NPR'S DINA TEMPLE RASKIN ON THE NEWS HOUR DOES HATCHET JOB ON THOSE ACCUSED

I just watched and heard Dina Temple Raskin from NPR being interviewed by Margaret Warneron The News Hour about the corruption charges being leveled against assorted New Jersey politicians as well as four rabbis. Temple Raskin gave the impression that she has no understanding of what is going down. Her answers amounted to saying, "I don't know . . .," "This is complicated . . .," and similar statements.

Compared to the article in today's The New York Times written by David M. Halbfinger, Temple Raskin was embarrassing in her lack of information and preparation.

Furthermore, Temple Raskin gave the impression that everyone was guilty as charged, notwithstanding that the accused are far off from having their day in court. The "bribes" were smaller than usual; the kidney selling was "outrageous;" the charges were very similar to previous ones filed against other New Jersey politicians where "corruption" was endemic. What a hatchet job on people at this point who have not pled guilty or been convicted.

NPR'S MORNING EDITION QUOTES AFGHAN POLICE CHIEF DEFENDING BOMBING OF CIVILIANS

This morning on NPR's Morning Edition, Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports on the U.S. bombing raid of a small Afghani village that left 140 people dead, many of them children.

Writes Sarhaddi Nelson:

"Abdul Ghafar Watandar, the provincial police chief, said foreign militants and Afghan Taliban are flowing into districts surrounding Farah city from their hideouts across the southern border with Pakistan. Their commanders — including a cleric who was the governor of neighboring Nimrooz province when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan — recently formed a "shadow" government in Farah.

"Watandar said these new Taliban officials are handing out money and weapons to the impoverished and illiterate majority with the aim of further destabilizing the province.

"Unlike previous Taliban cells, this new army of militants seems eager to take on not only the local police, but also the far better trained and equipped Afghan and NATO troops. And Watandar said there aren't enough of those in Farah province, making air support a crucial part of major fights.

""If the American airstrikes hadn't happened that day, there might have been a lot more deaths," Watandar said. "The Taliban had secured themselves good positions on the rooftops and streets of the village, and they wouldn't have left.""

But this argument that the U.S. airstrikes probably saved many more deaths is just pure speculation and self-serving. Whoever ordered the airstrike needs to be recalled. Killing over 140 civilians is unacceptable. Killing even one civilian or one child is also unacceptable.

Is this what the war means in Afghanistan? U.S. war planes dropping bombs on civilians in the American quest to eliminate the Taliban? If the answer is yes, then I don't want any part of that dirty war.

Bring all American soldiers out of Afghanistan. There has to be a better way of dealing with fundamental Islamists. Killing civilians is not the answer.

NPR'S MELISSA BLOCH FLUBS QUESTION TO SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER

Melissa Bloch of NPR was interviewing Lamar Alexander, Republican senator from Tennessee, this afternoon on All Things Considered, about the Gen. Petraeus testimony. Block asked if Alexander was going to vote for ongoing funding for the War in Iraq. Alexander replied that yes, he was most certainly going to vote "to fund the troops."

Now this is the time for Melissa Bloch to step up and re-ask her question, like, "Senator, I did not ask about funding the troops, I asked if you were going to re-fund this War."

Bloch unfortunately allowed Alexander to get away with answering a different question than funding the War in Iraq.

Sure, Melissa, everyone is in favor of funding the troops. But first end this unjustified and immoral War, bring home all the troops, and Americans will gladly continue to pay their salaries and benefits.

NPR & PBS SHOULD COVER REPORT ON SECRET DETENTION CENTERS

Has PBS or NPR done any story on the Report on Secret Detention Centers set up by the CIA in Poland or Romania? This is an important report that describes how the CIA arranged with these countries to set up "black prisons," how it arranged for flights to these places, including overflights involving other European countries, and how the CIA maltreated those prisoners in its custody. We need PBS and NPR to do big stories on this report.

NPR MORNING EDITION PRESENTS "JFK PLOT" AS FACT

This morning on NPR's Morning Edition, Steve Inskeep interviews another NPR reporter, Dina Temple-Raston, on the alleged terrorist plot to blow up the jet fuel storage areas of JFK Airport in New York City. The on-air report is chock full of assertions that we listeners must question. Just because there is a press conference of law enforcement people charging a "terrorist plot" does not mean that one actually exists. NPR should carefully label every charge as "alleged." This case has not been tried yet in a court of law. Nevertheless, Raston makes it seem that the four accuseds actually did engage in a "plot," and actually did contact people in other Caribbean countries for terrorist aid. Only in one or two assertions, does Raston use the word "alleged."

In contrast I see text stories on the NPR website here and here that are clear to distinguish actual plots from those alleged by the FBI, NYC Police Department and/or the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

If NPR editors have posted written reports that are more careful to acknowledge that the government's charges are at this early point "alleged" and not yet proven, then I call on NPR's Morning Edition to remove the misleading on-air report from broadcast, or to modify it in the interests of fairness as to make it less prejudicial to the accused who have not had their day in court.

NPR REPORT ON WHAT HAPPENS AFTER ICE RAID ON IMMIGRANTS IN GEORGIA

I heard NPR's Morning Edition today with a report on a small town in rural Georgia and its chicken processing plant. The hook was how a company copes after its mainly Latino work force departs en masse following a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Must NPR and its reporters refer to undocumented Latinos as "illegals?" That's a word for lawyers, judges and courts. How does NPR know the Latinos were "illegals?" Perhaps a court will declare them to be in full compliance with the law. Perhaps they had done nothing "illegal." Why must we be subject to this put-down of Latino workers. Why must NPR disrespect them by calling them "illegals," or worse, "illegal aliens," as if they just arrived from some far-away planet.

HELP FIND THREE-YEAR OLD MADELEINE MC CANN

BBC World News on our local TV station had an update on Madeleine McCann, the three-year old who was kidnapped from her bed eight nights ago in Portugal at Praia da Luz, in the Algarve, where her family was vacationing.

BBC.com has an update today on Madeleine. And here is BBC's Search for Madeleine in Pictures. BBC reports:

"The toddler is believed to have been taken from her bed while her parents were eating at a nearby restaurant and regularly checking on her and their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie."

This is a story that needs to appear on The NewsHour and on NPR news. So far I have seen and heard nothing about this sad story on American public and/or commercial broadcasting. We need to get American child-disappearance experts and criminal profilers on this case.

NPR'S ANNE GARRELS - SLOPPY REPORTING

I want to draw your attention to an important post on the blog NPR Check about NPR's All Things Considered this past Sunday May 6, 2007. NPR Check quotes Anne Garrels in Baghdad talking about the U.S. military seizing arms caches:

"Garrels: "The US military says expanded operations have generated better intelligence, leading to the seizure last month of 731 weapons caches, more than double the number found in January. Despite this Major General Rick Lynch told reporters both Sunni and Shiite extremists are increasingly using sophisticated roadside explosives with technology from Iran that can pierce armored vehicles. He said he expected the rate of American casualties to increase over the next ninety days, with the so-called surge only having a decisive effect by September.""

NPR Check correctly points out that Anne Garrels offers: "Not one scrap of evidence. Not one bit of skepticism."

This is the trouble with many media reports from Iraq. Reporters wily-nily take the talking points of the U.S. military and then offer them to their U.S. audience without any scepticism or questioning cynicism. I am sure it is easier for Anne Garrels to write her dispatch this way. But look at the damage it does. It demonizes Iran without any acceptable evidence. No wonder that many Americans accept the administration's line that Iran is the "enemy of the United States." This is all a prelude to Bush & Co. justifying a war against Iran. And it is done because of the laziness and sloppiness of reporters.

NPR'S LYNN NEARY CAN'T PRONOUNCE "VETO"

I heard Lynn Neary this morning on Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR. Is there no one on NPR who can adequately enunciate and pronounce the English language? Ms. Neary cannot say the word, "veto." She insists on "ve-do." I know that many of the brightest were born and raised in Brooklyn, but that does not justify keeping one's speech pattern in the Flatbush Avenue 1960's mode. No one should be allowed on NPR unless he/she passes an English articulation test. Unless we want our children to mangle the English language like some NPR anchors. Lynn Neary is not the only one who fails.

Here's part of her bio on NPR's site:

"Lynn Neary is a correspondent in NPR's Arts and Information Unit and covers books, movies, television, and arts-related issues and features. Since joining NPR in 1982 Neary has been heard frequently as a host on NPR's renowned news programs. Neary was All Things Considered weekend host from 1984 to 1992, a position she moved to after serving as newscaster for NPR's Morning Edition since 1982. In 1992, she co-hosted the NPR/National Geographic Society series Radio Expeditions with Alex Chadwick. She has also anchored NPR's nationwide daily call-in program Talk of the Nation as well as Morning Edition, weekday All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition Sunday."

COKIE ROBERTS SPINS THE WAR ON NPR

I get the impression that Cokie Roberts takes every chance she can to demean the Democrats and their plan to end the war in Iraq. This morning on NPR, Cokie Roberts asserts that both Bush and Cheney over the weekend have made "strong cases" against the Democrats' plan to set a timetable for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

That's a lot of bull. And Cokie Roberts should know it. This is plain old spin that listeners of NPR have had to suffer from Cokie Roberts over the years.

Bush/Cheney have never made a "strong case" against the Democrats, unless we consider their false claim that Iraq had WMD.