Archive for July, 2009

Phishing Alert!

Friday, July 31st, 2009

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This Blog’s Wrapup of Cambridge–Obama–Gates–Crowley

Friday, July 31st, 2009

The mainstream news media, too much of its reporting/commentating flawed and insipid, may continue for a while to follow wrinkles, small or big and mostly frivolous, and only if those wrinkles of this race drama register on their radar, such as the alcoholic content of the beer of the Obama-Gates-Crowley confab and try to make something of it, like the insipid humor of CNN’s Campbell Brown’s farce yesterday evening, July 31.

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NYFD Black Firefighters Win Significant Court Battle: Where Are the Stories?

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Official organization of NYFD's African-American Firefighters - Picture Courtesy of Center for Constitutional Rights

Official organization of NYFD African American Firefighters

[Picture Courtesy of Center for Constitutional Rights]

By now, one would believe, that there would be numerous stories in metro New York City news media about the federal judge’s decision regarding United States, et al. v City of New York, a federal class action lawsuit originating from two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charges filed by Center for Constitutional Studies on behalf of the Vulcan Society and three individual African-American firefighter applicants, charging the New York City Fire Department with racially discriminatory hiring practices.

Nope.

But there is an online front-page story in the

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Howie Kurtz’s “Reliable Sources” on CNN: Bravo

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

His CNN segment this morning about the news reporting and commentating on the Cambridge-Obama Never Ending Story (So Far) was exceptional, I believe, and so informative I’m planning to use transcripts of the show for my J-classes.

I also liked an earlier “CNN’s Howard Kurtz Criticizes CNN’s Lou Dobbs For Giving Airtime To ‘Birther’ Conspiracies.” No attempt here to comment or summarize. The serious should go to the source.

July 28 Update, NY Times.

Early Morning Follow Up: Sgt. James Crowley Should Have Walked Away

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

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The Cambridge Controversy – A Late Night Thought

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Why hasn’t any reporter asked the President if he or his wife have ever experienced the kind of harrassment that Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates experienced in his home? Or the kind of experience that the Center for Constitutional Rights and the New York Civil Liberties Union have been documenting about the NYPD treatment of People of Color in New York City. There are other forms of bigotry that blight the American Dream.

Personally, this writer is glad the Prez said what he said about the “stupidity” of the police at the scene. But this late night thought needs development.

Federal Judge Rules That the Hiring Practices of the New York City Fire Department Are Racially Discriminatory

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Is this a bombshell decision or what?

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Tell the News Media to Get It Right

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Keep up the pressure for a media debate on healthcare reform that includes single-payer.

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Obama Used the Word Stupid and the Stupid Begins

Friday, July 24th, 2009

This is a moment in history when serious discourse is necessary but here comes the seriously insufficient and deficient news reportage, exemplified, on short notice, by this story published by the New York Daily News, the only big urban daily ever found guilty in a federal discrimination lawsuit of of abusing the job rights of people of color on its editorial staff.

[It also has to be said, based on old Press Clips from the Village Voice and other news sources whose specific names and dates don’t come to mind right now, that Italian Americans also had rough times at the News because of their ethnicity].*

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A Historical Moment: Should President Barack Obama Have Called the Cambridge Police Officer’s Actions “Stupid”?

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

He did and his comments were heard around the world. [Google results: 1,230,000 for obama calls cambridge cop stupid]

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