Tag Archives: Chicago Tribune

Truth is History

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Mr. Chakra
Crazed Sex Poodle

It is said that the victor gets to write history. But what if their history is all lies?

Last night I got wind of the sale of Current TV to al Jezeera. That alone should create a bit of consternation but it just keeps getting better and better- or worse and worse, depending on your point of view.

Al Jazeera on Wednesday announced a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore, a former vice president, and his business partners seven years ago.

Al Jazeera did not disclose the purchase price, but people with direct knowledge of the deal pegged it at around $500 million, indicating a $100 million payout for Mr. Gore, who owned 20 percent of Current. Mr. Gore and his partners were eager to complete the deal by Dec. 31, lest it be subject to higher tax rates that took effect on Jan. 1, according to several people who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Al Gore, wants to avoid taxation like one of Mitt Romney’s 1%. Who can blame him for that? I mean it’s not like he is releasing his chakra into the atmosphere like a  crazed sex poodle, creating GlowBull Wormening.

But this morning there was this:

“Before Al-Jazeera bought Current TV, TheBlaze looked into buying it but we were rejected by progressive owners.”

“Glenn Beck’s The Blaze approached Current about buying the channel last year, but was told that ‘the legacy of who the network goes to is important to us and we are sensitive to networks not aligned with our point of view,‘ according to a person familiar with the negotiations.”

I don’t know if I would call that a tacit admission- it’s more like a public pronouncement that anyone on the right ‘need not apply’.  Does this mean al Jezeera? is aligned with AlGore’s point of view?

In the aftermath of Saddam’s Iraq, CNN’s  Eason Jordan admitted to withholding the truth:

Knowing the personal stories I knew about the brutality of the regime, I had three options: 1. Never repeat such horror stories. 2. Tell the stories sooner and, as a result, see innocent people killed. 3. Tell the stories after the downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime. I chose option three and could never imagine doing anything else.

Withholding the truth by news organizations is nothing new. The Chicago Tribune refused twice my request to confirm that the U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald statement thanking them for holding the story for weeks meant they knew of the Blagojevich wiretaps before the ’08 election.

But, now, instead of a Olbermann, or a Client Number 9 withholding the truth- their ‘minders’ will just buy the whole channel and make up the truth. It will be just like Air America, only different.

This is all reminiscent of the Dubai Ports deal that was torpedoed by Chuckie Schumer. Don’t expect him to object to this deal tho.

Algore got out at the right time, it appears, as a cable provider has moved to eliminate the ‘bundle’.

Intel is planning to deliver cable content to any device with an Internet connection. And instead of having to pay $80 a month for two hundred channels you don’t want, you’ll be able to subscribe to specific channels of your choosing.

 

And you thought Current TV‘s ratings couldn’t go any lower.

David Axelrod Up to His Old Tricks: Obama’s Enemies List, Part II

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He's making a list and checking it twice.

Earlier in the week, we noted Kimberly Strassel’s excellent reporting on the Obama campaign’s strong arm, Chicago Way of dealing with anyone who dares to exercise his right to oppose B. Hussein’s re-election. The Community Organizer in Chief hasn’t forgotten his Alinskyite training, a key feature of which is demonizing those who disagree with him. Nor has his key apparatchik David Axelrod, forgotten how he vaulted this narcissistic, unaccomplished, petulant, affirmative-action assisted C-player from obscurity into the Oval Office. As many of you know, in 2004, during Obama’s race for the U.S. Senate, Axelrod managed to eliminate two of the One’s formidable opponents by preparing detailed, fact-filled analyses of their positions on serious issues and helping the young state senator develop effective, common-sense responses that guaranteed success. OK, I’m making that up. What the Walrus did was dig up dirt on these candidates, both of whom were divorced, and with the very enthusiastic assistance of his former employer, the Chicago Libune (Tribune), make sure that the sordid details were widely publicized. Blair Hull was eliminated during the democrat primary. In the general election, Obama would probably have been opposed by former investment banker and Harvard Law grad Jack Ryan, described by local lefty pencil-necked columnist who actually worked for the Libune, as “[t]all and handsome in a way that recalls JFK Jr. Not particularly outspoken on any hot-button issues, but so dedicated to the idea of helping others that he dropped out of the investment banking world several years ago to teach full-time at an inner-city high school.” Mysteriously, his divorce records, featuring accusations by his ex-wife that he wanted her to accompany him to sex clubs, ended up in the hands of the Trib, Ryan was forced out, and Obama ran virtually unopposed.(Alan Keyes doesn’t count.)

Apparently, the Obama campaign is up to its old tricks again. Ms. Strassel has a follow up report on today, in which she writes about the campaign’s activities against Romney supporter Frank VanderSloot:

Frank VanderSloot is the CEO of Melaleuca Inc. The 63-year-old has run that wellness-products company for 26 years out of tiny Idaho Falls, Idaho. Last August, Mr. VanderSloot gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, the Super PAC that supports Mitt Romney.

Three weeks ago, an Obama campaign website, “Keeping GOP Honest,” took the extraordinary step of publicly naming and assailing eight private citizens backing Mr. Romney. Titled “Behind the curtain: a brief history of Romney’s donors,” the post accused the eight of being “wealthy individuals with less-than-reputable records.” Mr. VanderSloot was one of the eight, smeared particularly as being “litigious, combative and a bitter foe of the gay rights movement.”  About a week after that post, a man named Michael Wolf contacted the Bonneville County Courthouse in Idaho Falls in search of court records regarding Mr. VanderSloot. Specifically, Mr. Wolf wanted all the documents dealing with Mr. VanderSloot’s divorces, as well as a case involving a dispute with a former Melaleuca employee.

Mr. Wolf sent a fax to the clerk’s office—which I have obtained—listing four cases he was after. He would later send a second fax, asking for three further court cases dealing with either Melaleuca or Mr. VanderSloot. Mr. Wolf listed only his name and a private cellphone number.

Some digging revealed that Mr. Wolf was, until a few months ago, a law clerk on the Democratic side of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He’s found new work. The ID written out at the top of his faxes identified them as coming from “Glenn Simpson.” That’s the name of a former Wall Street Journal reporter who in 2009 founded a D.C. company that performs private investigative work.

The website for that company, Fusion GPS, describes itself as providing “strategic intelligence,” with expertise in areas like “politics.” That’s a polite way of saying “opposition research.”

When I called Fusion’s main number and asked to speak to Michael Wolf, a man said Mr. Wolf wasn’t in the office that day but he’d be in this coming Monday. When I reached Mr. Wolf on his private cell, he confirmed he had until recently worked at the Senate.

When I asked what his interest was in Mr. VanderSloot’s divorce records, he hesitated, then said he didn’t want to talk about that. When I asked what his relationship was with Fusion, he hesitated again and said he had “no comment.” “It’s a legal thing,” he added.

We don’t know who is paying Mr. Wolf to troll through Mr. VanderSloot’s divorce records, but I’ll take a wild guess and suggest that it’s George Clooney.

There you have it, my friends: threats, intimidation, smears, outright lies and all the other skullduggery that used to be deplored as “the politics of personal destruction” in the service of hope, change and transparency, courtesy of our “historic” Dear Leader.