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stephley Huh? Jul 8, 2010 1:12 PM This seems weird and exploitive to me - does anyone understand it better? KEENE, Calif. - July 8 - United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez appears with comedian Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central at 11:30 p.m. Thursday, July 8 as part of the national "Take Our Jobs" campaign aimed at recruiting U.S. citizens and legal residents to fill jobs that frequently go to undocumented farm workers and to urge enactment of immigration reform. The UFW has launched the national "Take Our Jobs" campaign that invites U.S. citizens and legal residents to replace tens of thousands of immigrant field laborers, most of whom are undocumented. Rodriguez and Colbert will address growing anti-immigrant sentiment and encourage Americans to apply for jobs that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calls one of the top 10 most dangerous in the nation. The appearance is part of the national campaign to generate public interest in the Take Our Jobs effort. Organizers of the campaign plan to take it to Congress in hopes of getting much needed immigration reform passed. The drive spotlights the issue of immigrant laborers who are the backbone of the country's agricultural economy. Without reform, domestic agriculture could be crippled, leading to more jobs moving off shore. The farm worker population of the United States is overwhelmingly immigrant, with about 85 percent of workers born outside of the United States. Today, the vast majority of farm workers are unauthorized, according to government statistics. The UFW has negotiated the AgJobs bill with the agricultural industry that would give undocumented farm workers presently here the right to earn legal status by continuing to work in agriculture. Senators Diane Feinstein (D-Ca.) and Richard Lugar (R-In.) are the principal co-authors in the Senate and U.S. Reps. Adam Putnam (R-Fa.) and Howard Berman (D-Ca.) are chief sponsors in the House. "The Colbert Report" will air at 11:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on the Comedy Central cable network. Visit the campaign website at: www.takeourjobs.org
stephley Stephen Colbert: God Tells Glenn Beck to Exploit MLK’s Legacy Jun 24, 2010 10:13 AM We haven't had any 'just for us' fun in a while: The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
stephley Orrin Hatch Really a Tea Party Kind of Guy May 17, 2010 5:19 PM HATCH HOPES YOU HAVE A SHORT MEMORY.... Matt Yglesias and Matt Corley flag this very amusing exchange between Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and far-right media personality Laura Ingraham. Hatch was asked whether he understands the rage from Tea Partiers who helped drive his colleague, Sen. Bob Bennett, from Congress. OH: Yeah, I do. And I'll tell you why because I listen to these folks, I don't disagree with them. They're angry for good reasons. I mean, my gosh, these people in Washington are running this country right into the ground. And I think people are dog-gone angry about it. LI: But aren't you part of Washington? OH: Hell no. I've never been. I've never considered this a job. I've had, people have asked me, they said, "Say, Senator Hatch, don't you just love being a U.S. senator?" My constant answer is this. No, I don't love it at all, but I'm good at it. There are a few interesting angles to this. The first, which Yglesias noted, is that it's pretty tough for Hatch to say he isn't part of Washington -- not only has he been in the Senate for 34 years, but his son is a highly-paid lobbyist in D.C., too. But let's go a little further. It's also amusing because Hatch claims he shares common ground with the right-wing Tea Party crowd. What he neglected to mention is that he's been bashing these same activists for months. Apparently hoping that the right wing of his party doesn't have Google, Hatch argued in February that the Tea Partiers must do more to support moderate Republicans and stop being so dogmatic. More recently, Hatch said these activists too often "don't have an open mind and they won't listen." As for Hatch's belief that "these people in Washington are running this country right into the ground," it'd be easier to take the senator seriously if he weren't just a transparent hack. When Hatch and his friends ran the government, they pushed the economy to the brink of collapse; racked up trillions of dollars in debt; expanded the size of government without paying for it (Hatch said "it was standard practice not to pay for things" when the GOP was in charge); bungled two wars, one of which was launched under false pretenses; and ignored and/or neglected nearly every area of domestic public policy. But "these people" are undermining the United States? In Grown-Up Land, "these people" have spent 16 months trying to clean up the painful and humiliating mess Hatch and his buddies left for the nation to deal with. Seems like a senator who's "good at" his job would be aware of this. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/
stephley Reporters tell WND to take a hike after its latest Obama expose. May 6, 2010 12:28 PM WorldNetDaily released another one of its "explosive" books this week, billing it as the most "exhaustive investigation ever performed into [President] Obama’s political background and radical ties." Written by Aaron Klein, the reporter who broke the story about Obama’s association with former Weatherman Bill Ayers during the 2008 campaign, The Manchurian President promises to reveal “shocking” new details about Obama’s association with the Nation of Islam, how his “hope” and “change” campaign slogans actually stem from communist activism, and "startling" new facts about his eligibility to serve as president. By Wednesday, the book had already hit #5 on the Amazon top seller list. What a surprise, then, that so many journalists have refused to read it. According to WND, the mainstream journalists who received free copies for their perusal not only weren’t interested, but they sent really nasty notes to the nice publicist who sent the books: "Ridiculous crap," retorted John Oswald, news editor for the New York Daily News. "Never, ever contact me again," wrote Time Magazine senior writer Jeffrey Kluger. Newsweek deputy editor Rana Foroohar quipped, "This is sensational rubbish that is of no interest to any legitimate publication." "Absolute crap," replied Evelyn Leopold, a Huffington Post contributor who served for 17 years as U.N. bureau chief for Reuters until recently. Nancy Gibbs, editor-at-large for Newsweek, fired, "Remove me from your list." David Knowles, AOL's political writer, responded, "seriously, get a life." Ben Wyskida, publicity director for The Nation, claimed Klein's book is "so offensive" and "so far afield." (Mother Jones, sadly, was not sent a copy of the book, but for the record, we would have happily taken one.) Reporters' reaction to WND’s latest publishing feat is just the most recent indignity the company has suffered at the hands of the mainstream media. Last month, WND filed suit against the White House Correspondents Association for refusing to give the outfit three tables at its prestigious annual dinner. WND alleges that the association snubbed its White House correspondent, Les Kinsolving, by refusing him a ticket to the event, at which WND had hoped to celebrate the publication of his new biography, Gadfly. So WND engaged Clinton-era legal pest Larry Klayman to sue. It's demanding $10 million. WND has griped that it was discriminated against by the association, of which Kinsolving has been a member for much longer than say, anyone at Huffington Post, which got a table at the event even thought it wasn’t even a member of the association a year ago. The WHCA’s action, the complaint says, "harms WND's access to White House reporting and its reputation generally, as it is being treated as a 'black sheep' in the media world." This isn’t the first time WND has run into trouble with the mainstream media gatekeepers. In 2002, the Senate press gallery denied WND reporters press credentials giving them media access to the Hill. It was ultimately accredited after threatening to sue. Of course, there’s a reason WND might be getting the cold shoulder. For instance, "Kooky" Kingsolving, as Politico has dubbed him, is famous for asking questions during White House press conferences like this one: “While he was in Hawaii, did the president visit the hospital where he was reportedly born, which is which one?" And it’s not hard to see why the media organizations might not want WND in their midst. Joseph Farah, WND’s publisher, has bought billboard advertising questioning Obama’s citizenship, an issue that has long been settled. (Obama is one.) The group's reporting ethics have also been a little suspect. Last year, WND published The Muslim Mafia, a book written after the son of one of its authors "infiltrated" the Council on American Islamic Relations by pretending to be a Muslim convert and getting a job there as an intern. He then proceeded to steal a bunch of documents that were later used to write the book. Still, none of that is any reason for journalists to respond with such hostility to a free book. As with most of the books they get every day from publicists, they don’t have to read it. Source URL: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/05/worldnet-dailys-latest-snub
stephley Stupids on the Spill May 3, 2010 11:32 AM The BP oil spill is on par to outpace the Exxon Valdez oil spill in terms of size, impact, and devastation, which is no small feat. The Valdez spill cost billions of dollars to clean up, killed hundreds of thousands of animals, and registered a debilitating effect to the coastal ecosystem. And yet, we see, once again, that there's no shortage of people who seem to forget easily, or are downright ignorant of the catastrophe an oil spill of this magnitude presents. To illustrate, I bring you the 7 stupidest things said about the BP oil spill so far . . . Some of these statements are made out of pure ignorance, while others are clearly intended to downplay the impact of the event, and any ramifications it might have on offshore drilling in general. Without further ado: 7. Rush Limbaugh: Environmentalists probably blew up the oil rig Ah, yes. Where would any major event be if Rush Limbaugh wasn't around to say something idiotic about it? This time, Limbaugh predictably uses the fact that the explosion happened around Earth Day to, yes, blame environmentalists for it. Here's some of the quote: "But this bill, the cap-and-trade bill, was strongly criticized by hardcore environmentalist wackos because it supposedly allowed more offshore drilling and nuclear plants, nuclear plant investment. So, since they're sending SWAT teams down there, folks, since they're sending SWAT teams to inspect the other rigs, what better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I'm just noting the timing here." Such a sleuth, that Limbaugh. And that's just a snippet of his inane rant. 6. Rep. Taylor Compares Oil Slick to Chocolate Milk On a television at a local station in Biloxi, Representative Gene Taylor (D-MS) attempted to downplay the severity of the oil leak -- yes, the one that may be spewing a million barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico -- by comparing it to chocolate milk. Taylor said, "I would remind people that the oil is twenty miles from any marsh. ... That chocolate milk looking spill starts breaking up in smaller pieces ... It is tending to break up naturally." His 'it's-not-that-bad" message took the host by surprise -- but his embarrassingly misleading attempts to save face for offshore drilling practices makes sense, as he's long a staunch supporter of expanding offshore drilling. Also, that oil is already washing up on the shore. You're going to have to do better than pretending that this isn't a big deal. 5. Sarah Palin Promotes Offshore Drilling As Massive Oil Leak Continues File this one under the 'you've got to be kidding me' header. Seriously? Doesn't Palin at least have PR advisers that can tell her to hold off on promoting offshore drilling while the biggest offshore drilling accident in US history is spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf? Evidently not -- she went right on calling to 'Drill, Baby, Drill' at a speech in Kansas City last Saturday. 4. Bill Kristol Says Offshore Drilling Should be Brought Closer to Land The conservative thought leader Bill Kristol has made a remarkably idiotic statement in the wake of the BP oil spill -- saying that "If we hadn't stopped closer-in drilling after the Santa Barbara accident 40 years ago -- we've had these Congressional restrictions until 2008, for 40 years -- we'd have more drilling closer in which is probably less dangerous, less treacherous than trying to drill 50 miles out from the coast," in a discussion on Fox News. Of course, if Kristol had his way, the oil would be piling up on shore much, much sooner, and preventative and cleanup efforts would be next to impossible. 3. T. Boone Pickens: "All of that will get cleaned up and we'll be back" T. Boone Pickens, the famed oil man and architect of the thus-far non-operational Pickens plan, has made a surprisingly overoptimistic and largely ignorant assessment of the spill: this is, you know, an unusual case but there've been others like this so I think way too much is being made of the... of the oil that's being... that's coming out there in the Gulf. All of that will get cleaned up and we'll be back... we'll be back to normal, the world hasn't changed because of this blowout. He said this on MSNBC just last Sunday, when there was already plenty of evidence contrary to nearly all of those points: Experts have said that they'll be "lucky" if 15% of the spill gets cleaned up -- most of it simply will not. Secondly, there have not been others like this, as bad as this -- not in US history. 2. Tony Hayward, CEO of BP: "What the hell did we do to deserve this?" How about not complying with safety regulations, lobbying hard for softer, 'voluntary' safety reports as opposed to proper oversight, and boasting a history of negligence and accidents, for starters? Yes, the CEO of BP reportedly asked that question aloud to fellow executives in London -- and maybe he should take a closer look at his company's lousy safety record before counting himself (and his $5 million a year salary) as so unfortunate. 1. Rush Limbaugh: Oil Spill is as "Natural as the Ocean Water is." It's only fitting that our list begins and ends with Limbaugh. The first statement he made, while undeniably stupid, is the sort of thing that he can be counted on to spout while blathering about the 'left' and those 'wacko environmentalists'. But this statement is 100% objectively stupid: ""The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there," Limbaugh said. "It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is." Woops. Here's TreeHugger's Michael Graham Richards taking down: "This shows a total lack of understanding, a big 'science fail'... "Natural" doesn't always mean good, despite what the marketing people would like you to believe. Arsenic, lead and mercury are as natural as can be, but you wouldn't want them in your food or your living room. Well, crude oil is also natural, but it's toxic to most living organisms (exceptions are rare, mostly bacteria), and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are the living room and fridge of cou ntless species." And once again, Rush Limbaugh has been proven to be, wholly and unequivocally, an idiot. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/7-stupidest-statements-bp-gulf-oil-spill.php

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Orrin Hatch Really a Tea Party Kind of Guy Orrin Hatch Really a Tea Party Kind of Guy
Reporters tell WND to take a hike after its latest Obama expose. Reporters tell WND to take a hike after its latest Obama expose.

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