“…the President’s ‘attempt to scare Social Security recipients is without legal foundation.'”
Category Archives: Media Criticism
What Did The White House Know?
…and when did it know it?
It’s the first time anyone has publicly stated that a White House official had any familiarity with ATF’s operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of weapons to fall into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to gain intelligence. It’s unknown as to whether O’Reilly shared information with anybody else at the White House.
As I’ve said before, if it were a Republican White House, there would have already been calls in the press for impeachment. At least they’re starting to cover it.
[Update early evening]
William Newell circles the wagons for the administration. Expect much of the media to hitch their wagons as well.
Conflict Oil
…versus ethical oil. Jim Bennett, who sent me the link, notes:
I also love the way the Globe’n’Mail thinks that Velshi’s rather obvious conclusions are “notions.”
“Alykhan Velshi’s eye-popping ads are premised on the notion that oil exports ultimately underwrite the values of those states that produce them. ‘Conflict oil’ funds ‘dictatorship’ and ‘terrorism’ and results in ‘women stoned to death,’ according to the ads…”
Ya think?
Velshi must be one of those Islamophobic Muslims, obviously.
Obviously. Why, that notion of oil funding woman stoning is just crazy talk.
Who Are You Going To Believe?
The climate models, or the lying empirical evidence?
The new NASA Terra satellite data are consistent with long-term NOAA and NASA data indicating atmospheric humidity and cirrus clouds are not increasing in the manner predicted by alarmist computer models. The Terra satellite data also support data collected by NASA’s ERBS satellite showing far more longwave radiation (and thus, heat) escaped into space between 1985 and 1999 than alarmist computer models had predicted. Together, the NASA ERBS and Terra satellite data show that for 25 years and counting, carbon dioxide emissions have directly and indirectly trapped far less heat than alarmist computer models have predicted.
But let’s not let a little pesky science get in the way of social justice.
[Update a while later]
Gee, whaddaya know? A “climate researcher” who implied that our SUVs were drowning polar bears is being investigated for “integrity issues.”
It’s just the ninety percent of them who make the rest look bad.
[Update late afternoon]
Weep not for the polar bears: James Delingpole piles on.
The Five Biggest Lies
…about the Oslo shooter. And the myths of Oslo.
Today’s Questions For The President
I hope someone asks Jay Carney this:
You, Treasury Secretary Geithner, and other members of your administration have warned that failure to raise the debt ceiling by August 2 will have far-ranging, “catastrophic” effects, including plunging the United States economy into a depression. Nonetheless, you insist that Congress should pass only a debt-ceiling increase that extends beyond the 2012 presidential election; yesterday, you released a statement saying that your senior advisers had counseled you to veto a short-term increase in the debt ceiling. This despite the fact that short-term debt-ceiling increases (i.e., less than a year) are common, having been enacted dozens of times just since the Reagan administration.
Why is a short-term debt-ceiling increase unacceptable now when they’ve been routine and unremarkable in the past?
Presuming for a moment that your veto threat is sincere, shouldn’t Americans logically conclude that you consider winning reelection more important than forestalling an economic catastrophe and throwing millions more Americans out of work?
Do you expect most congressional Republicans to fall for your veto threat and cave? If so, will you please join my Thursday night poker games and bring those Republicans with you?
P.S. I’m glad I’m not Jay Carney. But then, if I were Jay Carney, I’d have never accepted such a fool’s errand as to be spokeshole for this president.
An Interview With Yours Truly
The Shuttle Is Retired
…and the planet is saved. I’ll leave it to commenters to find all the errors. My favorite is making a fuel stop at Uranus.
Lies, Damned Lies, And “Revenue Enhancements”
My thoughts on the fiscal crisis, over at PJM.
[Update a few minutes later]
Extremism in the defense of solvency is no vice.
Obama Was Right
He was bluffing:
After numerous attempts to take his case to the American people, Obama may be chagrined to find that no one’s buying it. That’s what happens when bluffs get called.
I like the comment: “Bluffy the Job Slayer.” Heh.
Has the president ever convinced the American people on anything with his endless speechifying, other than to elect him? He failed on health care, on stimulus, on Libya, and now on this. But they keep doing it, because it’s all they have. As with Clinton, the presidency is an endless campaign to them.
[Update later afternoon]
Is the White House press corps finally catching on to Bluffy?
And so, at long last, we reach the bitterly logical conclusion of O’s debt-ceiling-as-reelection-strategy gambit: Six agonizing minutes of his paid flack playing dumb while reporters ask why, at the eleventh hour and after months of negotiations, the “adult in the room” still hasn’t produced his own formal, score-able proposal. The answer, of course, is that the more he publicly commits to a plan, the easier it is for the GOP to use it against him next year. So he’s doing what any “adult” supervising a group of unruly children would do. He’s sitting back and staying quiet to protect his own precious ass while they fight it out.
I think it’s time for a timeout. And a dunce cap.