LOL - at least they've graduated from "fake, but true"
A CBS News producer was fired and the network apologized after a Katie Couric video essay on libraries was found to be plagiarized from The Wall Street Journal.
The essay was removed from the CBS Web site and an editor's note was posted saying the item should have credited Jeffrey Zaslow of the Journal, the network said Tuesday. The essays are carried regularly on "Couric & Co.," the anchor's blog on the CBS News Web site. Couric and producers meet once a week to decide on topics and the producers write them for Couric to mouth read on camera.
An editor for The Wall Street Journal called CBS News to point out the similarities of the April 4 notebook item to Zaslow's article, headlined "Of the Places You'll Go, Is the Library Still One of Them?" The pieces talk about how libraries are seen differently by children from their parents. "We were horrified," CBS News spokeswoman Sandra Genelius said. "It was almost verbatim."
CBS would not identify the producer fired for the transgression. "...er... *intelligible* Maples"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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In other news, Edward R. Murrow's rotational speed has reached 15,000 RPM.
#6
She's the world famous and highly paid journalist but she just reading (without thought) what someone else wrote. Doesnt seem she's really worth the cash but thats just me.
#11
So Katie Couric did the one-minute commentary on the joys of getting her first library card, but the piece was not original. So Katie didn't plagiarize, because the piece that appeared under her name was actually written by someone else, not her!
More Fake but Acurate
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/11/2007 12:10 Comments ||
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#12
Katie read the story as if it were HER library card. But it wasn't. Now they fired the person who plagarized it from the WSJ. But even if the story hadn't been plagarized, someone other than Katie made up a story that Katie read about 'her' library card.
Boggle.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2007 12:33 Comments ||
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producers write them for Couric to read on camera.
Wow, she can read too! Truly a person of many talents.
Larry Birkhead is the father of former Playboy Playmate Anna-Nicole Smith's daughter, DNA tests have revealed. Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? I'd never have suspected... The jubilant dad, speaking after a closed court session, said: "I hate to be the one to tell you this but, I told you so. I'm the father. My baby's going to be coming home pretty soon." "All that money's gonna be coming with her!"
The photographer added: "Nothing's been determined except parentage. It's been a long road and I'm just happy to have this behind me." "I just hope nothin' Howard K. had me sign comes back to bite me! I'm a lover, not a genius. Come to think of it, aside from bein' pretty, I'm pretty much below average. I mean, think about it. Anna Nicole and I found things to talk about when we weren't humpin'."
Dr Michael Baird, a DNA expert from Ohio, presented his findings to a Bahamas court. It was needed as Howard K Stern, who was Anna-Nicole's partner at the time of her death, had claimed to be the dad of Dannielynn. A third man - Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband Frederic Von Anhalt - also claimed paternity. I was hoping it was me. The other 749 guys she apparently slept with that month were hoping it was them, too. Really, she liked me best because I was kind to her. I gave her a little something to soothe the blisters. She snorted it, of course.
After the results were revealed, Stern said he loved all that money the baby despite the DNA results and would not challenge for custody. I guess Babydaddy did sign something then...
Stern said: "I'm obviously very disappointed, but my feelings for Dannielynn have not changed." "I'll get mine, my pretty! And yer little dawg, too!"
He had lived with Anna-Nicole in the Bahamas and is listed on the child's birth certificate as her father. You gotta bang her when the baby's conceived to be the babydaddy. No matter how many times you bang her after the kid's born, it still won't make you Paw.
Anna-Nicole died of an accidental drugs overdose on February 8 in a Florida hotel room. Daniel Smith, her 20-year-old son, died in his mother's hospital room where she gave birth to Dannielynn, from a reaction caused by drugs. Stern has hired a lawyer to tackle media who he believes are implicating him in the deaths of Anna-Nicole and her son. Whoa! Just one surprise after the other, ain't it?
However, a lawyer for Anna-Nicole's mother, Virgie Arthur, indicated she might seek joint custody of the money.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Look's like we have a winner of the sperm sweepstakes
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/11/2007 1:38 Comments ||
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#11
So this is over?
Well what do you think of that Don Imus guy? I think the media should use all it's resources and get all over him for saying things like that.
Posted by: Ex Astronaut Lisa Nowak ||
04/11/2007 12:23 Comments ||
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#12
Oh, don't worry Lisa, we've forgotten all you.
And by the time we've had our fill of Imus the paparazzi will find another poopy celebrity diaper.
As the Pax Christi peace movement calls for prayer and action for Zimbabwe, a local political analyst says that a pastoral letter by the country's bishops calling for the removal of the Mugabe regime may help end the crisis.
John Makumbe, a Zimbabwean political commentator and Mugabe critic, told Reuters that local Christian leaders could play a large role in finding a solution to the crisis.
"I think after such a long silence, a criminal silence in my view, the Catholic bishops have woken up to this disaster, and the other church leaders will probably do the same soon and help sort out this crisis."
"I think after such a long silence, a criminal silence in my view, the Catholic bishops have woken up to this disaster, and the other church leaders will probably do the same soon and help sort out this crisis," Mr Makumbe said.
Other political analysts also believe that the Church's sharp criticism of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe could have a greater influence in persuading him to discuss political reform than a mass of attacks from elsewhere, Reuters says.
Zimbabwe's Catholic bishops accused Mugabe and his officials of running a bad and corrupt government and abusing the political rights of Zimbabweans in a pastoral letter posted in churches throughout the southern African nation during Easter. Neither Mugabe, a practising Catholic, nor his officials have publicly responded to the warning from Zimbabwe's Catholic Bishops' Conference that radical reforms were needed to avert a mass uprising in the economically-strapped country. "The pastoral letter presents a new challenge to Mugabe and will probably help persuade him that he needs to be talking about electoral and constitutional reforms, too, as pressure is mounting on him," said Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare.
"The Catholic bishops bring a new moral authority to the Zimbabwe crisis, which Mugabe cannot simply dismiss offhand by suggesting that they are supping with his Western enemies," he added.
Mugabe, who counts a number of Catholic priests among his friends, has traditionally taken a hands-off approach to political critics within the Catholic Church, the largest Christian denomination in Zimbabwe.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Chechnyas President Ramzan Kadyrov appointed his first cousin, Odes Baisultanov, as prime minister of the troubled Russian region today. Baisultanov, 42 and a qualified economist, was in charge of logistical support for the presidential administration in Chechnya. He became first deputy prime minister in March last year.
The local parliament unanimously approved the appointment of Baisultanov and senior officials presented him with gifts including a kinzhal, or ceremonial sword. Asked if it would be difficult to follow in the footsteps of his cousin, the prime minister replied: "It will be hard, but he has not gone anywhere. He is close by. Together we will restore Chechnya and work for the good of our country."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Just like Cook County Illinois. Everyone pretends it is a Democracy, only it is cloutocracy
U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama says he is not interested in running for vice president. "I'd rather be an also-ran and have people talk about me in the same terms they talk about Alan Keyes and Gary Bauer and... ummm... other guys like that. When they talk about them."
The Democratic candidate spoke Monday evening during an appearance on Late Night With David Letterman,a late night television talk show. During the show, Obama dismissed the idea that he might consider sharing a ballot with Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, telling host David Letterman that "you don't run for second." When Letterman suggested the two senators would make a powerful ticket running together, Obama drew laughter from the audience by replying "Which order are we talking?"
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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I hear that giant flushing sound....Ross
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/11/2007 1:40 Comments ||
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Good for him, He's saying he won't ride in the back seat of the Hillary Bus.
#3
From his harsh words he exchanged with key US ally Australian PM John Howard a while back it was obvious just how egotistical Barack Obama is. He really does believe his brief and nondescript senatorial career somehow makes him the frontrunner for the presidency. If not for the liberal mainstream media's discontent with Queen Hillary and their heavy breathing over his every word, Obama would still be an absolute nobody.
#4
I look at him, and all I can think of is another Jimmeh Carter... someone relatively unknown, relatively un-exposed, came from noplace in particular... that for some unknown reason got anointed as a serious candidate.
#6
VP is a great gig. Think about it. You show up at the primaries running for VP and have no opposition cause all the egos are parked in the Prez aisle. Think of all the money youll save on campaign. Then when youre elected you get a spiffy digs in Washington which dont cost an arm or a leg. Generally, you go to work when you want to as President of the Senate, otherwise theres another wannabe just hankering to slam that gavel if you decide to chill. You get to do a lot of frequent flyer miles to visit international capitals, usually to visit deceased former heads of state, but you get Air Force 2 when you do, so its not like baggage class. And theres a pension to go along with doing little for four years. I guess I dont have the ego for the top spot. My goals are a little lower. Heh.
I dig the Charles Barkley summation. I told my wife that in a truly colorblind society, Mr. Obama would teach at a community college, perhaps host a PBS Public Affairs Round Table, and be a charming guest at cocktail parties.
There's no way in hell he deserves to even be in the Cabinet let alone be President. But that could honestly be said about all of the Dems currently running...
#13
"I dig the Charles Barkley summation. I told my wife that in a truly colorblind society, Mr. Obama would teach at a community college, perhaps host a PBS Public Affairs Round Table, and be a charming guest at cocktail parties.
There's no way in hell he deserves to even be in the Cabinet let alone be President. But that could honestly be said about all of the Dems currently running..."
Nah, from what i can gather he was a pretty good legal type. Hed be teaching at mainstream law school. Or hed be speaker of the Illinois House. Or maybe, just maybe, hed be an obscure junior Senator from Illinois with a bright career ahead of him. WELL ahead of him. Maybe the great mentioner would MENTION him for VP - make it into the small print of Newsweek or Time.
#14
It's difficult to determine whose delusions of adequacy are more inflated, Obama's or Hillary's. Neither are qualified to run for dogcatcher, let alone the presidency. While casting no aspersions upon this nation's voters, I maintain that America is not yet prepared to elect either a woman or a minority as president. Especially not candidates so deficient as these two most definitely are.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani authorities tipped by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have busted a 15-member gang that printed high-quality counterfeit bank notes including foreign currency, officials said on Tuesday. Ten members of the criminal gang have been arrested, Amna Idrees and Fahim Noor, two investigators of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), told journalists in Islamabad.
The detainees were put behind bars for interrogation after being produced before a court in the city of Rawalpindi last week.
Names of five absconding suspects have been placed on the Exit Control List to prevent them from escaping abroad.
Because they wouldn't have printed any fake passports, you know.
The national exchequer suffered a loss of 30 to 35 billion rupees (more than 500 million US dollars) due to the illegal activities of the gang, said Noor. The group that operated in a number of major cities of the country had printed and used Pakistani and Indian rupees, US dollars, British pounds and UAE dirhams worth billions over the past seven years. They also produced fake saving certificates to avail loans amounting to Rs330 million (5.45 million US dollars) from four local banks.
Some influential people, including bankers and government officials, were helping the gang, therefore, the authorities would not make public the names of the arrested people, the NAB officials said.
Figures, you have to have inside help to move that kind of money.
Police also seized printing material and state-of-the-art machines used by the counterfeiters from the central city of Lahore.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Wouldn't you know it? More North Korean proliferation.
A 52-minute documentary film exploring the struggles of moderate American Muslims at the hands of their radical brethren has also become a showcase for the struggles between right and left in the news media.
The producers of "Islam vs. Islamists" say their taxpayer-funded film has been shelved by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in "an ideological vendetta," and because the production team includes conservative columnist Frank Gaffney Jr., founder of the Center for Security Policy.
"This is a well-documented, textbook case of the abuse of taxpayer funding by elements in the public broadcasting system to advocate their agenda and ensure that people who have different agenda don't get on the air," Mr. Gaffney said yesterday. "The public ought to be allowed to see a film which PBS doesn't want them to see."
His partner Martyn Burke also accused CPB and PBS of stifling the film "on political grounds."
CPB says the film simply needs work but stands a chance to be aired eventually as a "stand-alone" program in the future. " 'Islam vs. Islamists' has not been canceled. It is a work in progress," said CPB spokesman Michael Levy.
"I am incredulous that PBS would invest so much of our tax money into contracting professionals for a documentary on a subject -- the struggle for the soul of Islam -- which is one of the most vital debates of the 21st century and then censor its release," said Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, chairman of the Arizona-based American Islamic Forum for Democracy who is featured in the documentary.
"Until mainstream media and mainstream America understands the need to help this debate and expose the plight of moderates who push back against the Islamists within the Muslim community, we will continue to lose ground against militant Islamism," Dr. Jasser said. "The censorship of this documentary tells us a great deal about the level to which our government is facilitating the ideology of Islamism which runs directly counter to our foundations of Americanism."
Originally, the film was intended to be shown on "America at a Crossroads," a six-night series which begins Sunday. The series comprises 11 independently produced films depicting the political and cultural complexities of a post-September 11 nation. Mr. Gaffney and partners Mr. Burke and Alex Alexiev received $675,000 in funding last year, ultimately producing an unvarnished look at Islamic fundamentalist threats and intimidation of some Muslims.
Their work did not go over well with Leo Eaton, the series producer, or Jeff Bieber, executive producer at WETA, where the series originated. Mr. Gaffney received a series of critical "notes" between November and February which said, among other things, that the film would "demonize Islam" and promote public fear of Islamic organizations.
The critique, Mr. Gaffney said in a March 6 rebuttal, "is itself 'a point of view' ... an apologia for Islamist extremism."
Mr. Gaffney continued, "This documentary has been the subject of an ideological vendetta." He later accused CPB and PBS of suppressing the content and message of the film and ignoring the public interest.
Officials counter that there simply wasn't room. From Page 2
Still, Mr. Gaffney's offering has received some high-powered applause. Rep. James T. Walsh, New York Republican, screened then praised the film during a March 21 House hearing on CPB funding. Mr. Walsh also voiced his suspicions about CPB and PBS, saying producer Mr. Eaton has "family ties to a British Islamist group" and "overtly tried to change the context of the film."
The Chicago Tribune becomes the first American newspaper to decide that Quran is no longer to be spelt as Koran but the way it is pronounced in Arabic and by Muslims all over the world.
The Rantburg editorial board is also reviewing this grave problem. We haven't decided whether to spell it "Koran," "Quibbert," or "Sgush." We'll let you know when we reach consensus.
I vote for 'rubbish'.
Or the "Brothers Grimm Big Book of Fairy Tales, Annotated"
Some Muslims, most notably Omer bin Abdullah, the Pakistani-American editor of Islamic Horizons magazines published by the Islamic Society of North America, has been campaigning for years though until now without much success to have Quran spelt in the American and international media as Quran and not Koran. He hopes that the lead taken by Chicago Tribune would be followed by others.
The US newspaper said that it is changing the way it spells the name of the Islamic scripture to Quran to reflect a growing consensus about the best transliteration of the Arabic word. For decades, the Tribune and most English-language publications called the Muslim holy book the Koran. But language and religion scholars widely share the opinion that Quran more closely renders the Arabic word, and common usage is changing to reflect that understanding.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Goody! Now that it's spelled correctly, let's see if they'll seethe every time I line my birdcage with an article mentioning the Quran.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/11/2007 16:15 Comments ||
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#16
I already canceled my subscription and redeployed my newspaper time to Rantburg. Not much I can do.
Hey, is Molly Ivans still carried on Thursdays?
#19
The mind boggles at the options for proper spelling here.... anatomical and scatological inferences notwithstanding, (althought they are so appealing) I really want to figure out how our liberal friends and these creatures can take offense so easily, yet not understand that the intolerance of the koranimals isn't about spelling in places where they rule, bu rather entire books and symbols, and the role of women, and the proactice of literal class discimination based on gender and religion. How can you worry about offending those whose religion would demen you and impair your rights and devaule your very worth.....
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The jubilant dad, speaking after a closed court session, said: "I hate to be the one to tell you this but, I told you so. I'm the father. My baby's going to be coming home pretty soon."
Chechnyas President Ramzan Kadyrov appointed his first cousin, Odes Baisultanov, as prime minister of the troubled Russian region today. Baisultanov, 42 and a qualified economist, was in charge of logistical support for the presidential administration in Chechnya. He became first deputy prime minister in March last year.
U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama says he is not interested in running for vice president. 
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani authorities tipped by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have busted a 15-member gang that printed high-quality counterfeit bank notes including foreign currency, officials said on Tuesday. Ten members of the criminal gang have been arrested, Amna Idrees and Fahim Noor, two investigators of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), told journalists in Islamabad.
