Category: Journalism

A Republican Scandal Looms, Will Inky Mention Party?

Yesterday, I said that GOP scandals are less in frequency and magnitude and lo and behold one looms according to Tony Phyrillas. 

Phyrillas reports that Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett has announced that 10 Republicans connected to the Pennsylvania Legislature, includingformer Speaker of the House John Perzel, have been charged in scheme masterminded by Perzel to funnel $10 million in tax dollars to political campaigns.

So, how is that different than state and federal grants to ACORN?

Seriously, kudos to Corbett.

And who wants to bet a dozen donuts that tomorrow’s Inky mentions the party? Two dozen says it’s in the headline. Three dozen says they don’t mention Corbett’s party affiliation. (Yes, he’s a Republican).

Here’s a link to Corbett’s website detailing names and charges.

Inky Still Won’t Mention Party

In today’s lengthy front page story regarding the Luzerne County judicial scandal, the Philadelphia Inquirer again could not bring itself to mention that those involved were Democrats.

At least I didn’t see it.

I’m not a hardcore Republican and I certainly recognize the need for two parties.

And I certainly understand that a Republican can be dirty.

But the reason why Republican scandals are less — in frequency and magnitude — is because that party understands it will be held accountable by the still mainstream media for bad behavior by its members. The Democratic Party leaders understand they will get a pass.

The most recent major scandals in Republican Delaware County involved then Senate Majority Leader F. Joseph Loeper in 2000 and Congressman Curt Weldon in 2006. 

With regard to what Loeper did — take money from consultants in violation of Senate rules and lie about it on his income tax forms — it was kids stuff compared to what goes on in Philadelphia (see Vince Fumo, another story in which the Inquirer could not bring itself to cite party) or Luzerne County for that matter.

With regard to what Weldon did, as the above link indicates, nobody is exactly sure what it was he did. In fact the scandal appears to be more a matter of federal law enforcement interfering with an election on behalf of a liberal Democrat rather than any acts by the former congressman.

In a related Luzerne County matter Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta (R)  is reported to be ready to announce a rematch with Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D) to represent Pa. 11.

Why? Because they are Democrats.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, today, finally got around to publishing a in-depth report regarding the Luzerne County youth court scandal.

“How? Why?” they ask in the headline.

The scandal concerns the sending of hundreds of youngsters to private detention centers for often minor offenses such as fighting on the school bus. The centers were paid per prisoner and it is alleged the operators kicked back money to county judges to fill the facilities.

Judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella face federal racketeering, bribery and extortion charges. A federal judge, last month, rejected a plea bargain that would have sentenced them to 87 months saying it was too lenient.

In asking the how and the why, the Inquirer never felt it necessary to allot one of the article’s 2,000 or so words to identify the party of the men, which is the one that controls Luzerne County.

It starts with a D.

Their policy really does seem to be that party affiliation is redundant when dealing with Democrats. They certainly don’t feel it necessary to note the party when dealing with Republican scandals.

And, so when is Curt Weldon going to jail?

Rev. Al Threatens To Sue Rush

The Rev. Al Sharpton has threaten to sue commentator Rush Limbaugh for this Oct. 16 piece in the Wall Street Journal in which Rush defended himself regarding the false, racially hateful statements attributed to him that received wide dissemination.

Sharpton takes issue with Rush’s statement that he  “played a leading role in the 1991 Crown Heights riot (he called neighborhood Jews “diamond merchants”) and 1995 Freddie’s Fashion Mart riot.”

Good luck with that Al, LOL.

Since you appear to be a fan of the Wikimedia Foundation, which appears to be the source of the false quotes  used to smear Rush, here’s what Wikipedia says about you, Crown Heights and Freddie’s Fashion Mart.

But unlike the Limbaugh quotes, I don’t think it would hard connecting the things attributed to you to the actual events.

Ashley Fox And The Banality Of Evil

Philadelphia Inquirer NFL columnist Ashley Fox, today,  expressed approval of commentator Rush Limbaugh being removed from consideration from owning a part of the St. Louis Rams.

Fine.

She  wrote that he was not qualified to own an NFL team because he was too controversial and that he insulted Donovan McNabb in 2003 when he said he was not a good a quarterback as the consensus opinion and that the media was protecting him because he was black.

Fine.

What isn’t fine is that an act of extraordinary evil occurred and she refused to express outrage much less even recognize it.

It quite reasonable and defensible to think McNabb is overrated — there were those who thought John Elway was overrated — or was protected because he was black.

It is not, however, defensible to believe that the murderer of Martin Luther King Jr., a decent and heroic man, deserves a medal. It is not defensible to think that slavery was beneficial. One who says those things is despicable.

Rush was reported as saying those things by major media outlets and national political figures. It was that reporting that likely lost him his bid. He never said them. There are those who still believe he did.

Ms. Fox in her column chose not address this wrong — and actually perpetuated a distortion of his statement regarding “Bloods and Crips” She used her space to write a banal column accepting evil and injustice.

What she did was a disgrace.

She should hang her head in shame.

Ashley Fox And The Banality Of Evil

Ashley Fox And The Banality Of Evil

Bearing False Witness: Rev. Jackson And Rush Limbaugh

Bearing False Witness: Rev.  Jackson And Rush Limbaugh — Someone who says that the murderer of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a medal of honor, or that slavery was beneficial because you could walk the streets at night would be a rather despicable person.

One who would be worse though is someone who says someone said those things yet never did.

And so we get to the case of Rush Limbaugh who is seeking to fulfill a life-long dream of owning an NFL team — in this case the St. Louis Rams.

Alleged  journalists Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, David Shuster of MSNBC and Rick Sanchez of CNN and others have attributed on air the quotes to Rush as fact without bothering to cite them — they come from Wikiquote and made up out of thin air by a leftist propagandist — or contact Rush to give him a chance to explain or deny.

Alleged Reverend Jesse Jackson also repeated the slander on air apparently unaware that bearing false witness is one of the 10 big ones.

And, if you should be interested, here’s the scrambling going on a Wikiquote.

And for Rush’s response visit here.

Rush airs on WPHT 1210 AM from noon to 3 p.m., weekdays.

Bearing False Witness: Rev.  Jackson And Rush Limbaugh

Why Won’t The Daily Times Use Her Name?

The Delaware County Daily Times won’t use the name of the woman who blind attorney John Peoples alleges took advantage of his handicap by overcharging his credit card when he used it to pay her for sex.

Why not? She’s Ginger Dayle. She’s right there in U.S. District Judge Edmund V. Ludwig’s decision dismissing People’s complaints against Discover Financial Services alleging the corporation didn’t live up to its agreement to protect him from fraud.

She’s on the the internet. All the world can see it.

Ms. Dayle, fyi,  says she is a fitness instructor and has counter-sued Peoples alleging him of making improper sexual advances.

Regardless, there doesn’t seem to be any dispute that Ms. Dayle in October and November of 2007 charged Peoples’ card 10 times for $1,100 and once for $1,600 which is pretty high for fitness instruction of whatever sort.

While Discover is off the hook, the suits between Peoples and Ms. Dayle were thrown out on a jurisdictional matter and can still proceed in state court.

 http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/09D1154P.pdf

Why Won't The Daily Times Use Her Name?

Why Won’t The Daily Times Use Her Name?

A Broad In Asia

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner,  an anti-Sarah Palin publication in our 49th State, labeled a photograph of the governor “A broad in Asia” regarding her Hong Kong address.

Which lead to this desperate apology from Managing Editor Rod Boyce. I assume he’s going to keep his job which would likely not be the case if Hillary Clinton had been the subject.

Liberals are the biggest hypocrites. Progressives are the biggest phonies. Don’t trust any of them.

A Broad In Asia

Better Late Than Never Regarding Acorn

Kudos to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

On the front of today’s Currents, the editorial section, it carried a fine summation of the ACORN scandal written by Kevin Ferris, with the added bonus of an excellent report by Frank Wilson of Bruce Bawer’s book, Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom, which points out the strange lengths the media, art and educational
establishments go toward appeasing radical Islam. Wilson noted, for
instance, that a survey showing that 20 percent of US Muslims aren’t really opposed to suicide bombing was portrayed in papers such as USA Today and the Christian Science Monitor as being a positive thing.

Wilson took pride, rightfully, in pointing out the Inquirer ran one of the controversial Danish cartoon depictions of Mohammad that created a stir in 2006.

He appears incorrect, at least as per Wikipedia, with regard to the Inky being the only daily to do so. However, it is true that the vast majority of the old media — broadcast as well as print — chose to run and hide.

So kudos to the Inquirer.

Better Late Than Never Regarding Acorn

Better Late Than Never Regarding Acorn

Silence Of The Thunder Lizard-Lambs

Pa. State Rep. Steve Barrar (R-160) represents an area served by the Delaware County Daily Times. On Thursday, Barrar attempted to make it illegal for tax money to go to partisan groups. The action was aimed at ACORN albeit one’s mind is boggled that it should be even the case that groups that take sides in an election can even receive Pennsylvania tax dollars.

The attempt was shut down on partisan lines with the Democrats in the State House voting unanimously against it.

Yet not a peep in the Daily Times about it either yesterday or today. And they don’t even have the excuse of needing space to cover the death of a Phillies announcer or an ”80s pop star.

Barrar on July 30 attempted to get a resolution passed requesting the state Attorney General to investigate ACORN. The motion was sent to the State Government Committee where it disappeared. The committee is chaired by Philadelphia Babette Josephs (D-182). She is reportedly a member of ACORN. The silence in the Philadelphia Inquirer is deafening.

The Inky did carry today on page B2 a sweet and sympathetic story about how Philadelphia ACORN — which spends about $400,000  per year — will be unaffected by the federal cuts.