klein with Harika Anna Barlett
I have only glanced atProgrammed into the next level how to! Songs and the last composer free us cellular ringtones handset most other. this [...]
Peg on Jan 26 2008 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Media, Peg's Page, Race
(Cross Posted at What if?)
We all know that you cannot make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. Similarly, an anti-racism conference that features Libya as its chair, with Cuba as its vice-chair, has virtually no chance of achieving any rational dialogue about combatting racism.
In the past, too much of the world [...]
Lance on Jan 24 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Environment, Lance's Page, Media
Some highlights:
We have covered Antarctica many times in past essays, and despite literally thousands of websites claiming that some calamity is occurring in Antarctica related to global warming, we side with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in this matter. Magazine covers have wonderful pictures of melting of the Antarctic, but IPCC [...]
Lance on Jan 24 2008 | Filed under: Lance's Page, Media
John Ellis thinks it might:
The company that has the most to gain from buying the New York Times is Google. If it proffered a Murdoch-like, no-auction bid of $4 billion, wouldn’t the Sulzberger family have to accept it? Every single class B shareholder would accept the offer. It’s their only exit. It is also likely [...]
Lance on Jan 23 2008 | Filed under: Blogs, Culture, Lance's Page, Media, Technology
I don’t know if the eccentric Sam Zell can turn around Tribune, but he is always entertaining:
From: Talk to Sam Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 11:03 AM Subject: Censorship, the First Amendment and the Fourth Estate
Everyone,
I learned on the first leg of our [...]
Peg on Jan 22 2008 | Filed under: Election 2008, Health Care, Media, Society
Earlier in the day, you might have been wondering how much of your assets might melt away, as markets around the world gyrated with perceived increasingly negative news. Later, on political blogs everywhere, reports that Fred Thompson was ending a run for his party’s nomination.
Then, news that a young and successful actor had died, [...]
Lance on Jan 22 2008 | Filed under: Culture, Lance's Page, Media
Alex Tabarrok compiles the data:
Number of people killed per minute in the Rambo series.
Rambo: First Blood (1982): 0.01
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985): 0.72
Rambo III (1988): 1.30
Rambo IV (2008): 2.59
His source, Peter Gordon, observes:
There is also a tabulation of “Number of sex scenes. ” All zeroes, no trend, not a chic flic.
So sex scenes [...]
MichaelW on Jan 22 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Media, MichaelW's Page
Remarking on how the media narrative tends to frame stories, I once wrote:
An interesting side effect of this framework is the emergence of the hero-victim — e.g. a martyr for her cause, or the modern equivalent of a noble savage who speaks truth to power. No longer are there heroes who save lives and attempt [...]
Lance on Jan 21 2008 | Filed under: Lance's Page, Media, Military Matters, Notes on the war
By all accounts Scott Beauchamp has tried to redeem himself in the eyes of his unit. However, when this story came to a head and the military investigated him, he seems to have been held in rather low regard. Bob Owens has started to put up the documents he has received from the military in [...]
MichaelW on Jan 21 2008 | Filed under: Culture, Media, MichaelW's Page, Race, Society
Behold the band of idiots.
JENA, La. (Jan. 21) - The residents of this central Louisiana town, who watched their community turn into a battleground over the “Jena Six,” will watch out-of-towners doing most of the marching on the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Nationalist Movement, a white supremacist group headquartered in Learned, Miss., planned [...]
Lance on Jan 15 2008 | Filed under: Baton Rouge, Domestic Politics, Louisiana Politics, Media, Race
(cross posted at Risk and Return)
The most prominent Indian American politician in American history has now been sworn in as governor:
Bobby Jindal took the oath of office as Louisiana’s 55th governor at noon today, becoming the state’s first non-white governor since Reconstruction. Jindal, a 36-year-old Republican and Baton Rouge native, won the October 2007 primary [...]
Lance on Jan 12 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Lance's Page, Libertarianism, Media, Society
One of my favorite bloggers has resurfaced, and I am hurt, hurt, hurt that D. A. Ridgely didn’t let his fans (okay, me) know to where he had disappeared. He is now blogging at Positive Liberty, and the blogosphere has now gone from diminished by his absence to a place where civil, insightful cultural and [...]
Lance on Jan 11 2008 | Filed under: Economics, Investing, Lance's Page, Media, Technology
A fascinating look at the development of the iPhone and its impact upon the structure of the telecom industry. More than being a snazzy and popular device, the iPhone has changed how the relationship between players in the telecom industry works. There are long term economic, and yes, investment ramifications in this change.
addthis_url [...]
MichaelW on Dec 27 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Media, MichaelW's Page
Freddy-come-lately is gaining some steam in Iowa, picking up an endorsement from the Ottumwa Courier this week:
Thompson is unapologetic on his views and is a straight-shooter.
“These are clearly challenging times. I don’t think we’ve fully come to terms with the kind of world we live in,” he told members of the Courier editorial board recently.
Indeed, [...]
MichaelW on Dec 26 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Glenn Greenwald's Carnival of Fisking, Media, MichaelW's Page, Religion and theology
It shouldn’t surprise me the lengths that Greenwald will go to distort what people say in order to lambaste his enemies, but his Christmas offering really takes the figgy pudding.
Mike Huckabee’s Christmas ad — like everything Huckabee does — provoked all sorts of vehement, angry, un-Christmas-like attacks from Republican pundits. The GOP establishment almost uniformly [...]
MichaelW on Dec 21 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Media, MichaelW's Page
Although the Silly Hat story seems to have died on the vine (thanks to bloggers jumping on it quickly, I might add), the reporting of Roger Simon (sans-L) is still under scrutiny. Bob Owens examined some of the discrepancies between what Simon reported and what the video revealed with respect to the Silly Hat [...]
MichaelW on Dec 20 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Media, MichaelW's Page
In all the kerfuffle yesterday over just what transpired in Silly-Hat-Gate, I somehow neglected to mention that the author of the Politico post, Roger Simon, is not the same as the PJM Editor, Roger L. Simon, who has this to say about the incident:
having viewed the video, I can say this: I don’t know what [...]
MichaelW on Dec 20 2007 | Filed under: Media, MichaelW's Page, Society
“Teen pregnancy can happen to everybody.”
Bill Albert, Deputy Director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, commenting on the recent revelation that 16 y.o. Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant.
I’m guessing that I don’t need to explain why that’s stupidest thing I’ve heard all week, and probably this month. It’s certainly in [...]
MichaelW on Dec 15 2007 | Filed under: Libertarianism, Media, MichaelW's Page
In case you haven’t already seen it, go ahead and read this journalism professor’s condescending look at blogging. Prepare to wretch.
Supporters of “citizen journalism” argue it provides independent, accurate, reliable information that the traditional media don’t provide. While it has its place, the reality is it really isn’t journalism at all, and it opens [...]
Lance on Nov 27 2007 | Filed under: Lance's Page, Media, Notes on the war
I was going to post some the last few days, but then I saw this:
Happy Thanksgiving
Now get of off the computer and spend some time with your family, will you?
I always follow Bob Owens instructions.
Of course he is rather disgusted with The New Republic, which continues to dither, as well as the Washington Post, which [...]
MichaelW on Nov 20 2007 | Filed under: Humor, Media, MichaelW's Page
I’m guessing this is a sympathy strike in support of the one going on in Hollywood:
CBS News writers, producers and editors voted to authorize their labor union to call a strike after working without a contract for two years.
About 81 percent of the nearly 300 CBS members of the Writers Guild of America voted to [...]
Lance on Nov 20 2007 | Filed under: Foreign affairs, Lance's Page, Media, Military Matters
Fox News has a report on Ameriya and Abu Abed, that shows a somewhat different view than the Guardian once again. One suspicious aspect of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad’s Nov. 10, Gaurdian piece “Meet Abu Abed: the US’s new ally against al-Qaida“is the description of Abu Abed in it:
The great iron gate opened and Hajji Abu Abed [...]
Risk and Return