News Junkie - Live Wire

FOX/CNN/MSNBC DISSECTED

Some great analysis of the current cable media landscape from CJR today. I disagree with a few points (especially the bit about MSNBC offering a rainbow of opinons) but this quote is interesting:

From personal experience covering news around the world, you almost always run into a CNN crew or stringer. You almost never run into a Fox reporter, and never one from MSNBC.

Read the whole thing at CJR’s website.

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ROY ASHBURN: “I’M GAY”

California State Senator Roy Ashburn admits to being a homosexual in an interview today on KERN. You can listen to the interview in this post and read the details here. Ashburn vows to carry on.

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BETTY WHITE TO SNL

After a massive online movement to draft her into the hosting duties at Saturday Night Live, Betty White confirms she will appear on the show.

But will she host?

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PETA TARGETS SEAWORLD

PETA sees a wounded opponent in SeaWorld after last month’s killer whale attack. Their latest mantra: “Let whales and dolphins ‘out of prison.’

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ADAM GADAHN CAPTURED

HUGE news out of Pakistan: American-born al-Qaeda leader Adam Gadahn has been arrested.

Update: It’s not him?

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NYT ON SCIENTOLOGY

‘Breaking With Scientology’ won’t hit print until tomorrow but you can read the New York Times assault on Scientology online right now.

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PHOTOS: TOYOTA HEARINGS

Executives from Toyota Motor Corp made the journey to Washington D.C. this morning to face down angry customers seething over their company’s recall follies. Take a look at these pictures from today’s event.

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THE BLOOM BOX

I can’t decide if the Bloom Box is the greatest invention ever or if I’m a bit like an old lady being conned by a slimy auto mechanic. Regardless, you have to watch this video. [Video]

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SCOTTY LAGO PHOTOS

Snowboarder Scotty Lago leaves the Olympic village in Vancouver after sexually suggestive photos of the bronze medalist and his trophy surfaced online. Lago says he’s in a ‘blackout’ and can’t talk about the event until next month. [View The Photos]

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RAY GOSLING ARRESTED

What happens when you admit to a murder on British public television? Well, you get arrested, of course. BBC presenter Ray Gosling arrested on suspicion of murder. [Details]

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TIGER WOODS PRESSER

Tiger Woods will finally reemerge from the shadows this Friday. The golf pro and reported sex addict is planning on holding a press conference at the PGA headquarters at 11AM Eastern. [Details]

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JOE BIDEN’S FOREHEAD

As I was watching President Obama’s stimulus update presser today, several readers emailed to ask ‘What’s that spot on Joe Biden’s forehead?’ Joe Biden is the first Catholic Vice President the U.S. has seen so each Ash Wednesday these questions float in like crazy. It’s Ash Wednesday, folks.

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Slow News Day: Personal Note

You may have noticed a bit of a slow down here on the site. I’m in the process of packing up everything I own and sending it to Chicago. I’ll keep updating you as the move progresses… big things are happening. The posts will keep flowing, just not as often as I would like them to. Details to follow…

chicago


Virus Time Bomb? Or Hype Fest?

Experts have struggled to tackle it, and they do not know who controls it or why it was created. But on Wednesday the virus, dubbed Conficker, will “call home” to its creator to seek new instructions. No one knows what will happen next.

“The biggest mystery about Conficker is why? What exactly is it that these bad guys are planning to do with it?” said Mikko Hypponen of the Finnish computer security company


Taliban Says ‘Amazing’ Attack Coming

Coming to where? Well, if you believe Baitullah Mehsud, the U.S.:

Baitullah Mehsud, who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S., said Monday’s attack outside the eastern city of Lahore was in retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border.

“Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world,” Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone. He provided no details.


Matthews: Palin’s A ‘Mail-Order Bride’

This guy is such an epic ‘I’m going to do what I can to make this work’ joke at this point, I almost hesitate to follow him. Then again, someone has to pay attention.


Mysterious Lights Prompt Curious Calls

No video on this yet but I’ll keep an eye out…

Callers from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina described brilliant, streaking lights followed by an explosion-like sound at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday.

One 11 News viewer in Carroll County e-mailed to say she “spotted a large fireball in the western sky. It started out being about star brightness, then increasingly got brighter and greener. As it got green, it had an orange


‘Bruno’ Movie Hit With NC-17 Rating

This should please Congressman Ron Paul… you may remember an earlier report about Paul being featured in a politically embarrassing scene in the movie. The NC-17 rating, if it sticks, is sure to keep the hordes away.

Universal’s ”Bruno,” the widely anticipated Sacha Baron Cohen docu-comedy opening in July, has been slapped with an NC-17 rating on its first submission to the Motion Picture Association of America because of numerous sexual scenes


CEO ‘Secretly’ Working In Warehouse

The best way to get an on-the-ground assessment, I’m guessing?

bezos

Local Amazon employees say Bezos is working in the warehouse with the company’s hourly employees to see what they do and hear their comments about their work.

Most CEOs would benefit from spending a few days on the shop floor. Life has changed there since they were young and on the way up — thanks to innovators, such as Amazon.com.


PETA Killed 95% Of Adoptables In ‘08

If you’ve never watched Penn and Teller’s ‘Bullsh*t’ on PETA, you’re a few steps behind on this one. Apparently, the organization that screams so loud for ‘animal rights’ doesn’t quite practice what it preaches. Of the 2,124 ‘adoptable’ pets at a PETA center last year, only seven were placed in adoptive homes.

WASHINGTON DC – Today the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) published documents online showing that People for the


NYT Profiles Rising Star Glenn Beck

It’s not as if he needed a write-up in the NYT to assure him of his success, Glenn Beck’s Fox News show has been a runaway hit with viewers — and that’s what counts. Still, it’s an interesting read because Beck is really striking a chord with listeners and viewers these days. Can he keep it up for the next 3 1/2 years or so? Only time will tell…

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NEW YORK —


CNN Journalist Arrested In Fargo

I’m not sure what ‘interfering‘ the reporter did… but here:

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A CNN journalist and seven other people have been arrested for standing on top of sandbag levees in flood areas in the Fargo area.

Fargo Police Sgt. Ross Renner didn’t have many details of the journalist’s arrest, but said the man appeared to be taking pictures at the time.

He says officers made the arrests Wednesday and Thursday


Photo: Watching The NK Missile

korealaunch

New pictures emerged Friday of the launch site from which North Korea plans to fire a rocket in early April, as Japan ordered its military to prepare for a missile intercept and the U.S. moved two warships with technology to track and destroy missiles into the area.

The new satellite photographs, taken by GeoEye satellite over the missile facility and posted on Britain’s Daily Telegraph Web site, are closer up than


Murtha Award Sparks Vet Outrage

Murtha’s 2006 statements come back to bite him in the ass:

In one of his last moves before leaving office March 13, then-Navy Secretary Donald Winter quietly awarded 19-term Democratic congressman John Murtha (Pa.) with the service’s highest civilian honor.

Citing Murtha’s “courageous leadership, vision, and loyalty to the men and women of the Department of the Navy,” Winter presented the influential chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense panel with the


‘13-Year-Old Dad’ Is Not The Father

A sigh of relief on one hand, the 13-year-old is not actually the father. On the other hand, the 15-year-old is clearly a bit of a tramp.

alfie

Alfie Patten, now 13, had a £300 DNA test after half a dozen boys claimed to have slept with schoolgirl pal Chantelle Stedman, 15.

It proved the 4ft-tall pupil was not the father of her seven-week-old girl Maisie Roxanne.

The result will be a


Obama Town Hall: Most-Asked Questions

Most of these were completely ignored… aside from the marijuana question to which Obama said ‘no’ to legalization as means for economic improvement. That should ruffle some feathers. He rightfully ignored the ridiculous ‘birther’ questions.

Marijuana – 2,141 questions
Birth Certificate – 480 questions
Socialist – 487 questions
Fascist – 16 questions
Clinton – 142 questions
Limbaugh – 20 questions
Palin – 7 questions
NCAA –


Obama’s Aunt Fighting Deportation

President Obama’s conflict of interest in dealing with illegal immigration:

Now the woman Obama called “Auntie Zeituni” and described as a kindly woman who kissed him on both cheeks and guided him during his trip to Kenya 20 years ago, is in a national spotlight, where her case is seen as a test of the Obama admin istration’s commitment to enforcing immigration laws. Critics, outraged that she is living in taxpayer-funded public