Showing posts with label Google Alert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google Alert. Show all posts

Friday, March 9, 2012

During current Rush Limbaugh-Sandra Fluke controversy, is the U.S. Mainstream Media using old photos of Limbaugh -instead of recent ones- to editorialize? It seems so to me


During current Rush Limbaugh-Sandra Fluke controversy, is the U.S. Mainstream Media using old photos of Limbaugh -instead of recent ones- to editorialize? It seems so to me
Just wanted to mention this subject this afternoon before I moved on to some other matters, but I honestly can't be the only person in America who has noticed (and is now wondering) WHY the U.S. Mainstream Media -the same one that called the GOP nomination for Mitt Romney before the actual campaign ever started in earnest- keeps using old photos, and in some cases, very old photos, of Rush Limbaugh in their articles the past few weeks.

Somehow, the same folks who wouldn't think to use an old photo of Justin Bieber, Tiger Woods or Donald
Trump to illustrate something any they're saying or doing now, seem completely unable to find a new one
that conforms to what Limbaugh looks like now?

Really?
He's not exactly a hermit, you know.

He is who he is, but he is also, arguably, trimmer than many if not most of those old photos from 15-20 years ago that I keep seeing, so why is the U.S. news media seemingly going out of its way to not only use those old photos, esp. of his face, which they then greatly magnify, but then use them to editorialize on the subject of the story before any of the text is read?
That's a good question.

It's also noteworthy that compared to almost anyone else I can think of: politician, athlete, entertainment celebrity, or even John Doe or Jane Q. Public, there is rarely, if ever, a date for the photos of him.
Or even a photographer/agency credit.
It's like the photo of Limbaugh just took itself and magically appeared in the news room for them to use.

The LA Times' Company Town blog post of today, the first in the list below from today's Google Alert,
is perhaps the most obvious example I can name.
As you can see when you go to the story, it does all three of the above.

I'm specifically using the photo they use, on purpose, to prove that very point: no date, no photo credit.

Rush

And for those of you who either live far from LA or who don't read the LA Times regularly, the link within the above photo on the LA Times website, curiously, takes you to an LA Times story by Scott Collins on their very popular Company Town blog -which I subscribe to- about actress Patricia Heaton, titled, 
Patricia Heaton: Twitter woes recall past Rush Limbaugh firestorm

March 7, 2012 |  2:46 pm
not a link to a timeline of the current controversy involving him and Sandra Fluke.

Nor is it even a link to an article or essay about the longstanding and well-known hypocrisy in both the news media and in Hollywood, which itself at least partly explains why it also doesn't link to anything involving any of the numerous past slights and slurs tossed-out by any of a number of liberal celebs, inc. everyone's favorite target of hypocrisy, comedian/TV host Bill Maher.

Seriously, are well-informed readers who actually can appreciate nuance and context, and who have some genuine notions of basic journalistic fairness, like me, just supposed to believe that all these things randomly happen by accident?
That photos from years ago find themselves placed into stories despite an abundance of more recent photos?
I have to tell you, THAT'S a very tough sell right now.

Just saying...
(I've deleted all the other Google Alert citations below to save space, since, fortunately for me, the very first one makes the point so well, the other 28 pale in comparison.)
-----

From: Google Alerts <googlealerts-noreply@google.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 3:46 AM
Subject: Google Alert - "Rush Limbaugh"



News29 new results for "Rush Limbaugh"
Rush Limbaugh to advertiser: I don't want you back
Los Angeles Times
The intense campaign to cut advertising to “The Rush Limbaugh Show” took another turn Thursday when one of the first companies to pull its ads reportedly asked to return to the radio show -- only to be told by Team Limbaugh that the conservative host ...
See all stories on this topic »

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Michael Butler of "Change Hallandale Beach" fame has a new YouTube Channel with videos of our favorites at Hallandale Beach City Hall

My friend Michael Butler of Change Hallandale Beach fame has a new YouTube Channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Butler1Mike

As I discovered Sunday night quite by accident when my latest "Google Alert" for "Hallandale Beach" arrived in my inbox, ever-modest Michael has a new YouTube Channel of videos of our favorites at HB City hall doing their thing in typical HB fashion!

The perfect thing to compliment his fact-filled website,
http://web.me.com/mike.butler/Change_Hallandale/Welcome.html

Michael has already uploaded three videos, which I guess is the hint that I need to actually start spending more time uploading some of the hours of material that I've recorded over the past 13 months.

Sadly for all of us, that archives of mine does NOT include Mayor Joy Cooper's impertinent and unsavory remarks in the summer of 2009, prior to a HB City Commission meeting in Room 257 at City Hall, wherein the mayor referred to her political opponents in town -i.e. you and me, the citizen taxpayers who just want a NORMAL city where the elected officials are both honest AND hard-working, rather than neither- as "Nazis" and referred to Comm. Keith London as "a Hitler."

In case you forgot, Cooper said this to Comm. Bill Julian, who, predictably, did nothing upon hearing these remarks, which is par for the course for him, of course, which is the problem we have -the devil-we-know who's so very clueless and disconnected from reality, but who gets to cast a vote that matters.

Go to Michael's site and check out the vids for yourself!

Here's a peek at one of the videos, regarding the city's embarrassing and short-circuited City Manager search.
It's from the HB City Commission meeting of September 15th, which saw
Mark A. Antonio go from being the former Asst. City Manager and interim-CM, literally, a person the mayor didn't want to even consider for the short-list, to being HER first choice.

Once SHE had decided that, SHE wanted to stop the 'search' before it was even half-way completed, so the public would never be assured that the best-qualified candidate actually got the position.

To use a sports metaphor,
Mayor Cooper stopped the 'search' at halftime.
The public NEVER got to speak on this issue that night before the final vote took place.

Par for the course under the anti-democratic Joy Cooper regime.

For the record,
public accountability and transparency lost 3-2 that night in Hallandale Beach, with Keith London and Anthony A. Sanders voting to keep the process moving forward, so that the best candidate was actually selected to manage the affairs of this poorly managed city of 4.2 square miles.
Yet another dark day for this city which has seen so many the past 7 years.


This is how the City of Hallandale Beach Commission hires its City Manager



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKU6JYV_wBI

Saturday, January 17, 2009

How do you solve a problem named Kopelousos?

January 17, 2009

Drivers will encounter several lane closures this weekend on Interstate 95 near the State Road 112/Interstate 195 interchange in Miami as demolition work continues for the next phase of the 95 Express project.

The Florida Department of Transportation schedule calls for:

- The ramp from southbound I-95 to eastbound I-195/Julia Tuttle Causeway will be closed to all traffic from 11 p.m. Friday until 12 a.m. Saturday and from 11 p.m. Saturday until 12 a.m. Sunday.

Southbound drivers are urged to exit at Northwest 79th Street eastbound to southbound Biscayne Boulevard and then turn east at Northeast 36th Street to the eastbound I-195 ramps heading to the beach.

- State Road 112 and I-195 will be closed in both directions near I-95 from 11 p.m. Friday until 12 a.m. Saturday.

Drivers heading to the beach on eastbound State Road 112 will be detoured south on I-95, exit at eastbound Northwest Eighth Street, go under I-95 and turn left onto northbound Northwest Third Avenue to northbound I-95, to eastbound I-195.

Heading west on I-195, drivers will detour onto northbound I-95, exit onto westbound Northwest 62nd Street, make the U-turn under I-95 to the southbound I-95 on-ramp and then exit onto westbound State Road 112.

-- Up to two travel lanes will be closed in both directions on I-95 near the State Road 112/I-195 interchange from 11 p.m. Friday until 12 a.m. Saturday. At least one lane will remain open in each direction overnight.

-- Two southbound lanes on I-95 will be closed near the State Rad 112/I-195 interchange from 11 p.m. Saturday until 12 a.m. Sunday.

Reader comments at: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/breaking-news/story/858154.html?commentSort=TimeStampAscending&pageNum=1

----------------------------------------------------------------

How do you solve a problem named "Kopelousos?" 

Last year, after constantly shaking my head at the poorly thought-out moves/banal awareness campaigns of FDOT, I added FDOT head Stephanie Kopelousos to my list of Google Alerts, and that move has paid the sort of dividends I'd hope for from Day One. 

I am continually informed of her incompetent plans, the current state of her sloppy thinking, with quotes, as she flits from one part of the Sunshine State to another, traveling largely in stealth mode, dodging questions. 

I urge those of you who question the practicality of the 95 Express project in a chaotic place like Miami, to consider doing a Google Alert of her yourself. 

You'll discover that there is a whole world of criticism of her and FDOT from all over the state, including mine: that she seems to be deathly afraid of being in a room full of well-informed citizens, with press in the room. 

She prefers to be with govt. officials and industry types.

Friday, September 5, 2008

re Comm. Keith London's sensible lawsuit against the City of Halandale Beach

Today for your consideration I have an excerpted copy of an email that I sent out earlier this afternoon to some people I know in Hallandale Beach and beyond who are greatly interested in the city's future and welfare.
And some of the better reporters and columnists in the state of Florida, not just locals.

To better appreciate what I've written, think back to what I mentioned last month to you all about Ingalls Park, a Hallandale Beach park which has a recycling facility on its northern border, which I used yesterday.
It's just one block south of Hallandale Beach Blvd., one of the three main thoroughfares in the 4.4 square mile city:
August 28th post, Turning lemons into lemonade the Hallandale Beach way: start submarine races...
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/turning-lemons-into-lemonade-hallandale.html
August 7th post, A New Low in HB? Yes! Condescending Deal Results in Sanders Selection as Interim Commissioner,
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-low-in-hb-yes-condescending-deal.html

So, when exactly is the public citywide meeting in Hallandale Beach about all the changes coming for the city's recycling program?
There is no meeting.

Sh-h-h-h!!!

Don't say that out loud -or else!

Meanwhile, Operation "Deep Sleep" continues apace.


Recyclables in trunk ready for a run to Ingalls Park,
Sept. 4, 2008; photo by South Beach Hoosier

Ingalls Park, 735 SW 1 Street, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
August 31, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Ingalls Park, 735 SW 1 Street, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
I've told you in past posts that for months the city's recycling dumpsters located here were missing lids. Then months later, once lids were installed, someone got the genius idea to place square holes in them. Here's the proof.
The lid is exactly as I found it, neatly framing the city sign within the hole,
August 31, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier


Hallandale Beach Commission Chambers moments before Pastor Anthony Sanders, in front row, was sworn in as a Commissioner.
Sept. 3rd, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier


A few minutes later, Comm. Anthony Sanders takes his seat on the dais.
Sept. 3rd, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Since each of you are among the small sub-set of civic-minded and savvy residents of Hallandale Beach who actually have an accurate sense of the behind-the-scenes context and mischief for many of City' Hall's self-serving moves and policies, I wanted to share some news that many of you probably haven't heard about yet.
While I'm the first to say that I don't know ALL the facts of this, I DO have an unusually good insight into the larger issues at play here because of some recent things I've personally observed.

It's an insight into the competing forces to shape Hallandale Beach's future, and the GREAT potential for harm if we allow the current 'status quo' crowd running things, to continue to thwart not only the spirit and letter of the law involving Florida's Sunshine Laws, but also continue to thwart the public's trust and sense of accountability, even when that proves embarrassing to HB City Hall.
Their first response to everything seems to always be protecting or covering-up, rather than a full public disclosure and dealing with the facts at hand.
The deplorable situation with HB Police Chief Thomas Magill is a perfect example.

As many of you know from past conversations with me at myriad city meetings and community events, even before I launched my blogs early last year, in order to be better informed, I had the good sense to have "Hallandale Beach" included among my Google Alerts, since I couldn't very well read everything myself.
This has sometimes proven to be a much more inspired idea than you can imagine, since I see something below the surface.
Such was the case Monday night, when I first learned thru a Google Alert of Comm. Keith London's sensible lawsuit against the City of Halandale Beach.

While I have not spoken to him specifically about the lawsuit, it's clear to me based on past actions and words that at least part of his effort is intended to better identify and carve out an area of permissible public discussion and accountability, so that as an elected official of this city, he can actually respond more intelligently to legitimate questions posed to him by city residents about matters of public interest, in this case, the city's never-ending lawsuit against Waste Management, than simply say, "I can't talk about it or recycling or..."

While he's legitimately precluded from discussing certain matters he's privy to, the idea that if he talks about recycling in general, or responds to resident complaints, like mine, about the city's poor management of the current system, is preposterous.
It's yet another troubling example of the usual pattern of over-reaction, panic and cover-up by Mayor Joy Cooper, City Manager Mike Good and City Attorney David Jove.

Depending on how things shake out with Hurricane Ike this weekend, I'll be writing more on this subject at HBB over the weekend but I did want you to have access to some information so that you know the basics.

Since many of you regularly attended Comm. London's Resident Forums before the summer break, I hardly need remind you how distracting it was for everyone in that small room, to have
Mayor Cooper continually insinuate herself into the proceedings by 'crashing' these get-togethers, which, after all, are intended so that HB residents can talk forthrightly and voluntarily about their concerns -to Comm. London and other interested citizens like us.

Especially since so many of those legitimate concerns relate to City Hall's generally unfriendly and un-cooperative approach to public participation and transparency, where common sense and vision are lacking even while shrillness and obfuscation are everywhere.

The fact that Mayor Cooper refuses to host this sort of event herself, though she could, but feels perfectly free to be the 'elephant in the room' at Comm. London's event, and to be so obvious about taking notes of who said what, is troubling on many levels.

More than anything, to me at least, this behavior reveals her well-known thin-skinned ego, continuing inability to take criticism, constructive or otherwise, and seriously consider another person's perspective, even when it's more-experienced or better-informed than hers.

The idea that Mayor Cooper can't stand the idea of Hallandale Beach residents actually meeting independently of her City Hall crowd, with her ability to limit people's comments to three minutes and interrupt/bully them, was brought home to me personally as many of you already know, by her
unsolicited post-midnight email to me two weeks ago.

As most of you know, I had expected to post my rejoinder to her email on my blog by now, but will have that up very soon for you to draw your own conclusions.
And I don't think you'll be disappointed.

That attitude of hers was present in spades at one Resident Forum in particular, when I brought up my own experience of seeing some self-evident problems with city recycling facilities, among other things, a complete absence of ANY directional signs near them, insufficient number of bins for a citywide facility... and the city's plan to get rid of the facility without any public discussion of the rationale or the alternatives.

As if one cue, Mayor Cooper immediately felt the need to play traffic cop and warn everyone to be careful, as if we didn't all know what she was really doing: trying to head off criticism by waving the lawsuit around like a bloody shirt, a tactic she's employed many times in the past.
As if the negligence and poor planning of the city -again!- was a topic that was permanently verboten.

You'd think that by now she'd have realized that one of the more obvious downsides to her constant efforts at self-promotion, a la Mara Giulianti, is that she now sees ANY criticism of the city as a criticism of her.

So, that said, here's the info below.

I don't suppose it went un-noticed by most of you that absolutely nothing involving Wednesday's HB City Commission meeting, including Pastor Sanders being sworn in, was deemed news worthy enough to be included in the Miami Herald on Thursday.
Didn't think so.

WFOR video re London's lawsuit and Sanders swearing-in
http://cbs4.com/video/?id= 61578@wfor.dayport.com
-------------------------------------------------
London v. City of Hallandale Beach
Plaintiff: Keith London

Defendant: City of Hallandale Beach

Case Number: 0:2008cv61393
Filed: August 29, 2008

Court: Florida Southern District Court

Office: Fort Lauderdale Office [ Court Info ]

County: Broward

Presiding Judge: Judge William J. Zloch

Nature of Suit: Other Statutes - Antitrust

Cause: 28:1331 Federal Question

Jurisdiction: Federal Question

Jury Demanded By: None
City's 'trash talk' ban leads to lawsuit
Published: Sept. 3, 2008 at 1:08 PM

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A Florida city commissioner has filed a civil rights suit over a motion he claims goes too far in muzzling discussion about trash collection.

Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Keith London contends the motion passed by the commission in regards to another lawsuit is so vague that commission members could be hauled in front of the Florida Commission on ethics for simply raising the subject of recycling and trash collection.

"I don't even know if just talking to you about my own lawsuit will be used to say I am violating the (motion)," London told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The motion was passed due to settlement talks in a lawsuit between the city and a trash disposal company over alleged overcharging.

The Sun-Sentinel said Wednesday that London said he believes there are other reasons for the motion, particularly the alleged intent to stifle his disagreements with fellow commission members.
----------------------------------------------------------
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbspeech0903sbsep03,0,1724913.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Suit asks if trash talking can make you an outlaw
Commissioner sues city over his free speech rights
By Ihosvani Rodriguez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 3, 2008

Hallandale Beach

A city commissioner has filed a civil rights suit against his own city claiming his colleagues are preventing him from talking trash — literally.

Commissioner Keith London's federal lawsuit attacks a motion passed in May that prohibits commission members from discussing anything related to a pending lawsuit between the city and Waste Management Inc.

That includes meetings about "waste management, garbage, trash, recycling and related issues," and violators could be reprimanded or brought before the Florida Commission on Ethics.

London claims the commission's mandate is so vague, he wonders if it allows him to discuss who in his household should put out the trash at night.

"I don't even know if just talking to you about my own lawsuit will be used to say I am violating the [motion]," London said Tuesday. He wants a judge to decide and for the city to pay his attorney's fees, nothing more.

City Attorney David Jove declined to comment Tuesday, saying he had not seen the suit London filed Friday.
Hallandale Beach is in talks with Waste Management to settle the 2002 suit that claims the company overcharged the city for dumping garbage into landfills instead of recycling and composting it.

Pushing for the motion in May, City Manager Michael Good complained that someone was leaking confidential information about the lawsuit negotiations.

London, often the lone dissenter on the commission, denied being the source of any leaks. He said the motion was designed to silence his constant opposition.

---------------------------------------------------
WFOR Channel 4 videos of "Hallandale"
-----------------------------------------
Truveo search video across the Web for "Hallandale"
Take special note of