|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Insider Report: Americans Head for Canada; Ron Paul; Gov't Shutdown Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Liberal Blasts Washington Post Reporter Washington Post reporter John Solomon is single handedly seeking to torpedo the candidacy of former Senator John Edwards, according to a liberal critic. Writing on the left-wing Alter.net website, Alexander Zaitchik asked "Can One Reporter Take Down a Presidential Candidate? John Solomon Is Trying to Find Out." Wrote Zaitchik "The overblown 'controversies' over John Edwards' $400 haircut, hedge fund work and real estate dealings are largely the product of one reporter at the Washington Post who hides his grudges behind 'fair and balanced' journalism. Zaitchik zeroed in on Solomon's profile of hair stylist Joseph Torrenueva, as one proof of the Post reporter's alleged vendetta against Edwards. Story Continues Below
"The Torrenueva profile didn't offer 'some kind of commentary' on the state of American politics so much as it offered insight into the peculiar priorities of its author, Post money and politics reporter John Solomon." Zaitchik goes on to cite numerous Solomon stories dealing with Edwards, all accurate and well-researched and all legitimate criticisms of some of John Edward's activities such as his less than savory role in his consulting work in 2005 and 2006 for a hedge fund, his sale of his Georgetown home for $5.2 million or $1.4 million more than he paid for it in 2002. "Although practically dripping with innuendo that Edwards had been involved in a sleazy land deal with known criminals and then lied about it, the article noticeably failed to contain any dirt. The article basically reported that Edwards had bought a house in D.C.'s booming real estate market, fixed it up and sold it three years later for a profit. The banality of these facts did not stop Post editors from placing the article above the fold, alongside the latest news from Iraq. " He ends his screed by warning "If Solomon can keep getting away with his brand of ‘fair and balanced' journalism, John Edwards and the rest of the presidential candidates are in for some trouble as the primary race heats up this fall." Editor's Note: 2. Americans Head for Canada Some of those Americans who warned they'd desert the U.S. For Canada if George Bush was re-elected in 2004 appear to have kept their word. New statistics show that U.S. Immigration to Canada in 2006 hit a 30-year high. According to the Toronto Star an analysis of immigration statistics by the Association for Canadian Studies showed the number of Americans who moved to Canada in 2006 was almost double the number who moved north in 2000 when Bush was elected for a first term as U.S. President. The analysis also showed that most of the American migrants are highly educated people who may be moving to Canada for quality of life and social reasons. And while the numbers were not huge — 10,942 Americans moved to Canada last year - they were far smaller than the influx predicted when bogus maps of the United States of Canada began hitting the Internet in the waning days of the 2004 campaign. The day after Bush was re-elected president, there were 191,000 hits on Canada's immigration website, six times its average traffic, most of it from the U.S. The increase is symbolic, Jack Jedwab, the executive director of the association that analyzed the statistic told the Star. "Given that most of these immigrants are university-educated or better, you can assume they can find work in the U.S., so the move must be based on other reasons." He cited politics, health care, social issues, and possibly even the strengthening Canadian dollar as lures drawing Americans northward. Tom Kertes, who moved north last April from Seattle, Wash. did it because he wants to marry his male partner. He said he moved to Toronto with his partner Ron Braun and they plan to marry, something they could not do in Washington state. He added the war in Iraq and the torture of Iraqi prisoners by Americans — and the failure of the Bush administration to clearly disavow such practice — as contributing factors behind his migration northward. "Moving countries is not done lightly," he told the Star, explaining that he found the tolerance of Toronto welcoming and he thought Canadians were proud of their reputation for tolerance. The Star suggested that the most surprising aspect of the study is the attention it has received here in the U.S. where it was first reported by abcnews.Com. Wrote the Star "It has become a hit on the blogosphere where many Americans have reacted with venom to those who have left the country and some 80,000 persons voted on whether they would move to Canada within hours of the question being posted on an AOL.Com site. The newspaper quoted one blogger as writing "If every American who didn't like George W. Bush left the country, there would be no one here but illegal immigrants." Editor's Note: 3. Congress Ready for Replay of 1995 Government Shutdown When Congress comes back from their August hiatus the stage will be set for another standoff between the Democrats and Republicans much like the one in 1995 that led to a shutdown of the Federal government. As the Capitol Hill Newspaper Roll Call recalled, back in '95 then Speaker Newt Gingrich set the stage for the shut down when the GOP controlled defied President Clinton by submitting their own budget which Clinton vetoed, leaving the Federal cupboard bare and forcing the government to close its doors. Now Republicans are warning Democrats that if they insist on spending more than the 9 percent increase the President is willing to allow they should be prepared to take the blame if the government shuts up shop after a Bush veto of spending bills. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, told Roll Call the problem is that Democrats want to increase spending by more than 9 percent. "There's no question we're going to have some kind of a showdown at the end of the year," Ryan predicted. "I don't think an actual shutdown is necessary if we just pass straight CRs (Continuing Resolutions that keep programs going without passing new appropriation bills]. The problem is the majority might see that as a leverage point and advantage in pushing an actual shutdown so they can load up a CR with strings. "If they refuse to pass clean CRs, they are responsible for the shutdown, period, end of story." Editor's Note: 4. Clarence Page: Why Don't the Media Notice Ron Paul? Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page writes that Rep. Ron Paul may be getting only 2 percent in nationwide polls, but if the election were held online, Paul would probably win "hands down." "So why, I am often asked, doesn't Paul get more coverage?" Page writes. He says it's a catch-22: The mainstream media don't think he has a chance to win, so they don't cover him, and the less coverage you get, the less of a chance you have to win. According to Page, Paul's supporters flooded ABC News' online polls after last week's debate, yet he all but vanished in the post-debate coverage. Page marvels, "You might think the mainstream media would pay more respect to a guy who ended up the recent fundraising quarter with more cash on hand than Sen. John McCain." Andrew Kohut, president of the non-partisan Pew Research Center told Page that Paul's message on getting out of Iraq is what's resonating. "There's a defensiveness about Iraq among Republicans," he said. "Many [Republicans] say they want a different approach. I think that under the surface there is a market for someone who will say something different from what Bush is saying." Editor's Note:
5. We Heard . . . THAT although cool, calm and collected are the words usually used to describe Mitt Romney, they didn't fit when he went toe to toe with Des Moines, Iowa talk show host Jan Mickelson. When challenged over his Mormon faith and past abortion support. Romney got fired up. Mickelson said, "I think you are making a big mistake when you distance yourself from your religion," he said. "I'm proud of my faith," Romney shot back. "There is nothing I distance myself from." But Romney said he did not wish to impose his faith on anyone else – for example, he said, his church forbids sex outside marriage and the consumption of alcohol, but a law forbidding those things would be out of the question. "So don't confuse what I do as a member of my faith with what I think should be done by government," he said. THAT veteran Washington columnist Robert Novak told NPR radio hostess Diane Rehm: "I don't support this administration. The President's cut me off the list of conservative columnists that are invited there," adding "They consider me a lot of trouble." He went on to say that it's not just George W. Bush's White House that has a problem with him. "Every administration has considered me a lot of trouble, Novak continued. "We start good — and particularly with Republican administrations. But it's like a bad marriage — It starts nice after the honeymoon and it just gets worse." Editor's Note: Editor's Notes:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2009 NewsMax.Com |