The massive earthquake that rocked Japan this morning caused a huge whirlpool, which was caught on video. This is truly amazing and makes you think you are watching something from Hollywood.
For more videos, check out this page at CNN.
A massive earthquake has rocked the pacific, hitting 80 miles off of the coast of Japan. Tsunami warnings have been issued for the entire western seaboard of the United States and Canada, as well as Hawaii, which is already getting hit by the waves. Here’s a CNN video of the waves hitting Hawaii, measuring 6 to 8 feet:
Japan police are now reporting that 200-300 bodies have been found in a northeastern costal area. With an earthquake of this magnitude, we can expect the casualties to grow.
This quake is being called the Sendai quake, and with the 8.9 magnitude, it makes it a megathrust earthquake.
I’m sorry, but if you believe FOX news is factual and honest, I have a bridge to sell you:
Fox News has been making a lot of hay about one of their reporters allegedly being "punched" by a protester in Madison, Wisconsin.
Turns out, that didn't happen.
Mike Tobin, reporting from amid the massive demonstration on Friday, claimed that one of the protesters "punched" him in the arm. In another broadcast, he claimed a man threatened to break his neck.
In both cases, supporting evidence for these claims was not broadcast -- yet still, Tobin's reports have been widely citedacross conservative blogs that seem eager to depict union workers as hateful and violent.
What's worse, Tobin's allegation that he was assaulted might have slipped past without rebuttal were it not for a camera-equipped bystander, who captured the scene.
Turns out, someone merely touched his shoulder, as evidenced in the video below. The incident he claimed was a "punch" could instead be described as a pat, at most.
Add to this last week’s “error” by FOX when they flipped the numbers on a Gallup poll to try and say a majority of the country is against collective bargaining, is it any wonder protestors are yelling ‘FOX Lies’?
Yesterday NewsCorp unveiled their new subscription based iPhone app. This was apparently huge news for the people at FOX:
But at 11:00 AM Eastern Time, while MSNBC and CNN ran breaking news alerts and reported live from Cairo, Fox and Fox Business reported live from the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan to bring viewers the unveiling ceremony for News Corp latest product, an iPad newspaper called “The Daily.” Fox News aired a full half hour of the promotional event, featuring NewsCorp chairman Rupert Murdoch giving a hard sell of his latest media foray.
After all, nothing else was going on at that time yesterday. The people in Egypt were all out singing Kum By Yah, while the people in this country basked in summer like weather and Australia had clear skies and no wind.
In other NewsCorp news, the continued new media failure of Rupert’s company hit a new high as they look to offload MySpace.
This is a very interesting find from the Presidential Oil Spill Commission's final report:
"Local resentment became a media theme and then a self-fulfilling prophesy. Even those who privately thought the federal government was doing the best it could under the circumstances could not say so publicly. Coast Guard responders watched Governor Jindal -- and the TV cameras following him -- return to what appeared to be the same spot of oiled marsh day after day to complain about the inadequacy of the federal response, even though only a small amount of marsh was then oiled. When the Coast Guard sought to clean up that piece of affected marsh, Governor Jindal refused to confirm its location. Journalists encouraged state and local officials and residents to display their anger at the federal response, and offered coverage when they did. Anderson Cooper reportedly asked a Parish President to bring an angry, unemployed offshore oil worker on his show. When the Parish President could not promise the worker would be 'angry,' both were disinvited."
(emphasis added)
It’s all about ratings and popularity. Something like this has come to be expected by politicians in our world of divisive politics, but to have a member of the media exploit this disaster in such a way just to increase ratings, well that is inexcusable. Is this how CNN wants to regain their honor as a news source, by manufacturing outrage in the name of ratings? Anderson Cooper should lose his job over this crap.
Something a lot of people don’t seem to be discussing is the merits of the actual rule requiring MSNBC/NBC employees to get approval before making political donations, and the further extreme stance of CNN barring it’s employees from the act. To me this is something that goes against the fundamental Constitutional right of Americans to engage in the political process.
These type of policies are not limited to the media though. Another common place to find them is in local government. From police to firefighters to regular city workers, countless municipalities across the country have policies in place barring employees from donating or partaking in the political process. Even things like having a candidates sign in your yard can be grounds for dismissal.
Yesterday Senator Bernie Sanders released a strongly worded statement supporting Olbermann. You can read the whole thing here, but the key part I want to bring up is here:
"It is outrageous that General Electric/MSNBC would suspend Keith Olbermann for exercising his constitutional rights to contribute to a candidate of his choice. This is a real threat to political discourse in America and will have a chilling impact on every commentator for MSNBC.
The whole investigation into the handling of the late Ted Stevens prosecution took a really interesting turn this weekend:
One of the prosecutors who handled the corruption trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens committed suicide over the weekend, according to his lawyer.
Justice Department prosecutor Nicholas Marsh and five others have been the subject of an investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility over their handling of the Stevens case, which the Justice Department ultimately dropped amid charges the government did not properly share evidence with Stevens' defense attorneys. The judge in the Stevens case also ordered a special prosecutor to look into it.
Bob Luskin, an attorney for Marsh, told CNN Marsh killed himself but did not provide details. "It did seem he was overwhelmed by the emotional cost of this investigation," said Luskin. According to the attorney, Marsh was in his late 30s.
And for those that can’t remember before 2009, this case was handled by the Bush DOJ, a DOJ that had a lot of questionable practices and was accused of being “politicized”. The final report on this investigation should read like a John Grisham novel.
While going through my feeds in Google Reader this morning, one headline really, REALLY stuck out at me:
The “But Tour”? Oh I’m sure that the right will quickly paint this as more proof of the so-called “Liberal media” and their attempts to smear the good people of the right. CNN did actually correct the typo in the article, which now reads, “Tea Party Express reveals details of national bus tour”, but in readers like Google Reader, the headlines are cached and so they remain. None the less, I really needed a good laugh like this today.
It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy either:
The Republican National Committee has cancelled a fundraiser with conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, who is under fire for promoting an edited video that falsely portrays former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod as having boasted about discriminating against a white farmer looking for her assistance.
Breitbart was scheduled to appear with RNC Chairman Michael Steele at a reception later this month in Beverly Hills.
Of course the RNC is treading lightly here. Breitbart is the BFF of the right-wing blogosphere and teabaggers, and the RNC doesn’t want to upset them, so they are in spin mode on the cancellation:
We are working on scheduling and we fully plan to have another event scheduled soon based on our existing trips to California,” an RNC spokesman said in a statement sent to CNN.
The spokesman said the fundraiser was cancelled “To better capitalize on the fall fundraising season that happens post-Labor Day, while also lowering costs by utilizing existing trips to California.”
The party that doesn’t mind spending thousands on strippers is now wanting to lower costs? Sure they are.
The islamophobic fundamentalists in America are at it again:
In protest of what it calls a religion "of the devil," a nondenominational church in Gainesville, Florida, plans to host an "International Burn a Quran Day" on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The Dove World Outreach Center says it is hosting the event to remember 9/11 victims and take a stand against Islam. With promotions on its website and Facebook page, it invites Christians to burn the Muslim holy book at the church from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
"We believe that Islam is of the devil, that it's causing billions of people to go to hell, it is a deceptive religion, it is a violent religion and that is proven many, many times," Pastor Terry Jones told CNN's Rick Sanchez earlier this week.
I love hearing Christian leaders talk about how violent Islam is, totally ignoring the extremely violent past of Christianity. And this moron, Terry Jones, he really thinks burning a book considered holy by over a million people is going to change anything? Perhaps he should be asked why he is wanting to help al Qaeda and their crusade of showing that westerners hate Islam so much.
Following Mark Williams highly racist blog post we have started seeing wingnuts run to his defense. For example, here is Ed Driscoll
But I’m sure the NAACP will agree that once a group reaches a large enough size, there are bound to be the occasional radical fringe elements associated with it. Such as rabid anti-Semites Louis Farrakhan and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who were each invited to speak at the NAACP’s national conventions in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
So Mark Williams was a “fringe element”, even though he is chairman of the Tea Party Express? Please. Driscoll is being nothing but a racist apologist here, and that makes his actions every bit as bad as those of Williams.
Or perhaps this is another case of slight of hand, an attempt to distract from the bigger story:
The National Tea Party Federation, an organization that seeks to represent the Tea Party political movement around the country, has expelled Williams and his Tea Party Express organization because of the inflammatory blog post Williams wrote last week, federation spokesman David Webb said Sunday. In response, Williams announced in another statement on his blog that, "I am refusing all media requests on this" and canceled a scheduled interview on CNN to discuss the controversy Sunday evening, citing a last-minute change in travel plans.
Well this should be an interesting combination:
Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Kathleen Parker will co-host a new hour long CNN primetime news program starting in the fall as the nation prepares for the 2010 midterm election, the network announced Wednesday morning.
The yet-to-be-named “roundtable discussion” program will air at 8 p.m. ET replacing Campbell Brown.
CNN isn't hiding their intentions either:
“Other cable news channels force-feed viewers one narrow, predictable point of view; in contrast, CNN will be offering a lively roundup of all the best ideas – presented by two of the most intelligent and outspoken figures in the country,” Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S., said in a statement released by the network. “Eliot and Kathleen are beholden to no vested interest – in fact, quite the opposite: they are renowned for taking on the most powerful targets and most important causes.”
Color me crazy, but this could just work out. People have been force to one side or the other at the 8pm hour. I'm one of those people who love hearing both sides, and this show should give us a chance at that.
I know I'll give it a chance.
There is one big question that remains. Now that MSNBC will have a new show on at the 10pm hour, hosted by Lawrence O'Donnell, will this new CNN show end up hurting Olbermann? As it is now people could watch the CNN show then catch Olbermann at 10. Once O'Donnell's show starts, then people would have to wait until 11pm to catch the Olbermann rerun, and that is local news time for a lot of people.
What an absolutely horrible news story to start the week with:
Police in Detroit, Michigan, on Sunday expressed "profound sorrow" at the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl in a police raid.
Aiyana Jones was shot and killed by police executing a search warrant as part of a homicide investigation, Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said in a statement.
[SNIP]
Upon entering the home, the officer encountered a 46-year-old female inside the front room, Godbee said. "Exactly what happened next is a matter still under investigation, but it appears the officer and the woman had some level of physical contact.
"At about this time, the officer's weapon discharged one round which, tragically, struck 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones in the neck/head area."
The girl was immediately transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Godbee said he and other officers went to the hospital while others stayed at the home to execute the warrant.
Aiyana's father, Charles Jones, told CNN affiliate WDIV, "She was sleeping and they came in the door shooting and throwing flash grenades ... burned my baby up and shot her, killed her."
If anyone wonders why CNN is in such a downward spiral, they only need to look at this article to get an idea of why:
Oil slick awaits New Orleans' 1st white mayor in decades
The first white mayor of New Orleans in more than 30 years steps into his first challenge as soon as he takes office Monday: the massive oil slick that is creeping to his coast.
The fallout from a ruptured undersea well off Louisiana is spewing about 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) of crude a day into the Gulf of Mexico. And efforts to corral the rapidly growing oil spill have so far been unsuccessful.
The article is predominately focused on the oil spill, with only the first paragraph and this little bit about New Orleans news mayor:
Into this climate, steps Democrat Mitch Landrieu.
His city is still digging itself out from the wrath of Hurricane Katrina five years ago. And his state is the top producer of seafood -- and so, has a lot at stake from the spill's impact.
Landrieu -- who lost two previous mayoral bids in 1994 and 2006 -- replaces the term-limited Ray Nagin in a city where about two-thirds of the residents are black.
The city's last white mayor was Landrieu's father, Maurice "Moon" Landrieu, who left office in 1978. He is remembered fondly for desegregating the city, appointing African-Americans to positions of city leadership and opening up public facilities to blacks.
Last week, the younger Landrieu took part in a flyover of the spill for a first-hand look.
"As this situation becomes clearer, there are obvious environmental and health concerns, especially as it relates to Lake Pontchartrain, our coast, and our air quality," he said Thursday. "But, there is also an economic component of the utmost importance including the impact on our fisheries
CNN is asking if financial regulation will hurt the Democrats fundraising:
They do well with Wall Street, but Democrats may now risk biting the hand that feeds many of them -- as President Obama and top party leaders press for financial reform.
And a key question arises: will there be a squeeze on the money flowing from New York into Democrats' campaign coffers?
The answer is not so simple.
It’s funny, but the right has been trying to paint the Democrats as being in the pocket of Wall Street. That has been pretty evident for the past few years, but when Republicans held power that wasn’t the case:
Wall Street has been a long-time cash cow for both parties -- with the party in power or assuming power the biggest beneficiary.
An OpenSecrets.org analysis found that in the 2008 election cycle, $89,221,944 was given to Democrats; $68,022,536 for Republicans.
And if you look at the graph supplied by CNN, you quickly see that Wall Street does always follow the party of power
So we really aren’t sure if new regulation will hurt the Democrats. There’s a chance that it could end up hurting the Republicans. It depends on what happens in the polls this year and what our political landscape looks like going into 2012.
