The RoanokeSlant

Roanoke Times, 12/31/08, Pg 1: Major Heading and leading article: Council prayer stokes e-mailer’s ire. More inside pg 8. Roanoke’s vice-mayor hit a hot-button issue by opening a city meeting with a prayer that referred to God’s son.
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WOW! What a major front page story to ring-out the old year!
A person (as in one) wrote an email complaining about a council member mentioning God.
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Has anyone ever written so much about so little in journalistic history?
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At first folks focused on the VICE-mayor title and thought Roanoke had some real excitement in process, but alas, that was not to be.
It’s just the frustrations of a disgruntled person who is a kindred spirit to the editors of the Roanoke Times and their liberal associates and friends at the ACLU.
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/12/can-you-spell-christmas.html
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I hardly think the founders of the Constitution, who prayed at every opportunity, would consider this prayer a transgression or problem or even an issue. In fact they clearly would have expected a more robust expression of our religious heritage at this holiday season.
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I note that the RT uses the date of 2008. What do they think that date represents?
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Roanoke Times, 12/30/08, Pg Va 9: Commentary: A slow approach to warming by Jay Ambrose of Scripps Howard New Service. KUDOs to the RT for publishing this article.
Mr Ambrose expresses doubts about global warming magnitude and cause and effect and what if any government actions are appropriate.
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Why do so many good people doubt Mr Gore’s hypothesis that man-made CO2 is causing major increases in atmospheric temperature that he says will very soon cause catastrophic environmental and human damage?
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Mr Gore, as the salesman for the UN’s IPCC group, went so far outside the “truth and reality box” with his presentations and movie that many people now doubt his entire hypothesis. His PR campaign enveloped the concepts of: global warming: man-made CO2 and adverse climate change without any regard for the natural forces that has dominated earth’s environment for millions of years. This structure was designed to give his hypothesis the broadest possible coverage of any weather event anywhere and cloud the facts between regional weather events and fossil fuel use and global changes and natural causes and variations.
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Mr Gore and the IPCC knew that their infamous charts showing CO2 causing major temperature variations occuring hundreds of thousands of years ago are patently false and not accepted earth science theory.
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Many good, reasonable, prudent and intelligent people question that man-man CO2 has caused the warming that has occurred since the end of the “little ice age” in 1750. Mr Gore and the IPCC refuse to explain their time line of current warming starting in 1750. Clearly the first 150 years of major land-based glacier retreat occurred before any significant man-made CO2.
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They question the exaggerated forecasts of huge rises in sea levels due to arctic sea-ice melting because they all have watched ice melt in a grass of soda without overflowing and they know that the north-west-passage has been open before.
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They know that one component for increasing atmospheric CO2 is natural increased global temperature from whatever cause. Even youngsters have watched the CO2 escape from a bottle of chilled soda as it warms up.
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They know that there was a significant global cooling for the 35 years from 1940 through 1975 in spite of the major CO2 releases from WWI, WWII, Korea and accelerated world-wide fossil fuel consumption.
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They know that there has been only one degree warming in the past 100 years and NO global temperature increase during the past 10 years in spite of the increased level of atmospheric CO2.
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They know that the significant global warming that occurred during the medieval period did not result in catastrophic disaster. In fact, it was the following “little ice age” that produced major negative impacts.
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They know that only those who are hiding the truth would mount a campaign to silence the questions about their hypothesis and not participate in meaningful and professional dialogue.
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They know that Mr Jim Hanson, prophet of man-made global warming and paradoxically the keeper of the official government temperature data, has continually published faulty data that were only corrected due to scrutiny by doubting-bloggers.
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And so these skeptics and doubters and deniers continue to ask for the truth and nothing but the truth about the global and regional changes we observe and measure and what part if any man-made actions are contributors. Perhaps that’s what everyone should be seeking including Mr Gore and his associates at the IPCC. The debate about the causes and effects of regional and global changes are clearly not over and the current data does not favor Mr Gore or draconian government actions that will cripple our countries economic systems and infrastructure.
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Click for global warming data:
http://www.roanokeslant.org/GlobalWarmingThoughts/
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/08/250-years-of-natural-global-warming.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/07/g8-current-natural-global-warming.html
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Roanoke Times, 12-25-08, Pg 1: Heading: Happy holidays
12/26/08, Pg A3: Christmas now official holiday in Iraq
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Apparently Dec 25th is Christmas in Iraq, but not at the Roanoke Times!
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It’s disappointing that the liberal press, who boast of their “inclusiveness”, find it so difficult to say “Merry Christmas”. What a sad and forlorn group that have given up their independence in order to serve on the altar of “political correctness”.
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Click for Prior Items:
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Christmas at Arlington
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-at-arlington.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/17/06, Pg Horiz 1: Editorial: Christian bullies manufactured this “War on Christmas”
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/12/fake-war.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/25/08, Pg Va 14: Letters to Editor by Peter T. Sarjeant, Bedford, Va.
Radmacher (RT Editor) finds no bliss in ignorance.
“The article, “Efforts to clean coal’s image won’t work.” (Dec.21 commentary), in the Horizon section by Dan Radmacher is the most negative, biased, bilious baloney I have ever read in the Roanoke Times.”
“Has he ever visited on of the coal-burning power plants to witness what is being done to “clean” the coal? He simply copies the tripe that is generally spouted by anti-coal mongers in the free press. It is totally useless information, largely fabricated and without any scientific foundation whatsoever. A real Scroogy attitude.”
“Poor man. He lives in an ignorance that has no bliss.”
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My, My! And the editors of the RT think that my blog items here in the RoanokeSlant.org are unnecessarily harsh and qualify as “roughing the quarterback”!
I don’t know Mr. Sarjeant, but apparently we have a similar view of many of the RT’s editorial board pronouncements.
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This blog contains over 1,000 items that highlight the one-sided liberal views expressed in the RT both as comment and as “news”. I felt compelled to include Mr. Sarjeant’s LTE as yet another blog item reflecting a valid contrarian view of the RT's Editorial Board.
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Some Sample Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/12/kaine-steers-va-into-green-something.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/12/90-million-shoes.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/12/we-want-you.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/09/roanoke-going-green.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/21/08, Pg 1: Past ties to Ill. Governor a liability for Emanuel.
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A carefully crafted AP hedge-paper setting the stage for Ram Emanuel’s ejection from Obama’s Chief of Staff position should the government wiretaps be embarrassing of Emanuel discussing Obama’s “up for bid” vacated senate seat with Ron Blagojevich. The inference is that Obama wouldn’t have had any idea that was going on!
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Click for Blago-Obama-Daley and fun times in Chicago.
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http://www.roanokeslant.org/Blago-Obama-Daley.jpg
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Exactly how dull does the AP think people are, and what a difference with their handling of the Plame-Wilson-Libby situation. The AP and the liberal press were so into that story that they have even refused to publish the 550 tons of yellow-cake nuclear weapons material discovered in Iraq and then moved by the US to Canada.
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/07/sadams-yellow-cake.html
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Regardless how this particular incident turns out, the public is well aware of the history of Chicago politics and are just now starting to get an insight into Obama’s history within that political swamp.
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Prior Item:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/12/audacity-of-transparency-not.html
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Apparently the Va Election Board directed local election officials to not require ID as a requirement for voting in the 2008 general election Nov 4.
As a result it appears that many out of state students successfully voted as state residents at the polls near their school.
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It now appears that a large number of these students will be using this Virginia Government certified residency to apply for in-state-tuition at all Virginia Public Colleges and Universities. Resistance to these applications will constitute the basis for a class action law suit to enforce these rules.
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Seems like a proper and simple followup activity. However, there may be significant economic implications for the schools and the state.
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It turns out there are 28,234 out of state undergraduates enrolled in Virginia Public four year institutions.
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It also turns out that there is approximately a $10,000 per student per year fee charged to out of state students.
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That will result in $282.3 MILLION dollars per year that these students will save!
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Not clear how that reduction will relate to state and school budgets.
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Perhaps Gov Kaine will address that in his upcoming budget.
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/12/no-real-vote-recount.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/12/08, Pg Bus 8: Kaine steers Virginia in direction of “green jobs”. Virginia has the potential to create tens of thousands of green jobs by 2025, Kaine said.
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Governors Warner and Kaine have clearly NOT supported Virginia GREEN Wind-power. The Wind-farm in Highland County, now five years in a Virginia regulatory swamp, still does not have Virginia Democrat support to move forward over objections about insignificant impacts to birds and bats.http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2007/09/virginia-wind-farm-someday.html
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What are these green-jobs going to produce that will be greener than wind power on the Va-WVa highlands?
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Based on his total lack of leadership to support the highland wind farm, how can anyone, even someone from the Roanoke Times, take this political hot air seriously?
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To put the total hex on anything that could possibly be done, the article quotes Glen Besa of the Sierra Club as saying he hopes to be supportive of Kaine’s initiatives. Since the Sierra Club has not been supportive of any energy project I have ever heard of, one wonders what new invention he is talking about?
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The bottom line is:
1) We have increased our US population by 2 million persons per year for over 50 years. Every one of these people need and use energy.
2) The Democrat party and the so called “environmentalists” have not supported any additional energy sources in the last 20 years.
3) Our current dependence on foreign energy has created massive financial and security issues for our country.
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We look forward to these new green-jobs that the Sierra Club endorses.
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/11/drill-but-dont-really-drill.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/17/08, Pg A 11: Yet another AP and liberal media gleeful and festive article on the shoe thrown at Pres. Bush at a Bagdad news conference.
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It’s interesting that AP and the major media don’t talk about the 90 million Iraqi shoes that are now free from the terror of Sadam and Usay and Kuday. No one threw shoes at them because everyone knew their feet would be cut-off and then their head and then the heads of all their family members would be cut off just like journalist David Pearl who the liberal media has chosen to forget. No liberal media medal of honor for him!
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On the subject of liberal media gross slant and bias, please advise if anyone has ever seen a significant liberal media article on the 550 tons of yellow-cake nuclear bomb making material the US army removed from Iraq and sent to vaults in Canada for safe keeping.
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All this shoe hype wouldn’t be a part of the ongoing media effort to keep folks from asking about Obama’s ChicagoGate issues, would it? Perhaps reporters should be throwing shoes at him until he comes clean on this scandal and the corrupt Democrat machine!
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/12/audacity-of-transparency-not.html
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Where are the media cries for the Obama promised and advertised openness of the new administration relative to communications between the “Office of the President Elect” and Blago, the Democrat Gov. of Illinois who has been busy selling a US Senate seat to the highest bidder.
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Obama told us (on TV) that neither he nor his team have been involved in discussion with Blago “about this subject”.
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Turns out: Ron Emanuel, Obama’s new chief of staff, had lots of discussions and now there’s silence until “the team” figures out what’s recorded on tape and what they have to “fess up to” and how to spin the story. What a refreshing new approach to transparency and the media just rolls over and lets it roll by! Wouldn’t want to spoil the start of the Obama Honeymoon.
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Certainly a far cry from how the major media have handled all the items that have surfaced during the Bush term and the media feeding frenzy focused on Gov. Palin.
So much for fair and balanced!
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/13/report-obamas-aide-discussed-senate-job-blagojevich/
“Communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps, a source confirmed for the newspaper.
Another source told the newspaper that contact between the Obama camp and the governor's administration over the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel called the cell phone of Blagojevich's chief of staff, John Harris.
Emanuel delivered a list of "acceptable" candidates, the source told the newspaper. The list named Obama adviser Valerie Jarrert, Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source told the Tribune.
After the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said.”-

Roanoke Times, 12/14/08, Pg Horiz 1: Extensive editorial about “joining the RT reader panel”.
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Article should read: we want your input if you’re like us! And we’ll make that decision!
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Very interesting! Back on 1/7/06 the RT launched a similar effort to:
“we’ll be keeping a sharp eye out for thoughtful conservatives who can present views that differ from the Roanoke Times editorial board.”
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2007/01/searching-for-whom.html
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That diligent search brought us articles by folks like Ray Stubble, yet another clone of the left-wing and liberal editorial board of the RT, hardly a contrasting view of anything.
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Good news RT editors: There are over 1,000 items in this blog that should fulfill your objectives of having reasonable, prudent and contrasting views of the material presented in the RT with the author clearly identified and not receiving any compensation for anything. All this great stuff and free too!
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Your search is over! What a Holiday gift! Just link to this blog and you’ll get the feedback you deserve.
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http://www.roanokeslant.blogspot.com/
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Roanoke Times, 12/10/08, Pg Va 8: Political cartoon roasting the Va Republicans for holding a function at "The Homestead".
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Good cheap shot. Of course those dollars will go to support jobs and taxes here in rural Virginia.

Now for fairness and equity: how about a cartoon roasting the Coronation of Prince Obama.
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After buying the election for over $700 MILLION DOLLARS his jesters are now selling tickets to the coronation ceremony for $50,000 per ticket. (not found in the RT!)
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2008/12/12/g-buys-day-presidential-inauguration-trip/
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One might wonder why the editors of the Roanoke Times would try to portray the Republicans as the fat cats of politics given the facts of the 2008 primaries and elections.
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Prior Items
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2006/05/those-poor-democrats.html
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Roanoke Times:
12/10/08, Pg A7: Big bailout ($14 BILLION) has GOP stalling
12/08/08, Pg A7: Key senator calls for GM chief to resign
12/09/08, Pg A6: Congress, White House craft auto aid plan, key item: “car czar”
12/12/08, Pg A6: Auto bailout talks collapse over union wages
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The Alaska “bridge to nowhere” was actually designed to connect Juneau, the capital city of Alaska, to the airport that services that city and to the only land available to expand that city.
View that in contrast to the Bailout-Bridge to Nowhere that will pump billions of tax dollars into the failing car companies and their pack-man UAW union workers who get 90% of their pay weather they’re making cars or drinking coffee!
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The key to Democrat support for this bill is the “pay back” for their funding and votes during last months elections. The Obama $700 MILLION dollars certainly didn’t come from $5 internet donations.
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Key senator calls for GM chief to resign. This from Democrat Sen Chris Countrywide Dodd the guy who got a secret sweetheart mortgage deal from THE major player in the current financial collapse. What’s his opinion worth these days?
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And what’s with all the discussions about a “car-czar”? Does anyone remember what happened under the last real czar – and – what happened to him and his family? How about our past czars for health, drugs, and poverty. There is a car-czar! His name is Katsuaki Watanabe and he’s the CEO of Toyota Motors.
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In order to get out of this swamp, The United Auto Workers (UAW) Union leadership and membership must accept the fact that the “new world economic reality” will no longer support the outlandish contracts that they have extracted from the US auto industry through coercion and intimidation. They can either adjust or perish.
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The Bailout-Bridge to Nowhere should not be built with tax dollars. The parties involved must construct a new business and product model. This will take years, not months!
In the mean time the big-3 are making lots of money off-shore. Interesting!
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/11/deunionize-gm-ford.html

Roanoke Times, 12/13/08, Pg A5: Defiant Illinois Governor not stepping down
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Those rightwing guys at Fox news were lamenting that after this story broke none of the major media morning shows ever mentioned that Blagojevich was a DEMOCRAT. I was skeptical.
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However here we have the Roanoke Times article with the major headline, the sub-headline the description under the Blagojevich picture with no mention that he's a DEMOCRAT.
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In fact, the first time the word DEMOCRAT is printed is in the third column where it's dropped as the AG "also a Democrat" etc.
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Sure a different approach to coverage of folks like Ted Stevens (AK) where it's made very clear right up front and over and over that he's a Republican!
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And the RT and major media continue to insist that they don't have any slant and bias! These folks need not apply for the Tim Russert fairness award!
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Prior Items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/12/audacity-of-blind-slant.html
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/07/roanoke-times-and-bloggers.html
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Roanoke Times, 12/9/08, Pg A 4: Homosexuals urged to “call in gay” today.
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Not clear why one would call in to tell their boss they’re not coming to work based on their sexual preference.
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It’s also not clear what they expect their boss to reply to that statement.
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Perhaps we all should just handle our sexual preference the same way we handle other personal things that other folks don’t have a “need to know” and that really shouldn’t matter for most situations.
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Perhaps “don’t ask – don’t tell”, is good advice for all of us!
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Roanoke Times, 12/2/08, Pg Va 8: Editorial: Goode won’t get a real recount. Without a paper trail in the 5th Dist. Officials can only double-check their arithmetic.
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The Editors are correct – for all the wrong reasons!
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The major issue with the recount is not adding up the numbers of votes in each precinct whether cast by paper, mechanical incriminators, terminals or colored marbles.
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The real BIG issue is who is registered to vote, are they valid voters and who actually voted under their name.
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The Roanoke Times and their friends find nothing wrong with the ACORN voter registration activities and they adamantly oppose requiring valid voter ID at the polls. They also oppose asking people to fill-out provisional ballots for cases where the poll workers have doubts about a voter’s qualification to vote.
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These are the real issues why our voting system is not valid and why a recount won’t be “real”!
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The lack of valid ID was a major issue in the 9/11 attack, many of the terrorists had invalid Virginia ID and the 9/11 Commission directed that all states implement a proper personal ID system. It’s been seven years since 9/11 -- why hasn’t that been done?
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It is sad indeed that the very basis of our system of government is being undermined by people who claim to hold high our constitutional values.
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Prior Items:
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http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2008/10/vote-early.html
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USA Today, 12/1/08, Pg Money Sect B Pg 1: “Obama’s actions perk up Wall St. Investors respond to a clear strategy. NY: Pres.-elect Obama hasn’t even moved into the White House yet. But Wall street is already showering him with praise for injecting confidence into the battered psyche of investors and working quickly to hatch a plan meant to jolt the economy out of its worst funk in decades.”
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Hatch a plan – NOT – hatch an egg is more like it!
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The DOW on Monday 12/1, the date of the above big headline story, DROPPED -680 points or – 7.7%, one of the biggest drops in history!
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The left-wing liberal media is still going strong as if the election wasn’t even over!
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Exactly how much bias and spin and heifer-dust is the liberal media going to continue to feed us until they settle down and start reporting the real news? And this piece in the front page of the “USA Money News” section of a national paper that should be practicing professional journalism! What a sad sack of losers!
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