MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry Scolds Edward Snowden

I was watching the Melissa Harris Perry Show on MSNBC earlier today and I saw her criticizing Edward Snowden. Basically she chastised Snowden for making a spectacle of himself. Harris-Perry argued that by hopping from country to country in his attempt to gain asylum, Snowden is making himself into a bigger news story than the NSA surveillance practices his leaks revealed. In an open letter to Eric Snowden, Harris-Perry said the following:

We could be talking about whether accessing and monitoring citizen information and communications is constitutional, or whether we should continue to allow a secret court to authorize secret warrants using secret legal opinions. 

But we’re not. We’re talking about you! And flight paths between Moscow and Venezuela, and how much of a jerk Glenn Greenwald is. We could at least be talking about whether the Obama administration is right that your leak jeopardized national security. But we’re not talking about that, Ed.

We’re talking about you. I can imagine you’d say, “Well, then stop! Just talk about something else.” But here’s the problem, even if your initial leak didn’t compromise national security, your new cloak-and-dagger game is having real and tangible geopolitical consequences. So, well, we have to talk about … you.

I would argue that the reason the story is all about Snowden rather than the NSA revelations is because media figures refuse to make the NSA surveillance the story. Being the paid hacks that they are, they chastise Snowden rather the Obama Administration. I'm sure Mr. Obama is happy that media talking heads are questioning the action of Edward Snowden rather than questioning the actions of his administration,

I was happy to see Al Sharpton and Melissa Harris-Perry get to host their own shows on a major cable news network, because we need diversity. But I'm a little disappointed because Sharpton and Harris-Perry have decided to use their media access to be nothing but apologist for the Obama administration.

Fox News Snubbed By Obama At First News Conference

From Huffington Post:

President-Elect Barack Obama held his first press conference yesterday, one that focused mainly on the current economic crisis. One detail that flew under the radar, however, was which networks and newpapers [sic] got to ask questions, or, rather, which one didn't get to ask a question. As Media Bistro notes, one network who was not called upon sticks out: Fox News.

It will be interesting to see how the conservative network adjusts to a political reality in which the Democratic Party holds the White House and substantial majorities in both houses of Congress. Michael Wolff, a Vanity Fair columnist who is writing an authorized biography on Rupert Murdoch's career and family, claims that even Murdoch is embarrassed by Fox News

Damn that's got to hurt, every news network crave for access to the White House. Fox News - The Bush News Network - is now the odd man out. I would like to see the Democratic party boycott the entire network, don't go their show, don't do interviews with that dishonest racist network. Since Fox News decided to cast their lot with the Republican party, the Democrats should treat them like the opposition that they are. They employ the most hated and vile right wingers, people such as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Carl Rove and they're also a haven for vicious smear merchants like Ann Coulters and Michelle Malkin. Why would any democrat take 'Sly' Fox News serious?

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The AP’s Ron Fournier: Racial Arsonist and Unethical Journalist

Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks - many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles.

- Ron Fournier, Associated Press, September 20, 2008


Theorem: The amount of time conservatives spend talking about the Bradley Effect is inversely proportional to the fortunes of their candidate.



- Nate Silver, September 19, 2008

Today's AP story wasn't exactly about the so-called "Bradley Effect" or "Wilder Effect," a popular theory in the 1980s and 1990s that posited that some white Americans lie to pollsters claiming they will support African-American candidates but vote then against them in the secrecy of the ballot box.

The theory - if it was true back then - has been very thoroughly disproved in recent years, and today we'll walk you through all the documentation you need to debunk it when asked about it by others.

But with the McCain-Palin ticket sinking in the polls, and the financial crisis sucking the oxygen out of the culture war "issues" on all sides, with the economy now front and center as the dominant campaign issue, we're hearing increasing mention of the so-called "Bradley Effect," the so-called "Wilder Effect," the so-called "Bradley-Wilder Effect" (all names for the same 20th century theory).

And now, the Associated Press and its unethical reporter Ron Fournier are transparently attempting to turn the November election (and, if their attempted arson is successful, its aftermath for years to come) into a wedge to divide, polarize and set back race relations in the United States of America more than four decades.

Everybody take a deep breath and repeat after me: The race card is not working. It's not going to work. And we're not going to take the bait being dangled out in front of us by racially prejudiced provocateurs like Fournier: he wants us to spread his gasoline to make his arson fire bigger; we're going to hose water on it - and on him - instead.

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O'Reilly gets rude treatment at Obama Rally

Fox News propagandist Bill O'Reilly showed up at a Barack Obama campaign rally in New Hampshire and wasn't treated to kindly by some of the people at the rally. According to John Dickerson over at Slate.com some of the people were really rude to the creep and deservedly so. John Dickerson describe the situation like this:

You know when a celebrity television personality like Bill O'Reilly arrives at a political event because they always have a retinue and because people turn their cameras and camera phones from the candidate to capture the famous face. When the popular Fox News entertainer arrived at the Obama event in Nashua, people turned to him but not always approvingly. "Hey O'Reilly," yelled a man. When O'Reilly turned he got a single-finger salute. A few people approached Bill to shake his hand but the overwhelming sentiment was unfavorable. "O'Reilly hatemonger," yelled a woman. A few other people gave him the bird. "I hate you Bill," yelled a man. "You can't stop us Bill," yelled another. I thought someone might brain him with one of those Obama "Hope" signs.

A number of people shouted falafel, the word O'Reilly used in a racy set of telephone conversations with a young woman he was trying to seduce as he described a shower they might take together. He meant loofa, which is not a Middle Eastern delicacy but a bath item.

The retinue that followed O'Reilly included men in suits, perhaps accountants under whose jackets rested tiny little cash registers ringing up the profits that come from O'Reilly's ability to stir just this kind of anger.

I say good, we should start showing more of those Corporate media whores masquerading as journalist, how we feel about their dishonesty. To me, people like Bill O'Reilly is an enemy to the people of this country, people like him are the ones that are helping to destroy this country.

Top 25 Censored news stories of 2007

#1 Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media

#2 Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran

#3 Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger

#4 Hunger and Homelessness Increasing in the US

#5 High-Tech Genocide in Congo

#6 Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy

# 7 US Operatives Torture Detainees to Death in Afghanistan and Iraq

#8 Pentagon Exempt from Freedom of Information Act

#9 The World Bank Funds Israel-Palestine Wall

#10 Expanded Air War in Iraq Kills More Civilians

#11 Dangers of Genetically Modified Food Confirmed

#12 Pentagon Plans to Build New Landmines

#13 New Evidence Establishes Dangers of Roundup

#14 Homeland Security Contracts KBR to Build Detention Centers in the US

#15 Chemical Industry is EPA’s Primary Research Partner

#16 Ecuador and Mexico Defy US on International Criminal Court

#17 Iraq Invasion Promotes OPEC Agenda

#18 Physicist Challenges Official 9-11 Story

#19 Destruction of Rainforests Worst Ever

#20 Bottled Water: A Global Environmental Problem

#21 Gold Mining Threatens Ancient Andean Glaciers

#22 $Billions in Homeland Security Spending Undisclosed

#23 US Oil Targets Kyoto in Europe

#24 Cheney’s Halliburton Stock Rose Over 3000 Percent Last Year

#25 US Military in Paraguay Threatens Region

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Hopelessness in America

by Leon Fisher

There is little to be hopeful about. The money pouring into Washington from the powerful lobbies and special interest groups has trumped any real representation which may still exist for the common man in America. The Washington politicians and their corporate benefactors hold the citizens of this country in contempt and are working to remove any influence which they still have left.

The elections have become frauds, with only candidates running who are acceptable to the power elite in Washington and Wall St. No, and there is not much to look forward to. The economy is tanking, the wars continuing, and Bush and his rubber stamp Congress passing ever more legislation stripping Americans of their Constitutional rights.

As for candidates like Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, who hold out the promise of a return to Constitutional government, forget about it. The major news media is all but ignoring both candidates and even if Paul or Kucinich get the lions share of the vote, the result will be manipulated to give us a Clinton or a Giuliani.

We can only wait and see what happens. Hopefully the whole rotten system will collapse upon itself, and only then will we have an opportunity to restore to America a legitimate government beholden to the people.