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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Rabid in Manhattan

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

… Also in Queens and the Bronx

Health E-News – NYC Gov. on Jul 21, 2009 – Six rabid animals – all raccoons—have been identified in New York City this year. Four were found in the Bronx, one in Manhattan (near Inwood Hill Park), and one in Queens (Long Island City). Raccoons are the most commonly reported rabid animals in New York City.

Considering the breadth of local broadcast news coverage in the last few days, one would think that an  animal story of this magnitude would be popping up on the screen.

 

No direct relation to the ones identified in NYC's boroughs

No direct relation to the ones identified in NYC boroughs

Not so (so far).

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A Cosmic Conjunction of Race News on CNN’s Campbell Brown?

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Brown, a no-show tonight. John Roberts fills in.  Race shows up, though not the lead story, but in prime time view:

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Tell TV Networks to Stop Censoring Health Care Debate – FAIR

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

fair header

Help FAIR, Healthcare Now!, Physicians for a National Health Program and the Raging Grannies deliver a message to the news media: “Include Single-Payer in Healthcare Debate” Petition delivery, Tuesday, July 28, noon – 1 p.m., ABC News, 77 West 66th St., between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, NYC.

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