|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Insider Report: Murdoch: CNN Watched '100 % by Democrats' Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Anti-Lieberman Ad Causes Friction Within ACLU Sen. Joe Lieberman's re-election campaign in Connecticut has created a rift between the American Civil Liberties Union's national office and its Connecticut chapter. Leaders of the state chapter have objected to an ad placed by the national ACLU in the Hartford Courant. The ad features a warning about pending legislation regarding detainees, torture and wiretapping, and states: "Will Senator Joe Lieberman pass this test on American values? Tell Joe Lieberman his votes on this assault on American values will help determine your vote in November." The chairman of the Connecticut chapter, Don Noel Jr., said he and several other board members believed the ad broke the organization's pledge to stay out of electoral politics, according to the New York Sun.
Story Continues Below
"It seemed to us to cross the line on partisanship, or to cross the line on not being nonpartisan," Noel told the Sun. "I have complained and the national office has agreed with me. They have said they are sorry this might have been seen as partisan." But a spokeswoman for the national ACLU, Emily Whitfield, said there was no apology for the content of the ad and of similar ads that ran in a dozen states and mentioned Democratic and Republican incumbents who might be convinced to accept the organization's stance on antiterrorism legislation. ACLU officials said the $200,000 ad campaign targeted both Republicans — including Senators DeWine and Voinovich of Ohio — and Democrats, such as Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Rep. John Barrow of Georgia. Lieberman is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont. "The point isn't whether they are Democrats or Republicans or independents. The point is whether they were legislative targets," Whitfield said. "That was the factor and the only factor."
Lieberman joined 12 other Democrats to vote in favor of the Military Commissions Act, which outlines procedures for trying detainees and places some restrictions on their access to federal courts, the Sun noted. The bill passed the Senate and the House. But one of the provisions the ACLU objected to in its ads — the use of secret evidence to convict detainees — was dropped during negotiations between Republican senators and the White House. Editor's Note:
2. San Francisco Archbishop Sparks Gay Adoption Flap In response to a Vatican directive, the Archbishop of San Francisco changed existing policy regarding homosexuals adopting children. Or did he? Earlier this year the prefect for the Catholic Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith instructed Catholic Charities of San Francisco to halt its practice of placing children for adoption in homosexual households. In early August, San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer said Catholic Charities would no longer be involved in the "direct placement" of adopted children. But it would now send three of its staff members to work for Family Builders by Adoption, a group that specializes, according to its Web site, in helping "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families" adopt children. It was move that moral theologian William Smith called a "distinction without a difference," according to the Catholic World Report (CWR). San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, a gay activist, found the partnership with Family Builders ironic, the CWR noted, stating: "A Vatican-mandated review that was supposed to terminate Catholic Charities' involvement in homosexual adoptions has ended up increasing it." The San Francisco Chronicle called the partnership an "adroit end run" around the Vatican ban. "This is dubious bordering on the devious," complained Monsignor William Smith, professor of moral theology at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York. "It sounds like they are simply changing venues so that they can keep doing what they were told not to do." In a 2003 statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican said the Church should resist any laws that give "same-sex unions" the "rights belonging to marriage" (such as the right to adoption). George Neumayr, editor of the CWR, wrote in the October issue: "Archbishop Niederauer said that the new policy is ‘compatible' with Catholic moral teaching. How? He hasn't yet offered a full explanation." Neumayr also noted that as archbishop of Salt Lake City, Niederauer opposed a 2004 drive to place a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on the Utah state ballot. Editor's Note:
3. Study: Consultants Account for Half of Campaign Spending Federal political candidates, national parties and non-profit "527" fund-raising groups spent nearly $1.8 billion on professional consultants during the 2004 election cycle, a new study reveals. And two-thirds of that sum went to media consultants, according to the study by the Center for Public Integrity. Money paid to 600 professional consultants accounted for about half of all campaign spending and is largely responsible for the rising cost of political campaigns, according to the Washington-D.C.-based publication The Hill. The average cost of winning a House or Senate seat has increased by a factor of 11 over the past 30 years. It now costs $1 million for a House seat and $7 million for a Senate seat, The Hill reports. The increased cost of campaigning — and the resulting need to raise more funds — has led to closer relationships between candidates and special-interest donors.
Candidates "spend hours on the telephone; they become almost telemarketers having to raise all this money," Sandy Bergo, who managed the study for the Center, told The Hill. "And, of course, that ties them closer to the donors who give the most money or who bundle together the most money, or the lobbyist who helped them raise the money." Media consultants were paid about $1.2 billion during the election cycle, with much of it used to book airtime for broadcast ads and for production costs. Another $300 million went to direct-mail consultants. The increase in campaign spending isn't slowing, according to the Federal Election Commission — spending in the 2006 election cycle is up 12 percent over the first 18 months when compared to the 2004 cycle. Editor's Note:
4. Conrad Black Seeks Canadian Citizenship Embattled media mogul Conrad Black — who is facing severe legal troubles in the U.S. — is working to regain his Canadian citizenship. Black, who was born in Montreal, said in a recent interview that he is going through the "normal channels" to become a Canadian citizen again. "I always said that I would take my citizenship back, and if it wasn't for all these legal problems, I would have done it by now," he told TVOntario. Black was forced to renounce his Canadian citizenship in 2001 to become a member of the British House of Lords. Jean Chretien, who was then Canada's prime minister, refused to approve the appointment unless Black renounced his citizenship, the Globe and Mail of Toronto reported. Black, who describes himself has a "temporary resident" of Canada, has been spending most of his time in Toronto while facing criminal charges brought against him in Chicago. Prosecutors allege that Black and other former executives of Hollinger International Inc. took more than $80 million from the Chicago-based newspaper company. Black has pleaded not guilty and is out on a $21 million bond while awaiting trial in March. Hollinger once owned hundreds of newspapers in the U.S., Canada, Britain and Israel, including the Chicago Sun-Times. If convicted of the serious crimes he is accused of in the U.S., Black might not be able to permanently return to Canada, since Canada rarely allows entry to non-citizen felons. Black has called his prosecution "outrageous" and said the U.S. is "a very tough country. People work hard and its whole culture is nice guys come last." Editor's Note:
5. Murdoch: Democrats Are ‘100 Percent CNN' News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch says he is "quite proud" that his Fox News is reportedly the only news channel on in the White House. "It should be that way," he told Time magazine. "I go around to Congress, and you go to Democrats who are 100 percent CNN. You go to Republicans, and they're 100 percent Fox. And if you go to government departments, you'll probably see Fox. "If you go to the State Department, you only see CNN. Viewers seem much more biased than the channels." Asked if his decision to launch a news channel was linked to a desire to present an ideological viewpoint, Murdoch declared: "It was part of it. The good bulk of the press in this country was monolithic — liberal to varying degrees. And I'm not saying that's wrong. But the journalism schools and newspapers in this country are totally monopolistic. In the average city there's one newspaper. And people like a choice of news." As for what newspapers he reads every day, Murdoch told Time he reads the New York Post, and looks at the front page and editorial page of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. "That's about it." Editor's Note:
6. We Heard… THAT Katie Couric's ratings on the "CBS Evening News" have fallen below those of the anchor she replaced, Bob Schieffer. Five weeks into her tenure, Couric finished in third place among the three major networks newscasts for the second week in a row. Brian Williams and "NBC Nightly News" finished at the top that week, with an average of 8.54 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Charles Gibson's "World News" took second place with nearly 7.98 million viewers, and Couric's program had an average of 7.04 million viewers — fewer than interim anchor Schieffer had during his last week on the air in late August. CBS News President Sean McManus tried to downplay any disappointment over Couric's showing, telling the Los Angeles Times: "Who did the best week-to-week is of less concern to me than long-term growth." THAT the Conservative Party of New York is offering free downloads of a book about Hillary Clinton released by the American Conservative Union. Internet users can visit the Conservative Party Web site to download or read an "electronic book" version of "Hillary Clinton: What Every American Should Know."
The 48-page edition delves into Sen. Clinton's core personal beliefs and offers accounts of what the book calls Clinton's seven "major scandals." THAT political consultant Mary Matalin had this to say at the Quill Book Awards in New York: "These are scary times. Kim Jong Il is a hard-drinking, strange-looking 63-year-old former playboy with socialist tendencies who could go nuclear at any moment. "Oh my God, I just described my husband!" Matalin, a former assistant to President Bush, is married to James Carville, a political strategist for the Democratic Party. Matalin wasn't completely correct: Carville turns 62 on Oct. 25. THAT the British Broadcasting Corporation is launching a TV news channel targeting viewers in Iran. The service — which will likely be headquartered in London but broadcast in Farsi, the language of Iran — is scheduled to begin in early 2008, shortly after the start of a similar network in Arabic. The BBC already has a Farsi radio service in Iran. Although the BBC is partially funded by government grants, Nigel Chapman, director of BBC World Service, said the Farsi channel would be "editorially independent of the UK government." THAT Ted Turner is predicting the imminent demise of newspapers — again. The CNN founder told the National Press Club on Oct. 9 that it was "all over" for print newspapers and they would soon be a thing of the past. "When I die, they are going to die with me," Turner said. This isn't the first time Turner has predicted the death of newspapers, Editor & Publisher noted. In 1981, he was quoted as saying that print newspapers would be gone in 10 years. Editor's Notes:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2008 NewsMax.Com |