Day: April 29, 2011

What Happened To The Nerd Fest?

We know what I think of most of the media and the coverage of the stories of the day…that they drive the worthless conversation and seldom make politics answer questions but instead allow an endless diatribe on the day’s talking points……

The Nerd Fest?  Yep that is what the Correspondents Dinner use to be called….why?  I was just the journalists, their family, some minor celebrities and some low level government speakers….in other words it was just a dinner where the journalists slapped each other on the back and schmoozed a bit…..but all that changed!

Now the Correspondents Dinner is a gala affair….a must have ticket….the A list…..you get the point…..it is the place to be on that specific night…Dana Millbank observes…..

Dana Millbank points out the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner “was a minor annoyance for years, when it was a ‘nerd prom’ for journalists and a few minor celebrities. But, as with so much else in this town, the event has spun out of control… With the proliferation of A-list parties and the infusion of corporate and lobbyist cash, Washington journalists give Americans the impression we have shed our professional detachment and are aspiring to be like the celebrities and power players we cover. “

I have been bitching about the lack of real news offered up by those journalist that cover our politics….and this dinner is why we do NOT get the news we can use……power, money, celebrity…the media is just as bought as our politicians……another reason why I get better info from the papers of the UK…..

I mean come on….when you see a noted journalists having a dance with the chief of WH staff and rapping to each other…..then our news has become the joke that our political system has become…….professional political journalism is DEAD!  All in all a pathetic lack of professionalism!  Long live the Beck’s of the airwaves! (that was sarcasm)……..

He’s Guilty!

Daily Agitator

WikiLeaks!  By now we all have heard of the release of “classifies” documents by alleged hacker PFC Manning Bradley……matters not what we think of the person or what he is accused of doing…..what matters is one of those darn pesky rights we have….that being “innocent” until PROVEN “Guilty”……..

Bradley is accused of releasing secret documents to an outfit known as WikiLeaks….some think him a hero and others see him as a traitor….whatever your choice is is your decision….however, regardless of what you feel….the man deserves a fair trial….and at this point I do not think he can get one….why?

First of all, he has been convicted already in the court of public opinion and the news outlets have seen to it that his “fair” trial will give only one verdict…..GUILTY!

And now our President has weighed in on the issue…..when giving a speech recently he was interrupted by protesters in support of Manning and the Prez responded……

“I have to abide by certain classified information,” Obama said on a video that quickly began to circulate among media outlets Friday. “If I was to release stuff, information that I’m not authorized to release, I’m breaking the law. … We’re a nation of laws. We don’t individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate. … He broke the law.”

I would say that Manning is pretty much screwed and that chance of a “fair”  trial is pretty much out the door…..in making that statement Pres. Obama has violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice and after all he is the Commander in Chief of the military…..but how did he violate the UMCJ?

ART. 37. UNLAWFULLY INFLUENCING ACTION OF COURT

(a) No authority convening a general, special, or summary court-martial, nor any other commanding officer, may censure, reprimand, or admonish the court or any member, military judge, or counsel thereof, with respect to the findings or sentence adjudged by the court, or with respect to any other exercises of its or his functions in the conduct of the proceedings. No person subject to this chapter may attempt to coerce or, by any unauthorized means, influence the action of a court-martial or any other military tribunal or any member thereof, in reaching the findings or sentence in any case, or the action of any convening, approving, or reviewing authority with respect to his judicial acts. The foregoing provisions of the subsection shall not apply with respect to

(1) general instructional or informational courses in military justice if such courses are designed solely for the purpose of instructing members of a command in the substantive and procedural aspects of courts-martial, or

(2) to statements and instructions given in open court by the military judge, president of a special court-martial, or counsel.

(b) In the preparation of an effectiveness, fitness, or efficiency report on any other report or document used in whole or in part for the purpose of determining whether a member of the armed forces is qualified to be advanced, in grade, or in determining the assignment or transfer of a member of the armed forces or in determining whether a member of the armed forces should be retained on active duty, no person subject to this chapter may, in preparing any such report (1) consider or evaluate the performance of duty of any such member, as counsel, represented any accused before a court-martial.

In making his statement he may have unwittingly given his defense team a chance for some action on Manning’s behalf…..sorry….but EVERYBODY deserves a fair and unbiased trial….regardless of the crime one is accused of committing……

Change The Subject, Please

Nope!  Not a post on the royal wedding thing….thought I would let that slide into the history books…..

Yes, the war of words is still being fought on the budget and its cuts even though the House has been on a break (seems like they are always on a break of some sort) ……but the problem is Rep. Ryan and his people are catch lots of grief in their town halls, especially when the Social Security and Medicare are mentioned when they try to explain what is in Ryan’s (actually the Heritage Foundation) budget proposals…..

“Come On!”  (to quote Speaker Boehner)…….we keep hearing the same line over and over….and it comes from both sides…..”Just be honest with the American people”……..and every time I hear a politician use this term I get all flush and damn near have a stroke with laughter…….

There is NOTHING honest about Washington….

The newest thing that is being played out is the the Speaker of the House is all over Obama for NOT adopting any of the policies that the Deficit Commission recommended…..would that be the same report that the Repubs on the Commission would NOT vote for?  But now it is important to bring up the fact that Obama did not act on the proposals….why would this be the game being played now?

Could it be that the GOP is desperate to change the subject from the Ryan Budget?  They seem to be getting the crap beat out of them back home and desperately need the conversation to change ….but unfortunately for them (the GOP) the Dems will not change the subject and if anything are doing their level best to keep the subject of the elimination of Medicare and SS in the headlines and on the minds of seniors…after all seniors are the most active of ALL voters…….

Does not Boehner realize how transparent his attempt is?  They will even go so far as to embrace a commission report that none of them voted for recently…..does it not appear a bit pathetic?  Their desperation is almost hard to watch….I did say ALMOST!