The American media’s fraud and corruption are at an all-time high

 
Commentary by James H. Shott
 
Recent dishonesty demonstrates why the mainstream media is largely no longer worthy of the trust of the American people.
 
Following the massacre of movie-goers in an Aurora, Colorado theater early last Friday morning, ABC’s Brian Ross twisted himself into knots to connect the violence with the Tea Party on “Good Morning America” with George Stephanopoulos. Here is the text.

Stephanopoulos: I’m going to go to Brian Ross. You’ve been investigating the background of Jim Holmes here. You found something that might be significant.

Ross: There’s a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea Party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year. Now, we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it’s Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.

So, Mr. Ross, if you don’t know “if this is the same Jim Holmes,” why even mention this? It’s not like “Jim Holmes” is so unusual a name that it couldn’t be shared by multiple individuals. Is wild speculation your idea of responsible journalism? Or, are you just taking advantage of a horrible crime and the pain it caused to score cheap political points for your own ideology?
 
Even if it was the same Jim Holmes, there was no indication that the shooting had any connection whatsoever with the Tea Party. Like the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords last year, this is another pitiful and failed media attempt to tie the Tea Party to violent acts.
 
ABC issued a correction, and then an apology, and that likely will be the extent of its efforts at contrition. However, the family of the man Mr. Ross falsely connected to the shooting was still getting death threats days later.
 
Question: How can anyone trust Brian Ross’ reporting hereafter, or that of ABC?
 
The cable network MSNBC got caught manipulating a comment by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, totally changing the context of a statement he made in order to ridicule and demean him.
 
The fraud that MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell palmed off on her viewers painted Mr. Romney as an out-of-touch elitist who doesn’t understand how retail commerce works.
 
Ms. Mitchell introduced a video clip, saying “I get the feeling – take a look at this – that Mitt Romney has not been to too many Wawa’s [convenience stores] along the roadside in Pennsylvania.” In the clip, Mr. Romney comments: “I was at Wawa’s, I wanted to order a sandwich.  You press the little touch tone keypad, alright, you just touch that, and you know, the sandwich comes at you, touch this, touch this, touch this, go pay the cashier, there’s your sandwich.  It’s amazing.”
 
Ms. Mitchell and her accomplice yuck it up at the candidate’s obvious ignorance of this common method of selling food: “It’s amazing,” she smirks. 
 
But she pulled a fast one on viewers who trust her to honestly tell them what is going on the in the world. What actually happened was that Mr. Romney, prior to relating the Wawa’s anecdote, commented on how a friend had a simple procedure badly mangled by incompetent government bureaucracy that required him to fill out a 33-page form to notify the government of his change of address. Twice. 
  
He was contrasting government inefficiency with the efficiency and innovative nature of the private sector. But that’s not the message Ms. Mitchell wanted her viewers to get, apparently.
 
Question: Is Andrea Mitchell’s reporting trustworthy?
 
After the shooting death of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Florida, a large number of people, aided by media reports, rushed to judgment accusing Mr. Zimmerman of a racially motivated killing of the young man we all came to know from the photo of an angelic-looking youngster taken when he was 12 years-old. 
 
Whether Mr. Zimmerman committed a crime, or merely defended himself will be determined at trial, which every American – even those knee-jerks who jumped to the conclusion that the shooting was racially motivated – needs to understand is the proper setting for such determinations.
 
News organizations are expected to accurately report to the public what is known about events. A well-informed public is less likely to react emotionally and inappropriately, as so many did in the Trayvon Martin shooting. These days it seems the mainstream media frequently ignores ethical standards.
 
Supporting that point is the way NBC News edited the recording of Mr. Zimmerman talking with a police dispatcher, and creating the impression that Mr. Zimmerman had a racial prejudice against Trayvon Martin. It then broadcast this deception on the “Today Show”: “This guy looks like he’s up to no good.  He looks black,” George Zimmerman tells police in NBC’s edited version.
 
Here, however, is original text of the call:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.

Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?

Zimmerman: He looks black.

In these examples, people were deliberately trying to manipulate you with fraudulent reporting, or they are incompetent. When news organizations slant the news, or manufacture the news, whatever the cause, it is unethical, underhanded and unforgiveable.
 
Cross-posted from Observations

America’s Left in Total Denial

Yesterday after posting America’s Leftist- Marxist Islamic Alliance Fuels Anti-Semitism, I decided to visit other blogs that have written about the same subject. As luck would have it, I came across a few leftie sites and decided to read what they had to say. Well I hit laughter pay dirt. Not only is the left denying that there is a Culture War, or a War on Christmas, or that they are the pawns of Islam – the Islamist’s “useful idiots,” now the left is even denying that they are left! One particular leftie blog had over one hundred comments. I’m not giving them any plugs here or links. I didn’t read all of the comments (who needs that kind of punishment), but one comment sent me rolling off my chair in laughter.

“Barack Obama wouldn’t know a leftist if he tripped over one!”

Well before I head off to celebrate Christmas, I thought I’d give some traction to my poor Beta Blogger blog by using a manual trackback pinger such as Simple Tracks
or Wizbang.

Open Trackbacks, just link to this post!

(What other choice do we poor Beta Bloggers have, unless we want to go through the hoops of trying to “successfully” install Haloscan?)

Note from Beta Blogger Hinterlands: All the trackback pingers (Wizbang, Simpletracks, Trackback wizard etc.) are having big trouble with Haloscan trackbacks today. Getting error 11 "Problem saving. Please contact Haloscan". So if you have any answers as to why this is happening today please leave me a comment or contact me a faultline@yahoo.com

This is my trackback message. I will leave it in a comment on your blog if your blog is listed below:

America’s Left in Total Denial
http://faultlineusa.blogspot.com/2006/12/americas-left-in-total-denial.html

Excerpt:
. . . now the left is even denying that they are left! . . . but one comment sent me rolling off my chair in laughter. . .

Here are some other blogs worth reading today:

Right Wing Guy, Right Truth, Planck’s Constant, Don Surber, The Thunder Run, Thinking’bout Stuff, Red_State_Blue, The Hill Chronicles, 123beta, Mark My Words, Wake Up America, Freedom Folks, My Weekly Thoughts, Independent Conservative, Woman Honor Thyself, Dumb Ox News, Rhymes With Right

America’s Leftist- Marxist Islamic Alliance Fuels Anti-Semitism

By now you’ve seen it all over the news. “Rep.Virgil Goode, Fifth District of Virginia, sent a letter to some voters in his district attacking Minnesota Representative Ellison’s plan to use the Koran as the scripture by which he will be sworn into office for the coming Congressional term.”

If you want a “fair and balanced” view from the far left, go to today’s New York Times and read The Lone Muslim Congressman Speaks Out. It’s a recap of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer’s gentle interview with Ellison. Oh, and of course Blitzer asks Ellison if he thinks Goode is a Bigot. Not surprisingly, Blitzer failed to mention Ellison’s anti-semitism or his C.A.I.R. sponsorship. I do suggest that you read this if only to leave a comment!

Gates of Vienna posted on Mr. Ellison’s somewhat checkered past, including his extreme anti-Semitism and the fact that CAIR had underwritten his campaign.

The leftist Jihad has already taken over Europe. Read today’s “The Death of Europe."

Mark Steyn's excellent new book is raising an issue that very few people are thinking about these days; namely the demographic time bomb that threatens the very existence of Europe as we know it. . . According to writer Paul Bekien of the Brussels Journal – who catalogued some of these figures – the European decline also explains the anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism in Europe. America and Israel will fight for freedom. Too many Europeans will submit to tyranny.

A very good read on this Jihad in the west is “The Grand Chess Masters: The Bear and the Dragon,” by David J. Jonsson, author of Islamic Economics and the Final Jihad: The Muslim Brotherhood to the Leftist/Marxist - Islamist Alliance (Salem Communications (May 30, 2006).

Here are some excerpts:

. . .Few are addressing who are the enemies and what are their goal. In effect the West is still rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, deciding how may tables to have and what time the games should start and of course when they should end.

The game has started, the strategies for "Checkmate" are in place. It is time for the America and the West to wake up. The "Cold War" has not ended, the nuclear armed totalitarian regimes have united, and this time they have added the Isalmists who are willing to die for the cause. . . .

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Novemeber 13 drew a direct analogy between Iran and Nazi Germany.

"It's 1938 and Iran is Germany. And Iran is racing to arm itself with atomic bombs," Netanyahu told delegates to the annual United Jewish Communities General Assembly, repeating the line several times, like a chorus, during his address. "Believe him and stop him," the opposition leader said of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "This is what we must do. Everything else pales before this." . . .

The Isalmists along with their Leftist/Marxist alliance partners meanwhile are quietly assuming key positions in the governments, the media and even financial institutions. . . .

The enemy has the goal of removing the hegemony of the United States and the West and to take away our freedoms and liberty to be replaced by a totalitarian government in a New World Order. The strategy is not limited to war, WMDs, and terrorism; it extends to economic warfare, illegal immigration and open borders, media propaganda and even the control of the government by elected officials. . . .

Perhaps most importantly, the administration needs to have a coherent plan for achieving energy independence. Independence cannot be attained in a reasonable time frame through alternative fuels such as wind, solar, ethanol and biomass. All energy forms and conservation must be addressed in an all out program.

Republicans last year offered oil and other fuel companies some $11 billion in tax breaks – funds that will encourage them to drill more domestically. These provisions are now in jeopardy by the newly elected members of Congress. Last year the UK instituted increased tax on domestic production, the result was a decline in exploration in the North Sea. The UK is now a net importer of natural gas.

Funding for the totalitarian regimes bent on the destruction of America, Israel and the West comes from the control of oil and the sale of products and services purchased by the U.S. and other Western countries in the name of near term increased profits and low cost. Remember you are voting at the ballot box and the dollars and Euro you spend. Vote wisely!

Meanwhile the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline will be launched in March of 2007.

On Tuesday, the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, predicted that Britain, Israel and the US would eventually disappear, like the Egyptian pharaohs.

"Any power that is close to God will survive while the powers who are far from God will disappear like the pharaohs," he was quoted as saying.

Ahmadinejad on Thursday once again proclaimed that the Iranian nation will celebrate the international acknowledgement of its nuclear programmes on the 28 anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution next February. . .

Iran plans to make operational 3000 centrifuges until the end of the Iranian year (20 March 2007) but so far only two cascades of each 164 centrifuges have officially been completed.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday:

He said the Iranian nation will soon reach the zenith of nuclear success and will celebrate a nuclear victory during the `Ten-Day Dawn' ceremonies (Feb 11-20) marking the anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Iranian nation will resist bullying powers and will change its approach towards them if they continue in their wrong policies toward the Islamic Republic of Iran, the president said.

Another good read is “Analysis: Three crises pileup?”

Here are some excerpts:

America's enemies took advantage of a quagmired U.S. in Iraq to advance their quest for membership in the nuclear club. North Korea blasted its way into the club to become its ninth member and Iran was well on its way to becoming number ten. Both North Korea and Iran long ago concluded that nuclear power was the only credible deterrent against a U.S. attack. The U.S. predicament also gave Iran a rare opportunity to push its radical Shiite pawns forward in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. . .

Clearly, whatever watered down compromise the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany can agree to, Iran won't be deterred. Much has been made of Iran's Achilles' heel, e.g., its limited refining capacity for gasoline to keep almost five million vehicles on the road. Three out of four cars are more than 30 years old or have logged 120,000 miles (President Ahmadinejad drives a battered 20-year-old Peugeot). Even though it pumps 10 percent of the world's oil, Iran still has to import 43 percent of its gasoline, . . .

Iran's staunch ally Venezuela has pledged to make up whatever shortfall occurs. Cars and trucks are being converted to run on natural gas at over 100 conversion centers. The government believes this will save $5 billion a year on gasoline imports. Iran has the world's second largest natural gas reserve after Russia -- 16 percent of the world's total. . .

Baiting the U.S. and its allies, Ahmadinejad announced Iran "is now a nuclear power" and added the United States and Britain to Israel on the list of countries doomed to disappear. "The Iranian nation will continue on its nuclear path powerfully and will celebrate a nuclear victory soon," said the diminutive president.

Radical Islam is not confined to Iraq and Iran. It is spreading among Europe's 20 million Muslims from Sweden to Spain. Militant minorities reject multiculturalism. And non-Muslim Europeans are beginning to reassess their pre-World War II and post-Cold War doctrine that appeasement is the better part of valor.

Read more about Venezuela’s illegal alien smuggling to America racket

This article linked to:
Woman Honor Thyself, Gates of Vienna, Independent Conservative, Discerning Texan