The Saloon dot net

This Is the Downer We've Been Waiting For!

Roland, the Gunslinger — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:32:00 -0500

After NBC canceled me "for life" on Monday -- until seven or eight hours later when the ban was splashed across the top of The Drudge Report, forcing a red-faced NBC to withdraw the ban -- an NBC insider told The Drudge Report: "We are just not interested in anyone so highly critical of President-elect Obama, right now," explaining that "it's such a downer. It's just not the time, and it's not what our audience wants, either."

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Will Media Report Reid Pressuring Blago Not To Pick Black Senators?

Roland, the Gunslinger — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:13:00 -0500

Imagine for a moment the Senate was currently controlled by Republicans, and the white male majority leader advised Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich not to pick a black candidate to fill president-elect Barack Obama's vacated seat instead pressuring the governor to choose between two white candidates, do you think this would get some media attention?Probably every hour on the hour until the white majority leader was forced to apology and conceivably resign, right?

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UPI 'Conveniently' Neglects Party Label Mention of Indicted Puerto Rico Governor

Roland, the Gunslinger — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:40:00 -0500

Once again we have a politician who is indicted on corruption charges and once again we have a news organization who ''conveniently'' neglects to mention his party label. You will look in vain for the party name of Puerto Rico Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila in this United Press International report:...Acevedo, who was voted out of office last month, faces trial in February.

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Newsweek Uses Year-End Edition to Take Potshots at Palin

Roland, the Gunslinger — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:15:00 -0500

Newsweek sprinkled throughout its year-end double issue, with Barack Obama on the cover as the #1 member of “The New Global Elite,” a bunch of potshots at Sarah Palin -- and even derided teen daughter Bristol too. In a list of those who committed “low behavior” during 2008 (which did at least also highlight John Edwards), the magazine accused Sarah Palin of a “smear” against Barack Obama, on another page Newsweek described her as an “ill-informed, inarticulate shopaholic” (while on the same page hailing MSNBC's Rachel Maddow as a “brilliant” woman who “gives libs a happy new voice”)

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Farewell, Brit

Roland, the Gunslinger — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 06:33:00 -0500

Brit Hume signed off from his Fox News Channel's Special Report for the final time this week. He will, however, remain at the network in a more limited capacity as a senior political analyst. We wish Mr. Hume well in retirement. He will be missed.

Times Public Editor Tries to Rationalize Paper’s Use of “Terrorist” Label

Roland, the Gunslinger — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:33:00 -0500

Hoyt also explains, “The Times does not call Hamas a terrorist organization, though it sponsors acts of terror against Israel,” because “Hamas was elected to govern Gaza.” And “it provides social services and operates charities, hospitals, and clinics.”

The National Socialists were elected to govern Germany. Does that mean the Holocaust wasn’t a crime against humanity? If Al-Qaeda ran hospitals and clinics, would that make it something other than a terrorist gang?

If you can’t call someone who kills a five-year-old girl to advance a political cause a terrorist, how do you describe them - as an overly enthusiastic partisan, a misguided freedom-fighter or an unfortunate individual who was driven to acts of desperation?

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Global Warming Nutters: "Cooling Trend Further Evidence How Fast Globe Is Warming"

Roland, the Gunslinger — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:33:00 -0500

"The time for delay is over; the time for denial is over," he said on Tuesday after meeting with former Vice President Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming. "We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now that this is a matter of urgency and national security and it has to be dealt with in a serious way."

Experts say it's thanks to a La Nina weather variation. While skeptics are already using it as evidence of some kind of cooling trend, it actually illustrates how fast the world is warming

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Google cranks up the Consensus Engine

Roland, the Gunslinger — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:10:00 -0500

Google this week admitted that its staff will pick and choose what appears in its search results. It's a historic statement - and nobody has yet grasped its significance.

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Will Media Cover Obama/Rod Blagojevich Connection?

Roland, the Gunslinger — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:28:00 -0500

The mainstream media aggressively covered the controversies surrounding Republicans such as Mark Foley and Jack Abramoff and speculated about their connections to President Bush and other high profile members of the GOP. So, it will be interesting to see how tenaciously journalists investigate any linkage between President-elect Barack Obama and scandal ridden Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, now under arrest for allegedly trying to sell the selection of Obama's replacement to the Senate.

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Journalists become 'self-reverential' celebrities

Roland, the Gunslinger — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:27:00 -0500

Newsmen have become the news. And the gossip. One may run for office. Many are vying for a single plum job. Another is suing his old network for millions. It is a long way from the austere days of Eric Sevareid, when staid anchormen left stardom to Hollywood. "Anchors and journalists have become part of self-reverential celebrity culture. Everything goes back to 'me.'

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Psychotic terrorists in search of a grievance

Roland, the Gunslinger — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:59:00 -0500

So, why kill the rabbi? There is a branch of apologetics - which I take crudely to be the belief that the crime is the fault of the victim - that assumes a milder form, and which I'll call explanetics. So the explanatists view of the Mumbai massacres last week is that the cause lies in what concretely has been done to, or in the vicinity of, the young, cool-looking men with the grenades and the machineguns

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Mumbai: Deadly Media Euphemisms

Roland, the Gunslinger — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:31:00 -0500

THE international media have already morphed the horrific slaughter in Mumbai into the murky realm of euphemism and apologetics.

Al Jazeera and The Guardian label the terrorists "gunmen"; CNN calls them "militants." Some analysts identified the underlying cause as the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. Psychological guru Deepak Chopra called it the result of "collateral damage" from the US war on terrorism and the Iraq war.

One cameraman who saw armed police refusing to open fire on the Mumbai terrorists lamented that he didn't have a gun instead of a camera. Yet what the world desperately needs today is not armed media, but reporters brave enough to tell the truth

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Some people seem to misunderstand which country was invaded

Roland, the Gunslinger — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:27:00 -0500

This question has been pushed to the center in large degree by a fierce, multimillion-dollar Russian PR campaign that hinges on leaked, very partial, and misleading reports from a military observer from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that claimed Georgia responded militarily in South Ossetia without sufficient provocation by Russia. Judging from recent media coverage, this campaign has been successful.

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Free Speech Alliance Fights Return of the Censorship Doctrine

Roland, the Gunslinger — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:26:00 -0500

Liberals -- now controlling both the White House and Congress -- are ready to revive the so-called “Fairness” Doctrine to destroy conservative talk radio. The Media Research Center has formed a new “Free Speech Alliance” to defend conservatives’ most effective political weapon against the return of what should be called the “Censorship Doctrine.”...The conservative movement grasps the vital need to rally together to defend free speech and preserve talk radio

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NB: NOW CNN Warns That we 'Barely Know' Obama?

Roland, the Gunslinger — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:13:00 -0500

CNN is warning Americans that already making Barack Obama into one of America's greatest ''heroes'' may not be a good idea. Despite the fact that Barack Obama has yet to take office, despite that he has yet to really do anything to earn that status, CNN is saying that ''already, he's being compared to the most remarkable leaders.'' (Snip) CNN warns, ''are putting a lot of faith in a man they barely know.''

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'Disgusting' Bias for Obama, Time Writer Admits

Roland, the Gunslinger — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:03:00 -0500

Last week, Time magazine's Mark Halperin called the media's performance during the campaign simply "disgusting."

Halperin told a panel of media analysts at the Politico/USC conference on the 2008 election, "It's the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war."

He added, "It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage."

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Washington Post Admits Bias for Obama, Against McCain, Palin

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Genius, Thy Name Is Obama

Roland, the Gunslinger — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:06:00 -0500

With Time magazine comparing Obama to Jesus, I guess we should be relieved that, this week, liberals are only comparing him to Abraham Lincoln.

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Because anyday is a Good Day to remind ourselves why we hate Big Media... Don Henley's Dirty Laundry

Riley Jones — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:09:00 -0500

Mika: SUV Owners 'Greedy'

Roland, the Gunslinger — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:26:00 -0500

Oy. Mika Brzezinski was on quite a roll this morning. On the one hand, free-marketers would find much to agree with in Mika's arguments. As noted here yesterday, whereas Joe Scarborough has been vigorously advocating a federal rescue of Detroit, Brzezinski favors bankruptcy over bailout. But Mika couldn't help muddling her message, delivering a jeremiad against Detroit for producing larger vehicles and Americans for buying them, actually condemning the latter as "greedy."

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Critics falsely charge Zogby and Ziegler of "push polling" and racism in 'Media Malpractice' video

Roland, the Gunslinger — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:17:00 -0500

Documentary maker John Ziegler appears on the B-Cast Zone to defend polling and sampling used to prove his point that Obama voters were poorly informed by the rabidly pro-Obama mainstream media.

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Global Socialists Toast Victory over America

Roland, the Gunslinger — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:22:00 -0500

The American people may be losing their jobs and savings, but on Friday night, on the eve of the international financial summit, they provided President Bush and other G20 leaders a lavish banquet that included $300-a-bottle wine, Vermont Brie, eggplant fondue, and rack of lamb. Details of the “culinary delights” and “sumptuous feast” provided to the politicians who departed their black limousines were included in wire service stories. They were toasting the demise of America as a global economic and military superpower and planning to loot another trillion dollars from U.S. taxpayers.

Stories about the feast can only cause rising anger in the United States. A C-SPAN moderator on Sunday morning, hosting a discussion of the growing financial crisis and taking calls, himself commented that there was a lot of anger out there. One caller mentioned taking up arms against the government over the looting of the taxpayers

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Follow Up: Like an Atomic Bomb, Media Malpractice Fallout is Eveywhere

Riley Jones — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:07:00 -0500

From the Article: "Just 2% of voters who supported Barack Obama on Election Day obtained perfect or near-perfect scores on a post election test which gauged their knowledge of statements and scandals associated with the presidential tickets during the campaign, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows."

Basically, Obama won because his supporters were some of the most uniformed voters in history.

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Media Malpractice...How Obama Got Elected

Roland, the Gunslinger — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:23:00 -0500

On November 4th, 2008 millions of Americans were shocked that a man of Barack Obama's limited experience, extreme liberal positions and radical political alliances could be elected President of the United States. For many of these Americans, the explanation was rather simple... the news media, completely enamored with Obama, simply refused to do their job.

On Election day twelve Obama voters were interviewed extensively right after they voted to learn how the news media impacted their knowledge of what occurred during the campaign. These voters were chosen for their apparent intelligence/verbal abilities and willingness to express their opinions to a large audience. The rather shocking video below seeks to provide some insight into which information broke through the news media clutter and which did not.

(Hat tip to Semra)

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Krugman: Raising Taxes Worsened Depression But OK Now

Roland, the Gunslinger — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:16:00 -0500

It appears being bestowed a Nobel Prize for economics doesn't improve one's economic acumen, for in the course of roughly 60 seconds Sunday, Paul Krugman said Franklin D. Roosevelt's decision to raise taxes in 1937 deepened the Depression, but it's okay to raise taxes 70-plus years later when the economy is in trouble.

Interesting contradiction, wouldn't you agree?

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Murdoch to media: You dug yourself a huge hole

Riley Jones — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:42:00 -0500

Murdoch, whose company's holdings also include MySpace and the Wall Street Journal, criticized what he described as a culture of "complacency and condescension" in some newsrooms.

"The complacency stems from having enjoyed a monopoly--and now finding they have to compete for an audience they once took for granted. The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product. Newspapers are no exception."

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World asked to help craft online charter for religious harmony

Riley Jones — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:08:00 -0500

Co-founder of Google Larry Page smiles during the Clinton Global Inititative annual meeting in September 2008 in New York.

FTA- "A website launched Friday with the backing of technology industry and Hollywood elite urges people worldwide to help craft a framework for harmony between all religions.

The Charter for Compassion project on the Internet at www.charterforcompassion.org springs from a "wish" granted this year to religious scholar Karen Armstrong at a premier Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in California.

"The chief task of our time is to build a global society where people of all persuasions can live together in peace and harmony"

Muslims? Live in 'Peace and Harmony?' ONLY for as long as they get their way. These Useful Idiots... they tried to sell us out to the Communists, now they can't wait to surrender to the Islamists.

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Ready for some Softball?

Riley Jones — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:34:00 -0500

President-Elect Barry Obama sits down with some of his loyal, Big Media lapdogs from CBS on Sunday Night to give his first interview (more like fawning and worship...) since the election.

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Remember when the anonymous McCain staffer claimed that Palin didn't know whether Africa was a country or a continent and that the staffer's name turned out to be Weisenstadt? Yeah, it was a hoax. Nice vetting job there, MSNBC

Roland, the Gunslinger — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:13:00 -0500

MSNBC was the victim of a hoax when it reported that an adviser to John McCain had identified himself as the source of an embarrassing story about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the network said Wednesday.

David Shuster, an anchor for the cable news network, said on air Monday that Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, had come forth and identified himself as the source of a Fox News Channel story saying Palin had mistakenly believed Africa was a country instead of a continent.

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Regarding the Africa controversy, Palin denounces her "anonymous critics" as cowardly for taking campaign prep on NAFTA out of context

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Liberal Censorship and Its Roots

Roland, the Gunslinger — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:33:00 -0500

Democrats fully intend to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine, a euphemistically named regulation aimed at shutting down conservative talk radio, which Sen. Chuck Schumer has compared to pornography. Remember that conservatives have never advocated government action to suppress or censor the liberal media monopoly, which has existed for decades and still dominates mainstream media today. Their answer was the alternative media.

But what is even more frightening than the sinister schemes of liberal politicians to silence and criminalize political opposition is the apparent eagerness of rank-and-file liberals to go along with them, as witnessed by the many examples I've cited and numerous gleeful e-mails I get taunting me about the imminent re-invocation of the Fairness Doctrine.

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NewsBusters: Angry Gays invade a church? Don't expect that on the news...

Riley Jones — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:23:00 -0500

On Sunday, November 9, 2008 Michigan liberals sat peacefully through announcements, worship and prayer for the sick, our nation and our President-elect before staging a coordinated, disgusting and repulsive attack on worshipers and the broader concept of the church itself at Lansing's Mount Hope Church.

The lefties were a part of a liberal organization known as Bash Back Lansing and their collection of radical blogs, .... (which) called on "queers and trannies" from across the state and the region to converge on Lansing for what they refer to as an "action." ..... their broader goal is stated plainly on one of their lefty blogs.

"I can tell you that we are targeting a well-known anti-queer, anti-choice radical right wing establishment."

If alternative newspapers are going to assist violent protesters, if local papers aren't going to tell readers what actually happened, and if national newspapers are going to act as if nothing happened, who needs any of them?

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