Toledo-area blogger Maggie Thurber recently referred me to a week-old item at the odious, leftism uber alles Toledo Blade. Written by “Blade Staff” (can’t say I can blame anyone for not wanting to put their name on this disgrace), it described a violent shooting incident which took place in Lambertville, a town in Monroe County, Michigan just north of the Glass City.

If you knew nothing else about the event and only relied on the Blade’s story, you would think that what occurred was some kind of random act of violence:

Lambertville man shot in arm after man tries to slash his tires

A man was shot in the arm Wednesday night when he interrupted a suspect trying to puncture his vehicle’s tires with a knife, authorities said.

… When confronted, the assailant shot a small caliber pistol at the victim, grazing his left upper arm. The victim was treated at the scene and was to seek medical treatment on his own, sheriff’s deputies said.

The suspect was described as being in his mid-20s to early 30s, white, of medium build, and about 6 feet tall. He was wearing a dark-colored T-shirt, jeans, and a dark-colored baseball hat.

He appeared to be in his mid-20s or early 30s.

Note that the victim was not named.

A follow-up Blade report 12 hours later, also by “Blade Staff,” added these details (bolds are mine):

Man attempting to stop auto vandalism is shot

A man who interrupted a suspect trying to puncture the tires of his vehicle with a knife was shot in the arm.

… When confronted, the assailant shot a small caliber pistol at the victim, grazing his left upper arm. The unidentified victim was treated at the scene and was to seek medical treatment on his own, said the Monroe County Sheriff’s department.

Authorities described the suspect as being in his mid-20s to early 30s, white, medium build, and about 6 feet tall. He wore a dark-colored T-shirt, jeans, and a dark-colored baseball hat.

Again, “Blade Staff” did not name the victim.

The problem for the Blade is that in the Internet era there are several publications which knew that there was more to this story than the Blade reported. One of them is local radio station WSPD, which carried a far more informative version of what went down and why:

Monroe County Sheriff Looking into Apparent Union Related Violence

Lambertville non union electrical contractor shot, SCAB scrawled on truck

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department is working to solve a case of vandalism that turned life-threatening.

John King was shot in the arm last week when he surprised a man trying to slash the tires on the truck at his Lambertville home. The word “scab” was also scrawled on the side.

King says he became suspicious when he saw an outside security light outside go on.

When he stepped out of his front door, the man fired one shot and ran off.

King is the owner of the largest non-union electrical contracting company in the area.

Imagine that. How could “Blade Staff,” which as far as I can tell has done no additional follow-up story (Blade site searches on “Lambertville” and “John King,” entered with quotes, corroborate this), miss those pesky details about the “scab” scrawl and King’s ownership of a non-union electrical firm?

The Blaze, Glenn Beck’s news site, didn’t miss the critical facts either, excerpting from a more complete Labor Union Report story (also linked by CNS News), both of which carry the following picture of the vandalized vehicle:

The Labor Union Report’s coverage fills in details the Blade didn’t care to report, and apparently still doesn’t care to report (bolds are mine):

John King didn’t plan on being an enemy of unions. In fact, he says all he’s ever wanted to do is work at something he loves doing and be successful at it—something that most normal Americans would call ‘The American Dream.’

After high school and some college, Mr. King briefly worked for an IBEW contractor before being drafted into the military. Following his service in the early 70s, King became his own boss by going into business as the youngest electrical contractor in Toledo.

Over the years, King Electrical Services had always been a small business. However, during the Great Recession, King’s business has actually improved as his union competitors have priced themselves out of work.

Unfortunately, being a non-union electrical company, King has always been on the radar of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). In fact, in 2006, he won a significant case against the IBEW at the US Court of Appeals, after the union had improperly promised his electricians jobs on union sites if they voted the union into King’s company.

… Unfortunately, the vandalism has never stopped. This year alone, he’s had to report three incidents of damage to police. This doesn’t include the incidents of stalking he and his men have to go through while they’re working.

… Last Wednesday … As soon as he got outside his front door, King yelled at the individual who was crouched down by King’s vehicle. As soon as King yelled, the suspect stood and, without hesitation, fired a shot at Mr. King.

Luckily for King, as he yelled, he also stumbled. If it weren’t for that, however, John King’s injuries might have been much, much worse. In fact, he might have been killed.

Read the whole thing.

It’s virtually impossible to imagine, given the legal history described at Labor Union Report, that “Blade Staff” doesn’t know exactly who John King is and why he was targeted.

In the old days, a city paper might have gotten away with such obvious journalistic malpractice. Those days are over. In coverage of this incident, the Blade, which from all appearances has to this day never named John King in its current coverage, has in the past not so humbly described itself as a Glass City asset. In this instance and so many others in the past half-dozen years (other examples here, here, here, and here), it has embarrassed itself and, unfortunately by extension, its city.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

It’s here.

It will go up here at BizzyBlog on Saturday (link won’t work until then) after the blackout expires.

The subhead: “Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter needs to look at who really ‘damaged their own race.’”

_____________________________________

Related: So it seems that the ethics investigation-dodging Maxine Waters and the Congressional Black Caucus are getting restless –

The California Democrat, speaking at a raucous town hall in Detroit hosted by the CBC on Tuesday, said she doesn’t want to attack the president from his base unless the base gives her the go-ahead.

“If we go after the president too hard, you’re going after us,” Waters said. “When you tell us it’s all right and you unleash us and you’re ready to have this conversation, we’re ready to have the conversation.”

Judging by the reaction of the audience, including someone yelling to Waters, “It’s all right,” the president will be hearing very soon from the congresswoman and her fellow caucus members.

Since Obama took office, he has resisted pressure from the CBC to create jobs programs specifically targeting blacks, saying that improving the entire economy will help all groups.

The only sure thing on which you can lay odds is that their supposed prescriptions for jobs and economic improvement will involve more of the same things which haven’t worked for 4-1/2 decades.

_____________________________________________

Also Related: At HillBuzz, relaying an email that has been going around the tubes —

What is the difference between slaves on plantations and blacks who blindly vote for Democrats?

What does a slave-owner have to provide, free, for his slaves?
1. Free Housing.
2. Free Food.
3. Free Healthcare
4. A menial education sufficient to the task he requires the slave to perform.

What is the one thing a slave owner required of his slaves?
1. Unquestioning Loyalty.

What do the democrats always promise to provide, free, to blacks?
1. Free Housing.
2. Free Food.
3. Free healthcare
4. A free menial education, sufficient to get them to the voting booth.

What is the one thing Democrats require of their constituents?
1. Unquestioning Loyalty.

The only question black democrats have to ask themselves is:
Who’s your master now?

Still Stuck on 400K+: From the Department of Labor –

In the week ending August 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 408,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 399,000. The 4-week moving average was 402,500, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 406,000.

… The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 342,669 in the week ending August 13, a decrease of 11,739 from the previous week. There were 405,484 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.

My Business Insider email had expectations pegged at 400K, the same as Bloomberg and Reuters.

Changing it up this week, I’m presenting a graph of the four-week average, which is still trending down, but has been at 400K+ for 17 weeks:

Unless there are fairly dramatic drops in the coming weeks, this week’s initial claims number, especially after it gets more than likely revised upward, will keep the four-week average above 400K for a while.

From Ontario, Canada (video at link; HT Daryn Kagan):

August 15, 2011 11:33 AM

When an Ontario man popped the question to his bride-to-be, he wasn’t fooling around. Shawn Lippert of Tecumseh, Ont., near Windsor, had the entire ceremony – the dress, the wedding party, the reception and more than 200 guests – ready for her when she said “yes.”

Shawn and Colleen Lippert were married on Aug. 13, just hours after he proposed.

Shawn had convinced Colleen that they should elope in Vegas in September, but he had other plans in mind. He called his covert mission to plan a wedding without Colleen finding out Operation White Cake.

“I just knew in my gut this is exactly what she wanted,” Lippert told The Windsor Star. “I’ve been with her forever and I just knew.”

Go here for the rest of the story.

The Christian Science Monitor appears to have a problem monitoring its bloggers. Even though it asserts that its “diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there … (have) responsibility for the content of their blogs,” the largely respected CSM should understand that Jared Bernstein has just embarrassed it bigtime.

To its credit, CSM describes Bernstein, currently a senior fellow at the very liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Director emeritus: Marian Wright Edelman), as a Biden/Democrat hack: “Jared was chief economist to Vice President Joseph Biden and executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class.” But unless CSM wants to be seen as a place like the Huffington Post, where it seems that anyone can throw up anything regardless of its truthfulness (I’m talking to you, Sam Stein), it needs to at least fact-check info with an obvious surface stench — and I could smell the acrid aroma from Bernstein’s item here in Ohio. His woeful Wednesday post goes beyond predictable cherry-picking into the realm of flat-out errors.

(more…)

Nicely done:

Ballot language:

Issue 3 Proposed Constitutional Amendment

Proposed by Initiative Petition To adopt Section 21 of Article I of the Constitution of the State of Ohio

A majority yes vote is necessary for the amendment to pass. The proposed amendment would provide that:

1. In Ohio, no law or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system.

2. In Ohio, no law or rule shall prohibit the purchase or sale of health care or health insurance.

3. In Ohio, no law or rule shall impose a penalty or fine for the sale or purchase of health care or health insurance.

The proposed amendment would not:

1. Affect laws or rules in effect as of March 19, 2010.

2. Affect which services a health care provider or hospital is required to perform or provide.

3. Affect terms and conditions of government employment.

4. Affect any laws calculated to deter fraud or punish wrongdoing in the health care industry.

If approved, the amendment will be effective thirty days after the election.

Of course, the press is headlining the word “treasonous” while saving Perry’s full quote for later paragraphs, if at all (bold is mine):

Standing next to a “Perry President” sign, the governor replied, “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.”

“I mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history, is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion,” he added.

In full context, Perry is right.

If Bernanke prints more money “to play politics” (i.e., to stimulate the economy even if he regards the inflationary risks as higher than they should be), that action would fit the dictionary definition of treason (Meaning 2: “a violation of allegiance to one’s sovereign or to one’s state”; Meaning 3: “the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery”). It’s not arguable.

If Bernanke prints more money because he somehow believes it’s the best thing for the country, it wouldn’t be treasonous.

Problem (not for Perry, but for discerning the truth): Absent smoking-gun, documented evidence, only Ben and perhaps some of his closest lieutenants and contacts in the government would ever know which one it is.

That doesn’t change the fact that Perry’s statement, as worded, is correct. Period.

I’m posting commenter Greg’s 48 points on Ron Paul’s foreign policy as a courtesy, and because I don’t allow comments that wrap around the earth. :–>

I hope to come back to them later (I will do so in the comments), but in the meantime, readers who wish to take a shot at any of them, or to note instances where Paul’s votes and other statement don’t match his words, are more than welcome to pitch in.

As a Christian and a Roman Catholic I can find nothing wrong with Ron Paul’s on Foreign Policy positions.
If Ron Paul on Foreign Policy is so rotten, what specifically is rotten about it What is so bad about it?

Here (are) 48 points on Ron Paul on Foreign Policy (Underlying link); please address each issue you find objectionable and please tell me exactly why.

(more…)

From Charlotte, North Carolina:

Aug 13, 2011 / 01:25 pm

There is a common misperception that Catholics don’t read the Bible. Tell that to the more than 200 people from around the U.S. who attended the Catholic Scripture Study International Bible Conference, and you’ll get a chuckle out of them. That’s because most of them spend countless hours leading or participating in CSSI Bible studies in their home parishes year after year.

The three-day CSSI conference, held Aug. 5-7 at the Renaissance Hotel Suites in Charlotte, N.C., attracted men and women of all ages from more than 33 states – some traveling from as far away as Hawaii. They met to talk about Sacred Scripture, learn about issues like sin, temptation and exorcism, and become more well-versed in apologetics.

Several converts to the Catholic faith were among the participants and received an enthusiastic round of applause during the conference.

Jane Brock, a former Anglican priest from Tennessee who now lives in North Carolina and converted to Catholicism in 2008, was among those who were recognized. She credits her conversion to the patience of Monsignor John McSweeney, pastor of St. Matthew Church in south Charlotte, and to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church “on a dare.”

“It has been a wonderful journey. It’s wonderful to be home,” Brock said.

Three keynote speakers anchored the event, all experts in their respective fields of Sacred Scripture, apologetics and evangelization.

Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa, the world-renowned biblical scholar who speaks 12 languages and appears regularly on the Eternal Word Global Catholic Network (EWTN) hosting both television and radio programs gave talks on “Sin in the Bible” and “The Penitential Psalms.” During both talks, Father Pacwa educated participants on the intricacies of language in the Bible and God’s will for our lives.

“God created us for the Truth,” said Father Pacwa. “We want truth from others and for ourselves… We desire Truth.” …

Go here for the rest of the story.

At first blush, it might seem hard to imagine how one can contend that a press report describing an industry sector as operating “at depressed levels” and at volumes that are one-half of what “economists consider to be healthy” isn’t telling the whole truth. But that’s exactly how I would describe Tuesday’s writeup by the Associated Press’s Derek Kravitz after July’s Census Bureau release on housing starts, building permits, homes under construction, and completions.

The problem is, as I separately noted earlier today, that of the sixteen key metrics the Bureau reported, eleven of them were record lows, either for any July on record, or any individual month on record. The other five were either the second-worst or third worst Julys on record. This isn’t a depressed market; it’s a despondent one. Kravitz only disclosed one of those eleven records, and in a misleading manner.

(more…)

At Rasmussen (HT Hot Air) — GOP Primary: Perry 29%, Romney 18%, Bachmann 13%.

Objectively Unfit Mitt Romney’s comeback challenge seems insurmountable. He has been on the national stage for almost five years, yet less than one in five likely GOP voters wants him. What could he possibly do to persuade the other four? Meanwhile I daresay that Perry is not even known to a significant plurality of even likely GOP voters. That will of course change.

With this fade, it seems clear that any additional entrants (rumors include Christie, Palin, and Ryan) will hurt Romney far more than Perry.

Romney still supposedly holds the trump card in New Hampshire, but I don’t see that saving him, even if he wins that primary.

Encouraging sign from Perry — He’s not afraid to in effect say what for some reason are a politician’s six hardest words, namely: “I was wrong; I am sorry.” Good for him.

______________________________________________

UPDATE: Commenter Greg points to Michelle Malkin’s column this morning which totally rejects Perry’s apology.

I’m not sure exactly what would satisfy Michelle on this one, because these direct quotes from Perry in Life News look like “I was wrong; I am sorry” to me:

“I signed an executive order that allowed for an opt-out, but the fact of the matter is I didn’t do my research well enough to understand that we needed to have a substantial conversation with our citizenry,” he said. “I hate cancer. Let me tell you, as a son who has a mother and father who are both cancer survivors.”

“I hate cancer. And this HPV, we were seeing young ladies die at the early age. What we should have done was a program that frankly should have allowed them to opt in, or some type of program like that, but here’s what I learned — when you get too far out in front of the parade they will let you know. And that’s exactly what our legislature did.”

UPDATE: “I made a mistake on that,” Perry told Iowa Radio later in the day Monday, calling it “an error in not having a conversation with the people of the state of Texas.”

“I agreed with their decision. I don’t always get it right, but I darn sure listen,” he said of the legislature responding to his decision.

“One of the things I do pride myself on, I listen. When the electorate says, ‘Hey, that’s not what we want to do,’” Perry told Houston’s ABC affiliate on Monday. “We backed up, took a look at what we did. I understand I work for the people, not the other way around. There was a better way to do that, I realize that now.”

Michelle claims that Perry is mischaracterizing his reactions at the time by giving himself credit for “listening.”

Looking at the May 8, 2007 Perry speech after the EO was repealed, which is the item Michelle cites as evidence of his “human shield demagoguery,” I’m not seeing the same thing. I’m seeing anger over what Perry saw as the Texas legislature’s overreaching reaction (bolds are mine):

… while I respect the voice of the legislature, this issue has never been about the separation of powers, but the saving of lives.

Those legislators who claim this is about their right to determine public policy have succeeded in overturning my order. But if they care about succeeding in stopping the spread of the second most deadly cancer among women, and not just asserting their power, then they will turn around and pass legislation to make access to the HPV vaccine as widely available as possible. Instead, they have sent me a bill that will ensure three-quarters of our young women will be susceptible to a virus that not only kills hundreds each year, but causes great discomfort and harm to thousands more. Instead of vaccinating close to 95 percent of our young women, and virtually eliminating the spread of the most common STD in America, they have relegated the lives of our young women to social Darwinism, where only those who can afford it or those who know about the virtues of it will get access to the HPV vaccine.

In fact, this legislature has not only overturned an order that could save women’s lives, but they put rider language in the budget that prevents the state from funding vaccines for low-income women if it is mandated by the commission.

Note that “funding vaccines for low-income women” (and, presumably, providing information on the availability of the vaccine) is NOT the same as “forcing vaccines on low-income women.” If you’re already providing free medical care to low-income women (the degree to which we should be doing that is a separate debate), why would you arbitrarily exclude Gardasil, again as long as its provision is voluntary?

I also think Michelle’s not being fair in criticizing Perry for having affected women on hand for his speech. If this is an “Alinskyite” tactic, Ronald Reagan, in his 1985 State of the Union speech, was also an Alinskyite:

Ten years ago a young girl left Vietnam with her family, part of the exodus that followed the fall of Saigon. They came to the United States with no possessions and not knowing a word of English. Ten years ago – the young girl studied hard, learned English, and finished high school in the top of her class. And this May, May 22 to be exact, is a big date on her calendar. Just 10 years from the time she left Vietnam, she will graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point. I thought you might like to meet an American hero named Jean Nguyen.

Now, there’s someone else here tonight, born 79 years ago. She lives in the inner city, where she cares for infants born of mothers who are heroin addicts. The children, born in withdrawal, are sometimes even dropped on her doorstep. She helps them with love. Go to her house some night, and maybe you’ll see her silhouette against the window as she walks the floor talking softly, soothing a child in her arms – Mother Hale of Harlem, and she, too, is an American hero.

Yes, I get the difference between using audience members as examples of heroism vs. using them to promote a legislative agenda. But props are props — and, I should note, Perry had already lost. The default assumption has to be that he pointed out the affected women because he felt strongly about the importance of being vaccinated.

The original Gardasil order is here; the parental opt-out provision looks legitimate to me. Steve at Life News notes that waivers are “automatically granted as long as parents provide all required information.” I agree that opt-in would have been better.

I don’t agree that allowing Perry a bit of righteous anger in response to a perceived legislative overreaction DQs him from claiming that he appropriately responded to his own original overreach. Qualified by the fact that Michelle clearly has deeper contacts and fuller context, at this point I’m going to have to disagree with her call on this one.

UPDATE 2: There is also the fundamental question of whether Perry’s decision to issue an EO instead of working through the legislature from the beginning betrays pervasively statist impulses. I don’t think one EO inspired by public health concerns proves that, but there may be other examples out there, and it all bears watching.

As Michelle says, it all fundamentally comes down to “instincts, judgment, core values, and trust.” If we all bought into the veneer instead of looking listening, digging, and evaluating, Mitt Romney would be the anointed one by now, instead of the obviously and Objectively Unfit Mitt. That’s why they have presidential campaigns (not that they need to be this flippin’ long, but that’s also a discussion for another time), and that’s why it behooves us all to pay attention to what the candidates are saying, and doing. The candidates, and the process, both become better when we do that.

The alleged emergence from the recession which Barack Obama claims to have engineered somehow never got to the new-home industry, which is STILL sliding downwards almost three years after TARP (remember that?) was supposed to fix the problem.

From the Census Bureau, reporting on what was traditionally — at least until the POR (Pelosi-Obama-Reid) Economy aka the Fear-Based Economy came along — one of the busiest months for new homebuilding:

BUILDING PERMITS

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 597,000. This is 3.2 percent (±1.2%) below the revised June rate of 617,000, but is 3.8 percent (±2.2%) above the July 2010 estimate of 575,000.

Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 404,000; this is 0.5 percent (±0.9%)* above the revised June figure of 402,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 171,000 in July.

HOUSING STARTS

Privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 604,000. This is 1.5 percent (±10.7%)* below the revised June estimate of 613,000, but is 9.8 percent (±10.8%)* above the July 2010 rate of 550,000.

Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 425,000; this is 4.9 percent (±8.9%)* below the revised June figure of 447,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 170,000.

HOUSING COMPLETIONS

Privately-owned housing completions in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 636,000. This is 11.8 percent (±13.7%)* above the revised June estimate of 569,000 and is 9.5 percent (±13.8%)* above the July 2010 rate of 581,000.

Single-family housing completions in July were at a rate of 470,000; this is 6.1 percent (±12.6%)* above the revised June rate of 443,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 158,000

Here is the chronicle of sixteen new lows or near-lows set in July:

• (1) Total starts, not seasonally adjusted — second-lowest July on record (going back to 1959).
• (2) Total starts, seasonally adjusted — third-lowest July on record. Until 2007, no other July was ever below 1,000,000.
• (3, 4) Single-family starts, seasonally adjusted and Not seasonally adjusted — Lowest July on record.
• (5, 6) Total permits, seasonally adjusted — Second-lowest July on record; not seasonally adjusted — Lowest July on record (going back to 1959).
• (7, 8) Single-family permits, seasonally adjusted and not — lowest Julys on record.
• (9, 10) Housing units under construction, total and single-family, not seasonally adjusted — Lowest Julys on record (going back to 1971), by far (even 8% and 13%, respectively, lower than last year).
• (11, 12) Housing units under construction, total and single-family, seasonally adjusted — Lowest of any month on record.
• (13, 14, 15, 16) Completions, seasonally adjusted and not seasonally adjusted — second-lowest July on record in total in both cases (going back to 1968), lowest July ever for single-family in both cases.

The July housing stats, and the three years of data which precede it, demonstrate how completely absurd the idea is that we ever truly emerged from the recession into something resembling anything decent. President Obama can crow all he wants about what he allegedly accomplished, but it doesn’t change the evidence, which emphatically says otherwise.

______________________________

UPDATE: If you’re keeping score at home, that’s five near-record lows, nine record lows for any July, and two record lows for any month.