Day 11 and Counting

We are currently into day 11 of the breaking of the Air Enron scandal. To date, we have seen:

1. Three official statements from the city DOI, all of which directly contradicted:
2. Several mad-dash-to-safety statements by the owners of Air America
3. An official investigation launched by Eliott Spitzer into the misappropriation of funds by Gloria Wise
4. Zero mentions of any kind in the New York Times of somewhere around a million dollars being diverted from the funds of a New York based charity into the coffers of a New York based radio conglomerate.

By contrast, what do we find on the front page of the Newspaper of Record? Peter Jennings has died. Which, although certainly something that deserves a mention, was a surprise to absolutely no one. A story about the alleged abuse of terrorists. Which means that the total of these stories is approaching the total number of detained terrorists. No mentions of Air America or Gloria Wise.

On the editorial page? A mandatory daily article about Karl Rove (may we humbly remind you that there have been precisely zero official statements from government investigators in the Karl Rove case). An editorial about corruption which surprisingly has nothing to do with Air Enron. No mentions of Air America or Gloria Wise.

Not to be deterred, we shall examine the local opinions page. Surely this is worth a mention there? Nope. But a glowing editorial praising the effects of the indoor smoking ban is front and center.

Every day that the Times allows this to go by is another day they are tacitly saying that defrauding a public charity is no big deal, so long as it is done by those with a liberal agenda. Every day the bloggers and other national newspapers discover this story while the Times remains silent, the virtually non-existent credibility of the Grey Lady takes another serious hit.

We're just here manning the clock.

There is one other thing that I'd like to point out about this whole situation. If it's true that the new ownership of Air America is under no legal obligation to repay the loan in question, then why is the DOI setting guidelines for repayment and further issuing public statements expressing dismay that those guidelines are being ignored? Seems to me that if the claims of Piquant LLC were true that they were legally scot-free, the DOI would be saying something that, you know, sort of closely resembled that, rather than publicizing the terms of repayment.

Perhaps the reason that Piquant is defying the DOI's order is that they simply don't have the money to make the payment. Which would certainly make sense if they can't afford to pay their staffers, as Brian Maloney theorizes today. Yuck.

At this point, I am ready to offer a bold prediction. A la Eason Jordan, the first mention of this story we will find in the New York Times is when Air America actually folds under - yet again placing the MSM in the unenviable position of reporting the "shocking" conclusion to a story that they have studiously ignored. I can almost feel pity for them.

Almost.

UPDATE: Welcome, readers of Michelle Malkin, Brian Maloney, The Anchoress, Decision '08 and AJ Strata!

Comments

[Becker]

With respect to your "bold prediction", you missed the most important point. AA was started - in a corporate sense - by a REPUBLICAN fund raiser who looted the company and entered into this illegal funding scam.

Progressives of good will have been trying to get AA back on it's feet since this Karl Rove plant from Guam did everything he could to destroy the voice of the people.

[peapies]

"Karl Rove plant from Guam"

mbecker did not just scribe? Air America's charity rip off is KARL ROVE'S FAULT? Dear me. Forget tinfoil, they've gone full blown stainless steel.

[JorgXMckie]

Maybe mbecker908 should put his money on a different horse. Cohen is more recently described as a board member on several liberal non-profits.

Because Hillary was a Goldwater supporter in 1964, does that mean her activities now are due to her Republican-ness?

Lefties are a joke.

(On the other hand, if Cohen is a plant whose goal is to successfully suck huge sums from Lefty non-profits, maybe that just proves how dim Lefties are, see above example.)

[Becker]

Hey guys, gimme a break. The post was supposed to represent where the NYT will go with this.

On a personal note, I happen to think Ronald Reagan was a liberal. A good one, but none the less a liberal. Attila is more my kinda guy.

With respect to Cohen, a couple of variations of that story have already been floated on the cable news shows by lefty talking heads.

[docdave]

My guess considering AA's low ratings is that they are being squeeze for cash. Why else would they take the risky road of 'borrowing' tax payer money from Gloria Wise in the first place?

[TC@LeatherPenguin]

"Forget tinfoil, they've gone full blown stainless steel."
This is like the third time I've read that line, and it still slays me.
LOL!

And hey, "mbecker908"? What I'm waiting for is when they realize there's no traction calling Cohen a Republican, and the FrankenFans start murmuring, "Y'know, the dude's a Jew, too."

[peapies]

mbecker...I stand corrected...my apologies. I didn't sense the sarcasm. My bad

[namztkr npvezrjd]

ofsdken owncev uavlgow pqtiyfozv nfos xckembtqw nvoqiayjx