Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Tuesday October 13 -- Got news or an update?

If you have news or an update, leave it in comments.
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20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Moody's Downgrades GateHouse, Bankruptcy Is Possible--Is there any future left for local newspapers? (Pulaski County Daily News)

Sometimes a news story is so bad and filled with such dark clouds that there's no way to find much of a silver lining.

That's the case with GateHouse Media, owner of many small-market newspapers in the United States.

The staff of Editor & Publisher, one of the two main trade publications in journalism, write this about GateHouse Media:

"The Street stopped believing the GateHouse Media story long ago, forcing it into the Pink Sheets as a penny stock.

Anonymous said...

WaPo Asks Who Keeps a Civil Tongue? ...Answer: Conservatives By an 18:1 Margin (GatewayPundit)

The Washington Post published an offensive and dishonest attack on conservatives this past weekend on their front page.

The WaPo provided plenty of hate and few facts to smear conservatives as "sour, angry, even dangerous."

The DNC would have a hard time topping this awful piece of propaganda.

Michelle Malkin, who was mentioned in the article, rips apart this horribly biased piece of fiction.

If the WaPo really wanted to understand incivility on the internet this may help. Liberals are more than 18 times more likely to use foul language on their blogs.

The News Buckit performed a study on foul language on the internet. This is what was uncovered:
So how much more does the Left use Carlin's "seven words" versus the Right?

According to my calculations, try somewhere in the range of 18-to-1.

And, this doesn't even include the disgusting attacks on Christians, Jews and the military that you often find gracing the pages of the liberal blogs.

And, if they really wanted to get honest they'd write about Daily Kos diarist Barack Obama who urged liberals to "brook no compromise" when pushing a radical agenda:

Anonymous said...

Fox News Lays Out Facts After White House Escalates War on Network (Fox News)

In recent weeks, the White House has begun using its government blog to directly attack what it called "Fox lies."

David Gergen, who has worked for President Bill Clinton and three Republican presidents, questioned the propriety of the White House declaring war on a news organization.

"It's a very risky strategy. It's not one that I would advocate," Gergen said on CNN.

"If you're going to get very personal against the media, you're going to find that the animosities are just going to deepen.

And you're going to find that you sort of almost draw viewers and readers to the people you're attacking. You build them up in some ways, you give them stature."

Anonymous said...

Irony Alert: White House Praises 'Unbiased' CNN as Network Runs Promo Appealing to Democrats

The irony in this story is so delicious, as NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard would probably describe it, that one must take a bit of time to savor it.

Yesterday, Sheppard posted a story about White House communications director Anita Dunn whining at length on Howard Kurtz's "Reliable Sources" about how supposedly unfair Fox News is.

Her appearance on that show was instigated by Dunn's complaints about White House coverage by Fox News in a Time magazine story by Michael Scherer.

Among her attacks upon Fox News was the assertion that it wasn't a real news network "the way CNN is."

Well, Michael Scherer himself wrote a followup blog post and pointed out the supreme irony of attacking Fox News as biased while CNN was running "Anderson Cooper 360" promos pitching that show as appealing to liberals.

Anonymous said...

Obama's Safe Schools Czar Wrote That Killing Someone Who Called You Names Was "Not Aberrant Behavior" (GatewayPundit)

This sounds safe...Obama's Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings wrote that killing someone who called you a name was not aberrant behavior.

Oh really?

Verum Serum discovered this article by Obama's Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings in 1998:

We need to own up to the fact that our culture teaches boys that being “a man” is the most important thing in life, even if you have to kill someone to prove it.

Killing someone who calls you a faggot is not aberrant behavior but merely the most extreme expression of a belief that is beaten (sometimes literally) into boys at an early age in this country: Be a man – don’t be a faggot.

Anonymous said...

Health Care, the Jobless Recovery, and Rationed Care (Patterico)

William A. Jacobson convincingly argues Democratic health care legislation will raise costs for private health insurance and make a jobless recovery more likely:


“The Democratic proposals seem designed to raise the cost of private insurance. This will have two effects. The first is job destruction. The proposals mandate that employers, other than the smallest employers, provide “acceptable” health coverage. In this one fell swoop, the Democrats have increased the cost of hiring or keeping employees.

Anyone who has run a business will understand that raising the cost of an employee results in fewer employees.

***

The second effect of raising private health insurance costs will be to force companies to make the economic choice of paying the health care tax rather than providing private health coverage.

This will mean pushing the nation towards a single-payer system (Obama’s stated goal) subsidized not by general tax revenues but by employer health care taxes.”

Jacobson concludes this will create even “greater incentives to shift employment resources to other countries, where there are no such costs.”

In addition, in the short-term, there will be more health care consumers but no comparable increase in health care providers.

As a result, providers will be forced to ration health care.

Physicians will have more demands and less time to spend with patients, so they will focus more on health care management instead of treatment. Physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners, and nurses will provide more screening, triage, and care. I’m not saying these are bad choices. My point is there won’t be a choice.

So Democratic health care means higher costs, fewer jobs and fewer choices, but we’ll all be in the same boat. And that’s the point, isn’t it?

Anonymous said...

Dems scramble after warning from health insurers (AP)

WASHINGTON – Insurance companies aren't playing nice any more. Their dire message that health care legislation will drive up premiums for people who already have coverage comes as a warning shot at a crucial point in the debate, and threatens President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.

Democrats and their allies scrambled on Monday to knock down a new industry-funded study forecasting that Senate legislation, over time, will add thousands of dollars to the cost of a typical policy. "Distorted and flawed," said White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass.

"Fundamentally dishonest," said AARP's senior policy strategist, John Rother. "A hatchet job," said a spokesman for Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.

But the health insurance industry's top lobbyist in Washington stood her ground. In a call with reporters, Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, pointedly refused to rule out attack ads on TV featuring the study, though she said she believed the industry's concerns could be amicably addressed.

At the heart of the industry's complaint is a decision by lawmakers to weaken the requirement that millions more Americans get coverage.

Since the legislation would ban insurance companies from denying coverage on account of poor health, many people will wait to sign up until they get sick, the industry says. And that will drive up costs for everybody else.

Anonymous said...

Grandmother, 72, has leg amputated after hospital wrongly diagnoses cancer (DailyMailOnline UK)

A 72-year-old grandmother had her leg amputated after being told she had cancer only to find out her leg was healthy all along.

Doreen Nicholls underwent the surgery in 2007 and now needs a wheelchair to get about.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, the grandmother was wrongly diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer and was told that without a leg amputation, she would die.

Tests carried out after the operation revealed that her left leg, which had been cut off below the knee, was in fact healthy.

Anonymous said...

Pensioner 'left to die in hospice after doctors wrongly diagnosed him with cancer' (dailymail.co.uk)

A grandfather who beat cancer was wrongly told the disease had returned and left to die at a hospice which pioneered a controversial 'death pathway'.

Doctors said there was nothing more they could do for 76-year-old Jack Jones, and his family claim he was denied food, water and medication except painkillers.
He died within two weeks.

But tests after his death found that his cancer had not come back, and he was in fact suffering from pneumonia brought on by a chest infection.

To his family's horror, they were told he could have recovered if he'd been given the correct treatment.

Today, after being given an £18,000pay-out over her ordeal, his widow Pat branded his treatment 'barbaric' and accused the doctors of manslaughter.

Anonymous said...

Plumber with shattered arm left horrifically bent out of shape has operation 'cancelled 4 times' (dailymail.co.uk)

A plumber whose arm was left twisted grotesquely out of shape in an accident ten months ago has had an operation to correct it 'cancelled four times'.

Torron Eeles, 50, has been left unable to work since falling down the stairs and now fears he may lose his home after being denied incapacity benefit.

The father-of-three today hit out at the NHS for the 'unacceptable delays', but East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust said Mr Eeles had his operation cancelled on 'only' two occasions on clinical safety grounds.

His left arm has hung limply by his side since he fractured the humerus bone in December 2008.
Mr Eeles, from Welham Green, Hertfordshire, applied for employment and support allowance but a doctor ruled he is ineligible for both because he can turn on a tap.

He said: 'This whole situation is absolutely disgusting. I have never heard of anyone else having a broken arm for ten months.

'It's been so long the bones have knitted back together. Sleeping is really uncomfortable because whenever I roll over my arm gets in the way.

'I'm a kitchen fitter and plumber by trade but I can't even slice a loaf of bread let alone work. 'This has been going on and on and it's a complete nightmare.'

Anonymous said...

Seniors’ hearts may skip beat (Boston Herald)

As if seniors didn’t have enough worries about Medicare, they now have an unexpected new one - health care “reform.”

For the past decade increases in health care costs have outpaced overall inflation to the extent that the Medicare Trust Fund’s 2017bankruptcy is now alarmingly imminent.

Seniors also recognize that “reform” is not about them but rather about subsidizing health insurance premiums for the uninsured under-65s.

Nevertheless President Barack Obama persists with a disingenuous pitch to seniors which goes like this: “The nearly $1 trillion reform tab will be paid for with new revenues (also known as taxes) plus a combination of immediate and delayed savings with some of the latter trickling down to Medicare.”

Anonymous said...

Rumor has it layoffs at The N&O.

Anonymous said...

Is this woman insane? Napolitano wants illegal aliens called “newly-arrived asylum seekers”! (The Collins Report)

As Governor of Arizona Janet Napolitano was always a good friend to illegal aliens trying to sneak into our country. She gave them free college educations and free daycare for their children as any welcoming host would.

As Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano avoids even saying the words “terror” or vulnerability” proving she has no business heading HLS.

Now Secretary Napolitano has passed a new threshold of linguistic gymnastics.

According to her latest announcement the burglars who sneak into our country with their hands out who were once correctly called “illegal aliens” then “illegal immigrants” and more recently “undocumented immigrants” must now be called “newly-arrived asylum seekers.”

This perfect example of Orwellian “new speak” is a trick to make us forget Democrats plan to give illegal aliens “free” healthcare paid for by us.

Anonymous said...

Star Ledger Back for More Buyouts (The New York Times)

The Newark Star-Ledger, the Newhouse-owned newspaper where 150 newsroom staffers took buyouts last year, is about to suffer even deeper cuts.

According to a memo sent to out by publisher George Awady (see below), executives will be seeking another round of buyouts, and if that doesn’t work, involuntary layoffs.

For many years, the Newhouse newspapers kept unions at bay by promising lifetime employment, but the implosion of the industry has swept those promises into the dustbin of history.

The newspaper, long admired for its comprehensive coverage of the chronically corrupt northern New Jersey region it covers, did manage to lure back a columnist, Tom Moran, but at the end of last month, Jim Willse, longtime editor of the newspaper, announced that he would be retiring.

It was a significant blow at a newspaper that has lived through its share, losing about 40 percent of its newsroom staff as the result of losses at the newspaper.

Although the memo yesterday carried the subject line of “voluntary” buyout offers, there is the sound of a gun being cocked further into the narrative.

Like all regional newspapers, The Star Ledger has suffered from circulation declines, loss of classifieds and a reduction in display ads as a result of retail consolidation and a brutal broader economy. (Hat tip Melonee Sill)

In spite of talk of recovery elsewhere, the news at The Star Ledger sounds pretty grim and the region that Mr. Willse once called “a game preserve of corruption” will now have even less reporting to hold its officials accountable:

Anonymous said...

Magazine Ad Pages Tumble 26.6% In Q3 (MediaPost.com)

The third quarter delivered little good news for the magazine business, with the Publishers Information Bureau reporting that total ad pages in consumer magazines declined 26.6% compared to the same period in 2008, to 38,626. For the year-to-date through September, total ad pages are down 27.2% to 119,575.

The weakness in September -- traditionally a strong month buoyed by fashion advertising -- is especially troubling as magazines move into the fourth quarter with its critical holiday season.

Out of the 230 currently-published titles tracked by the Publishers Information Bureau, only 23 (10%) saw ad pages increase in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year. Of the 207 which declined, 58 (25% of the total) experienced drops of less than 10%, 60 (26%) dropped 10%-19.9%, 29 (12.5%) dropped 20%-29.9%, 35 (15%) dropped 30%-39.9%, and 25 (11%) dropped over 40%.

Anonymous said...

Are print ads going the way of the dinosaur? (AustinBusinessJournal)

These days, print media is getting its share of negative headlines.

Facing drastic dips in circulation and advertising dollars, the beleaguered print industry has become the subject of advertising blogs and media Web sites asking: “Is Print Dead?”

Some believe the evidence that print is becoming a relic is mounting with news of layoffs and closures among print publications. This week, Condé Naste closed four of its magazines, including Gourmet magazine, because of slumping advertising sales and the weak economy. Condé Naste is owned by Advance Publications, which also owns American City Business Journals, parent company of the Austin Business Journal.

Anonymous said...

Facebook friends report another round of layoffs/buyouts in Raleigh. Anybody have further details?

Anonymous said...

That's too bad about Raleigh.
As for AARP and its negative comments about insurance company premium estimates, AARP can go straight to Hell. They are beyond disgusting.

Anonymous said...

KC Porkchop gets a mention.
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'Journalists' Claiming Limbaugh Praised MLK's Assassin Offer No Proof

NewsBusters -Tim Graham
Scott Whitlock mentioned yesterday that liberal author Jack Huberman claimed in 2006 that Rush Limbaugh praised James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of Martin Luther King.

How would this reckless, unproven charge circulate? [Black sports columnists love it: Jason Whitlock], on Foxsports.com is using it right now in saying the NFL should not allow Limbaugh to be part-owner of the St. Louis Rams. But does he have a footnote with an air date? No. When I did a Nexis search for Limbaugh and James Earl Ray, I couldn't find a single use of this so-called quotation until this March. Consider...

Anonymous said...

3:06... you are sooo cute. Do you really still believe truth means anything to these folks?

It is the message. Always the message. Details like truth that detract from the message are to be ignored. Repeat after me, "It is the message, It is the message, It is the message".