Let them wear earplugss!

This morning, as I was taking my dog out, I was passing by my kid’s school. The moment I turned the corner on the street, my ears were assaulted by a blaring radio. It wasn’t even music – but commercials – a screaming weight loss commercial. It was coming out from a white station wagon with the doors wide open, lovingly being cleaned out by its owner, an old black man in no need whatsoever of dieting.

Other people were standing in the hurricane of noise by the school fence, rolling their eyes but saying nothing.

As I approached him I said:

“There are people still sleeping – it’s Saturday morning!” (It was 7 AM) He scoffed at me:

“Let them wear earplugs”!

And here’s the kicker: he himself was wearing headphones! He himself was not hearing the screaming diet commercial!

It could be that the time it took me to walk my dog, the irony – or hypocrisy – sunk in. By the time we returned on that street, it was quiet. The man was still cleaning his suburban car, still wearing his headphones, the radio was still on, but at a normal level that didn’t require the world to protect itself from it.

I could make this a metaphor for many things covered in this blog, but it’s Saturday morning and my dog just threw up, so I’ll leave it to you, the readers.

In other news, Jake Tapper posted last night on Facebook: I didn’t see  any of the progressive bloggers complaining that Obama gave Fox credibility by giving them an interview”. The entry and its 40+ comments seems to be gone now.

“Give us anything and we’ll declare victory”

So demanded Rahm from Congress in Conyers tell all frustrated interview with Bill Press.

As The Confluence highlighted from the podcast

Bill Press asked if there was a fear that the president would sign anything that crosses his desk.  Conyers responded:“Well that’s essentially what Rahm Emanuel has said.  Just give us anything and we’ll declare victory.”

Wow! That’s exactly what the SNL Biden said that the boss was so desperate to sign anything, any stack of paper with the words Healthcare on top will do.

Too bad CNN didn’t fact-checked that one!

Meanwhile Robert Reich, who only fumes at Harry Reid and Lieberman, is also telling us what the so called “public option” amounts to now

But even the House’s shrunken and costly little public option is too much for private insurers, Big Pharma, Republicans, and “centrists” in the Senate. So Harry Reid has proposed an even tinier public option, which states can decide not to offer their citizens. According to the CBO, it would attract no more than 4 million Americans.

It’s a token public option, an ersatz public option, a fleeting gesture toward the idea of a public option, so small and desiccated as to be barely worth mentioning except for the fact that it still (gasp) contains the word “public.

And funny that he mentioned Big Pharma, as the White House also urged Congress to keep THEM happy

And senior administration officials, including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, are warning members of Congress not to antagonize the deep-pocketed industry at a time when a major victory appears to be within reach, according to Democratic aides.

You know, the ones who had the deal with the White House, funded the PR for healthcare and shielded themselves from any negative coverage in the process. From ANYONE.

Because the progressives in the house were according to Conyers busy voting and

“The only way he could have got it through was that progressives held their nose,”

 

Obama: Judge, jury and executioner

From the guy who told us not to rush to judgment on the Fort Hood killer, comes the most flagrant tampering with justice – as recorded by a tabloid in NYC – the place where the trial is to be held:

Newsday calls it a “prediction”

President Barack Obama predicted that professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be convicted and executed as Attorney General Eric Holder proclaimed: “Failure is not an option.”

Amusingly enough, after he let the little bird fly, Mr Constitutional Law professor caught himself

Obama quickly added that he did not mean to suggest he was prejudging the outcome of Mohammed’s trial. “I’m not going to be in that courtroom,

All righty then. Only on cover of tabloids then.

Someone remind me – what’s the point of pretending we have a trial now?

Unless we’re doing it Alice in Wonderland style. Even so, I am old enough to remember when the executive branch wasn’t interfering in the judicial – that quaint separation of powers notion!

To think I was ragging on  NY Post and other tabloids for prejudging the case before

Update

h/t the  indigogrrl at the Confluence – here’s the Chuck Todd video where even Todd calls him on it – go to 1 min:45

and from the transcript she posted

TODD: Pressed on whether he was prejudging a verdict, the former constitutional law professor expressed confidence in the government’s case.

Pres. OBAMA: What I said was that people will not be offended if that’s the outcome. I’m not prejudging it, I’m not going to be in that courtroom. That’s the job of the prosecutors, the judge and the jury.

Looks like the “pressing” itself was scrubbed from the interview

Tabloids – more 9.11 trial fallout

Remember Anthony Weiner who was told bu the White House he should have “manned up” and run against Bloomberg? (in truth, he was gearing to run and was told it would be white vs black and no money). He told them off then (Man up and tell me I am fat) and tells the right thing to the Arizona Congressman who talks crazy

“I saw the mayor of New York today said, ‘We’re tough. We can do it.’ Well mayor, how are you going to feel when it’s your daughter that’s kidnapped at school by a terrorist?” he said. “This is political correctness run amok.”

and AM_NY catches it

He was also vocal against W’s made up accusations against Clinton in “Officegate”. And a Clarkie.

Down the scale, Metro repports on a 9.11 related sentence

while NY Post pays some attention too headlining a column anti trial in NYC

..

Palin brings sexism to the forefront

As Newsweek is put in the hot seat for their blatant sexism. I thought I might remind people who gave the cues for the tone on women opponents last election.

I must say I was glad to see Palin making the point herself, when referring to Newsweek

“out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now.”

Although yesterday, reading a live blog of Oprah from “obsess much”-Sullivan, he noted that Oprah got Palin to admit that Obama defended her. From what?

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Back to Newsweek though: to think she didn’t even see their website last week, where they posted the internet doctored photo of her with a shotgun in flag bikini.

But that explains why, even Media Matters – which unfortunately used up its credibility by pandering to Obama, noted the sexism

There are a lot of legitimate reasons to criticize Sarah Palin, her new book, and her policies, but you don’t have to stoop to sexism to do it. Newsweek’s November 23 issue, however, does just that by publishing on its cover a photo of Palin in short running shorts and a fitted top, leaning against the American flag.

They actually took the opportunity to finally note what was done to Hillary

With regard to Palin, Media Matters documented the sexist treatment both Palin and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received throughout the 2008 campaign.

And to make their point better….they reproduce the “legs” and “slutty schoolgirl” doll photos Newsweek published inside the article. Yeah, we get it.

The only person who doesn’t is Newsweek editor John Meecham who responds

“We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover, which is what we always try to do. We apply the same test to photographs of any public figure, male or female: does the image convey what we are saying? That is a gender-neutral standard.”

“interesting” to whom? And what are they really  saying that needs to be conveyed with this?

That they can’t look past the body parts?

Meanwhile, beyond Newsweek, pundits are still longing for that chick fight they’ve been denied in the primaries as Cinie notes.

illustration from hopeful NY Post back then – see NYT walking that one back

Tabloids on Palin, Bloomberg

NYC tabloids are giving fodder to politics again today.

Newsday, the most relevant – covers the Healthcare Club for Men other slight to women: get your mammograms late, please – we don’t want to spend on you

It seems that for all the put-downs out there Palin is the talk of the day – or at least 2 out of 3 tabloids.

The Daily News covers the Oprah stint

while AM-NY pouts over “NYC being snubbed” in the book tour.

NY Post has been giving Bloomberg good press (or rather Thompson bad press). Now that his 150 millions helped Bloomberg squeek by against an unfunded opponent, it’s safe for NY Post to balk at the post-elections budget cuts.

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You get what you voted for, NY. Or rather, what you couldn’t be bothered to show up to vote against. As for NY Post? Since they failed to tell us that “Mike was one heck of a guy” before election day, they can stuff it!

More stimulus wackiness: new jobs created in the 57th state

Remember the recent dust-up between the White House and Associated Press over the number of jobs they said they created?

The Associated Press sampled the numbers and found some “overstatements” (goosed up numbers). The White House replied that AP shouldn’t have written about it as they too noticed that very mistake and were going to correct that. Any time soon.

ABC also decided to plough through those corrected statements

Here’s a stimulus success story: In Arizona’s 15th congressional district, 30 jobs have been saved or created with just $761,420 in federal stimulus spending. At least that’s what the Web site set up by the Obama administration to track the $787 billion stimulus says.

Discrepancies on government web site call into question stimulus spending.

There’s one problem, though: There is no 15th congressional district in Arizona; the state has only eight districts.

And this is one of several. What was the explanation this time? Blame the recipients:

“We report what the recipients submit to us,” said Ed Pound, Communications Director for the Board.

I tells ya, those inhabitants of the 57th state are wacky, wacky, wacky!

I bet the treasury cash Goldman Sachs & friends is real though.

Update

Brushing it off

President Obama brushed off criticism over his administration’s inaccurate reporting on job creation Wednesday, telling Fox News the accounting is an “inexact science” and that any errors are a “side issue” when compared with the goal of turning the economy around.

Only for the Andersen aconting – the Enron’s accountants

Today in NYC tabloids

Surprisingly, all tabloids today tackle some relevant issue – in their own style.

The Daily News is all over the place, with hysterics about the 9.11 trial, Health Club for Men and sports

while NY Post zeroes on the taxing of Health Club for Men

Metro has a more upbeat (for me) story – on the women’s increasing role in art – and the expected conflicts that come with that

I left the best for last. AM-NY is looking at the bonuses that ate our tax money in bailout

Tapper writes that GMA is doing a piece on Wall Street planning to spend the profits from bailouts…abroad.

….

SNL – it’s Biden (not Obama) compromising on healthcare

OK, they took a weasely way to talk about it, but it was still good to hear “the boss will sign any stack of paper with the name “Healthcare” on it”

And while only public option, cost and immigration were mentioned – and not a peep about women or Stupak, I guess we’re covered in the secret language envelope bid to the first republican that will sign.

And I am not saying it was the funniest thing SNL did, but I have to encourage their attempt at relevance. Enough to get this B0bot to make a video asking for the Biden jokes to stop (because he is not as funny as Cheney – and where were the Palin skits this week?)

And in the real world, the comedy of errors that brought us the Stupak amendment

At the same time, a lot of people were being pressured by their bishops, which, you know, that’s a whole different thing.  So they thought, ‘Well if this is just Hyde, then no big deal.’  But I had several people after that vote say to me… people who voted for Stupak, they said, ‘This needs to be fixed by the conference.’

And we have several people who have 100% pro-choce voting records who voted for it.

Well, would YOU say “NO” to a bishop???

Tabloids go wild for the 9.11 trials

It may have been a “distraction” to Obama, but here in NYC, the 9.11 trial is a big deal and the tabloids go over the top about it.

to Daily News

and even the gray lady gets in the game

but NY Post was outrageous enough to be left out of of Newseum

I am going outside with my camera to take a shot:

It’s a take-off from a T-shirt aimed at tourists: WELCOME TO NEW YORK. NOW GO HOME.

Unfortunately, all these can used as  be exhibit one in a request for change of venue   the trial by the defendants – arguing that the jury pool is polluted.