Obama will pick Hillary — change? Not so much. It’s all about power at any cost.

Saddleback debate broke Obama’s back.

By Mick Gregory

With McCain’s lopsided win in the debate held by Rev. Warren in California, the DNC leadership are in a panic. They will force Obama to pick Hillary as his running mate.

That’s my prediction. We’ll have to see if Hillary wants to chance it with this stalled campaign. Maybe there is so much worry, that Hillary will get the nomination in Denver. Obama has to nip it in the bud and name Hillary his VP before the revolt takes over the convention and makes Hillary the candidate and Obama has to settle for Veep.

Ralph Nader agrees with me.

“He just has to swallow hard and do what JFK did” in picking rival Lyndon Johnson in 1960, said the liberal activist and maverick presidential candidate.

According to Nader’s logic, Obama may dislike Hillary, but will conclude he has no choice but to get over it if he hopes to leave next week’s convention in Denver with a unified party and a decent shot against John McCain in the fall: “The polls show 25 percent of her supporters have not gotten on board.”

“He’s got to be very concerned by the [neck-and-neck] polls and by what happened at Saddleback,” added Nader, referring to the recent candidates forum hosted by evangelist Rick Warren. “He got beat in Saddleback—big time.”

Nader said his own sources—and, to be blunt, they sound a bit sketchy—lead him to believe that Clinton remains in serious consideration. A friend, he said, recently saw Clinton family intimate Vernon Jordan on Martha’s Vineyard and reported the “usually very effusive” Jordan to be suspiciously “tight-lipped.”

It was only in May that Sen. Barack Obama cockily proclaimed he would debate Sen. John McCain “anywhere, anytime.” But in June, Obama said no to McCain’s challenge to have 10 one-on-one town hall meetings

– ibdeditorials.com.

After what happened at Lake Forest, Calif.’s evangelical Saddleback last Saturday evening, we may have found that debating is Obama’s Achilles’ heel. Whether or not you like the idea of such events being held in religious venues, the plain-and-simple method of questioning used by Saddleback pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren revealed fundamental differences between these two men.

“It’s one of those situations where the devil is in the details,” Obama said at one point. He could have been referring to his own oratorical shortcomings when a teleprompter is unavailable. We learned a lot more about the real Obama at Saddleback than we will next week as he delivers his acceptance speech in Denver before a massive stadium crowd.

The stark differences between the two came through the most on the question of whether there is evil in the world. Obama spoke of evil within America, “in parents who have viciously abused their children.” According to the Democrat, we can’t really erase evil in the world because “that is God’s task.” And we have to “have some humility in how we approach the issue of confronting evil.”

For McCain, with a global war on terror raging, there was no equivocating: We must “defeat” evil. If al-Qaida’s placing of suicide vests on mentally-disabled women and then blowing them up by remote control in a Baghdad market isn’t evil, he asked: “You have to tell me what is.”

Asked to name figures he would rely on for advice, Obama gave the stock answer of family members. McCain pointed to Gen. David Petraeus, Iraq’s scourge of the surge; Democratic Rep. John Lewis, who “had his skull fractured” by white racists while protesting for civil rights in the 60s; plus Internet entrepreneur Meg Whitman, the innovative former CEO of eBay.

When Warren inquired into changes of mind on big issues, Obama fretted about welfare reform; McCain unashamedly said “drilling” — for reasons of national security and economic need.

On taxes, Obama waxed political: “What I’m trying to do is create a sense of balance and fairness in our tax code.” McCain showed an understanding of what drives a free economy: “I don’t want to take any money from the rich. I want everybody to get rich. I don’t believe in class warfare or redistribution of the wealth.”

To any honest observer, the differences between John McCain and Barack Obama have been evident all along. What we saw last weekend was Obama’s shallowness juxtaposed with McCain’s depth, the product of his extraordinary life experience.

It may not have been a debate, but it was one of the most lopsided political contests in memory. — iht.com

I have to agree, this was the most lopsided debate win I’ve seen in my life.

I can’t wait to see a few debates. I know there will be only two or three now. And the Democrats will have to try and put the fix in with the “right” kind of journalists asking the questions.

The Washington Post admits media bias in coverage of Obama. Media no longer trusted.

With the pressure on from blogs, and falling respect for the mainstream media, the Washington Post’s Deborah Howell did a little research and admitted to the obvious. At the same time, Pew research reports falling ratings and trust in mainstream media. Only 30 percent trust CNN.

By Deborah Howell
Sunday, August 17, 2008

Democrat Barack Obama has had about a 3 to 1 advantage over Republican John McCain in Post Page 1 stories since Obama became his party’s presumptive nominee June 4. Obama has generated a lot of news by being the first African American nominee, and he is less well known than McCain — and therefore there’s more to report on. But the disparity is so wide that it doesn’t look good.

In overall political stories from June 4 to Friday, Obama dominated by 142 to 96. Obama has been featured in 35 stories on Page 1; McCain has been featured in 13, with three Page 1 references with photos to stories on inside pages. Fifteen stories featured both candidates and were about polls or issues such as terrorism, Social Security and the candidates’ agreement on what should be done in Afghanistan.

Yes, we knew. Thanks for coming forward. It’s a day late and a few dollars short.

The Media Research Center has been reporting the fall in credibility for a decade.

1. Media Credibility Plummets, Just 30% Believe ‘Most Trusted’ CNN
“Over the last 10 years,” the just-released biennial news consumption survey from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press determined, “virtually every news organization or program has seen its credibility marks decline” and “Democrats continue to give most news organizations much higher credibility ratings than do Republicans.” Based on past Pew polls, CNN touts itself as “the most trusted name in news,” but the percent who “believe all or most” of what CNN reports has fallen 12 points, to 30 percent, since Pew first posed the question in 1998. Yet, in a sign of how far the news media have fallen in the eyes of the public, that puts CNN at the top of the 12 television news outlets analyzed, as well as above all the newspapers and online sources. Believability for ABC News, CBS News and NBC News is down six points over the past ten years, to 24 percent for ABC and NBC, 22 percent for CBS, but that’s still better than the mere 18 percent who “believe all or most” of what they read in the New York Times. The extensive polling conducted in May also discovered that the audiences for CNN and MSNBC “which were heavily Democratic two years ago, have become even more so: fully 51 percent of CNN’s regular viewers are Democrats while only 18 percent are Republicans.” And “the regular audience for nightly network news also is now about two-to-one Democratic (45 percent vs. 22 percent Republican).”

The human race showing signs of splitting into two species

The human race may one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling, rich group and an underclass of dim-witted, fat, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist. The political party each belongs to will also fall into two categories: Conservative/Independent and Liberal/Socialist.

In a few thousand years up to 100,000 years into the future, sexual selection could mean that two distinct breeds of human will have developed. It’s signs are already here.

The alarming prediction comes from evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry from the London School of Economics, who says that the human race will have reached its physical peak by the year 3000.

The report claims that after they reach their peak around the year 3000 humans will begin to regress

These humans will be between 6ft and 7ft tall and they will live up to 120 years.

“Physical features will be driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility that men and women have evolved to look for in potential mates,” says the report, which suggests that advances in cosmetic surgery and other body modifying techniques will effectively homogenise our appearance.

Men will have symmetrical facial features, deeper voices and bigger penises, according to Curry in a report commissioned for men’s satellite TV channel Bravo.

Women will all have glossy hair, smooth hairless skin, large eyes and pert breasts, according to Curry.

Racial differences will be a thing of the past as interbreeding produces a single coffee-colored skin tone. The fat, dumb welfare state people, those most likely to be Democrats in America, Labour Party in England and Socialists in the rest of Europe are becoming evident.

The future for our descendants isn’t all long life, perfect bodies and chiselled features, however.

While humans will reach their peak in 1000 years’ time, 10,000 years later our reliance on technology will have begun to dramatically change our appearance.

Medicine will weaken our immune system and we will begin to appear more child-like.

Dr. Curry said: “The report suggests that the future of man will be a story of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Today you can see the split. Cindy Sheehan, Hugo Chavez, Barbra Boxer, and Henry Waxman are among the Liberal/Socialist party of trolls. While Bush, McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill O’Rielly and Sean Hannity are the Conservative/Independent party members.

It’s just a theory, of course.

–NIALL FIRTH interviewed Dr. Curry.

Ugly racism behind the flight attendant’s lawsuit against Victoria Osteen

Victoria Osteen, the wife of Joel Osteen, best selling author and pastor of the Lakewood mega church was sued by a flight attendant. A jury returned a verdict of innocent, no incident took place.

“If I had to go through this, I could at least be an example of trying to live out what’s right, trying to stand strong and trying to just keep my faith intact,” she said. “I stood strong because I believe in the truth,” she told an AP reporter after the trial.

Victoria Osteen said she never touched Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown and a jury on Thursday believed her, deciding that the co-pastor of Houston’s Lakewood Church did not “attack” the airline employee. Here are some facts that were left out of the coverage in the mainstream media.

Sharon Brown is an African American who according to co-workers was jumping on the opportunity to embarrass the Osteens into settling out of court for six figures. Brown’s attorney was most likely working on contingency.

The frivolous lawsuit was started while the Duke lacrosse team travesty was taking place.

The dirty secret that has been kept out of the reporting, is that there is in deed racism in America; the “get whitey” brand.

After the jury’s verdict, which came following a week-long trial, Victoria Osteen began to cry and hugged her attorneys and several supporters in the courtroom as she said “thank you God” and “praise God.” The 12 jurors deliberated for just 2 hours.

Brown had testified Victoria Osteen got so upset when a spill on her first-class seat’s armrest was not quickly cleaned up that she threw the flight attendant against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the left breast while attempting to rush into the cockpit.

But Victoria Osteen testified no such incident took place, as did her husband and other first-class passengers. No body saw that dramatic attack in a crowded first class section.

Brown quickly left the courtroom without talking to reporters.

She had been seeking at least $405,000 for actual damages — physical and mental pain as a result of an attack she alleged took place before the start of a December 2005 flight from Houston to Vail, Colo.

The jury’s foreman, Gilles Labbe, said he and other jurors believed what happened on the plane was not an attack but a disagreement between a passenger and one or more flight attendants.

“This lawsuit in my opinion should not have been filed because nothing happened,” he said.

“It’s a great vindication …” he said.

In his closing argument earlier Thursday, Rusty Hardin, Victoria Osteen’s attorney, dismissed Brown’s lawsuit as a made-up story concocted to land a courtroom payday.

In his closing argument, McKamie told jurors that because of Victoria Osteen’s status as a religious leader, she felt she had “favor from God.” That led her to believe she was above reproach for humiliating and assaulting his client, he said.

Besides money for actual damages, Brown had requested punitive damages amounting to 10 percent of Victoria Osteen’s net worth as part of her lawsuit. He said it’s just the sliver of the amount of a Monet painting… That’s all.

Hillary Clinton super delegate assassinated, gunman later killed by police. But that’s not all. Now super delegate Stephanie Tubbs Jones is found brain dead.

A gunman walked into the office of the Arkansas Democratic Party yesterday asked for Bill Gwatney, a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton and a Clinton super delegate at the upcoming convention in Denver and fatally shot Gwatney.

Timothy Dale Johnson, the gunman, sped off in a pickup and later was shot dead by police following a 30-mile chase.

UPDATE: Democratic Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland, a super delegate and one of Hillary Clinton’s most prominent black supporters, was found in her car unconscious  Tuesday night, Aug. 19.  Today, she is considered brain dead and may be taken off life support this afternoon.
Tubbs Jones said in a phone interview earlier this year that Hillary Clinton still can do well in the black community in Ohio. “While a large number of black Ohioans might be for Obama, many also think that Clinton is the best Democratic candidate,” Tubbs Jones said.

Now she will not be able to vote for Hillary.

What are the odds?

Back to Johnson; Little Rock police said they could find no criminal record for Johnson, but the Target, 30 miles north of the city, fired him that morning because he’d scrawled graffiti on a store wall.

Some say it was simply a political statement.

Others have reported that he was angry with the HR department, complaining that Target was run by sorority girls who teamed up against men and him in particular.

Johnson had more than one run-in with the HR department. He complained about a narrow hallway and later wrote on the wall, “This hallway is too *** **** narrow! Other messages believed to be his said “HR is run by sorority ******.

But the Target manager would not confirm.

The victim, Gwatney, a former state senator, was set to travel to the Democratic National Convention in Denver later in a few days as a superdelegate for Sen. Clinton.

One source told The Post he had been “very good” to her during her presidential campaign.

In a statement, the Clintons called Gwatney “not only a strong chairman of Arkansas’ Democratic Party, but he is also a cherished friend and confidant.”

The office where the murder took place was the same one Bill Clinton rented when he made a comeback run for Arkansas governor in 1982.

Johnson walked in and asked to volunteer and wanted to talk to Gwatney.

Don’t drink the Kool Aid. Police reported Wednesday that they found about a pound of cyanide in a Denver hotel room, where the body of a man was discovered. Denver is the location of the Democratic Presidential Convention.

An expert told the Denver Post that the amount of cyanide is enough to kill hundreds of people.

The medical examiner’s office said it is awaiting test results to determine whether cyanide killed 29-year-old Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, a Samali national who recently moved to Canada.

Foul play is not suspected and his death appears to be an isolated incident, according to Denver police.

Foul play? An Islamic Samali national in Denver? So? All is well. Step away. Nothing to see here.

Meanwhile, the chief of staff for Democrat Senator Jim Webb was found shot to death.

Fred Hutchins, Jr., an aide to Sen. Jim Webb — and described as a “rising star” in Virginia Democratic politics — was found shot dead on Tuesday beside a Botetourt County road. A gun was found beneath his body but the medical examiner has not ruled it suicide or murder yet. He was 26 and a longtime political activist.

Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle said Hutchins’ body was found outside his SUV-type vehicle, on an embankment along U.S. 220 north of the town of Fincastle. He had a single gunshot wound in the head.

GregMitch’s diary

Covering Rielle Hunter and John Edwards was ‘not up to our level of journalism’

The News & Observer editor John Drescher said “We reported aggressively but used restraint when it came to publication.

WTF? Reporting without publishing is not reporting at all. Reminds me of the coverage the News & Observer gave the Duke LaCross team. Both stories will go down in history for showing that the Democrat rags slanted coverage against the college students of a great university in favor of an “exotic dancer” and known drug abuser backed by the local Democrat machine and DA Mike Nifong, to win votes from racists. This is also John Edwards’ home town newspaper.

No problem printing a story about “Office” star Kelly Kapoor spilling over. Right. We get it. It’s getting a little nipply out here.

The public has caught on to the agenda. That’s why the Web is crushing the corrupt newspaper editors Rielle Hunter is aka as Rielly Hunter.

The Edwards coverup helped Obama win nomination, knock out Hillary

It doesn’t take a political insider to figure out that the year-long cover up by the major media of Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards’ duel life cost Hillary Clinton the presidency. The mainstream media ignored the National Enquirer. Blogs caught on and the news of the ego-maniac Edwards couldn’t be shut down.

Can Hillary’s supporters expose who knew about Edwards and Hunter and when? What did Sen. Jim Webb know and when?

 

ABC reports:

Now what will happen  in Denver?

Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee if John Edwards had been caught in his lie about an extramarital affair and forced out of the race last year, insists a top Clinton campaign aide, making a charge that could exacerbate previously existing tensions between the camps of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

(AP Photo)

“I believe we would have won Iowa, and Clinton today would therefore have been the nominee,” former Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson told ABCNews.com.

Clinton finished third in the Iowa caucuses barely behind Edwards in second place and Obama in first. The momentum of the insurgent Obama camaign beating two better-known candidates — not to mention an African-American winning in such an overwhelmingly white state — changed the dynamics of the race forever.

Democrat John Edwards is finished politically. Rielly Hunter is behind him 100%

John Edwards has been having an affair with a female staff member, Rielly Hunter, at the same time he was using his dying wife, Elizabeth Edward’s cancer, as a campaign ploy to win sympathy votes. Even more ironic, it is now evident Edwards accepted a “Father of the Year” on about the day of conception of his love child.

THIS JUST IN: Edwards admits to the affair on “Nightline” tonight. She was never a film maker, but paid $100,000 for her “services.”

Is that legal? Not by Republican Congressional rules.

Now we now that Democrat pretty boy has been paying money to keep Miss Hunter quiet. She has been living in Santa Barbara while raising her child.

Are they waiting for Mrs. Edwards to die?

Why did Edwards visit Ms. Hunter at the posh Beverly Hills Hotel?

Chinese upset with Greorge W. Bush’s speech at Olympics about freedom

What kind of reception will Bush get? Perhaps a steaming platter of dog or perhaps a horse penis, both delicacies in China.

In a speech highlighting America’s historic freedoms and challenges ahead  in Asia, President Bush had boldly pushed China to enact a free press, free assembly,  freedom of religion  and labor rights in China, and spoke out sharply against its imprisonment of its citizens, human rights advocates and religious leaders. He said he wasn’t trying to antagonize China, but called such reform the only path the U.S. rival can take to reach its full potential.

This  sets the stage for an interesting reception when he attends the opening ceremonies Friday evening and meets with Hu on Sunday after attending church.

No other U.S. president has been so blunt with the Chinese  in modern history.

What kind of reception will Bush get? Perhaps a steaming platter of dog or perhaps a horse penis and testicles,  delicacies in China.

Pretty boy John Edwards thought he was safe from the mainstream media

Get your political currency here! The Enquirer kept on the beat. The Democrat’s pretty boy, Breck Girl, Silky Pony, John Edwards has been having an affair with a female staff member at the same time he was using Mrs. Edward’s cancer as a campaign ploy to win sympathy votes. Even more ironic, it is now evident Edwards accepted a “Father of the Year” on about the day of conception of his love child.

THIS JUST IN: Edwards admits to the affair that was going on while he ran for president and trotted his dying wife out to campaign with him.

Edward’s face may become the image icon for hypocrisy in the American Heritage Dictionary.

Edwards, still hoping to join the dream ticket with Obama has been protected from the mainstream media. But now, his hometown newspaper has looked into the matter.

No father is listed on the birth certificate of the child who the Enquirer has reported is linked to the former presidential contender and now VP hopeful.

What a dream it was. What a nightmare for Mrs. Edwards.

The document helps the Enquirer link the Democrat to a sexual relationship, and later a baby, with Rielle Hunter, who had been hired last year by Edwards’ presidential campaign.

The same time he had his wife on the campaign trail attracting women’s votes from Hillary.

Edwards is famous for backing the Green Party/socialist agenda while living in a 20,000 square foot house and jetting around the country to appear for photo ops in his bid to stay on the Democrat Party stage.

He jets around the nation and is driven by limos to each political function while he wants you, the little people to take busses and cheap SmartCars to work.

“Do as I say, not as I do.” Edwards has more hypocracy than Al Gore, Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry put together. He is finished with politics.

But there is more. Who benefits now  that Edwards is politically ruined? Time to connect the dots to Jim Webb and Hillary Clinton, both are in line for the VP spot now.

Next, we have to wonder about the Democrat activist who worked for both Edwards and Webb, Fred Hutchins. He  was found dead along a Virginia road in his car. “A likely suicide,” the report says.

It was the best of Times, now it’s the worst of The Times

The Trenton Times on Thursday announced a buyout to its full-time workers with the goal of reducing staff by 25 full-time, non-represented employees.

Richard Bilotti, the publisher said the reduction in employees at The Times is tied to a buyout and labor negotiation effort also announced Thursday at its sister paper, The Star-Ledger, which is the “mother ship.”

If The Ledger does not reduce its work force by 200 full-time, non-represented employees by Oct. 1 and the paper cannot reach labor agreements with its drivers union and mailers union by the same date, both papers will be sold. If The Times does not meet its buyout number, and the Star Ledger achieves its goals, The Times will be closed.

“Both the Star-Ledger and our newspaper have been suffering an unprecedented and steep decline in advertising revenue,” Bilotti said. “Therefore both newspapers are now facing a crisis. The situation is critical. The Star-Ledger and The Times are currently on life support.”

Bilotti is known for being optimistic about The Times.

What is the newspaper model? When did it break? Who really cares?

McClatchy’s stock is worth a gallon of gas, about $4.50. Think about that the next time you fill up.  Even the New York Times total assets are worth no more than its new building and the stock has no voting rights. A bargain at $13? You think?

 

As the pink slips fly this summer at the old, elite daily newspapers from coast to coast, I continue to hear editors say “the model is broken.” That’s a tip that they know not what they do. Corporations don’t call operational or marketing plans models. Businesses run on plans, financial reports including daily sales, expenses, industry trends, local trends and regroup when “off plan.” There is always Plan B.

Now a columnist at the Poynter Institute, the non-profit think tank created by Nelson Poynter to continue the St. Pete/Clearwater Times past his death (and keep the company operational after the Democrats’ death taxes), is saying this is a good time to buy newspaper stock. Not so much.

McClatchy’s stock is worth a gallon of gas, about $4.50. Think about that the next time you fill up.  Even the New York Times total assets are worth no more than its new building and the stock has no voting rights. A bargain at $13? You think?

But before you make a play at any of these stocks, remember the ancient Chinese saying, “Do not try and catch a falling knife.”

What is a newspaper worth? Compare it to an airline. Both industries have major payrolls, they are labor intensive, service businesses and both have major fuel costs. (Yeah, boys on bicycles don’t deliver papers anymore). Add newsprint to the newspaper costs.

Airlines sell seats. Newspapers sell space.

The airlines have business travelers and summertime vacationers. They have not lost any business class revenue and have done well with family fares because it is cheaper to fly than drive this summer. An airline can just cut back on less popular destinations. Keep the plane behind schedule and get a few more seats filled.

Newspaper revenue comes from advertising. They sell pages or column inches of advertising space instead of seats. But the newspaper planes take off every morning. They are flying the planes with a lot of empty seats.

The newspapers are run by the editors and sub-editors. Are airlines run by the flight attendants and pilots? I think not. Well, one is in a way. It’s not doing very well.

Advertising revenue is filling up the seats of the new online airbuses: Google, Yahoo, Drudgereport and Craigslist, with targeted advertising buys. The new online media has attractive “destinations:” young, well-educated middle class.

The newspapers destinations are not so hot. Think of 70 year olds in black socks, sandles and checker shorts, sitting at a park in Cleveland. “Wish you were still here.”

Not a pretty picture.

The U.S. is rich in oil. It’s time to vote out the Democrat/socialists and Green party communists

An inconvenient truth about untapped oil reserves in the U.S.

The Arctic could hold 90 billion barrels of oil and enough to supply U.S. demand for 12 years, the U.S. Geological Survey reported today.

One-third of the undiscovered oil is in Alaskan territory, the agency found in a study released on July 24, 2998. By contrast, a geologic formation beneath the North Pole claimed by Russian scientists last year probably holds just 1.2 percent of the Arctic’s crude, the U.S. report showed.

Energy producers such as Shell and Chevron have increased exploration of the region for untapped reserves amid record prices and receding access to deposits in more hospitable climates. Russia’s move last year to scrap a United Nations convention and carve out an exclusive Arctic zone sparked protests from Canada, the U.S., Norway and Denmark.

“Most of the Arctic, especially offshore, is essentially unexplored with respect to petroleum,” Donald Gautier, the project chief for the assessment, said in the report. “The extensive Arctic continental shelves may constitute the geographically largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on Earth.”

(Except for the thousands of miles of continental shelf of the U.S. that has been virtually shut off by the Democrat party since the time of Jimmy Carter).

Imagine the wealth that is being wasted. It’s enough to wipe out the national debt and build a new Dubai. It’s time to vote out every Democrat and any Republican who will not drill here and drill now.

The Final Stages of a Dying Star Tribune

By Mick Gregory

We are observing the death throws of a star on its way to becoming a white dwarf. Gasses spewing, used matter is shredded and  thrown out. The size of the once bright, powerful force rapidly shrinks as it collapses on itself. These are the telltale signs of a dying star.

The Star Tribune, once among the Midwest’s largest newspapers, was purchased by the Sacramento-based McClatchy media company in 1998. The “executive editors”  paid $1.2 billion for it from a family who wanted out of the business.

In less than 10 years, the rapid growth of Google, Drudgereport, Craigslist, E-Bay, FaceBook and WordPress lured away much of the newspaper audience and built new readers/users that were not newspaper-friendly. So the advertising found new rising stars.

Last year, Avista, a New York-based private equity group, purchased the dying Star Tribune for less than half of what McClatchy paid only eight years earlier.

Since Avista’s purchase, the star has been shedding  reporters, editors, photographers, advertising sales staff and designers through two rounds of buyouts and the elimination of open positions. That was just a show for creditors.

The Star Tribune’s long-term business slump has continued, with revenue declining by about 25 percent, from $400 million in 2000 to $300 million last year, according to a Star Tribune story in July. While major expenses such as newsprint and transportation  increased.  Even those adult newspaper carriers throwning papers out of the window of their pickups, need to be paid.

Several weeks ago, Avista announced that it was writing down the value of its $100 million equity investment in the Star Tribune to $25 million. That’s $75 million wiped out in one year. The Star shed more than $1.15 billion in value over nine years. The new owners are getting pennies on the dollar trying to restructure their debt.

The only candidates for buying into debt-ridden newspapers now are hedge funds, especially those that make a specialty of distressed debt investments, according to several industry observers. It’s called a loan-to-own strategy, they calculate that the owners like Avista will default on their new loans and the fund becomes the new owner for pennies on the dollar. What’s left may be some downtown real estate and a false store-front Web site. This is the white dwarf stage. And there are hundreds more flickering, spewing gas and spitting out  used up matter.

Michael Savage feeling the heat from big pharmaceutical companies and the usual liberal suspects

I know Michael Savage. I’ve been to a few of his events and was a regular caller on his show “The Savage Nation.” Savage is not a raving lunatic attacking autism victims. In fact he had a brother with severe mental and physical disabilities.

What the learned author and authority on herbal medicine is doing is exposing the AMA and BIG Pharmaceutical companies for taking control of the system and broadening the life-long sale of dangerous, under-tested drugs on innocent children.

Dr. Savage has always been against Big Brother/Big Sis manipulation and is one of the last true advocates of freedom in America.

Could Savage be on to something? Is Autism being over sold? Why are some calling it the American disease?

This story by Elizabeth Gorman on MinnPost.com shows an oddity. It should be researched further.

The article reports that an unusually large proportion of Somali-speaking children in Minnesota have autism, something that has also been noted in Sweden, where Somali immigrants call autism “the Swedish Disease,” because they did not see it back in East Africa.  Could it be that booth American and Swedish pharmaceutical companies are expanding the market for their drugs?

According to the report, almost 6 percent of the Minneapolis school district’s total enrollment is made up of Somali-speaking students. But in the city’s early childhood and kindergarten programs, “more than 12 percent of the students with autism reported speaking Somali at home,” and over “17 percent of students in the district’s early childhood special education autism program are Somali speaking,” the article said.

Somali kids with autism seem to be doing worse, on average, than their school mates: “About a quarter of all autism children who attend autism classrooms for students functioning too low to be mainstreamed in regular schoolrooms are Somali.”

The statewide autism rate in Minnesota is already quite high — at 100 per 10,000 children, as compared to the national average estimate of 67 per 10,000. In the Somali immigrant community, however, it could be much higher than either of those figures.

The Washington Post and New York Times preach affirmative action for every other organization, but they don’t practice it

The New York Times is a daily promotional newsletter for the elite liberals and Democrat party. The  high paying positions are filled by family members and friends from the inner circle of the Democrat party.  A former speech writer for Bill Clinton rejected an Op-Ed letter from John McCain, while printing Obama’s letter in full the week before.

Take a look at the CEO, publisher and executive editor positions at the New York Times. It’s all in the family. And one of the biggest jokes on Wall Street, their stock is like the Democrat’s super delegates, the Sulzberger family has voting rights while all the other stockholders do not. That assures that Pinch Sulzberger stays highly paid as CEO and publisher of the crumbling empire. Pinchy gets to travel to Devos, Switzerland to discuss economic issues on the non-voting stock holders’ dime. (Devos is one of the most expensive resorts in the world).

Why isn’t the NYT practicing affirmative action? Appoint Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton as publisher or at least on the board of directors.  Practice what you preach, affirmative action where it counts.

“We are delighted that these two exceptional individuals have agreed to be nominees for election by our shareholders,” the company’s chairman, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., said in a press release sday announcing the news. “The skills, expertise and leadership qualities of these two nominees will greatly benefit our Company during this time of tremendous change in the media world.”
One new director,  Dawn Lepore, served as a director of Wal-Mart from 2001 to 2004. While Ms. Lepore was serving as a Wal-Mart director, along side Hillary Clinton, the Times was denouncing Wal-Mart for a series of supposed sins.  The other  director is from “Big Oil.” Google it if you don’t believe me.

 The Washington Post created a media group and a high paying job for family member Katharine Weymouth, part of the Graham family. Weymouth is the niece of CEO Donald Graham.

A new generation of the Graham family  is taking a lead role. Katharine Weymouth, niece of chairman and CEO Donald Graham, has been appointed CEO of Washington Post Media, a new unit that includes the paper and Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive. This should bring the business sides closer together, perhaps even integrating them, but the newsrooms will remain distinct.

She also becomes the fifth member of the Graham family to serve as publisher, returning the family to that post as she succeeds Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr.; he is now vice chairman of the company and chairman of the Washington Post (NYSE: WPO).

The Washington Post is actually getting some heat for its elite liberal act.

Washington Post Metro reporter Robert Pierre  said it’s “unconscionable” that the paper would devote a year and 12 chapters to the murder of a white woman — Chandra Levy — when around 200 people per year are murdered in DC — most of them black males. “I personally hope that people march on the paper and throw the papers back,” he says. “It is absolutely absurd and dare I say, racist, at its core.”

Let’s see Obama’s plans on issues such as ‘free health care’ for everyone

The Democrats have done a good job with high minded sounding goals such as “free or universal health care for all Americans.” Question: who do these politicians think are Americans? Are illegal immigrants Americans? Do we have mainstream reporters who will ask Sen. Obama? Where is the money going to come from to pay for 30 million illegals’ health care?

What percentage of illegal immigrants carry auto insurance, let alone health insurance?

Obama has said, proudly and often, “I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage.” But are they “Americans?”That 47 million statistic includes illegal immigrants - who virtually all lack insurance. In fact, about one in four of those lacking insurance is here illegally. And they are, by far, the group most in need of health insurance. — Reported by Dick Morris.

“We can’t drill our way out of the energy crisis.” We can’t? Why not try? Most of the U.S. coastline has not been explored. Wouldn’t it be better for every U.S. citizen if there was more enegry coming to market? What are Americans going to do with their 100 million cars sell them to third world countries as we convert overnight to minielectric carts at $30,000 per auto? Where are the factories putting out millions of batteries? What kind of footprint will those tons of batteries have on the evnironment? What is the realistic timeline?

The land of the freebies.

Covering millions of poor illegal families with free healthcare will bust our system. And would encourage more poor to enter America illegally. Within a few more years of this mass migration to the land of the freebies, and the U.S. will become a failed state.

Oil at $8 per gallon will shut down the system. People won’t be able to afford to go to work.

I can’t help but think many Democrats are looking forward to that.