CBS News ignores Iraqi refugee crisis.
CBS News ignores Iraqi refugee crisis.
Yesterday, CBS News ran a touching piece highlighting Abdul, an Iraqi translator who was lucky enough to immigrate to the United States under the Special Immigrant Visa Program. Yet the segment failed to note what an anomaly Abdul’s situation is, and only briefly noted at the end of the segment that the State Department has stopped processing the applications of 551 Iraqi and Afghan translators “because the current legal quota of 500 visas for the program this year is about to be reached.” Watch it:
Abdul is even more fortunate when compared to the overall Iraqi population. More than 2 million Iraqis have fled since the 2003 invasion. In 2007, the United States admitted 1,608 Iraqi refugees — well below its goal of 7,000 — but “up from 202 the previous year.” The State Department has a goal of 12,000 refugees for 2008.
(HT: Heather)
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I have wondered for awhile what all the anti-immigration people would think about a large influx of Iraqi asylum seekers petitioning the US (because, you know, we DID cause their displacement).
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:25 pmNow we can all feel better, because we’re “doing something” about displaced Iraqis.
Nevermind the details…
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 pmThe internet will eventually make CBS and the rest of the corporate media irrelevant to the political discourse.
Relying on the corporate media propaganda will be akin to relying on the National Enquirer to keep you informed of important events.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 pmThe internet will eventually make CBS and the rest of the corporate media irrelevant to the political discourse.
Relying on the corporate media propaganda will be akin to relying on the National Enquirer to keep you informed of important events.
Comment by flavorino — March 2, 2008 @ 9:49 pm
I should add that the lazy and the illiterate will continue to use tv as their source for information, but those people don’t turn out to vote in high numbers.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:52 pmWell Abdul’s is such an uplifting story. Who wants to hear the depressing truth anyway…?
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:07 pmModern propaganda, omission and distortion. Leave out the important inconvenient truths and distort all out of proportion what you want your target audience to suck up.
Cue the idiot trolls! See, everything is going swimmingly.
In Blood.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:48 pmcbs can eat a d1ck. fox news asserts it has a legal right to lie to the public, and cbs fires its reporters for telling true stories just because the documents containing accurate information were reprinted in a new font….
american journalism is almost wholly without merit, pretty much something to sell toothpaste or the latest movie…
getting information from foreign news is much better.. did you know, for example, that in 2007, a semi-autonomous (A.I.) robotic turret went berzerk at an american military base and killed 9 american soldiers? anyone hear about that?.?.. I read about it in a UK computing magazine.. PC Data I think…. amazing the stuff that goes on in our own country that we never hear about..
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:01 pmwho’s “Heather”?
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 pmit’s not just cbs – in fact i haven’t heard one question from any of the msm posed to either the candidates or the current admin concerning refugees – all i hear is that a military withdrawal will put american lives in danger!! – i guess that bush’s dreams of making the iraqi people free and happy can be added to the long list of things he’s f**ked up.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:07 pmComment by Chocolate Jesus — March 2, 2008 @ 11:01 pm
Could you provide a link to this?
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:07 pmGin’s been at the bottle again….
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 pmAnybody else hear that high-pitched, chattering sound in here?
Sounds like an enraged rodent, perhaps a hamster, with its testicles caught in a wringer…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 pmOh! I thought my water heater was about to blow. Whew!
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 pmOT, but tonight’s 60minutes was great:
LIFELINE – Remote Area Medical was founded to bring free medicine to the remote parts of the world but now also helps thousands of the estimated 47 million Americans who have no health insurance and others who are underinsured. Scott Pelley reports. Henry Schuster is the producer.
THE PENTAGON’S RAY GUN - Straight out of Buck Rogers and perfect for crowd control, this non-lethal weapon could help eliminate the deaths incurred while trying to control crowds, especially in Iraq. But it’s not in Iraq yet, reports David Martin. Mary Walsh is the producer.
i vaguely remember a news blurb about this ray gun… and the reason
it is not available in iraq was more insidious than reported here…
and the Remote Area Medical story was heartbreaking…
we have GOT to get the medical insurance coverage fixed…
g’nite all…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 pmUh oh, Gin’s hungover.
TALK SOFTLY!
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 pmSeeBS is too busy chasing its own tail over some hyped up Siegelman story.
Comment by Gin — March 2, 2008 @ 11:09 pm
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03012008.html
The frame-up of Siegelman and businessman Richard Scrushy is so crystal clear and blatant that 52 former state attorney generals from across America, both Republicans and Democrats, have urged the US Congress to investigate the Bush administration’s use of the US Department of Justice to rid themselves of a Democratic governor who “they could not beat fair and square,” according to Grant Woods, former Republican Attorney General of Arizona and co-chair of the McCain for President leadership committee. Woods says that he has never seen a case with so “many red flags pointing to injustice.”
“FIFTY-F-in’-TWO former state attorney generals from across America, both Republicans and Democrat…”
They don’t know what they’re talking about, BUT… you… do…
Yer killin’ me… you MUST be a comic…
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… whew…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:17 pmComment by Gin — March 2, 2008 @ 11:13 pm
There it goes again… it sounds like a furious rodent of some kind…
A lemming? A gerbil?
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:18 pmI think it’s just one of those giant naked-tailed rats — nothing as cute as a lemming. :P
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 pmNorwegian rat?
Or just yer basic domestic sewer rat…???
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:24 pmYour basic sewer rat. I don’t think the Gin troll is very well-traveled.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:26 pmYou can’t have a depressing story on the weekend. The filler piece needs to be uplifting and run in the time allowed. CBS didn’t want to add two more minutes to add more context because it would bring reality into the issue and not make Joe and Jane Viewer feel for Abdul’s plight. We can’t have that liberal bias now! Rush-the-decider, Glenn the Mayor of Crazytown and Billo don’t like non-aryans to begin with and we can’t have a relevant issue that sullies the name of our cro-mag-in-chief.
Katie Couric hammers us with all the “important” and “ground-breaking” discoveries in cancer and the other news producers on the evening news wonder if Nancy Grace will make a good lead anchor when her contract is up.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:26 pmPowerline? You’ve got to be f_cking kidding.
You criticize CBS, but use Powerline as a resource.
Jeebus…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:28 pmComment by Gin — March 2, 2008 @ 11:25 pm
But of course, it’s good enough for you… after all you found it on the internets… prolly used Tha Google didn’tcha!??? Or, being a sewer rat, did you crawl thru “the Tubes” yerself?
And at “POWER_LINE!”…. **echoing reverbed voice…** ta boot!
WOW! I guess those FIFTY TWO experienced legal professionals were pretty easily duped, huh? I mean, apparently there were NO OTHER meaningful red flags here, huh? Just… this… one… person’s… testimony…
THANK GOD we’ve got such sharp minds like yours and the good folks at POWER_LINE ** echoing reverbed voice** working on this.
I still think I’ll take the opinion of 52 former state attorney generals over you or POWER_LINE *** echoing reverbed voice**…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:33 pm**yawn**
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:34 pm“… according to Grant Woods, former Republican Attorney General of Arizona and co-chair of the McCain for President leadership committee. Woods says that he has never seen a case with so “many red flags pointing to injustice.â€
Damn that Grant Wood! He must want the terrorists to win!
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:35 pmGin is a hairless Powerline rat. No more needs to be said.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:36 pmWell, enough of this fun… all of this is OT.
Let’s get back to Iraqi refugees here…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:37 pm“Opps meant counterputsch…”
Comment by Gin — March 2, 2008 @ 11:35 pm
counterPutsch?
Hmmm… me’thinks he gave it up w/ THAT one.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:38 pm500 Iraqi immigrants per year is truly sad — after what we’ve done to them.
Why they want to come here, I’ll never know.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 pm> Can you provide a link to this. [ article about robot going berzerk ]
I know of nothing online I’ll look to see which magazine I saw it in…its at my other residence or I’d dig it up now…. as me again in a week or so…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:40 pmI beleive its a british mag called PC DATA..I found it at Borders Bookstore..its a recent issue with a circuit board on it, and a little blurb across the top of the front page gushing about
the GT graphics card. The brief article was on one of the back pages, a brief paragraph or two talking about how “2007 was a bad year for computer/human relations”…the other story it mentioned was some predator drone being testing somewhere in the UK and crashing into a house….I’ll see if I can dig up anything online..
yes! the ZOO has the 60minutes report about Remote Area Medical…
http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/60-minutes/
please check it out…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 pm>Stupid, he says he saw it on the internets or something
How’d you do in reading comphrehension there Gin? I said I saw it in a computer mag…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:42 pmThanks, katy. :-)
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:44 pm#16…katy
Hi katy! As you brought up the “Non-Death Ray” bit on 60 Minutes…
I read the cut and paste reporter’s impressions on their website and he seemed pretty enthusiatic about it. 60M has done a good deal of excellent reporting on many issues but on this particular subject….not so much.
So if you or anyone else is interested I here’s a link to an analysis/commentary of this Active Denial System that I wrote just over a year ago (at my currently dormant blog).
Of some note is the fact that it isn’t expected to be deployed until 2010. 60M’s “story” is a year old. So why are they running this now and apparently enthusiastically? Beats me.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 pmhttp://at5thestate.blogspot.com/2007/01/active-denial-system.html
Comment by Chocolate Jesus — March 2, 2008 @ 11:42 pm
Eh, what do you expect from a sewer rat with it’s nuts in a trap?
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:48 pmComment by Gin — March 2, 2008 @ 11:40 pm
Gee, if I didn’t know better… I’d say someone has a grudge…
Whatsamatta, Li’l Feller… I embarrass you too many times?
OH, that’s right… you get your info from POWER_LINE *** echoing reverbed voice*** yer allus right!
Cept fer yer reading comprehension problem… ya know, about CJ’s comment…
T’anks fer playin’… it’s allus fun ta have ya around!
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:51 pmComment by Gin — March 2, 2008 @ 11:25 pm
powerline brought down Rather? wow, your delusions are getting truly deep, you should lay off the meth. the bush White House, to their everlasting shame, issued that order, you moron. The documents were not forged, they were factual, according to witnesses. You are abnormally proud of your hatred of America. It must be the drugs.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:52 pm> as me again in a week or so…
ah I mean ASK me again in a week or so…. I’ll give you the magazine title (I think its called PC Data but I’m not sure) and issue #…..I’m actually curious enough myself that I may email the editor for more info….its a mag about hardware and other geek stuff, not usually one for conspiracy mongering
> Eh, what do you expect from a sewer rat with it’s nuts in a trap?
eh, I guess so….as much as I’m a moral relativist I guess there are just simply some beliefs and idealogies which cater to the insanely stupid..
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:52 pmGeez, from the pitch of the chattering, I’d say that’s one rat that’ll be singing the soprano parts in the choir for years to come…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:52 pmThanks, CJ… I would like to know more about that.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pmWhy they want to come here, I’ll never know.
Comment by Zooey — March 2, 2008 @ 11:40 pm
Prolly beats staying over there and getting butchered…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:54 pmComment by The Republic of Stupidity — March 2, 2008 @ 11:52 pm
Lead boy in the castrato choir.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 pmLead RAT in the castrato choir… lead RAT…
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:56 pm>establishing that her claims were all hearsay
> and not based on personal knowledge.
what would you call the information about WMD used to justify the Iraq invasion? Did Rumsfeld know where the weapons were?
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:56 pmProlly beats staying over there and getting butchered…
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — March 2, 2008 @ 11:54 pm
Makes sense. :|
You know the feds will be watching them 24/7.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:58 pmLead RAT in the castrato choir… lead RAT…
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — March 2, 2008 @ 11:56 pm
Damn, I’m just a bit “off” tonight. *sigh*
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 amComment by Zooey — March 3, 2008 @ 12:00 am
S’okay… Sunday nights are like that.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 amS’okay… Sunday nights are like that.
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — March 3, 2008 @ 12:04 am
Don’t know where the weekend went!
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 amAnb speel cheek aslo.
Comment by Gin — March 3, 2008 @ 12:07 am
Only for castrato rats.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 am“… Anb speel cheek aslo.”
Home schooling, Z… the sad, painful results of home schooling…
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 amHome schooling — the place to train your little authoritarian submissive.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:30 amMe’thinks Gin needs to go back from some REMEDIAL home schooling…
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 amThe incompetence of the administration is so mindboggling. They flub the big stuff like Iraq, Katrina, capturing Osama bin Laden, but they also flub the little stuff like processing visas and issuing passports.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 amHe’d have to leave the basement for that…
But then, he’d only have to go upstairs, so what the heck?
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:38 amCome… to… the… light… Gin… it’s only the light at the top of the stairs, but what the hey… after spending years of yer life in the dark… it’s a start. And it’s gonna hurt at first…
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:43 amMaybe his mama could help him by putting a stronger bulb at the top of the stairs — he could let his eyes adjust.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 amComment by fletc3her — March 3, 2008 @ 12:37 am
I have NEVER seen such a spectacular, far-reaching, wild level of incompetence like this, fletc3her. Every last, single, solitary thing the GOOPers have touched, they’ve turned to merde…
Flub? Indeed… flubbers, to the nth degree.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 amPowerline: the blog that produced this classic line
“It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.”
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 amNo… no… in this case, pain is GOOD. We WANT it to hurt…
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 amI guess to GIN, since it’s CBS, there must be no Iraqi refugee crisis…
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:50 amNo… no… in this case, pain is GOOD. We WANT it to hurt…
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — March 3, 2008 @ 12:47 am
I can’t do anything right!
**runs sobbing from the room**
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:50 amAre you serious, ucsb?
Did THAT really come from POWER_LINE *** echoing reverbed voice***??
THAT is sad, scary and hysterically funny all at the same time. Also ’splains why Gin is such a big fan of the place…
“A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius…”
Sweet snapping *ss cheeks… have you actually LISTENED to this piece of clay TRY to talk of late? It’s PAINFUL…
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:51 amComment by Zooey — March 3, 2008 @ 12:50 am
Aw, geez… **women…**
Care for a slice of cheese, m’dear? They’re individually wrapped, for your protection… they go great w/ a box o’ wine…
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:53 amyeah, here’s the link
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:54 am**sniff**
White-flavored cheese, or yellow flavored cheese…?
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 amOuch… ucsb… tht’s… that’s PAINFUL.
A man… of EXTRAORDINARY vision… and BRILLIANCE approaching genius… who once said…
“I don’t particularly like it when people put words in my mouth, either, by the way, unless I say it.” –George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas, Nov. 10, 2007
Whoa… no wonder we’re having such a hard time communicating w/ the other side in this one… They’re… IDIOTS…
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 amWell, white-flavored cheese allus goes best w/ white wine, so I guess yellow-flavored would go good w/ yellow wine… hmmm… I never seen red-flavored wine… what do folks have w/ red wine?
Yer choice, Z…
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:03 am**sniff**
Yellow wine looks like pee. I’ll have the white. A large…
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:06 amComing right up… squiggly straw?
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:17 amYes, please. The pink one. And another slice of cheese. :-)
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:19 amOf course… whatever you’d like…
Sorry for the interruption in yer service… had ta tend to sumpin…
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:39 am***snore************
Huh? Wha…?
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 amLook at this. You’ll laugh yer ass off.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 amyeah tell me about it Republic…that gives me a laugh every time I read it…and this according to Gin is the Gospel according to Hindrocket…
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 amYou’ll laugh yer ass off.
Comment by Zooey — March 3, 2008 @ 1:42 am
Okay… who’s bin lookin’ thru my personal papers?
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:46 amComment by ucsbclassics53 — March 3, 2008 @ 1:45 am
I mean… talk about out of touch w/ reality… whoa… that was scary…
I’d say it’s funny, but this all quit being funny a couple of years ago. Now it’s just painful and scary. It’s nice being able to say, “Told ya so”, but that doesn’t begin to clean up the mess and fix the damage.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:48 amOkay… who’s bin lookin’ thru my personal papers?
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — March 3, 2008 @ 1:46 am
I found that link on Eggy’s blog. I’ve sitting here laughing like crazy.
Lordy, this day went by fast. Better hit the hay. ;)
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 amLater, Z… hafta say, my energy level is slippin’ too.
Nite all!
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 amComment by The Republic of Stupidity — March 3, 2008 @ 1:48 am
Yeah, the only reason it’s so funny is that those words are so damn stupid…but you’re absolutely right. Powerline is part of the problem that’s destroying our country and it’s thanks to these propagandists that fixing up the mess will be met with choruses of straw-man arguments…
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:33 amDon’t worry – maybe its a blessing in disguise.
As we would probably just jail them in special prisons for refugees
Yes.
Reallu.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:37 amYour tax dollars at work…..Iran and Iraq strengthening ties…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080302/ts_nm/iraq_ahmadinejad_dc;_ylt=Aq0sLHNOPouxoEPtWkEVOyyOe8UF
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:47 amWow, Bert, the thread has already played itself out and now you show up? Did it take you that long to think that up? If so, you deserve a pay-cut.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:39 am“Abdul.”
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:44 amdid you know, for example, that in 2007, a semi-autonomous (A.I.) robotic turret went berzerk at an american military base and killed 9 american soldiers? anyone hear about that?.?.
Comment by Chocolate Jesus — March 2, 2008 @ 11:01 pm
Maybe you mean this accident, but it was in South Africa, not in an american base.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 amLet’s be real. EVERYONE in the US has been ignoring the refugee crisis in and around Iraq, and we’ve been ignoring the civilian casualty rate as well.
Every US soldier is precious, and I mourn for every American family that has lost a loved one. But why are 4000 Americans infinitely more important than G_d-knows-how-many Iraqis? We don’t even bother to count them…
http://newsprism.wordpress.com
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 pmNo not ” EVERYONE” has been ignoring the refugee crisis, the internet has a lot of reporting if you look , but that doesn’t let the cable cesspool off the hook and networks like CBS that rely on “human interest stories ” like soldiers bringing puppies home, soldiers bringing Iraqi boy home for surgery. etc. etc.
The fail miserably when it comes to hard facts and the big picture , that malnutrition is rampant , medical care is a disaster , when pre-invasion Iraq had one of the best systems in the middle east, and when Gaza suffered 20 deaths, including 5 children they devoted just a pathetic headline , less than 5 , 6 seconds . NEVER mention 5 kids were blown up by Israel . That fits the pattern and don’t forget the refugees ,the millions of homeless, that fell off the radar screen .
These ” feel good Stories ” serve several propaganda purposes, the illusion It’s not an occupation and the U.S . military are there just to help, to placate the pentagon and just plain simple jingoism , how great we are …we can take ONE Iraqi kid back to the states for surgery , look how wonderful we are . When in reality, we kill parents and kids daily , and how many rare left disabled because of U.S. bombing , THOUSANDS, that never get reported .
When they spend more time on that damn Prince Harry , than the children Blown up in Gaza, it tells you that these degenerates in “news” are agenda driven to protect U.S. interests , including Israel .
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:27 pm