Infinite Unknown

See also: CNN Senior Editor Fired For A Tweet

Journalists are being fired for saying what they think while politicians on the Left and Right are being allowed to get away without being questioned

Octavia Nasr, senior editor of Middle East affairs at CNN, is leaving the US television news network after praising the late Shiite cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah on Twitter (AFP/Getty Images)

Freedom of speech may be part of the United States Constitution but perhaps the First Amendment that enshrines it could do with a caveat or two being added.

Congress may make no law “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”, the Bill of Rights lays down. That still holds true but, increasingly, speaking freely can get you fired or tarred for life.

Even more ominously, the internet and the increased ease of free communication is allowing the cannier politicians to escape scrutiny rather than be held to account.

Ironically, it is the mainstream media itself that is on the attack against press freedom. Last week, Octavia Nasr, a Lebanese Christian who was CNN’s Senior Editor for Arab Affairs, was summarily fired after 20 years for tweeting that she was “sad” about the death of Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, describing him as “one of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot”.

We can debate the wisdom of that statement and question whether respect was what Fadlallah, who praised Palestinian “martyrdom operations” and was acclaimed as the spiritual leader of a group whose hands are drenched in blood, really deserved.

But Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government and Nasr’s sentiments are shared by millions in the Middle East. Her opinion was considerably milder than the gushing praise for Fadlallah from the British ambassador to Lebanon. Firing her for expressing it was boneheaded and killed any chance of intelligent discussion.

Dave Weigel, a Washington Post blogger, has also found himself out of a job after his colourful venting about conservatives in a private email group was maliciously leaked. Now, even the private opinions of journalists are grounds for dismissal? Reporters have to blog and tweet and show edge and attitude and be controversial – except when it becomes uncomfortable.

General Stanley McChrystal, a legendary Special Forces officer and the man who President Barack Obama had chosen to win the war in Afghanistan, is now spending his time on long walks in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

Why? Because of the idiotic utterances of some of his junior aides when they got stuck in Paris within earshot of a Rolling Stone reporter who wanted to make a name for himself. Continue reading »

Tags: Civil rights, CNN, Constitution, First Amendment, Global News, Middle East, Politics, Society, U.S.

And AIPAC obviously not only owns the US government:

- Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts: ‘AIPAC Owns The US Puppet Government’

- CNN Senior Editor Fired For A Tweet (TIME):

Sometimes people seem to forget that Twitter is Twitter.

Octavia Nasr, Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, has decided to leave CNN after a “conversation” with higher ups at the company. Why? Because she expressed sorrow, via a Tweet, about the death of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, who many consider to be affiliated with terrorism.

Since she made the July 4^th Tweet, outrage has ensued, prompting an apology and an explanation from Nasr, who explained that what she respected was Fadlallah’s stance on women’s rights in the Middle East. Though she didn’t say she regretted the sentiment, she does regret tweeting “such a simplistic comment.”

Seems that wasn’t enough for critics and CNN. (via the Village Voice)

- CNN: The Cowardly News Network (Huffington Post)

- CNN: The Cowardly News Network (Huffington Post)

- Octavia Nasr fired by CNN over tweet praising late ayatollah (The Guardian):

Internal memo said Twitter tribute to Hezbollah’s spiritual leader had compromised senior Middle East editor’s credibility

A CNN veteran of 20 years, Octavia Nasr called her tweet about Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah ‘an error of judgment’. (CNN)

Twitter, with its strict 140-character limit, was never going to be the best medium to make a nuanced point about Middle East politics. But Octavia Nasr gave it a go.

The cost was great: Nasr was fired as CNN’s senior Middle East editor after 20 years with the US-based news channel.

The offending tweet was sent on Sunday morning following the death in Beirut of Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who was instrumental in the establishment of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Using her official CNN Twitter account Nasr wrote: “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”

The tweet was immediately picked up by supporters of Israel, to which the Islamist group is bitterly opposed. The Simon Wiesenthal Center in the US released a statement demanding Nasr “apologise to all victims of Hezbollah terrorism whose loved ones don’t share her sadness over the passing of one of Hezbollah’s giants”.

The text was swiftly removed from her Twitter feed, but by then it had been heavily circulated, with criticism mounting.

Nasr responded on Tuesday with a blog on the CNN website, calling her initial message “simplistic” and “an error of judgment”. Her respect for the ayatollah, who she had interviewed for Lebanese television in 1990, was owing to his stance on women’s rights, notably his demands that “honour killings” stop, she explained.

But this was not enough. The next day, Nasr was reportedly called in to see her bosses at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta. The New York Times quoted an internal memo from a senior vice-president, Parisa Khosravi, which said: “We have decided that [Nasr] will be leaving the company.”

The memo added: “At this point, we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward.” Continue reading »

Tags: CNN, Global News, Middle East, Twitter

Nogovitsyn: Mercenaries working for Georgians may disguise themselves as Russians

Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn warns that Georgia may be planning to commit false flag terror attacks by using mercenaries dressed in Russian uniforms, as Russia moved to guard sensitive infrastructure against terrorist attacks.

Continue reading »

Tags: BBC, CNN, False flag, Fox News, Gorgia, mercenaries, Military, Politics, Russia, Sky News, Terrorism, Terrorists

A warplane drops bombs near the Georgian city of Gori on Friday as Russian and Georgian forces battled.

TBLISI, Georgia (CNN) — Bombs rocked Tbilisi early Saturday morning as the fight between Georgia and Russia over a breakaway region intensified and moved into the Georgian capital.

Government buildings, including the Parliament, were evacuated when the bombs fell.

Georgia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Irakali Alasania, said during a special session of the Security Council that the foreign minister had informed him of bombs falling on the Black Sea port of Poti and the Viziani airfield near Tbilisi.

Georgian television reported that the port had been destroyed.

Russia and Georgia, a former Soviet state, are fighting over the disputed Caucasus region of South Ossetia, a pro-Russian autonomous region of Georgia.

Continue reading »

Tags: bombing, CNN, Dmitry Medvedev, EU, George Bush, Georgia, Government, Irag, Military, NATO, Russia, U.S., Vladimir Putin, War, White House

Part 1

Added: July 30, 2008
Source: YouTube

Part 2

Added: July 30, 2008
Source: YouTube

Tags: Bush administration, CNN, Congress, Debt, Depression, Dollar, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, fiat money, Gas, Gas prices, George Bush, Germany, Glenn Beck, Gold, Government, Great Depression, Inflation, Politics, U.S.

The TSA’s “no fly” terrorism watch list contains between 400,000 and 1,000,000 names. If you’re on the list by mistake, good luck getting off of it.

After having begun a series of investigative stories criticizing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in May 2008, CNN reporter Drew Griffin reports being placed with more than a million other names on TSA’s swollen terrorism watch list.

Although TSA insists Griffin’s name is not on the list and pooh-poohs any possibility of retaliation for Griffin’s negative reporting, the reporter has been hassled by various airlines on 11 flights since May. The airlines insist that Griffin’s name is on the list.

Congress has asked TSA to look into the tribulations of this prominent passenger.

Continue reading »

Tags: 9/11, CNN, Congress, Constitution, Fourth Amendment, Government, Terrorism, Terrorists, TSA, U.S.

Source: You Tube

Other Water videos:

Doctor Speaks Out Against Fluoride
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3fk5wkcd_Ik

Fluoride Fight!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMW3z1…

The History of Fluoride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUroSl… Continue reading »

Tags: CNN, Water

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The United States tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Carter said Wednesday.

“I don’t think it. I know it,” Carter told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

“Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights,” Carter said. “We’ve said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we’ve said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused.”

Carter also said President Bush creates his own definition of human rights.

Carter’s comments come on the heels of an October 4 article in The New York Times disclosing the existence of secret Justice Department memorandums supporting the use of “harsh interrogation techniques.” These include “head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures,” according to the Times. Continue reading »

Tags: Abu Ghraib, Barack Obama, CNN, Geneva Conventions, Guantánamo, Hillary Clinton, Human Rights, Iran, Jimmy Carter, Torture, White House

(CNN puplished this article (check the title with google) but has it entirely rewritten just a few minutes ago. – The Infinite Unknown)

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) — Myanmar’s cyclone survivors have insufficient fuel to burn the rotting corpses of the dead as the ruling military junta is accused of being too slow in letting aid groups into the country.

Relief agencies say decomposing corpses litter ditches and fields in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta area as survivors try to conserve fuel for transporting much-needed supplies.

The international community is growing increasingly frustrated with the junta’s lack of progress in granting visas for relief workers and giving clearance for aid flights to land.

They are concerned the lack of medical supplies and clean food and water threatens to increase the already staggering death toll. Continue reading »

Tags: Bangladesh, China, CNN, Cyclone, Environment, Food, India, Italy, Military, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, U.N., Water, World Food Programme

Tags: blue, CNN, Disease, Health, infection, infectious diseases, kills, Medicine, Virus