Until today, the NY Times never ran a story on Chas Freeman's near-appointment to chairmanship of the National Intelligence Council. About his shady connections and indisputable anti-Israel bent, the former claimant to the title "Newspaper of Record" said not a peep.

The NY Times sat out for the whole thing. Nothing pro-Chas, nothing anti-Chas, nothing that would even be considered plain old no-bias news reporting. I mean it. Search the website. Use google. They missed the whole story. A presidential nominee was poked, prodded, vetted, and canned before the newspaper even raised a finger to do a little reporting which it could easily have cribbed from the wires.

Until now, I mean.

Charles W. Freeman Jr., the Obama administrationÂ’s choice for a major intelligence post, withdrew his name on Tuesday and blamed pro-Israel lobbying groups, saying they had distorted his record and campaigned against him.

Mr. Freeman had come under sharp criticism for his past statements about Israel as well as for his association with the Saudi and Chinese governments.

Mr. FreemanÂ’s withdrawal from consideration as chairman of the National Intelligence Council came just hours after Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence, vigorously defended him and said that his comments had been taken out of context.

All true, and yet it has an unmistakable stench about it, much like Chas' atrocious statement. For the poorly-informed NY Times reader, those opening paragraphs sound an awful lot like: "It was the Joooooos!"

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:50 PM | Comments (1)
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Update: "Episode IV: A False Hope." A P-I reporter posted the following at their "media partner" KOMO news website earlier this evening: Seattle P-I Closure Appears Near. Appears? You don't say. But there are at least a few new details:

"SEATTLE -- Despite The Hearst Corp.'s statement Tuesday morning that it hasn't decided whether to sell or shut down the Seattle P-I, clues emerged later in the day suggesting that Hearst plans to close the 146-year-old paper shortly and will continue operating a Web site."

"Staffers learned Tuesday afternoon that boxes and bins are scheduled to be delivered to the newsroom later this week -- some for materials to be taken home, others for notes that require shredding."

"Employees were told to file promptly to be reimbursed for their expenses. And they were told they can retain their cell phone numbers if they wish."

There's some disgruntlement amongst the ranks:

""It would be nice to have some clarity," business reporter Joseph Tartakoff said. "It's really hard to plan your work when you're not sure if you'll be around the next day."

I can't think of a single crack to make about that statement.I'll bet you can though. But does it get better you ask? Of course it does!

"Separately, the largest union at the Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle reached a tentative agreement late Monday on contract concessions as part of Hearst's efforts to dramatically cut costs to prevent a sale or closure, though the deal still may not keep the 144-year-old daily from shuttering or being sold."

So it looks like we'll be moving on to our next target soon. As the ancient saying goes: "When one door closes another one opens." Or some nonsensical bullshit similar to that. Original post is moved below the fold since this is becoming about a mile too long.

more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:17 PM | Comments (1)
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You little person, you.

We're here doing the people's business. Yes.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 06:06 PM | Add Comment
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Tapper:

"Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair announced today that Ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr. has requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National Intelligence Council not proceed. Director Blair accepted Ambassador FreemanÂ’s decision with regret."

Michelle Malkin provides a few links that show why he was a bad pick.

UPDATE [Gabe]: Freeman has issued a statement about withdrawing his name. He demonstrates unequivocally that he is not the man for the job. Or any other job, really, except perhaps CAIR spokesman:

The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East. The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth. The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors.

Shorter Chas: "It was the Joooooooos!"

Posted by: Slublog at 04:25 PM | Comments (1)
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$410 billion is not "change", Mr. President.

As DrewM. wrote earlier, Obama got the last few votes he needed by promising he wouldn't actually comply with some provisions of the bill concerning Cuba. The porked-up bill will also end the successful school choice pilot program in Washington, D.C.

The turncoats on school choice: Crapo (R-ID), Murkowski (R-AK), Snowe (R-ME), and Specter (R-PA).

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:10 PM | Comments (1)
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In the "Pox on Both Your Houses" category:

Unfortunately, context does not help us here. Section 1546(a) “is certainly not a model of good draftsmanship; a better description would be that it is a masterpiece of obfuscation.” Indeed, with this section, Congress has achieved in a single 124-word sentence a level of confusion it usually takes pages to create.

That's from the Ninth Circuit today (PDF), in a case otherwise not worth mentioning.

I hope it brightened your day as much as it did mine.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:32 PM | Add Comment
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Apparently resistance is not futile and not everyone will be assimilated. Consider this your high blood pressure warning.

Twice in two years they have fought in Iraq, with two of their comrades paying the ultimate price when they died in a roadside bomb attack in Basra and 10 more killed in Afghanistan.

But a homecoming parade in honour of 200 soldiers back from the battlefields was marred yesterday(tues) by Muslim anti-war protesters.

They hurled abuse as members of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment marched proudly through the centre of Luton.

Waving placards with slogans saying: 'Anglian soldiers: Butchers of Basra,' and 'Anglian soldiers: cowards, killers, extremists,' and 'baby killers,' they were hemmed in by police as the parade passed.

The protesters were then given a police escort after angry supporters of the soldiers - known as The Poachers - turned on them, shouting 'scum' and 'no surrender to the Taliban.'

In the disturbance that followed two people were arrested - but neither of them was a protester who had harangued the troops.

It's a long article and it only gets worse, except for the part where someone threw bacon on the Muslim protesters, that was pretty cool.

In a just world those 'protesters' would have their immigration status checked and anyone not a subject of Her Britannic Majesty would be returned post haste to whatever particular hell hole they were spawned in.

Alas, it's not a just world and this type of shit is all the evidence we need to be reminded of that.

Here's a link to the unit's home page. I don't see any contact page but if any of you morons with stronger inter-tubes fu than I have find one, let me know. Perhaps we can get them a few notes from people who appreciate those who fight for and defend freedom.

UPDATE: Mætenloch makes a good point in the comments, that this is just a handful of people. It looked bigger when I read it, probably because I was so pissed. Hell, we have the Phelps gang in this country (and in the spirit of ecumenism, I haven't lost sleep over anything yelled or thrown at them either) so we can't say we as Americans are above this kind of crap.

Also, "Frederic Barbarossa" in the comments points out the Brits ran the bastards off the street (see video below the fold). Good for them. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 03:09 PM | Add Comment
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Never let a crisis go to waste.

Granny Rictus McFlyMeToTheMoononaVC-25 suggests we are understimulated.

What an effin goat screw the past few weeks have been.

At this point most Americans (including me) are in danger of becoming totally desensitized to "economic stimulation". Talk about a slippery slope. We are looking at a quadrupling of a 3 trillion dollar deficit in a mere four years, and it's time to pile on more dog parks and shrimp farms.

Not to mention health care. I didn't mention it. Obama did.

As if this had jack shit to do with housing bubbles and Wall Street.

Anybody remember how long it took Clinton to jack up the health care crisis, in his first term? It was 10 months before the jacked up POS was delivered to Congress.

*sigh* Never let a crisis go to waste.

UPDATE: a commenter polishes his crystal balls and gives us a look at the future.

Cramer's Journal:

March 10 2010.

I stalk the halls of CNBC like a shaved baboon with a peptic ulcer. The power's been out for weeks, "redistributed" to god knows where. We've got Ratigan on an exercise bike in the basement trying to power the coffee machine and Erin Burnett's laptop. Smart girl. While scavenging for food and fresh rat beneath Madison Square Garden last week she found a cellphone in the breast pocket of an old suit on an old corpse of an old banker. She soldered the wireless card to a couple of rusty forks and we now get Internet for two or three hours a day. It's our only window to the outside world.

And what a world it is.
I blame myself. I should have known better. I should have said more. I should have done more. I should have spent entire episodes of "Mad Money" with my face to the camera, one eye staring balefully into the darkness behind the lens, screaming until blood flecked from my throat like the spittle of a rabid dog. "OBAMA!" I should have cried to the unseen masses. "OBAMA WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING!"

From SA

Posted by: Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight at March 10, 2009 05:25 PM

Yes. Everything is awesome.

Link added per EMBWBAM. Hope it isn't lesbo porn, I didn't check it.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 01:12 PM | Add Comment
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The left used to love beating up on President Bush for his use of 'signing statements'. Well yesterday President Present basically said he'd do the same thing only smarter and less often or something.

Today however the Obama Administration tries something the Bush regime never thought of...promising to ignore provisions of a bill that hasn't passed yet in order to get votes for it.

At issues is the 400+ billion dollar Omnibus Spending Bill. The House has passed their version and Thanks Nancy says take or it leave it. If the Senate changes so much as a comma, the House won't pass the bill again but instead will pass a Continuing Resolution to fund the government sans all the goodies everyone wants. The problem is Harry Reid can't get 60 votes because he's lost 2 Democrats (Menendez of NJ and Nelso of FL) over provisions in the bill that would loosen sanctions on Cuba.

So what does Obama promise to do to get the votes? He has his super smart Treasury Secretary promise to ignore the changes the new law would make in Cuba policy.

"It's like a presidential signing statement except it's not the president and it's not a signing statement," said Robert Gibbs, when asked about the letter from Tim Geithner by Jake Tapper. He argued that every law must be interpreted, and deferred questions about Tim Geitner's letter to the Treasury Department.

The Senators concerned with the Cuba provisions in the spending bill have been told in writing by Treasury Secretary Geithner to essentially ignore one of the Cuba provisions in the spending bill and not to worry about the Obama administration's interpretations of another one.

...Both Nelson and Menendez said they would support the omnibus with Geithner's assurances.

Got it? Bush laying out his interpretation of a law bad, Obama explicitly promising to ignore a new law...good. I'm glad I could help clear that up for you.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:32 AM | Comments (5)
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No word on if she made them fly her for a botox appointment or not.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly requested military aircraft to shuttle her and her colleagues and family around the country, according to a new report from a conservative watchdog group.

Representatives for Judicial Watch, which obtained e-mails and other documents from a Freedom of Information request, said the correspondence shows Pelosi has abused the system in place to accommodate congressional leaders and treated the Air Force as her "personal airline."

...In one e-mail, aide Kay King complained to the military that they had not made available any aircraft the House speaker wanted for Memorial Day recess.

"It is my understanding there are NO G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable ... The Speaker will want to know where the planes are," King wrote.

I'm sure this will get as much play as the management of the auto makers received when they flew in their private jets to ask for bailout money. In fact, I'm willing to bet my Obama issued unicorn on it.

BTW-The Republicans need to be all over this. This is the kind of thing people get. Remember it was stuff like the House Post Office and check kiting that combined with the Contract for America, doomed the Democrats in '94. This abuse of power and arrogance shit pisses people off a lot more than wasting a few hundred billion dollars here or there.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:48 AM | Comments (10)
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