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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- BellSouth Corp. (BLS) has sent a letter to USA Today and the newspaper's parent company, Gannett Co. (GCI) , demanding the retraction of a story which said the phone company shared its customers calling records with a federal spy agency, according to a Thursday report in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal. The letter demanded that the newspaper retract the "faults and unsubstantiated statements" in the May 11 article, which said BellSouth and some of its rivals shared bulk calling data with the National Security Agency, the Journal said. The story ignited a firestorm...

Fisk Vick, Again A warped view of Iran. March 14, 2006 As part of its relentless campaign to blame all of mankind’s misfortunes on George W. Bush, today the Washington Post unleashed Karl Vick (my candidate for the Walter Duranty Memorial Prize) and David Finkel on American efforts to help Iranians who dare to challenge the mullahs. “U.S. Push for Democracy Could Backfire Inside Iran,” screams the front-page headline, and the policy point of the article is nicely contained in the first paragraph: Prominent activists inside Iran say President Bush’s plan to spend tens of millions of dollars to promote...

Repeating unsubstantiated conspiracy theories often enough may win over some outside their tiny circle, liberal talk radio proponents are learning. Ed Schultz thought he had a deal to broadcast to U.S. soldiers, but the Pentagon now says otherwise.For more than two days, fans of Fargo-based lib talker Ed Schultz have celebrated their would-be "victory" over the military-industrial complex that supposedly conspired to keep his program off of Armed Forces Radio. From our 18 October report: Possibly in response to a Democrat-led push for greater ideological programming "balance" on global military broadcasts, the Ed Schultz show was, in theory at least,...

Swapping Scoops: Every Night the 'NY Times' and 'Wash Post' Exchange Front Pages for the Following Day Leonard Downie, Jr. By Joe Strupp Published: September 14, 2005 10:30 AM ET updated 4:30 PM NEW YORK When The New York Times on July 16 broke the story of a 2003 State Department memo that had become a key element in the Valerie Plame leak investigation, the paper scored a major exclusive. But when The Washington Post hit newsstands that very same Saturday, it had its own version of the same story. It even credited the Times for the same-day scoop. Welcome...

"Two things are very expensive in international politics, the game-theorist Thomas Schelling once observed: threats when they fail and promises when they succeed. President Bush appears to be headed on a path that could teach him this lesson," Washington Post said in its editorial on Tuesday. "Last week he responded to Iran's decision to resume work on its nuclear program by asserting that "all options are on the table" to stop Iran's nuclear development. He also implied that, were Israel to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, the United States would support it. Unfortunately, these are hollow threats, unlikely to have...

BEIJING, July 20 -- The Chinese government on Wednesday rejected a new Pentagon report that describes its military modernization program as a potential threat to U.S. forces and other regional powers, saying the assessment "ignores the facts" and "rudely interferes in China's internal affairs." In a sharply worded statement, a senior Foreign Ministry official, Yang Jiechi, defended China's "normal national defense building and military deployments" and accused the Defense Department of "scheming to use this as an excuse to sell advanced weapons to Taiwan," the self-governing island Beijing claims is part of Chinese territory and threatens to seize by force....

Two years ago the Washington Post ran a series that exposed of The Nature Conservancy's fast and loose manipulation of the U.S tax Code. These articles along with grassroots contacts from folks like you resulted in the Senate Finance Committee conducting an investigation of the Nature Conservancy's practices. It appears The Nature Conservancy has hired high priced Washington lobbyists who are conducting private negotiations with the Senate Finance Committee. In exchange for some modest changes of the tax law, the investigation will end. Then things will largely remain business as unusual for The Nature Conservancy to continue its battle against...

Looking for The Washington Post’s reasoning skills is like trying to locate Dracula’s tanning lotion – it’s an exercise in futility. In a much-reported February 14th article, staff writer Robin Wright portrays Shia dominance in the Iraqi election results as validation for her story’s title, “Iraq Winners Allied with Iran are Opposite of U.S. Vision.” She argues that having won almost half the votes cast, the Shiite’s United Iraqi Alliance will choose the next prime minister and press for inclusion of Islamic law in the next constitution. First, a two-thirds consensus is required for the passage of any law, regardless...

An article by Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post on the Eason Jordan resignation quoted Steve Lovelady "of Columbia Journalism Review" as saying of this event, "The salivating morons who make up the lynch mob prevail." This struck me as a grossly unprofessional remark by anyone who claimed to be a journalist. So, I wrote a detailed letter to the Editor of the Review, demanding an apology. Back came a letter this morning from Mr. Lovelady, which makes it clear that neither he nor the Review have a clue about the blogosphere. They do not understand our work, nor do...

MICAH WRIGHT COMES CLEAN, RANGER STORY A HOAX by Jonah Weiland, Executive Producer Posted: May 2, 2004 Micah Wright at a convention in March of 2004. In a story that broke late yesterday, the writer of the recently cancelled "Stormwatch: Team Achilles," Micah Ian Wright, revealed that he never served as a member of the Army Rangers, a claim he's made since he first came on the comics scene in March of 2002.. Apparently Wright had posted a revised bio to his Web site with the revelation on April 25th, reposting that information to his forum Saturday. The full text...

MICAH WRIGHT: "I WAS NEVER AN ARMY RANGER" On his Delphi forum, Micah Wright has posted a confession – he never was an Army Ranger, something he had claimed since his debut as a comics writer, as well as the author of remixed Propaganda, a book which lampooned World War II-era American propaganda posters. Wright began his statement with a recap of what he used to tout as his credentials, and then added: “Except that I was never an Army Ranger. I never served a day in a Ranger Regiment. I never went to Ranger School. The closest I ever...

ABC News, 20/20, http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/2020/2020friday... ABC News, Barbara Walters, 2020@abc.com ABC News, George Stephanopoulos, thisweek@abc.com ABC News, Good Morning America, http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/GoodMorningAmeri... ABC News, John Stossel, 2020@abc.com ABC News, Nightline, nightline@abcnews.com ABC News, Primetime Thursday, http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/2020/Prime... ABC News, Ted Koppel, nightline@abc.com ABC News, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/ThisWeek/ThisWeek/tw... ABC News, World News Now overnight, http://www.abcnews.go.com/onair/WorldNewsNow/wnn_email_... ABC News, World News Tonight weekend, http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/WorldNewsSaturda... ABC News, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/WorldNewsTonight... Air America Radio, Al Franken (comments), factorcorrections@airamericaradio.com Air America Radio, Mike Malloy, mike@mikemalloy.com Air America Radio, Randi Rhodes, rrhodes@airamericaradio.com Alan Colmes Show, Alan Colmes, alan@alan.com Albany Times Union, Letters to...

ON NOVEMBER 5, 2004, a top aide to new CIA Director Porter Goss warned the associate deputy director of counterintelligence about unauthorized leaks to the media. It was an admonition that might be considered unnecessary: secrecy is a hallmark of the agency and, in any case, such leaks are often against the law. But several officials bristled at the forewarning and after a series of confrontations the deputy director of Operations, Stephen R. Kappes, offered his resignation as a protest. How do we know about all of this? The details were leaked and appeared Saturday on the front page of...

Methodology The vote preference questions in this poll were conducted by telephone Oct. 6-9, 2004 among a random national sample of 2,407 adults, including 2,030 registered voters and 1,589 likely voters. The results have a 2.5-point error margin among likely voters. ABC News and The Washington Post are sharing data collection for this tracking poll, then independently applying their own models to arrive at likely voter estimates. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS of Horsham, Pa. ABC News polls can be found at ABCNEWS.com at http://abcnews.com/Politics/PollVault/.

MIDI - IT'S MY PARTY (la la la) Has anyone seen today's NEW YORK TIMES They can no longer pretend What ever Kerry has done They'll step right up to defend Me-di-a wing of the DemocRAT Party...DemocRAT Party...DemocRAT Party No longer can they be called journalists Have you enjoyed today's WASHINGTON POST They do it quite openly They're on their kneepads for John Read just one story...you'll see Me-di-a wing of the DemocRAT Party...DemocRAT Party...DemocRAT Party No longer can they be called journalists I read online some of the L.A. TIMES It instantly made me sick It's true, on...

(snip)....U.S. District Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan... unsealed an order that demands the "confinement" of Time reporter Matthew Cooper, who has refused to testify in the probe... ... Hogan also issued an Aug. 6 order confining Cooper "at a suitable place until such time as he is willing to comply with the grand jury subpoena," and ordered Time to be fined $1,000 a day. ... ... While NBC fought a subpoena issued May 21 and was included in the opinion, it avoided a contempt citation after Tim Russert, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," agreed to an interview over the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Justice Department probe of the leak of classified information about intercepted messages prior to the Sept. 11 attacks is focusing on Sen. Richard Shelby, former chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. The newspaper cited a law enforcement official and congressional sources as saying that the probe has focused on the Alabama Republican who was head of the intelligence panel at the time of the disclosure. The FBI is trying to determine the source of the leaked information that the super secret National Security Agency (NSA) had intercepted two messages...

Speaking Ill of the Dead--The Media Treatment of Nick Berg and Pat TillmanPosted by Doc Farmer Wednesday, May 19, 2004 My column last week was written before the news about the horrific slaughter of Nick Berg, an innocent American contractor. I had commented on the stupidity and cowardice of the mainstream (see also: lib/dem/soc/commie) media, their fear of us doing anything remotely discomforting in this, or any, war. However, Mr. Berg’s tragic demise brought into focus the true problem of the media. Their complicity with the enemies of America. I’ve seen the video. I made a point to watch it....

The CIA's search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has found no evidence that former president Saddam Hussein tried to transfer chemical or biological technology or weapons to terrorists, according to a military and intelligence expert. Anthony Cordesman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, provided new details about the weapons search and Iraqi insurgency in a report released Friday. It was based on briefings over the past two weeks in Iraq from David Kay, the CIA representative who is directing the search for unconventional weapons in Iraq; L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator...

OUTRAGEOUS CHENEY QUOTE [Ramesh Ponnuru] My eyes just about popped out of my head when I read this passage from a front-page story in the Washington Post today: "Cheney was less forthcoming when asked about Saudi Arabia's ties to al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 hijackers. 'I don't want to speculate,' he said, adding that Sept. 11 is 'over with now, it's done, it's history and we can put it behind us.'" I was going to write an attack on Cheney for Corner readers, but I figured I should check the transcript of Cheney's remarks to make sure he...