You know the saying ascribed to Mark Twain: "A lie goes halfway around the world before the truth puts on its boots." That's pretty much what happens when the right pushes and distorts a story, while the mainstream press says nothing. That's what happened, for instance, with the "Ground Zero mosque." The right-wing media and blogosphere pushed the story for months before the rest of the media took notice of the right's distortions....Right.
That's what must be prevented in the case of Brett Kimberlin. In addition to convicting him in the media, the right is already trying to tie him to the Obama administration, and, by inference, to every liberal and Democrat in America. That's only going to continue.
Let wingnuts be the mainstream press's assignment editors? I say yes, but just in order to tell the truth. At worst, we learn that Kimberlin really was a nasty guy; the fact appears to be that liberals and Democrats who may have allied with him simply didn't know that. (Yeah, he's an ex-con, but so is Don King, who once killed a guy, which didn't stop the GOP from expressing delight as his endorsement of George W. Bush in 2004.) Or we may find out that behavior is being ascribed to Kimberlin and his friends that's someone else's doing, or that's being exaggerated and distorted, just to score political points. Either way, the right is prevented from owning the story for the next several months and presenting it in a way that exclusively helps the right. If these hissyfits are ignored, they don't go away.
I just wish there was some equivalence between media coverage of the left and the right. Judging by Memeorandum in the aftermath of Breitbart's death, the right has gone around the bend. With Erick Erickson and Dana Loesch on CNN with no lefty blogger counterpoint, the right is monopolizing the media. Sure, let the right shoot itself in the foot. But it doesn't work that way. Righties advance the more they screw up. Not so for the left. With this latest kerfuffle, probably the wildest and most obscure I've ever encountered in the blogospher, how will we ever know the truth? The media is no longer diligent enough to wade through the bull. I have a feeling McCain is only telling a purple prose version of the events. He may not be the victim here but if the right keeps trumpeting his victim status, the lazy media is sure to do the same, despite the underlying facts.And here's this from my old hate-blogging stalker Walter James Casper III:
Exactly right, Steve... I want the truth of the thing to come out, whatever it is... The ones involved/telling the story are politically biased, and--because they're involved--not objective or trustworthy on that front, either.And that is from a guy who is the publisher of a criminal harassment blog. He only stopped his harassment after I went to the police: "Intent to Annoy and the Fascist Hate-Blogging Campaign of Walter James Casper III."
It just bothers me that a deputy district attorney for LA county (Patterico), a lawyer (Worthing), and a former news reporter (McCain) can't get much help or traction from law enforcement, the court system, or the media. (Both Frey and Worthing have specifically said the law isn't following their leads or taking their plights seriously.) Meanwhile, the rightwing blogs are hanging on their every utterances as though they're Gospel. If professional law enforcement is skeptical of their stories, I fail to see why I should believe them, either.
When I start to see movement from unbiased legal and media sources, I'll take their stories more seriously.
Whoever “swatted” Patterico is an asshole and deserves to be in prison. I’ve had my own issues with Patterico, as well as Aaron Worthing, over the years, but nobody deserves the shitstorm they’ve been through. Having said that, if rightwing bloggers put as much time and coordinated effort into ‘vetting’ Barack Obama that they have in rehashing the same odd Kimberlin stories, we’d probably know if Obama was truly the murderous socialist Kenyan muslim Breitbart-killing Tonton Macoute terrorist that they keep telling us he is. Also, too: Robert Stacy McCain’s story reeks of grift. McCain has spent the last few months moaning about how he’s not making any money and how he’s going to quit blogging and nobody likes him – everybody hates him, he’s gonna eat some worms and now: mysteriously vague threats … GIMME MONEY! I call bullshit.Well, no, TBogg, you pea-brained progressive creep. Had he not gone into hiding, Stacy would have been SWATted faster than you can say Carl DeLong. If you're going to have a good word to say, say it and be done.
I like to say that people who are, while educated, lacking in real wisdom, are educated beyond their hat size. What I mean is that they do not possess the ability to apply their education to the real world. They are, at times, lacking common sense, and do not, apparently have the capacity to accept simple truths. These people are too enamored with nuance. I have worked with such people. Yes they are intelligent, well educated, but they can never seem to grasp that the solution to a problem, or the answer to a question might be the simplest one available. Maybe to them, simple always equals stupid. Their addiction to over thinking and over analyzing everything prevents them from accepting that some things just are what they are.Read it all at the link.
Riffing on the re-election trail, President Obama often tells crowds that "We've got to move forward to the future we imagined in 2008." An imaginary future from the past—got it. Then there's the imaginary history of the past that Mr. Obama has been recounting lately, when his first-term spending and debt boom never happened.Continue reading.
Mitt Romney "warned about a 'prairie fire of debt.' That's what he said," Mr. Obama said on the Des Moines fairgrounds on Thursday, as if he couldn't believe it either. "He left out some facts. His speech was more like a cow pie of distortion," Mr. Obama continued, with the finely shaded eloquence for which he is known. "What my opponent didn't tell you was that federal spending since I took office has risen at the slowest pace of any President in almost 60 years."
Making this a new White House theme, press secretary Jay Carney chimed in to "make the point, as an editor might say" to White House reporters that they should not "buy into the B.S. that you hear about spending and fiscal constraint with regard to this Administration. I think doing so is a sign of sloth and laziness."
Mr. Carney the media critic deeply sourced his view to someone named Rex Nutting, who wrote an 856-word column for MarketWatch that argued "There has been no huge increase in spending under the current President, despite what you hear."
Mr. Nutting claims that spending is rising at 1.4% annually, versus 8.1% for George W. Bush's second term. How did he manage to suss out the insights that have eluded every other human being who has spent time with the historical budget tables? His accounting methods are, er, unusual.
SEATTLE — He's the other Alberto, the one who makes a fraction of what slugger Albert Pujols does and whose presence in the batter's box does not cause the heart rate of opposing pitchers to rise.RTWT.
While Pujols has been on fire for a week and a half, Alberto Callaspo has also stoked the offense, capping a productive week with a pinch-hit grand slam off Seattle ace Felix Hernandez in the sixth inning Saturday to lift the Angels to a 5-3 come-from-behind win over the Mariners in Safeco Field.
Pujols also hit a solo homer to left-center in the fourth, giving him six homers in 11 games and 21 runs batted in in 20 games, as the Angels extended their winning streak to five and moved into second place in the American League West, 61/2 games behind Texas.
"Our starting pitching has been a constant — they're giving us a chance to win every night," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "Now, we're combining that with a bullpen that is forming and some guys swinging the bats closer to their capabilities. The equation is adding up to wins, and we've been on a roll."
Jerome Williams (5-2) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, striking out five and walking two, the Angels' 27th quality start in 34 games.
Jordan Walden (2/3 inning), Scott Downs (one inning) and Ernesto Frieri (11/3 innings) blanked the Mariners over the final three innings, another fine relief effort by a bullpen that has allowed three earned runs in 371/3 innings over the last 12 games.
Frieri, acquired from San Diego on May 3, has been dominant, allowing no hits and striking out 22 in 10 innings. Downs has not allowed a run in 15 innings this season, and Walden has limited opponents to a .100 (three for 30) average since losing his closer job in late April.
The hits aren't coming in bunches, but they're coming at the right time.
Listen all Memorial Day Weekend as we count them down by playing entire sides from each album, off the original vinyl. You'll hear some pops and clicks, but no interruptions.At #73 is Van Morrison's "Moondance." I listened while running errands yesterday afternoon:
And It Stoned Me
Moondance
Crazy Love
Caravan
Into the Mystic
They're not kidding when they say they'll leave the light on for you.I written about Clifton's before. The company used to have a restaurant at the Lakewood Center mail, but it closed about 10 years ago. Their food reminded me of my dad's cooking, which is to say soul-food. I've been to the downtown location once since then. All the rest of the outlets are now closed.
A long-forgotten neon lamp that was switched on during the Great Depression and left burning for about 77 years has been discovered hidden behind a dusty partition at Clifton's Cafeteria. The find was made amid an extensive renovation of the downtown eatery, according to the building's owner, Andrew Meieran.
The neon fixture is believed to have been installed in 1935 when Clifford Clinton purchased the lease to Boos Bros. Cafeteria on Broadway and 7th Street and converted the place into a forest-themed restaurant.
The discovery has delighted fans of neon lighting, who point out that America's first neon sign was erected blocks away at Olympic Boulevard and Hope Street. That's where automobile dealer Earle C. Anthony installed a glowing "Packard" emblem outside his showroom in 1923.
"Neon lamps can last 20 to 40 years before the glass deteriorates or transformers go out," said Kim Koga, executive director of the Museum of Neon Art. "That this one has survived, lit, for as long as it has is incredible."
The newly revealed lamp isn't exactly a work of art, however.
The walls of the restaurant featured numerous hand-tinted transparencies of mountain and forest landscapes, each of which was backlit by a rectangular neon light.
One such light was installed in a window-like nook in a basement restroom, where it softly illuminated a woodland scene.
In 1949, the nook was covered over with plastic and plywood when part of the restroom was partitioned off as a storage area.
But for some reason, workmen never got around to disconnecting the electricity. For the next 62 years the illuminated tubing was hidden within the wall. Meieran estimates that the neon tube has racked up more than $17,000 in electrical bills.
LONG BEACH -- Gerardo Raya enrolled in college in 2008 with the hopes of graduating in four years and scoring a job as an animator or illustrator.More at the link.
But four years later, Raya is still at Long Beach City College struggling to finish the minimal coursework he needs to transfer to a four-year university.
The 24-year-old said he's had trouble balancing his work as a recreational aide for a local high school while trying to study for a full load of classes. He's had to drop classes over the years due to work conflicts and financial problems, but Raya said he's hopeful he can transfer to Cal State Long Beach next year.
"I thought I'd be done by now but it's been really hard," he said. "I didn't think it would be this hard."
Raya isn't the only student struggling to finish college. Studies show that while more students are enrolled in college, they're taking longer to graduate.
Of the students who start four-year bachelor's degree programs, just over half finish within six years, according to the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Fewer than three out of 10 full- time community college students graduate with an associate degree within three years.
As a young Latino, Raya may face additional hurdles. A study released in March by the California-based Campaign for College Opportunity found that the college transfer rate for Latino students is about half that of white students -- 14 percent compared with 28 percent.
And while Latino students make up almost half of California's college-age population (age 18 to 24), they remain critically underrepresented in the state's four-year universities, according to the report, titled "Latino Students and Higher Education: California Profile."
Among the key findings:
-- Seven percent of Latinos age 25 and older held a college degree in 2009.
-- Two in 10 Latino students in community college complete an associate degree or transfer after six years, compared to 37 percent of whites.
-- Of the Latino students who graduated from high school in 2009, 16 percent met the requirements for admission into the Cal State University and University of California systems.
'Our future workforce'
Michele Siqueiros, executive director of the Campaign for College Opportunity, said the findings show a disturbing trend in one of the state's fastest-growing populations.
"Over half of the children in public schools are Latino, and these are the people who are going to make up our future workforce," Siqueiros said. "If we don't pay special attention to this group now, we can just assume this gap will continue. If we work to prepare more Latino students for college, we'll benefit as a whole society."
Siqueiros said many factors contribute to the lag in Latino graduation rates, including poverty, language barriers and lack of college information. Many Latino students are the first in their families to attend college, and while parents may have high aspirations for their children, they don't always understand the financial and academic demands of college, she said.
May 8th - On April 24, the Long Beach City College (LBCC) Board of Trustees voted unanimously to enact steep budget cuts that eliminate 55 employment positions and reduce the assignment of 96 others.Those "management" positions do not include top-level administrative positions, for example, at the vice presidential level. LBCC is bloated at the top and the union recently rejected a new contract that would cut faculty compensation but did not affect the bloated administrative structure. Morale is really bad. I'm looking forward to being away from the college for three months. I guess that's a benefit of summer school being cancelled (except for a bare minimum of classes).
Of the 55 layoffs, 12 management positions have been cut. The approved assignment reductions will result in 10-month employee contracts rather than full year contracts. These staffing reductions will impact the upcoming 2012-2013 fiscal year.
The college attributes the need for one of the most significant staffing reductions in recent memory to the declining financial support from the state government. LBCC anticipates further reductions from the state.
This cut follows a $3.5 million mid-year reduction impacting this school year due to underperforming student fee and property tax revenues. Another cut is being planned for 2012-2013 in the event that Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax proposal on the November ballot fails.
The sound of Sammie Hicks's own breathing moved her to tears three weeks ago.
That's because it was the first time she ever heard it.
"I started to cry because it was overwhelming," 10-year-old Sammie told ABC affiliate WFAA. "I had no idea what the sounds were."
Born with a genetic mutation that caused her to lose her hearing.
New York congressman Anthony Weiner resigned in disgrace a full year ago, admitting to having sent lewd photos to female fans of his on Twitter.Continue reading.
But for one corner of the Internet, Weinergate is very much not over. A group of liberal bloggers believe that Anthony Weiner was blackmailed by Andrew Breitbart into a false confession, and are carrying out a lonely Twitter crusade to spread their theory — in spite of the fact that Weiner himself has never claimed this to be the case.
In a post on the blog Cannonfire, the blog's proprietor Joseph Cannon describes the "weird subculture of bloggers" that sprung up around Weinergate.
Cannon was a more vocal proponent of the theory when the story broke, but "Their obsession with that scandal soon went way beyond Weiner, and perhaps even beyond conventional left-right politics," he writes. "A very personal twilight war broke out."
A major locus of modern Weiner trutherism is BreitbartUnmasked.com, a site "dedicated to unmasking the underbelly of Andrew Breitbart and his crew of rogues, criminals, wannabe journalists, various right wing extremists and the religious intolerant," per its "About Us" section. Breitbart Unmasked features a large GIF of Breitbart's face morphing into a mask, and lists the name of everyone in Breitbartworld, from editors of Breitbart.com to people only tangentially related.
One of its related Twitter accounts, @OccupyRebellion, regularly tweets about Weinergate and the alleged conspiracies therein.
