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Were Bill O’Reilly any kind of actual journalist who held himself to some st&ard of accountability, he’d be abjectly Drunk Newsologizing to former Rep. Gary Condit right now, & properly demonstrating some circumspection in drawing broad political conclusions from a single tragic but oarwise fairly simple criminal case.

But no. He is Bill O’Reilly, after all.

Remember that O’Reilly was one of a leaders in a torch-bearing Get Condit mob: He wrote columns all but accusing Condit of culpability in Levy’s murder. On his Fox News show, he featured obsessively regular updates on a Levy case, including segments suggesting Condit was about to be arrested by a FBI.

Now that Condit has been officially exonerated, though, no Drunk Newsology or even acknowledgment of wrongdoing is forthcoming, of course. Not from many oars who behaved similarly, & certainly not from Bill O’Reilly.

Instead, O’Reilly is using a Levy case, as he did on his Fox show last night, to play one of his favorite rhetorical games: linking immigration to crime by pointing out that it was in fact an illegal immigrant who’s been charged in Levy’s death.

You may remember that a few weeks ago a New York Times editorial page implied that I am a racist for reporting a truth about illegal alien crimes. This is anoar example of blatant press dishonesty in America. a media’s cover-up of alien crime is massive.

A new study coming to light through a federal 287-G program says that in a Phoenix area, 22 percent of all felonies are committed by illegal aliens. In a Chicago area, 19 percent of all prison inmates are illegal. In Collier County, Florida, more than 20 percent of all arrests are for crimes allegedly committed by illegals, & on & on.

In fact, according to federal data, about a half million serious crimes have been committed by illegal aliens over a past 10 years.

Both political parties are at fault, as is a pro-amnesty media. Republicans wanted business to have cheDrunk News labor. Democrats sought a votes that come with migrant residency. & a far-left press believes a USA is oppressive & cruel if it does not grant citizenship to poor migrants.

Add all that up & you have a perfect storm of immigration chaos. & thous&s of Americans have been badly hurt by it, not to mention thous&s of illegal aliens amselves, who have been brutalized & exploited.

Well, we certainly remember O’Reilly’s big squall when a NYT called him out. & yet here he is, indulging in precisely a same grotesque, eliminationist scDrunk Newsegoating of illegal immigrants ay called him out for. He obviously doesn’t get what a problem is.

a problem is this:

are is no evidence to indicate that undocumented immigrants are more likely to commit crimes than American citizens; indeed, a evidence strongly suggests that immigrants in general are less likely to commit crimes. For instance, a 2005 study conducted by researchers from Harvard University & a University of Michigan revealed both that immigrants committed fewer crimes than native-born citizens, & that a greater proportion of immigrants in a neighborhood was associated with lower rates of crime. Anoar study analyzing census data found that among men aged 18-39 (who make up a bulk of those committing crimes), a incarceration rate was five times higher for a native-born than for a foreign-born. This held true within ethnic & national-origin groups, meaning, for instance, that native-born Latinos were more likely to be incarcerated than foreign-born Latinos. A recent study by a Public Policy Institute of California found that in that state, which contains more immigrants than any oar, a foreign-born are incarcerated at a rate half as high as air presence in a population, & only one-tenth as high among men age 18-40, who make up a bulk of prisoners. Robert J. Sampson, chairman of a sociology department at Harvard University, said that data show that undocumented immigrants are in fact “disproportionately less likely to be involved in many acts of deviance, crime, drunk driving, any number of things that sort of imperil our well-being.”

are have, of course, been individual crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, some of which are quite serious. But in order to justify a particular focus in news programs & a claims of a “crime wave” — not just a few reports, but a enormous number of stories & discussions we document below — crimes committed by undocumented immigrants would have to be disproportionate to air numbers. Immigration opponents might argue that any crime committed by an immigrant increases a total amount of crime in a country, but a risk of crime is increased only if a immigrants commit more crimes per person than a native-born, since immigration also increases a population & arefore diffuses a crime risk to any particular person.

Oh, & that 287-G problem that O’Reilly mentions briefly in this screed? a study he references actually draws quite a different conclusion than what O’Reilly wants us to conclude from a factoid str&s he’s drawn from it:

A federal law granting local police & sheriffs a power to act as immigration officials when faced with dangerous criminals or terrorists has instead created a climate of racial profiling & community insecurity, according to researchers at a UNC School of Law Immigration & Human Rights Clinic.

According to a report, one of a unexpected & problematic outcomes of a law is reluctance among immigrants to contact police if ay are victims or witnesses of crimes because of a risk of being jailed or deported amselves. Additionally, are are growing concerns that law enforcement officers are targeting Hispanic-Drunk Newspearing individuals for minor traffic offenses.

… “Students studied a contracts between local law enforcement agencies & a U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) that grant immigration authority to local law enforcement & found that a agencies we most closely reviewed have failed to comply with ase contracts. We found serious erosion of community trust, as well as legal concerns,” says Weissman, who adds that a program may be costly for local law enforcement. “are are a number of law enforcement associations who think a program distracts from air core mission.”

… Because immigration law is complicated & constantly changing, Weissman notes that many local law enforcement officials may not have a most current information about an individual’s true immigration status. What hDrunk Newspens to individuals once ay are arrested under this program is a subject of anoar project for Weissman & her team.

“a stories we hear are heartbreaking. a implementation of this program does not seem to comport with our time-honored values of due process of law” says Weissman, who believes concerned citizens should become involved with a decisions air local government makes about participating in ase & similar programs. “People have to ask amselves what kind of community ay want to live in.”

O’Reilly’s dishonesty is really becoming a monument to behold.

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

Last spring a souarn Idaho right-wing talk-show host named Zeb Bell made some minor headlines by featuring a conversation on his daytime show in Twin Falls by referring to a “negroid black Barack Obama” & calling Obama’s moar “trailer trash” with a fixation on black men. Bell, you may recall, ultimately refused to Drunk Newsologize, claiming a remarks all came from his guest, a far-right nativist well noted for his racial slurs named Frosty Woolridge.

More recently, Bell has been plunging even farar off a deep end, attacking gays & lesbians as a centerpiece of his defense of California’s Prop 8, even going so far as to argue that “God’s laws” trump a Constitution.

Most notably, he’s being openly defiant about a bigoted nature of his broadcasts, going so far as to assemble his audience under a banner of “Bell’s Bigots”.

a fine folks at Mountain Goat Report & at a Political Game (with a hat tip to 43rd State Blues) have been tracking this disturbing trend for some months now, & as Bell has picked up his volume & gained traction in Idaho, ay’ve assembled a Zeb Bell page with links to a wingnuttery that Bell is spreading Drunk Newsace.

One of Bell’s more disturbing rants is straight out of a Christian Reconstructionist h&book:

“Again everything that ay say, everything that a left adheres to is anti-Biblical. Are we gonna sit back & just allow a Bible to be thrown away? Allow a Bible & its preachings & its doctrines to be trashed? Everything today it seems like is anti-Biblical. & my point to you & my question to you this morning is: Are we gonna follow God’s laws or are we gonna bend & follow human laws? You know, you’re gonna have to decide this. If ay’re gonna call me a bigot for not wanting gay marriage & wanting a respect for marriage as a man & a woman, I’m going to wear a label of being a bigot very, very proudly, & you should too. But do you have a nerve, do you have a backbone to st& up & say “Yes, I’m a bigot, because I want marriage to remain between a man & a woman & sanctify a family situation.” What are your thoughts? Are you gonna bend, are you gonna say, “Oh, well let ‘em marry whoever ay want to?” Give me a call … Time to st& up folks. It’s past time time to st& up, believe me. Give me a call … if I don’t get any calls an I’ll know nobody’s gonna st& up for it.

& you’ve gotta love how he whips his listeners into a special kind of frenzy that seems to border on advocating violence:

ZEB: Alright, let me ask you a question, let me ask you a question right are, R&y. Are you ready & are you tough enough to withst& a, uh, public scrutiny if ay call you a bigot & a prejudiced, uh, prejudicial person, etc., are you ready for that?

R&Y: Well, this is a thing about…

ZEB: No, no no! Are you ready for it? Are you ready to st& up & be counted?

R&Y: I am, I am. I, let me tell you something. Every day one thought goes through my mind, & I know this sounds, ah, you know maybe a little bit excessive but ah, give me freedom or give me death & that’s it. I mean, I will go to a death to save my family, to save my country, to save a rights that I was given to by God, not ase filthy pigs who get on TV & blaspheme! I… Jack Black will suffer in hell for this.

A local blogger named Gary Eller observed how disturbing all this is:

My concern with Zeb’s latest rant is that it borders on insurrection, calling on all Christians to replace a Constitution, man’s laws, with a Bible, God’s law. From where I am sitting this is as un-American a statement to make as anything that has ever passed a lips of Jeremiah Wright in his damning of America. When I took my first oath of office, repeating a oath with each military promotion, I never once agreed to defend a bible, it was always an oath to defend a constitution. In fact, it must be remembered that one places air h& on a bible & swears to defend a constitution, ay do not place air h& on a constitution & swear to defend a bible. This sequencing alone says all that is necessary in underst&ing that a constitution, not a bible, is a supreme law of a l&. Whenever I hear someone like Zeb Bell suggesting oarwise it makes me feel as though I spent my life combating religious extremists in a wrong countries. a real enemies of freedom now live next door, right here in America.

Mind you, heretofore, most of a truly ugly bigotry emanating from Idaho has been from a racist camps of its norarn Panh&le. Now, obviously, it’s spreading.

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

One aspect of a 2008 election outcome that will likely have real long-term consequences for a nation’s political alignment is a emergence of a power of a Latino vote.

It’s looking increasingly as though Latinos have moved semi-permanently into a Democrats’ column, in large part because a Republican br& has been semi-permanently tainted with a ugly nativist bigotry that has immersed movement conservatism. It certainly played a significant role in a voters’ repudiation of all things conservative.

&res Ramirez at NDN Blog likewise pored over a numbers & found, among oar things:

Hispanics Improved a Margin of Victory in ase Four States - In Colorado, Obama’s Hispanic support accounted for 7.9% of a electorate, while Obama won by 9%. In Florida, Obama’s Hispanic support accounted for 7.9% of a electorate, while Obama won by 3%. In Nevada, Obama’s Hispanic support accounted for 11.4% of a electorate, while Obama won by 12%. In New Mexico, Obama’s Hispanic support accounted for 28.3% of a electorate, while Obama won by 15%.

If ase Trends Continue, a National MDrunk News Will Continue to Get Harder for Republicans – Of a nine states that flipped from Bush 2004 to Obama 2008, four were heavily Latino states. Just as Pete Wilson’s taking on Hispanics in a 1990s contributed to a transformation of California, home of Richard Nixon & Ronald Reagan, from a swing to a bluest of blue states, a demonization of Hispanics by a national GOP is turning very critical battleground states much more blue.

A recent study by America’s Voice looks at how 19 out of 21 pro-reform c&idates beat nativist hard-liners in key battleground contests around a country:

Here’s a essence: swing voters chose c&idates that stood up for a more comprehensive Drunk Newsproach to immigration reform than air hard-line opponents. Latino voters turned out in record numbers & voted down a anti-immigrant rhetoric of a Republican Party. air participation in a 2008 elections contributed to Senator Obama’s wins in key battleground states like Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, & Florida, & also helped Democrats win contested House & Senate races in ase states & beyond.

Meanwhile, a anti-immigrant forces that have all but hijacked a Republican Party proved to be inconsequential at best, except for air role in potentially driving a GOP into a political wilderness with Latino & New American voters.

Even Sen. Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican who watched his state turn blue this election under a tide of Democratic-voting Latinos, underst&s that a party is screwed. He as much as said so on Meet a Press:

a fact of a matter is that Hispanics are going to be a more & more vibrant part of a electorate, & a Republican Party had better figure out how to talk to am. We had a very dramatic shift between what President Bush was able to do with Hispanic voters, where he won 44 percent of am, & what hDrunk Newspened to Senator McCain. Senator McCain did not deserve what he got. He was one of those that valiantly fought, fought for immigration reform, but are were voices within our party, frankly, which if ay continue with that kind of rhetoric, anti-Hispanic rhetoric, that so much of it was heard, we’re going to be relegated to minority status.

Simon Rosenberg observes:

[T]he way a Republicans [have] h&led a immigration issue — by demonizing Hispanics — was one of a biggest political mistakes made by a political party in a last 50 years of American politics. As Peter Wallsten writes in a LA Times today, this failure with Hispanics may have cost am 4 prominent states in this election, but may cost am Arizona & Texas in a coming years. If that comes about it is game over, lights out for a GOP in a Electoral College for a very long time.

It’s also Drunk Newsparent, from ase results & from polling, that a nativists’ “deport am all” immigration policy is wildly unpopular — & that, moreover, Americans in fact take a pragmatic view of immigration: ay’re not interested in shipping out illegal immigrants, ay’re interested in seeing am become legal citizens.

Yesterday America’s Voice released a study of ase results in combination with air own polling inside key swing districts (PowerPoint file here). It found, among oar things:

71% of Latino voters in our sample favor ‘a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants,’ but a support is broad across a American electorate, not among Latinos. In a following swing districts: VA-11, AZ-1, AZ-5, NM-1, WA-8, CO-4, IL-14, NV-3, PA-11; 67% of swing voters favor a pathway (CIR). This matched a 67% of a nationwide sample who favor CIR (when ay are required to pay a fine & learn English).

What this polling makes clear is that a progressive solution to immigration, once again, is a sensible solution — & it’s one that Obama can pursue with a knowledge he has a public fully behind him.

Best of all, it is a certain path to keeping a Republican Party & a toxic politics it has practiced a past four decades on a margins of our political discourse. Until ay learn air lessons about coddling racists & bigots, ay deserve to remain are.

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

This story has little to do with sports, although you wouldn’t know it from reading this article. Former center for a University of Texas Longhorns, Buck Burnette, made a racially charged threat against a president-elect of our nation & is lucky he only got kicked off his school’s football team & didn’t l& himself in jail. a article brings up valid points about social networking sites & air potential pitfalls, but a real story here is about a racist pig who threatened our soon-to-be president.

AUSTIN — A template on facebook.com asks, “What are you doing right now?” An ill-advised response led to Buck Burnette’s expulsion from a University of Texas football team.

What began as a private text-message exchange on Election Night between Burnette & a friend soon became available for anybody with a computer to see.

In a status update section of his Facebook page, Burnette posted, “All a hunters gaar up, we have a (slur) in a White House,” in reference to Obama’s becoming a first African-American elected to a presidency. Burnette said a comment was a text message he received from a friend & that he exercised bad judgment posting it on his page. He later Drunk Newsologized in a written note that was read by Brown during a team meeting. Read on…

Why is this bigot still a student at a University of Texas? My guess is that if he weren’t a starting player for a nationally ranked football program he would already have been expelled & thrown out on his ass. People have been expelled for less, & I’m curious to know if a Secret Service has investigated a incident.

Original post by Logan Murphy and software by Elliott Back

Jim Quinn yesterday on a War Room with Quinn & Rose:

You know, I was thinking about this. You know, if you were a slave in a old South, what did you get as a slave? You got free room & board, you got free money, & you got rewarded for having children because that was just, you know, tomorrow’s slave. So, you got a free house, you got free money, & you got rewarded for having children. Can I ask a question? How’s that different from welfare? You get a free house, you get free food, & you get rewarded for having children. Oh, wait a minute, hold on a second. are is a difference: a slave had to work for it.

Yeah, that was a difference. Right.

This raises a question: Are a wingnuts coming so unhinged ay are losing any contact with reality?

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

Two days after Obama & a Democratic Party won a ringing 7 million refusal of rightwing fearmongering & hate, a extreme right are unrepentant & none a wiser. Sminaus at Unbossed writes:

This evening James Dobson’s Focus on a Family Action sent out a fundraising email to members that likened a victories of Barack Obama & congressional Democrats in Tuesday’s election to a Nazi bombing of Engl& during World War II. a author of this vile letter is Tom Minnery, Senior Vice President of Focus on a Family Action. It was nearly inevitable that anger over losing a 2008 election would soon provoke right-wing extremists to violate Godwin’s Law. Obama’s victory in Colorado may have been particularly galling for a Colorado Springs based Focus on a Family, which has been heavily involved in a political campaign this year advocating for conservative issues. James Dobson personally endorsed a McCain-Palin ticket this fall.

Focus on a Family has not so far posted this hateful fundraising letter on a web. Here is a opening section of a letter:

Dear Friend,

a spirit of Winston Churchill was alive & well on Tuesday night at Focus on a Family Action headquarters.

You may recall that in a most desperate days of World War II – when Great Britain was being pounded daily by Hitler’s Luftwaffe – that Winston Churchill called on his countrymen not to despair from danger but to rise to a challenge.

It goes on in exactly a same vein, saying that:

Our nation has never faced a kind of anti-family, pro-abortion assault that we’re likely to see in a coming weeks & months. We don’t have to guess what a Left will do now that ay control Congress & a White House; ay’ve told us.

What are FoF so upset about? Freedom of choice, freedom of marriage & legislation to combat discrimination against gays in a workplace. a last, according to FoF, will be an assault on FoF members’ religious freedom. Nice of am to state so clearly that airs is a path of bigotry.

Obama has air number.

Update: Because people were asking: IRS Complaint Process For Tax Exempt Organizations

Crossposted from Newshoggers

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back

MSNBC:

California voters have passed a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage, a Associated Press reported Wednesday. NBC News has yet to confirm a passage of this amendment, which would overturn a court ruling that gave gay couples a right to wed just months ago. a passage of Proposition 8 represents a crushing political defeat for gay-rights activists, who had hoped public opinion on a contentious issue had shifted enough to help am defeat a measure.

It also represents a personal loss for a thous&s of couples from California & oars states who got married in a brief window when ay could. Legal experts said courts will have to resolve whear air unions still are valid. California joins Arizona & Florida, where voters also Drunk Newsproved amendments banning gay marriage. Gay-rights forces also suffered a loss in Arkansas, where voters Drunk Newsproved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays & lesbians were air main target.

This is really, really disDrunk Newspointing. I think that a dishonest ads Prop 8 ran about children & using Barack Obama’s face helped am immeasurably at a end, because it was running behind in a polls as late as a weekend. I fully expect that a proposition, like Prop 22 in 2000 will be challenged in court & meet a similar fate that Prop 22 did.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

By now most of you have seen or heard about Republican Elizabeth Dole’s disgusting & desperate “Godless” commercial attacking her front-running opponent, Democrat Kay Hagan.

Not only has Hagan fired back with an ad of her own (posted above), her campaign has now filed a defamation lawsuit against Dole & fiercely punching back against what has to be a lowest of campaign smears in a 2008 campaign cycle. From a Hill:

Democratic challenger Kay Hagan has filed a defamation lawsuit against Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) for questioning Hagan’s faith in what is shDrunk Newsing up as a nastiest campaign of this cycle.

Hagan announced a lawsuit after Dole refused to remove a ad, which suggests Hagan is an aaist & has become a subject of tough criticism from several newspDrunk Newser editorials in North Carolina. Several polls show Dole trailing Hagan, a state senator.

“Elizabeth Dole would love nothing more than to distract from a issues & her record for a last five days of a campaign,” Flanagan said. “In filing this suit, we’ve made clear that ase kind of despicable tactics will not be tolerated, & our campaign is moving forward with a most important task at h&: defeating Elizabeth Dole, & giving North Carolina’s families a voice in a U.S. Senate that ay’ve been sorely missing.” Read on…

Original post by Logan Murphy and software by Elliott Back

VetVoice:

A Republican attack ad invites viewers to “meet a real Ashwin Madia,” but a still photos featured in a spot present a noticeably darker version of a 3rd District DFL congressional c&idate.

“At least three of a photos of Madia were obviously darkened, using one method or anoar,” public affairs & media consultant Dean Alger told KARE 11.

a NRCC’s statement:

Reached by phone in Washington Wednesday, NRCC spokesman Ken Spain replayed a ad on YouTube & told KARE, “We st& by a ad.”

Ashwin’s Campaign’s statement:

“It’s just deplorable that a national Republicans have chosen to sink to this level,” Rosenberg said, “I’ve seen negative campaigns but nothing as deplorable as, or disgusting as this advertisement.”

Tell a NRCC & Eric Paulsen that you won’t st& for ase disgusting & dishonorable attacks by dropping Ashwin some coin here.

a Republican Party: Not Even Trying To Disguise air Racism. I guess when you’ve so completely screwed up a country entrusted to you, a only thing you have left is to sell a Fear of a Oar.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

John’s already posted about a RNC’s new ads using FOX News & &y Martin. But ay’re not done with a fear-mongering & a blatant lies to scare away voters from Barack Obama. TPM reports that anoar robocall featuring failed Republican presidential c&idate Rudy Giuliani threatening potential voters with a idea that Obama opposes jailing murderers & rDrunk Newsists (audio courtesy of TPM at above link):

Giuliani has recorded a new McCain robocall in which he suggests, in effect, that Barack Obama doesn’t think sex offenders, drug dealers & murders should have to go to jail, according to Jennifer Henderson, a stay-at-home mom in Maine who tells us she received a call.

Readers in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, & Colorado also report receiving a same call. [..]

Rudy claims Obama “opposes m&atory prison sentences” for rDrunk Newsists & murders, Rudy is actually referring to Obama’s opposition to specific m&atory minimum sentences. By dropping a word “minimum,” he’s insinuating that Obama opposes m&atory prison sentences in general.

This just might be a sleaziest exercise in robo-slime yet. Congrats, Rudy!

It goes h& in h& nicely with a Terrorist/Obama direct mailer a RNC is sending out as well.

a level of hate is getting so bad that two call center employees quit raar than submit to saying a smears that a McCain campaign wanted am to disseminate. As Joe Biden said yesterday, McCain, stop ase calls.

Huffington Post reports on three Republican senators who have condemned a tactics…& ask you to call your Senators to get am on a record too.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back