Remember the "first time [really] proud of country" flap?

Remember how MSNBC deliberately clipped out the word "really," giving the quote a very different meaning?  Well now the AP is doing the same thing, intentionally or not:

It's becoming patently clear that the Associated Press has a chronic problem with employing reporters with a blatant anti-Democrat bias.  Just a quick search at Media Matters' website shows the depth of the problem, but we know many of the best (worst) examples from Pickler and others.

But, the worst was yet to come.  Most of us know by now this clear indication of underlying bias shown by the AP's Washington Bureau head Ron Fournier.  

Karl Rove exchanged e-mails about Pat Tillman with Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier, under the subject line "H-E-R-O." In response to Mr. Fournier's e-mail, Mr. Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this," to which Mr. Fournier replied, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight."

Take a moment to breath in the depravity here.

Naomi Klein is on Democracy Now.  Yep, I'm still a guy.  She's a beautiful, incredibly intelligent and highly educated woman.  I could hope to come across as well as she does, but I don't think my mug would measure up.  I better stick to writing and keep my face off the television.

Funny story (okay, not really).  I wrote about the Feith Hearing yesterday.  Then I found an old DK diary written in June that made me think I had my facts wrong.  In what can only be described as a fit of hysterical self doubt I deleted a diary which was absolutely factual and correct, and important.  [sigh]

In case you do not know, Doug Feith is one of the dirty, slimy snakes who helped justify the administration's torture policies.  He boasted to author Philippe Sands that he was a "real player" in Cheney's torture program.  I look to history for the only justice I still have faith in.  I hope I can find a way to view or listen to the hearing.

Bitter humor after the flip.  

From the AP

McCain, who once sang in jest about bombing Iran, on Tuesday reacted to a report of rising U.S. cigarette exports to the Islamic Republic by saying it may be "a way of killing 'em."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said: "McCain's crude remark on the indiscriminate killing of the Iranian nation not only testifies to his disturbed state of mind, but also to his warmongering approach to foreign policy."

In a statement quoted by the website of Iran's state Press TV satellite station, Hosseini added:

"We condemn such jokes and believe them to be inappropriate for a U.S. presidential candidate. It is most evident that jokes about genocide will not be tolerated by Iranians or Americans."

Note: I'm the author of a new book, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest, but I'm not part of the Obama campaign.

An Associated Press news "analysis"this weekend reveals a great deal about the right-wing attacks on the Obama campaign and media’s complicity in spreading their falsehoods.

The articleby Jennifer Loven begins, "Is Barack Obama close to being shadowed by giant flip-flops and, worse, having the image stick with people all the way to the voting booth?" If the press keeps falsely reporting Obama’s policies as flip-flops when they’re not, he certainly does.

This image suggests some of kind of bad monster movie, where an enormous pair of casual footwear haunts Obama everywhere. But the reality is much worse than cheap sandals: Media coverage in the past few weeks indicates that the press in 2008 may be even worse than in 2000 and 2004, when we "learned" that Al Gore invented the internet, and John Kerry invented his military service in Vietnam.

The Associated Press in an "analysis" piece where no analysis was actually conducted, proceded to blast Barack Obama for alleged "centrist positioning" that "gives the GOP ammo" to make the flip-flopping charge that undermined Kerry four years ago.

Here's the laundry list of supposed flip-flops:

Today, AP is reporting on the long lasting health benefits of psilocybin. The article, whilst well intentioned, is written from the perspective of the uninitiated and well, uses phrases like:

She felt like she was taking off. She saw colors. Then it felt like her heart was ripping open

and

Experts emphasize that people should not try psilocybin on their own because it could be harmful

Who are these so called experts and why are they trying to ruin everyone's good time? Here is a link to the full article:

More info and a link to an even more potent strain of article (psst, it's British) after the fold.

I am new to this blog and I have noticed on many occasions some are given to generalizations which often stray from the truth. I've always held to the precept history offers the ability to enable ourselves in being more fully informed about our world and politic. Ignorance of it is dangerous.

There was one thread catching my eye and caused me to take a deep breath. There is legitimate argument, several,  regarding the AP (Associated Press). I agree fully with the sentiment expressed by kos and AP's attempt to throttle the use of their source. Is the AP in the pocket of McCain ? I don't know. Has the AP been a tool of the right wing for decades? I don't know. Is there a legitimate perception of such. I don't know.

What I do know follows:

An AP story displayed on Huffington Post today reports on McCain's "campaign missteps" such as criticizing Obama for proposing a windfall oil profits tax when he, McCain had once done the same thing. Then there is the trip to Ottawa, where he attacked Obama, though not by name (here is McCain imitating Bush by making political attacks while in another country), and the "non-fundraiser" he hosted afterwards.

AP quotes McCain aides making light of the problems. And the AP story talks about how all presidential campaigns can expect some "self-inflicted wounds." But then, at the bottom of the article, this caught my eye:

Arguably, McCain has yet to make that kind of gaffe [as Obama did with his "biiter" comment] despite enduring a candidacy of remarkable adversity in which he went from front-runner to the campaign cellar and back again.

Huh?

During this latest dust-up over the recent FISA developments, let us not forget that we still have to be vigilent about identifying and responding to media deception.

In an "analysis" of John McCain's recent campaign missteps (which, of course, fails to take into account his biggest missteps might be his actual, ya know, policy positions), David Espo treats us to a reminder why we shouldn't really care whether we can quote the AP or not. It covers several minor blunders, such as McSame criticizing Obama for his position on windfall profits... a position that the Great and Honorable Maverick himself has repeatedly said he would consider.

But if you read through the entirety of the article, you get treated to this gem:

Republican President Gerald Ford's declaration in 1976, at the height of the Cold War, that there was "no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" was a memorable one.

Or more recently Democratic Sen. John Kerry's decision to go windsurfing in 2004, an event that Republicans turned into a metaphor for a politician who shifts with the wind.

Thas' right, folks... Ignorance about geopolitical realities is the same as ...  windsurfing...  

According to AP, Chuck Hagel says he'd consider the VP spot on the Obama ticket. Hagel has been pretty much in line with Bush with the exception of the war in Iraq where he has been clanging the warning bell for a long time.

In the AP report, Hagel admits that he and Obama have their differences, but he is clearly committed to bringing the country together, and he adds that he's had his share of differences with McCain as well.  Hagel, along with Jim Webb and John Kerry, is one of the four Vietnam combat vets in the Senate.  The fourth, is, of course, McCain. Hagel, who served as a Sargent in the Army, is the only enlisted vet among the group; the others were commissioned officers.  

What the hell?  Why is the AP running a completely ridiculous, partisan opinion piece under the guise of "analysis"?  Under the already ridiculous headline "Analysis: Obama chose winning over his word" we are treated to recitations of garbage Republican talking points.

 It is often impossible for me to read entire accounts of what our government has done in the name of Democracy in one sitting.  The torture documents were the most difficult.  But I return to the text, feeling that it is my obligation as a safe, comfortable citizen to at least know of the facts.  The nearly 3000 pages that the AP wrestled from the grip of our government through a Freedom of Information lawsuit in 2006 that told of the horrors at Guantanamo challenged my assumed obligation to know.  The Associated Press series earned an award at the University of Florida.( http://news.ufl.edu/...
University of Florida News - UF Freedom of Information Center honors AP writer ) When the Pentagon was forced to release the names of the detainees, I felt angst for them and their families....what if it were I?  Would anyone demand to know?

In light of the Associated Press's innovative fee schedule, I have decided to offer a fee schedule for those of you who want to steal my words.

(Fee schedule after the jump)

Listening to my local radio stations news, I was shocked to hear the right wing smears againist Michelle Obama have now made it into the Associated Press's daily news feed to small radio and newspapers.
The report was that "the Obama campaign is trying to react quickly to reports againist Michelle Obama. She was quoted as saying that she had never been proud of America in her adult life.
She has been trying to improve her image with appearance today on "The View".

"She is reported to have made remarks about WHITEY in a speech at a church in Chicago."

I was shocked that there was no reference that this is just a claim, they reported it as if they had evidence that she truly said this in a speech, not what some right wingnuts had alledged. They say it enough times and now the AP is reporting it as TRUE.

I have called the radio station and written to AP, but I think we need to take more action. Any ideas on what we can do to combat this???? Listening to my local radio stations news, I was shocked to hear the right wing smears againist Michelle have now made it into the Associated Press's daily news feed to small radio and newspapers.

UPDATE: AP email address info@ap.org

An Associated Press article, published on Friday, notes that all within a span of roughly two weeks, on Fox: "Outraged liberals: Stop picking on Obama's baby mama" came on the screen during a Michelle Malkin interview, Fox anchor E.D. Hill apologized for referring to an affectionate onstage fist bump shared by the couple as a "terrorist fist jab," and Fox contributor Liz Trotta said she was sorry for joking about an Obama assassination.

But what about the widespread AP article itself?  

I was going to make a big stink about this today, but it looks like the Associated Press is responding quickly to criticism:

Last week, The A.P. took an unusually strict position against quotation of its work, sending a letter to the Drudge Retort asking it to remove seven items that contained quotations from A.P. articles ranging from 39 to 79 words.

On Saturday, The A.P. retreated. Jim Kennedy, vice president and strategy director of The A.P., said in an interview that the news organization had decided that its letter to the Drudge Retort was “heavy-handed” and that The A.P. was going to rethink its policies toward bloggers.

The quick about-face came, he said, because a number of well-known bloggers started criticizing its policy, claiming it would undercut the active discussion of the news that rages on sites, big and small, across the Internet [...]

All good? Maybe not.

Still, Mr. Kennedy said that the organization has not withdrawn its request that Drudge Retort remove the seven items. And he said that he still believes that it is more appropriate for blogs to use short summaries of A.P. articles rather than direct quotations, even short ones.

“Cutting and pasting a lot of content into a blog is not what we want to see,” he said. “It is more consistent with the spirit of the Internet to link to content so people can read the whole thing in context.”

The AP is going to lecture bloggers about what the "spirit of the internet" is all about? Laughable. And the AP certainly doesn't have free reign to rewrite copyright law on its own. Fair use provisions exist for a reason

If they don't back off this ridiculous notion, there will be litigation, and Daily Kos will be happy to be at the forefront of any such effort.

Hopefully, sanity (and their legal team) will prevail at the AP before we have to go down that path.

I won't make this a long entry. But there's a major Boycott of the Associated Press going down.