Mood:
d'ohTopic: Lib Loser Stories
'PROGRESSIVE' MEDIA STALLS: 'AIR AMERICA' IN AUDIENCE PLUNGE NYC, 'DAILY KOS' BOOK SELLS ONLY 3,600 COPIES
Left-leaning new media has hit turbulence at the marketplace, newly released stats show.
A book hyped by major media as documenting a progressive revolution of "blogs" and political power, DAILY KOS 'CRASHING THE GATE,' has sold only 3,630 copies since its release last month, according to NIELSEN's BOOKSCAN.
[NIELSEN claims only 2,062 copies of DAILY KOS
have been purchased at the retail level; the rest coming through 'discount' outlets. The NIELSEN figures do include online sales from AMAZON.COM, and others.]
Meanwhile, the just released radio Winter Book [Jan-Mar 2006] from ARBITRON shows AIR AMERICA in New York City losing more than a third of its audience -- in the past year!
Among all listeners 12+, it was a race to the bottom for AIR AMERICA and WLIB as mid-days went from a 1.6 share during winter 2005 to a 1.0 share winter 2006.
During PM drive, host Randi Rhodes plunged to 27,900 listeners every quarter hour, finishing 25th place in her time slot, down from 60,900 listeners every quarter hour in the fall.
A network source says the radio ratings released today do not reflect the overall growth of the broadcast.
"The demos are better, and listeners trust AIR AMERICA to give them the real truth on issues and the Bush presidency," says the insider.
Posted by yaahoo_2006iest
at 11:05 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, 26 April 2006 11:17 PM EDT
party time!
New Home Sales Rebound Strongly in March
WASHINGTON - Sales of new homes soared in March by the largest amount in 13 years, reflecting a rebound from bad weather in February. But the median price of the homes sold last month actually declined, providing evidence that the nation's five-year housing boom is slowing.
The 
But the median price of homes sold in March dropped to $224,200, down 2.2 percent from what homes were selling for in March 2005. It marked the first time home prices dropped over a 12-month period since December 2003.
The median price, the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less, also showed a decline in March when compared to February, falling by 6.5 percent.
Home prices last year were soaring as anxious buyers bid more to get into a sizzling home market. However, analysts believe that sales, which set records for five straight years, will decline in 2006 as the housing boom cools under the impact of rising mortgage rates.
Home sales were up in all areas of the country led by a 35.7 percent surge in the West. Sales rose 10.9 percent in the Midwest, 6.9 percent in the South and 4.7 percent in the Northeast.
In other economic news, the government reported that orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods soared by 6.1 percent in March, the largest amount in 10 months, as heavy demand for new jetliners by foreign countries helped boost the manufacturing sector.
The 6.1 percent increase in orders for durable goods followed a 2.7 percent rise in March and was the biggest advance since a 7.3 percent increase in May 2005. It was more than three times the 1.8 percent increase that Wall Street had been expecting. Two-thirds of the gain reflected a 71.1 percent jump in demand for commercial aircraft.
The manufacturing sector has been powering ahead in recent months, helped by efforts to restock lean inventories and a desire on the part of many companies to purchase new equipment to expand and modernize.
In contrast to the big surge in new home sales in March, sales of 
Economists believe that the overall economy rebounded strongly in the first three months of this year after a lull in the final three months of 2005 with part of the momentum being supplied by the manufacturing sector.
Many economists believe the economy grew at an annual rate approaching 5 percent in the January-March quarter, up from a modest 1.7 percent growth rate in the October-December period. The government will release its first look at first quarter growth on Friday.
Demand for all transportation items rose by 14 percent, an increase that was powered by the 71.1 percent jump in orders for civilian aircraft. Boeing Co. reported that it had booked orders for 112 new planes during the month.
Orders for motor vehicles and parts rose by 2.8 percent while orders for military aircraft fell by 0.7 percent.
silly
Hillary Wants Fascist Corporatism
Fascism's essential economic feature is centralized planning, euphemistically called "harmonizing." Activities of businesses and labor unions are to be coordinated by government planning boards. Individual economic liberty must be subordinated to the national interests as defined by the ruling party.
President Roosevelt said in his first inaugural speech in 1933 that only the Federal government is capable of making sound economic decisions, and that power to control those decisions must be collectivized at the national level: "...[capitalist businessmen] have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence…It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definite public character…if we are to go forward we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of the common discipline, because, without such discipline, no progress is made..."
When put to the test, however, New Deal corporatism failed to end the Depression. The median annual unemployment rate from 1934 to 1940 was 17.2%, and at no time did it drop below 14%, almost triple today's rate.
Most of Senator Clinton's speech was platitudes such as "...sticking with fiscal discipline, rewarding hard work, investing in our people, growing a strong middle class by giving everyone a chance to succeed." Her prescription to accomplish those ends, however, is straight out of New Deal corporatism.
The core of her speech was its reference to a proposal by Felix Rohatyn and Warren Rudman. They recommend creation of a National Investment Corporation (NIC) modeled on the 1932 Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC).
Of the NIC, they write: "Today state and local governments spend at least three times as much on infrastructure as the federal government does. In the 1960s the shares for both were even. Even so, increases in state spending have not been enough to check the decline in many of our public assets. A new type of federal involvement would be a powerful initiative and would require a new focus. Rebuilding America is a historic task; we have the means to do it.
"The shortfall in investment is aggravated by the fact that most infrastructure money is given out by formulas that do not force all projects to be evaluated on consistent or rational terms. The solution to both issues could begin with a national investment corporation (NIC) that would be the window through which states and groups of states and localities would request financing or grants for all infrastructure projects requiring federal participation.
"The NIC could use its financial power to bring about improvements in policy. Funds for new highways, airports or water projects would not be granted unless modern technology, appropriate user fees and other non-structural solutions had been brought to bear. Capital grants to individual school districts would be contingent on adopting management and human resource practices that would improve school performance.
"The NIC should have the authority to issue bonds with maturities of up to 50 years to finance infrastructure projects. The bonds would be guaranteed by the federal government."
This same independent borrowing power enabled the RFC to expand its activities unchecked by Congress. The NIC may be expected to follow the same course.
Like the proposed NIC, the RFC's proclaimed focus was public works projects. Soon, however, it became President Roosevelt's mechanism for Enron-style off-balance-sheet funding for thousands of projects never contemplated by authorizing legislation. It was Roosevelt's principal dispenser of vote-buying political pork.
Congress had essentially no control over the RFC's activities. It became the behind-the-scenes funder of quasi-governmental corporations operating businesses in Canada and Mexico, as well as in the United States, bypassing the Constitution's Article I, Section 7 requirement that all revenue bills originate in the House of Representatives. In effect, the RFC gave President Roosevelt the monarchial and unconstitutional spending powers that English barons had curbed in 1215 with Magna Carta.
The NIC could be used to fund a re-run of Senator Clinton's National Socialist Health Care project, as well as other planning ideas of Bill Clinton's gurus in the late 1980s. Liberal intellectuals then believed that only by copying Japan, Inc. (the tight coordination among big Japanese corporations, banks, and government agencies) could the United States survive Japanese economic competition.
In Mussolini's words, Fascist state-corporatism was intended to "secure collaboration ... between the various categories of producers in each particular trade or branch of productive activity." Government-orchestrated "collaboration" was necessary because "the principle of private initiative" could only be useful "in the service of the national interest" as defined by government bureaucrats.
Welcome to Hillary's proposed NIC.
Thomas E. Brewton is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc. The New Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers, journalists and grass-roots media outlets. His weblog is THE VIEW FROM 1776 (
Canadians give low marks to system
Only U.S. ranks worse in study
The private foundation, which works to improve health care, released the study last week. It was based on adult patient surveys in 2004 and 2005 in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Patients ranked six measures and 51 indicators of quality: patient safety, effectiveness, patient centredness, timeliness, efficiency and equity.
Canadians ranked the timeliness of their health care lower than any other nationality surveyed, with more than a third of 1,400 surveyed saying they had to wait longer than six days for a medical appointment and 42 per cent waiting more than two hours to be seen in an emergency room. More than half of Canadians said they had to wait longer than four weeks to see a specialist and a third had to wait four months or more for elective surgery.
Rates of lab errors were also high in Canada, which tied with the U.S. for the number of patients who said they experienced a medical mistake in their treatment in the past two years.
"For all countries, responses indicate room for improvement," the report says.
A second survey of sicker adults, looking at health care by income in four of the countries, found Canadians with above-average incomes have to wait just as long as poorer patients and have the same difficulty getting care at night and on weekends and holidays without going to a hospital emergency room.
"Rates of ER use were highest in Canada and the U.S. - the two countries with the longest waits to see physicians and where individuals had the most difficulties getting after-hour care," the report says.
Canada also had the worst scores on test results. More respondents than in any other country said they didn't get test results back or didn't have them explained properly.
The U.S., the only country surveyed that doesn't have a public health insurance system, ranked last on providing health care to low-income adults, scoring the worst on 16 of 30 measures studied.
"Overall, the report finds a health care divide separating the U.S. from the other four countries," the report says. "The U.S. stands out for pervasive disparities by income."
The U.S. spends $5,635 per capita on health, more than double the average among industrialized nations. Canada spends $3,003 per capita, the second highest of the countries surveyed, but only a few dollars separated it from Australia and Germany.
Health policy analyst Michael Rachlis cautioned that the report's results are based on patient self-reporting and the answers "could mean different things in different countries.
"This is an index....Put it all together and you're getting an overall grade," he said in an interview. "It doesn't necessarily mean we have the fifth-best health care system. But the main point is, you can say absolutely conclusively that the U.S. has the worst health care system in the world, and they're spending by far the most. The other major conclusion, which is probably way more important, is that every country could improve dramatically."
chatty
MCCARTHY'S POLITICAL DONATIONS
I substantially agree with Jonah's point that the extraordinary amount of money at issue here is relevant but not dispositive when it comes to divining Mary McCarthy's motives. But I do think it's highly relevant - not just another fact in a firmament of facts.
That's because McCarthy's situation cannot be considered in a vacuum. Even with McCarthy considered alone, we are not talking about a single leak - the reporting indicates that she may be a serial leaker, the black-sites story being only the most prominent instance. But the broader context here is an intelligence community that was, quite brazenly, leaking in a manner designed to topple a sitting president. A big question here -- maybe not for purposes of guilt under the espionage act, but for the more important policy issue of a politicized CIA -- is whether she was part of a campaign that was grossly inappropriate for the intelligence community to engage in.
Remember Michael Scheuer, aka "Anonymous." It is simply dumbfounding that, as an intelligence officer heading up the bin Laden team (i.e., the unit targeting the number one, active national security problem facing the country) he was permitted by the CIA to write books about what he was doing. He has indicated, though, that it was fine with the agency as long as he was slamming the Bush administration.
Valerie Plame Wilson thought the whole Bush administration notion that Saddam was trying to arm up with nukes was crazy. She maneuvered to have, not an objective analyst, but her husband - with no WMD expertise but an enemy of the president's policy - sent to Niger, whence he returned and wrote a highly partisan, misleading and damaging op-ed in the NY Times about the Bush administration's case for toppling Saddam ... which op-ed he was permitted by the self-same CIA to write notwithstanding that his trip was (and should have been) classified.
All the while, there has been a steady drumbeat from the former intelligence officers - who anonymously fill Seymour Hersh books when they are not venting their spleens on the record - attacking every aspect of the administration's handling of the war on terror.
in the key swing state (Ohio) that, in the end, did actually decide the election.
From where I sit, that's pretty damn relevant.
MCCARTHY TWIST
spacey
Josh Stulman examines his artwork, previously scheduled for an art exhibit that was canceled by Penn State. The painting to the right, by Stulman, is titled "Our Greatest Hero" and depicts Hag Amin Al-Husseini, who was hailed as the greatest Palestinian hero by Yasir Arafat. Other works by Stulman address terrorism toward Jews. >>>>>
PSU censors exhibit
The exhibit, Stulman said, which is based mainly on the conflict in Palestinian territories, raises questions concerning the destruction of Jewish religious shrines, anti-Semitic propaganda and cartoons in Palestinian newspapers, the disregard for rules of engagement and treatment of prisoners, and the indoctrination of youth into terrorist acts.
"I'm being censored and the reason for censoring me doesn't make sense," Stulman said.
Charles Garoian, professor and director of the School of Visual Arts, said Stulman's controversial images did not mesh with the university's educational mission.
The decision to cancel the exhibit came after reviewing Penn State's Policy AD42: Statement on Nondiscrimination and Harassment and Penn State's Zero Tolerance Policy for Hate, he wrote.
Garoian could not be reached by The Daily Collegian for further comment by press time yesterday.
Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon wrote in an e-mail message that "there are other issues involved in the display that has caused a problem, issues that have nothing to do with the content of the painting." Mahon wrote that he did not know all the details.
"We always encourage those who are offended by free speech to use their own constitutional right to free speech to make their concerns known," Mahon wrote. "This is an educational institution and people should embrace opportunities to inform one another and the public. ... We don't have a right to hide art."
Stulman, who is Jewish, said he felt threatened and abused by the Nazi symbol and is concerned for his artwork and his personal well-being.
Garoian also wrote that exhibit space in the School of Visual Arts is reserved for students and faculty, not groups with a particular agenda.
Stulman said he created his paintings on his own and he approached Penn State Hillel in February to help with advertising costs and food for the opening. He said the School of Visual Arts did not object to his earlier exhibit, also sponsored by Hillel.
Tuvia Abramson, director of Penn State Hillel, said while Hillel sponsored the Stulman's exhibit, the group had nothing to do with his message or content.
"We don't have a political agenda except to support the voice of Jewish students," he said.
Abramson said Hillel is exploring other venues for Stulman's exhibits to ensure his message does not go unnoticed.
"It's about opening eyes and challenging viewpoints," Abramson said. "Artistic expression is the basis for creativity -- but here, it was blocked."
Collegian staff writers Meaghan Haugh and Devon Lash contributed to this article. - 
Kerry Would Defeat Bush in New U.S. Election
In a January 2005 interview with NBC's Tim Russert, Kerry expressed satisfaction with his campaign, saying, "I won the youth vote. I won the independent vote. I won the moderate vote. If you take half the people at an Ohio State football game on Saturday afternoon and they were to have voted the other way, you and I would be having a discussion today about my State of the Union speech."
On Apr. 20, Kerry discussed the possibility of a presidential bid in 2008, saying, "I will make that decision before the end of the year but I'm thinking about it hard." The Massachusetts senator jokingly added, "If you can help me find 60,000 votes in Ohio."
Bush is ineligible for a third term in office. The next presidential election is scheduled for November 2008.
Polling Data
John Kerry (D) 47%
George W. Bush (R) 40%
Someone else 6%
Would not vote 4%
Don't know 3%
Source: Bloomberg / Los Angeles Times
a-ok
Soldiers and workers at Al Kisik in Iraq examine damage caused a bomb attack on the camp's Internet caf? on March 27. Staff Sgt. Martin Richburg's quick thinking is credited for averting deaths and injuries. No one was hurt in the blast. >>>>>
Staff sergeant's suspicion of civilian led to evacuation of Iraq Internet cafe before blast
AL KISIK, Iraq - The camp was still on edge from a suicide bomb attack that morning.
The bomber had targeted an Iraqi army recruiting drive at the combined Iraqi and American forces base here in northwest Iraq. Although no U.S. soldiers were injured, soldiers from the 2nd, or "Gunners," Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, out of Giessen, Germany, dealt with the aftermath.
"Imagine a dump truck filled with 40 bodies, some alive, some dead, some walking around with only a scratch," said 1st Lt. David "Big Doc" Brickhouse, the physician's assistant who oversaw the treatment and evacuation of victims. "It was crazy."
So it was with no small amount of suspicion that Staff Sgt. Martin Richburg (right) observed an Iraqi civilian pacing nervously near the camp's crowded Internet cafe that same evening.
It was around 9 p.m. on March 27, and Richburg was sitting behind the wheel of his "bongo" flatbed truck in the parking lot, talking to his wife on a cell phone.
"I saw this guy duckin' and peepin' outside the Internet [cafe]," said the 44-year-old Baltimore, native. "I said, 'Let me keep an eye on this guy.'"
Unknown to Richburg at the time, the man was an insurgent who had managed to get a job at the camp's Iraqi army noncommissioned officer academy. Part of a cell that had planned a series of attacks, the insurgent had constructed a bomb within the camp after smuggling components in piece by piece.
Richburg, a heavy-vehicle mechanic assigned to the 142nd Maintenance Company, grew increasingly suspicious as the man peered into the cafe window, walked away, and then returned with a plastic chair and a package.
"I'm really watching the guy at this point, I'm watching his every move," Richburg said. "I'm sitting right there and the guy never even saw me."
The package looked like something bulky wrapped in a blue plastic shopping bag. Richburg's suspicion grew to alarm when the man stepped onto the chair, placed the bag on top of the window's air conditioning unit and then took off running.
Throwing down his cell phone - his wife was still on the line - Richburg dashed after the man and brought him down with a swift kick to the back of his legs. By this time, Richburg had drawn his 9 mm pistol and, holding the man down, called for another Iraqi he knew to translate.
"I asked him if he knew who this guy was and he said, 'No,'" Richburg said. "I told him I saw him put a package on the air conditioner and asked him to find out what was in it. Then I charged my weapon to scare him."
The man answered back quickly. He said he had placed a bomb on the air conditioner. Richburg asked how much time they had before it exploded. "Five minutes," the man said.
Dragging the insurgent in one hand and waving his pistol in the other, the burly mechanic rushed to the cafe entrance and began shouting at everyone to get out.
Shocked by the sight of Richburg waving a pistol and swearing at the top of his lungs, a dozen soldiers and five civilians piled out of the cafe. The mechanic yelled at them to take cover behind a line of concrete blast barriers.
The soldiers braced themselves. After roughly 15 minutes, the package exploded with the noise of an artillery shell. The windshield of Richburg's truck "crystallized" by the blast, and a Porta-John was flung into a nearby meadow. The window of the Internet cafe was destroyed, driving glass and shrapnel deep into the walls and computer booths.
Since the cafe had been cleared, nobody was injured.
"The bomb definitely would have killed some people," said Maj. John Stark, a liaison officer to the Iraqi army. "It definitely would have killed the guy sitting next to the air conditioner."
Richburg has since been awarded the Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for valor, and has been nominated for a Bronze Star for his actions on that evening.
"I suppose anyone else would have done it too," Richburg said of his actions. "It was the way the guy moved. If he walked away normally I might not have done it."
TV station catches gaffe by McKinney
Congresswoman berates staffer as tape rolled after interview
a DeKalb County Democrat who is running for re-election in the 4th Congressional District, a TV microphone she was wearing picked up her indelicate grumbling.
"Crap!" an irritated McKinney is heard saying after ending an interview with CBS 46 in which reporter Renee Starzyk repeatedly asked about the fallout from the police dust-up. "You know what? They lied to Coz and Coz is a fool."
McKinney, apparently realizing her blunder, then returned to face the camera and tell the reporter that comments about her communications director, Coz Carson, were off the record.
But the TV stationed aired the footage Saturday and the story later was picked up by CNN.
Mike Machi, Channel 46's assistant news director, said McKinney's office was aware Starzyk would ask about the fuss in the one-on-one interview.
"Congresswoman McKinney has been in Washington for a long time and she has handled the media for most of her public life," said Machi, who was unapologetic about airing the interview outtakes. "There were lots of ways to handle this and I was absolutely surprised that she handled this situation in that fashion."
McKinney, who is expected to qualify for her U.S. House race today, could not be reached Sunday for comment. But Carson, who said he began working for the congresswoman a week before the pushing incident, seemed unbothered by the public upbraiding.
"I share her frustration with the media's insatiable appetite for controversy and unimportant issues," said Carson, a former newsman who said he has known McKinney and her family for years.
Carson said he was present for Saturday's interview, which took place during a community meeting with constituents, but declined to say what led to the rebuke.
He also demurred when asked if he had spoken to McKinney about the "fool" comment.
"I'll just say I look forward to getting back to work tomorrow," he said.
Political observer Merle Black of Emory University got a chuckle out of McKinney's latest gaffe. But he said he wasn't surprised by her behavior, even in an election year.
"All of this is consistent," Black said of the way McKinney has handled the attention, including her charges that the police incident was racially motivated. "She doesn't act the way most Congress members act."
don't ask
A New York rally by the Islamic Thinkers Society outside the Israeli consulate yesterday featured chants of "The mushroom cloud is on its way! The real holocaust is on its way!"
The demonstration by the Queens-based group was monitored by the Investigative Project on Terrorism whose members noted signs including "Islam will Dominate" and a picture with an Islamic flag flying over the White House.
The chants were in Arabic and translated by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, headed by Steve Emerson, a former reporter for CNN.
Here are some excerpts from the chants:
Leader (in Arabic): "With our blood and our lives we will liberate al Aqsa!"
[The rest also respond in Arabic:] "With our blood and our lives we will liberate al Aqsa!
Israeli Zionists What do you say? The real Holocaust is on its way"
"Takbeer!"
Response: "Allahu Akbar!"
"Takbeer!"
Response: "Allahu Akbar!"
"Zionists, Zionists You will pay! The Wrath of Allah is on its way!
Israeli Zionists You shall pay! The Wrath of Allah is on its way!
The mushroom cloud is on its way! The real Holocaust is on its way!"
"Israel won't last long ... Indeed, Allah will repeat the Holocaust right on the soil of Israel"
"Takbeer!"
Response: "Allahu Akbar!"
According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, the Islamic Thinkers Society is an offshoot of London's Al-Muhajiroun, a group that celebrated the 9/11 attacks, referring to the hijackers as "the Magnificent 19," and posting a burning picture of the Capitol on its website.
Related offers: 
