Scranton Papers won't publish the Sherwood "Back Rub" story

Well, maybe we can help educate another member of the mainstream media. It ain't easy, but here goes....

The Associated Press has the story on how The Scranton Times won't publish articles about the recent antics of their Congressman, Don Sherwood:

Some news outlets in northeastern Pennsylvania have declined to report on an encounter between a married GOP congressman and a 29-year-old woman, with one managing editor telling readers he didn't think the matter was "my business. Or yours."

"Where is the connection between the politician's private moral life and his public performance?" Lawrence K. Beaupre, the managing editor of The Scranton Times and The Tribune, explained in a letter to readers Sunday.

Okay, let me try to answer that question here. We'll include some of the basic facts for any readers of those Scranton papers who don't know them: Last fall, GOP Congressman Sherwood, who is 64 and married, was alone in his apartment with Cynthia Ore. She called the police claiming he was trying to choke her. He denies the choking but says he was giving her a back rub. Ms. Ore maintains she's been in a relationship with Sherwood since 1999. She let us know he is a real charmer (ICK). But, he can't get a divorce because it would hurt his chances for re-election. That's a quick summation.

So, where's the connection? Well, for one thing, Don Sherwood votes on issue that impact the private morals of others. And, when you look at some of these votes, they don't really comport with his behavior. How about the vote Sherwood took in 1999 to post the Ten Commnandments in schools? How about the vote Sherwood took in 2004 to "protect the sanctity of marriage? How about all the votes he took that promoted abstinence programs?

Now according to the Associated Press, Mr. Beaupre, you said the other paper that actually printed this story "guilty of 'sanctimonious self-righteousness.'" That's sounds like the GOP agenda and Don Sherwood's voting record. But, he doesn't practice what he preaches.

See, Mr. Beaupre, based on the story, what you got up there in Scranton is a big, old GOP HYPOCRITE. His party has made sex an issue. Now, it appears that some are more literal in that obsession than others. Last fall, Mr. Beaupre, Don's party was running on a platform of moral values. Remember that?

That's why there is a connection. Is that too complicated? Read the rest of this post...

Is NCFR Misleading us?

Another update on the National Council on Family Relations debacle -- the group that's breaking its own rules and banning its own research to deliver a heterosexual-only online clearinghouse on marriage resources for the Bush White House for the tidy sum of $5 million.

AMERICAblog readers and their friends have been reaching out to Michael Benjamin, NCFR's executive director (mbenjamin@ncfr.org , (202) 659-1190) to ask him why NCFR has done this. According to reader reports, the person who answers the phone (some think it's actually Mr. Benjamin, others aren't sure) says NCFR will address the issue in June at its next meeting and then has nothing else to say. He's also set up an auto-reply email -- when his email is working -- that basically says as much.

Of course, the website is scheduled to go live in June.

So much for transparency and opening the lines of communication, as NCFR said it would do in its letter to members.

We've also heard reports from AMERICAblog readers -- and from some NCFR members -- that the person at NCFR says the exclusion of research on gay marriage remains "in negotiation."

If that's what they're saying, that's just false and misleading. Some random details may not yet be in place, but NCFR is crystal-clear on excluding research on gay marriage. In the letter they send to members, NCFR also includes a summary of the clearinghouse:

As defined by ACF [the Administration on Children and Families at the Dept of Health and Human Services], the project has an exclusive focus on heterosexual marriages.

There's no negotiating with this administration on gay issues. Maybe we should all reach out to Mr. Benjamin again and make sure we have the facts, umm, straight. And see if they've changed their rules on discrimination.

And see if maybe we could get an answer this month.

C'mon NCFR, if Microsoft can come clean, so can you.... Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Busy day....thoughts?

And can someone AGAIN tell Chip Reid at NBC News that it was the GOP that named the "nuclear option." Damn, Chip, you've already been told this....do some research. Read the rest of this post...

Sirota Smacks the Press on Iraq, they Whine back: It's Hard Work....

Bad enough when the President whined it last fall during the debates. Now, that's the mainstream media's tune about covering the war in Iraq. As we noted below, Iraq is out of control.

David Sirota has done a masterful job on this issue today. On his blog earlier today, Sirota smacked ABCNews "The Note" today for saying in their snarky, "it's not easy being the cool kids" way that the self-designated elite in DC, the so-called "Gang of 500," doesn't have all that much time for the war in Iraq anymore:

We say with all the genuine apolitical and non-partisan human concern that we can muster that the death and carnage in Iraq is truly staggering.

And/but we are sort of resigned to the Notion that it simply isn't going to break through to American news organizations, or, for the most part, Americans.

And, clearly, it simply isn't easy being the Gang of 500. It's hard work.

Later in the day, Sirota did a follow up onThe Huffington Post, because the media have been calling him to whine and complain. Sirota had some advice:

For any reporters reading this, here's the deal: As my dad always said, your work is supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it (and granted, some of the no-talent clowns on TV prove, unfortunately, that everyone is doing it). The fact that Iraq is a "hard" story means you need to work extra hard to cover it - not simply ignore the story altogether, and create/justify an insulated Washington, D.C. conventional wisdom that says no one cares. If you spend more than 6 seconds outside the beltway echo chamber, you'd know damn well that people do.

This is a truly sad state of affairs that should make serious journalists from an earlier era (such as Walter Cronkite) sick to their stomach.

As usual, David Sirota is right.

For Christ Sakes, Gang of 500 or MSM, whatever the hell you are...get over yourselves. Stop worrying about getting a nickname from Bush and start asking hard questions. Sirota's work today is incredibly enlightening about the MSM. There are some fine reporters on the ground in Iraq. But their work only matters if the people they work for back home remember they are there. Kinda like the way we should be remembering that there are 140,000 troops over there -- and they are getting killed and injured every day. Read the rest of this post...

Bolton Nomination Sent to Floor Without Recommendation

Senate Foreign Relations Committee just voted 10 - 8 to send Bolton's nomination to the Floor without recommendation.

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note, who has done an outstanding job leading the Bolton opposition, has a post titled "Explaining What is About to Happen: When a 10-8 Vote is REALLY 9-9." He lays out what this all means and why.

Game on, says Steve, "This is going to be a great fight -- lots more room to squeeze the issues out and compel the White House to defend a flawed and damaged Bolton nomination." Read the rest of this post...

DSCC context: Frist and DeLay are Out of Control

DSCC Media Response Project has a new ad linking and slamming Frist and DeLay...It's good.



The tag is:

"Frist and DeLay: Gutting ethics rules, threatening judges, changing the rules as they go along. Abusing their power. Frist and DeLay: Out of Control"

So, it's accurate, too. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Let's keep it going. AP reports "Voinovich said he could not vote for the nomination, but would agree to send it to the floor without a recommendation of approval or disapproval." Read the rest of this post...

Bolton Context: Iraq is Out of Control

While the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is debating the Bolton nomination, couple articles today give some frightening insights in to what is going on in Iraq...

Front page piece in today's Washington Post tells the story about a Marine squad that was basically wiped out:

Among the four Marines killed and 10 wounded when an explosive device erupted under their Amtrac on Wednesday were the last battle-ready members of a squad that four days earlier had battled foreign fighters holed up in a house in the town of Ubaydi. In that fight, two squad members were killed and five were wounded.

In 96 hours of fighting and ambushes in far western Iraq, the squad had ceased to be.

Every member of the squad -- one of three that make up the 1st Platoon of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment -- had been killed or wounded, Marines here said. All told, the 1st Platoon -- which Hurley commands -- had sustained 60 percent casualties, demolishing it as a fighting force.

Yes. In May of 2005, over two years after Bush declared "Mission Accomplished"....Five months after the elections that were going to change the world....a U.S. Marine squad was wiped out in Iraq.

Newsday reports that Iraq is basically in a civil war:

With security experts reporting that no major road in the country was safe to travel, some Iraq specialists speculated that the Sunni insurgency was effectively encircling the capital and trying to cut it off from the north, south and west, where there are entrenched Sunni communities. East of Baghdad is a mostly unpopulated desert bordering on Iran.

"It's just political rhetoric to say we are not in a civil war. We've been in a civil war for a long time," said Pat Lang, the former top Middle East intelligence official at the Pentagon.

and, we learn from experts that the Iraqi insurgency isn't in retreat. In fact, it is gaining strength:

"I think we are really on the edge" of all-out civil war, said Noah Feldman, a New York University law professor who worked for the U.S. coalition in Iraq.

He said the insurgency has been "getting stronger every passing day. When the violence recedes, it is a sign that they are regrouping." While there is a chance the current flare of violence is the insurgency's last gasp, he said, "I have not seen any coherent evidence that we are winning against the insurgency."

"Everything we thought we knew about the insurgency obviously is flawed," said Judith Kipper of the Council on Foreign Relations. "It was quiet for a little while, and here it is back full force all over the country, and that is very dark news."

Civil war and a strengthened insurgency?

Nothing, nothing, nothing that Bush has said about Iraq is true. Nothing. Read the rest of this post...

Voinovich Opposes Bolton, but....

Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) just gave an impassioned speech against Bolton...but says he wants a full vote in the Senate.

This will be a HUGE loss for Bush if Bolton loses. Read the rest of this post...

Bolton Hearing at 10 AM

Senate Foreign Relations Committee web page has a live broadcast of the hearing. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Big Day...among other things, Bolton gets a vote in Senate Foreign Relations Committee...DeLay gets his tribute tonight....

So chat away.... Read the rest of this post...

Theocrats in the Military: Your tax dollars at work

Hey, if you're going to have a theocracy, get the military on board, too. Sounds like that's what has been happening at the US Air Force Academy according to today's New York Times:

A chaplain at the Air Force Academy has described a "systemic and pervasive" problem of religious proselytizing at the academy and says a religious tolerance program she helped create to deal with the problem was watered down after it was shown to officers, including the major general who is the Air Force's chief chaplain.

The academy chaplain, Capt. MeLinda Morton, 48, spoke publicly for the first time as an Air Force task force arrived at the academy in Colorado Springs on Tuesday to investigate accusations that officers, staff members and senior cadets inappropriately used their positions to push their evangelical Christian beliefs on Air Force cadets.

Apparently, "the Christians" never "win" enough in the tolerance program. Win what?

The article also mentioned that the USAF Academy is in Colorado Springs which is home to Focus on the Family, too. Apparently, there's some crossover there. Not real comforting to think that Rev. James Dobson is somehow mentoring our future military leaders.

Theocratic military leaders. That's more than a little unsettling. Read the rest of this post...

Catholics in Honduras to opt for "minor sin"

Thank goodness common sense is winning over the ignorance of the Vatican and their archaic and dangerous position on condoms. Read the rest of this post...

Late Night(mare) Open Thread: Newt's Back

Heading to bed...but I will leave you with this item from AP: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich conceded Wednesday that he might run for president in 2008... Read the rest of this post...