Shilling for the house

Krugman vs Krugman

"Progressive news" definition

Oh boy some people make it hard to not start cleaning the gene pool.

Atlanta Progressive News was not planning to make any public statements regarding Jonathan Springston’s departure from Atlanta Progressive News until having been contacted by Andisheh Nouaree at Creative Loafing with the news agency’s threat of publishing a blog entry about it.

It should be noted that Nouaree’s motives in writing this piece are questionable, seeing as how he has made negative statements about APN’s Editor in the past.

Jonathan Springston served as Staff Writer, then Senior Staff Writer for a total of four years. During that time, he has grown as a writer and has produced a lot of content which has served to inform our readership on issues ranging from Troy Davis to Grady Hospital.

As many of our readers know, we are in the midst of a major website redesign and relaunch that will result in new content and new forms of content, as well as tools to empower our readers to meaningfully participate in the democratic process. Part of that has meant going back to our core mission and re-examining how every part of what we do is consistent with, and advances, that mission.

In the end, we had to make a very difficult decision to move forward as a publication without Jonathan Springston. Last Wednesday, we informed him it seemed more appropriate if he found work with another publication or started his own publication.

At a very fundamental, core level, Springston did not share our vision for a news publication with a progressive perspective. He held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News. It just wasn’t the right fit.

We have already begun drafting a more programmatic statement on our editorial position regarding objectivity, inter-subjectivity, and news. To be sure, I’ve commented on Creative Loafing’s blog previously about such issues.

In the meantime, here is some information from our Frequently Asked Questions page:
“Progressive news is news that brings us closer to universal health care, living wages, affordable housing, peace, a healthy environment, and voting systems we can trust.

We provide news of concern to working families, and therefore, our writing is geared toward a specific audience. Fortunately, our audience–working families–comprises a majority of people in the United States who are largely ignored by corporate media sources.

We believe there is no such thing as objective news. Typically, mainstream media presents itself as objective but is actually skewed towards promoting the corporate agenda of the ultra-wealthy.

APN, on the other hand, does not pretend to be objective. We believe that our news coverage is fair and that our progressive principles are fair. We aim when possible to give voice to all sides, but aim to provide something different than what is already provided by corporate sources.”

We wish Mr. Springston the best of luck in his future endeavors and in fact we think he would be a good candidate for Creative Loafing or even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Also in response to the other question from Mr. Nouaree: we will currently not have anyone in the Senior Staff Writer position, although we have a handful of staff writers. Gloria Tatum, an activist and corporate media critic, recently joined our staff as well.

We are always seeking additional writers and contributors, and the new website coming soon will make it easier for people to submit content.
Red seemed an appropriate color for the APN.

I would like to thank Roberta X and The Unwanted Blog for bringing this moonbat to my attention now I'm going to quietly despair for my fellow man. I also need to credit Creative Loafing in Atlanta since it was their story first.

Oops he got a little excited.

Ah Chris that's not a good thing to admit as a supposed journalist.
Hat tip to Kevin over at the Smallest Minority.

Michael Moore is an asshole

Subjective Spin Doctor Michael Moore Calls Capitalism “Evil.” « Existence, Consciousness, Identity

I found a new blog with fun stuff and a nice scathing diatribe against Michael Moore. Personally I think since it appears like Mike likes so little of the US and it's ideals he should move, the constant whining is getting old.

From Marko

you can’t ban ingenuity. « the munchkin wrangler.
Another gem probably soon to be stolen by a Lt. Col. or Major somewhere.

Things that make you go hmmmm

Well that's certainly a different attitude

Hypocrisy

SayUncle » Grassroots

So why are paid protesters okay for the Progressives and unpaid Conservative protesters bad? A second question is when will Oberman and Maddow express outrage over that.

a handy guide to political outrage. « the munchkin wrangler.

a handy guide to political outrage. « the munchkin wrangler.

About those illegal Mexican guns , Days of our Trailers has found an interesting study. He gets a dig in at Chicago too.

The Smallest Minority

The Smallest Minority

I think I am going to have to close my pay pal account I do not need to support businesses that discriminate against my hobby's and civil rights. (Sorry Kelly) Link above and text below.

As most of you know, the fourth annual Gun Blogger's Rendezvous is fast approaching (43 days away as I write this), and this year I planned to make a special contribution to support Project Valour-IT - a gun giveaway that would be for even those unable to attend. But I'm not a 501(c)(3) organization, or any other kind of tax-free charity, so I couldn't actually run a charity raffle. Besides, I'm not really set up for it and wouldn't know how. So, with the aid of Rendezvous organizer Mr. Completely, arrangements were made with Soldiers' Angels to provide on-line ticket sales. Tickets went on sale Friday, July 17. We were ON!

Soldiers' Angels uses PayPal for their on-line donations. PayPal even has a "Case Study" of Soldiers' Angels' success (PDF) using PayPal, bragging:

Today Soldiers' Angels' biggest online contributions go through PayPal. "It's trustworthy to people and so they donate," says (Founder Patti) Patton-Bader. "There's a confidence that donors feel – that it's a safe way to make a donation. There are not many companies that inspire that kind of trust."

Trust.

Coincident with the Gun Blogger Rendezvous Raffle, Soldiers' Angels had also started a fund drive for other projects that same weekend. PayPal put a stop to that. Here's Patti Patton-Bader's official statement:

Online donations through PayPal are a huge part of our fundraising. They shut down our entire account-not just the raffle button—for twelve hours right in the middle of an email fundraising push. Looking at the Terms of Use, we couldn’t understand where we’d gone wrong, but we had to immediately remove the raffle so we could get back online ASAP. This just breaks our hearts because we were so excited about the tremendous fundraising impact the Gun Blogger Rendezvous raffle was already having.

(My emphasis). The "tremendous fundraising impact"? In the short time (3.5 days) the PayPal button was live, they had 42 participants and 109 tickets sold.

As noted above, we're still 43 days out from the Rendezvous. I just found out about this today.

And not only did the contributions for the raffle stop coming in, ALL contributions to Soldier's Angels via PayPal were cut off for twelve hours.

Because PayPal is anti-gun.

So where does that leave us? Well, you can call Soldiers' Angels and do a transaction over the phone. During normal business hours (PST) you can call (626) 529-5114, or you can call their voicemail service any time at (615) 676-0239, leave them a callback number and they'll get back to you - probably the less expensive option, timewise. It's not as convenient as a mouse click, but it beats snail-mailing a check.

You can also contact PayPal. Their Customer Service phone number is (402) 935-2050.

I've never asked this before, but I would appreciate it if every gun- and mil-blogger on the web and every gun board picked this up and spread it far and wide. I'm tired of gun-bigots. PayPal needs to hear from US - the law-abiding gun owners of this country - that we're no longer willing to just roll over when we're abused by the companies we "trust" just because we believe in and practice the rights guaranteed to us under the Second Amendment.

This post will remain at the top of the blog for the next couple of days.

The irony

The Liberal Sweatshop - Page 1 - The Daily Beast

The irony and hypocrisy from some on the leftward edge of stupid is amazing.

NPR

I am mostly a fan of NPR I find the reporting biased but it's predictable and not too far left. On the other hand I want to slap most of the other listeners who comment on the NPR site or facebook upside the head with a clue bat. I think I am becoming a curmudgeon.

Josh is doing well

Boy sometimes I wish I had a non profit to run, it definitely pays better than fixing cars. On the other hand I might have to be a hypocrite like Josh. One of two Federal Firearms Licensees in Washington D.C.
Austin Gun Rights Examiner: Does Violence Policy Center represent the People? (Part 2)

Che

Okay here we go all my leftish friends are gonna disown me. I have never really paid much conscious attention to Che Guevara beyond commie=bad but after finding some friends belonging to a facebook group called Che Guevera was a murderer and your t-shirt isn't cool I started doing some reading and I am not sure why anyone would be enamored of a serial killer/mass murderer. I am not seeing much difference other than scale between him and Himmler or Lenins hatchet man who's name escapes me. He was also apparently capable of fucking up anything he was put in charge of.
Some linky goodness Biography, the workers paradise he helped create , a list.
I continue to not be a fan of oligarchys which is really what your typical Communist, Socialist, Fascist state or the people who create them.

Op-Ed Contributor - What Happened to the Ban on Assault Weapons? - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - What Happened to the Ban on Assault Weapons? - NYTimes.com

I like Mr Carter's Habitat for Humanity thing, I like that he is a man of faith though not mine. He also gets a bunch of bonus points for being a former US president so it pains me to have to tear his editorial apart. Some quotes and my commentary.

"I have used weapons since I was big enough to carry one, and now own two handguns, four shotguns and three rifles, two with scopes. I use them carefully, for hunting game from our family woods and fields, and occasionally for hunting with my family and friends in other places. We cherish the right to own a gun and some of my hunting companions like to collect rare weapons. One of them is a superb craftsman who makes muzzle-loading rifles, one of which I displayed for four years in my private White House office."

That's great sir I am pleased to hear you hunt even though I don't quite get the killing of our furry woodland brothers. I personally have weapons of self defense, target shooting and very occassional pest control.

"But none of us wants to own an assault weapon, because we have no desire to kill policemen or go to a school or workplace to see how many victims we can accumulate before we are finally shot or take our own lives."
Oh boy now I am being equated with mass murderers because I own semi automatic rifles that look like an M16 or AK. Sweet. Do I really have to kill people, can't I just keep shooting bulls eye targets at 200 to 600 meters like I have been. Oh wait they are also useful as militia weapons which is part of the reason for the 2nd amendment, some would say the whole reason.

"An overwhelming majority of Americans, including me and my hunting companions, believe in the right to own weapons, but surveys show that they also support modest restraints like background checks, mandatory registration and brief waiting periods before purchase.

A majority of Americans also support banning assault weapons. Many of us who hunt are dismayed by some of the more extreme policies of the National Rifle Association, the most prominent voice in opposition to a ban, and by the timidity of public officials who yield to the group’s unreasonable demands.

Heavily influenced and supported by the firearms industry, N.R.A. leaders have misled many gullible people into believing that our weapons are going to be taken away from us, and that homeowners will be deprived of the right to protect ourselves and our families. The N.R.A. would be justified in its efforts if there was a real threat to our constitutional right to bear arms. But that is not the case."

Sir you cannot say you want to ban a class of firearm and then turn around and tell us there is no threat to our constitutional rights and expect us to believe it. It's like you banning Playboy and then saying you aren't infringing on Hughes 1st amendment rights. Actually you can't say a majority of Americans support any bans because Americans belief in gun control is at an all time low according to Gallop. It is also unfortunately true that the VPC and Brady Campaign has never seen a gun they liked. They are too small or too big or too accurate or bayonet luggy.

" What are the results of this profligate ownership and use of guns designed to kill people? In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 30,000 people died from firearms, accounting for nearly 20 percent of all injury deaths."

Oddly enough of those 30,000 (less than 1/1000th of a percent of the nations population) according to the FBI 12,000 were homicides, of that somewhere around 2.5% were committed with a rifle or shotgun and again by FBI stats less than 1% of those long arms were "assault weapons". About 17, 000 were suicides which wouldn't be affected by a ban on scary looking guns because handguns are used overwhelmingly in suicides just like in crime and because if you take away the gun there is still rope, cliffs or bridges or razor blades.

"In 2005, every nine hours a child or teenager in the United States was killed in a firearm-related accident or suicide."

It's good he got the teenager (actually up to and including 25 year olds) part in there because that statistic relies on gang violence fueled by the prohibition of drugs and the drug war you and your replacements continue to prosecute in the face of overwhelming evidence it does no good at all. Let me repeat that the War on Some Drugs does no good at all. None.

" Instead, the N.R.A. is defending criminals’ access to assault weapons and use of ammunition that can penetrate protective clothing worn by police officers on duty. In addition, while the N.R.A. seems to have reluctantly accepted current law restricting sales by licensed gun dealers to convicted felons, it claims that only “law-abiding people” obey such restrictions — and it opposes applying them to private gun dealers or those who sell all kinds of weapons from the back of a van or pickup truck at gun shows."

I will leave aside the drift our former President is doing, he's getting old after all.
Any and I do mean any modern centerfire rifle bullet will penetrate normal police body armor. In fact the ubiqutis 30.06 or 30-30 round will do it far better than the 5.56 mm round out of an AR. We won't even mention how incredibly rare it is for a police officer to be shot in the first place, nor that the vast majority of cops who are shot on the job are shot with their own firearm after it has been wrested from their control by a bad guy.
I would also like to point out that private gun dealers do not exist. What he is referring to is a guy choosing to sell a firearm where the interested people are, much like cars get sold at cars shows. If there was someone who was dealing firearms without a license it's already against the law. One of the 20,000 that the BATFE is pretty aggressive about enforcing.

"Across our border, Mexican drug cartels are being armed with advanced weaponry imported from the United States"

Why am I supposed to give up one of my fundamental civil rights because some people don't follow laws in another country? Maybe Mexico could split the cost of a wall with us then the drugs could stay on their side and the guns on ours.
The machine gun thing has already been debunked so many times I can't believe these people are still using it but since they are.... You can't buy "advanced weaponry" as a civilian in the US without involving your local sheriff, the FBI and BATFE and a 6 month wait before taking possession period. Machine guns, grenade launchers and grenades are heavily regulated by the NFA of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968 and last but not least the supply of them was choked in 1986 by FOPA at which time the ATF machine gun registry was closed, fixing the supply to those on the list as of May 1986. Drug cartels aren't stupid the machine guns they possess are from defecting Federales and Military (150,000 in the last 6 years) and from countries further south such as Nicaragua, El Salvador and Columbia because that's where you can get a couple crates for what a single M16 would cost in the US.

" The gun lobby and the firearms industry should reassess their policies concerning safety and accountability — at least on assault weapons — and ease their pressure on acquiescent politicians who fear N.R.A. disapproval at election time. We can’t let the N.R.A.’s political blackmail prevent the banning of assault weapons — designed only to kill police officers and the people they defend."

What former President Carter fails to understand is the text of the 2nd amendment is even more restrictive upon government to leave a basic human right alone than the 1st and that some of us are tired of compromising because it does no good.
It does no good because the Brady's are back in a couple years asking for more restrictions and because criminals don't follow laws. Honest they don't, if they did there would not be 26,000 murders a year 50 % of which are done with knives, baseball bats, hands and feet or whatever else comes to hand. If they followed the law we wouldn't have a drug cartels, if they followed the law rape wouldn't happen. If they followed the law there would be no gun violence in Britain, Australia, Jamaica, Mexico, South Africa, Sudan, Dar fur, Germany all places where guns are heavily restricted or banned.

Like I said at the beginning I like some of what Mr Carter has done with his life but he has never shown a whole lot of understanding of thugs and criminals. Why should I listen to him now?

Why Liberals Love Dictators 101

Why Liberals Love Dictators 101

From a Facebook friend Rick Ector who is a firearms instructor (and twittering madman) in Detroit. It makes one think again about Lenin's useful idiots. I'm just sayin'.

More 20/20 rebuttal

From David Codrea come two links
first and then number two which is even better.

Apparently I was late

I hate it when I'm behind