Fayette County Attorney Shows His Stuff…

Thursday night after the Fayette County Commission meeting the County Attorney, Scott Bennett, came over to the press area and said he wanted to talk with the press. I didn’t catch the entire statement so I asked one of the other reporters what he’d said. The reporter indicated he wanted us to stick around so he could talk to us. We immediately “assumed” it had to do with the lawsuit filed by former County Administrator, Chris Venice.

We chatted a bit about the lawsuit, then Bennett walked over and said to meet in his office. One reporter followed immediately, I had to grab my pen and paper. As I walked into the hallway leading to Bennett’s office I overheard him talking to the first reporter about me in a tone that made my ears perk up. Hmmm, not very professional for the County’s legal spokesperson to be disparaging someone to a reporter… But it got better, or worse, depending on your point of view.

He caught my entrance out of the corner of his eye, whirled around and bluntly stated that I was not invited. At first I thought he meant only press could come, and knowing that some had problems with a “newspaper” that was strictly on-line, I nicely said that I was press.

Ah, but that wasn’t his problem.

Turns out he didn’t like some of the things I wrote back when the county was in the process of firing their long-term attorney and hiring him. Given the fact that he had sued the County on behalf of one of his friends on the Commission, and that friend was one who was part of the decision making process, I had problems with the entire process, not just Bennett.

Oh darn, there I go again. Just seems that I keep letting those pesky facts from the past get in the way of trying to be friends with the County Attorney. I bet he’s going to be mean to me again.

Yep, he was mean.

He told me in no uncertain terms that he could talk to whoever he wanted and he did not want to talk to me. He said I didn’t trust him, I wrote bad things about him and he didn’t have to talk to anyone if he didn’t want to. “So there you mean old reporter, and let me stomp my foot for emphasis, take that.” OK, OK, he didn’t say “so there”, nor did he stomp his foot, but the effect was the same.

Quite frankly, I was astonished. The more I thought about it the more amazed I was that an attorney, especially an attorney serving in a position that requires interaction with the public, didn’t know how to handle the press. Gosh, even I tread lightly with my fellow reporters. Tick ‘em off and they can get a whole lot of ink working against you and those you represent.

But then I thought back to some of the reasons I’d originally had problems with Bennett. I’m not the only member of the press on his list to snub I’d guess.

Seems that back when he worked for the city council in McDonough, he got on the wrong side of the press there, too. He advised the City Council that citizens didn’t have the right to film or record public meetings. One of those banned citizens happened to work for a local television station. Not a good choice and completely wrong from a legal standpoint to boot. The sunshine law that governs public meetings and elected officials clearly states that anyone can film or record public meetings. It doesn’t even use the typical lawyer-eeze that makes a lot of laws so difficult to understand. Knowledge of the Sunshine Law is part of lawyering 101 basics, especially if you’re working for the government. Bennett managed to end up being the focus of a TV expose as a result of the issue.

Another issue that bothered me at the time the County was considering hiring him was the fact that he had sued Fayette County reference the county’s sign ordinance. He represented a national sign company that wanted to get multiple billboards along our county roads. I would bet I’m not the only one who was not the least bit surprised when the county recently cut a deal with that same billboard company to allow billboards in our county?

When I wrote my first little blog about Bennett way back when, I started getting phone calls from people who knew him or knew of his work. I didn’t share the things I was told in subsequent blogs or op-ed pieces simply because there wasn’t any supporting documentation. I think Mr. Bennett should be relieved that I didn't share some of the information, and that I chose not to go digging further. The impression I had of Bennett was not very favorable as a result of the calls from his “past” associates.

Now that Bennett has had his little hissy fit, we have a problem, or two or three. See, Mr. Bennett has put me, and the County Commission, in a difficult position. Instead of asking and getting his canned responses to questions, I’m going to have to ask his boss. If that doesn’t work then I’m going to have to go the old open records request route and/or get most of my information from the opposing viewpoints.

Bennett is in a public position that requires him to interact with the press and the public. In his position he actually has a higher accountability to the public than those in private practice. My tax dollars, along with yours, are paying his salary. Based on some of the news that was reported about him previously, if he stops talking to everyone in the press who writes things he doesn’t like there aren’t going to be very many left to talk with sooner or later.

I had pretty much put the past in the past, which I know is easier to do when you’re on the delivering side. But, while my impression of his abilities hasn’t improved after watching him in action over the past year plus, he is in the office and it’s necessary for me to deal with him politely. If he hadn’t pitched his little snit-fit I would never have brought up the past, nor would I now want to pay more attention to answering questions that have popped into my mind and been dismissed over the past year or so. He kinda forced the issue with his highly unprofessional actions.

What questions you may wonder, have popped into my mind over the past few years about Bennett? What does a full-time attorney do five days a week to earn his salary? Especially when an outside attorney has to be hired for litigation outside his expertise. How much money is being spent on legal expenses? What kind of lawsuits, aside from the one by Chris Venice, have been filed against the County this past year? What is included in his new contract? What kind of reputation has he gained working with the County? Oh, I could go on… but the list is growing longer as I think about him. Rather a shame he’s now pinged himself to the forefront of my mind. I have so many things on my list of things to do and dealing with answers to those questions wasn’t even on page ten of the list.

I mentioned Bennett’s behavior to Jack Krakeel, the County Administrator and Jack Smith, the County Chairman. I probably wouldn’t have bothered to do so if I hadn’t been after a bit of info regarding the lawsuit being filed by Chris Venice. It was kind of hard not to mention his actions when they both referred me to Bennett as the spokesperson. I don’t think it’s going to affect his job at all.

As most of my readers know I’d been taking a break from the County Commission. There’s a point where you can film and write and film and write and if no one else seems to care about what their elected officials are doing, if you have absolutely no effect on their actions, you just have to say enough and move on to other things. Bennett’s actions last night put a bee in my bonnet and now I have all the Commission meetings back on my calendar.

Guess I’m going to be seeing a lot of Mr. Bennett again.

More on newspaper / media failures

Yesterday I posted a release from ALIPAC regarding problems with newspapers and mainstream media. I'm not going to bore you with a recap, just scan down and you'll see the post if you haven't already.

I wanted to share another article on the same subject that I received this morning. The following is from the Christian Science Monitor:

Newspapers' troubles escalate in recession
Quest intensifies for new revenue streams, but solutions aren't in time to save some.

It's the worst of times for the newspaper industry, and it's not the best time, either, for finding solutions amid a crisis of downsizings, bankruptcies, and closings.

The steep recession, on top of a fundamental shift of readers from print newspapers to the Internet, has caused local papers' ad revenues to fall off a cliff. The Tucson Citizen is the latest to announce it will stop publishing if a buyer isn't found by March 21.

Plenty of ideas exist to develop new streams of revenue for the news business, such as a micropayment system like iTunes for a nickel-a-click read of an article or the creation of nonprofit news organizations to fulfill the traditional role of the fourth estate.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0317/p02s01-usec.html

ALIPAC: Dying Newspapers Dying Nation: Repent or Perish

Some interesting points in this press release. I think the newspaper / media industry is being affected by a number of factors, one being the rise of the Internet, but I certainly feel that the lack of quality reporting and obvious media bias is a huge factor in the decline.

We don't have any real investigative reporters these days who seem to go into a project with an open mind. It seems they start with a preconceived notion and look to find information to support their beliefs.

Gheen points out that many of his group's comments are taken out of context. We've seen a prime example of that one in recent days with the attacks on Rush Limbaugh. Whether you like him or not, the comment he made regarding wanting Obama to fail was completely twisted, taken out of context and used to ignite a frenzy. If you read the newspapers and watch mainstream TV, they fanned the fire knowing that the meaning changed completely when taken in context.

Ah well, I would need to write an entire book to adequately delve into the problems with our news media.

Dying Newspapers Dying Nation: Repent or Perish
by William Gheen
www.alipac.us
President, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC)

March 13, 2009

From the New York Times to the Raleigh News and Observer, there are For Sale signs hanging on the doors of prominent newspapers across America with only a few buyers at hand.

While this must be very stressful for newspaper employees, editors and reporters alike, a large consensus of American citizens are waving and saying "goodbye and good riddance!".

Public trust for the contents of the American print media has reached all time lows. Most Americans who still read these papers have become adept at discerning the truth of what is happening by what is either distorted by the papers or what facts and perspectives are completely missing from articles like large elephants in the room.

Reading between the lines is what news consumers have been forced to do, as the ethics of journalism have been abandoned and many major print media institutions have become more concerned with attempts to politically indoctrinate their readers to fairly unsupported views, instead of telling readers what is really going on in our nation.

You can trust my word on this, because I am a man who is lucky to even be quoted before at all in publications like the LA Times, New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and Chicago Tribune.

While the Washington Times stands alone, with their fair treatment of my positions in favor of more border security and immigration enforcement, almost every one of these other publications have abused me, my positions, and the truth!

If you do see a quote from me, the chances are higher than 50% that I've been intentionally misquoted by a reporter working for a newspaper that favors amnesty for illegal aliens. If you are lucky enough to even have an opportunity to hear my view, which is representative of the vast majority of Americans on immigration issues, you can usually find my quote just past the half way mark in any article, which has been determined to be the part of the article people are least likely to read or remember.

My opposition, those who favor amnesty for illegal aliens and open borders, will usually be found in the first and last of the article, which are the prime locations for quotes. I am lucky if the article quotes less than five opposition sources compared to my single doctored comment.

These are the least of the offenses offered by many of these publications, which now flagrantly try to portray me or any American who speaks out against illegal immigration as using some kind of "code words of hate", which mere exposure to these mythical codes could cause the American peasant class to lash out and harm blacks and Hispanics. While these outlandish attacks on free speech are ridiculous, they have traction in the land of unicorns and fairies in the newsrooms, where creative writers manufacture synthetic realities like a movie script.

These newspaper writers are taking their extreme left marching orders from low credibility political groups like the Anti Defamation League (ADL) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Both of these groups have exchanged their prior credibility fighting racist groups, by overtly lying and defaming any American who speaks out against Amnesty or illegal immigration. They have labeled legal immigrants, blacks, Hispanics, and white Americans working together for border security 'nativist extremists' or the new KKK! Their lies and distortions have become so overt that many of us now call them the Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Lie Center.

In effect, these highly biased newspapers and the SPLC and ADL are engaging in rampant anti-immigrant behavior by equating legal immigrants with illegal aliens. My legal immigrant supporters are highly offended by this. Can you imagine the outcry, if a newspaper constantly compared tax cheats to law abiding tax payers or rapists to married couples trying to conceive a child?

These papers and these defamation groups are also engaging in racist behavior by attacking multi-racial groups that support immigration enforcement and falsely labeling them as hate groups! For political expedience, the papers and crew are equating illegal aliens with all Hispanics, even though half of the Hispanics in America are here legally. Can you imagine the outcry, if a newspaper compared drug dealers to black people or shop lifters to Hispanics? Only with the crime of illegally entering the US can we find the racist comparison between criminal actions and a particular ethnic group.

The bottom line here is that the newspapers are massively abusing the ethics of journalism and their important role in the health of the American Republic for which our flag stands.

Gone are the days of true investigative journalism, as any ramped up news story has, to pass through intensive Political Correctness filters creating a world where every child in America has heard of the Duke LaCross Team, but not even one newspaper in North Carolina will mention the more than four documented and horrific gang rapes of innocent Americans by illegal aliens in the last few years.

The real gang rapes are suppressed and censored information because it might alarm the natives and the public might seek political change towards more immigration enforcement and border security. The Duke LaCross fiction novel was big news because it fits the story cliche that white people, especially wealthy white people are the cause of all of society's ills. Racial equality concerns have given way to racist one way streets in the modern print media. Of course, the Duke LaCross fiction story had to go out of the limelight immediately once the abused college students were exonerated.

The real problem with the newspapers goes far deeper than racial issues or even top political issues like illegal immigration.

The real problem with the American print media is with the truth. Many of them have sacrificed the truth at the altar of politics and engaged in unethical behavior to conceal the truth, while propagating lies. The results are manifest in our nation, and the results are a key reason America is in so much trouble and experiencing so much hardship today.

The same lack of integrity, the same lack of principles, the same disconnect from the American public, and the same greed and political corruption that infects Washington, DC is pandemic in the newsrooms and offices of the editors.

The newspapers have been lying to their readers by crafting political propaganda so thick that there should be a "paid for by" disclaimer beneath the articles as campaigns for public office are required to provide. I wonder if the Federal Elections Commission could handle the extra work load of regulating these paid political writers at the papers?

There's lots of talk in Washington, DC of regulating free speech on talk radio shows and the Internet. Could it be any more overt that corrupt politicians in DC are trying to protect their corrupt political advertisers in the print media? If we needed any regulation of free paid political speech in America, which I do not approve of, it should start with the newspapers.

Vox populi vox Dei

After all, Internet news, blogs, and talk radio shows have rapidly growing and loyal audiences. This is because Americans are getting more accurate information via these mediums and if there is a political slant to the coverage at least it is overt and not masquerading as fair and balanced, as the newspapers claim.

I would bet you my left kidney that four out of five of these politically biased lying newspapers would all support a clamp down on talk radio and the Internet. They are elitists and espouse the elitist view that it is their job to determine what is news worthy to Americans, not the other way around.

They are top down operations who believe what they write that will cause life to imitate their art. Most American citizens feel their art should imitate true life instead! Just ask Harrison Ford. His new movie "Crossing Over" is a pro-amnesty for illegal aliens propaganda film that labels our Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers 'Gestapo'. The movie has completely bombed in the reviews and the theaters because of the movie's overt politics. Now, if Harrison Ford's new movie paid tribute to our brave ICE officers who put their lives at risk to apprehend illegal aliens and deport them, it would likely be a smash hit at the box office, instead of Ford's career ending with a whimper.

Many of these newspapers could be saved, rebuild trust, rebuild loyal audiences and loyal advertisers by firing large volumes of their staff members with liberal arts degrees and hiring realists with a more diverse range of political views and a more diverse range of educational backgrounds.

Many of these creative fiction writers at the papers need a new job, preferably one where they have to compete with illegal aliens and at illegal alien wage levels.

It is time to swim or drown, shake the tree and let the loose nuts and fruits fall to the ground! You need writers and employees who write for the American public, instead of global corporations and unpopular social engineering political views! Take two doses of populism and call me in five years!

These newspaper owners should go through the editorial staff and news rooms and fire every person who has ever written the phrase "undocumented immigrants", "jobs Americans won't do", "Comprehensive Immigration Reform". "Anna Nicole Smith", "Lindsay Lohan", or "Paris Hilton" in a news or opinion article!

Furthermore, don't just fire these fiction writers, dress them in clothing adorned with American flags and drop them off deep in a neighborhood in America controlled by MS-13 or SUR-13, or drop them off in Nuevo Laredo or Juarez, Mexico in their American attire. If they survive, they may come out of the experience with a hefty dose of reality from the tough streets of reality!

These papers can find plenty of new workers down in the soup kitchens at the churches or in the car lots and tent cities, where innocent American families have been cast. Grab some people who can write truthful articles from the perspective of average American citizens who are concerned and suffering and give them a week to write something readers like and appreciate.

The true political battle in America now is between the truth and the lies. This is a battle between right and wrong, good and evil, principles vs. corruption!

If civil engineers designed politically correct bridges they would collapse and when doctors lie, people die.

Only the truth and God, manifest in American citizens, can save America now as the atrophy of America's Judeo Christian values and principles has brought our nation to the verge of collapse and ruin. The Ten Commandments would serve these papers well, you know the parts about not lying about your neighbors and not placing other idols before God. From my intensive experiences with the newsrooms of America, I can tell you that my brief mention of God here will result in some discomfort among many in the newsrooms, and hopefully no explosive vulgarity or backwards Latin. Mentioning God in a classroom or newsroom could easily result into an inquiry these days.

These newspapers can be saved by hiring writers who have shared values with the American public, instead of elitists values shared by only a small percentage of the public. And by shared values, I do not mean the recent multiculturalist, Globalist, and radicalism we face today in America. I mean the shared values that have been prominent and dominant in America for the last 200 years!

We get enough political fiction out of Hollywood and the corporate TV commercial industry today, so let's start by returning the truth, in preference to fiction in our newspapers and some may be able to survive.

For those who fail to heed this advice, let those newspapers disappear from our land. I've been warning them for several years now that the New York Times, the Raleigh News and Observer, and others are like dinosaurs breathing their last gasps of comet dust. America would be better off without many of these destructive giants that fail to see they are no longer the top of the information food chain.

It is time to adapt or fail and adapting means newspapers need to become more like talk radio and more connected to and representative of the people of America like Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, and Glenn Beck and others in talk radio, Internet news, and on TV who represent Americans better than newspapers or lifetime politicians in Washington, DC.

Abandon the corrupt and dishonorable methods and practices that have fostered the recent failures in America, and return to the principles and values that once made America the most free, opulent, and successful society in human history. Adapt or fail, improve or perish, this is the challenge for all of America.

Time for the media to flex its' muscles?

Yesterday I watched Mr. Obama and Timothy Geithner give an overview of the restrictions they were placing on companies taking TARP funds. (Just so you know, in the fine print of those restrictions is a bit that says something along the lines of "we can exempt anyone if we choose"). It struck me as odd that immediately after speaking, Obama and Geithner turned on their heels and walked away without answering any media questions. I understand that sometimes they don't and usually the media is told beforehand. However, the thought flitted through my mind that Obama had pledged open access, change and all that stuff. It seemed that he was shutting out the media.

More and more stories are coming out about how Mr. Obama is using the media and / or going around the media. I predict that if he keeps it up, there is going to be a media backlash. In fact, all the news that's creeping out and then blossoming hugely (cabinet pick problems, stories on his perks in office, etc.) may be a sign of the media flexing its muscles.

Here are a couple of stories that I found interesting this morning:

(I only include this story because of the first paragraph... if you read the story, it is written by someone who is firmly in Obama's camp, best case of outright, blatant bias I've seen in a few days.)
Obama to enlist local GOP in stimulus fight
The irony of President Barack Obama’s Blue Tuesday is that the wall-to-wall television interviews he granted were designed not to apologize for Tom Daschle’s fall from grace but to fight back against the Republicans’ success in tarnishing his stimulus package.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6247503.html

White House Cheat Sheet: Bypassing the Media Filter
During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and his team learned a very important lesson that they are seeking to put into practice in the White House: the power of the media is overrated.
Time and again during the campaign, Obama used his burgeoning grassroots army -- now more than 13 million email addresses strong -- to push out the message that he wanted to dominate the day rather than the message the media was focused on.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2009/02/white_house_cheat_sheet_around.html?hpid=topnews

Obama poised to be first 'wired' president
(CNN) -- As the first president-elect with a Facebook page and a YouTube channel, Barack Obama is poised to use the Internet to communicate directly with Americans in a way unknown to previous presidents. Judging by Obama's savvy use of social-networking sites during his campaign and the interactive nature of his transition team's Web site, Americans can expect a president who bypasses the traditional media's filters while reaching out to citizens for input, observers say.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/01/15/obama.internet.president/index.html

On one level, I like the idea of our elected officials going straight to the public, bypassing all the hype and bias of the media. However, if all we get is one side, then that's not a good thing either. What elected official is going to send out an email saying "here's how this will destroy life as you know it" or any negative points of view on their proposals (unless it's to rebut negatives)? We need opposing views.

There's another scary side to this one, too. There are a lot of people concerned about the direction this administration is heading in regards to free speech. The "Fairness Doctrine", which targets talk radio, will ostensibly shut down one large opposition view media. Does anyone really think it will stop with talk radio?

The media needs to flex fast or it's possible they won't be able to work their muscles at some point.

Kiddie Porn as a Commercial - Levi's goes TOO far.

Hat tip to Pundit & Pundette blog for this one!

OK, this is NOT a commercial I want any kid to see on television. NBC has chosen to run this. I for one think Levi and NBC have gone WAY over the line. What kind of message are we sending to our kids? Watch this without your kids in the room... Gotta tell you, I wouldn't care for this commercial if they were using adults rather than kids.



Levi's has a contact form here. You can select "advertising" from the menu.

Here's the link to NBC so you can contact them: http://www.nbc.com/Footer/Contact_Us/. I'm not sure that there's an appropriate topic on the page, but I'm sure if enough people comment they'll get the message. If I'm remembering correctly, this is the same station that wouldn't play one of John McCain's ads because it was too controversial... the ad was played on all other stations.

Orson Scott Card Says It Like It Is!

Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite authors, despite the fact that he's a die-hard, card carrying Democrat . Seriously, he is one of my favorite authors and I have lots of friends who are Democrats. We have quite a bit of fun sparring on the issues.

One thing that is rather cool (for me) is that he never has his photo in his books (or at least not the ones I've purchased). I finally got to see what he looks like when I read the article on the Meridian Magazine site... I know I could have done a search at any time and found a photo probably, but I really didn't care that much and once I put the book down any curiosity got closed inside the pages of the book. If you haven't read Ender's Game and his many other books, go grab one. He really makes you think about things without realizing what you're doing! Fun read.

The article below is a great read, and definitely doesn't fall into the fiction category. It is a fabulous article that amazes me. I bet we don't hear much about it given the topic! - Janet

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?
By Orson Scott Card

Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist, and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current state of journalism.

An open letter to the local daily paper — almost every local daily paper in America:

I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans...
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/081017light.html

Scattered thoughts on politics

How do newspapers and other media avoid duplicate headlines?

Have you ever wondered about news headlines? Do the newspapers check to avoid duplicate headlines? Think about the number of newspaper, radio, bloggers, television and other types of reporters following around the presidential candidates.

There are reporters from almost every country in the world following the candidates on their trek around the country for votes.

They all see the same thing, then have to file a story back home wherever that may be. So how do they avoid duplicating headlines? How many ways are there to say "He won, she lost"?

If I really cared enough I'd look into it, maybe do a search on the Internet popping in the title or the question. It's not high on my list of things to do, but I have wondered. Maybe someone out there in the web-world will read this and let me know!

How do the candidates manage to keep up?

I've heard them talking about their schedules. As a media member I get some of their appearance schedules. They are moving 20 hours a day for days on end. They go from campaign event to campaign event, to interview, to bus, to airplane, to event, to shake hands, to eat... and eat and eat and ear... did anyone else noticed that Huckabee looked like he was gaining a few pounds again for a while?

I can't go through the day without at least 5 hours of sleep and I really need more. I can live on the 5 hours a day for a few days, but then I have to sleep long or I start talking gibberish. The candidates have to be on their toes for Letterman, Leno, Fox News, debates and events 24/7. They're all older than I am and they run circles around me.

No wonder they all look ten years older by the time the race is over!

What happens to all the stuff the candidates are given?

I saw a clip of Romney last night holding a big box of Krispy Kreme donuts. He was offering them around to the crowd. Betcha he doesn't eat 'em. I've heard he's rather picky about what he puts in his body. I imagine the candidates are given a ton of things from supporters and they have to find a way to graciously decline the offer or act like they love whatever it is. Some votes are lost by something so simple.

So what happens to all the little knicknacks, food, gifts, Bibles, resumes , and other things that are given to the candidates? Do they offer then to their supporters? Hold a bonfire when the campaign ends without a win? Pack them up and give them to charity?

I have a whole list of things I wonder about when it comes to candidates. Mostly I wonder how truthful they're being, whether they'll be the best person to run our country and who I'll finally end up voting for in February these days.