Moonhowlings

Saturday, August 28, 2011 is the big Glenn Beck Restoring Honor Rally.  It will be held at the Lincoln Memorial. 

Yahoonews.com:

Beck, a popular figure among tea party activists and a polarizing Fox News Channel personality, is headlining the event, and Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and a potential 2012 president candidate, will be a prominent speaker. But Beck told his television audience again on Thursday that it’s not about politics.

The event’s website says the rally is to pay tribute to America’s military personnel and others “who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honor.” It also is to promote the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarships and services to family members of military members.

The website urges citizens to attend and “help us restore the values that founded this great nation.”

How can anything featuring Sarah Palin not be about politics?  She is the embodiment of politics. 

  Read more…

The Parent Company Trap
Fox News is either evil or stupid for not mentioning that Alwaleed bin Talal is News Corp.’s largest shareholder.

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?????

From Huffingtonpost.com:

On his Monday radio show, Glenn Beck highlighted claims that before he started targeting a little-known, left-leaning organization called the Tides Foundation on his Fox News TV show, “nobody knew” what the non-profit was.

Indeed, for more than a year Beck has been portraying the progressive organization as a central player in a larger, nefarious cabal of Marxist/socialist/Nazi Obama-loving outlets determined to destroy democracy in America. Beck has routinely smeared the low-profile entity for being staffed by “thugs” and “bullies” and involved in “the nasty of the nastiest,” like indoctrinating schoolchildren and creating a “mass organization to seize power.”

As Media Matters reported, the conspiratorial host had mentioned (read: attacked) the little-known progressive organization nearly 30 times on his Fox program alone since it premiered in 2009, including several mentions in the last month. (Beck’s the only TV talker who regularly references the foundation, according to our Nexis searches.)

So yes, Beck has done all he can to scare the hell out of people about the Tides Foundation and “turn the light of day” onto an organization that actually facilitates non-profit giving.

And guess what? Everybody in America would have found out about the Tides Foundation last week if Byron Williams had had his way. He’s the right-wing, government-hating, gun-toting nut who strapped on his body armor, stocked a pickup truck with guns and ammo, and set off up the California coast to San Francisco in order to start killing employees at the previously obscure Tides Foundation in hopes of sparking a political revolution.

Read more…

I would think that Rachel Maddow was madder than a bat, except Elena and I have been talking about this same theory for over a year. Nothing that happened with Shirley Sherrod was random. It was all part of political theater being played out to accomplish a political goal.

Maddow gets it. Here is her analysis:

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Rachel goes through what has happened this week, step by step. This video was from her show on Tuesday.

Pay careful attention to the dates in the video. Notice that Fox News was all over the story, vilifying Sherrod for her racism. By Wednesday, everyone else was wrong except Fox News.

This video was recorded on Tuesday, July 20, 2010. Maddow links up several stories that link ACORN, Sherrod, NAACP, and other ’scandals.’ All go back to www.biggovernment.com. That would be Andrew Breitbart’s less than reputable website.

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Maddow continues to ask, whose next? Whose next in the Fox/Breitbart sites? We all know what the object is.

According to Huffington Post, Smith stated the following:

“We here at Studio B did not run the video and did not reference the story in any way for many reasons, among them: we didn’t know who shot it, we didn’t know when it was shot, we didn’t know the context of the statement, and because of the history of the videos on the site where it was posted, in short we do not and did not trust the source.”

Smith was speaking of Breitbart’s websites, specifically, www.biggovernment.com. Shep Smith also took on the White House. He has a reputation for standing up for right and wrong, as he perceives it, even if it goes against the party line of Fox News.

The Las Vegas Robin Hood dropped the F Bomb on Fox News  yesterday.  Imagine Doocy’s surprise.

Everyone handled it well.  In this case, the family bread winner had some horrible form of cancer and couldn’t work and they had lost their home.  A self-professed Robin Hood uses his gambling winnings to make people’s lives better.  I guess he just got a little overly excited.

I was watching this segment and didn’t even pick up on it at the time. I guess I just have potty ears.

Governor Brewer admits that she doesn’t know what an illegal immigrant looks like.

Judge Andrew Napolitano explains why the AZ SB 1070 is not consitutional. He also explains immigration law. This is a huge surprise. Napolitano is very conservative.

I thought I was imagining all the blame Clinton rhetoric.  Now I see I was not imagining it. 

I strongly suspect that Fox and Friends is going to be like the tiger who kept running around the tree until they turn in to butter.  I will never get past Gretchen explaining why her job was as important as the President’s.  Never….Never…Never….Any respect, any credibility….gone.

Its about time someone in the media gets the story straight. 

Someone GETS it!  A big thanks to Media Mattersfor pointing out what Moonhowlings.net has been saying all along.

Copied in its entirety from mediamatters.org:

On Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy and guest Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County, Virginia, board of supervisors, falsely claimed that the county’s controversial immigration law reduced violent crime and has never been altered. In fact, Prince William County’s violent crime rates actually increased in 2009; the law was modified in 2008 to avoid legal challenges; and a University of Virginia study of the law shows that it has not led to a reduction in crime.

Doocy falsely claimed immigration law led to a “reduction in violent crimes” and an overall “huge drop in crime”

Doocy falsely claims immigration law led to “38 percent reduction in violent crimes.” On the June 21 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, Doocy introduced Stewart by claiming, “Three years ago, Prince William County in Virginia passed major immigration reform, and they’ve since seen a huge drop in crime.” Doocy later said to Stewart, “Let’s take a look at some of the changes in Prince William County since this law went into place — 38 percent reduction in violent crimes.” The law in question requires police officers to inquire about the immigration status of those persons who have been placed under arrest.

In fact, Prince William County’s violent crime rate increased 10.9 percent in 2009. According to Prince William County Police Department crime statistics, in 2009, the county saw a 10.9 percent increase in violent crimes. The county’s “overall crime rate” decreased by 1.9 percent from the previous year. The law first went into effect in 2008, during which time the county saw an increase in its overall crime rate and a reduction in violent crimes versus the year prior.

Prince William County’s 2009 overall lowered crime rate is credited as being “part of a trend that started long before” the immigration bill. In a National Review Online post, John J. Miller wrote: “As it happens, crime rates have been going down for a long time in Prince William County. The latest numbers are part of a trend that started long before the county took a stand against illegal immigration.” Prince William County Police Chief Charlie T. Deane reportedly noted that crime rates have been decreasing nationwide and that Prince William County’s rates were consistent with that trend. According to The Washington Post, Deane said, ” ‘I also think, nationwide, crime rates are declining, and I’m pleased we’ve continued to see’ that in the county, too.”

“Illegal aliens” only account for a small percentage of crimes and arrests, and the vast majority of those arrested were for “misdemeanor or traffic charges.” The reports show that those suspected of being “illegal aliens” account for only a small percentage of total crimes. In 2008, “[o]f all persons arrested or summonsed in Prince William County, 1.7% were determined to lack legal status,” while “86.9% of those suspected to be illegal aliens were arrested on misdemeanor or traffic charges.” In 2009, “[o]f all persons arrested or summonsed in Prince William County, 2.2% were determined to lack legal status,” while “87.5% of those suspected to be illegal aliens were arrested on misdemeanor or traffic charges.”

UVA study: “[T]he policy has not reduced most forms of crime in PWC.” The University of Virginia (UVA) studied the effects of the law on Prince William County crime rates and concluded, “Overall, our descriptive assessment of PWCPD data on crime reports and arrests suggests that the policy has not reduced most forms of crime in PWC and that its contribution to the County’s drop in serious violence has likely been modest.” A May 7 Washington Post article cited the UVA study and reported that “the study also said that it seems unlikely that the county’s drop in violent crime was because of the policy, because illegal immigrants make up a small percentage of those arrested for such crimes.”

Doocy lets guest falsely claim that the “law stands today as it was written in 2007″

Doocy allows Stewart to falsely claim that the “law stands today as it was written in 2007.” After Doocy asked Stewart about legal challenges to the law, Stewart falsely claimed that “the federal district court in Arlington, Virginia, threw [a court challenge to the bill] out on its face — threw the challenge out on its face — and the law stands today as it was written in 2007.” 

In fact, the “ordinance was modified in 2008 amid charges that it was unconstitutional.” Contrary to Stewart’s claim that “the law stands today as it was written in 2007,” The Washington Post reported:

The Prince William ordinance was modified in 2008 amid charges that it was unconstitutional and could lead to racial profiling. In the end, rather than questioning only people they suspected of being undocumented immigrants, officers were directed to question all criminal suspects about their immigration status once an arrest was made.

— J.V.B

At this point, I am just laughing.  What kind of cajones does it take to go on national cable and repeat the same old lies that we have PROVEN are lies on this blog.

No, the ‘Immigration Resolution’  we have now is NOT the 2007 one.  Corey, Corey, Corey. This was aired this morning:

Start listing the lies. What’s really scary is that Faux News believes it all. The 287(g) program was dangled out later on. Peter Johnson left out the part about being approved for the program, having a memorandum of understanding and vast amounts of training to be part of 287(g).

The lies are just compounding now. And Prince William looks like ….Don’t want to use that expression here. The foil for all this was Mexicans without Borders.

The press is all over Obama’s ass kicking statement.  First, he was criticized for not showing emotion.  Then he was chastised for not being angry enough.  So now  the president has spoken:

“I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf,” the president told Matt Lauer in a clip released this evening. “A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be. And I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.”

 

Predictably, The Fox and Friends crew took the President to task for saying ‘ass.’ In fact, the word was ‘bleeped’ out. Then they took him to task for trying to be tough, for not doing it sooner, for doing it at all and for doing it late.  The the President caught it for faking anger, whatever that means. They went on and on this morning.  It was totally amazing how much bashing went on. 

Interesting.   Why is it that people need to be told how and what to think?   I want to hear things for myself.  I can figure out what to think and if I can’t, there are places to go ask. 

Perhaps it is because this was MSNBC’’s inteview.

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Fox News loves to tout that it was the only news(sic) station to air certain events. According to Glenn Beck, Fox News was the only station to show Israeli commandos being clubbed on the flotilla. Jon Stewart takes him to task. It seems that many other stations showed the identical footage. Will Beck apologize? Will his wife call him out over this ‘non-truth?’

Fox News has developed a reputation for being foot loose and fancy free with the truth. This anything goes with accuracy of facts is hurting their reputation and making them very much the laughing stock. It is one thing to take an alternative opinion, but that news organization needs to tell the truth, then take issue.

From Beck’s radio show.  Note, he has apologized and said he broke his own rule about attacking people’s children.  Too little too late.  Totally nasty, in my opinion. This almost makes me sick to listen.

Beck and his sidekick make fun of President Obama’s daughter for asking about plugging the oil spill. They leave no stone unturned in the nasty and degrading department. There are some things you just can’t apologize for. the hateful laughing in the background pushed his behavior into the no redemption department.

Is this even funny to anyone? Is there any nadir to which Fox News will not sink?

Once again, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Corey Stewart prevaricated and obfuscated.

A few examples:

1. He didn’t tell Alisyn how many times the Resolution changed from July 7, 2007 until May 1, 2008.

2. He led the viewers to believe that the police could ask for documents based on probable cause. Does Corey still not know that probably cause no longer exists in our Resolution?

3. He stated that violent crimes are down 38%. Not according to PWC crime statistics and he knows this.

4. He was hung (sic) in effigy? I must have missed that one.

5. He stated that 80% of the people of Prince William County support the law and that the UVA survey stated so. I would like to see that little known fact in writing. No such question existed on that survey.

6. He assumed that fewer babies were born to illegal immigrant mothers and stated that as a fact when he had no verifiable proof. Immigration status is not collected at either hospital in the county and therefore he can only assume.

7. We have fewer ESOL classes now? I don’t think so. The nuumber of students enrolled in ESOL dropped slightly at the height of the foreclosure crisis, but returned to an even greater number by FY2008-2009. 

8. He failed to explain the evolution of what happened in PWC. He failed to explain that the Resolution that was passed on July 7, 2007 was not what passed around May 1, 2008. He led Alisyn to believe that whatever we did here fixed all immigration problems. That is simply not the case. He did not say that the status of all those arrested would be checked and he did not mention the 287(g) program. He failed to mention one of the worst housing crashes in the United States happened in PWC. He failed to mention he used  trumped up issues to get himself re-elected. He failed to mention what he did to the Chief of Police. He failed to mention what he did to his supervisor colleagues.

How can he live with himself puffing up like that?  He  let everyone who was listening to Fox News at that hour believe he held the silver bullet.

I felt very ashamed of my county and my state as I listed to something that simply was not the truth. Corey told how he wanted things to be, not how they really were. He misled the people of Arizona.

Liar, Liar, Pants on fire!

Police Department Illegal Immigration Policies

Faux News Strikes again.  The following story is hot off the press about Fox News folks being too firmly entrenched in the various conservative political movements. I am not aware of any scandals but why would I be? I keep Faux News on a lot. I consider it to be a fairly good source for what ^&*() is going to hit the fan next which I need to keep the blog up.

On another note, Jon Stewart seems to be running a one man show with the same objective.  Stewart is calling them out left and right.   He makes fun of the hypocrisy he sees.  Maybe that is the best way.  I watch.  It is like turning your face away from a train wreck.  I can’t do it.  See  Jon Stewart’s Punching Bag, Fox News. (New York Times)

So, my challenge is, for the conservatives here to disprove this story. I know that Media Matters is scoffed at because it is liberal. You all help me understand if these ethic nightmares are valid or not. There is not a soul who isn’t aware of my opinion of Fox News. I am biased. No fair shot from the Moonhowler.

Media Matters: Fox News’ ever-expanding ethics nightmare

Another week, another handful of ethical scandals that should permanently sink Fox’s claim of being a legitimate news organization.

To recap: Last week, they gave us twin scandals starring Fox News stalwarts Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. “Furious” Fox News execs pulled Sean Hannity from his planned show filming/fundraiser for the Cincinnati Tea Party after numerous news veterans and watchdogs called foul.

O’Reilly spent last week reminding us of his willful ignorance by repeatedly falsely asserting that “no one” on Fox promoted the falsehood that “jail time” was a penalty for not buying insurance under the health care reform bill. He was outrageously wrong.

Though Howard Kurtz reported that Fox plans to “keep a tighter rein on Hannity and others” in the wake of the tea party scandal, we remain skeptical. Fox has a long history of promising change in the wake of damaging ethics scandals, then failing to deliver on those promises.

Indeed, despite cancelling Hannity’s tea party event, Fox News has yet to cancel a planned appearance by Fox Business host John Stossel at a paid event for a nonprofit organization with very close ties to the energy industry. If history is any indicator, Fox will hold its breath and hope that everyone forgets about the Stossel fundraiser.

Of course, this being Fox News, Stossel’s planned fundraiser wasn’t even the cable channel’s biggest ethics scandal this week.

While a great deal of attention has deservedly been given to Rupert Murdoch’s statement that Fox News “shouldn’t be promoting the tea party,” the rest of his comment — “or any other party” — is equally notable. So, how’s Fox’s supposedly frowned-upon promotion of that “other party” — the GOP — going? In a word: lucratively.

As we detailed last week, Fox News hosts and contributors have raised millions of dollars for Republican candidates and causes using PACs, 527s, and 501(c)(4) organizations.

In a follow-up report this week, we detailed the massive scope of Fox’s fundraising for the GOP:

In recent years, at least twenty Fox News personalities have endorsed, raised money, or campaigned for Republican candidates or causes, or against Democratic candidates or causes, in more than 300 instances and in at least 49 states. Republican parties and officials have routinely touted these personalities’ affiliations with Fox News to sell and promote their events.

In their defense, they did miss Wyoming.

Were Fox an actual news organization that cared about journalistic standards, all of these ethics scandals would be excellent fodder for its weekly media criticism show, Fox News Watch. Unfortunately, as we noted last weekend, they ignored the O’Reilly and Hannity scandals in favor of such pressing stories as media coverage of the new Oprah bio. Forthcoming coverage of the Fox Newsers’ fundraising seems unlikely.

Media Matters reporter and senior editor Joe Strupp pointed out that while Fox News Watch was once a source of legitimate media criticism, the show has increasingly transformed into yet another megaphone for GOP talking points. Strupp quoted former Fox News Watch host Eric Burns (no relation to Media Matters President Eric Burns) saying: “The show was getting to be more and more of a struggle to do fairly. There was a progression of interference to try to make the show more right-wing. I fought very hard against it.”

As Media Matters President Eric Burns pointed out on MSNBC this week, “When you have a famed, well known Republican hitman — Roger Ailes — running a news network, this is what you’re going to get.”

Fox News has a slightly different take, however. As Fox News Watch put it in the promo for its segment on Ailes’ new ratings high, “Fairness plus balance equals success.”

Take note, CNN.

Jon Stewart declares Fox News the lupus of news as he drops about 100 F bombs on them.  The war between Jon Stewart and Bernie Goldberg just went up to nuclear level.  Oddly enough, O’Reilly and Stewart seem to have respect for each other.  UFB.  I roared.  Forget howled.  This brought out the roars.

Did his parents raise him wrong or does he work for a company that encourages boorish behavior?   Baier was unconscionably rude to the President of the United States.  I don’t care if you like or hate the President, no one addresses the President like that.  Why didn’t Baier just tell the President to shut up, throw a shoe at him  or call him Bub?  It would have been no more rude.

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Fox News should be ashamed and put Baier on administrative leave. Interrupting has become a part of politics and it is very much a sign of disrespect  and ill breeding. 

Is there ever an excuse for rudeness like this to any President of the United States?

UPDATE:

Cargosquid left parts 1 & 2 of the entire interview.  The video that is posted is an encapsulation.  It is important to me to give honest information.

Part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWHlry2pNA

Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MUc2TAe9Og

Huffington Post:

On Wednesday, former presidential candidate and Fox host Mike Huckabee pushed back at conservative bloggers who were “uncivil” about his recent decision to bring First Lady Michelle Obama onto his show to talk about her campaign to fight child obesity.

Huckabee’s show was the first lady’s debut appearance on Fox News, and there was considerable push back from viewers. “Some bloggers, it seemed, wanted me to bring her on my show only if I yelled at her. Or it seemed they wanted me to hit her,” Huckabee told a crowd in Wichita, Kansas.

The Wichita Eagle reports:

[Huckabee] said he disagrees with nearly every policy position of her husband, but that attacking people doesn’t accomplish anything. The viciousness of attacks from all sides, he said, are “disgusting … the anger and the meanness.”

Mediaite reports that Michelle Obama’s appearance on Huckabee gave the show its lowest ratings of 2010.

I like to bring Mike Huckabee out as a shining star every once in a while.  Huckabee respresents a decency I like.  Could I probably vote for him?  No.  He is far too conservative politically for me.   But I can like him.  Like goes a long way.   When I feel like I am getting too partisan (and Marshall-gate has made me feel that way.) the decency of Mike Huckabee restores my sense of equilibrium. 

Mr. Huckabee loves music and his band, the Little Rockers do a good job of highlighting artists who are not the stars of today.  The Little Rockers are building employees at Fox News.

We need more Mike Huckabees who always represent civility in politics. In many ways, Huckabee admonishes us all as bloggers also. As we sit behind our computer screens, would we say some of the things that come out of the ends of our fingers to a person’s face?  On Anti-bvbl, probably 95% of the time, yes.  Those who virulently attack others usually don’t make it ‘out on the floor’ of this blog.  However, not all blogs can make that claim.     Mike Huckabee is a standard we all can admire whether we agree with his politics or not.  Mike Huckabee is a gentleman.