Quiz: What is wrong with this story

The story is running at the top of the Yahoo News page at this moment: July 8, 2007, 7:15 pm:

Violent weekend in Iraq kills over 220
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
(2 hours, 31 minutes ago)
BAGHDAD - Prominent Shiite and Sunni politicians called on Iraqi civilians to take up arms to defend themselves after a weekend of violence that claimed more than 220 lives, including 60 who died Sunday in a surge of bombings and shootings around Baghdad.
The calls reflect growing frustration with the inability of Iraqi security forces to prevent extremist attacks.
The weekend deaths included two American soldiers — one killed Sunday in a suicide bombing on the western outskirts of Baghdad and another who died in combat Saturday in Salahuddin province north of the capital, the U.S. command said. Three soldiers were wounded in the Sunday blast.
Sunday's deadliest attack occurred when a bomb struck a truckload of newly recruited Iraqi soldiers on the outskirts of Baghdad, killing 15 and wounding 20, a police official at the nearest police station said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Also Sunday, two car bombs exploded near simultaneously in Baghdad's mostly Shiite Karradah district, killing eight people. The first detonated at 10:30 a.m. near a closed restaurant, destroying stalls and soft drink stands. Two passers-by were killed and eight wounded, a police official said.

Story like this makes me glad I'm not French.
Cuz, sheeeeeit, if a weekend can kill that many po' mofo's, an' de froggies git a extra coupla hours o'weekend, what could a 5-week vacation do? A dude could get him ASS shot off just takin' him time!!! Was I in charge, nobody ever get another mofo weekend ever, til they stop killin folks, dig?
See all them Iraqi dudes sayin" "Put me back to WORK, MoFos. I don' NEED no muthafuckin weekend! I be workin' ALL the time, 24/7/265.
You think they got bombs scheduled in Iraq?
Like, weekdays, it's ieds and efcs for the gis, but it's truck bombs and car bombs on weekends for the civilians?
The point is, there ain't no motherfuckin weekend ever killed anygoddambody.
And it's not like Yahoo News doesn't have space for better, less "nobody-did-it" headlines
Chuy!

Norman Solomon: The SCUM Enablers Are Covered In Blood

A Special TruthOut.Org Editorial:

Many of America's most prominent journalists want us to forget what they were saying and writing more than four years ago to boost the invasion of Iraq. Now, they tiptoe around their own roles in hyping the war and banishing dissent to the media margins.

The media watch group FAIR (where I'm an associate) has performed a public service in the latest edition of its magazine, Extra. The organization's activism director, Peter Hart, drew on FAIR's extensive research to assemble a sample of notable quotations from media cheerleading for the Iraq invasion.

I went to the FAIR website, but couldn't find the source to which Solomon refers; it is possible the article, being current, hasn't made the archives yet.
(I support TruthOut.Org with a (small) monthly donation; you should, too.)

A Sure Way To Erase The "Librul" Bias In The Press:

Fire the fuckers! Yeah, that works...
(MSNBC):

The TV reporter in Omaha who posted a photo of herself on Facebook.com with a congressional candidate, urging her friends to vote for him, is no longer working at the station.

Also out: an editorial cartoonist who said he didn't "give a rat's ass" about his newspaper's policy on campaign contributions by journalists.

And one newspaper has dropped the syndicated column "The Ethicist" by New York Times writer Randy Cohen because of his donation to MoveOn.org, which he said he had thought of as "nonpartisan."

This is SUCH bullshit. Fire a reporter for donating a coupla hundred bucks to a candidate, but the fucking publisher donates THOUSANDS AND FUCKING THOUSANDS to the Bushevik regime and has no consequences?

Demonstrating once again the truth of AJ Liebling's maxin: The press is only free to the man whi owns one...

BULLETIN!: Guess Who PBS Named The "First Responder" For The Next Dumbocrap Debate?

According the Media Matters: Frank Fucking Luntz, that's who! Frank FUCKING LUNTZ!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Are these people out of their rabbit-assed, fucking minds?

The fat-faced, jowl-flopping, multi-chinned, feculent, Fucktard who once non-plussed BOTH Al Franken AND Joe Conason on Franken's normally fatuous radio program by claiming for himself the mantle of "a good guy doing good work for bad people." (A claim which neither Franken nor Conason, somehow, bothered to rebut.)

Here's David Brooks' whole report:

Email from David Brock, June 25, 2007.

Dear Friend:

I'm sure you've already heard that PBS will be hosting the next Democratic presidential forum on Thursday, June 28, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. What you may not know is that PBS has invited Frank Luntz, a longtime Republican pollster and strategist, to provide "immediate public feedback on the performances of the candidates" during post-forum coverage on the Tavis Smiley program.

Of course, when Luntz's appearance was announced, the press release made no mention of his Republican ties or long history of being criticized for his work.

If you don't know much about Frank Luntz, here are some important facts about this discredited Republican pollster:

In 1997, the American Association for Public Opinion Research formally reprimanded Luntz for refusing to release documentation in support of comments he made to the media regarding his polling work on the Republican Party's 1994 "Contract with America" campaign platform, according to a Salon.com article.

Washington Post polling director Richard Morin reported that the National Council on Public Polls censured Luntz "for allegedly mischaracterizing on MSNBC the results of focus groups he conducted during the [2000] Republican Convention."

In September 2004, MSNBC dropped Luntz from its planned coverage of that year's presidential debate coverage, following a letter from Media Matters that outlined Luntz's GOP ties and questionable polling methodology.

According to a January 29, 2007, article on The New Republic's website, Luntz "not only helped write Republican House member Newt Gingrich's Contract with America; he was also responsible for its presentation to the public." He also "advised Republicans trying to impeach Bill Clinton."

Luntz's 2002 memo "The Environment: A Cleaner, Safer, Healthier America" coached Republicans on new ways to talk about global warming and warned the party that the environment "is probably the single issue on which Republicans in general -- and President Bush in particular -- are most vulnerable."

A June 2004 memo by Luntz, "Communicating The Principles Of Prevention & Protection In The War On Terror," urged Republicans to use concepts such as "It is better to fight the War on Terror on the streets of Baghdad than on the streets of New York or Washington" and "9/11 changed everything," which have been staples of Republican rhetoric ever since.

With his well-documented Republican ties and history of being criticized and reprimanded by his peers, it's clear that Frank Luntz cannot be trusted to provide objective analysis of Thursday's forum.

Today, I'm asking you to contact PBS and let the organization know that it should reconsider its decision to use Luntz in light of his partisan Republican ties and history of questionable scientific methodology. If Luntz must be a part of PBS post-forum coverage, let it know you expect that its viewers will be informed of these facts on the air.

Contacts:
Ms. Paula Kerger
President & CEO
2100 Crystal Dr
Arlington, VA 22202
pakerger@pbs.org
(703) 739-5015

Neal Kendall
Executive Producer
Tavis Smiley Show
4401 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
nkendall@kcet.org
(323) 953-5872

Phil Donahue on Real News: "Journalists should be barking dogs nipping the heels of the powerful"

Or: Salih Booker on "the Real World."


Visit: The Real News Dot Com