Evans Insight Damns Obama Bias

It has taken journalist, author and former Sunday Times editor, Harold Evans, to have the guts to tell it as it really is over the Obama sham. Writing in the Guardian, Evans delivers a scathing attack on media bias and lack of objectivity and fairness. But even Evans only scratches the surface. 

As an investigative journalist who admired Evans Sunday Times 'Insight' days, before the Murdoch take-over, Evans views on the Obama media coverage chime with those of the Orange Party. 

In an article published in the Guardian's Comment is Free, Evans bemoans the bias: 

"What's troubling to anyone old-fashioned enough to care about standards in journalism is the news coverage in mainstream media. Forget the old notions of objectivity, fairness, thoroughness, and so on. The nastiest rumours on both sides haven't been published, but the coverage has been slavishly on the side of "the one".

His article ranges and rages over issues from the persecution of Clinton in the Primaries, through the fanatical obsession by many in the media over Obama's charisma which has killed curiosity and scepticism, to the lack of checks on Obama's background: 

"They wouldn't investigate the Reverend Jeremiah Wright connection for fear of being accused of racism. They wouldn't explore Obama's dealing with the corrupt, now convicted, Chicago businessman Tony Rezko. Now the LA Times refuses to release a possibly compromising video, which shows Obama praising Palestinian activist Rashid Khalidi at a 2003 banquet, saying its promises to its source prevent it from doing so."

Evans views are shared by a new study which reveals how media bias favours Obama, reported by Breitbart.

The Orange Party first became aware of this unease back in early June and questioned the growing media obsession with Obama in this innocuous post asking if we were being manipulated by Obama and whether he was just too good to be true.

Now this, from a Democrat insider working for the Obama campaign, has been posted on an independent US political website, Savagepolitics. The Orange Party has no reason to doubt its authenticity:

"Put simply, you are being manipulated. That was and is the job – to manipulate you (the electorate) and the media (we already had them months ago). Our goal is to create chaos with the other side, not hope. I’ve come to the realisation (as the campaign already has) that if this comes to the issues, Barack Obama doesn’t have a chance. His only chance is to foster disorganisation, chaos, despair, and a sense of inevitability among the Republicans. It has worked up until now."

Evans is credited with introducing the crusading investigative style of reporting to upmarket UK newspapers during his 14 years as editor of the Sunday Times. Most notably the Thalidomide scandal, exposing Soviet spy Kim Philby and the publication of the famous Crossman diaries.

If no-one will listen to Evans, who the heck will they listen to.

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Auntie No Longer Knows Best

Auntie has got her knickers in a twist over Pratsgate. Any hope that suspending Ross after his obscene outburst would draw a line under this vile issue is both naive and arrogant. The Corporation is at a crossroads. Now politicians must decide whether the BBC is a licence-payer funded state broadcaster or a commercial outfit. The BBC cannot have it both ways. 

The Pratsgate scandal exposed once again issues which lie at the heart of the BBC in terms of accountability and checks and balances. It exposes the sheer arrogance of an organisation which clings on to the belief that Auntie knows best.  

Now surveys are showing the public don't like what's happening to their beloved organisation which they pay for. 

Today, the PoliticsHome Phi5000 Public Opinion Tracker shows the BBC’s approval rating plummeted in this week of the Ross/Brand affair. In just four days, it has fallen a huge 24 points to only 6.   

But the BBC has only itself to blame. 

After days of indecision, the BBC Trust finally acted. But Ross will be laughing all the way to the bank. Three months without pay is a drop in the ocean for this hugely overrated and overpaid licence-payer funded celebrity. For some perverse reason, the BBC needs Ross. 

At the centre of this is the Director General, Mark "three times lucky" Thompson. Queengate, vote rigging and now this. What other organisation would tolerate a chief executive presiding over three monumental scandals in the space of a year.

Accepting the resignation of the Radio 2 controller was done almost with regret. Sorry old chap but you'll have to go. 

As the ultimate line manager responsible, she should have been sacked on the spot, along with the cretins who allowed this disgusting pe-recorded broadcast to be transmitted in the first place. 

This sorry episode only scratches the surface. At the heart lies a political battle which has been lingering since the sexed up dossier scandal and the BBC's part in the creation of nanny state where nanny knows best. 

It has been compounded by the belief that the BBC can cling onto its old Reithian philosophy, while at the same time controlled by a New Labour bunch of media elite. 

Pratsgate came just days after the Osborne saga, reported with such glee by the BBC while the Mandleson connection was buried, reinforcing claims of bias. This bias throughout news and current affairs output has been highlighted by the Orange Party and many others on numerous occasions. 

The BBC has never recovered from the sexed up dossier affair which put it in direct and bitter conflict with the New Labour propaganda spin machine. 

Since Hutton, it is clear the BBC has been allowed to spin itself off into lucrative commercial enterprises, while at the same time receiving huge amounts of licence-payers cash. Just as long as it toed the government line. 

That must end. But for now, license-payers will have to put up with a BBC that will continue to make embarrassing cock-ups while being a mouthpiece for party political government propaganda. 

The BBC will continue in its present form as long as it remains staffed by politically correct, urban liberals and kids with a keyboard calling themselves journalists. All fronted by TV news, delivered in an infuriatingly condescending and patronising matter. 

It is time for the BBC to be cut loose from its antiquated funded arrangements and floated off as a true commercial organisation, with taxpayer funding reserved for the public service parts of its broadcasting. At the same time, it needs a structure put in place which ensures the full checks and controls already found in commercial terrestrial broadcasters. 

In June, the Orange Party asked why are we forced to pay the BBC Tax, highlighting the obscene £240 million of our money it pays out to celebrity presenters and the £110 million it spent on its websites. 

What is needed is a drastic rethink in the way the BBC is funded and the way it is accountable to the public. The Pratsgate scandal and the way it was handled has done nothing to change that view. 

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McCain Hits Out At Obama Khalidi Tape

Much of the US media took a break from its blatant pro-Obama coverage yesterday, to highlight a controversial Obama video which the McCain team says is being deliberately suppressed. 

The video, of Obama at a farewell party with PLO activists and former weather underground terrorists, is causing a media fury in the closing days of the race, with both McCain and Palin accusing a Los Angeles newspaper of deliberately refusing to release it. 


The row, reported heavily on Fox News, has finally been picked up and hinted at here in the UK by the BBC's Matthew Price who is following the McCain campaign. He suggests this may be part of McCain's 'October surprise', highlighted by the Orange Party last week. 

Both McCain and Palin have accused the Los Angeles Times of "intentionally suppressing" the video which shows Obama at a going-away party in 2003 for former PLO spokesman, Rashid Khalidi, attended by radical Palestinian activists and former Weather Underground terrorists, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. 

In a statement, the Los Angeles Times said it had written about the event in April and would not release the tape because of a promise made to the source who provided it. 

McCain and Palin said this was media bias as the LA Times has endorsed Obama's candidacy.

AP news has reported a fair and balanced account of the row. The tape is causing outrage on Republican and pro-Israel web sites. 

doug ross@Journal, who has seen clips of the tape, claims Obama talks to the audience during a toast, congratulating Khalidi for his work saying "Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine" plus there's been "genocide against the Palestinian people by Israelis."

Meanwhile political columnist and commentator on radial Islamic terrorism, Debbie Schlussel, who first got wind of the story, says the video was obtained from Arab American Action Network (AAAN) founder Abunimah, after she'd featured photos of Obama and wife Michelle seated with LO advisor, Edward Sad, at another AAAN banquet (pictured above).

She believes the newspaper learned of the other AAAN annual banquet dinner and the existence of the tape, at which Abunimah, Obama, Ayers, Dohrn, and Khalidi were present, after contacting Abunimah about the photos. 

Khalidi is a professor of Middle East Studies at Columbia University and a long-time friend of Obama's. 

McCain also has ties to Khalidi through a group that Khalidi helped found 15 years ago. 

Palin has criticised Obama for having links with Ayers, who was a founder of the radical domestic terrorist group the Weather Underground.

The existence of the tape and its contents has been swirling around the internet for weeks. The LA Times and most of its staff are strong Obama supporters. 

What is clear, is that this is part of the McCain strategy to focus on Obama's inexperience, credibility and character in an effort to sway undecided voters. The tape, other accusations and the state lawsuits over citizenship are all part of that October Surprise in these closing days. 

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Britishness is Dead. The Nations Rejoice

The penny has finally dropped along with Brown's half-baked plan for a British Day. There never was such a thing as Britishness expect in an ad man's dream and in the minds of smart alecs who dream up television programmes and political soundbites. Now it is dead, deceased, it is no more, we can move on into the 21st century. 

This was never going to be anything more than the equally useless drivel over "British Jobs for British People". It sounded fine to some people as a soundbite to promote some kind of misguided patriotism but after a short fix of publicity, it's quietly shelved.

The idea for a British Day was part of Brown's plan to celebrate Britishness and one of the key recommendations of the Goldsmith citizenship review.

But this had nothing to do with national identity or pride. It was motivated by pure self political interest, an attempt to recreate Blair's 'Cool Britannia', a nostsalgic throwback to days of Empire and a belated attempt to get naturalised UK citizens 'on side'.

The cock-eyed plan ran into trouble from the beginning when immigration minister, Liam Byrne, reckoned making the August bank holiday weekend British Day. Not one of his brighter ideas, particularly if you live in Scotland.

The idea went gone down like a wet haggis in Scotland with the Scottish National Party (SNP) saying the proposal has "nothing to do with Britishness, and everything to do with bolstering Gordon Brown as Labour's support evaporates in swing English regions."

National identity comes from where you were born and where you were brought up. That's what makes your national identity, and that includes everyone.

Nowhere is this pride and the passion seen more than in our national football and rugby teams. The terraces are awash with national colours, face paint and fancy dress. And in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the saint's days are a real celebration.

We've had to suffer Brown's attempt at fostering 'Britishness' on our great nations with a raft of ridiculous TV programmes celebrating the 'greatest British this', or the 'longest British that'. 'Britain's got this' and 'Britain's got that'.

The Orange Party came up with a neat solution way back in June when it declared unilateral independence and was adamant 'we're not going on your public holiday'. The answer is so obvious it was starting them in the face. 

Scotland and Northern Ireland already have bank holidays on their respective saint days. But not so England and Wales. 

So just create a public holiday for England on April 23 and call it St George's Day. And in Wales make St David's day, March 1, the national holiday. 

And on those four public holidays fly the flags of the great nations, everywhere. Any other public holiday is up to the respective parliaments and assemblies. 

If this all sounds a tad too, er, nationalistic,  why not create a national holiday for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - and call it Celtic Day. 

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Are You Downturner Or Recessionist?

A civil war of words between Downturners and Recessionists is looming, as Brown and his government try to get their economic message across. That darn word "downturn" is turning up again, as part of the government propaganda. 

The government is using its state broadcasting arm, the BBC, to deliver the biased message but no one is fooled by Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

The whole of the country knows and feels we're on the brink of a recession, but the cosy use of the word 'downturn' has a reassuring ring about it. 

Using 'downturn' is rather strange and surreal. No one apart from Brown, the BBC, and the New Labour lackeys are using the word. Political journalists and commentators, for sure, but only to take the p*ss. 

On Friday, the BBC devoted a whole day's news coverage to what they euphemistically called the "downturn". BBC editors were forced to defend their choice of the word with this priceless piece of condescension over recession: "as soon as we're in one, you'll hear from us."

The Orange Party could smell a rat. The BBC does not just come out with a word "downturn" without first checking with its political masters - and its business editor, Robert Peston. 

And so it was. On Sunday, full page newspaper adverts from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) appeared and sure enough that word 'downturn' popped up. 

Using words like "in these times of economic downturn" and "even in these difficult times", the advert read like a piece of Brownspeak. 

The ad was signed off by the usual suspects of government lackeys and hangers on, including the chairmen of BT and M&S and of course New Labour's favourite trade unionist, Brendan Barber of the TUC.

Today all was revealed. In a startling piece of party political broadcasting ahead of the Glenrothes by-election, the BBC reports a speech by Brown to business leaders in which he tried to justify his reckless borrowing. 

And yes, there it is. That darn word 'downturn'. In the report introduction, as a Brown quote, in a stumbling and stuttering droning video and a party political broadcast.

According to the BBC: "Gordon Brown has defended his plans to increase government borrowing ... to tackle the economic downturn."

And the great man is quoted: "The very moment in an economic downturn ... is no time to slow down welfare reform." 

Brown and the government are staking their reputation and political futures on the outcome of the Glentrothes by-election and the prime minister is taking an active but not unprecedented part in the campaigning. 

So, just to remind voters in Scotland, the BBC's supposedly economic report still manages to slip in a party political broadcast: 

"Over the weekend, Mr Brown paid a brief visit to Glenrothes in Scotland as part of a by-election campaign and made predictions food and fuel bills would begin to come down next year."

So it will be interesting to see who else drops the word "downturn" into the conversation. 

Downturner or Recessionist? You pays your money and takes your choice. 

The Orange Party has a word of its own to describe the effects of Brown's economic mess - Disaster.

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Jenkins Final Plea On Liberty

Journalist and author, Simon Jenkins, was one of the first voices of reason to question the unwinnable war in Afghanistan. Many of his views have been welcomed by the Orange Party. Now he's standing down from the Sunday Times. He'll be sorely missed. 

Recently Jenkins delivered a call to trim the fat off the London 2012 Olympics - though that was in the Guardian to which he's been closely associated for a number of years. 

Now apparently he's leaving for pastures new and the National Trust but not before delivering a final plea on liberty. 

The Sunday Times has had a New Labour makeover. It is now all style and no substance. Hard edged news reporting has been sacrificed for articles more suited to a magazine than a newspaper. 

Time and again the "Insight" page, of which Jenkins was one-time editor, is back-referenced in a nostalgic throwback to the halcyon days. 

Maybe Jenkins didn't fit in with that New Look? But who will replace him? Alistair Campbell is back at Downing Street and making a big splash in today's Sunday Times Review. Now that would be too much.

Jenkin's final missive is a brilliant piece condemning both the surveillance society and Big Brother tactics of a decade of New Labour, in which he makes a farewell pleas to MPs - defend liberty. 

Home secretary, Jacqui Smith, is firmly in his sights as the article catalogues recent GCHQ moves to tap into all mobile phone conversations, through ID cards, NHS computer records and 42 days detention.

The closing remarks of Jenkins are worth recording in full. He states they are a lesson for MPs. The Orange Party would contend they are a lesson for us all. 

"The war on terror has been a wretched blind alley in British political history. It has revealed all that is worst in British government – its authoritarianism, its sloppiness and its unaccountability. Yet restoring the status quo ante will be phenomenally hard.

"In all my years of writing this column, from which I am standing down, I have been amazed at the spinelessness of Britain’s elected representatives in defending liberty and protesting against state arrogance. They appear as parties to the conspiracy of power. There have been outspoken judges, outspoken peers, even outspoken journalists. There have been few outspoken MPs. Those supposedly defending freedom are whipped into obedience. I find this ominous."

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Obama Citizenship Lawsuits Sweep US

A wave of state lawsuits challenging Obama's claims to US citizenship are sweeping across the United States, as the campaign enters its final days. The surprise move comes after Obama and the Democratic Party refused to give any evidence to a Federal court, following legal action challenging Obama's citizenship and eligibility to run for president.

Lawsuits have been filed in nine states at the time of writing – Hawaii, Washington, California, Florida, Georgia. Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Ohio. Could this be McCain's 'October Surprise'?

All the lawsuits are: "Seeking to Require Barack Obama to Provide Certification of Birth in U.S. before the Presidential election Or Be Removed as Presidential Candidate on State Ballots."

The lawsuits are similar to the action brought by Democrat lawyer, Philip Berg, reported by the Orange Party in August, which has failed to force Obama to produce official documentary evidence in court. 

Now lawyers and Berg on his website argue because Obama has not responded to the lawsuit with evidence to the contrary, that legally means the allegations are true.

Obama's claim to US citizenship may have been blown out of the water with a radio revelation that his own grandmother said she was there at his birth in Kenya, not Hawaii. 

That revelation came in an interview with Berg by controversial Republican talk-radio host,  Michael Savage, on his The Savage Nation radio show last week.

Obama has always maintained he was born in Hawaii to support his claim for US citizenship. 

Berg first filed the lawsuit in the Federal Court in Philadelphia ahead of the Democratic convention in August, in an effort to force the evidence. But the judge held off until after the official nomination of the Democrat candidate. 

The lawsuit came to a head last week, when, it seems, the judge threw out the Berg case and Obama and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) "failed to respond to the court."  

Obama and the DNC continually delayed providing certifying documentation of Obama’s birth and blocked the move, trying to prevent any further disclosure of evidence, as court records, outlined here disclose. 

The Berg lawsuit threw up some interesting assertions, noted on court documents. These include:

• Obama was born in Mombassa, Kenya in 1961 while his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was married to Barack Obama Sr., a Kenyan. 
• When his mother, divorced from Obama Sr, moved to Indonesia and married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian, Obama was adopted by Soetoro and became an Indonesian citizen. 
  
• While in Indonesia, Obama had his name changed to Barry Soetoro. 
• Obama travelled to Pakistan in 1981 under an Indonesian passport when Pakistan was a no travel zone for Americans. 
  
• Obama had “admitted” to receiving illegal contributions in his campaign for president. 
  
• There is also the allegation that Obama’s Kenyan grandmother claims that Obama was born in Kenya. 
  
• Libya leader, Muammar Gadhafi, has publicly claimed that Obama was born in Kenya and studied in Muslim schools in Indonesia. 
• Obama has also “admitted” to hold citizenship in another country while the US Constitution forbids dual citizenship.
  

The issue of Obama's citizenship was highlighted by the Orange Party, when US bloggers revealed an alleged copy of Obama's birth certificate, posted by his campaign team on the internet showing his birth place as Hawaii, was a fake. 

Later revelations centred on Obama's Indonesian school record which, as Barack Soetoro, showed Indonesian citizenship and a muslim religion.

The current spate of lawsuits, with details of the plaintiffs, is being reported by a number of US websites and bloggers, including African Press International (API) and most notably Yid with lid, Radar and Atlas Shrugs.

The US Constitution (Article II, Section 1) requires presidents to be "natural born citizens" of the US. 

Much of the US Main stream media has refused to investigate the Obama citizenship claims, with only passing references to his 'exotic' background. 

Now Andy McCarthy, of the influential National Review Online (NRO), has raised the whole issue and  concludes: 

"Instead of simply clearing up any questions — which you would think would take about five minutes — Obama's lawyers moved to dismiss the suit and failed to file a timely answer, meaning that, under the applicable rules (according to Berg), Obama is legally deemed to have admitted Berg's allegations that he is constitutionally ineligible to be president. Is it a serious issue, and why does Obama seem to be so squirmy about it?"

The Orange Party has long held the view, now supported by an increasing number of commentators, that doubts over Obama's eligibility should centre on legal and constitutional issues. 

These lawsuits and claims would be dropped and the matter cleared up once and for all, if Obama would simply provide the requested official, original, paper documents, supporting his claim of being born in Hawaii.

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