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Palin Advises O’Donnell to "Speak Through Fox News"
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By David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
Fox News has been accused at times by progressives of acting as an arm of the Republican Party, particularly in the wake of its parent company’s $1 million donation last month to the Republican Governors Association. During the current election season, however, that support has become particularly noticeable.
When Sarah Palin spoke with Fox’s Bill O’Reilly on Wednesday about Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell’s campaign in Delaware, the two of them sounded less like a host and a news analyst than like a pair of political strategists hashing over plans for how Fox could best serve the Republican Party.
Palin even went so far as to advise that if O’Donnell is going to overcome negative perceptions of her, “She’s going to have to … get out there, speak to the American people, speak through Fox News.”
O’Reilly had begun by citing recent harsh criticism of O’Donnell by former White House adviser Karl Rove, who told Fox’s Sean Hannity on Tuesday night, “I wasn’t frankly impressed by her abilities as a candidate. … There were a lot of nutty things she has been saying that don’t add up.”
“What Rove is afraid of,” O’Reilly suggested, “is that Miss O’Donnell is so inexperienced, and not able to make her points in a way that will persuade the independents in Delaware — which absolutely have to vote for her — so she can’t win.”
“I don’t buy that at all,” Palin replied.
NBC Newsman Edwin Newman ~ Dead At 91
BroadcatchingVodpod videos no longer available.
Christopher Dodd Still Trying To Block Elizabeth Warren
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Obama May Name Warren as Interim Consumer Agency Head
By Hans Nichols and Lorraine Woellert – Sep 14, 2010
President Barack Obama may appoint Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor who scolded U.S. banks while overseeing their bailout, as the interim head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as early as this week, according to a person familiar with the matter.
An interim appointment could allow Obama to bypass a confirmation battle over Warren in the Senate, where Republicans have raised objections to her possible nomination.
Today, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said he was “not enthusiastic” about an interim appointment because it could jeopardize the future of the bureau by inviting retaliation by Congress that could cut off funding for the office.
“You could gut this before it even gets off ground,” Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, told reporters. “None of us know what the outcome is going to be politically” in the congressional elections, said Dodd, whose committee would take the lead on confirmation of a permanent appointee.
An interim appointment “will be met with a lot of opposition,” Dodd said. “It’s a big job, an important job. You’ve got to build the support for that institutionally” with Congress. He has questioned whether Warren could win the votes for confirmation.
‘In the Mix’
The White House hasn’t publicly acknowledged the choice. White House spokesman Bill Burton said Warren is “obviously in the mix.” An interim appointment is “an option,” Burton said.
Tony Blair Pelted With Eggs and Garbage at Book Signing in Dublin
Broadcatching, Downing Street Memos, Weapons of Mass DestructionRussia Today has the video
Taxicab Plows Into Bicycle and Pedestrians in New York City's East Village
BroadcatchingBusy Saturday Night on First Avenue Turns Into a Nightmare; At Least Four Hurt
By John Tully
The New York Herald Sun
September 5, 2010 3:30 am
A possibly fatal accident involving a taxi, pedestrians and at least one bicyclist happened early this morning at the intersection of First Avenue and Third St. in New York City’s busy East Village.
According to one witness, a woman riding a bicycle was struck by the SUV-type taxicab, which ended up crashing through the window of The Bean coffee shop on that corner.
The victim was apparently trapped for some time under the vehicle and is now in critical condition at the hospital.
DEVELOPING…
UPDATE ONE
Jeremy Tanner with WPIX Channel 11 in New York is reporting that one victim, identity unknown has now been pronounced dead. Four others including the driver of the Taxi and his passenger are at Bellevue hospital.
UPDATE 2
The victim of the Taxi crash who was in the worst condition is now recovering from a broken neck and leg.
He did survive and the other 4 people involved in the incident are also recovering from their assorted injuries.
Surprise Surprise, Halliburton Used Shell Companies To Get Contracts
BroadcatchingTHE NEW YORK TIMES
by James Risen and Mark Mazzetti
WASHINGTON — Blackwater Worldwide created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq, according to Congressional investigators and former Blackwater officials.
While it is not clear how many of those businesses won contracts, at least three had deals with the United States military or the Central Intelligence Agency, according to former government and company officials. Since 2001, the intelligence agency has awarded up to $600 million in classified contracts to Blackwater and its affiliates, according to a United States government official.
The Senate Armed Services Committee this week released a chart that identified 31 affiliates of Blackwater, now known as Xe Services. The network was disclosed as part of a committee’s investigation into government contracting. The investigation revealed the lengths to which Blackwater went to continue winning contracts after Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in September 2007. That episode and other reports of abuses led to criminal and Congressional investigations, and cost the company its lucrative security contract with the State Department in Iraq.
The network of companies — which includes several businesses located in offshore tax havens — allowed Blackwater to obscure its involvement in government work from contracting officials or the public, and to assure a low profile for any of its classified activities, said former Blackwater officials, who, like the government officials, spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Massive Operation In Play To Game The Digg Site
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Oleoleolson
August 5, 2010
August 5, 2010
Massive Censorship Of Digg Uncovered
Posted by oleoleolson on @ 4:40 am
Article printed from speakeasy: http://blogs.alternet.org/oleoleolson
A group of influential conservative members of the behemoth social media site Digg.com have just been caught red-handed in a widespread campaign of censorship, having multiple accounts, upvote padding, and deliberately trying to ban progressives. An undercover investigation has exposed this effort, which has been in action for more than one year.
“The more liberal stories that were buried the better chance conservative stories have to get to the front page. I’ll continue to bury their submissions until they change their ways and become conservatives.”
-phoenixtx (aka vrayz)
Digg.com is the powerhouse of social media websites. It is ranked 50th among US websites by Alexa (117th in the world), by far the most influential social media site. It reached one million users in 2007 and likely has more than tripled that by this point. Digg generates around 25 million page views per month, over one third of the page views of the NY Times. Front page stories regularly overwhelm and temporarily shut down websites in a process called the “Digg Effect.”
The concept behind the site is simple. Submitted webpages (news, videos, or images) can be voted up (digging) or down (burying) by each user, sort of a democracy in the internet model. If an article gets enough diggs, it leaves the upcoming section and reaches the front page where most users spend their time, and can generate thousands of page views.
This model also made it very susceptible to external gaming whereby users from certain groups attempt to push their viewpoint or articles to the front page to give them traction. This was evident with the daily spamming of the upcoming Political section with white supremacist material from the British National Party (articles which rarely reached the front page). The inverse of this effect is more devastating however. Bury brigades could effectively remove stories from the upcoming sections by collectively burying them.
One bury brigade in particular is a conservative group that has become so organized and influential that they are able to bury over 90% of the articles by certain users and websites submitted within 1-3 hours, regardless of subject material. Literally thousands of stories have already been artificially removed from Digg due to this group. When a story is buried, it is removed from the upcoming section (where it is usually at for ~24 hours) and cannot reach the front page, so by doing this, this one group is removing the ability of the community as a whole to judge the merits or interest of these stories on their own (in essence: censoring content). This group is known as the Digg “Patriots”.
San Francisco remembers Jerry Garcia
Broadcatchingjaceypaul
All around the world, Jerry Garcia has been remembered as one of the most talented musicians.
“Days Between” is much more than just a title of a Grateful Dead song for the people of San Francisco. The days between August 1 and August 9 marked the memories of Jerry Garcia, the luminous guitarist of all time.
The famous musician and songwriter, Jerry Garcia is memorized by the people of San Francisco every year on these days, as Aug 1, 1942, marks his birthday and Aug 9, 1995, marks his death.
The iconic musician Jerry Garcia died of heart attack and left ineradicable impressions on the lives of many.
The year 2010 marks the 15th death anniversary of the legendary Jerry Garcia. His fans continue to honor Jerry Garcia in diverse ways. Whether by naming a park amphitheater after him or by naming an ice cream after him, his fans continue to pay tribute to Jerry Garcia.
The Runaway General
Broadcatching, McCrystalRS 1108/1109 /On newsstands Friday, June 25.
Stanley McChrystal, Obama’s top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House
By Michael Hastings
‘How’d I get screwed into going to this dinner?” demands Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
It’s a Thursday night in mid-April, and the commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is sitting in a four-star suite at the Hôtel Westminster in Paris. He’s in France to sell his new war strategy to our NATO allies – to keep up the fiction, in essence, that we actually have allies. Since McChrystal took over a year ago, the Afghan war has become the exclusive property of the United States.
Opposition to the war has already toppled the Dutch government, forced the resignation of Germany’s president and sparked both Canada and the Netherlands to announce the withdrawal of their 4,500 troops. McChrystal is in Paris to keep the French, who have lost more than 40 soldiers in Afghanistan, from going all wobbly on him.
The New York Herald Sun 