The RoanokeSlant

This file is a US personal journal of commentary of examples of the Roanoke Times and Liberal Media Slant...... lbhagen@aol.com

Saturday, September 30, 2006

 

Boater Sentenced

Roanoke Times, 9/27/06, Pg 1: Boater gets 15 years
SML boat accident that killed Lawrence and Judith Lewis
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"Operating that boat at that speed at night was criminally negligent even if you were completely sober."
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The Judge Gets It!
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Why doesn’t the Chief Warden of Virginia get it?
He’s still trying to figure out if excessive boat speed has any relationship to the number or severity of boat accidents!
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Why doesn’t the SML Power Boat Association get it?
They’re still telling us that education is all that’s required!
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Perhaps these folks should spend some time reviewing the Sept 3, 06 Oklahoma Poker Run that left 5 dead, 1 injured, by high-speed off-shore racing boats that collided on lake Taxoma during the daytime:
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http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=5360721
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http://cbs11tv.com/slideshows/local_slideshow_245185855/view?slide=0
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Prior Blog Items:
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/boat-speed-limits.html
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Friday, September 29, 2006

 

Tar Baby Webb

Roanoke Times: 9/28/06, Pg Va 1 & 10: UVa man recalls hunting "tale".
Allen Teammate (over 20 years ago) told of a deer head being stuffed in a mailbox during a hunting trip involving Allen – but doesn’t know who planned it, who did it or that it was racially movitated.
Page Va 10: But a retired Louisa County officer said the story about a severed animal head is a "myth".
THIS IS Va PAGE 1 NEWS??
Looks more like stuff on junk papers at the checkout – Hello – perhaps that’s just what the Roanoke Times has become!

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Roanoke Times: 9/29/06: Pg Va 3: Confederate group joins list of Sen. Allen critics. Story relates to the "macaca" and "rebel flag" and "n-word" stuff the Webb folks and their media friends have been hyping.
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Story in Washington Post but NOT found in the Roanoke Times:
By Michael D. Shear; RICHMOND, Sept. 27 -- Democratic Senate candidate James Webb on Wednesday sought to explain remarks he had made a day earlier, in which he refused to say whether he had used the "N-word," but he insisted he has never used it as a racial epithet aimed at anyone. Click for complete story:
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/27/AR2006092702062.html?referrer=emailarticle
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Included in this story is:
Cragg, 67, who lives in Fairfax County, said on Wednesday that Webb described taking drives through the black neighborhood of Watts, where he and members of his ROTC unit used racial epithets and pointed fake guns at blacks to scare them.
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So, Webb now admits to using the "n-word", but did not direct it at a specific person! Shouldn’t this be Page 1 news in the Roanoke Times?
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On second thought, if Webb used the n-word but not directed at a specific person does that mean he was referring to a whole group of people? Is that better or worse than directing at a specific person?
It appears the Editors at the Roanoke Times and other like minded folks need to get the spin-machine going on this one!
On second thought, lets not cover it, then it’s like it never happened, right?
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We certainly don’t want to spend time on Allen’s record as Governor of Virginia or on his record as US Senator. Lots more fun to throw manure.
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Mr Webb should have learned long ago that if you drive a manure spreader across a field on a windy day, you’re going to need more than deodorant before sitting down for dinner.
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Thursday, September 28, 2006

 

Roanoke School Grades

Roanoke Times, 9/17/06, Pg 1: Teacher turnover spikes to almost 20%.
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Roanoke Times, 9/28/06, Pg 1: LARGE HEADLINES: Making the grade, three more Roanoke (elementary & middle) schools earn state accreditation.
"I attribute that achievement to the dedication and hard work of the entire division staff, teachers, parents and of course the students themselves said Marvin Thompson, Superintendent.
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Buried in the fine print: "Meanwhile, the city’s two high schools, which were both fully accredited last year, missed accreditation this year."
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Which RT Editors packaged and slanted this well written and researched article and what's their agenda?

Talk about your misuse of MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Talk about major slant via print-size and placement of selected parts of a story!
What does Super. Thompson attribute this major train-wreck to?
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I could not find in these articles or prior articles a summary or discussion of the real issues involved in these failures. At what point will the school board, and the administrator’s address the teaching-learning environment in the classrooms and take the necessary steps to return the classrooms to the teaching-learning environment that’s required for each student to learn?
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The best Teachers in the world with the best experience and best lesson-plans cannot teach in chaos. It’s not surprising that teachers are leaving. Except for prison guards, there is no other profession that tolerates and accepts the level of disrespect and harassment and chaos as does teaching.
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Perhaps Mr. Thompson and his division staff should have a meeting and view the Morgan Freeman movie "Lean on Me" as a starting point for establishing action plans and procedures and processes to achieve a teaching-learning environment in every classroom every period of every day.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechleanonme2.html
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/04/its-measurement-stupid.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/06/graduation-rates.html
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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

 

Public Debt and Taxes

Roanoke Times, 9/25/06, Pg 1: Benefits add up to crushing pile of debt. Some local governments could face bankruptcy after years of doling out generous benefits to public employees. Union officials say it’s not their fault municipalities put themselves in a hole by promising more than they can deliver.
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This is an amazing heading given that there hasn’t been a single Virginia tax-spending and tax-increase bill that the Editors of the Roanoke Times haven’t endorsed and vigorously promoted.
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It’s interesting that it’s predominately the "Blue" states that are in deep financial trouble. Perhaps it has something to do with big unions, big Democrats and big taxes and an anti-business environment. In states like New York most of the "employees" are working for "the government" at the towns, counties, schools, cities, prisons, state, and state-authorities. There has been massive movement of private-business out of NY for over 20 years.
The interest on the crushing debt accumulated by all these entities is enormous with no end in sight.
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So far Virginia has tried hard to control costs and support "right to work" laws. However, there are great pressures to raise spending, raise taxes and float-bonds, all for very good and noble causes. These same concepts are choking the "Blue" states and people are moving-out in large numbers leaving a massive socialistic system without a private/corporate system to support it.
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Whatever happened to the Byrd’s and their pay-as-you-go philosophy? They were apple farmers and Democrats weren’t they?
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/08/big-taxes-are-good-for-you.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/07/va-job-growth.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-good-bad-news_26.html
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ID Cards Racist?


Roanoke Times, 9/21/06, Pg 1: Voter IDs & barrier on border get nod by House and Senate. New photo ID plan approved.
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Roanoke Times, 9/25/06, Pg Va 6: Editorial: Jim Crow revisited. House Republicans pass a photo ID bill that would disenfranchise traditionally Democratic voters who will be hard pressed to get the IDs.
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The Roanoke Times Editors want to continue the abuses of anonymity. Let’s wrap racism around this instead of addressing the abuses involved.
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What abuses might that be:
* Large percentage of 12 million illegal immigrants are claiming and getting many forms of public assistance.
* 900,000 of the 2.5 million Katrina applicants were bogus and based on duplicate Social Security numbers and false addresses and names.
* Voting by illegal immigrants and excluded-felons
* Voting multiple times in multiple places
* Voting by dead people
* "Head of household" tax credit scams where some kids are claimed by one person and the remained by a "friend"
* Social Security claims for invalid dependent children
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Apparently The RT Editors think most of these abuses are conducted by Democrats. Not a nice accusation! Perhaps an apology is in order!
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National ID cards have been opposed since WW2 because of the specter of a repeat of "The Holocaust". My original Social Security Card clearly states "not to be used for identification". However, the level of abuses of our Socialistic and Democratic process now requires that these issues be addressed and a photo ID appears to be the least intrusive.
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Poor people can’t get the cards. Interesting; somehow they manage to get food stamps, social security, welfare, heating oil and Medicaid. Seems like they should be able to get an ID card to go along with these programs without undue burden. Seems like a small price to pay for public assistance and integrity in the voting system.
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CLICK for recent example of electing a Governor with massive voting irregularities:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=b&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/220845_election20.html
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/04/still-stuck-on-stupid-in-new-orleans.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/02/katrina-aid-squandered.html
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Monday, September 25, 2006

 

Climate vs Weather

Roanoke Times, 9/23/06, Pg Va 2: Weather Journal by Kevin Myatt: To discuss climate, get past the weather.
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Roanoke Times, 7/11/06l, Pg Va 7: Warming theory is hot air; Dennis T. Avery, coauthor: "Unstoppable Global Warming – Every 1,500 years".
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Kudo’s to Mr. Kevin Myatt for a very interesting article. With the current constant media drum-beat about global warming and greenhouse gas it is too easy to look at current weather as an indicator of climate.
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Adding to the difficulty of understanding climate is the limited amount and accuracy of data from many years ago.
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In order to understand what is happening to our climate we need to focus on the best available science and professional judgement and ask politicians and alarmists to "cool-it". What is the "cause and effect" and what actions should we be taking?
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In the meantime, there are many good reasons why we need to make major reductions in our consumption of carbon-based fuels and reductions in greenhouse emissions.
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/global-warming-fixed.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/local-kyoto.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/hypocritical-left-wing-media.html
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Waving that finger - again

Roanoke Times, 9/24/06, Pg A 13: Bill Clinton defends record of trying to catch bin Laden; says he came closer to killing the terrorist than anybody has since.
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What a showman! Waving that finger again with righteous indignation!
I did not have a relationship with that guy – Osama bin Laden!
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Reflections of Shakespeare: From Hamlet (III, ii, 239)
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
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Apparently the ABC show ‘the run-up to 9/11’, really upset Bill and Company!
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/abc-war-traitors.html
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This is all part of the right-wing conspiracy thing, you know!
Yea, like ABC is in George and Dick’s back pockets (NOT)!
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Bill didn’t explain why his girl, Jamie ‘the wall’ Goerlick, prevented the CIA from working with the FBI on terrorist investigations (which was clearly shown in the ABC show as THE major roadblock to finding the 9/11 terrorists in the US)
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Bill’s answer to how great a job he did is for us to buy a copy of discredited Dick Clark’s discredited book!
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Don’t you just hate it when people try to insult your intelligence!
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/08/pre-911-info.html
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It's the Economy? - Stupid?

Roanoke Times, 9/24/06, Pg A 12: Economy edging out Iraq as voters’ top concern. Few middle-class families are seeing any of the benefits of the economic growth touted by officials.
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The election is only weeks away and things are not going as planned for Howard Dean and company and their liberal left-wing media machine.
Iraq’s a mess but we can’t get together on a realistic plan to achieve any measure of a win.
There’s a corruption-in-Congress thing, but we have just as many bad apples as the Republicans, maybe more.
There’s a price of gasoline thing, but darn, somehow Cheney’s getting that down just before the election – Darn!
The 911 Commission report is history and that darn ABC went and ran that program on the ‘run up to 911’.
The illegal immigrant thing was hot for a while, but now it turns out working-Democrats are even more concerned with this problem than the conservatives are.
The eavesdropping flap looked like it would hurt Bush, but now it turns out most Americans agree that it’s a good thing.
Hammering Lieberman over his support for the Iraq war looked good for a few days but now it appears he’s going to win!
The detainee interrogation and trial thing looked great. Looked like the Republican’s were going to have severe self-inflected wounds – then they agreed on a bill and now we’ll have to vote on it – DARN!
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What to do? What to do? Time’s running out!
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Clinton beat the old-Bush on the "It’s the Economy Stupid" thing. Let’s try that again. But the economy is so good that the Fed has raised interest rates 14 times in two years to slow it down.
But we can claim that "few middle-class families are seeing any" of the benefits of growth. Like they have jobs, they own homes, unemployment is at record lows, consumer confidence and spending is very high and their 401-retirement funds are at an all time high.
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What to do? What to do? Time’s running out!
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/yet-more-good-bad-news.html
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Saturday, September 23, 2006

 

A Small Step for Mankind

Roanoke Times, 9/22/06, Pg 1: CDC urges routine HIV tests for public to help in early detection and diagnosis of the disease.
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Roanoke Times, 9/23/06, Pg Va 7: Editorial: Knowledge empowers.
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Americans Should Be Tested Routinely for HIV, CDC Says
The announcement was hailed by some HIV patient advocates and health policy experts. They said the guidelines could help end the stigma of HIV testing and lead to needed care for an estimated 250,000 Americans who don't yet know they have the disease.
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"I think it's an incredible advance. I think it's courageous on the part of the CDC," said A. David Paltiel, a health policy expert at the Yale University School of Medicine. The recommendations aren't legally binding, but they influence what doctors do and what health insurance programs cover.
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An "incredible advance – courageous"? How can anyone use these terms to describe such a mediocre voluntary baby-step to address the biggest pandemic in the US since the 1918-influenza epidemic?
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A major step would be to pass federal and state laws defining HIV+AIDS to be STD’s equivalent to Gonorrhea and Syphilis with the associated Public Health System processes and procedures that have been in place since Typhoid-Mary.
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Click for a view of the governmental malfeasance involved in this pandemic:
Is this "proposal" a courageous incredible advance in addressing the listed issues?
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/02/hivaids.html
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Click for Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/hivaids.html
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Thursday, September 21, 2006

 

The Jewish Card

Roanoke Times, 9/21/06, Pg Va 3: Allen’s mother hid Jewish heritage. Subject raised by journalist at campaign function. Article adjacent to large article and graphic of Ill. Dem. Sen Barack Obama with candidate Webb.
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The only thing that could make this thing more bizarre and ridiculous is if Texas Governor Candidate Kinky Friedman shows up at future campaign functions.
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050822fa_fact
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Kinky, a singer songwriter from Texas, is well know for outrageous songs like:
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"No, they aint makin jews like jesus anymore,
We dont turn the other cheek the way they done before.
You hear that honky holler as he hit that hardwood floor
Lord, they aint makin jews like jesus anymore"
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"They aint makin jews like jesus anymore,
They aint makin carpenters who know what nails are for.
Well, the whole damn place was singin as I strolled right out the door
Lord, they aint makin jews like jesus anymore!"
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Could we-all just get back to the issues!

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Some Poop on e.Coli and Organic Foods

Roanoke Times Editorial: Avoid foods grown with man-made fertilizers and focus on buying from local farms that use "organic-farming".
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No! That’s not it! Crops grown with man-made fertilizers have much less risk of e.Coli than does "Organic" farming. The e.Coli scare has finally caused folks to begin to understand what "Organic" means. Yes Virginia, it means fertilized with poop! And yes, e.Coli can be in the intestinal track of farm animals and then when used as manure for fertilizing fields and crops it can be transmitted to people.
What’s interesting is that there isn’t a lot more of this being reported.
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Another aspect of "Organic" farming involves herbicides, insecticides, algaecides, and pesticides. All these "cides" have been developed over the last 100 years to increase crop yields and reduce waste. The unknown adverse consequences of these chemicals has caused many health conscious folks to want to go "Organic".
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The problem with these folks is that they still want worm free apples and fruit and corn without "silk-worms". Hello! If these products are insect-free, they probably have been sprayed! So please stop stripping down the corn-husks at the stand! Just break-off the top end tip when you husk-it at home, just like your grandmother did.
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

 

Global Warming Fixed?

Roanoke Times, 9/12/06,
Pg 1: 19 scientists link strong hurricanes to human activity.
Pg 8: Skeptics point to other factors
The scientists’ report that human-generated greenhouse gases are a "main driver" of changes in sea surface temperatures – a key factor.
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Great spin and slant!
Page 1 is the story we want to hear
Page 8 is the "other" side of the story (that side has lots of renowned scientists too)
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Good news! Following this logic, it appears this hurricane season will be one of the "least-strong" seasons in many years and therefore we expect the 19 scientists to publish their conclusion that global warming is history and greenhouse gases are not a problem (NOT)!
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It is very unfortunate that this very important technical debate has been totally politicized by the left-wing and Al Gore and friends.
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This is a very important subject that is being studied by many key scientists all over the world and "the inconvenient truth" is that Al Gore and Co. are not helping us to arrive at a proper understanding and required action plans. Al needs to get a life and the scientific community needs to establish a clear understanding of global warming climate change and the cause and effect involved and the necessary proper action plans.
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In the mean time we need to reduce consumption of carbon-based fuels.
How many new nuclear plants did we start building this year?
Apparently we’re not serious about getting off the carbon-wagon!
Note: we don’t have even ONE wind-power production facility in Virginia!
One reason – we’re worried about windmills killing some bats!
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/hypocritical-left-wing-media.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/kyoto-smog-holes.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/05/more-gore-hypocrisy.html
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ADHD: Cause & Effect?

Roanoke Times, 9/19/06, Pg 1 & 7:
Pg 1: Headline: Study links ADHD in children with lead, prenatal smoking
Pg 7: Headline: Genetics could play role
Children of smoking moms two-&-half times more likely to be ADHD and are more likely to have high lead exposure.
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What great spin and slant. Tell me what I want to hear and I’ll print it as if its fact on Page 1 and I’ll put the heading I don’t like back on page 7.
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Since 70% of these "revelations of science" that the media loves to quote prove to be heifer-dust, I’m sure this one will too.
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Couldn’t find a very key item in this article: The fact that five times (5X) as many boys have ADHD than girls. That fact doesn’t fit any of these conclusions.
That’s not just a small piece of data is it?
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Several years ago it was published that the sons of moms who smoked were 3X more likely to windup in jail than sons of nonsmokers.
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Cause and effect relationships are very hard to establish and can NEVER be established simply by doing T-tests of statistical data.
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Here’s a thought: perhaps moms that smoke are more likely to have a social, economic, environmental and family history that’s very different than mom’s who don’t smoke. You think that could have an effect on health and wellness?
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It’s certainly not clear why boys are the major casualties of this problem but any plausible explanations must address this key issue and must be backed up with creditable scientific analysis of well designed tests and studies.
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Why are the media cutting down perfectly good trees to print this stuff?
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/07/study-wrong.html
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Monday, September 18, 2006

 

The Geneva Convention

Some folks are concerned that our (US) interpretation of the Geneva Convention could affect how our GI’s are treated if they become POW’s.
Perhaps we could reflect on some examples of how well it has served us and others.
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Malmedy Massacre trial resulted from the execution of a large number of GI’s who were taken POW by an SS Division.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/malmedy_massacre.htm
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The link relates to the US Military Tribunal that resulted after the war.
http://www.scrapbookpages.com/DachauScrapbook/DachauTrials/MalmedyMassacre02A.html
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The Russian massacre of thousands of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest
http://www.geocities.com/katyn.geo/
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The Jap massacre of GI’s during the Bataan Death March:
http://history.acusd.edu/gen/st/~ehimchak/death_march.html
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North Korean and Chinese atrocities against GI’s
http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/topics/atrocities.htm
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The North Vietnam atrocities highlighted at the "Hanoi Hilton"
http://www.farfromglory.com/hanoihilton.htm
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These are but a very few of the many examples of atrocities and gross mistreatment of our GI’s by our enemies.
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Sure makes GITMO and even Abu Ghraib look like easy street compared to what has happened to our boys!
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It appears our enemies don't even read the Geneva Conventions no less interpret them!
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/president-is-enemy.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/06/sound-of-silence.html
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The Pope and Mohamed

How could the Pope even think about commenting on Mohamed?
Has he been fantasizing about Charlemagne or what?
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03610c.htm
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Perhaps he should be reflecting on Salman Rushdie instead!
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth87
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And what’s with the apology? Like that’s going to help!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1742650.htm
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Apparently The Pope is like many other folks who just don’t understand what radical Muslims are! It appear that some may have already started Shooting Nuns.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wonun184896826sep18,0,7409157.story?coll=ny-worldnews-print
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Perhaps The Pope and like minded folks who think they can have a dialogue with these "people" should go back and view how journalist Daniel Pearl was treated:(takes a minute to load this very graphic violent video)Click: http://twistedzone.net/videos/acc/_54801_daniel_pearl.swf
Not exactly inline with the Geneva conventions!
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It’s OK for nasty spoiled college brats at VT & UVA to mock Christ but notice they don’t engage the brutal "people" that have declared war against us. Its interesting that they also haven’t "exercised their vile rights " to mock Jews with the Iranian holocaust "cartoons".
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/02/mocking-muhammad-and-jesus_06.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/08/mocking-religion.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/03/holocaust-cartoons_22.html
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At some point the reasonable people of the world are going to have to wake-up and "smell the coffee" and realize that we are in a vicious life-and-death struggle that is outside the bounds of discourse. Fortunately for us, George Bush gets it!
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In reflection: as Hitler held a final plan review for the 1938 invasion of Poland, one of his officers said, "The Pope will be very upset that we are doing this."
Hitler’s response was: How many tank divisions does the Pope have?
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Saturday, September 16, 2006

 

The ABC War Traitors

Roanoke Times, 9/16/06, Pg Va 7: Cartoon: Doctored-mentary: the path to 9/11
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The Clinton Clan and their left-wing media friends are outraged! How could a close friend and ally like ABC turn traitor? Talk about your Benedict Arnolds and your Vidkun Quislings!
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What did ABC do that was so treasonous?
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1. They reflected on the anti-terrorism work done during the 96 months of the Clinton team vs the 8 months of the Bush team.
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2. They pointed out that Bush kept all the top members of the Clinton security team from the NSA, CIA, FBI and Mr. Clark in order to ensure continuity involving the national defense.
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3. They portrayed in a stark and vivid manner the horrific impact of the Bill Clinton-Jamie (the wall) Georlick prohibition that stopped the CIA from working with the FBI.
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4. They portrayed the roadblocks that the legal and administrative systems imposed on FBI agents not being able to get access to data and computers for persons identified as terrorists in allied countries.
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5. They reflected on the thousands of terrorists that were trained in the Al Quida and Talliban camps during the 8 years of the Clinton administration and the fact that 9/11 terrorist teams were well established long before Bush.
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The election is only weeks away! How could these ABC folks even think about doing such a dumb thing?
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/08/pre-911-info.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/roanoke-times-misdirected-hostility.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/06/connecting-dots.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/01/gore-and-national-security.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/06/jimmy-and-bin-ladens.html
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Local Kyoto

Roanoke Times, 9/13/06, Pg Va 1: Council members urge Roanoke to join global group seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability: http://www.iclei.org/
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This proposal compliments a significant Roanoke effort to support sustainability in home design. The C2C competition and project was originated by Gregg Lewis, an architect from Roanoke, and involved national attention including VT participation.
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http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/news_print/index.php?relyear=2005&itemno=514
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The Roanoke Times could play a major role in this effort. Instead of just throwing rocks at others, they could determine and publish their environmental footprint and then follow-up with an action plan that represents environmental leadership in reducing their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.
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http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/ecological_footprint_calculator.htm
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The amount of energy, water and chemicals to produce paper and then print and distribute the many tons per day of newsprint certainly contains major opportunities for environmental improvement.
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Not likely! Lots more fun to throw stones than replace windows!
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Friday, September 15, 2006

 

John Kerry Still Waffling

Roanoke Times, 9/15/06, Pg A 3: Kerry accuses president of ‘cut and run’ strategy in Afghanistan. Kerry wants to send 5,000 more US troops.
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Waffling-John wants the US to revert back to the "go it alone" posture he found so offensive during his election campaign.
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Apparently he has not hear that NATO is taking over responsibility for ‘peace-keeping’ in Afghanistan and that the US is phasing-out as the primary force.
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If there are not enough troops in Afghanistan to satisy John, why doesn’t he call his buddies in France and have them send enough troops to make him happy?
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NATO in Afghanistan:
http://www.nato.int/issues/afghanistan/
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/frenched-again.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/02/french-connection.html
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

 

The President is The Enemy

Roanoke Times, 9/10/06, Pg Hz 1, Actions taint America’s soul. "The nation has lost its way, led down a dark and morally dangerous path.
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Pg Hz 2: America’s leaders told the nation that (the attack) changed everything, but of course it did not. Expansion of presidential power, erosion of basic liberties, human rights abuses and a degradation of the rules of warfare.
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Roanoke Times, 9/13/06, Pg Va 6: (The Attack) sparked a war on civil liberties, for five years the administration has trampled Americans’ rights in the name of fighting (the enemy).
*****
The administration has gathered tens of thousands of persons of the same ethnic group as our attackers and put them in "detention" camps for four years without any due process.
http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/9066/9066.htm
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The administration has established secret interrogation camps, holding enemy combatants in secret, held incommunicado, until the administration decided to move them to regular camps and only then notify the Red Cross.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/19/AR2006081900856.html
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The administration has used Military Tribunals to try, in secret, enemy combatants and then had them executed without due process.
http://www.shelter-island.org/german_spies.html
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The administration has launched attacks upon three foreign governments that were not involved in the attack upon the US.
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/terrorist-war-and-ww2.html
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The administration has used weapons, outside of the rules of warfare, like napalm and weapons of mass destruction against our enemy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
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It appear that The Roanoke Times’ attacks upon the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt may have some merit and that perhaps "The nation had lost its way, led down a dark and morally dangerous path".
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It’s comforting to know that The Roanoke Times Editorial staff acknowledges that FDR (Bill Clinton’s historical hero) represented a very grave threat and "tainted America’s soul".
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It is comforting that President Bush has shown great restraint and has not repeated FDR’s excessive extensions of Presidential Power during this World War that has been launched against us.
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/09/terrorist-war-and-ww2.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/roanoke-times-misdirected-hostility.html
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Tuesday, September 05, 2006

 

Retaining college students

Roanoke Times, 9/3/06, Pg Va 1: State colleges set retaining students as a primary goal. Nearly all colleges have programs designed to make incoming students feel welcome and part of the campus community.
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A truly symbiotic relationship! We make you feel warm and happy and help you to stay here for as many years as it takes for your parents to run out of money.
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Colleges today are hooked on a funding stream as if it were cocaine. Most students don’t get through a 4 year program in 4 years.
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What a change. At freshman orientation at Rutgers in 1956 the Dean of Engineering invited each freshman to "look to your left, look to your right, those folks will not be here when you graduate"!
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Apparently a college education is no longer about academic competition and intellectual challenges. Perhaps it’s now more about a nice warm socialistic commune that is designed to extend your home-life-cocoon well into your 20’s.
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Is it any wonder that we are having difficulty competing in a world-wide economy?
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Monday, September 04, 2006

 

Boat Speed Limits

Roanoke Times, 9/3/06, Pg A 7: Jet boat accident kills 5, injures 1 on Oklahoma lake.
-
Houston Chronicle:
Poker Run – Lake -- Oklahoma – 5 Dead
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Boat_Crash.html
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Yet another serious life-taking accident involving very high-speed off-shore racing-boats being run on inland recreational lakes.
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Here on SML we have these same boats with no day or night speed restrictions, therefore, they can and do over 100 MPH when they want to.
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Virginia officials are "studying" whether or not speed is a factor in boating accidents.
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Wonder how these "students" did on their SOL’s?
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Prior SML Boat Speed Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/06/boating-safety-on-sml.html
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Yet More Good-Bad News

Roanoke Times, 8/31/06, Pg B 8: GREAT RT & AP SLANT: Economy grew in spring, but not quickly. Gross domestic product rose slightly more than the 2.5% pace first reported a month ago.
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The election is only weeks away; let’s all work real hard to keep any good economic data out of view!
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Slightly more? 2.9% is 16% more than 2.5%! Is that slightly?
CBS worked real hard to take much less than 16% off Katie’s butt!
-
There’s panic at the DNC and their friends in the media
What to do? What to do?
-
134,000 more jobs in June
-121,000 more jobs in July
-128,000 more jobs in August
-Unemployment Dips to 4.7%
-The DJIA is up to 11,500
-Wages up 3.9% for last 12 months
-
And all this after 17 FED interest rate hikes since 2004, which are designed to
slow-down the economic growth to try to ward-off inflation.
-
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211668,00.html
-
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/08/deficits.html
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/05/more-good-bad-news.html
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Cheap Fake Drugs

Roanoke Times, 8/31/06, Pg A 5: Small print pg 5: Counterfeit drugs sold in Canada, FDA says.
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For years the Roanoke Times editors have been lambasting Bush et al for not allowing totally unfettered access to Canadian drugs via mail, email and Internet.
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Any government, FDA, discussion about certification of drugs was dismissed as political stonewalling.
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So, now that there are specific cases of fake drugs coming from Canada, the question is: what is the Roanoke Times and their friends doing to help determine what health problems have resulted from their flawed and misdirected advice?
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What a foolish question! Of course the media is not responsible for any adverse consequences of their actions. Your know---it’s all covered by the 1st Amendment.
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/07/canadian-drugs.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/04/import-cheap-drugs.html
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Hyping the Chubby Chick

Roanoke Times, 8/31/06, CBS flustered over obviously altered photo of incoming news anchor (Katie Couric).
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USA Today, 8/31/06, pg 3D: Altered photo raises some weighty questions.
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Roanoke Times, 9/3/06, Pg Ex 2: On eve of CBS debut Couric ponders pressure.
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With media creditability lower than whale droppings, why is CBS spending millions on promoting a news anchor? Don’t news anchors just read the news that’s been collected by their news teams? Why is it necessary to try to make a big star out of a news-reader?
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Is it because the networks think that folks will believe a star and buy into the networks take or slant on the story of the day?
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How about just presenting a fair and balanced view of the important stories of the day and let the public judge the facts and draw their own conclusions. Similar to what’s supposed to happen in a jury trial case.
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CNN’s homemade star:
-
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/06/star-is-made.html
-
 

What Conspiracy?

Roanoke Times, 9/1/06, Pg Va 9: Plame piffle (piety) by David Brooks, NY Times.
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The left-wing media and politicians made a very BIG accusation that VP Chaney and Carl Rove "outed" Valerie Wilson Plame as a secret CIA agent.
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Willson (Valerie’s husband) took a trip to Africa to investigate Iraqi involvement in procuring weapons-grade uranium.
Instead of submitting a secret report of his undercover trip, Wilson submitted his report as a political commentary article in the Washington Post. He claimed that Bush overplayed the Iraqi-African uranium connection leading up to the war.
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He then claimed that VP Chaney sent him on the trip and when Chaney was unhappy with the result, that Chaney "outed" Valerie’s ID as a CIA agent.
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The left-wing machine then went into high gear to make this into a huge White House criminal conspiracy highlighted on in all the major news outlets for months.
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NEW NEWS: (VERY HARD TO FIND IN MEDIA OUTLETS):
1. It wasn’t Chaney who sent Wilson to Africa, it was Wilson’s wife!
2. It wasn’t the White House that "exposed" Valerie’s name to the media, it was an ex-State Dept guy named Armitage who was openly opposed to the war and Valerie wasn’t a secret agent after all!
-
Where are the media reflections and retractions?
Where are the corrections and apologies?
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/11/another-fallen-angel.html
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Friday, September 01, 2006

 

Terrorist War and WW2

Roanoke Times, 9/1/06, Pg A 5: President predicts victory in war on terrorism.
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The left-wing media and friends are very upset that Sec. Rumsfeld and Pres. Bush are making analogies between WW2 and Iraq and the War on Terrorists. The Administration is also implying that the Neville Chamberlain approach of appeasement is a really bad approach to those who have declared war upon us.
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Roanoke Times, 9/1/06, Pg Ex 2: History Highlights: On Sept 1, 1939 WW2 began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
Very interesting, most Americans consider WW2 to have begun Dec 7th 1941.
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There are some other very interesting comparisons one might make. After 12/7/41 our war priorities were:
1. The Vischey French
2. The Italians
3. The Germans
I know of no one who ever said these countries were connected to Dec 7th.
They were part of the Axis Powers and the sequence of combat that we executed was based on economic-social-political and military considerations and not who sunk the Arizona with 1200 men onboard.
http://www.roanokeslant.org/Infamy/
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Neville Chamberlain became associated with the failed concept of WW2 appeasement and a similar result was accomplished by Bill Clinton’s approach to North Korean nukes.
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/06/north-korean-nukes.html
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Following a leader blindly is not acceptable, however, fostering and enacting proposals that will lead to certain American defeat is also not acceptable and if done with purely partisan motives is in fact treasonous.
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/06/no-to-cutrun-democrats.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/12/morbid-fear-of-success.html
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In reflection and perspective: There was little support for Pres. Lincoln as the War Between the States dragged on with massive casualties. There were even draft riots in NYC that had to be broken-up by Union Troops. But we now look back at that war as a major positive milestone in our history and view Pres. Lincoln as a great leader.
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Click on this link for a view of 9/11/2001 and 12/7/1941.
http://www.roanokeslant.org/Infamy/
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