Because tomorrow is Easter Sunday, I plan to spend the day reading the Word of God and reflecting on the Death and Resurrection of my Lord Saviour Jesus Christ. Especially on how the Lord shed his blood, for me on that cross. So, till Monday, be well!
-Pat
As I suspected, due to his rant, which I did defend; John Derbyshire was terminated from his position at National Review.
Anyone who has read Derb in our pages knows he’s a deeply literate, funny, and incisive writer. I direct anyone who doubts his talents to his delightful first novel, “Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream,” or any one of his “Straggler” columns in the books section of NR. Derb is also maddening, outrageous, cranky, and provocative. His latest provocation, in a webzine, lurches from the politically incorrect to the nasty and indefensible. We never would have published it, but the main reason that people noticed it is that it is by a National Review writer. Derb is effectively using our name to get more oxygen for views with which we’d never associate ourselves otherwise. So there has to be a parting of the ways. Derb has long danced around the line on these issues, but this column is so outlandish it constitutes a kind of letter of resignation. It’s a free country, and Derb can write whatever he wants, wherever he wants. Just not in the pages of NR or NRO, or as someone associated with NR any longer.
via Parting Ways – By Rich Lowry – The Corner – National Review Online.
I happen to agree with Jeff over at Protein Wisdom, when PC rules the day, we have lost badly. Because of this, I will be removing National Review Online’s entries from the blogroll here and replacing it with something else. If freedom of speech is subject to that sort of nonsense at NRO; than I have nothing in common with them and I hardly consider them a truly conservative website and publication.
Let me say emphatically, the staff of National Review and yes, that includes Rich Lowry — can go to hell.
These photos and the full story are via Washington Free Beacon:
But yet, they are the party of enlightenment. Yeah, sure! 🙄
This is wild.
Check out the video:
The Story:
Most people in the US, especially Democrats, believe that the Obama Birther Movement was started by Republicans and or the Tea Party. They believe it is a smear campaign aimed to tarnish the image of their hero of change. But they may be shocked to learn that the Birther Movement was actually started by former President Bill Clinton and Hillary back in 2008.
Bettina Viviano was a vice president with Amblin Enterntainment, Steven Spielberg’s company, before launching her own film production company in 1990. In 2008, Viviano was asked to produce a documentary about voter fraud within the Democratic Party. At the time, she says she was not a Democrat or a Republican and in fact had never voted in an election. She went into the project with the sole purpose of producing the best and most accurate documentary possible.
During the documentary process, Viviano says that she quickly became aware of just how dangerous and insidious the Obama campaign was. A number of the Democrats she interviewed refused to appear on camera and told her that their lives and property had been threatened by people working with the Obama campaign.
She also heard former President Bill Clinton say that Obama was not eligible to be president because of his lack of birth records. In fact, she said it was common knowledge around many top Democrats. Bill Clinton has often said that he would go public with the information when the time was right.
Before that could happen, his close friend and head of the Arkansas Democratic Party, Bill Gwatney was murdered in his office and then someone told Bill that he was next if he said anything about Obama’s eligibility. In the video below, she said that Clinton was not intimidated until someone associated with the Obama campaign told him that his daughter Chelsea would be next if he opened his mouth. From that point on, the Clinton’s remained silent about Obama’s birth certificate or lack thereof.
Normally, I would not give a story like this the time of day; but I put nothing and I mean nothing past Barack Obama. I remember that murder story and at the time, I sort of thought about what was said above, but I figured maybe it was explainable. But, I have to say; no motive? Something stinks here and I believe this might be actually true or at least partially true. I believe an Congressional Investigation into this is warranted, however, I will not hold my breath, least I turn blue and croak.
I really think that it is time that the Republican Party finally grew a pair of gonads and actually started taking this whole eligibility thing seriously. Because if this President actually did this; who is to say that another President, like a Republican one could not do it. An investigation by the FBI should be conducted; unless of course, the FBI is in on it too. Which would have to be, seeing they are the ones who clear someone to be President in the first place.
Either way, it’s time for answers.
I support Israel and all; but this right here, is why I am not a huge fan of John Podhoretz.
Glenn Greenwald reports:
One reason I think this discussion is so important is because the manipulation of the term “terrorism” this way permits and bolsters (even if unintentionally) an extremely ugly, destructive, and toxic worldview, one which the Editor-in-Chief of Commentary Magazine, John Podhoretz, vividly expressed last night on Twitter when discussing the firing of Keith Olbermann by Current TV:
That’s about as overtly racist a statement from a media figure with a platform as you’ll see (and the it’s-just-a-joke excuse is obviously irrelevant: just imagine analogous “jokes” about how disfavored journalists would be punished at The Jerusalem Post, or Black Entertainment Television, etc.). To Podhoretz, Al Jazeera is filled with Arabs and Muslims, which means: The Terrorists (for many years after 9/11, that was virtually official U.S. government policy). Podhoretz is the same person who wrote a New York Post column in 2006 lamenting that in the early stages of the Iraq War, “we didn’t kill enough Sunnis in the early going to intimidate them and make them so afraid of us they would go along with anything,” suggesting that the big U.S. mistake in the war was allowing “the survival of Sunni men between the ages of 15 and 35.” Remember, though: it’s those Muslims who are The Terrorists (when influential American “terrorism experts” start talking about the John Podhoretzes of the world as terrorism advocates, and about “Shock and Awe“, the assault on Fallujah and the bombing of Gaza as terrorism, and about Ronald Reagan as a “state sponsor of terrorism” for his funding of El Salvadoran death squads and Nicaraguan contras, and about the parties responsible for the assassination of Iranian civilian scientists as international terrorists, then I’ll start to take the honorific more seriously).
I have no doubt that most respected “terrorism experts” would find Podhoretz’s comment about Al Jazeera repugnant. But the mentality on display here — and it’s quite pervasive (which is why this is one of the few remaining forms of overt bigotry that provokes no real sanction) — finds nourishment in the constant discussion of Terrorism, the Supreme Evil, as: acts of violence by Muslims directed at us (but not violence by our own government or those of its allies directed at Muslims).
The above is exactly why the libertarian crowd hates the Zionist crowd with a passion. This is why I am not a huge fan of John Podhoretz and his ilk. It is because they can make statements like this, without any repercussions. If someone, who is not a Zionist made a similar statement about Israel and Jews; they would be excoriated from one end of the blogosphere to the other. Mr. Glennwald has a very good point and I think everyone on the Jewish Conservative side of the political isle, ought to take a hard look at this and take it very seriously. If the Zionists want respect, they have to learn to respect others. Because not all Arabs out there are terrorists; just like not all blacks are murders, robbers, and so forth —- not all white people are robe and hood carrying Klansman. Some black liberals might think that, but I digress. Furthermore, not all Jews are evil bankers trying to overthrow the Country. See? It goes both ways. Someone needs to tell Podhoretz to keep his damned bigotry towards Arabs to himself.
Also too; anyone who believes that Jews can be insulted like this, and can get away with it —- ought to have a nice long talk — with Rick Sanchez.
Just a thought.
As you can see, I have decided to forgo the whole “Blog in black” schtick and turn the lights back on around here. I am beginning to come out of my burn-out funk. I just felt like things were getting overly stupid and needed to take a bit of a break. Hopefully, on Monday, I will be able to get back to the writing in full steam here. besides that, the site is not making any money and I really need to make something here. As I am getting some complaints from “you know who…” so, I will be writing a bit more here.
What I will NOT do around here, is stuff like this and this here. I mean, how classless can you get? Threaten to quit, because people are not tossing money into your Tip Jar? That is so “white trash,” that it is not even funny. I have the donation stuff in my side bars and at the bottom of each post, if that is not good enough; then I just do not get any money. For the record, the only time I really honestly thought about quitting was when I was accused of being a Neo-Nazi by some people, who have now been vetted by Debbie Schlussel as being Jew-Haters themselves. The other time was when my former host started acting like complete a-holes. I did end political byline, my former blog, because the Iraq War was basically over and at the time; I did not have another host lined up and at the time, I did not have the cash to get hosting.
More than all of the above, is just the fact that I do not write for the money. I write, when I am in the mood to write; because I happen to love my Country and I am not pleased with what both of these political parties have done to us. I have been doing that since 2006 and I do not regret a minute of that time. When things were really bad, with the first blog; I just kept writing. For a good 2 or 3 years; I did not make squat, especially when I was on blogger. Back in 2006, when I was rooting for the “other team” on my blog “The Populist,” I did not make hardly any money. I tend to believe that was because the “professional left” did not like me, because I was not on board with the “Gay rights” crowd or the “Baby killing” crowd. I did make a little bit with “Political Byline,” during the Tea Party era. I rode the wave, and then when the GOP started doing business as usual again., things fell off. But, I am here and I am still writing; because this is what I do. I would like it much more, if I got some sort of full time writing job or at least a contributor gig somewhere. But I am just grateful for the privilege to be doing this at all.
Life is what you make of it; you can make life to be the horrible thing or when life hands you lemons, you can make lemonade. It is all in how you view things. As for me, I am making Lemonade and selling for 5 cents a glass. Step right up, get your lemonade here! 😀
Looks like ol’ Keith made a bit of a mistake:
Keith Olbermann wanted out of Current TV well before he was fired yesterday because he felt the network was mismanaged and wouldn’t be around much longer … sources close to Keith tell TMZ.
As TMZ first reported, Keith is planning on filing a lawsuit against the network for his unceremonious dumping yesterday. He released a statement that said in part, “It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently.”
According to our sources, Keith felt the network was a “ragtag operation” that was disorganized and felt thrown together. We’re told Keith felt the entire place was mismanaged … right down to the office supplies.
On one such occasion, we’re told the staff couldn’t use one of the printers because it was out of toner and they had none in supply. In a staff-wide email obtained by TMZ, a production administrator told the staff, “We expect to have replacement toner in tomorrow and will have a better stock on hand for the future. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
via Keith Olbermann — Planning His Exit Long Before He Was Fired | TMZ.com.
Then there is this:
To Keith’s point … they couldn’t even fire him without a giant mistake. In Current TV’s press release to announce that Eliot Spitzer would be taking over for Olbermann, they provided a Twitter account for Spitzer that is not his. The real Eliot Spitzer doesn’t have a Twitter account.
Heh. D’oh! 😀 Sounds like management problems to me and maybe even money problems. I thought that Keith was brought on as a partner and had a stake in the Company? I guess not. 😯
I saw this and I just had to laugh.
Paris (CNN) — The leader of an Islamist group whose members were targeted in a series of French police raids denies any contact with Toulouse gunman Mohammed Merah, lawyer Philippe Missamou said Saturday.
The leader of the Forsane Alizza group, Mohammed Achamlane, was among 19 people arrested Friday over alleged connections to radical Islam, Missamou said.
The raids came a week after Merah, who killed seven people in a series of attacks, was shot dead after a long siege in the southwestern city of Toulouse.
French media reports suggested Merah had developed connections with the pro-al Qaeda group, which has a cluster of followers in Toulouse.
Forsane Alizza was outlawed in January for encouraging French citizens to travel to Afghanistan to fight jihad.
Missamou told CNN he had last spoken to Achamlane on Monday.
At this time, Achamlane told him that the group had not had contact with Merah, and that it had nothing to do with Merah’s killings in Toulouse, Missamou said.
Achamlane said the group did not support armed combat, the attorney said.
via Lawyer: French Islamist group had no link with Toulouse gunman – CNN.com.
Yeah, sure they don’t. They are just a bunch of misunderstood Muslims. Yeah, right, sure they are.
Good on France for recognizing the threat of Al-Qaeda terrorism. The war on terrorism is more than Afghanistan and Iran, it is anywhere that these thugs are allowed to fester. Freedom loving Nations should always be on guard for these thugs and be ready, at all times, to put them out of their own misery.
Nothing like a bit of interesting news to bring a burned-out blogger out of his funk.
Keith Olbermann and Current TV have parted ways.
NYT’s Media Decoder has the story:
For nearly a year now, Al Gore and Joel Hyatt have been building their liberal cable news channel, Current TV, with the mercurial television anchorman Keith Olbermann at its center.
This week, the center collapsed.
Current said on Friday afternoon that it had fired Mr. Olbermann — one of the nation’s most prominent progressive speakers — just a year into his five-year, $50 million contract. It was the culmination of months of murky disputes between Mr. Olbermann and the channel that he was supposed to save from the throes of ratings oblivion.
Yet as inevitable as it might have seemed to some in the television business who know the long history of antipathy between Mr. Olbermann and his employers, it was nonetheless shocking to his fans, to his detractors and to staff members at Current when the announcement was made.
To the Viewers of Current:
We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic progressive outlet. We are more committed to those goals today than ever before.
Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it.
We are moving ahead by honoring Current’s values. Current has a fundamental obligation to deliver news programming with a progressive perspective that our viewers can count on being available daily — especially now, during the presidential election campaign. Current exists because our audience desires the kind of perspective, insight and commentary that is not easily found elsewhere in this time of big media consolidation.
My full statement:
I’d like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV.
Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I’ve been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff. Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract.
It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently. To understand Mr. Hyatt’s “values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty,” I encourage you to read of a previous occasion Mr. Hyatt found himself in court for having unjustly fired an employee. That employee’s name was Clarence B. Cain. http://nyti.ms/HueZsa
In due course, the truth of the ethics of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt will come out. For now, it is important only to again acknowledge that joining them was a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one. That lack of judgment is mine and mine alone, and I apologize again for it.
I have a personal opinion as to why things did not work out. This is not snark, humor or whatnot; it is truly my feelings. I believe that Keith just was not happy with this setup. I believe that Keith was not a good a “Democrat” enough for these people. Keith always said on his show, that he did not vote. I believe he is a political liberal. But I do not believe him an establishment figure. This was proven during Keith’s time at MSNBC, when he would criticize Obama.
I was doing some reading on some of the progressive sites out there; and I do notice that not everyone is sad to see him go. This is because Keith went into the tank for Obama, and went after Hillary, this did not sit well with some of the liberal left. To think, the thanks he got for all of his bombast and over the top verbalization, for all that tank diving he did for Obama — was a suck job at a third-rate network. Obama must be proud. The loudest voice of criticism on the left of Obama is now silent.
I will give some unsolicited advice to Al Gore and his partner at Current TV; give Keith the money for his contract, settle the as quickly as you possibly can. Because if you two do not think that Keith will not dish on what he knows about what happened in 2008 and with the inner workings of the liberal media — you are crazy. Furthermore, let me just say it; when it comes to lawsuits, discovery is a bitch. I would get this out of the headlines as quickly as I could. Because if Keith starts dishing, you think the left is in disarray now? You wait till that starts happening.
Either way, it would be a blog traffic goldmine.
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