Tag Archives: Topic: Media

Jill Stanek at LifeSiteNews: The GOP is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy on the life issue, squandering an American pro-life majority as if it didn’t/doesn’t exist.

Catholic Culture: Australian editorial writers have stepped up the pressure on Church leaders to discard the confessional seal in cases of sexual abuse.

NY Times: Mr. Obama’s more than three-to-one edge in exit polls among the 5 percent of voters who identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual was more than enough to give him the ultimate advantage, according to the study, by Gary J. Gates of the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, in conjunction with Gallup

AP: From the South to the heartland, the once-solid wall of Republican resistance to President Barack Obama’s health care law is cracking.

Baltimore Sun: Lori said he hopes the bishops can take better advantage of “the most persuasive argument of all” — the living example of “strong families with loving fathers, mothers and children” — and some of his colleagues suggested finding more positive terminology for their position, as they had in debates over abortion.

Washington Post (AP): The debate over legalizing abortion in Ireland flared Wednesday after the government confirmed that a miscarrying woman suffering from blood poisoning was refused a quick termination of her pregnancy and died in an Irish hospital.

The Hill: On Friday morning, Louisiana Rep. John Fleming (R) issued a statement urging Boehner to “talk with House Republicans before making pledges on the national news.”

The Hill: Limbaugh played “Feliz Navidad” on his show Friday and argued Hispanics are moving to Democrats not because of immigration but because of the party’s positions on taxes and welfare. Allowing those in the United States illegally to stay wouldn’t help the party, he argued.

Charles Pope at the Archdiocese of Washington: It is rare that a respected segment of American life would become vilified and hated overnight. The usual transformation from respect to vilification goes in stages which grow in intensity. And hereby the Church, once a respected aspect of American life, along with the Protestant denominations has become increasingly marginalized and hated by many. It may help us to review these stages of persecution since it would seem that things are going to get more difficult for the Church in the years ahead. Generally there are distinguished five basic stages of persecution.

Live Action News: t seems that the presidential election this past Tuesday hung on one issue: abortion. One side invested heavily in the issue, and the other chose to ignore it or fumble. The heart-wrenching stories on both sides leave most Americans uncomfortable and conflicted. As a nation, we are split, with smaller groups at each extreme and a vast majority detached between them. The big question that needs answering is, “What is the unborn?”

Ted McAllister at Public Discourse: Can the press still prevent a tyrannical majority opinion as it did in Tocqueville’s time? Second of a two-part series.

Adam Liptak at NYT: The victories for same-sex marriage on Tuesday, the first ones achieved at the ballot box rather than through courts or legislatures, are evidence of a remarkable shift in public opinion. They are also exceptionally timely data points for the Supreme Court . . . The justices tend to say they are not influenced by public opinion. But they do sometimes take account of state-by-state trends, and the latest developments will not escape their notice . . . “It bolsters our case,” said Brian S. Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage. “It’s very difficult to say you need a federal resolution of this question if states are resolving it for themselves.”

Ted McAllister at Public Discourse: We are witnessing, I believe, the collapse of a great modern project. The goal of this project was to form a democratic public, led by the most talented leaders and administered by enlightened public servants, but constituted by a deeply informed, engaged, and public-spirited citizenry. To produce such citizens, journalists served an almost sacred role of supplying all the disparate members of the public with “disinterested” information. Without information and knowledge, democratic deliberations are impossible, and without such deliberations there is no substantive “public,” only congeries of individuals and groups.

Catholic Culture: “Other publicly funded Catholic school boards in Alberta, and across Ontario (with the exception of Halton region), support the vaccine, which is funded by the federal government,” The Globe and Mail stated in an editorial. Calgary Catholic school trustee “must show leadership and adaptability and choose to protect children – rather than risk being forced to.”

Politico: “I think this is premature,” he added. “We’ve got a quarter of the vote. Now remember, here is the thing about Ohio. A third of the vote or more is cast early and is won overwhelmingly by the Democrats. It’s counted first and then you count the election day and the question is, by the time you finish counting the election day does it overcome that early advantage that Democrats have built up in early voting, particularly in Cuyahoga County.”
Rove said the network needs to be “careful about calling things when we have like 991 votes separating the two candidates and a quarter of the vote yet to count. Even if they have made it on the basis of select precincts, I’d be very cautious about intruding in this process.”

Jon A. Shields at the First Things: Nearly twenty years ago, the judicious James Davison Hunter noted that journalistic reporting on abortion is “remarkable for its superficiality” since it rarely explores the “deeper issues and implications of the abortion controversy.” Maybe it is simply the partisan heat generated by a close presidential contest, but abortion coverage appears to be getting worse, not better. Just consider the mendacious, slash-and-burn New York Times Magazine story by Emily Bazelon on Charmaine Yoest, the director of Americans United for Life.

Laurie Shrage at NY Times: Marriage reform is typically part of a larger agenda for social change. In earlier eras, challenges to bans on interfaith and interracial marriage were tied to political movements promoting religious, ethnic and racial equality and social integration. In the Middle East, Africa and Asia today, marriage reformers often aim to expand the rights and liberty of girls and women, while in the Americas and Europe, their primary aim is to advance social equality and respect for lesbians and gay men.

The Hill: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered a Washington, D.C., television station to air the ads of Randall Terry, an anti-abortion-rights activist running for president.

The Hill: But Akin has shown surprising strength in recent days, as a poll released this past weekend put him just 2 points behind McCaskill. And, in late September, the NRSC cracked the door to giving Akin some aid. NRSC executive director Rob Jesmer said the committee would keep close tabs on the race, and hinted it might reverse its decision to abandon its nominee.

Detroit Free Press: Romney’s approach to abortion is more a matter of a change in tone, although one campaign surrogate, former Sen. Norm Coleman, recently assured an audience that the Supreme Court’s 1973 opinion legalizing abortion is unlikely to be overturned if the Republican challenger wins the election.

Baltimore Sun: Asked to support the ad’s claim, Frank Schubert, the consultant running the campaign against same-sex marriage in Maryland and other states, said “it necessarily follows” that schools would teach same-sex marriage if Question 6 is approved.

Bloomberg: Abortion has been a campaign issue for decades. Rape is a more recent, and more troubling, point of political discussion. But understanding the connection between the two is essential to evaluating the controversies percolating in Senate races in Missouri and Indiana and what they entail for national politics.

Matthew J. Franck at Public Discourse: Attacks on sociologist Mark Regnerus after he challenged the “no differences” thesis haven’t obscured the high quality of the New Family Structures Study or its troubling findings. The first of a two-part series.

Sharon A. Knotts at Baltimore Sun: He was highly upset by remarks made by a local Baptist preacher regarding a New Testament Bible verse, Romans 1:32, that states that homosexuality, along with other sins, “is worthy of death.” The short answer is, according to both Old and New Testaments, in scores of verses too numerous to cite here, all sin is worthy of death . . . While the writer referred to the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount and their unparalleled teachings of hope and love, neither of these speak directly to marriage. Why not cite the passages where Jesus did specifically address the subject of marriage?

Profit.NDTV.com: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s family members today rejected an American newspaper’s claim that they had amassed assets worth $2.7 billion and threatened to take legal action against the daily which, however, stood by its report.

The Blaze: TheBlaze has adapted the original list to share with readers, below. Note that some of the questions have, indeed, been asked, but that, in Wax’s view, these elements have not been explored among pro-choice candidates diligently enough.

Christian Post: Indiana Senatorial candidate Richard Mourdock is yet another prolife politician whose words have been distorted so that the pro-Obama, pro-abortion, pro-liberal feminism mainstream media can mercilessly attack him for somehow attacking women. Anyone with half a brain could understand his comments to mean God intended life to happen, not rape. But mainstream media doesn’t rely upon intellect, but raw, uninformed emotion. They keep the issue in the abstract, careful not to humanize it to show why a prolife conviction would embrace even a child conceived in such circumstances. Abortion advocates know revealing the whole truth would have a way of speaking to one’s heart.

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. at Baptist Press: The controversy over his statements reveals the irresponsibility of so many in the media and the political arena. The characterizations and willful distortions of Mourdock’s words amount to nothing less than lies. At the same time, Mr. Mourdock is responsible for giving the media and his political enemies the very ammunition for their distortions.

Maggie Gallagher at National Review: So far, $11 million has been spent on the campaign, with the “bulk of it spent by gay marriage supporters” according to the Associated Press. Supporters of Referendum 74 have raised nearly $11 million, more than five times as much as opponents of gay marriage. The pro-gay marriage advantages don’t stop there. Major corporations just pooled their resources to take out a full-page ad announcing support for gay marriage . . . Support for R-74 is now up only 49 to 45 percent among likely voters, a statistical dead heat and huge swing from the 14-point advantage gay marriage held in September, when 53 percent of Washington voters told the pollster they would support R-74.

Washington Post: President Obama is heard endorsing same-sex marriage in a new radio ad being aired by supporters of Question 6, the Maryland ballot measure that would legalize gay unions.

Red State: I’m sending Richard Mourdock some money and you should too. His position is one millions of Americans share, but you’d never know it from the media’s coverage.

The Hill (video embededded): Asked by host Jay Leno about Mourdock’s comments, in which the Indiana state treasurer said during a debate Tuesday evening that “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something God intended to happen,” the president said “rape is rape.”

NY Times (includes video): The Obama campaign on Wednesday quickly seized on abortion and rape comments made by the Indiana Republican Senate candidate in an attempt to entangle the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, in a politically charged issue threatening to brew into a firestorm like the one that followed comments by Representative Todd Akin.

LifeNews: The Planned Parenthood abortion business is attacking Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock today over his comments on rape and abortion in last night’s debate. But the abortion business has repeatedly covered up actual or alleged cases of child rape.

Republicans locked in close races – from Mitt Romney to Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown – on Wednesday disavowed Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock’s comment that when a woman becomes pregnant during a rape, “that’s something God intended.” . . . The Republican hopeful told reporters Wednesday that he meant only that God creates life, and that rape is evil.

Seattle Times: The Seattle Times Co. jumped into two of the state’s hottest political contests Wednesday, launching a $75,000 independent-expenditure campaign promoting Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna and announcing a similar effort in support of gay marriage.

NY Times: According to data from Kantar Media/CMAG, the Obama campaign and Democratic groups have run commercials relating to abortion about 30,000 times since July 2 — about 10 percent of their ads — including one that falsely claimed Mr. Romney’s opposition to abortion extended to cases of rape and incest.

AP: Mitt Romney’s campaign has released a new TV ad suggesting the Republican hopeful believes abortion “should be an option” in certain cases.

WorldNetDaily: Two days after WND reported the ring Barack Obama has worn since his college years appears to feature the first part of the Shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, millions of Americans have read the story and thousands are joining the debate online. But the establishment media hasn’t touched the story.

Naomi Schafer Riley at the NY Post: ‘I’m spiritual but not religious”: Our secular elites love to utter the phrase. But don’t assume it means something harmless like “I don’t go to church, but I love hot Yoga.” Washington socialite par excellence Sally Quinn let the cat out of the bag on a New York visit last week.

Volokh Conspiracy: The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority said “no,” citing the violation of two policies — a requirement that “[a]ll advertising must be … considered in good taste and shall uphold the aesthetic standards as determined by AATA,” and a ban on ads that “hold up to scorn or ridicule a person or group of persons.” In Coleman v. Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (E.D. Mich. Sept. 28, 2012), the court held that the policies were unconstitutional

Edwin Meese and Jennifer Marshall at USA Today: Chick-fil-A controversy is only the most recent in a series of examples of intractable actions.

CNN: “I grew up in a socialist country and I have seen what that does to people. There is no hope, no freedom, no pride in achievement,” he says with a soft Hungarian accent in the ad. “The nation became poorer and poorer, and that’s what I see happening here.”

Reuters: When Islamic scholar Zaghloul el-Naggar recommended the consumption of camel urine, describing it as an Islamic remedy for incurable diseases on a television show last month, the channel’s switchboard was bombarded with angry phone calls within minutes.

Daily Caller: President Barack Obama was a guest at the 1991 wedding of ABC senior foreign correspondent and vice presidential debate moderator Martha Raddatz, The Daily Caller has learned. Obama and groom Julius Genachowski, whom Obama would later tap to head the Federal Communications Commission, were Harvard Law School classmates at the time and members of the Harvard Law Review.

Daily Caller: Unhappy with President Barack Obama‘s support of same-sex marriage, a group of African-American faith leaders have announced a campaign aimed at stripping 25 percent of the black vote that went to Obama in 2008 (95 percent).

Washington Post: The ad features Julian Bond, chairman emeritus of the national NAACP, who argues that voting for Question 6 is “the right thing to do.” “I know a little something about fighting for what’s right and just,” Bond says in the ad, which the NAACP said will air in both the Washington and Baltimore markets. “Maryland’s gay and lesbian families share the same values, and they should share in the right to marry.”

Reuters: In its 8th annual report tracking gender and ethnic diversity on television, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said on Friday there will be 111 LGBT characters in regular or recurring roles on scripted shows across U.S. television.

Washington Post: Breaking from two decades of tradition, this year’s election exit poll is set to include surveys of voters in 31 states, not all 50 as it has for the past five presidential elections, according to multiple people involved in the planning.

Karl Rove at the WSJ: Last week’s CBS/New York Times poll had Obama ahead by nine points in Florida. That’s not very likely.

The Church Report (embeds video): Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy voiced his support for ‘Biblical families’ in one of his first interviews since his earlier comments caused controversy regarding gay marriage.

LifeNews: The ad will run on KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver, Colorado costing $25,000.

NY Times: No state has ever legalized same-sex marriage through a referendum—an invaluable fact for marriage-equality opponents, who argue that judges and lawmakers have imposed a radical redefinition of a traditional institution on an unwilling population.

National Post: The English language needs a moratorium on the word Islamophobia, a term often used to describe bigotry against Muslims. Unfortunately, it is also used reflexively to denounce critics of Islam, who contribute to a valuable and ongoing debate concerning the relationship between the West and the worldwide Islamic community.

Fox News: But the Catholic singer, a long-time defender of gay rights, hit back at his comments on French radio. “I think that gay marriage is going to happen. It must.” she said. We are not actually equal—humanity—if we are not allowed to freely love one another.
“What the Pope thinks of being gay does not matter to the world. It matters to the people who like the Pope and follow the Pope. It is not a reflection of all religious people.”

WorldNetDaily: But the most recent 990 form would cover 2011, meaning there was no “objectionable” giving, according to Moreno, as long back as 21 months – predating any of the flap over Cathy’s statements. The company also had posted when the controversy erupted a statement on its website announcing it would not discriminate on the basis of gender orientation. The months-old statement, which at that time was represented as stating an existing policy, said, “The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.”

Chick-fil-A: A part of our corporate commitment is to be responsible stewards of all that God has entrusted to us. Because of this commitment, Chick-fil-A’s giving heritage is focused on programs that educate youth, strengthen families and enrich marriages, and support communities. We will continue to focus our giving in those areas. Our intent is not to support political or social agendas.

Breitbart News is doubling its reward–to $100,000–for one of the missing pieces of Barack Obama’s past, which may be the key to understanding his collapsing Middle East policy: the “Khalidi tape,” a video kept under wraps by the Los Angeles Times since April 2008.

New York CBS Local: On the region’s subways and buses, most ads we see don’t get much attention. But that may change with a pro-Israel ad that will soon grace MTA property which reads: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.”

Accuracy in Media: The controversy over Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin’s abortion comments was started by a George Soros-funded Democratic Party Super-PAC and the “bait” was taken by Republican Party officials who wanted him out of the race for other reasons, says John Putnam, Missouri state coordinator for the national Tea Party Patriots group.

Center for AZ Policy: On Friday, the Arizona Department of Health Services released their annual statistical report on abortions in Arizona. Initial media reports claimed a 25% increase in abortions in 2011 compared to 2010. As the DHS report indicates, however, abortion providers were not required to report abortion numbers until August of 2010. Consequently, any reports prior to August 2010 are unreliable. “You’re comparing apples to oranges if you look at 2010 to 2011,” said Cathi Herrod, president of Center for Arizona Policy.

Ammon Simon at National Review Bench Memos: The New York Times last week denounced the West Virginia supreme court’s decision to deny Allen Loughry, a candidate for their court, supplemental public campaign financing; the financing would have violated the political speech rights of his opponent, Justice Davis.

Boston Globe: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. expressed frustration Friday at what he said were inaccuracies in the media about the court and its decisions, saying it’s difficult to sit by when opinions are misinterpreted.

Jonah Goldberg at National Review: Over at MSNBC, a riot of consensus broke out when contributors Mike Barnicle and Donny Deutsch as well as University of Pennsylvania professor Anthea Butler all agreed that the people behind the video should be indicted as accessories to murder.

John Hawyard at Human Events: Now we’re allowing a sham effort by sinister forces in the Middle East to present a movie very few people have actually seen – the YouTube videos under assault are its trailers – as the cause of coordinated attacks to drag us into an agonizing debate over how much freedom of speech we should be prepared to give up.

Jonathan Van Maren at LifeSiteNews: Did a graphic image of an aborted baby take down China’s policy of forced abortion?

Radio Iowa: New poll: 48% of Iowans support court’s same-sex marriage decision
The poll found 48% of those surveyed agreed with the court’s decision on that same-sex marriage case, a dramatic shift compared to a 2009 survey which found 58% disagreed with the decision. The poll was commissioned by the “Justice, Not Politics” group and released to The Cedar Rapids Gazette . . .

Google News (AP): An Israeli filmmaker went into hiding Tuesday after his movie attacking Islam’s prophet Muhammad sparked angry assaults by ultra-conservative Muslims on U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya, where one American was killed.

USA Today: Egyptian demonstrators climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo today and pulled down the American flag to protest a film they say is insulting to the prophet Mohammad.

BBC: Nick Clegg has withdrawn comments about opponents of gay marriage in which he called them “bigots”.

DickMorris.com: In a scene right out of a typical authoritarian regime, Fox News reports that “employees at the venerable Gallup polling firm suggested they felt threatened by Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod when he questioned the methodology of a mid-April poll showing Mitt Romney leading the president – according to internal emails published Thursday.”

Christian Post: A conservative Christian radio host didn’t hold back her criticism when interviewing Exodus International President Alan Chambers on Wednesday over his views on homosexuality, repentance and salvation.

LifeNews reports and carries video of the vote

James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal: Perhaps the reason other journalists are so deferential toward the “fact checkers” is that these fact checkers, unlike the traditional ones, don’t check the facts of journalists but of politicians. By and large, they aren’t actually checking facts but making and asserting judgments about the veracity of politicians’ arguments. The quality of their work is generally quite poor.

Reuters: Centuries-old theological disputes have broken out in cyberspace as religions aim to influence the future presentation of faith on the Internet.