Speaking truth to power, Obama-era version

I knew we were in for, er, change when Obama took office, but I didn't think that change would include changing the definition of some relatively simple words.

Obama administration hack Valerie Jarrett insists that their jihad against Fox News is a simple case of "speaking truth to power". This reminds me of the guy I see at open mic night every now and then who sings Dylan-esque "protest" songs...about Bill O'Reilly.

Just a reminder to the lefties...you won! Your guy is in office, and you've got nothing to protest about. If you want to speak truth to power, tell Obama what a dilettante he is.

A war on three fronts

The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star's Clay Jones gets in a poke at Obama's ill-considered war on Fox News with this cartoon. Clay's a friend of mine and a I know his political sentiments lie to the left of mine, but he's, er, fair and balanced in his observations.

Is it possible that Obama is even more Nixonian than Nixon?

Jake Tapper puts Gibbs on the spot over war on Fox

Jake Tapper today put White House spokescritter Robert Gibbs on the spot, asking him why it's appropriate for the Obama administration to decide what is and is not a news organization.

Tapper: I’m not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I’m talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization, do not work for a “news organization” -- why is that appropriate for the White House to say?

Gibbs: That’s our opinion.

Typical Obama White House response: "Because shut up."

It doesn't surprise me to see Tapper, never squeamish about holding the Obama administration to account, call them out on this. But even ultra-lib Helen Thomas is objecting to the White House war on Fox News. She's been around long enough to know that this is a bad precedent and once they tire of Fox News, they can turn their ire on any news organization not toeing the Obama line.

Update: Awesome. Via Breitbart.tv, Brit Hume wonders how CNN and company "like being patted on the head and given the seal of approval by the White House". The line comes at around 0:51 into the clip.

Update 2: Add the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus to those chiding the White House for their idiocy.

ACORN: Ready, fire, aim

ACORN is reacting predictably in the wake of the damning video evidence of their criminal activities by threatening legal action and denying that they are, in fact, a criminal enterprise disguised as advocates for social justice.

I am appalled and angry; I cannot and I will not defend the actions of the workers depicted in the video, who have since been terminated. But it is clear that the videos are doctored, edited, and in no way the result of the fabricated story being portrayed by conservative activist "filmmaker" O'Keefe and his partner in crime. And, in fact, a crime it was - our lawyers believe a felony - and we will be taking legal action against Fox and their co-conspirators.

So, let's see...the video tapes were doctored and edited and the whole story "fabricated", yet they still fired the workers involved. Way to undermine your own assertion, ACORN.

On top of that, they're targeting Fox News and their "co-conspirators". Fox had nothing to do with the production of the videos and merely reported on the furor that arose over them after they were posted on biggovernment.com and YouTube. Their motive in targeting Fox is a two-fer; they get to go after the big, bad Fox News Channel, plus they surely have deeper pockets than Hanna Giles and James O'Keefe, the two independent producers of the videos.

But there's a saying I've heard regarding civil lawsuits: "Discovery's a bitch." During the discovery phase of a lawsuit, the defendants get to demand all kinds of information of the plaintiff, information which may not be in ACORN's best interests to disclose. And in naming Fox in a possible suit, they'll have battalions of Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp attorneys to contend with.

I hope ACORN is foolish enough to go forward with a lawsuit. It'll be fun to watch.

Update: Good lord...yet another video released, this time from NYC. Ed at Hot Air says the same thing today that I said yesterday.

Fox News fear mongering

I don't know who the hell decides what goes on the web site at Fox News Channel, but they're starting to look a bit like Weekly World News when they keep putting crap like this on their front page. The actual space.com article they lifted is, of course, somewhat less alarmist.

More to the point, the much ballyhooed renewed cycle of solar activity is not only largely truant, it may not live up to expectations when it does show up.

And the global warming theocrats so want solar cycle 24 to start, and start big while global temperatures remain low. The only problem for them is that when solar activity does pick up again and is followed by increases in global temperatures, how will they spin it?