KGET
Longtime TV host and animal lover Bob Barker has made a sizable donation of $5 million to help save whales threatened by hunting.
Barker donated the funds to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which used the donation partly to buy a new ship called the Bob Barker, which saw action Tuesday in the Antarctic when it made contact with Japanese whaling vessels.
Barker's gift also funded a new helicopter for the organization.........
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Media Matters Daily Summary 01-05-10
Gingrich relies on "seriously flawed" "estimate" of Gitmo detainees who returned to terrorism
In explaining his claim that "[w]e are in much greater danger than we were a year ago," Newt Gingrich asserted that "one estimate is that 74 of the released terrorists from Guantánamo have gone back to active terrorism against the United States." However, the "estimate" Gingrich referred to was originally reported in a New York Times article which the paper's public editor called "seriously flawed"; the Times later acknowledged that, according to the Pentagon, only 27 of those released detainees had been "confirmed as engaging in terrorism" and the "premise" that they had previously engaged in terrorism "remains unproven." Read More
Rove hypocrisy: Doesn't "understand" why Obama was "off the stage" for four days after attempted attack
On Hannity, Karl Rove attacked President Obama for waiting four days before publicly commenting on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's alleged attempt to set off a bomb on a Northwest Airlines flight, commenting, "I don't understand why keeping the president off the stage and then not having him explain it for four days is supposed to reassure us." But in 2001, when Rove himself was serving in the White House, President Bush was "off the stage" for six days before responding to Richard Reid's attempt to detonate a shoe bomb on a trans-Atlantic flight. Read More
Quick Fact: Monica Crowley falsely claims "Republicans have been locked out" of health care debate "from the very beginning"
On Fox News' Happening Now, contributor Monica Crowley falsely claimed that "Republicans have been locked out" of the health care debate in the House and Senate "from the very beginning." In fact, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and Senate Finance Committee bills contained nearly 200 Republican amendments. Read More
Fox News goes on a witch hunt for Janet Napolitano
Since the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight, Fox News has waged war on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, going so far as to ask whether she should be fired. In doing so, various Fox News figures and outlets have seized on Napolitano's comments that "the system worked" after the attempted terrorist attack while ignoring both Napolitano's later clarification that she was discussing the emergency response notification system that took place following the attempted attack, and that Bush administration officials Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge previously claimed success for passengers' ability to thwart "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid's December 2001 attempted bombing of a domestic airline. Read More
Fox News: Keeping the faith
Religion is ... tough. Read More
Morris claimed "9-11 happened" because Clinton treated '93 WTC bombing as a crime
Attacking President Obama for indicting alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in civilian court, Dick Morris asserted that "the reason 9-11 happened is that Bill Clinton treated the '93 bombing of the Trade Center as a crime, not as an act of war." Morris' claim echoed Sean Hannity's previous suggestion that documents released during the trial of the 1993 bombing mastermind "tipped off" Osama bin Laden; in fact, Attorney General Eric Holder testified that this charge is based on "misinformation" because prosecutors had the power to request that such documents be protected from release. Read More
Days before MLK Day, Beck again pilfers King's words to promote himself
On the January 4 broadcast of his radio show, days before the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Glenn Beck introduced a new promotion for his show that includes a clip of King saying, "Now is the time," lifted from King's "I have a dream" speech. Beck -- who has a history of making racially charged remarks -- has repeatedly appropriated King's message to promote himself and his shows or defend against criticism. Read More
Monday, January 04, 2010
Media Matters Daily Summary 01-04-10
Quick Fact: Doocy ignores Bush policies to claim Abdulmutallab criminal charges "takes us back to the days of the Clinton administration"
On the January 4 edition of Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy claimed that the decision to try Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is alleged to have attempted to set off a bomb on a Northwest Airlines flight, in civilian court, rather than holding Abdulmutallab as an "enemy combatant," "takes us back to the days of the Clinton administration, when things like this were treated as a law enforcement issue, and not as a national security issue." In fact, the Bush administration also tried and convicted several terrorism suspects in civilian court. Read More
Quick Fact: Fox & Friends still pushing Obama's "ties" to ACORN
On Fox & Friends, The Wall Street Journal's John Fund exaggerated the White House's "ties" to ACORN by claiming that President Obama was a "top trainer for ACORN" and that he was "their lawyer back in the 1990s." In fact, Obama represented ACORN in one lawsuit -- alongside the Justice Department and several other organizations -- and reportedly said he participated in two one-hour trainings with ACORN as a volunteer.
Read More
Quick Fact: Fox & Friends advanced debunked claim that ACORN's Lewis visited White House
On Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson falsely claimed that ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis "got an inside look at the White House just days before those explosive undercover tapes about ACORN were released," presumably referring to right-wing claims that recently released White House visitor logs included Lewis' name. In fact, the "Bertha Lewis" who visited the White House was reportedly not the Bertha Lewis who is the CEO of ACORN. Read More
Ignoring his past remarks, Bozell says "if" Limbaugh said liberals "want to kill people," "[i]t would be the end of his career"
In a December 31 Newsmax article, Media Research Center president Brent Bozell is quoted as saying that if Rush Limbaugh said liberals "want to kill people," then "[i]t would be the end of his career." But Limbaugh has made numerous remarks of the sort, including declaring that "It's the American Left that wants you to die" and that the Democratic Party is "obsessed with your death." Read More
How about some New Year's resolutions for the right-wing media machine?
It's that time of year again. Some have vowed to hit the gym more often. Others are swearing off cigarettes. For some, coffee has been replaced with copious amounts of socialist green tea. Still others are signing up for community service projects to help improve the world around them. Read More
Fox's "kind of misleading and, arguably, dangerous" profiling advocacy
In the wake of the Christmas Day attempt to detonate a bomb on a Northwest Airlines flight, numerous Fox News hosts, contributors, and guests have called for profiling of Muslims by airport security personnel. But several national security experts have termed such policies ineffective, with Bush administration secretary of homeland security Michael Chertoff stating that "relying on preconceptions or stereotypes is actually kind of misleading and, arguably, dangerous." Read More
Conservatives defend, endorse Hume's suggestion that Tiger Woods convert to Christianity to "make a total recovery"
On the January 3 edition of Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume commented that his "message" to Tiger Woods -- who Hume mentioned is "said to be a Buddhist" -- would be to "turn to the Christian faith, and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world." Since then, several conservative commentators have endorsed Hume's remarks or defended them from criticism. Read More
Fox suggests U.S. embassy closure in Yemen "a sign of weakness," ignores 2002 closing of same embassy by Bush
On the January 3 edition of Fox News Sunday, Bill Kristol called the closing of the U.S. embassy in Yemen "a sign of weakness" and "a victory for Al Qaeda"; Fox News' website, the Fox Nation, echoed Kristol's point the next day using the headline: "Is Closing U.S. Embassy in Yemen a Sign of Weakness?" Neither noted that the U.S. embassy in Yemen was previously closed during the Bush administration; additionally, on January 3 and 4, several other countries also closed their embassies in Yemen. Read More
Beck's Misinformer of the Year defense rests on falsehoods
Glenn Beck devoted the full hour of his Fox News show to responding to "some liberal blogs" that had named him Misinformer of the Year, asserting that the blogs "didn't back it up with any facts." Beck's 60-minute rebuttal ignored numerous facts set forth by Media Matters for America undermining a litany of Beck's claims throughout 2009; moreover, his defense itself rested on misrepresentations and false claims. Read More
Tempest in the Tea Party
By Stephanie Mencimer
Would a true Tea Party patriot drop nearly $1,600 in donor money for a small meal at a fancy steakhouse? Robin Stublen says no, and he's mad as hell about the profligate expenditures of a GOP political organization that has glommed on to his grassroots movement. Stublen is the organizer of the Punta Gorda, Florida, Tea Party and a member of Tea Party Patriots, a national grassroots organization that has no offices, no president, raises virtually no money, operates largely on volunteer efforts, and, most important, doesn't endorse candidates. But unbeknownst to many, there's another outfit claiming ownership of this conservative movement. It's called the Tea Party Express, and it has dominated Fox News coverage over the past year with its multistate bus tours and political rallies.
Behind it is a well-established Republican political action committee that has raked in tons of money fundraising under the "Tea Party" banner—and it has also spent a lot of that money in a fashion unbecoming a supposedly grassroots insurrection. For instance, according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, the PAC that created Tea Party Express dropped $1,597.29 over the summer for a meal for six at a tony Sacramento Chops restaurant, an expenditure that has Stublen seeing red.
"Six people averaged $266; that's not grassroots. I kill bugs and cut grass for a living. I'm splurging when I spend $19 at Chili's. Outback Steakhouse is reserved for Mother's Day," Stublen says.
For Stublen the pricey Chops tab is only the latest evidence that Tea Party Express is trying to capitalize on the movement for crass and self-serving political purposes—mainly as a fundraising machine for Republican causes. Starting in August, Tea Party Express organized two cross-country bus tours that bashed the Obama administration's health reform and attacked members of Congress not deemed conservative enough. Fox News heavily promoted the first tour, even embedding a reporter to cover the trip.
The organization is planning a third tour for the end of March that will culminate in Washington, DC, on Tax Day, its purpose to target vulnerable Democrats and moderate Republicans in the lead-up to the midterm elections. These trips, which include rallies in cities and towns across the country and speeches by political candidates, have proven reliable fundraising vehicles. FEC filings show that Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB), the PAC that set up the Tea Party Express, raised $1.9 million this year, $600,000 more than it took in during the heated 2008 presidential election.
While Tea Party Express professes to be a driving force in the Tea Party movement, it was actually started by a California-based GOP political consulting firm, Russo Marsh & Rogers, which also set up OCDB. OCDB originally focused on attacking Barack Obama during the 2008 election, running ads assaulting the then-candidate for failing to put his hand over his heart during the pledge of allegiance, and digging up footage of one of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's heated sermons. Many of OCDB's principals are also connected to Move America Forward, a conservative group that ran PR campaigns and bus tours in support of the Iraq War during the Bush administration. During this election cycle, OCDB has spent $123,000 on an independent expenditure campaign bashing Senate majority leader Harry Reid, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Tea Party Patriots and Tea Party Express have been clashing for months over which group truly represents the movement. A flashpoint came this fall when a member of the Tea Party Patriots' board, Amy Kremer, switched sides and joined Tea Party Express, allegedly taking the Patriots' extensive email database with her and locking the rest of the board out of the TPP website. In November, this led the Patriots to go to court to get an injunction against her to reclaim ownership of the group's electronic resources. The fight hasn't helped the Patriots' view of their tea party rivals. In fact, "real" Tea Party activists—i.e., local organizers like Stublen who consider themselves the grassroots heart of the movement—see Tea Party Express as bad for business, as it lends credence to criticism that the movement is nothing more than a sophisticated astroturf scheme or GOP front...................
Would a true Tea Party patriot drop nearly $1,600 in donor money for a small meal at a fancy steakhouse? Robin Stublen says no, and he's mad as hell about the profligate expenditures of a GOP political organization that has glommed on to his grassroots movement. Stublen is the organizer of the Punta Gorda, Florida, Tea Party and a member of Tea Party Patriots, a national grassroots organization that has no offices, no president, raises virtually no money, operates largely on volunteer efforts, and, most important, doesn't endorse candidates. But unbeknownst to many, there's another outfit claiming ownership of this conservative movement. It's called the Tea Party Express, and it has dominated Fox News coverage over the past year with its multistate bus tours and political rallies.
Behind it is a well-established Republican political action committee that has raked in tons of money fundraising under the "Tea Party" banner—and it has also spent a lot of that money in a fashion unbecoming a supposedly grassroots insurrection. For instance, according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, the PAC that created Tea Party Express dropped $1,597.29 over the summer for a meal for six at a tony Sacramento Chops restaurant, an expenditure that has Stublen seeing red.
"Six people averaged $266; that's not grassroots. I kill bugs and cut grass for a living. I'm splurging when I spend $19 at Chili's. Outback Steakhouse is reserved for Mother's Day," Stublen says.
For Stublen the pricey Chops tab is only the latest evidence that Tea Party Express is trying to capitalize on the movement for crass and self-serving political purposes—mainly as a fundraising machine for Republican causes. Starting in August, Tea Party Express organized two cross-country bus tours that bashed the Obama administration's health reform and attacked members of Congress not deemed conservative enough. Fox News heavily promoted the first tour, even embedding a reporter to cover the trip.
The organization is planning a third tour for the end of March that will culminate in Washington, DC, on Tax Day, its purpose to target vulnerable Democrats and moderate Republicans in the lead-up to the midterm elections. These trips, which include rallies in cities and towns across the country and speeches by political candidates, have proven reliable fundraising vehicles. FEC filings show that Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB), the PAC that set up the Tea Party Express, raised $1.9 million this year, $600,000 more than it took in during the heated 2008 presidential election.
While Tea Party Express professes to be a driving force in the Tea Party movement, it was actually started by a California-based GOP political consulting firm, Russo Marsh & Rogers, which also set up OCDB. OCDB originally focused on attacking Barack Obama during the 2008 election, running ads assaulting the then-candidate for failing to put his hand over his heart during the pledge of allegiance, and digging up footage of one of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's heated sermons. Many of OCDB's principals are also connected to Move America Forward, a conservative group that ran PR campaigns and bus tours in support of the Iraq War during the Bush administration. During this election cycle, OCDB has spent $123,000 on an independent expenditure campaign bashing Senate majority leader Harry Reid, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Tea Party Patriots and Tea Party Express have been clashing for months over which group truly represents the movement. A flashpoint came this fall when a member of the Tea Party Patriots' board, Amy Kremer, switched sides and joined Tea Party Express, allegedly taking the Patriots' extensive email database with her and locking the rest of the board out of the TPP website. In November, this led the Patriots to go to court to get an injunction against her to reclaim ownership of the group's electronic resources. The fight hasn't helped the Patriots' view of their tea party rivals. In fact, "real" Tea Party activists—i.e., local organizers like Stublen who consider themselves the grassroots heart of the movement—see Tea Party Express as bad for business, as it lends credence to criticism that the movement is nothing more than a sophisticated astroturf scheme or GOP front...................
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Fox closes out decade by pushing debunked falsehoods
http://mediamatters.org/items/
Coulter brings back 3-year-old madrassa lie on Fox News
Coulter: Obama "attended madrassas." On the December 28 edition of The O'Reilly Factor and the December 30 edition of Glenn Beck, Coulter repeatedly claimed that Obama "studied at madrassas" as a child, and suggested that such attendance made him "specially situated" to promote racial profiling. At no point did Eric Bolling, who was guest host of both programs, challenge or correct Coulter's falsehood.
Fox previously "clarif[ied]" its false report that Obama had attended madrassas. In January 2007, Fox & Friends' hosts advanced the right-wing falsehood that Obama had attended a madrassa in Indonesia as a child. Days later, co-host Steve Doocy "clarif[ied]" the report, stating that "Mr. Obama's people called and they said that that is absolutely false. They said the idea that Barack Obama went to a radical Muslim school is completely ridiculous. In his book it does say that he went to a mostly Muslim school but not to a madrassa." Indeed, CNN conclusively debunked the falsehood that the school Obama attended had been a "madrassa." Subsequently, John Moody, who was a Fox News executive at the time, reportedly said that the Fox News hosts who ran with the false story "violated one of our general rules, which is know what you are talking about. ... They reported information from a publication whose accuracy we didn't know."
Fox Nation still trumpeting Breitbart's ACORN story days after it is debunked
Big Government: "ACORN'S CEO was in the Residence at the White House." In a December 30 post titled "White House Visitors Log: ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis In Obama Residence Week Before Sting Videos Launched," Big Government contributor Publius, the pseudonym of the site's "Editorial Panel," claimed that the "Bertha E. Lewis" who recently released visitors logs indicate visited the White House on September 5 was ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis.
Ben Smith: Wrong Bertha Lewis. In a blog post the next day, Politico's Ben Smith reported that according to an "administration official," the "Bertha E. Lewis" who visited the White House was not the Bertha Lewis who is the CEO of ACORN. Moreover, Smith noted that the ACORN CEO's middle initial is "M," not "E."
Days after claim was debunked, Fox Nation still promoting Breitbart's story. On December 31, The Fox Nation promoted the Big Government post with the following image:
Fox Nation continued to promote the story through January 3.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
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