News Junkie - Live Wire

ROBERT FEDER’S GIMMICK

It’s a subject I’ve left mostly alone, not because I’ve been told not to address it but because I’m hesitant to give airtime or blog space to a man who still calls Web traffic ‘hits‘ and has an unhealthy obsession with WGN Radio. Tonight, on the podcast, I’ll dive into the mud on this one. Stay tuned.

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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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What Happened To The Anti-War Protesters?

They showed up by the tens of thousands; they were stridently anti-war, almost always anti-Bush and they seemed quite passionate. Protesters, from sea-to-shining-sea, seemed to be everywhere for the last five or six years. Then a strange thing happened; Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. The country is still engaged in both of the wars that angered so many but those who showed up so often to protest…


Day Three: Iranian Protests Continue Despite Media Blackout

Tehran Bureau is back up. I suggest following either that link or this one which will lead you to Andrew Sullivan’s non-stop-Iranian-chaos-blogathon. I’ll keep this post updated with the latest and greatest as the day progresses.

This post will be updated throughout the day with news on this story. (All Times Central)

11:35AM: More info about the press blackout at HotAir.com.

Obama’s latest remarks above… he’s walking the…


Chaos In Iran – Protests Rage After ‘Rigged’ Election

There are several great resources to catch the latest information on the aftermath of what appears to be a rigged election in Iran. Tehran Bureau is doing most of the hard round-it-up legwork so here’s a link in that direction. Their Sunday update was incredibly informative. Here’s a tidbit:

Also from my balcony facing north into the mountains, people are on their rooftops shouting “marg bar diktator” and “allaho akbar” [“Death to


President Obama Picks Fight With Tea Party Protesters

100 days in to an administration that promised ‘post-partisanship’ and we have a President taking potshots at Fox News and tea party protesters? This is just asinine.

“Those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I’m not very popular, and you see folks waving tea bags around, Obama said, “let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to


Clown-Wigged Protester Interrupts Ahmadinejad’s U.N. Speech

Some people throw shoes, others throw what MSNBC called a ’soft red object’. A protester, wearing a multi-colored clown wig, interrupted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s speech to the U.N. Racism Conference just moments ago. The United States and several other western nations are avoiding the conference because of what they see as anti-Israel language in the meeting’s draft document. Below is a video of the incident and detainment of the mystery clown…


‘Tea Protest’ Prompts Terror Scare

Oh, if this isn’t deliciously ridiculous…:

In the letter? Tea leaves… I guess the congresswoman is unaware of the anti-bailout protests going on around the country (and drawing thousands upon thousands). Then again, the media isn’t helping the cause.


Protesters March For Cop-Killer, Rapist

Oakland has had it’s fair share of police problems over the last several years. Fever pitch seemed to be hit when a BART officer shot and killed an unarmed man. A Black Power group by the name of ‘Uhuru’ (Swahili for ‘Freedom’) is taking to the streets of Oakland in support of Lovelle Mixon, a guy who killed four police officers and is suspected in a string of rapes. This man is…


Protesters Visit AIG Official’s Homes

Protesters (minus pitchforks for now) dropped off, well, letters of protest:

APTOPIX AIG Bonuses

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) – A busload of activists representing working- and middle-class families paid visits Saturday to the lavish homes of American International Group executives to protest the tens of millions of dollars in bonuses awarded by the struggling insurance company after it received a massive federal bailout.


Self-Immolation Protest In Calgary

CALGARY – Bystanders in downtown Calgary looked on in horror Thursday as a man doused himself with a flammable liquid, then set himself on fire.

An ambulance that was transporting another patient happened to drive by and attendants jumped out with extinguishers and put out the flames.

They called another ambulance to take the man to hospital.

He’s still in serious condition with second-degree burns on over 40% of his body.…


Video: Bart Shooting Presser

(01-14) 11:54 PST MINDEN, NEV. — Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer arrested on suspicion of murdering an unarmed passenger on an Oakland train platform early New Year’s Day, waived extradition at a Nevada hearing and will be returned to Alameda County today.

Photos of Mehserle at the hearing can be found here.

This case is going to be disastrous. Please allow me to peer into my crystal ball for…


No, Not The Christmas Tree!

Protesters attacked a city-sponsored Christmas tree in central Athens, tossing garbage and hanging trash bags from its branches before clashing with riot police.

How long will it take Greece to get this situation under control? Today, things were even worse. An anarchist shot up a police bus. The police seem to have lost control of certain parts of Athens.

It’s bad.


Bank Of America Caves To Protesters

Bank of America says it will extend credit to a Chicago window and door manufacturer whose workers have occupied the factory for five days.

The bank says it’s willing to give the Republic Windows and Doors factory “a limited amount of additional loans” so it can resolves claims of employees who have staged a sit-in since Friday.

The factory closed last Friday after Bank of America canceled its financing.

Workers were given


Chaos: Thai Government Collapses

BANGKOK, Thailand — A court dissolved Thailand’s top three ruling parties for electoral fraud Tuesday and temporarily banned the prime minister from politics, bringing down a government that has faced months of strident protests seeking its ouster.

The Constitutional Court ruling set the stage for thousands of protesters to end their weeklong siege of the country’s two main airports, but also raised fears of retaliatory violence by a pro-government group that could


Prop 8 Supporter Assaulted

Get out of here! Get out!

For the third time, California voters have had their say. For the third time, they have made the choice to ban gay marriage in the state. For the third time, they will be overturned… and ridiculed.

Dissension will not be tolerated.

Update: I should note that the folks attacking this woman for her opinion are holding signs saying ‘Vote No On Prop 8′. The measure was…


Liberal Outrage At Pro-McCain March

A Pro-McCain march on the Upper West Side in Manhattan on Sunday, September 21, 2008. A group of McCain-Palin supporters dare to march through the Upper West Side – infidels in the liberal Mecca. Local “progressives” boo, jeer, and flip fingers at them with a rage they never display even to this country’s enemies. We would like them to take a look at themselves in this video and maybe learn a few