The Trib Editorial Board Just Can't Get It Right

From today's Midweek Briefing:

Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid reminds that there was another interesting guest at President Obama's first state dinner on Nov. 24. Robert W. Creamer, a friend of White House adviser David Axelrod, was released from federal prison in 2006 after serving a five-month sentence for financial crimes. The company one keeps...

First off, the Tribune-Review is supposed to be a "news" organization. That means they're supposed to get their facts straight - the man's name is Robert B. Creamer. Granted, this is a teeny, tiny error. But if a "news" organization can't get the easy ones right, how can we trust it with the complicated ones?

And how easy would it have been to, you know, check the name? This easy. It's from AIM:

The media furor over the White House state dinner crashers ignores the convicted felon who was invited to attend with the approval of Obama's inner circle. The ex-convict, Robert B. Creamer, is a friend of White House adviser David Axelrod and the husband of Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois. [emphasis added.]

See? How sloppy must a "news" operation be if they can't even quote their own source without making a rookie error?

But let's fill in some of the blanks. What was Creamer sent to prison for? From the Chicago Sun-Times:

The husband of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) will spend five months in prison for committing bank fraud as part of his efforts to keep afloat a nonprofit group that he ran.

U.S. Senior District Judge James Moran handed down the punishment on Wednesday to Robert Creamer, who also will serve 11 months under house arrest.

The sentence fell far short of the three-year prison term that prosecutors were seeking for Creamer, who pleaded guilty last year to writing a series of bad checks worth millions of dollars to numerous banks to generate cash -- a scheme known as check-kiting.

In granting a sentence below the recommended federal guidelines, Moran said Creamer's motivation wasn't to profit off the money but to keep his consumer advocacy group, Illinois Public Action, alive.

And this from the USAToday:

The husband of an Illinois congresswoman pleaded guilty Wednesday to tax violations and bank fraud for writing rubber checks and failing to collect withholding tax from an employee.

And:

Creamer, 58, a prominent Chicago political consultant, was accused of swindling nine financial institutions of at least $2.3 million while he ran a public interest group in the 1990s.

Wow. Way back then, huh? So a decade ago he knowingly bounced a healthy pile of checks (which is very very stupid and very very illegal) and then went to jail for it.

This is what Scaife's editorial board meant by "financial crimes."

I am guessing they wanted you to assume Creamer was responsible for the collapse of the economy - but that's just a guess.

By the way, Accuracy In Media was one of the big pushers of the "Vince Foster was murdered" myth. One of the sources of that myth was Christopher Ruddy, writing for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. A paper owned by Richard Mellon Scaife. Ruddy's now at Newsmax

Oh, the company one keeps...

Excerpts of the President’s Address to the Nation

“The 30,000 additional troops that I am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 – the fastest pace possible – so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers. They will increase our ability to train competent Afghan Security Forces, and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight. And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans.”

“Because this is an international effort, I have asked that our commitment be joined by contributions from our allies. Some have already provided additional troops, and we are confident that there will be further contributions in the days and weeks ahead. Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. Now, we must come together to end this war successfully. For what’s at stake is not simply a test of NATO’s credibility – what’s at stake is the security of our Allies, and the common security of the world.”

“Taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground. We will continue to advise and assist Afghanistan’s Security Forces to ensure that they can succeed over the long haul. But it will be clear to the Afghan government – and, more importantly, to the Afghan people – that they will ultimately be responsible for their own country.”

Remember, if the surge or the giant shadow army of contractors bothers you and causes your blood pressure to rise, there's always "Surprised Kitty." I fear that I may be watching a lot of Surprised Kitty tonight...
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Going Galt (Bang, Bang Edition)

(Click for larger image)
Looks like I should have started that magazine. From Bloomberg.com:

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank.

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The Trib Ed-Board Never Learns

From today's Tuesday Takes:

Available data call into "serious question" the claim by Official Pittsburgh that the region enjoyed a $35 million economic boost from September's Group of 20 economic summit. That's according to the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. In fact, data show RAD tax numbers for September 2009 were actually below those of September 2008 by nearly 3 percent. "There is simply no evidence that ... retailers, restaurants, etc., in aggregate enjoyed an above-normal September level of sales" during the summit. If one were to factor in the total costs associated with the G-20, anyone care to bet any overall gains were de minimis?

Again no mention of the financial support of the Allegheny Institute by the owner of the Trib. Instead of redoing all the work, I'll just cut and paste what I wrote only one month ago:

No mention of the $375,000 in grant money ($125K in 2006, 2007 and 2008) from the Allegheny Foundation - a foundation controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife, owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

Or the $360,000 in grant money ($110K in 2006 and $250K in 2008) from the Carthage Foundation - a foundation controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife, owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

Or the $235,000 in grant money ($110K in 2006 and $125K in 2007) from the Sarah Scaife Foundation - a foundation controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife, owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

For those keeping score that's $970,000 worth of support over the last 3 years and no mention of it when Scaife's editorial page quotes the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy.

As I wrote back then, the circle-jerk continues.

Last day to get the Early Bird Rate for the PA Progressive Summit

Today's the last day you can get a 25% discount on registration to the PA Progressive Summit that will be held in January 2010.

From the web site:

The Pennsylvania Progressive Summit is the largest gathering of progressive activists and leaders in Pennsylvania. We’re coming together to build the progressive movement and to prepare for the legislative and electoral battles of 2010.

We believe that together we can build a permanent progressive majority in Pennsylvania. The Summit is bringing together hundreds of Pennsylvanians to discuss environment, energy, health care, home foreclosures, civil rights, state finances and budget, labor organizing and other progressive issues. It will include panels led by state and national experts; identity, issue and regional caucuses; prominent political, issue and policy-oriented speakers; and the most concentrated gathering of progressive bloggers and field organizers in Pennsylvania to date.

More information and registration at http://www.paprogressivesummit.org
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File this under: Things We Already Knew

A new report says that the Bush Administration let Osama bin Laden slip from our grasp in Tora Bora.


How Bush escaped criticism for so long is explained here.
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"Flesh-colored"

Sociological Images notes the problem with describing objects -- such as this dress in an Associated Press article -- as being "flesh-colored":


See the problem now?


Pssst, white skin is not the default. (Although as many comments at SI note, the First Lady's dress is more gold/champagne than the light pinky-peach normally referred to as "flesh-colored"/"nude" so the AP even gets that wrong.)
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KDKA's Story on #ravenstahlrumors on Twitter

KDKA's Jon Delano interviews Bram Reichbaum of The Pittsburgh Comet, Chris Potter of the Pittsburgh City Paper and me about the online reaction to Lil Mayor Luke's hiring of a Philly attorney to handle speculation about his marital woes:

http://kdka.com/video/?id=65725@kdka.dayport.com
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Post-Gazette Article on #ravenstahlrumors on Twitter

Raise your hands if you think Pittsburgh's Lil Mayor Luke and his Philly attorney went overboard threatening to sue anyone and everyone who engage in any rumors/speculation about his separation from his wife.

The P-G interviews Gene Grabowski (a former reporter with The Associated Press who now specializes in crisis communications) and me about Lukey's failed media strategy which led to the rampant mockery to be found at http://twitter.com/search?q=%23ravenstahlrumors .

From Grabowski:

"Where I might differ on the strategy, however, is the aggressive statements that his lawyer's making," Mr. Grabowski said.

"For two reasons. One, [the lawyer] himself is making the suggestion of defamatory statements and smears and innuendos. He's the one raising the negativity before the reporters even do.

"No. 2, his language seems unnecessarily aggressive and litigious. I'm reluctant to second-guess other people's strategies, but I would say that if I were still a news reporter, such a statement would set my teeth on edge and actually spur me, not only to be more curious about the circumstances, but probably even more aggressive in my pursuit of the story."

You can read all of what Grabowski and I have to say on this issue here.

NOTE TO ATTORNEYS: No actual rumor-mongering/gossiping occurred during the making of this blog post (nor were any animals hurt).
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Braddock Hospital Closure Protest at UPMC Headquarters - Today!

They'll be a protest today at UPMC headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh to demand that Braddock Hospital stay open and a national health care protest in Squirrel Hill.

WHAT: Braddock Hospital Protest at UPMC Headquarters, Black Friday
WHEN: TODAY! 11:30 AM on Friday, November 27
WHERE: Gather at the US Steel Building

Next Community Planning Meeting:
Monday, November 30 at 7:00 PM Immanuel Lutheran 420 Fifth St. across from UPMC Braddock.

Go to: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-pittsburgh.ning.com/ to join nationwide health insurance corporation protests and to target UPMC for its closing of Braddock Hospital.

Also, at the same time:

Black Friday Action on Health Care

Come and support Health Care for America Now (HCAN) as we pass out the Grinch Flyer!

Meet us at the corner of Forbes and Shady at 11:30 AM for an hour's worth of flyering. Please bring your cellphone if you have one, so we can get passersby to call the number!

We will distribute the flyer in front of Pro Bikes, 5876 Forbes Avenue, because they sell North Face Wiseman products.

The flyer urges holiday shoppers to call Wiseman’s retail companies at 336-424-6192 and express their displeasure with his role in blocking health care reform. Specifically, the flyer says that Eric Wiseman is playing Grinch with Health Care Reform.

This event has been canceled.

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THE Definition of "Historical Revisionism"

Via Thinkprogress.

Former Bush Administration Spokesperson was speaking about the recent shootings at Ft Hood (calling them a terrorist attack) when she said:

PERINO: And we had a terrorist attack on our country. And we should call it what it is. Because we need to face up to it so that we can prevent it from happening again.

HANNITY: I agree with you. And why won’t they say what you just so simply said?

PERINO: They want to do all of their investigations. I don’t know. All of the thinking that goes into it. But we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term. I hope they’re not looking at this politically. I do think we ought it to the American people to call it what it is.

Watch the clip:


Does Sean Hannity CORRECT Perino?

That would be a no.

Happy Thanksgiving.

UPDATE (NOV 27): From Talkingpointsmemo:

Dana Perino is backpedaling on comments (that we reported on earlier) that seemed to suggest that terrorists have struck America on President Obama's watch but didn't on President Bush's.

And here's what she said on Twitter:

Last night on Hannity, I obviously meant no terror attack on U.S. post 9/11 during Bush 2nd term. We have the tools, just need to use them!

Fair is fair. She did correct herself. They never did catch Bin Laden, though, did they? Or the Anthrax killer.

I'm just sayin'.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at 2pj!
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A Thanksgiving Tradition!

I'm originally from New England.

And when I was a boy, every year about this time it was a tradition for the New York radio stations to play one particular 18 minute piece of music.

This one.

Lyrics are here.

You can buy a copy here.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rush Limbaugh Jokes About A Military Coup

From Talkingpointsmemo:

Rush Limbaugh may have crossed another line today in his anti-Obama rhetoric -- openly joking (at least, we hope he's joking) about a military coup.

Limbaugh noted that President Obama will be delivering his upcoming speech on Afghanistan, from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

"My question is: Will they detain him?" said Limbaugh. "Hopefully."

Can we call it treason yet?

Chris Matthews Nails Bishop Tobin On Hypocrisy On Abortion

Note: Matthews mentions Tobin's Pittsburgh connection which Chris Potter elaborates on here.
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Looks like someone has their work cut out for them

http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23ravenstahlrumors

(h/t to Joshua)
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They say timing is everything

From the uncut version of the KDKA interview (about 9:33 in):

Marty Griffin: Your political advisories, here's what they're going to say tomorrow. The mayor waited until after the election to do this. This thing's been falling apart for two years.

Luke Ravenstahl: Well, it hasn't been falling apart for two years. But we did wait. Uh, Erin and I, we've worked through this for, uh, almost a year now. Uh, we decided to wait, uh, because of those political reasons. We didn't want to mix this personal issue into the midst of a political campaign. We wanted to handle it on our terms. Uh, that was something that both her and I agreed to. Uh, and our political adversaries are going to say what they're going to say. Uh, you know, they'll spread rumors as they always have. Uh, you know, they'll throw stones as they always have. Uh, and we've dealt with that and we'll continue to deal with that. It does nobody any good. Um, but that's the nature of being the mayor and being in such a high profile position and both Erin and I have accepted that.
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