Lead and Gold

Two incidents, different agendas

2009-11-06T09:44:00.001-05:00

Generally, i think cable news does a lousy job covering crime stories. They have to fill airtime even when the facts are scarce which means they supply a heavy dose of speculation and misinformation. But as the coverage of the massacre at Fort Hood unfolds, we see how political correctness also shapes the coverage.

CNN and MSNBC have found their narrative-- PTSD by proxy combined with bullying. The Army made the killer do it. No terrorism. None, FBI said so.

No one asks how the FBI could know that three hours after the shooting when no investigation had taken place.

Funny how the MSM had no problem finding a ideological motive for murder in Kentucky. They jumped on that before law enforcement determined the death was a murder.

Cool story

2009-11-05T06:49:00.000-05:00

Dolphin markets in everything, Gresham's Law edition

Best take on CNN's post-election "analysis"

2009-11-05T06:38:00.003-05:00

From Ace of course:

CNN: Seriously, We're Begging You, This Election Was Not About Our Boyfriend At All

He's still awesome!1!!!1!

Stop saying mean stuff about him or he'll kick your azz!! bc he is tuff and he is a football hero and u shut up!!! kthxbai.

Vietnam

2009-11-04T11:24:00.003-05:00

Neo-neocon:

Vietnam: they lost the war, but won the battle

Who are “they?” The Left.

What war? Vietnam.

What battle? The one that determines who gets to write history.

It’s said that history is written by the winners, and that’s true. But Vietnam just may have been the first war in which those who opposed the conflict “won” in the forum of public opinion by convincing their fellow citizens and government to abandon the war itself, and then got to write most of its chronicles.

I think this is a classic example of journalism and the battle for "explanation space". "Everybody knows" means "what journalists agree on."

I've also argued that professional ambition played a role in the writing of the first draft of the history:

What is not often discussed is how professional ambitions make journalists defeatists. When wars go well, the uniformed military receives the praise. It is they who enter into history. We remember Nimitz and Patton, not the correspondents who wrote dispatches about the victories at Midway and Bastogne.

In contrast, Vietnam made the careers of David Halberstam, Seymour Hersch, and Neil Sheehan. Exposing military failure and atrocities makes the journalist the hero not the chronicler. It is a powerful temptation, one which could cause a reporter to lose proportion and distort the meaning of events. Yet this is not something that seems to get discussed much.

and that guild loyalty helps explain why journalists are unwilling to revise that draft. Vietnam and Watergate are the "heroic myths" that reporters use to justify their high opinion of themselves and their work.

To World Series Broadcasters: Please---Less Talk About “Short Rest”!

2009-11-04T09:46:00.001-05:00

by The Last Hollywood Star

I can’t turn on ESPN without hearing its baseball analysts talk about which World Series pitcher will be going on “short rest,” “long rest,” or “regular rest”

Boring!

Turn back the pages to 1957 when the Milwaukee Braves’ Lew Burdette pitched three complete game victories over the New York Yankees. After Burdette’s first start in the second game, he pitched on three and two days rest. Burdette’s last two wins were shut outs.

Then in 1968, Detroit Tiger Mickey Lolich repeated Burdette’s feat by winning three games against the St. Louis Cardinals, also on short rest.

Starting the second, fifth and seventh game, with three and two days off between games five and seven, Lolich too pitched three complete games. In the seventh game, Lolich defeated Hall of Famer Bob Gibson.

So announcers, please, stop talking about how many days off the starters have had. This is the World Series! Let the pitchers suck it up and do their job no matter how much or little time they’ve had to rest.

Sometimes you get the bear....

2009-11-03T14:38:00.001-05:00

Sometimes the bear gets the terrorist

My New Hero: Chase Utley

2009-11-03T07:24:00.002-05:00

by The Last Hollywood Star

Sports Illustrated on Chase Utley, last night's Philadelphia Phillie hitting star:

If some Phillies do lack big league industriousness... Utley is beyond reproach, conspicuous in his effort. The 27-year-old second baseman dives for all grounders in his zip code. He grinds out at bats and bursts out of the box as if someone had fired a starter's pistol, even when he's not trying to extend a hitting streak.

Former Phillies' manager Larry Bowa says, 'He plays every game like it's the seventh game of the World Series.'"

["Grime Pays", by Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated, August 14, 2009]

I'm rooting for the Phillies and for all around good guy Utley even though it puts me in the awkward position of also have to pull for Pedro Martinez who I incorrectly predicted---not once but twice---would be a total bust.

I think Smitty should fisk more

2009-11-02T21:10:00.002-05:00

He does it so well as we see here:

Rick Moran and the Comatose Nuthouse

Bill Quick is good as well:

Waaaahhhhhhh!

Follow the fun at Memeorandum.

Why the crisis of journalism will continue

2009-11-02T17:13:00.001-05:00

Wild guesses won’t solve journalism crisis

The Harvard conference tasked with finding new business models for journalism had the impossible mission yesterday of trying to solve a problem no one had the language to describe, the tools to measure or the skills to fix.

In other words, the conference resembled the primitive study of physics before Isaac Newton invented modern calculus at the tender age of 23.

Odd doings in Vienna

2009-11-02T17:07:00.000-05:00

British nuclear expert's 17th floor UN death plunge 'was not suicide'

A British nuclear expert who fell from the 17th floor of a United Nations building did not commit suicide and may have been hurled to his death, says a doctor who carried out a second post-mortem examination.

Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, was found dead last week at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna.

One suicide is a tragedy. But this makes you wonder.

Under a year ago, an American died at the IAEA in strikingly similar circumstances, his body being found at the bottom of a stairwell.

A UN spokeswoman said an investigation into that case continues, though Austrian police have concluded it was suicide.

David Treen, RIP

2009-11-02T06:49:00.001-05:00

Quin Hillyer in the American Spectator:

Dave Treen, Political Builder

David Connor Treen was a one-term governor (and four-term congressman) of a troubled southern state. He lost or withdrew from far more elections than he won. His nomination for a federal appeals court judgeship fell apart. And he was the butt of two of the most famous put-downs in American political history. Yet, although almost no history books will say so, he was one of the more consequential figures in late 20th century politics, not just in Louisiana, but nationally.

Honoring a hero

2009-11-01T22:12:00.007-05:00

Major Garrett of Fox News blogs about Leslie Coffelt, the man who lost his life protecting Harry Truman fifty-nine years ago.

(HT: Ace of Spades)

Garrett states that

Truman was never endangered by the assassination attempt. Collazo and Griselio never made it inside Blair House, thanks to Coffelt and the other White House Police Force officers.

Stephen Hunter, who wrote the book on this assassination attempt, is less certain that HST was never in danger. He believes it likely that Truman was at a window and exposed to Torresola right when Coffelt ended the fight. Had the officer missed, Truman might have been shot. In addition, Hunter doubts that the agent with the Tommy gun was certain to stop the assassins had they made it into the residence.

That is all the more reason to honor Leslie Coffelt: a man who did his duty as his life slipped away.

I discussed Hunter's book here.

In a nutshell

2009-11-01T11:26:00.002-05:00

Bill Quick:

I’ve said previously that openly biased journalism is preferable to the hidden bias of the MSM we endure today, but I think henceforth we should always read Allah with the notion in the back of our minds that he’s pretty much in the tank for the Anybody But Palin/Conservatives gang. He’s a lot more understandable from that perspective.

It's kinda' odd. Michelle Malkin is quick to attack Republicans who stray from the conservative straight and narrow. Yet, she hired AllahPundit for Hot Air. And AP is about as squishy as they come on the right.

Wow! Frank Rich is upset that Newt got "slimed"

2009-11-01T10:54:00.004-05:00

I wonder what caused that change of heart? (/sarcasm)

Adirondack Doug Gets The Caribou Barbi Treatment

NYT columnist Frank Rich has the heebie-jeebies

Drowned in Blood: Frightening Tales of an Adirondack Halloween

Follow the reaction at Memorandum.

Today on the NFL Network: Rich Eisen wants to have Brett Favre's baby

2009-11-01T10:42:00.003-05:00

I used to think that the constant soap opera that turned the NFL into the National Favre League, was just evidence of laziness on the part of the average sports yakker. It's easier to speculate about Favre's next move than it is to do real reporting or analysis.

After reading Steve Sailer, though, i wonder if it is part of a media strategy to reach out to other demographics:

Another chronic problem with shows that don’t reset is creeping soap operaization. Female fascination with relationships tends to crowd out every other subject over time. Even House, with the wonderful Hugh Laurie as a Sherlock Holmes-like genius/misanthrope solving one medical mystery per week, has become more of a soap opera over the years.

The obsession with Favre obscures the fact that Old Yeller is far from the best QB in the NFL and has not been an "elite" QB for many years. Favre is having the best year of his career based on passer rating, yet he is not in the top five in the league.

What if he goes on strike?

2009-10-31T11:46:00.002-04:00

So the Other McCain is traipsing around the Adirondacks hunting for antiques or looking at fall foliage or something. Meanwhile. Smitty is once again forced to spend his Saturday putting together the latest FMJRA linkfest.

Please check it out so the poor guy feels appreciated.

Finally Making Journey to Rugged Adirondacks

"The case against Ivins just gets weaker."

2009-10-31T07:07:00.002-04:00

This strikes me as important:

Anthrax investigation still yielding findings: Chemical composition of spores doesn't match suspect flask/Nature

Furthermore, the Bacillus subtilis contaminant present in the letters has not been matched to the strain found in [Bruce] Ivins' lab. The FBI speculates it might have come from another lab at Fort Detrick, but has not yet identified any lab that has it. The case against Ivins just gets weaker.

Maybe this is why they don't want us to read it

2009-10-31T06:31:00.001-04:00

From BigGovernment.com:

The health care bill recently unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over 1,900 pages for a reason. It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of the bill):

Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes caps on damages.

I guess war is not like a computer game after all

2009-10-30T11:45:00.003-04:00

Some troops have a sixth sense for bombs

Those who hunted or grew up in tough urban areas excel at finding the roadside devices, a study shows.

Military researchers have found that two groups of personnel are particularly good at spotting anomalies: those with hunting backgrounds, who traipsed through the woods as youths looking to bag a deer or turkey; and those who grew up in tough urban neighborhoods, where it is often important to know what gang controls which block.

Personnel who fit neither category, often young men who grew up in the suburbs and developed a liking for video games, do not seem to have the depth perception and peripheral vision of the others, even if their eyesight is 20/20.

(HT: Steve Sailer)

All Hail Deacon Phillippe!

2009-10-30T11:36:00.000-04:00

By The Last Hollywood Star

The Pittsburgh Pirates got a positive national television mention after Game One of the World Series. Usually, when the Pirates' name surfaces on a major network, it's to heap scorn on the team.

But after Cliff Lee pitched a complete opening game, striking out ten and walking none, researchers went into the archives to dig out Deacon Phillippe's 1903 performances.

Phillippe was the last pitcher to put up those numbers.

Back in 1903, the World Series was a best of nine affair. In the opener, Phillippe out dueled Cy Young in a complete game effort.

Get this---Phillippe pitched four other complete games, two on back-to-back days, and went 3-2 in the Pirates loss to the Boston Americans. For good measure, Phillippe pitched in relief in two other games.

Take that, pitch count crazy Joe Kerrigan!

Phillippe's five complete game decisions are a World Series record that will stand forever unless current format reverts to best of nine.

If that ever happens, the World Series could extend to Thanksgiving.

Cuban spies

2009-10-29T14:40:00.001-04:00

Toby Harnden (of the London Telegraph) has a fascinating article in the Washingtonian on the background of Kendall Myers and Gwendolyn Steingraber Trebilcock Gereaux Myers. It is the best reporting i've seen so far on the case.

Spying for Fidel

Traitors among us

Cuban spies

Is the congressional watchdog really ACORN's ace in the hole?

2009-10-29T14:32:00.000-04:00

Nadler's ACORN Ethics

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who heads a congressional subcommittee that may be investigating ACORN in the not-too-distant future, has been providing advice to ACORN's lawyer, according to a new report.

Michelle and Jill Mug for the World Series Crowd; They Should Stay Home

2009-10-29T07:45:00.001-04:00

by The Last Hollywood Star

When Michelle Obama and Jill Biden walked New York Yankee Hall of Famer Yogi Berra out to the mound last night, I was disgusted.

What made me so mad is that Berra is a Yankee hero who has played in 75 World Series games, more than anyone in history. If he had stood before the crowd alone, Berra would have deservedly received a rousing standing ovation.

But with Obama and Biden by Berra's side, the three got only brief token applause.

Biden, by the way, likes to be called Dr. Jill Biden because she has a Ph.D. in education. That's another but lesser annoyance. Doctors are M.D.s; Ph.D.s are just that---Ph.D.s

Political pandering has no place in baseball.

Let Berra, 84, enjoy the moments he has left. The other two will, unfortunately, be mugging for months if not years to come.

Say what?

2009-10-29T07:35:00.002-04:00

So now telling the truth about a candidate is a "dirty trick"? What color is the sky in Politico's world?

(HT: The Other McCain)

How the mighty have fallen

2009-10-27T11:32:00.000-04:00

CNN Drops to Last Place Among Cable News Networks

CNN, which invented the cable news network more than two decades ago, will hit a new competitive low with its prime-time programs in October, finishing fourth – and last – among the cable news networks with the audience that all the networks rely on for their advertising.