A recent Livescience.com article appearing in Yahoo! News highlighted a study by psychologist Gordon Hodson of Brock University in Ontario in which a nexus is supposedly found between being unintelligent and conservative and being racist. I presume then that, as conservatives and morons tend to be more racist, the dots between them are connected? The story not only provided an overview of the study but also links to other similar studies which appear to back up Hodson’s conclusions. Well then, there it is. We always knew that liberals are smarter and more tolerant. We just needed a study to prove it.

Gordon Hodson

At best, psychology is an inexact science, as the human brain is the most complex system in the known universe, and to try to understand what makes it tick is daunting if not impossible. But layer on top of that the possibility that the researchers themselves may harbor a bias that leads them to subconsciously steer their studies towards reaching pre-determined conclusions, and you have the makings of a sham science project … with predictable results.

Hodson’s complete study is not available for free online, so I readily admit I only know what has been made public. Apparently the researchers offered a list of questions which would measure participants’ left or right leanings based upon the answers. For example, one measure in defining “conservative” is gauging one’s level of agreement with the statement “schools should teach children to obey authority.” Then they overlaid these results with responses to questions with overtly racial overtones such as “I wouldn’t mind working with people of other races.” I guess if you answer “yes” to authority and “no” to working with others not like you, you are a conservative racist. Conversely, if you replied “fight the power, maaan” and “I want my office to look like a rainbow, my brother,” then you are a tolerant and cognitively well-adjusted liberal. Oh, if only the world were so simple. (more…)

On February 5, 2012, the Associated Press (AP) reported that an Occupy DC protester slammed a brick into the face of a law enforcement officer. Yahoo! News then reposted and promoted the piece.

Nonviolent brickbats? (Source: comicvine.com)

The article and its reposting by another prominent left-of-center news site does not indicate that the mainstream media is willing to cover Occupy’s violence. Rather, further examination reveals another example of the media’s efforts to cover up and spin Occupy’s violence as nonviolent protest.

The obvious strategy, as was the case in the media’s response to the ACORN scandal, is to bury the key details, reporting the news but lacing it with false disclaimers in order to frame the issue to the left’s advantage.

In this example, though the AP/Yahoo News story does acknowledge the Occupy violence, it makes clear and concise efforts to frame the issue falsely as one of a lone wolf/isolated incident in a “mostly peaceful” and “nonviolent” Occupy movement.

The article reads as follows (my emphasis):

Police: 11 arrested at Occupy DC site
AP – Sun, Feb 5, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — Authorities say 11 people have been arrested in Washington’s McPherson Square since Park Police began clearing away tents from one of the nation’s last remaining Occupy sites.

David Schlosser, who is a spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said Sunday that one of those arrested was charged with felony assault on a police officer and assault with a deadly weapon. That person is accused of hitting an officer in the face with a brick Saturday evening. The officer was treated at a hospital.

Three others were charged with assault on a police officer.

Schlosser says officials are continuing to clear the park of unsanitary conditions, though so far Sunday things had remained mostly peaceful.

On Saturday night, the protesters vowed to continue their movement and urged followers to remain nonviolent.

(more…)

Fifty-two Congressmen, including Representative and GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, are demanding Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over Operation Fast and Furious. While the new media has reached out to Congress, there is still no excuse for the Old Media to not say anything, especially since these Congressmen held a press conference Tuesday, November 15.

Then again, are you shocked NBC Nightly News and ABC World News didn’t cover the press conference? We know all year Mr. Williams and Ms. Sawyer have never mentioned Operation Fast and Furious once. If they covered the press conference they’d be forced to talk and explain Operation Fast and Furious. I’m disappointed CBS didn’t run a story on the press conference, but since they’ve been on top of the story I’m willing to forgive them. Here are some topics NBC and ABC thought were more important than congressmen calling for Mr. Holder’s resignation:

• Low cost Lipitor!
• Annie Leibovitz says go iPhone!
• Texas court says dogs have sentimental value
• ACL injuries
• New Kennedy tapes

They will do anything to avoid talking about Operation Fast and Furious. Like Cam Edwards said they’d run an entire 30 minute show on Brian Williams and puppies before they talk about Fast & Furious. (more…)

There’s been yet another troubling turn in the story of ABC News caving to left-wing Blacklisters since Andrew Breitbart published this article last night laying out the facts with respect to how the network offered him a gracious invitation to participate in tomorrow’s “online and network broadcast election night coverage” and then revoked at least part of that invitation after the left ginned up a coordinated Juan Williams-like astro-turf attack to silence him.

Via Yahoo!, this morning ABC News contradicted themselves further with this jaw-dropping accusation claiming that this is all Breitbart’s fault for exaggerating his role:

“Mr. Breitbart exaggerated the role he would play on his blog,” ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider told The Upshot on Monday. “We immediately made it clear that was never the role he was supposed to play. He had been invited to be part of our digital town hall, and that is still the role.”

Before we look at what “Mr. Breitbart” posted on “his blog,” let’s look at what ABC News told him. This is a direct quote from an an email to Breitbart from an ABC News producer…

This program will broadcast on the ABC Television Network.

And then there’s this from a statement by David Ford of ABC News…

He [Breitbart] will be one of many voices on our air[.]

How exactly does Big Journalism’s October 29th announcement qualify as an exaggeration when compared to what ABC News has said both privately via email and publicly via that statement?: (more…)

JournoList scandal is back and prepare for it to be a driving force in the news for quite some time. The Daily Caller published an article tonight indicating they’ve obtained emails from the JournoList and the initial details are as damning as we expected when the list-serv, founded by the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein in 2007, surfaced with the Dave Weigel kerfuffle last month.

Snippets from the article below, but make sure to read the whole thing at the Daily Caller and return to Big Journalism early and often as we unpack the details that emerge and track the fallout from this seminal event in the history of left-wing media bias.  It’s unclear exactly what the Daily Caller has, but there’s certainly no indication from this article they’ve already laid all their cards out on the table.

According to records obtained by The Daily Caller, at several points during the 2008 presidential campaign a group of liberal journalists took radical steps to protect their favored candidate. Employees of news organizations including Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon and the New Republic participated in outpourings of anger over how Obama had been treated in the media, and in some cases plotted to fix the damage.

In one instance, Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists.” (more…)