The Bleeding Heart Capitalist

Who, What, When, Where

Here is the headline:

Korean Researcher Did Not Fake Evidence of Dog Cloning

Here are the first 6 paragraphs:

An academic panel investigating the work of South Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk said Tuesday he fabricated data to support his claim that he cloned human embryos and extracted stem cells from them-- capping the spectacular fall of a man once lauded as a pioneer.

The latest revelation by the Seoul National University panel was another disappointment to scientists and patients alike. Hwang's claim of a cloning breakthrough had offered hope to millions suffering from paralysis and debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and AIDS.

The same panel concluded last month that Hwang falsely claimed in 2005 to have developed 11 stem cell lines tailored to specific patients.

Hwang ''did not have any proof to show that cloned embryonic stem cells were ever created,'' the panel said in a report, disputing the central claims in Hwang's 2004 paper in the journal Science. In the paper, Hwang said he had cloned a human embryo and extracted stem cells from it.

But the university cast doubt on whether an embryo was cloned, saying there is a high possibility it could have merely been a mutated egg, which could appear to have similar qualities of an embryo.

''The 2004 paper was written on fabricated data to show that the stem cells match the DNA of the provider although they didn't,'' the report said.

The 7th paragraph finally addresses the dog cloning. It is an AP story, but there must be some editorial discretion about headlines. Is it too much to ask for the Times to do what we were taught to do in our grade school weekly have the headline and story match?

The Gloves Are Off At The Times

Let's see, on the NY Times home page we have this story on the NSA wiretaps which was picked up on Yahoo's front page, this story of Colin Powell's former chief of staff criticizing President Bush, and this editorial excoriating Alito in the wake of this story. And that's just at first glance. And I didn't get to Maureen Dowd's latest on TimesSelect, which I won't pay to join.

Surely there are stories of what else is going on, the progress of the economy perhaps, weapons caches found in Iraq, or what is to come about now that Iraq's election has been held? Maybe some honest analysis of "dubious" intelligence tactics by previous administrations? No, but there is ample coverage of new Yankee centerfielder Johnny Damon & his hair, the dearth of fashion on New York's streets due to the transit strike, and of course a sensitive analysis of the goings on at a Manhattan real estate broker's Christmas holiday party. This is All the News That's Fit to Print.

I hereby call political shenanigans on the New York Times. I don't begrudge them their ideological editorial slant, but supressing coverage of events stands as much in the way of a free society as any criticism they are leveling at the president. Regardless of whatever merit criticism of the NSA situation may have, the astonishing intellectual dishonesty in coverage from the "Paper of Record" tells us exactly where the real fascists are.

Update: Michelle Malkin has a ton more from all over on the left's NSA surveillance feeding frenzy.

Hat tip to Alarming News on the Times fashion/Strike story. Linked to Wizbang!

Abu Propaganda

The Times is running their 2nd story on the front of their website on the US engaging in the information war in Iraq.

The military acknowledged Friday in a briefing for a ranking Senate Republican that news articles written by American troops had been placed as paid advertisements in the Iraqi news media and not always properly identified.

Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters after receiving a 25-minute briefing from officials at the Pentagon that senior commanders in Iraq were trying to get to the bottom of a program that apparently also paid monthly stipends to friendly Iraqi journalists.

Mr. Warner said there had been no indications yet that the paid propaganda had been false. But he said that disclosures that an American company, under contract to the Pentagon, was making secret payments to plant articles with positive messages about the United States military mission could undermine the Bush administration's goals in Iraq and jeopardize Iraq's developing democratic institutions. "I remain gravely concerned about the situation," he said.

He said he had been told that the articles or advertisements were intended to counter disinformation in the Iraqi news media that was hurting the American military's efforts to stabilize the country.

So what's the problem? What's the next Times headline?

US Admits Military Uses Real Bullets

Detainees File Grievance Over "No Do-Over" Rule

10 Baby Killing Capitalists Dead After Martyr Sacrifices Self

Their media have been killing us for decades. If we fought back like this before we might not ever have had to send soldiers. This is a war. Somebody should tell that to the Times.

(linked to Wizbang! )

US Finally Fighting Mideast Information War-and the Times Doesn't Like It.

The US has finally begun to engage outlets like al Qaeda Jazeera and the NY Times doesn't like it one bit.

Good. It's about time we started fighting fire with fire. If state-run media continue to slant the news in the region against us, we have to respond in kind. The Times should hardy act morally superior. This is a war, not an Upper East Side cocktail party.

More Selective Reporting From...Who Else?

Camp Katrina writes how it appears that "insurgent attacks" on US troops are now reported with selected facts omitted. And these details always seem to soften the malevolence of the terrorists or the nobility of the soldier's mission.

This is not the first time this has happened. Remember this?

In a City of 7 Million, the Only News is That Damned Balloon.

With apologies to Mary and Sarah Chamberlain, the story of the parade balloon hitting the light pole and causing them injury has hit Abu Graib status.

The Times has published no fewer than 4 front web page reports, as well as two multi media features (a video and slide show) and God knows how many follow ups and op eds are forthcoming. To show that the insanity is not exclusive to the Times, the City will form a commission to investigate the accident.

When a paper that has decried the Bush tax cuts so vehemently can only publish one story like this in the same time frame as this balloon thing, I can rightly say that the agenda is getting a little too obvious. Those two girls from Albany are bigger news than this:

After four years of tight budgets and deepening debt, most states from California to Maine are experiencing a marked turnaround in their fiscal fortunes, with billions of dollars more in tax receipts than had been projected pouring into coffers around the country.

The windfall is a result of both a general upturn in the economy and conservative budgeting by state officials in recent years, and it is leading to the restoration of school funding, investments in long-neglected roads and bridges, debt reduction, and the return of money borrowed from cities and counties.

In Sacramento, officials are setting aside part of a multibillion-dollar revenue windfall to build up California's depleted cash reserves. Delaware has appropriated money for a pilot program for full-day kindergarten, and Florida will spend nearly $400 million on a new universal preschool program for 4-year-olds. Some states, including New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and Oklahoma, are pouring significant new sums into public colleges and universities after several years of sharp cutbacks.

Both girls will be "just fine." One had six stitches. There will be no litigation. You can all exhale now.

Update: The Political Teen has some commentary on how NBC dropped the ball on covering the mishap when it was actually news.

Good News! The Times Opposes Alito

Predictably, the Times is exposing themselves as being left of Dianne Feinstein in this editorial which blasts Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito as being out of the mainstream and an ideologue.

The catalyst of this, of course is the memo written by Alito in 1985 which I blogged about previously on his disagreement with abortion as a constitutional right. Alito put it in the context of an attorney seeking a job that involved advocacy. Feinstein seemed to accept the answer.

"He said first of all it was different then," Ms. Feinstein said. "He said, 'I was an advocate seeking a job, it was a political job and that was 1985. I'm now a judge, I've been on the circuit court for 15 years and it's very different. I'm not an advocate, I don't give heed to my personal views, what I do is interpret the law."'

She was asked if she found his answer satisfactory.

"The question is, Did I believe he was being absolutely truthful, and I did," she responded.

She said he "was very sincere, he was very direct in answering my questions, he clearly is well-steeped in the law, has a good mind, is an able thinker."

Evidently what is good enough for Feinstein (who probably won't vote to confirm him anyway, but refrains from branding him divisively) isn't good enough for the Old Gray Lady's editorial board.

That statement strongly suggests that Judge Alito is far outside the legal mainstream and that senators should question him closely about it.

_______________

First, he has extreme views on the law.

_______________

Second, Judge Alito does not respect precedent.

_______________

Third, he is an ideologue.

I would expect that the Times would cry in their beer and be intellectually dishonest about whomever Bush nominated. I didn't expect them to be so blatantly passionate about it.

I say again, this is good news.

Linked to The Political Teen.

Far Left Throws Judith Miller Under the Bus

Evidently Paul Begala thinks Judith Miller is a criminal. Not because she wouldn't reveal a source and went to jail for it, but because she shares responsibility for the war in Iraq. Say Anything has a the partial transcript from his appearance on Don Imus. The post's author, Alex Nunez, has a fun blog called the Noonz Wire. Check it out.

Janeane Garofalo feels the same as Begala. In her opening monologue on Air America last night where she read Miller's letter to the editor, she expressed anger toward Miller for abandoning reportage in favor of being the stenographer for the administration's war propaganda effort.

Suddenly I feel better about the 2006 midterm elections.

Linked to Wizbang!

Getting Around "Times Select"

Since most of the NY Times op-ed columnists are published in multiple papers I had put finding free alternate sources of the columns on my to-do list. There is no need. Truthout.org has all of them. So now I can continue to sneer at read and comment on Krugman, Dowd, et al without having to pay that obnoxious fee.

More on Maureen Dowd

Dave Friedman has some excellent links on Maureen Dowd's embittered rant on why she's a dried out old maid thoughts on men and women. I must not have been paying attention, but her most recent blather that I blogged about here was actually an excerpt from an upcoming book entitled Are Men Necessary? When Sexes Collide. I commented to Dave that men are NOT necessary if all one aspires to be is an embittered cold spinstress.

By the way, here is a link to a "name the caption" page Drudge ran about the above picture of Mo in the very same Times magazine article. My favorite entries:

"I've Carried a torch longer than the Statue of Liberty"

"For TimesSelect's amazingly low price of $49.95 a year you also get..."

"Who needs men when there's anatomically correct bar stools?"

"If You Want To Keep The Beer Cold, Put It Next To My Heart."

"Coming to HBO This Spring: The Women Of The New York Times"

"That Hip Replacement Sure Makes It Hard To Sit Up On this Bar Stool"

My own entry:

Nothing says "I have varicose veins" like the stockings I'm wearing