Target Rich Environment

As you probably know if you follow the news, activist/film-maker James O’Keefe was arrested this week.  The mainstream news jumped and said that he was trying to wiretap Senator Mary Landrieu’s office, but Kyle-Ann Shiver describes it differently- restating it that he was there disguised as a phone repairman trying to get guerilla video proving that the Senator lied about her phone lines being broken and that calls were being blocked. It’s interesting if it’s accurate (link):

James O’Keefe still gets my vote for investigative journalist of the year. Teaming with Hannah Giles to expose illegal and immoral tactics deep in the ACORN shakedown operation was brilliant. Now, O’Keefe has one-upped himself with his exposure of an MSM drowning in its own leftist ideology.

American journalists once cheered for those among their own who were brave enough to risk jail in the quest of exposing corruption and malfeasance. Yet when O’Keefe and his band of whippersnapper journalists went undercover, disguised as telephone repairmen in the hopes of exposing Senator Landrieu’s denying her own constituents phone access to her, the MSM fell all over themselves denouncing the young men.

Rush to judgment? No. It was a stampede.

From MSNBC, CBS, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Talking Points Memo and others came shrill, utterly false headlines about “attempted bugging” and the “new Watergate,” which are now being corrected or retracted with but a faint whisper. MSM “journalists” in high-and-mighty places haven’t had this much egg on their faces since their coffee-klatch therapy sessions over the misunderstood, “non-jihadist” Ft. Hood terror attack.

Bravo Mr. O’Keefe, honey!

Writing as a boomer conservative, who was in my youth a raging leftist, I know well the forces at work against you now, and can only salute your willingness to go to the mat to expose liberal corruption, wherever you find it. Although, as an old mom, I would discourage you from carrying through with, perhaps, not-thought-all-the-way-through plans in the future, I still must commend not only your intentions, but also your guts.

Though you may pay personal consequences for your actions in the Senator’s office, you have succeeded in bringing two important items to light.

One, you brought necessary scrutiny to the charge that Senator Landrieu may have been, on purpose, blocking phone calls from her own constituents. You learned firsthand, evidently, that her phone system was not unable to receive calls as she was apparently telling her constituents. In allegedly blocking thousands of irate voters’ calls, under the guise of a malfunctioning telephone system, Senator Landrieu may have been abusing her office in quite dishonest fashion. If true, then that would be a serious breech of public trust, as any fair journalist would be forced to admit. Of course, the Senator denies this allegation and has insisted that too many calls “jammed” her phone lines. Nevertheless, now pressure will mount on the Senator to deal with disgruntled voters.

Looks like that’s James O’Keefe’s claim on BigGov (link):

Statement from James O’Keefe
by James O’Keefe
The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: no one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.
As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetuated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.
I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office - the people’s office - to ask the staff if their phones were working.
On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.
It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story. MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent “gag order.” The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I “broke in” to an office which is open to the public. The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me. And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. The public will judge whether reporters who can’t get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.

The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.

As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.

I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office - the people’s office - to ask the staff if their phones were working.

On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.

It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story. MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent “gag order.” The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I “broke in” to an office which is open to the public. The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me. And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. The public will judge whether reporters who can’t get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.

I have no problem with James O’Keefe doing “set-up” journalism like this.  How is it any different than NBC’s Dateline/”To Catch A…” series? Maybe if they called it “To Catch a Big Govt Wastrel”.

Almost a year into the Obama administration, Victor Davis Hanson gives what I believe is the best characterization of the Obama presidency (link).  Though I disagree with the “let them eat cake,” reference.  I find it to be more of a authoritarian “shove it down their throats” (a la Biden) open-faced-fecal-matter-sandwich.

This is a good counterpoint to the Financial Times “Missed Opportunities” column of last week (link), which is way too sympathetic to the administration.  The FT piece presumes that there’s a centrist nature to Obama, and misses the ultimate problem with Obama’s election:

Partly, Mr Obama is paying the price of his fabulous campaign. Coming from nowhere, he overthrew his party’s plans (Hillary Clinton), enthused the Democratic base and amazed the country. In temperament - cool, intellectual, self-assured - he was exactly what voters wanted after Mr Bush. Ideologically, he presented himself as all things to all men. Hopes for his presidency reached impossible heights. Disenchantment was inevitable and disenchantment is what the polls now show. 

Fabulous campaign?  I don’t think he did such a great job on the campaign.  He got a lot of help from people who refused to accept anything other than the official word of the campaign (it’s in his book…), who ran interference when they utterly failed to question or publicize any of his intentions. Everything was about the image and vague message.  “Reform/Change” was what people heard,  not “I’m going to take policies as far to the left as possible and hopefully set this nation on a track that it’s not been on before”.

The people who read alternative news and listen to talk radio knew what was coming, but that was all swept under the rug… Right wing noise machine… racists… Now that average people are beginning to realize what this administration is about, they’re livid. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you can try to hide information as much as you want, meet in smoky rooms to discuss the bill nobody’s read, but eventually the law of entropy will catch up with you.  People will get that information, and when they do, there’s going to be a political bloodbath (and hopefully not real blood).

If you really want to get the American people irate, lie to them.  It’s already in motion now.  I interface with a lot of blue collar guys with some pro-union leanings, the type of guys who would’ve voted for Bush on defense issues in 2004 and Obama on economic issues in 2008.  These are the type of guys who don’t like liars.  I keep most of my sentiments to myself and just listen, and they’re finding out the truth. A political bloodbath, I tell you.  The only thing that can stop it is… the GOP.

This is the puffiest piece of pro-union propagandist puff-piecery I’ve seen in a while, brought to you by the (union-made) News jUrinal and the AFL-CIO, bedfellows as they are (link):

WILMINGTON — Willie Grant has been a janitor in the city’s downtown office buildings for more than two decades.

He has lived that whole time in the city’s Hilltop section, a poor West Side community that has been struggling for at least as long as he has.

After years at the bargaining table, the 58-year-old is now a union member. The slightly higher wages he will receive won’t allow him to move to a better neighborhood, nor will they allow him to become a customer of the furriers and jewelers who have stores near the high-rises he cleans each day.

But the union card Grant will have in his wallet as of Jan. 1 has him feeling like he’s on top of the world.

“I’ll only be making $8 an hour, so I’m struggling now and I’ll be struggling then,” he said. “But this first contract is a good step. The medical benefits will help me a lot. And I have to be honest. A lot of this has been about respect more than anything else.”

Grant suffers from a heart condition and is struggling to raise 8-year-old twins. He is one of about 800 office cleaners in Wilmington and its immediate suburbs who are now unionized. The contracts are part of a national effort by unions to give meaning to the Employee Free Choice Act, a federal law that gives workers a free choice and fair chance to unionize if they so choose, Delaware AFL-CIO Executive Director Gerald L. Brady said.

Outside organizers played a much bigger role in the successful negotiation of the contract with seven area cleaning companies, which represent more than 70 percent of the janitorial workers in the Wilmington-area office market.

“It’s one of the more masterful and better executed national organizing campaigns I’ve ever seen,” Brady said. “It’s actually one of the first real large-scale organizing efforts in Delaware and I suspect workers for some large, well-known, non-union retail companies will be next.”

To get the deal done, several protests in front of local banks such as Wilmington Trust and JPMorgan Chase were held this year to call attention to the work being done at the bargaining table.

The companies that signed the contract include ABM Janitorial Services, Shellville Services, Arthur Jackson Co., Shamrock Building Services, Bravo Building Services, ISS and CSI International. Those companies, in turn, get contracts to clean the offices of corporate giants such as Bank of America.

 

 

The SEIU Local 32BJ filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in March against Wilmington Trust contractor Optima Cleaning Systems, claiming the company had engaged in a “campaign of intimidation and surveillance” that included photographing and videotaping union activity on public property and following union organizers who visited employees at their homes. The complaint was later settled when Optima agreed to pay more than $24,000 in back wages to seven cleaners at the Wilmington Trust building.

The two-year contract goes into effect in January for workers in Wilmington and in January 2011 for workers in New Castle County. Under the contract, office cleaners will earn a minimum wage of $8 per hour or receive a raise of at least 40 cents per hour, according to the union. The union said average hourly wages will increase as much as $2 over the life of the contract.

Kurt Westby, a regional leader of the 32BJ Union, said getting the contract is particularly gratifying because all the members were minimum-wage workers with little or no benefits, truly a segment of America’s working poor. With more than 110,000 members in eight states and Washington, the union bills itself as the largest property service union in the country.

“This contract gives these workers the chance to escape the cycle of poverty in the long run,” Westby said. “They get raises, medical plans and a procedure to address grievances that didn’t exist before.”

Westby noted that many of the janitors are cleaning the windows and floors at marbled-floor headquarters of companies that are receiving seven-figures worth of federal stimulus money to bail them out of cash-flow problems.

“There is an incredible contradiction going on there when it comes to how these workers get paid,” Westby said. “It’s really a story of rich and poor.”

Mark Brunswick, a lobbyist who has helped organize janitorial unions in the past, said contracts tend to stabilize an otherwise transient work force.

“Simply getting health care and a few paid holidays, sick and vacation days is huge for these folks,” he said. “It also promotes a feeling of, ‘Hey, now I matter a little bit.’ “

Fred Wilson, 60, has it better than most of his fellow members.

His wife of 25 years works for the state, so he has been able to receive medical benefits through her policy.

Mostly, he said, he served on the union’s bargaining committee to fight for self-respect and the rights of his younger colleagues.

“I’m in my golden years, heading toward retirement,” he said. “But we haven’t seen a raise in four years, which really hurts the younger workers. Now, if a loved one dies, they can actually get a paid bereavement day to grieve and pay their respects.”

If you’re to believe the comments on the article, the unions used fear tactics to organize, mainly that Spanish-speaking folks would take their place.  This allowed them to negotiate for a slightly higher rate, which will probably be accounted for by their union dues.

Of course, if that is the case, it’s important to note that SEIU international/national is pushing hard for full amnesty for illegal alien workers (who join the SEIU and Laborers Union).  So the Spanish speaking workers who take these janitors’ jobs will be US citizens, not aliens (or “undocumented workers” as some call them).

As easily predicted a few days ago (link), the Philly Inquirer’s Monica Yant Kinney takes the direction that because Philadelphia’s lack of brotherly love is exhibited so frequently with gunshots, that the blame needs to be spread elsewhere. New bogeymen: urban gun stores (link):

Monica Yant Kinney: Gun trafficking: Spread the blame

By Monica Yant Kinney

Inquirer Columnist
Reading my colleagues’ recent investigation, “Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied,” you may have noticed a theme in the criminal cases that stall and die in Philadelphia’s crazy court system: guns.

Specifically, guns that their owners had no earthly right possessing, given their age or rap sheets.

Today, I introduce you to a guy who put guns in criminals’ hands. I’ll call him “Jerome,” because now that he’s served 41/2 years in federal prison, he’s walking a straight line. I’ve reviewed his court file and talked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about his two-year, 160-gun trafficking spree.

It began in 1996 after Jerome lost his job and a friend said he could make fast cash selling his 9mm Lorcin.

“I drove to North Philadelphia and waited in the car,” Jerome told me at a diner in Olney. “My buddy came out and gave me $300 in ones, fives, and tens.”

Like any savvy entrepreneur, he reinvested his earnings. “That same day, I bought two more guns for $110 each. I called the same guy and sold them for $600.”

Under Pennsylvania law, with a clean record, Jerome could buy as many guns as he could afford. The only snag? It was illegal.

“Almost from the beginning,” he said, “they knew what I was up to.”

Money to be made

Federal regulations require gun shops to report to the ATF anyone buying two or more weapons in a five-day period. Soon, a federal agent paid Jerome a visit, as is customary, to ask about his purchases.

He was scared but didn’t stop. Instead, he doubled down, shopping twice a week at stores such as Mike & Kates on Oxford Avenue and Delia’s on Torresdale.

He never had a problem unloading his wares to drug dealers.

“You can tell just by looking where there’s money to be made,” he told me. “I’d just pull up to a corner and open my trunk.”

…Sharing the blame

The more Jerome bought, the more he wondered about sellers who accepted his small bills, knowing that he bought weapons favored by criminals, not collectors.

“There was no way I could be buying five, six, seven guns a week and not be reselling.”

Mike & Kates owner Mike Panamarenko defended himself when I called. Selling guns, after all, is a legal business. “We’re not law enforcement. We can’t profile. To deny someone a purchase based on what-ifs or what might be could put you in a courtroom real fast.”

After owning his gun shop for 40 years, Fred Delia still struggles to read customers’ faces.

“One guy just came in here and bought five handguns. He hit the lottery,” Delia told me. “You don’t really know what they’re doing. They can lie. Just because you bought five guns doesn’t mean you’ve done anything illegal yet.”

In fall 1999, Jerome was charged with dealing firearms without a license. Investigators tallied at least 160 weapons - it could be double that - but recovered only 32. Prosecutors said one had been used in a drug-related homicide, a fact that haunts Jerome.

“I’ll never know what happened to those guns,” he fretted. “Someone might use one of them on me.”

…At the time, she said, several gun dealers were being investigated. How did the probe end? ATF officials wouldn’t tell me. The shops that Jerome frequented remain open.

Watching the news, Jerome knows he’s partly responsible for the city’s crisis of violence. But he thinks there’s blame to go around.

“I knew it would come to an end for me. I just wish those gun dealers were held accountable.”

What I don’t understand is how “Jerome”, even though he’s now served his time and seems genuinely repentent (Ohmygosh, someone might use one of the guns I sold illegally on me!), can’t have his true name attached to the crime. That’s nice that he’s done his time, but his name should forever be attached to his crime.  Only in liberal media would newspapers be printing names of concealed carry permit-holders (link) in some areas and concealing identities of convicted criminals in others. There’s a big difference between serving your time and deserving forgiveness.

Sebastian @ Snowflakesinhell is also blogging this (link) and appropriately levels “Jerome”:

No, “Jerome,” you don’t get to assuage your guilt by trying to shift the blame onto the dealers you deceived about the legality of the sale they were making. You’re the one that swore to the dealer and federal authorities you were the actual buyer of the firearm when you signed off on 4473. You’re the piece of shit that took the guns and opened up your trunk and sold them to criminals. It’s all on you my friend. You served your time, not nearly enough in my opinion, but if you’re living the straight life now, congratulations. I hope you learned something. But if you really want to convince us you’re reformed, and not that bleeding heart Inquirer columnist, you need to start by accepting full responsibility for what you did.

Remember, the Philadelphia Inquirer opinion pages are very cozy with Ceasefire (link). As I noted in the comments at Sebastian’s: 160 guns in two years means 6.7 guns per month, and if sometimes he bought multiple guns, at different shops, with possibly different cashiers, how do you blame the sellers? And as far as enforcement: the ATF caught, prosecuted, and jailed the perpetrator.

One other side note is how gun shops become “gun dealers” in the language of newstilt (file that away). As I said in a prior post, until the papers are ready to do with the politically incorrect causations of urban violence and the way lives are callously thrown away each day, we’re unlikely to see much change.  You can shut down the urban gun stores, and those who seek to profit on the black market will travel further.

This picture was from this Philthy Inquirer article (link).  I try not to curse or anything, but my thoughts reading this article and seeing this picture were best summarized as “WTF?”

It’s notable that this Inquirer piece labels Philly “America’s most violent city” (quantitatively true).  Alas, I’m sure the folks in Baltimore and Chicago are going to have something to say about that.

I expect that the Inquirer series, which is saying that the Philadelphia criminal justice system is on the verge of collapse, will end with part of the conclusion being that more gun control is necessary for all (despite the clarity of fact that gun crimes are not effectively being prosecuted and punished).

But that’s not the thrust of the piece.  The discussion is the inability to effectively prosecute violent criminals in the City of Brotherly Love.  I don’t understand why the Inquirer would wait until DA Lynne Abraham is leaving office to trash her record?  Perhaps their staff has been too busy between hating Bush and Cheney for 8 years and blowing Obama bubbles for a year and a half or so to recognize what’s happening on the streets of Philadelphia.

During the (real or perceived) good times in the economy, nobody seemed to want to bother talking about the state of affairs in urban communities.  Being that the most affected group is Black Americans or African Americans, you’re largely (not entirely) addressing that.  Given that any person of European descent who addresses the issues gets put in the PC World penalty box, and anyone within the Black community who attempts to address the issues gets called a sellout or Uncle Tom (vide Bill Cosby) or worse (vide Rev Jesse Jackson saying he wanted to “cut his nuts out” referring to President Obama), it’s difficult to discuss.

When people take the PC shackles off and start talking about the real problems in urban areas without using “crutches” like racism or guns (or the politically correct favorite “it’s socioeconomic” gobbledy goop), you’ll see real positive change.  But don’t hold your breath.

If you watch television news or read online, you’ve probably heard by now that Tiger Woods had a minor vehicle accident late at night that was a little sketchy in details.

This morning, watching the CBS News “The Early Show”, I couldn’t help but be a little appalled when the show featured a National Enquirer story that claimed Tiger Woods was having an affair with a New York woman, implying that this triggered his wife to attack him.

I couldn’t help but recall how CBS News and the fossil media at-large ignored a story about John Edwards fathering a child with his mistress on the campaign trail, and then when he suddenly dropped out (did the “O” or “Hillary” campaign threaten to dump the info?), there was little comment from the media on why he dropped out.  CBS’s “The Early Show” host Harry Smith even went so far as to suggest that Edwards was being “targeted” by the woman, portraying him as a victim (link). Smith’s co-host Maggie Rodriguez went on to refer to Edwards’ baby-mama Rielle Hunter as a “Fatal Attraction-like woman” who was “semi-stalking” John Edwards (link).

I must ask: why is it important to quote a National Enquirer story on a pro golfer’s alleged affair and not quote the story regarding a candidate for President of the United States?   Is it not in the national interest to know of a possible Presidential love-child?

Let me just throw something else out there: John Edwards was a fairly popular, charismatic, and very wealthy man.  Tiger Woods is a wealthy man who is wildly popular and has a well-managed media persona.  They’re very different but have some similarities.  The fossil media has taught us that America is full of disparity based on race.  Is it possible that the media is treating Tiger Woods differently out of racial animosity?  A man who’s part African-American and allegedly cheats on his beautiful Scandinavian wife with another attractive white woman gets more attention than a white man who cheats on his white wife with another white woman.

Folks, it’s difficult to prove racism.  Sometimes it’s really subtle- so let’s stick with the fossil media’s standards and assume its racism until they prove otherwise.

Newsbusters.org had extensive coverage at the time of the Edwards scandal, this is from their post about the AP’s excuse for not mentioning the National Enquirer’s article (link):

“The standard of proof for confirming and publishing information on this kind of private, intimate behavior is and should be very high. I have not the slightest regret for sticking to those high standards. Getting it first is great. Getting it right is essential,” he said in an email to Editor and Publisher.

The AP has even issued a news story defending itself, essentially saying it was too hard for the multimillion-dollar organization to work the story:

Without witnesses, documents, photographs or some form of irrefutable evidence pointing to the truth, news organizations will not endanger their own integrity.

That made it difficult to prove - and to print - the rumors that John Edwards had cheated on his seriously ill wife while running for president. Reporters were left to poke around the edges of a potentially career-ending scandal in search of an opening. […]

And it never was confirmed to the AP’s satisfaction or, apparently, to the satisfaction of others until Edwards himself owned up to the infidelity in an interview with ABC News.

“We began pursuing the story soon after it first appeared. But the standard for proof in this kind of intimate behavior is and should be very high,” said Michael Oreskes, AP’s managing editor for U.S. news. “Better to get it right even if we couldn’t get it first.” […]

Here’s the AP “getting it first” today on CBS’s website mentioning the National Enquirer story on Tiger’s alleged tryst (link):

(AP) All anyone needs to know about Tiger Woods off the golf course is what he named his yacht.

Privacy.

Woods gave up a big piece of that when he left Stanford after two years, turned pro with a “Hello, World” ad campaign and a $40 million endorsement deal, then quickly became one of the most recognizable athletes on earth.

He will invite some people into that world, but only so far.

Earlier this month in Shanghai, while playing a pro-am round at Sheshan International in a World Golf Championship, Woods allowed that he was staying in a cluster of mansions located on an island in the middle of the golf course. Some of the estates were valued at $14.5 million, and Woods could not believe the extravagance of these homes.

Approaching the island, he was asked which one he was staying in for the week.

“Oh, one of those over there,” he said dismissively.

It was a clear example of the world’s No. 1 player giving a morsel of insight, but not much more.

Once asked why he enjoyed scuba diving so much, Woods replied: “The fish don’t know who I am.”

….

Then came word of a small photo of Woods on the cover of the National Enquirer, alleging an affair with a New York night club hostess. The woman denied the story and flew to Los Angeles on Sunday to meet with high-profile attorney Gloria Allred.

Woods has had a general distrust of the media since a 1997 interview with GQ magazine in which he was quoted as telling racy jokes in the back seat of a car. He rarely spends much time in an interview, his answers always guarded. If he’s not the defending champion, he often will not go to the media center, making reporters come outside to see him.

The only criticism Woods has faced was not taking a stronger stand on social issues, such as the all-male membership at Augusta National, not playing more tournaments, or for cursing and throwing a club during competition.

But in all those cases, it was short-lived.

Questions about his car crash, however, will linger as long as Woods keeps it a mystery. He has dealt with a sporting media most of his life. Now he steps into the realm of celebrity media, which is far more relentless.

Speculation on what really happened that night outside - or inside - his home grows each day. Woods went 13 hours before confirming he was in a “minor accident,” then two more days before giving his side of the story Sunday.

So what changed in the last year to make private citizen Tiger Woods worthy of this level of scrutiny that candidate/public citizen John Edwards didn’t qualify for?

Michelle Malkin had this story from Denver with some dangerous PC implications (link):

The Denver Police Department announced today that they have made 32 arrests during a sweep to end a four-month spree of what police said were racially motivated assaults and robberies in downtown Denver, including the LoDo entertainment district.

A task force comprised of the Denver Police, FBI and the Denver District Attorney’s Office investigated 26 incidents in which groups of black males verbally harassed and then assaulted white or Hispanic males, according to Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman.

Many of the victims were robbed after being assaulted.

Three suspects, Allan Ford, Torrance McCall and one juvenile are still at large. Suspects are being held on $1 million bonds for each count.

I don’t wish for it, but if I’d been one of the victims when I lived in Denver, the outcome would’ve likely been different (headline: “Denver Police Question Man Who Defended Himself As to How His Accuracy Was Dead-Nuts Accurate Under Duress, Seek Training Tips”).  Ahh yes, so many nights in LoDo… Avs Games… Wazee Supper Club… The Keg… I miss it, and they miss me!  Though I guess I couldn’t move back to Colorado now that EBRs have been banned.

What I found interesting and worthy of kudos is that the Denver Post actually bristled at the PC-ness of the police response to this.  I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day (link):

Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said that groups of young black males from the Rollin’ 60s Crips and the Black Gangster Disciples gangs approached single white or Latino men late at night and struck them in the head, often after berating them and calling attention to their race, but sometimes attacking without warning.

Victims in the LoDo and 16th Street Mall attacks suffered broken noses and shattered eye sockets, among other head injuries. Sometimes wallets and other small items were stolen.

“We have seen coordinated efforts before, but not by this large of a group,” Whitman said as the arrests were announced Friday.

Yet no concerted effort was made to alert residents to the unusual nature of these violent crimes, or their apparent racial motivation.

Police say there may have been 26 such attacks, almost all against white males, but investigators stress there could be other victims and more are coming forward. A few are women.

Monday, police spokesman Sonny Jackson told us all but one of the 35 suspects are now in jail, each on a $1 million bond due to the racial bias involved. The mostly young men and teenage boys are charged with aggravated assault, aggravated robbery and bias-motivated crimes.

The situation was so grave even the FBI got involved.

Who knew? Certainly not the young white and Latino men who were at risk of being attacked.

Though Denver Police issued a warning on Sept. 3 that they were aware of “a pattern of assaults and robberies,” they simply said “single males” should be on the lookout.

Jackson said that at the time, police weren’t yet aware of the full scope and biased nature of the attacks. Once the warning went out and police heightened their presence, he said, the attacks “dried up.”

Therefore, Jackson told us, it was unnecessary to issue a more explicit warning, even as investigators learned the more menacing aspects of the crimes.

Jackson said keeping the warning broad should have been enough. “We didn’t want anyone to take their guard down,” Jackson said.

But if police know that a particular segment of the population is being targeted, don’t they have a responsibility to give potential victims a specific warning?

We’ve criticized the news media for sanitizing news for PC reasons before, but it’s highly alarming when it’s the police doing the sanitizing.  As painful as it is to give that warning, it’s not the police’s job to make others feel ok about what’s happening in the real world.  It’s (ostensibly) their job to protect the public (though we in the GIN see the real-world role of police as more of “mop up and take the report” than crime prevention).

This blog has been very critical of Philadelphia-based radio talk show host Michael Smerconish’s move leftward and his call for a “moderate” GOP candidate in the 2008 Presidential election (including talk on his show of McCain), and then his move to endorse President Obama’s candidacy. Our criticism has been based on the fact that people with some influence like him called for a guy like McCain, and then moved the other way. In his own words, he made it sound like his move toward Obama was in part due to Gov. Palin’s vice presidential nomination (in place of a pro-abortion liberal GOPer like Tom Ridge).  The NBC Today Show is another place that we’ve grown not to expect any objectivity from, so it’s no surprise that Matt Lauer failed to introduce Michael Smerconish by saying anything about Michael Smerconish’s opposition to the McCain campaign, repeated radio and print attacks on the GOP’s conservative base, and firmly stated opposition to Governor Palin as a former and future candidate when he brought Smerconish on to discuss Palin’s book “Going Rogue,” and he gave a predictably unfavorable response to her book. The political left and their paid-for trolls are going full-bore attacking Palin’s book before its release. Any modicum of objectivity would dictate that Smerconish be labeled as a “Palin critic” (his own column that I linked to questions why she was “sheltered” by the McCain ‘08 campaign, which seems to dovetail with her book?!) at a minimum, rather than just an MSNBC contributor and nationally-syndicated (it feels good to have gotten that badge after endorsing Obama, doesn’t it?) radio host (link).

So typical.

Random Nuclear Strikes (link) had a link to this animated editorial cartoon on “How to Speak Teabag” (link) at National Public Radio’s news website.  I wouldn’t care much if this piece of garbage was on someone’s privately-funded blog or website, but this is aggravating: a taxpayer-funded (National Public Radio) website running a piece of propaganda belittling concerned taxpayers.

This also raises the specter of the Obama administration’s collusion with the National Endowment for the Arts to propagandize Obamacare (link), where in a shocking violation of federal law, taxpayer-funded artists were enlisted in a conference call to produce pro-Obamacare art.  NPR received a $50,000 grant (link) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka “Stimulus” or Porkulus Bill).

Was NPR represented on the NEA conference call?  Is this what they’re using ther “stimulus” cash for? Is there a lack of privately funded opinion identical to this?

This is what the tea parties are all about: the creeping blob of huge government turning against taxpayers with our own money, and that borrowed from future generations.

See if anything jumps off the page at you here (link):

Newark dining hall a refuge for the jobless from life’s countless struggles

By ROBIN BROWN • The News Journal • November 4, 2009

Kathryn Vandenbraak and Kenneth Barclay are regulars at Hope Dining Room, a refuge in the cavernous basement of Kingswood United Methodist Church on Marrows Road near Newark.

There’s a side entrance to the dining room. Meals are served around large tables. Last week, beef noodle casserole and meaty chili were dished up by soup kitchen volunteers.

Regular calls for pantry donations appear in the church newsletter — milk packets, cereal, noodles, peanut butter. In this down economy, the need is particularly acute in places such as Newark, where jobs vanished nearly a year ago with the closing of the Chrysler plant.

“We’re optimistic, but as far as the job market goes, the glass isn’t half-full yet,” said Vandenbraak, 26.

Last week, Vandenbraak and Barclay, 34, ate lunch at the church. There at the same time, five former Chrysler workers.

The plant employed 1,100 before making its last Dodge Durango in December. The 272-acre site across from the University of Delaware had been an employment mainstay since 1938. UD plans to build a technology park there, but development is a year or more away.

Chrysler jobs paid well and were steady, and employee paychecks supported surrounding businesses.

Now those workers are in the unemployment line, and the community is feeling their loss.

Vandenbraak, who worked in banking, more recently has worked as a waitress. But her hours kept getting cut, and then she was let go. “It’s just that nobody’s eating out any more. The economy’s very hard right now on us,” she said.

Barclay said he earned good pay as a mason, but as the economy soured, work faded to a week a month, “then that was gone.”

Vandenbraak said she and Barclay are determined to do better, pursuing both help and work. They gave up their apartment to rent a cheap room, get charity food baskets when they can and keep applying for aid. They were approved for subsidized housing last month.

Every day at the dining room gives them a stress break, a chance to relax together, to meet people who don’t judge them and to enjoy nice meals without the worry of finding money to pay, they said.

“It feels like we’re getting back on our feet a little bit,” Vandenbraak said.

Terry Harter, 58, of Bear, who left his body shop job at Chrysler years before the ailing automaker closed in Newark, said he comes to the dining room to stretch a fixed income but also because of good food and familiar faces.

“I’ve never had a bad meal here, and some days, it’s really banging,” he said. “Plus, I get to see all the boys.”

Recently, he’s met other former Chrysler workers inside the Hope Dining Room — and he expects to see more.

Unemployment benefits for some Chrysler workers could run out as soon as this month.

Benefits varied at Chrysler and some employees landed jobs at other sites. Of eligible workers, 73 percent took early retirement, one-time payments of $70,000 and regular pension benefits.

Half of those eligible for buyouts took them. Workers with 1 to 10 years employment got $100,000. Longer-term employees got $140,000.

One ex-Chrysler worker at the dining room, a body shopper, said he was too young for a buyout, didn’t want to move, can’t find work and is surprised how fast benefits ran out.

I think the entire G.I.N. agrees that charities like the Hope Dining Room are wonderful, and if you’re inclined to give, we are living in a time when a lot of people need the help wherever they can get it.  My family is working on a plan to increase our giving, and if you have a chance, a lot of these places are run very efficiently and do great work.

The G.I.N. President pointed out that as listed, the story for Mr. Harter doesn’t come make me sympathetic.  So he “left” his job (check one: resigned? retired? laid off? terminated for cause?) and lives on a fixed income. At 58, barring disability, you can still work.  Coming by to “see all the boys” because the food is “banging”?  Call me cynical but I see people like this as more “wanty” than “needy”.

I believe that the social contract this nation used to have until it was run down with sticky-fingered carnie-folk included that you don’t take charity intended for those in need unless you are absolutely in need yourself.

In a way, the guy who lost his job (because he didn’t want to transfer) and ran out of unemployment.. get serious. I wish everyone would get the memo: there’s no such thing as a free lunch.