rupert murdoch Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Saturday Evening News Roundup

I cannot believe the Peyton Place that’s going on in Orlando. Stan Van Gundy and Dwight Howard are feuding like an old married couple.

Did you see Phil Mickelson today at the Masters? Simply an amazing performance.

Weak jobs report is somewhat disappointing, but the economy still added jobs. 120,000 new jobs are nothing to sneeze at. Basically, as I see it, this job report underscores what we already know, that the economy is not up to full strength. The economy is still fragile.

In Wisconsin, Kelly Nickolaus has stepped down, or step aside, as she seems to have a disturbing habit of screwing up elections.

Can someone explain to me how Warren Sapp can be broke? He is currently filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

It is amazing that there weren’t more injuries and several deaths when a Navy jet crashed into an apartment building.

American Legislative Exchange Council has been exposed. Please read about the extensive legislative garbage, anti-American, pro-corporation garbage – that is The American Legislative Exchange Council.

I’m having extremely difficult time keeping up with all the twists and turns in the Rupert Murdoch scandal. It appears that Sky News has been caught hacking into e-mail accounts. Despicable.

I continue to be amazed at how conservatives respond to our president, Barack Obama. Barack Obama has done something that presidents throughout history have done, which is to call out the Supreme Court. That it’s an effort to influence the court, there is no doubt. Yet, for some reason, the fifth circuit court is under some sort of delusion that our president would defy the Supreme Court.

Torii Hunter, major league baseball player, had a little confrontation with the police the other night when his home security system went off. The good news is that everything ended well. Nobody has hard feelings. Nobody’s upset.

I have no idea what this Tyler Perry thing is all about. He was being chased by somebody and then was stopped by the cops. Now, he says that the cops didn’t treat him right. Okay. If he says it I’ll buy it for now. It sounds like something from the TV show Police Squad.

Staying on the race theme, it appears that John Derbyshire has been fired from the National Review for writing a wandering article that had something to do with race. Every now and then, when you think that you are going to write something clever on race, you should skip it. Mr. Derbyshire should have seen what happened to MJB and learned for her mistake.

I didn’t like Thomas Kinkade’s stuff. I thought that it was shallow and ~~overly sentimental~~ (no, that’s not the right word), hokey and over-the-top. Yet, I know there was a large group of Americans who absolutely loved his paintings. He died of “natural causes” at the age of 54. Just between you and me, you don’t die of natural causes at age 54. What the hell are natural causes? A heart attack? A stroke? Well, if they are the cause, then say that. Don’t say “natural causes,” because that simply doesn’t mean anything.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-04-07T22:33:48-04:00April 7th, 2012|Domestic Issues, Economy, Race, Sports|Comments Off

Upset Central

The ongoing struggle in Wisconsin politics has taken an unexpected turn. As you know, Wisconsin is currently in the midst of trying to recall their governor, Scott Walker. Several Senate legislators are also part of the recall effort. Pam Galloway, Republican, has resigned. The Republican control of the Senate has now been lost.

Osama bin Laden tried to focus on, attack and assassinate General David Petraeus and President Barack Obama. I guess this news is not really surprising. Yet, we found information in his stash of notes that he thought that this was extremely important.

The real reason oil prices are rising. Speculators. Wall Street.

There appears to be new information that Margaret Thatcher actually met with Rupert Murdoch back in 1981 to discuss Murdoch’s purchase of the Times in the Sunday Times. Details here.

There are literally hundreds of questions surrounding Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. His name has just been released. He is the American soldier who allegedly killed 16 Afghanis. This is an enormous tragedy. There is no good outcome. The soldier’s wife and kids have been moved onto a military base for their own protection.

A Rutgers University student used a web cam to spy on his roommate who was having sex with another man. Yesterday, the student was convicted of hate crimes.

This American Life is one of the best news and informational programs in the United States. For more than a decade I have enjoyed listening to Ira Glass discuss and explain various topics. Yesterday, This American Life retracted a report on Apple Computer’s suppliers in China. It appears that the reporter, Mike Daisey, embellished and enhanced some of the aspects of the story.

Upset Central, Baby: (I hate all the commercials on ESPN.com.) Norfolk State (#15) defeated Missouri (#2). The much beloved and sometimes hated Duke Blue Devils went down to the Lehigh. And that’s why they play the game. 🙂

Update: Who’s a freeloader? Currently, the GOP and the Tea Party have been focused on cutting out the freeloaders. Those are the folks who are sucking America dry. James Kwak does a wonderful job pointing out that Medicare and Social Security are insurance programs. For the most part, lower and middle income Americans who have to use Medicare or Social Security do not pay in enough money to pay for the services that they (we) are using. It is insurance.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-04-05T20:48:47-04:00March 17th, 2012|Afghanistan, Big Oil, Bin Laden, Obama administration|Comments Off

Wednesday Morning News Roundup

Tornadoes rake across the Mid-West. There are several reported deaths.

Federal court in San Antonio has released an interim redistricting plan for Texas. This plan, of course, is set in stone, unless any of the nine parties who were contesting the last plan decide they would like to appeal it. I think this again points out how corrupt, disjointed, confusing and unfair political redistricting has become in this country. This is what you fight for. You fight to be able to control the redistricting maps, which really controls the houses of your state legislature and Congress. You can protect your friends. You can punish or eliminate your enemies through redistricting. We must go to a better system nationwide.

James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, has relinquished his post as executive chairman of News International. This continues to be a big story.

North Korea has agreed to IAEA inspections and a nuclear moratorium. Raise your hand if you’ve read this before.

Economic numbers were revised upward for the fourth quarter.

Fox News continues to peddle sour economic news.

Rick Santorum lost both Arizona and Michigan. I think that he is done.

I’d like to spend just a moment thinking about Rick Santorum’s statement on John F. Kennedy’s classic speech on the separation of church and state. (Complete transcript here.)

Rick Santorum stated that he read the speech on religion and it made him want to “throw up.” He stated, “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is antithetical to the objectives and the vision of our country…. ” Now, of course, Rick Santorum was pandering for votes. He was desperate. He was in the final days of trying to rally his troops in Michigan and somehow eke out a victory. He was grasping for straws. Yet, I don’t believe that this excuses such over-the-top rhetoric. Every now and then, we truly need to hold our politicians accountable for what they say. It is clear to me that John F. Kennedy, the former president, wasn’t talking about running the presidency in a moral vacuum. President Kennedy understood, just as you and I understand, that Americans who come from a religious background carry their religious morality with them everywhere. This is a fact of life. The fact that you are cordial and treat others with respect is a reflection of your religious beliefs. The fact that you listen to other points of view or don’t listen to other points of view, again, is a reflection of your religious beliefs. What John F. Kennedy was talking about was central to what was on Americans minds at the time – the president should not answer to the Pope. Although some may laugh now, that was a real fear in 1960. If we elected a Catholic president, it would the same as electing the Pope as president. What John F. Kennedy was talking about was that he was going to be a president for everyone. He wasn’t going to take his marching orders from any religious figure, but that his religious upbringing, his moral character if you will, was still going to be the same. This is a nuanced argument. In 2012, nuanced arguments cannot be distilled down the talking points and bumper stickers so that they are belittled by folks like Rick Santorum. I find it disappointing that more people haven’t taken Rick Santorum the task. To be complete, Rick Santorum has backed away from his original statements.