NEWS DISSECTOR March 6, 2008

Will Dems Snatch Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory? Again?

OVERNIGHT: EXPLOSION AT MIILITARY RECRUITMENT CENTER IN TIMES SQUARE

The miitary recruitment center in Times Square, often the symbol for protests against the Iraq war, was the target of a loud attack/explosion in the early hours of the morning. The military is picturing it as directed at US soldiers, not the war policy. Will this symbolic protest, conjuring up memories of the Weatherman anti-Vietnam war bombings affect the political race? Will it be used by The Republicans as it is certain to be condemned by the Democrat? Will it stoke fears of terrorism? Can it have any impact on the war itself? Or will it be forgotten as a minor post 911 incident?

Here's the report:

AP: Police investigate Times Square blast

An explosive device caused minor damage to an empty military recruiting station in Times Square early Thursday, shaking guests in hotel rooms high above "the crossroads of the world."

Police blocked off the area to investigate the explosion, which occurred at about 3:45 a.m.. No one was injured. The blast left a gaping hole in the front window and shattered a glass door, twisting and blackening its metal frame.

"If it is something that's directed toward American troops than it's something that's taken very seriously and is pretty unfortunate," said Army Capt. Charlie Jaquillard, who is the commander of Army recruiting in Manhattan.

NOW, BACK TO TODAY'S NEWS DISSECTOR BLOG
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MOST AMERICANS

QUOTE OF THE DAY by Edward Dowling, editor and priest, Chicago Daily News, July 28, 1941:

The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it.

NEW POLL SHOWS MCCAIN CAN BE BEAT
TAKING OFF THE GLOVES
FED ADMITS NO ECO GROWTH

The primaries Tuesday were anything but decisive except for John McCain. Yet even the Arizona Senator who has defly and shamelessly changed his positions on so many issues as he cultivated and pandered to the far right-always called "my friends" in his speeches. But John has another fight ahead of him according to a reoport by Reuters:

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain trails Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in hypothetical matchups, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Wednesday.

But this is before the real smear campaigns begin. MoveOn is doing some targeting of its own in a new ad with a million dollar buy, called "McSame" arguing that George and John are birds of a feather on Iraq, tax cuts and health care.

The President formally endorsed the Arizona Senator and Vietnam bomber at the White House yesterday.

On the democratic side, there was not similar love fest. It looks like the gloves are coming off raising fears that too much rancor and bitterness may snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory if there is too much devisiveness. Hillary Clinton hinted that she might consider running on a ticket with Barack Obama, but made clear that she, not he, would head it Obama called the offer "premature."

Obama aware that he likely faces seven weeks of scrutiny and trench warfare. Has resolved to sharpen his criticisms of Mrs. Clinton which is likely to lead to a brawl AP reports:

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday blamed his primary defeats in Ohio and Texas on rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's criticism and news coverage that he argued benefited her at his expense.

The presidential candidate said he planned to do more in the days ahead to raise doubts about his opponent's claims to foreign policy and other Washington experience. In a television ad that her campaign credits with helping her win, she portrayed herself as most prepared to handle an international crisis.

"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama asked mockingly. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no….

"There's no doubt that Senator Clinton went very negative over the last week," Obama said. He said the Clinton campaign's multiple attacks "had some impact" on the election results "particularly in the context where many of you in the press corps had been persuaded that you had been too hard on her and too soft on me."

As for Hill, the NY Times reports: "Hillary Rodham Clinton's victories in Texas and Ohio gave her fresh momentum, while the Obama campaign emphasized its continuing lead in delegate totals."

Meanwhile some Democrats like Rick Perlstein of TomPaine.com are focusing their fire on McCain.

presumptive Republican nominee just gave his victory speech. Said, "We are in Iraq and our most vital security interests are clearly involved there. The next president must explain how he or she intends to bring that war to the swiftest possible conclusion without exacerbating a sectarian conflict that could quickly descend into genocide."

I once wrote, "Computers have cut-and-paste functions. So does right-wing historical memory." From Vietnam to Iraq: they can't make their argument without distortion and lies…

At issue of course is who the superdelegates will vote for. A new monitoring project is focusing on that:

WASHINGTON, DC-The group of citizen journalists, bloggers and activists convened at the SuperDelegate Transparency Project have produced the only reporting on superdelegate commitments in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination that is fully broken down by state, congressional district and delegate and has full and transparent sourcing. No major news organization provides such detail or provides their sources.

The Superdelegate Transparency Project is the most thorough, accurate and transparent reporting on how superdelegate endorsements compare to popular vote results and delegate counts-district by district. The project does not advocate for one candidate over another or have a position on how superdelegates should determine their votes, but is dedicated to bringing greater transparency to the Democratic nomination process, and will provide a historic record of the superdelegates' effect on the nomination process.

FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN AGAIN?

Just to make things more complicated and interesting, AP reports:

WASHINGTON - Officials in Michigan and Florida are showing renewed interest in holding repeat presidential nominating contests so that their votes will count in the epic Democratic campaign.

This prompted an op-ed by Congresssman Jesse Jackson Jr which reads in part:

At her campaign celebration last night in Ohio, Hillary Clinton raised the specter of a nasty, divisive fight at the Democratic National Convention, claiming that she should be the party's nominee based on her big state victories, rather than on the pledged-delegate count. It was a slick and sophisticated attempt to change the rules in the middle of the game and declare herself the winner….

… this is a disagreement between the DNC and the Florida and Michigan State Democratic Parties. This is not-and should not become-an argument between Senator Obama and the
voters of Florida or Michigan. Senator Obama will reach out to the voters in Florida and Michigan as the presidential nominee of our Party, and will work hard to carry these two important states for Democrats in the November election.

CALLING OBAMA A MUSLIM: IS IT AN INSULT?

The Nation Magazine: Naomi Klein- Obama, Being Called a Muslim Is Not a Smear

Hillary Clinton denied leaking the photo of Barack Obama wearing a turban, but her campaign manager says that even if she had, it would be no big deal. "Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely."

Sure she did. And George W. Bush put on a fetching Chamato poncho in Santiago, while Paul Wolfowitz burned up YouTube with his antimalarial African dance routines when he was World Bank prez. The obvious difference is this: when white politicians go ethnic, they just look funny. When a black presidential contender does it, he looks foreign. And when the ethnic apparel in question is vaguely reminiscent of the clothing worn by Iraqi and Afghan fighters (at least to many Fox viewers, who think any headdress other than a baseball cap is a declaration of war on America), the image is downright frightening.

The turban "scandal" is all part of what is being referred to as "the Muslim smear." It includes everything from exaggerated enunciations of Obama's middle name to the online whisper campaign that Obama attended a fundamentalist madrassa in Indonesia (a lie), was sworn in on a Koran (another lie) and if elected would attach RadioShack speakers to the White House to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer (I made that one up).

So far, Obama's campaign has responded with aggressive corrections that tout his Christian faith, attack the attackers and channel a cooperative witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee. "Barack has never been a Muslim or practiced any other faith besides Christianity," states one fact sheet. "I'm not and never have been of the Muslim faith," Obama told a Christian News reporter.

Of course Obama must correct the record, but he doesn't have to stop there. What is disturbing about the campaign's response is that it leaves unchallenged the disgraceful and racist premise behind the entire "Muslim smear": that being Muslim is de facto a source of shame. Obama's supporters often say they are being "Swiftboated," casually accepting the idea that being accused of being a Muslim is wrong.

TOP ANTI-CRIME AGENCY ADMITS IT COMMITED CRIMES

WASHINGTON - The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies.

WORLD NEWS

LOSING "THE GOOD WAR:" (THE GUARDIAN): Afghanistan mission close to failing - US

Afghanistan mission close to failing - US Injection of troops and aid has not brought stability says intelligence chief

After six years of US-led military support and billions of pounds in aid, security in Afghanistan is "deteriorating" and President Hamid Karzai's government controls less than a third of the country, America's top intelligence official has admitted Mike McConnell testified in Washington that Karzai controls about 30% of Afghanistan and the Taliban 10%, and the remainder is under Tribal control.

Afghan protests against Dutch, Danish 'insult' spread

KABUL (AFP) - Protesters in Afghanistan burned Danish and Dutch flags Wednesday as they called on the government to censure The Netherlands and Denmark over cartoons and a film that they say insults Muslims

MORE ON PLOT AGAINST HAMAS

David Rose, reporting for Vanity Fair, writes: "After failing to anticipate Hamas's victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current US officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever."

VENEZUELA IS NOW ACCUSING THE US OF STOKING ATTACKS FROM COLOMBIA-YET ANOTHER WAR ATTRIBUTED TO THE BUSEVIKS. CHAVEZ's TROOPS ON THE BORDER

WORLD SECURITY NETWORK: MOST MUSLIMS MODERATE

Most media and Western politicians have miss ed the most important message of the last elections in Pakistan: the radical Islamist MMA party lost dramatically and even in its strongholds in the North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP), with its capital Peshawar, garnered much fewer votes than in 2002.

This is congruent with the recent sensational results of the opinion poll by the famous U.S.-based Gallup institute ("Who Speaks For Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think"), which surveyed 50,000 Muslims in 35 Islamic countries. According to the study, 93 percent of the Muslims hold moderate views and only a tiny minority of 7 percent are politically radical. Not only the moderate Muslims but even the radicals admire democracy, human rights and technology in the West. But the U.S. has lost its credibility and trust in the Muslim world, with a good 67 percent of moderate Muslims fearing America as an aggressive power which wants to dominate the world.

Comment on this post...

CUTE: AP SNEAKS ADMISSION OF RECESSION INTO STORY

Please read this wire report not only because it finally admits that things are getting very bad bit also for the first time that I have seen. The AP is admitting that we are-or MAY BE-in recession now.

Fed says economy has weakened this year
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

The economy has weakened since the start of this year as shoppers turned even more cautious given the severe housing slump and painful credit crunch.

Manufacturers and other businesses, meanwhile, had to cope with skyrocketing prices for energy and other raw materials. The businesses' ability to pass along higher prices to their customers was mixed, according to the Federal Reserve's new snapshot of nationwide economic conditions released Wednesday.

Many economists fear that the country is teetering on the edge of a recession or is in one already.

I love the way they sneak this admission in with five words tacked on to a sentence "Or is in one already." mmmmmm

Investment News: Advisers brace for bad times

About 41% of advisers think the S&P 500 index will fall in the next six months, according to Schwab Institutional.

Couples now need $225,000 to retire

This figure is a 4.7% increase over the 2007 estimate of $215,000, according to Fidelity

IHT: Credit Crisis Reaches Japan Takefuji Faces Loss As High As $290 Million

The Japanese consumer lender Takefuji said it might lose as much as yen30 billion, or $290 million, on a structured finance deal arranged by Merrill Lynch, making it the first money lender in the country to be hit by the global credit crisis.Shares of the firm tumbled 6.57 percent to yen2,490.Fallout from the U.S. mortgage market collapse spread to the consumer finance industry for the first time after eroding earnings at the nation's largest banks, brokerages and insurers.

CORPORATE CRIME:

The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Fidelity Investments and 13 of its current or former employees of improperly receiving gifts totaling more than $1.6 mil

Comment on this post...

Media: FCC AND NUDITY, THE ONION VIEW; WIKILEAKS LIVES!

FCC AND NUDITY-THE WAY THE ONION SEES IT

APPEAL BY INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF JOURNALISTS TO SERBIA

"The European Federation of Journalists, the European group of the International Federation of Journalists, has been informed about serious and repeated death threats against journalists of Radio and Television station B92 and in particular against its executive officer, Mr. Veran Matic.

The mass demonstrations and unrest in Serbia since Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February 2008 have led to attacks on independent media. In particular, a crowd of several hundred demonstrators marching on a building housing the independent media outlet B92, trapping employees inside. Heavy police cordons had to be deployed to protect our colleagues and B92's CEO invited the Minister of Defence, Mr. Sutanovac to the station for protection as well.

We are deeply concerned by these developments and by some extremist reaction against reporters working at B92. For example, a video of an attack on two B92 reporters was posted on YouTube (despite all B92's complaints and requests for removal, it is still available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOuaZGUgdNw). B92 also received several bomb threats and has had to be evacuated. There have been anonymous threats directed towards Mr. Matic and the B92 organisation.

GOOD BYE BARRY: Diller Expresses Doubt About His Future

Barry Diller acknowledges that at this time next week, he may have lost control of InterActive Corp., the company he has been building for more than a decade. He calls the pending lawsuits over his proposed breakup of IAC "unfortunate" and concedes he has a lot riding on Monday's court hearing. (I want Media.com)

RADIO ANCHOR CHALLENGES CENSORSHIP

KKOB Radio News Anchor Laura MacCallum Quits After Station Pulls Stories About Alleged Republican Vote-Buying Efforts; Ex-anchor Says Station Caved to Pressure From Heather Wilson's Senate Campaign Station Says Story Had No Legs

Dennis Domrzalski writes:

KKOB Radio afternoon drive time news anchor Laura MacCallum quit her job last Thursday after the station's news director pulled her stories about alleged vote-buying efforts at the recent Bernalillo County Republican Party delegate nominating conventions.

MacCallum, a 32-year radio and TV news veteran who has worked in Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles, said the station caved to complaints from Congresswoman Heather Wilson's Senate campaign about the stories. Wilson campaign spokeswoman Whitney Cheshire called the station to argue the unfairness of stories alleging that many delegates to the ward conventions were paid by Wilson's and other campaigns to show up and cast their votes for certain delegates

WIKILEAKS IS BACK-JUDGE DROPS BANNING

Bank Julius Baer drops ENTIRE CASE against Wikileaks:

Crack offshore banking Journalist Lucy Komisar on the Julius Baer Swiss Partners scheme:

CRITICISM OF MY HEADLINE ON ITEM YESTERDAY

John Madison writes:

the use of "stoned" is a pejorative term which apes the media's negative portrayal of psychedelic use for the last 35 years,

the use of inebrients has most probably been the imepetus for the beginnings of the religions. don't take my word for it, read jonathan ott and other experts in the field.

if you're out for shocking headlines i understand your use of the term "stoned". if you'd like to see a positive change in the world why not look to one of the historical forces that have really influenced humanity in a more realistic manner.

I wasn't out to show but was too cutesy and flip. Saying Moses was stoned was a stretch.

I had two letters about my latest piece on economic coverage. The first comes from Eric Janszen who runs the brillian 1tulip.com site.

I hear you but I think you're giving them too much credit. CNBC et al are 100% coin operated: their advertisers make money on trading, so guess what? The programming is all about trading.

I've been on CNBC a couple of times recently with my messages. "Maybe a bubble in alt energy" and "A boom in alternative energy is coming" gets me on the show where I add: "But only after the economy tanks." Next time I'll add: "…due to the irresponsible policies of the Fed that led to the housing bubble." You can't bite the whole thing off at once.

The one phrase I used in this interview that got them all in a tizzy? I said "go to cash."

Why were they upset? Who needs CNBC if viewers are in cash?

If I said "buy gold" that'd be it for me on CNBC. Why? Who needs CNBC if everyone does this?

That message is expressed via iTulip. Talking about gold on CNBC is like being invited to visit a friend's church and announcing you're an atheist. Fun, but you only get to do it once.

Sarah Coles, a sharp publicist writes:

I saw your article today on The Huffington Post (IT IS ALSO ON MEDIACHANNEL.ORG ds) about TV and its love for covering political campaigns. Of course this holds true for most of mainstream media, riding the wave of every hint of scandal and emotion as if the world was ending. Given your interest in the media's coverage of and affect on the election, I think you may be interested in a site called Skewz, a "political networking site" that was developed by SF-based entrepreneur Vipul Vyas.(www.skewz.com)

Skewz offers a daily at-a-glance categorization of news stories according to their reception in the conservative and liberal blogospheres. However one of the major differentiators between it and other such sites is that Skewz allows users rate the bias, making it an interactve and comprensive look at the way different media skew the news in different ways. It also includes a comparative chart (compiled by readers feedback) so you can see how each stacks up to the rest.

Founder Vipul Vyas started the site on the premise of finding a common ground in the political debates.

Sounds interesting….Will check it out. Also see News Trust to rate stories.

That's it for me today. Thanks for tuning in. Comments to Dissector@mediachannel.org

Comment on this post...

Spread The Word: Please forward this to interested friends and colleagues >>

----------------------------------------------

Become a Member | Send a News Tip | Subscribe to Other MC Emails | Unsubscribe
You are subscribed as margotweb@shaw.ca.
To modify your preferences, visit the subscription management page.

Concerned about the media? TELL A FRIEND!

© 2008 MediaChannel.org