Tag: ap

North Korea Wants Ticket to Obama Inauguration

Yup, they want to send their chief nuclear envoy to witness the coronation inauguration of Obama.

They were even extra super nice in asking and refrained from their usual US-bashing crap.

If the Associated Press is right about these bad guys (who are really just misunderstood good guys) then maybe they’ve turned of a new, less murderous, leaf:

The North’s move, if confirmed, would be another sign the regime is eager to forge good relations with the next U.S. administration.

But, gee-golly, call me a skeptic cause I just ain’t buying the happy face routine. Though it looks like we will never know because Washington has decided to rain on the parade and deny Pyongyang seats at the ball.

Bobby Jindal Says ‘No’ to Presidential Run

In a bit of sad news Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal bluntly told reporters “No” when asked if he was interested in being President.

The question came while Jindal was in Virgina endorsing Bob McDonnell who is a Republican running for governor of Virginia. And it came after Jindal stirred up speculation by visiting the all important primary state of Iowa last month.

Unfortunately, this rules out my favorite candidate for ’12. A man who has earned praise and respect for his successful application of conservative principles at a time when the popular thing to do is turn left. He has the credintials and ability to revive the party and the conservative movement, if he’s up to the task.

Fortunately, nothing any of the candidates say about running for president in ’12 means much of anything. Although it seems a little cynical to hope that someone I view as respectable is lying about his intentions…

AP Cites Workers ‘Occupying’ Factory as a ‘Rallying Point’

In an article heroically chronicling the efforts of 200 union workers “occupying” their old window and door factory the Associated Press made sure to emphasize how the squatters have given the nation’s grim economy a “rallying point.”

Here is how they introduced the story (emphasis added):

The nation’s grim economy now has a rallying point: Employees at a window-and-door factory that went out of business have taken over the building in a siege that has come to symbolize the woes of the ordinary worker.

Yes, that’s right; the AP sees a group of people who are illegally squatting on private property as symbolic of ordinary workers. They even describe the actions of these workers as a “siege” in an apparent sign that the AP thinks people unhappy with the bad economy should rally and lay siege to their work places.

But the AP wasn’t finished glamorizing and militarizing these workers actions:

The Republic Windows and Doors factory closed abruptly last week after Bank of America canceled the company’s financing. Since then, about 200 of the 240 laid-off workers have taken turns occupying the factory, declaring that they will not leave until getting assurances they will receive severance and accrued vacation pay.

Now, not only are the glorious workers laying ‘siege’ to the factory but they are occupying it and declaring their demands for money be met before they leave. As shocking and unlawful as this may seem to others it seems the AP can’t get enough of this behavior.

But the standoff has also come to embody mounting anger over the government’s willingness to bail out deep-pocketed corporations but not average people.

However, even as the AP is cheering on this act which they seem to view as something  glorious and militaristic they cast doubts on the legitimacy of the workers claim that the law says they are owed vacation pay because they were not given 60 days notice before they were laid off:

The law allows businesses to close without giving the required notice under certain circumstances, such as if another company that is the sole source of income suddenly goes out of business, said Mark Johnson, president of Erisa Benefits Consulting in Grapevine, Texas, who said he was not familiar with the Republic case.

Associated Press Cites Cookie Success as Example of Obama’s Change

No… I couldn’t make this up if I tried:

Want an example of the change Barack Obama is bringing to the country? Check out cookie sales at Baby Boomers Cafe in Des Moines.

Yes… that’s right, not only is Obama our new savior but he is now our new Pillsbury Doughboy.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_I3br9m-68

Actually, judging by this comment from the owner of the cafe that Obama has shown his grace upon maybe he is a strange doughboy messiah combination, or, in other words, he is a savory savior:

“I think everybody just … thought, ‘Oh, great cookie, great president _ the world is a happy place. Barack’s going to fix all the problems and if I have a bite of this cookie it’s going to make me feel good,'”

Horrifying attack on McCain supporter in Pittsburgh; Update: Daily Kos has no sympathy, neither do conservatives?

UPDATE: ASHLEY TODD ADMITS TO POLICE THAT SHE MADE THE WHOLE THING UP (Click here for details)

Follow this link for more Updates on this story. Is it real or a hoax? You tell me

According to the Pittsburgh police, Shortly before 9 p.m. October 22nd a woman was robbed at knife point while making a transaction at an ATM in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

After the man took $60 dollars from the victim he reportedly noticed that there was a John McCain sticker on the victim’s car which enraged him. The 6’4″ 200 pound man then proceeded to punch and kick the victim before finally using his knife to “scratch” the letter B into her face.

Here is the original story.

Here is a more in depth story (video included).

UPDATE: If anybody was still doubting how deprived the far left nut jobs over at the Daily Kos are why don’t you take a look at their reaction to this story…

Here are some comments that sum up the level of hate for the victim in this story:

By ksh01:

Interesting that it happened “outside of the view of the bank’s surveillance cameras” and that the injuries were such that she refused medical treatment and they didn’t overrule that.

By dworth:

Aha… Never doubt the victim, especially when it’s a woman…

but…

By ksh01:

yeah, you’re right. I get a little skeptical when these types of stories crop up with no verification or witnesses and such an unusual injury that feeds into a “white fright” scenario in a state with a rural racial divide.

By dworth:

Don’t blame you… their crazies are nuts enough to cut their own faces at this point…

but we just don’t know. So we just have to see what she can prove or not.

By ksh01:

considering she sought no medical treatment for a facial injury, I’d have to see it to believe her face was cut. […]

By Mogolori:

McCain needs race riots to turn the tide. That’s his only hope. Expect more of these “stories.”

By GlowNZ:

let me guess shes a white female right?
imagine the visuals of that, a white female being attacked by a black guy…

Yup, that’s right, she’s a lying racist who wants to incite race riots by cutting her own face in order to get John McCain elected president.

But what shocks me more is that Ace of Spades seems to of had a similar first reaction too (at least on two points)… and Allah Pundit over at Hot air even said some of Ace’s post made “good points”.

First, what the hell is wrong with you people at the Daily Kos? A women reports being robbed and assaulted and your first reaction is shes a liar and a racist? You have absolutely no reason to doubt her.

And what were you thinking Ace (and, to a lesser extent, Ap)? You really think every mugging and assault is caught on tape? and whose to say this preliminary report is even correct that it wasn’t caught on tape? Plus, do you really think the police would pass along fallacies about cuts on a persons face (they may well file a report by they would also note that there were no visible marks on her face if that was, in fact, the case)? and how does refusing medical attention somehow mean that she wasn’t hurt?

I am disgusted by initial reactions to this story… from all sides it seems. There was no reason to legitimately doubt this story and now that there is obvious photographic evidence that this woman was indeed attacked I hope all those who instantly doubted her claims feel some shame for the crap they pulled…

In case you were looking, here’s the picture of the injuries Ashley Todd, the victim, sustained:

*Disclaimer* I am not trying to put Ace of spades or Allah Pundit on the same level as anybody at the Daily Kos. It seems to me that they considered these claims because they were being overly cautious where as the DK crowd pushed these claims because they hate anybody politically opposed to them. Besides both Ace and AP gave up these ridiculous claims once more evidence of the attack came to light.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin jumps on the “shes probably a liar” bandwagon… What is going on? I get the desire for caution but geeze. Yea there absolutely have been hoaxes before but what reason do we really have to believe this is one? Because she didn’t go to the hospital immediately (she went today reportedly)? Because the B carved into her face is backwards?

First, she obviously wasn’t horribly maimed (as the photo shows) so who cares if she went to the hospital? After all she is a college student and being an expert on college students, since I am one, hospital trips are damn expensive and I probably wouldn’t have gone if I only had some bruises and a not-so-deep cut. So lets all just get over this idiotic “she didn’t immediately rush to the hospital” criticism.

Second, the appearance in the picture that the “B” on her face is backwards PROVES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. There are a million different reasons it is that way, the positions the two people where in when he cut her, the picture could be backwards, the mugger did it that way on purpose for whatever reason, the mugger is an illiterate dumb ass who writes his Bs backwards (after all he is mugging people), or, yes, she may have done it herself, along with beating herself, for attention.

But lets just think about the assertion that she faked this for a second, since thats all the rage. For that to be true and for the hoax to not have been disproven nearly immedaitly by the police this woman would have had to go to this atm, a place with multiple surveillance cameras, take out money, find the blind spots of the bank’s cameras, beat herself up (or get someone to beat her up), then cut a B into her face (and since the B on her face is backwards that rules out someone else doing it, at least according to the “its a hoax” folks), then call the police and fake her way through the whole story.

Is this scenario possible? Sure. Does it seem likely at this point? Not to me.

There just simply isn’t any good reason to think this woman is pulling a hoax, especially since she wasn’t the one who went public with this information and, at least according to some of her twitter posts (by the way I wanna know what Malkin finds odd about Ashley Todd’s twitter), doesn’t even seem all that shaken up by this event. Those things all reinforce the idea that she isn’t pulling a hoax. And all the information we currently have makes me, at the very least, grant her the benefit of the doubt.

But I guess the concept of benefit of a doubt is dead for most others… I guess we will see who is right.

UPDATE: Seems that a celebrity gossip blog posting (right after a post on David Becham’s spitting habits, great source) and a upside down “B” prove everything now a days since people have already started posting hate mail on Ashley Todd’s Twitter (censored):

eitan: @atodd even MICHELLE MALKIN thinks you’re a f***ing liar and a racist fraud. nice job.

Also let me explain why Ashley Todd’s Twitter, or at least what we refer to as her twitter (its actually her profile on “life in the field” a site for College Republican volunteers), seems “odd”. The posts we are seeing on her site are not normal twitter status updates but instead they are posts in a specific discussion. That’s why they don’t seem to make sense as updates… because they aren’t updates most of them are responses to questions in a discussion with other College Republican reps.

UPDATE: More information including the fact that Ashley Todd has volunteered to take a polygraph test…

Bristol Palin watch out… The AP has a crush on Levi Johnston

Yea, you read it right.

The Associated Press seems to have a crush on Levi Johnston, which is obviously odd considering the fact that the AP has been so very unfriendly and unprofessional towards the Palins.

On second thought though… I guess only one thing changed. Now instead of being unfriendly and unprofessional they are too friendly and unprofessional. I mean this article, while less deranged than their others, still fails the test of legitimacy for a professional news agency.

Just look at some of these quotes from the article (my emphasis added):

“Johnston, a Wasilla heartthrob, said he wanted to set the record straight.”

“He’s dark haired, tall and muscular, sports a bit of stubble and drives a red Chevy Silverado truck.”

“He’d be the perfect cover for Field & Stream.“

Seriously, I thought this was an article about Levi dispelling all the idiotic rumors swirling around him not a five dollar romance novel you’d buy from the corner drug store.

Don’t get me wrong though, I love that the AP suddenly decided to debunk some of the myths they surely helped to create but when I look at this article how am I supposed to take it seriously? Come on AP, being unprofessional in the other direction for once doesn’t make you balanced…