The Helen: Give me that old-time Great Society

One of the most telling thing about Helen Thomas is her take on the U.S. presidents. She's covered eight of them in her 57 years of reportage--which, I guess, just proves the point that age doesn't always equate with wisdom.

Probably her kindest words have been for Lyndon Johnson, whom she called "terrific." That Great Society stuff was the cat's meow. She lauds Jimmy Carter for human rights and a few other things, while skipping over that business with the Iran hostage crisis. Reagan, of course, was charming but uncompassionate. Bush-41 was right on in his actions to "moderate" the Reagan revolution. Clinton: "His heart's in the right place." Bush-43: Don't ask.

So, there you have it. The Helen: A knee-jerk liberal in the classic sense. Helen herself overtly embraces the "L" word while disavowing any such entity as "L" bias.

"A liberal bias?" she said a few years ago on C-SPAN. "I don't know what a liberal bias is. Do you mean we care about the poor, the sick and the maimed? Do we care whether people are being shot every day on the streets of America? If that's liberal, so be it. I think it's everything that's good in life, that we do care."

[Inset sound file of Barbra Steisand singing "Feelings."]

If you feel, as I do, that retirement for The Helen is way over due, there's something you can do about that: Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address hthomas@hearstdc.com.

The Helen: Shill-meister-in-chief

Newsday columnist James Pinkerton welcomed Helen Thomas' return to the first-question tradition at last week's White House press conference, suggesting The Helen serves as a great foil for President Bush. I have to admit there's probably wisdom in playing off the growing recognition that the other side actually is a tad unhinged.

Which is an awfully lot like the argument that Howard Dean is the Republicans' best asset. Yes, I also have to agree that there is some benefit in letting the loony left do their own self-parodying. It may even be a bit fun, in a perverse sort of way. The problem, however, is that it's still not right. Howard Dean and Helen Thomas are sad symptoms of illness in the body politic.

After calling George W. Bush the worst president in history, The Helen suggested Dick Cheney could be the candidate in '08. But if "Dick Cheney is going to run for President, I'll kill myself," she said, adding, "All we need is one more liar."

The Helen, who has covered every president since John F. Kennedy, has a special fondness for Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton. She had the honor of introducing the Philanderer-in-Chief at a D.C. retrospective in 2001. After alleging that Clinton had sounded the alarm—did I miss something?—on international terrorism, she added:

"He also brought unprecedented prosperity to our nation, and because of that, President [Bush] can use the surplus Mr. Clinton left behind to pay for many of the nation's needs in this time of crisis.... To me and millions of others, President Clinton has always personified that. He is the man from Hope, and that is what he has given us, hope. We miss him. Thank you, Mr. President."

[Insert Abu Ghraib tortured-screams sound file.]

The Helen also wrote a recent column—again, she is no longer a news reporter but has been allowed emeritus status within the White House press corps—noting how many other countries have had women heads of state and saying the United States is long overdue. In the same column she pointedly notes that Condoleeza Rice is not running.

So, what I want to know is: Whoever in the world, Charlotte, my dear, could she possibly have in mind?

Helen Thomas: Clueless in wartime

Robin Boyd of the Chickenhawk Express, one of my faves, gave me permission to reproduce her recent post on The Helen, which speaks to the Spin-ster's anti-war predilections. If you haven't seen Robin's stuff, you're missing out. Check it out at Chickenhawk Express.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Helen Thomas - We Are Not Going to Win the War

With all the excitement the past few days, I missed the Adbusters article about Helen Thomas. The article is called "Journalists Need More Courage." (musta been talkin' to Dan the memo man)

Here's a few tidbits of Helen's interview...

On the heroism of journalism today - "People wanted to be more patriotic and were afraid of rocking the boat. From there, we segued into a war where reporters were worried about jeopardizing the troops. So there was a heavy cloud and reporters had to fall in line for a while."

SAY WHAT? Please name me one journalist that has put the safety of the troops ahead of their latest Bush bashing screed. Certainly not anyone at the NYT, the WaPo, AP, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc.

On the main obstacles to doing good journalism at the moment - "...maybe some reporters genuinely feel they shouldn't raise uncomfortable questions at a time when patriotism is demanded. But our job is to find out the truth. That's our only job."

Note to Helen - patriotism is not demanded. I have yet to hear of someone being an unpatriotic boob getting tossed into the pokey. TRUTH? They can't handle the truth.

Finally this little perspective on America's future...
"Well, I think that we've got to pull the troops out of Iraq. We've got to stop killing. This is ridiculous. It's more than ridiculous, it's tragic. Wanton killing, killing and being killed - for what? I think the administration wants to hang in there because they actually believe they can win. But I think that's a long shot, if anything. And what is winning anyway? Winning what? A Shia theocracy? Is that what American soldiers are dying for? Furthermore, we've got to find out what terrorism is really about, find out the root causes. I think that it was right to go into Aghanistan and right to go after Bin Laden. But what about the bigger picture? Is it a religious war? Is it American policy that is motivating these people?"

Terrorism is about killing innocent people in order to further your sick agenda. Think back to Sept. 11, 2001 - that was terrorism. Think back to the Marine Barracks in Lebanon, the African Embassies, the USS Cole, etc. - THAT was terrorism. The idea that we should sit down with terrorists and discuss what America can do to make them like us more is absurd. The root cause of terrorism is HATRED, Helen. Oh yeah - we are winning and will continue to win the fight against the terrorists despite the media's best efforts to convince Americans otherwise.

And Helen doesn't understand why she is no longer on the Front Row at the Presidential Press Conferences.

Bitch-slapping the President

Did you hear the one about Debra Lafave's new career? She wants to be a ... uh ... journalizer. Seriously. Yes, I'm talking about that child-molesting ex-reading teacher in Florida. Daniel Ruth of the Tampa Tribune doesn't think this is so far-fetched an idea. He noted that it might take the office Christmas party, at least, to a new level.

Ruth adds that Deb should feel right at home in the mainstream mediocracy: "Indeed, the Fourth Estate historically has been populated by so many drunks, nut cases, egotists, eccentrics, manic-depressives and preening poltroons, that if Lafave is looking for an environment that will allow her to fade into the woodwork, she'll find no better respite from infamy than journalism."

So, maybe it's not that big a leap from child-molesting to truth-molesting. Speaking of Helen Thomas...

That is what we're here for this week—giving Ms. Thomas all the credit her illustrious career deserves. (Insert acid reflux sound file.) After all, as the veteran White House correspondent for UPI for more than 50 years, the 85-year-old Thomas has seen more presidential administrations than Debra Lafave has seen—oh, never mind.

OK, so Helen habitually uses that prerogative of getting the first question at presidential press conferences in order to bitch-slap the Commander-in-Chief. Like that one last week, when she accused President Bush to his face of wanting to go to war "from the moment you stepped into the White House" and killing thousands of Americans and Iraqis on a false pretext. Hey, that's show biz. Right?

But wait. Helen doesn't actually, uh, work for the wire service anymore. She, um, now writes a column for the Houston Chronicle, which makes her an opinionator and a point-of-view advocate—no longer an objective and professional beat reporter like the rest of the press corps. (Insert gag reflex sound file.) Larry Elder of WorldNetDaily says this amounts to a personal "no-fly zone" for The Helen. He asks:

"Why does she retain her position as a member of the White House correspondents' corps, retaining the privilege to ask the president a question? Could a male reporter retire, show up to work the following Monday, while retaining the same perks, powers and privileges?"

Oh, Larry. Details, schme-tails. I'm sure if Hillary gets elected, it will be just fine with everybody if Bob Novak, say, wants to come to press conferences and throw verbal stink bombs at her. Riiiiight...

Isn't it about time, Helen?

Herewith begins a new adventure for The Roscoe Daley Report. Each week we will be profiling a prominent American journalist for nomination, as it were, to the Mainstream Mediocracy Hall of Shame. And what better person to start the adventure but with Helen "Dean of the White House Press Corp" Thomas?

Take it away, Helen

Most families have a Helen Thomas, a screwy old loony toon who no longer cares if somebody might be offended if she farts at the dinner table. They're humored, tolerated and even pampered because that's what you do with family members when they start to misplace a marble or two and they think their advanced age entitles them to say any old outrageous thing to anyone they please, anywhere, anytime. It's fairly well-intentioned denial among consenting adults for the sake of familyness.

Unfortunately, when the toon's family happens to be an information business that buys ink by the barrel and paper by the flatcar, the outrages occur on a much grander scale. Like at White House press conferences with the Leader of the Free World and the assembled Washington press corps, aka the Mainstream Mediocracy.

So, this week is dedicated to you, Helen. We'll be reprising some of your finest moments, such as when you vowed to kill yourself if Dick Cheney runs for president in '08. Do I hear a Draft Cheney movement rustling in the wings?

And, oh yes: Helen, we think you've done enough. We're asking you to consider making a bequest to the national welfare: Your retirement.

And, Helen, we're not just farting around...

Holding their Birkenstocks to the fire

My friend Joel Rosenberg has the story: "AFGHANIS TURNING TO CHRIST IN RECORD NUMBERS: But Convert Faces Death." Read it here. This further confirms what I've been hearing--and reported here earlier--about Afghanis' openness to the Gospel. It's a great untold story.

While visiting Joel's site, consider subscribing to his Flash Traffic report--which alerts you to breaking stuff he posts on his blog. Joel is an amazing guy--a former political operative turned prophetic novelist from a Messianic Jewish-Christian perspective. I've read all of his books and strongly recommend them. Light years better than the Left Behind stuff.

Rocks and Roses

Meanwhile, boos and hisses for Helen Thomas. As a journalist myself, I'm embarrassed that an old moonbat like that is a member of my profession. Not only that, she's a pretty lousy American, too. How about let's start a campaign for her retirement? We can call it, "Isn't it about time, Helen?"

But major kudos to Laura Ingraham, who not only had the stones to go to Iraq, but now she's leading the charge against the other lazy excuses for journalists in the mainstream mediocracy who are covering themselves with shame in their (non)coverage of the war. Talk about holding feet to the fire. Go, baby. I'm going to be seeing her in a few days. Anything you want me to ask her?

Pray for Abdul

Please pray for Abdual Rahman, the Afghan Christian who may face death for converting to Christianity from Islam, which apparently is illegal there. The news today is that the Afghan government acknowledges American concern--which apparently is being felt, but says it has no control over the courts.

This may be just the tip of the sandberg. A missionary friend of mine who recently returned from visiting several countries in that part of the world said by far the most responsive to the gospel was Afghanistan. When I expressed amazement, knowing the official position on conversions, he replied that people have become desperate in Afghanistan as a result of hard times and the disruptions to their lives. So, there apparently are a whole lot more Abdul Rahmans--in secret.

Michelle Malkin has listed places you can write or call to express support for Abdul:

Write the embassy of Afghanistan:

Ambassador Said T. Jawad
Embassy of Afghanistan
2341 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
info@embassyofafghanistan.org

Contact the State Department:

U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Main Switchboard:
202-647-4000

Dearest Reader

The Roscoe Daley Report has been experiencing serious technical difficulties. The intention has been to post every day, but some of these posts have been eaten by Blogger. I was originally posting through AOL, but pictures weren't coming through. So, I've switched to Qwest high-speed service, which has solved the problem for pictures, but about every other post is being lost in cyberspace. And finally today, the blog seemed to lose its mind entirely. It wouldn't even allow access, let alone posting.

I think that problem has finally been resolved—but then today's post just got eaten. I used to write first in MS Word (in another blog life) so there'd be a back-up, just in case of such an eventuality. But it turned out to be a needless redundancy, so I discontinued the practice. Looks like I need to resume the practice, as these posts are just lost forever.

Please know that the intention is to have posts here on a daily (week day) basis. The Roscoe Daley Report wants to be part of your daily blog browsing routine. I will do whatever it takes to get there.

Thanks for your patience.

Back-alley morality

Did you hear the one about the woman in South Dakota so upset by the state's new abortion ban that she's written a manual for do-it-yourself abortions?

No joke. It's for real. You can read about it here. Now, that's dedication to a cause.

Seems to me it would be a lot easier just to schlep over to one of the other 49 states where it's still legal. That is, until the other states start to do the same, and then we'll finally see this scourge truly begin to wane. As it stands now, it's just way too convenient. Forget your birth control? No problem. Just dial Baby Busters. You want fries with that?

And, oh, did you hear about the travel boycott on South Dakota because of its new abortion law? Well, some folks are at least trying to dash the annual biker do in Sturgis. Don't know yet if it's going to catch on. As Yogi Berra once said, "What if they gave a boycott and nobody came?"

Okay, so he didn't really say it. But he might have, if he'd thought of it.

Roscoe's recommendation: Vacation & visit in beautiful South Dakota this year. They've got the Black Hills and the Bandlands and Mt. Rushmore and Wind River Canyon and some of the most beautiful places in America in that state. Custer State Park is particuarly awesome. And, you'll be doing your part to offset the culture of death in this country.

News vermin declining

"During a recent visit to Baghdad, I saw an enormous failure," writes retired Army officer and author Ralph Peters. "On the part of our media. The reality in the streets, day after day, bore little resemblance to the sensational claims of civil war and disaster in the headlines."

Emphasis added, by me. Peters lays out eight major misrepresentations by the mainstream mediocracy in their endless drumbeat of bad news against the war and the Bush White House. Here's just one:

"Hatred of the U.S. military. If anything surprised me in the streets of Baghdad, it was the surge in the popularity of U.S. troops among both Shias and Sunnis. In one slum, amid friendly adult waves, children and teenagers cheered a U.S. Army patrol as we passed. Instead of being viewed as occupiers, we're increasingly seen as impartial and well-intentioned."

Read the rest here. So, I guess Saddam's call today at his trial for Shias and Sunnis to unite against U.S. GIs may be falling upon deaf ears. Except, of course, for the ears of the mainstream mediocracy...

Meanwhile, in other press ignominies, Little Green Footballs reports that Acton Gorton, editor of the Daily Illinis at the University of Illinois, was fired for publishing the Danish Muhammad cartoons. Dude, the mediacrats are just covering themselves with glory this week...

Read all about it here.

But take heart. The stranglehold of the mainstream medicrats on news & information is slipping by the day. Witness this week's purchase of the ultra-liberal Knight Ridder newspapers by the McClatchy group, which says it's going to reduce staff to stop the bleeding from declining circulation. Net effect: Fewer news vermin. This, at the same time The Washington Post is being forced to trim its newsperson ranks by about 10 percent.

Again, fewer news vermin. One can only hope that the pink slip eventually catches up with all the David Gregories of the profession.

It reminds me of the declining birth rate among people on the left. In time, these problems seem to have a way of self-correcting, don't they? The index of leading social indicators is definitely looking up.

FREE Zacarias Moussaoui now!

And release him on the streets of lower Manhattan. Many of the relatives of the 3,000 Sept. 11 victims would probably like a word or two with this boy. Up close and personal. Now that the death penalty phase of this case appears to be going south, these good citizens could probably perform a great public service and bring final closure to this bit of awkwardness.

And now (as they say in radio), this:

18 Ways To Be A Good Liberal (Wait, is that an oxymoron?)

You have to believe that:

1. Capital punishment is bad, abortion on demand is good.

2. Businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.

3. Guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens are more of a threat than U.S. nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese and North Korean communists.

4. There was no art before federal funding.

5. Global temperatures are less affected by cyclical changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms driving SUVs.

6. Gender roles are artificial, but being homosexual is natural.

7. The AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.

8. The same teacher who can't teach 4th-graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.

9. Hunters don't care about nature, but PETA activists do.

10. Self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.

11. Mel Gibson spent $25 million of his own money to make The Passion Of The Christ for financial gain only.

12. The NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.

13. Taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.

14. Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Thomas Edison.

15. Standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.

16. The only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge.

17. Homosexual parades displaying drag, transvestites, and should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.

18. This message is a part of a vast, right-wing conspiracy.

Precisely what needs to happen

MEMRI--the Middle East Media Research Institute--comes through yet again with a must-see item. Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan preaches up a storm about the real problem for Muslims today--i.e., Islam itself. Or today's jihadist, blame-Israel-and-the-West form of Islam.

Her rant is called "There Is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century." See the video clip here.

The fact that it appeared on Al Jazeera makes it all the more remarkable. Sultan's grand finale is an in-your-face dose of reality about the Jews--the fact that they're probably the highest-achieving people in the world--in marked contrast to you-know-whom. Like an Arab Dr. Laura, she hammers home the point that hatred is a poor substitute for accomplishment, in which the Muslim world today is woefully lacking.

I asked Bruce, the friend who forwarded it to me (originally from Michelle Malkin), if he thought there'd be a fatwa out on Sultan. He wondered if she even made it home from the studio.

Not that any of us should get our hopes up, but this is precisely what needs to happen, in large numbers. Sane Muslims speaking truth to evil power. May her tribe increase.

Wild man Joe

Joe Carter, the normally serious and staid Christian blogger at Evangelical Outpost, has a hilarious post about "How To Get Rid of a Stoner Son" in response to a reader's question. Actually, he has about a dozen suggestions. Here's just the first:

Day #1 – The first step is to get him out of the house for a few hours. Tell him you found $20 in the washer and were wondering if it was his. While he is out giving his "tithes to the Rastafarian church," call a carpenter, preferably one that is handy with sheetrock. A good drywall specialist can have the door to your son's room sealed off in less than an hour. Be sure to have it painted so that it blends in with the surrounding wall.

When your son returns and wonders why he can't find the door to his room pretend you don't know what he is talking about and "remind" him that he moved out six years ago. Convince him that he is having a "flashback" from the time he ate those weird mushrooms.

Read the rest here.

I wonder if he's got any ideas about offloading surplus cats, as well. Methinks inside regular Joe lives a true wild man.

The intellectual dishonesty of John Zogby

No doubt following the lead of The Roscoe Daley Report, Hugh Hewitt has taken John Zogby dservedly to task over his polling of U.S. troops in Iraq. Hugh got Zogby so mad on the air, that he hung up. Now, that's showing your butt. Hugh just wanted to know the same thing we do--why all the secrecy over the demographics and the sampling method? (But, of course, we think we know why.)

On his blog, Hugh called it "propaganda dressed up as polling" and "quite obviously crap." The RDR couldn't agree more. Howevever, we still maintain that the biggest unindicted co-conspirator in this scam--the mainstream mediocracy--is equally to blame, if not more so. The news rogues have suspended their (supposedly) normal news standards to take another cheap shot at the Bush White House, regardless of the validity of the survey.

Can you imagine if Donald Rumsfeld's folks had done a poll of the troops to show support for the war? Why, there'd be shrieks and wails of bias from every corner. What was your sampling method? Show us your data. We don't believe you. Prove it. Etc.

Can't you just hear it? But, of course, nary a peep on this one.

BTW, in yesterday's post on this, RDR omitted the crucial links to the LeMoyne College and Chris Hedges sites referenced in the piece. They are now restored. Please go back to yesterday's post and see for yourself what kind of folks we're dealing with--and that the mainstream media are taking at face value. Day-o.

Integrity deficit part 2

Any idea that this Zogby "poll" purporting to show most of our troops against the war in Iraq has any shred of credibility goes right up in smoke under the most cursory examination. Not, as we discussed yesterday, that that makes a bit of difference to a mainstream mediocracy endlessly banging the drum against the Bush White House. One can only hope that David Gregory decides the booze is better in India and he stays there.

So, what kind of cursory examination? Just go to the Web site of the poll's sponsor, LeMoyne College, and scroll down through the list of causes and events and speakers that this esteemed institution of higher learning shills for. The only people missing are Cindy Sheehan, Hugo Chavez and Harry Belafonte. Day-o.

Take, for example, Chris Hedges. Please. In case you haven't heard of Mr. Hedge's, he's a pacifist war correspondent for--you guessed it--The New York Times. Check out this Hedges interview with that other objective paragon of American journalism, PBS. Sometimes you just have to wonder why people who hate America and Americans--the "Christian fascists" line is particuarly cute--this much can bear to live here with the rest of us trailer trash.

Other than, of course, the opportunity for them to work in the mainstream mediocracy and treat us Christian fascists to their pearls of wisdom. Day-o.

If they had any integrity, they'd be ashamed

About that "poll" across the front page of thousands of newspapers today purporting that most American troops in Iraq are actually against the war:

Blarney. Fiddlesticks. Horse feathers. Bovine compost.

For starters, look at who did it: Zogby International and the Center for Peace and Global Studies at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y.--which is exactly what it sounds like, an anti-war outfit. As is Zogby.

What kind of skepticism do you think there'd be in the mainstream mediocracy if such a poll had been done by the Pentagon? Actually, we know the answer to that. When the Associated Press was forced to address why it was failing to report any of the good news of nation-building progress when it was all there for the taking on the Defense Department's Web site, guess what? Why, they wouldn't think of relying on a source that was so obviously biased.

Hmm, maybe's there a little hypocrisy problem here, you think? Day-o.

Then there's the little matter of the methodology: Zogby's not giving that out. They're hiding behind security for respondents, but the effect is to deny the public the ability to determine the poll's reliability. This clearly raises questions about their having something to hide--the degree of skewing from the way information was gathered. But did that stop the mainstream mediocracy? It's like Rathergate: They so want the report to be true that they're willing to waive the normal standards for credibiity.

The word "shameless" comes to mind.

But don't take my word for it. Mark Blumenthal, an objective social scientist-blogger, has the goods on this one. Take a look for yourself.

Meanwhile, methinks we might just take a deeper look ourselves into just what this Syracuse peace center is all about...