Tidbits (Stupidity Strikes Again)

In Tidbits this week, Philip Klein writes:

Another Mill in the Pocket - FEMA gave Jefferson County a million. Left out of why it happened was Ted Poe.

In spite of Philip's whining, Ted Poe had very little to do with the supplemental FEMA funding included in HR 2206, beyond voting for the bill.

The real hero is Nick Lampson:

The legislative language included by Congressman Lampson in H.R. 2206, “U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007” (Public Law #110-28), ensures that Texas communities receive the full federal funding to restore dollars lost by state and local governments’ response to the damaging hurricanes of 2005. The new law waives the local funding match required under the Stafford Act. Congressman Lampson’s language passed unanimously through the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and allows Texas communities to qualify for disaster assistance programs, providing a savings to the State of Texas totaling upwards of $40 million.

Is Klein's statement a blatant lie or simply stupidity? You can decide for yourself. The rest of Tidbits this week had no relevant content. For instance, Klein writes:

Examiner - Oscar is under Federal and Jefferson County Investigation. Okay - seriously he is under investigation by the Feds.

Klein has to tell people when he's serious, after almost daily notices of so-called investigations in Jefferson County. By the way, how's that RICO investigation into Lamar University coming along, Philip?

Regarding Operation KleinWatch, Philip writes:

"Editors Note : We have dropped the Doks for legal reasons. Do not call - we cannot talk about it."

For those readers who are unfamiliar with Philip's past articles over the last few years, this is his version of the "dog ate my homework." He's made this claim before, when he can't defend his own lunacy.

I'm still waiting on that subpoena, Philip.

Philip Klein Quote of the Week:

"We really want to see the zoo that irrupts in Port Arthur if Lewis wins."

Who?

Philip Klein continues his attempt to influence the Beaumont City Council Ward 1 runoff race with this bit of gibberish today:

"Sources close to the Beaumont Fire Fighters Union and one campaign tell the Review that the Firefighters are behind Marty Craig, however, the vote was not
be the rank and file of the Fire Department. "

Philip hasn't explained why he's biased against Martha Craig, but maybe he's getting free dental work from Dr. Coleman. Does this remind anyone else of Klein's endorsement of Bruce Hoffer in a previous election?

Based on PRK's lack of substantive content, things must be slow in Nederland today. Here are some suggestions for Klein's Tidbits tomorrow:

• How's that RICO investigation into Lamar University going?
  
• Other than Joe Deshotel, has Philip found any other state representatives who are Democrats yet? I suggest looking in Nederland first.
  
• How's that alleged conspiracy against Carolyn Guidry going? After Klein's so-called sources failed to inform him of Guidry's letter to all of the governmental entities in Jefferson County, Klein never mentioned the issue again.
  
• Is Philip any closer to breaking that case of the Central Mall Mugging?
  
• Still no response on Beaumont's numbers from the preliminary UCR, after I noted Klein's information was wrong.
  
• I'm still waiting on that subpoena, Philip. Since you pretend to know who I really am, why don't you just serve me directly? If you call before you come, I'll even lock the dogs up first.

Statistics

• Manufactured sources: 3
• Blatant bias: 1
• Words: 248
• Paragraphs: 8
• Spelling Errors: 0

RITAVILLE!

Philip Klein writes:

"Okay - so here is what we learned today in liberal whacko class. The kids in our area smoke more that other kids because their house was destroyed, damaged or if they had friends or family that had a house damaged or destroyed."

Klein gets an "F" in "liberal whacko [SIC] class" today - according to the actual article he posted:

"Teenagers in a southeast Texas county were more likely to smoke cigarettes if they or their family members were affected by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita, according to a university study."

Therefore, the study did not determine that kids in our area smoke more because of Hurricane Rita, as Klein states; but rather, kids in our area are more likely to smoke if they experienced losses from the storm. This is a big difference and an excellent example of how Klein frequently mangles facts based on his poor comprehension of the subject matter.

I particularly liked Klein's research into the number of fatalities attributed to Hurriane Rita:

"How many were killed you may ask? The number was 10 according to all the information we have found. "

Actually, the reported death toll from Hurricane Rita was 120, of which 7 were direct deaths. None of those direct deaths were in Jefferson County. The others are considered indirect deaths from hurricane-related accidents (such as the 23 deaths from a bus accident during evacuation), cleanup and evacuation incidents, and health issues, such as poisoning, illnesses, or lack of emergency aid. Here's a quick question for Klein - how many cases of Cholera were reported after Hurricane Rita?

I haven't read the report yet, and I'm pretty sure that Klein hasn't either. From the article, however, this conclusion seems to be a logical fallacy of questionable casue (Post hoc, ergo propter hoc). Correlation is not causation - just because two things happen sequentially doesn’t prove one caused the other.

Article Statistics

• Name Calling: 1
• Factual errors: 2
• Sentence Fragments: 3
• Words: 405
• Paragraphs: 14
• Spelling errors: 3

Donkey Ride

In his latest article, Philip Klein attacks state representative Joe Deshotel:

"As the last elected state representative with a "D" next to his name, Deshotel will again play and pander to his base."

Typically, Klein's confused - I'm sure that Allan Ritter was surprised to find that he's no longer a Democrat.

Klein also failed to acknowledge the other 68 state representatives who are Democrats, which represents a net gain of 4 seats in the last election cycle. Of the 150 seats in the state house, 54 percent are held by Republicans, while Democrats hold 46 percent. This represents only an 8 percent majority - not exactly overwhelming.

Klein offers no evidence that Deshotel is pandering, but resorts to repeating the same statement ad infinitum:

"Joe knows what is best for Joe. He will pander and play to his base."

Klein's central thesis:

"Deshotel, known for being a pretty far left democrat came out this cycle looking more centered."

Klein is again confused - as far as Democrats go, Joe Deshotel has always been fairly moderate since first serving on the Beaumont City Council. For example, the Texas Alliance for Life documented Deshotel as a pro-lifer in 2004.

One of the things I really like about Deshotel is his transparency - he maintains an archive of his Capitol Weekly newsletters on his website dating back to the last century. Isn't it sad that Klein's afraid to put up his past articles?

Article Statistics

• Factual errors: 1
• Blatant bias: 1
• Logical fallacies: 1
• Redundancies: 1
• Sentence Fragments: 4
• Words: 280
• Paragraphs: 10
• Spelling errors: 1

Runoff

Philip Klein manufactures another source in a blatant attempt to influence the race for the Ward 1 seat on Beaumont's City Council:

"And this race just got a little more interesting with powerhouse lawyer and former senator Carl Parker and his wife, retired political science professor and visitors center Chairman Beverly, putting some money behind Craig at the last minute. The Parkers known to give money to the left wing liberal side of the democratic party to names such as Kennedy and Edwards, were a surprise to many in the political backrooms."

"'The Parkers are friends with Marty,' a source close to the candidate told us. "

"'I am sure they felt like they needed to be a part of it and it has no reflection on the Parkers wanting to get into Beaumont Politics,' the source said. "

Klein is trying to scare voters into supporting Coleman.

Unfortunately, Klein failed to mention that Martha Craig once worked for Carl Parker. This is probably the real reason why the Parkers donated to Marty's campaign, rather than any desire to "get into Beaumont Politics."

Nor did Klein mention any of Craig's other donors, which include Regina Rogers, the Beaumont Police Officer's Association, and the Becky Ame's campaign treasurer, Gilbert Low. Klein also neglected to mention that Craig received the endorsement of the only other candidate in the original race, Randall Collins.

With Klein endorsing Coleman, my money's on Craig.

Article Statistics:

• Hidden Agenda: 1
• Omission of pertinent facts: 3
• Manufactured sources: 1
• Words: 115
• Paragraphs: 3
• Spelling errors: 2

Tidbits

Philip Klein's tidbits this week had little relevant content beyond self-adulation; rather, Philip comments on purported messages from people whose grammatical signatures are identical to Philip's:

• ".......and we would like to know your picks for the run off."
• ".......and we read your "take" on the San Juan move."
• ".......and we loved the show last week with the bloggers."

Notice any similarities?

Klein spent some time selectively answering a small number of questions I've posted to him over the past weeks. For instance, Klein previously claimed that the Jefferson County District Attorney's office is being investigated by the Plano office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District:

"That is what we hear. One is fixing to get sentenced. We think his name was Radford? The other....ask yourself this question - who knew? Who talked? And what deals have been cut? A funny thing these pesky feds. No loyalty to those who enjoy happy times in Jefferson County!"

Philip is now claiming that the Radford investigation continues and involves the Jefferson County D.A.'s office at large.

PRK previously claimed that Rhonda Dugas was "UNDER INVESTIGATION (emphasis Philip's)" for disturbing the peace:

"We spoke to an officer familiar with this event. It seems that nobody wanted to file against Rhonda that day. The investigation was done in about 48 hours."

This major investigation stemmed from an alleged shouting match at an early voting location between Port Neches City Council candidates Rhonda Dugas and Terry Schwertner on May 1st. Unfortunately, the Port Neches Police department failed to file a report on this incident - both candidates had already left the scene and officers couldn't find the person who actually called to report the incident.

Klein also pointed out that I've misspelled his name in Operation Klinewatch:

"...the operation Klinewatch site ."

Actually, Philip, "sic" should be enclosed in brackets, as in "[sic]." But, your point is taken - henceforth, this blog will be known as Operation Kleinwatch.

Philip's Quote of the Week:

"He has survived as simply a survivor. And what we mean by that is simple. "

Re-Birth [SIC]

In his latest article, Philip Klein portrays the Beaumont Mayor Pro Tem election of Audwin Samuel as a "political rebirth." Klein starts his article with a factual error:

"Audwin Samuel was given new political life by the city council of Beaumont yesterday in his honorary appointment as Mayor Pro-tem."

Readers who passed high school civics will realize that this was not an honorary appointment; rather, this was a unanimous vote by the Beaumont City Council. Not only is Klein mistaken about how a mayor pro tem is chosen, but he failed to comprehend the real dynamics operating in the Beaumont City Council.

Only three members of the sitting council have the necessary experience: Becky Ames, Nancy Beaulieu, and Audwin Samuel. As Mayor, Becky Ames is ineligible to serve as mayor pro tem. Nancy Beaulieu has served in that position for the past year and declined a second term.

Philip was apparently too dense to see that Samuel simply won the seat by default.

Article Statistics:

• Factual Error: 1
• Redundancies: 2
• Sentence Fragments: 5
• Words: 347
• Paragraphs: 11
• Spelling errors: 1

BREAKING NEWS: Philip's Manufactured Sources

For those who still wonder whether Philip Klein makes up most of his so-called "sources," consider recent developments regarding Carolyn Guidry. Klein has been quite vocal over Carolyn Guidry in past weeks, alleging a far-fetched conspiracy among Jefferson County officials to "get Guidry." These comments included articles on June 13th and June 4th, when he wrote:

"A source close to the 4th floor tells the Review : "I think this goes back to the days of old around the courthouse. She is one of the last Griffith supporters around the courthouse. And she has done nothing to promote the cause."

Unfortunately, none of Klein's sources told him about the letter Guidry sent last week to ALL of the political subdivisions of Jefferson County. In this letter, Guidry informed these entities that they'll have to conduct their own elections without help from the County Clerk's office. According to the story in this morning's Beaumont Enterprise:

"In a letter to the political subdivisions last week, Guidry said the 'demanding task requires almost the entire County Clerk's staff, which places a sizable burden on our daily work.'"

These subdivisions include school boards and municipalities throughout the county - since PRK claims to have sources everywhere, surely at least one would have tipped him to this development.

As I've previously pointed out before, Klein's support of Guidry has vacillated from his original allegations of her incompetence last year. This is significant - Klein is now supporting "BIG GOVERNMENT WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS (emphasis is Philip's)," because Guidry wants an entirely new department created within the county to administer elections.

Even the most obtuse readers should realize that Klein is merely exploiting this issue to throw more mud. He frequently denigrates Commissioner Mark Domingue as a "TAX-AND-SPEND DEMOCRAT," but consider Domingue's statement to the Enterprise:

"I think the bottom line is she's trying to force Commissioners Court to create an elections administrator," he said. "The downside is you create a whole new bureaucracy. ...I'm not convinced it's in the taxpayers' benefit for the administrator to create another bureaucracy."

Imagine that - Philip Klein supports more bureaucracy with your tax dollars in Jefferson County. Rather inconsistent, wouldn't you say?

Ford Park Fall Out?

In this article, Philip Klein rants about the annual Juneteenth event at Ford Arena. Thousands of people were turned away during the event, even though the Arena was filled to only about 60 percent capacity. Klein writes:

"Simply put - the cops closed the doors because there were too many people."

Typically, Klein purposely omits several key issues. Neither the cops nor the Jefferson County Commissioners made the decision to close those doors; rather, SMG's manager of the facility, Charlie Gardner, did. Philip missed this very important point, so let me repeat: SMG's manager arbitrarily made the decision to close the doors.

Furthermore, Magic 102.5 gave away 26,000 free tickets for an event in a facility that only holds 9,600 people. According to the Beaumont Enterprise, these tickets were given away, "based on a formula that predicts how many free tickets given away are likely to be used." Apparently, this formula is one of those that Klein uses for his observations on the economy.

I especially enjoyed this quote:

"And you Jefferson County Black Democrats - how do you fell now?"

Article Statistics:

• Overt Bias: 1
• Factual errors: 2
• Sentence fragments: 4
• Words: 475
• Paragraphs: 17
• Spelling errors: 3

Visitors Center To Open

After Klein whines about the new Ben Roger's Visitor Center at Ford Park, he writes:

And another way to dump money into another way to welcome people to the most corrupt county in Texas. There are no others more corrupt."

Disregarding the gibberish, Philip leads a sheltered life - he's apparently never heard of Duval, Swisher, or Starr counties. Another personal favorite is Loving County, the least populated county in the entire U.S. Loving County is listed in the U.S. Census with a population of only 67. However, 156 people voted in the 2000 election. Since then, the U.S. Census estimates the population at less that 60, but 85 residents cast ballots in the 2006 elections.

Philip, if you think "happy times" are here, then bring it on, you idiot.

Article Statistics

• Factual errors: 2
• Manufactured sources: 1
• Sentence fragments: 2
• Words: 381
• Paragraphs: 14
• Spelling error: 3

Father's Day

Philip Klein writes:

"We received a call this past week from a lawyer that told us the story of a dad that called him this week. "

I wonder who's breaking attorney-client privilege to talk to Klein?

Article Statistics

• Manufactured sources: 1
• Sentence fragments: 4
• Words: 619
• Paragraphs: 12
• Spelling errors: 3

Tidbits

Budget Items: Since Commissioners have not been presented with a preliminary budget, how could Philip be conversant on line items that don't exist?

Crime Report: More biased opinion from someone who insists upon viewing Jefferson County as a glass half-empty.

EMAILS: Philip purportedly gets an email message from a Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff, not to mention those thousands of other messages daily from all 50 states and 8 foreign countries.

Alive: Philip has more complaints, but no solutions, on illegal immigration. WWPD (what would Philip do)? Philip does get a gold star for not quoting the Guy from Boston as a reliable source.

Get This Media: Answering Philip's question, yes, you're most definitely screwed up.

Green Conventions: Philip scoffs at the idea of fuel conservation. Since dependence on foreign oil is the top security issue according to the Pentagon, I think conserving fuel only makes sense.

Libby To Jail: Remember when Klein defended Scooter Libby?

Unrest In The Middle East: no relevant content.

Mayor Is Sick: Philip drops some gossip which even he admits has little to do with politics.

Blogger Report: Has anyone noticed that Klein signs his email messages as the Editor (see below)? A cursory read of www.setpoliticalreview.com on any given day will verify that Klein knows very little about editing.

Of course, Philip is not just a blogger - he invented blogging! Ask him and see; so, I suppose he gets a special dispensation.

Regarding those fictional statistics on Operation Klinewatch, I challenge Klein to cite one malapropism on this blog. Rather, Klein is simply dodging issues that I raise almost on a daily basis. For example:

• How's the Rhonda Dugas investigation on disturbing the peace coming along?
• How's the RICO investigation into Lamar University coming along?
• What about those Google subpoenas?
• Is Philip any closer to breaking that case of the Central Mall Mugging?
• How's that investigation into the Jefferson County D.A.'s office going?
• Still no response on Beaumont's numbers from the preliminary UCR, after I noted Klein's information was wrong.
• Did I miss the Examiner article on the VX issue in Port Arthur?
• Regarding illegal immigration, WWPD?

Philip Klein's Quote of the Week:

"Again .... BOOOOWHOOO."

Did Philip mean Boo-Hoo?

Klein's Ship of Fools

Spinning Tops On The Ship Of Fools

Philip writes of a preliminary budget meeting between the Jefferson County Commissioners and Sheriff's Office this week:

"But now for the spin - they say they only have a few deputies patrolling at night and cannot hire enough deputies to work the job because they do not get paid enough. So - pay us more and we can recruit more and we can hire more and we can cover the night shift!

That's not exactly what happened - compare the differences in Klein's account with that of the Beaumont Enterprise. I'll reserve comment on this issue until the real facts on this year's budget emerge. Given that fuel prices have risen 40 percent in the past 6 months, I think an increased budget is a foregone conclusion.

Readers will notice that after Klein brought this issue up in May, he still hasn't responded to my observation that Jefferson County's ranks in the 40 percentile of lowest tax rates across the state's 254 counties. Nor has Klein commented on budget increases in other counties as compared to Jefferson County.

I compared the budget of Jefferson County with Montgomery county, which is roughly a third bigger. Montgomery County's tax rate is about 7 cents more than Jefferson county.

When considering Klein's misconceptions, I wonder who he's referencing in "...Ship of Fools."

Article Statistics

• Manufactured sources: 1
• Overt Bias: 1
• Subject/Verb Disagreements: 2
• Sentence Fragments: 2
• Factual errors: 1
• Words: 186
• Paragraphs: 16
• Spelling Errors: 3

Lower Than Bush

I'll address some questions that Philip posed first:

"How about this - get your butts up and get a job and get to work. Oh....unemployment is at its lowest rate since when? Wages are higher than they have ever been? The stock market is setting records? Economic indicators are looking pretty good?"

Actually, the unemployment rate for May is at it's lowest rate, 4.5, only since April, when the rate was 4.4.

Regarding wages, Klein is simply wrong - the preliminary average hourly wage decreased in May to 17.27, down from 17.33 in April.

Concerning Klein's observation on the stock market, performance continues to ping-pong - after Tuesday's big sell-off, the markets rallied again. I'm writing this before the CPI is released this morning, so let's see what happens today.

Finally Klein mentions economic indicators - in Wednesday's report from the Fed, first quarter economic growth, as measured by GNP, slowed to 0.6. This is the weakest showing in more than four years.

When it comes to a economics, Philip can't buy a clue - I remember this shrewd observation from PRK: "...good economy higher gas prices. Supply - demand."

In reference to the article itself, Klein wrote:

"All [the Democrats] can come up with is higher taxes. "

Despite Klein's biased partisan rhetoric, the higher minimum wage to which he refers passed Congress with a non-partisan majority in both houses. Only small minority of Republicans and Democrats voted against that bill.

I challenge Klein to provide a real example of "higher taxes." Note, however, someone will need to pay higher taxes if deporting 12 million illegal workers, securing our southern border, and occupying Iraq are important issues.

Philip pirated his subject from the Wonkette's article on the same day. While the Wonkette referred to Americans as "suckers," Klein changed this to:

"So be mad you nanny Americans."

Nanny Americans? Perhaps Klein meant "ninny" Americans.

This reveals why Klein is often mistaken. Rather than reading source documents for the real story, his news comes from more dubious sources.

Another excellent example came during a revealing exchange on his subscriber-only Talkback Line this week. This exchange underscored the bizarre nature of Klein's so-called sources. Here's his original posting:

"Note : This was sent to me today. Interesting facts taking out the cursing. Any thoughts to start the week off : "

[The Guy from Boston]

"Philip R. Klein, Editor"

Despite Philip's spin, those aren't facts. For instance, 95 percent of all homicide warrants are not issued on illegals. This was also noted by one of Klein's subscribers, who shut Philip down rather quickly:

"Facts? That rant is bereft of facts. There are no such numbers of homicides nor of deaths due to drunk driving illegals. It's just nonsense. Locally I know of only one murder of an American by two illegals and one death which was probably a drunken illegal but the suspect was never identified. Those two only in more than 30 years, and we have thousands of illegals in this area. Better to rely on Uniform Crime Report figures I think. "

Readers should also note that the Guy from Boston's entire schtick is stolen from the original Kid From Brooklyn.

Article Statistics

• Sentence Fragments: 1
• Gross exaggerations: 2
• Factual error: 1
• Partisan bias: 3
• Words: 349
• Paragraphs: 12
• Spelling Errors: 2

Andy

Concerning the passing of Andrew Cokinos, Philip wrote:

"Our only beef with Cokinos was his inability to resign from the office when he could not completely understand or attend the meetings."

As to whether Cokinos could understand the meetings is simply Klein's opinion. Instead, Philip finds a way to throw mud at the passing of a true hero to many of us - discussing Andy's job performance in the months after he suffered a stroke is in very poor taste at this time.

Article Statistics

• Mud-slinging: 1
• Words: 196
• Paragraphs: 8
• Spelling errors: 1
• Sentence Fragments: 4

GOP Split

In his article, "GOP Split," Philip Klein predicts:

“By the time the primary gets to what was called super Tuesday in March - the race will be over.“

A few paragraphs later, Klein makes another prediction:

“We predict that there will be an all out fight at the convention this next year. “

This is another example of Klein’s frequent contradictory statements. In recent months, he defended Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, but then stated just two weeks later that Gonzales, “has to go.” As detailed earlier this week, Klein has also reversed his position on Jefferson County Clerk Carolyn Guidry.

Even the most obtuse readers will recognize Philip’s bias in favor of Fred Thompson, attributed to another anonymous source:

“’This is a race between Rudy and Fred. And what it really means is a fight between the middle of the road and the conservatives.’"

Perhaps Philip recognizes a kindred spirit in Fred Thompson - even though Thompson may play a Reagan Republican on television, his real-life record as a Washington insider is inconsistent.

Thompson co-chaired McCain’s presidential campaign in 2000, and helped fine-tune McCain’s campaign finance reform law, which most conservatives hated. His attendance record as Senator was atrocious. I've previously referred to his long career as a lobbyist, when he helped engineer the savings and loan debacle.

Thompson claims to be a pro-lifer, but moderates his view with statements that the government shouldn't be involved in private decisions such as these. Of 17 votes on gun control issues, Thompson voted for increasing control 9 times. He also voted for welfare block grants, against eliminating block grants for food stamps, for ending restrictions on violent videos sold to minors, and against banning affirmative action hiring with federal funds. He's not a visionary, since he voted to defund research into new sources of renewable energy.

Unfortunately, support for the former Tennessee senator seems to come from a sense of desperation among base voters who see Fred Thompson as the lesser of four evils.

Article Statistics:

• Manufactured sources: 1
• Malapropisms: 1
• Gross exaggerations: 1
• Sentence fragments: 1
• Bias statements: 2
• Words: 268
• Paragraphs: 9
• Spelling Errors: 1

Jefferson County Needs Philip Klein

Regarding the Jefferson County Commissioners' workshop on voting irregularities, Philip Klein wrote in "Not Enough Time" yesterday:

"It was time for Carolyn Guidry to give answers and solutions to the problems at hand...they shut her down...Judge Walker told the embattled clerk that time was up and they did not have time to hear her."

"If [the Jefferson County Commissioners] cannot get [Guidry] in the open - they will do it behind closed doors."

Obviously, neither PRK nor sources were there. Guidry spoke for the same amount of time as everyone else; in my opinion, she spent her allotted time shifting blame. Only after her regular time was up did she offer to address complaints directly, but Judge Walker made a procedural decision to continue with the workshop. This was a good call, since the crowd was SRO.

Observant readers will remember Klein's articles on Carolyn Guidry after past elections He accused the Jefferson County Clerk of incompetence, yet never addressed those problems with the voting machines themselves.

I think a citizen's ad hoc committee is an excellent idea, since I'm sure most citizens in Jefferson County would like to know what's really happening with those machines. Furthermore, I think Philip Klein would make an excellent committee member. That is, if he's willing.

How about it, Philip? I'm sure your popular support and political expertise would ensure a place.

Article Statistics

• Name-calling: 2
• Gross exaggerations: 2
• Subject/verb disagreements: 1
• Sentence fragments: 10
• Paragraphs: 17
• Words: 392
• Spelling errors: 0

Monday, June 11, 2007

San Juan

Philip Klein announced today that Angel San Juan is leaving KFDM/Channel 6 for a new position at KBTV/Channel 4. He uses Angel's move to throw more mud at Channel 6, as evidenced by Klein's biased language:

• "a severe blow to KFDM"
• "the now beleaguered station"
• "KFDM loses big"

Readers should note that Klein makes these dire predictions concerning Channel 6 on a regular basis, dating back to at least Albert Zipp. As an example, Klein also resurrects another perennial favorite through a manufactured source:

"'The rumor going around is that Larry may be on his way out,' said the source."

Regarding unsubstantiated rumors, another often-repeated story purports that Klein's big rift with local TV began when he was bluntly rejected as a "political commentator" by all three of the area's network affiliates.

Article Statistics:

• Subjective biases: 3
• Sentence Fragments: 3
• Malapropisms: 1
• Unsubstantiated Rumors: 1
• Manufactured sources: 1
• Words 417
• Paragraphs 14
• Spelling errors: 1
  

Rusty

Philip pays tribute to Rusty Surrette, the Channel 4 morning show anchor who's moving on to greener pastures in a much bigger market, Oklahoma City. Not content to simply praise Rusty's work here in Southeast Texas, Klein's also sniffs at Rusty's underwear:

"Rusty. For the first time that we know about, Rusty came out in a pretty safe liberal market being gay...a move that some thought would kill his career in the media."

In this case, some means Philip Klein. Really, Philip, who cares - this is more information than I want to know. It's only Monday, but my choice so far for the Philip Klein Quote of the Week has to be:

"As nobody really cared - it was a very bold move."

Philip didn't explain why this was such a bold move if no one cared.

Article Statistics:

• Manufactured Sources - 2
• Biased statements: 2
• Words: 417
• Paragraphs: 10
• Sentence Fragments 4
• Spelling errors: 1

Tidbits

Philip Klein's Tidbits each week seem to be those stories that deserve greater attention, but upon which Klein is too nescient to comment intelligently. As an example, consider Klein's comment over the debate on Jefferson County airspace:

"FAA - We have been watching this all week. Interesting that Ted Poe is supporting keeping a government agency open. Meaning he has concerns over safety? If so - we are behind keeping it open. If it is not a safety issue -"

PRK typically takes a firm stand on both sides of the issue, but he's still missing the real "story behind the story." Philip is having a difficult time finding real sources in the new county administration who'll actually talk to him.

In other tidbits, Klein's facts are completely wrong, or his comments are too silly to deserve response. Consider this statement:

"GOP Debate - Boring. Where is our boy Fred. Let's go buddy. Watch it shake it up. It is what the party needs."

Klein's talking about Fred Thompson, the actor/career lobbyist who helped engineer the savings and loan debacle. Really, Philip, is that what the GOP is looking for in a president? What about some of those other pesky little issues, such as Thompson's association with Scooter Libby and Tim Griffin; his young wife with the loud mouth and boob job; and his senatorial attendance and work record? There is a reason that Thompson hasn't joined the elephant stampede yet.

I always appreciate Klein's Blogger Report - there is great irony in a functionally illiterate writer who claims to have invented blogging shortly after Al Gore invented the Internet . In this week's Blogger Report, Klein wrote this about me:

"The DOKS - Have you all figured it out yet? It is pretty easy! Spin machine - Lawsuit - Malice - Port Arthur. Funny email to us today : "Have you seen them talk about your grammar and then misspell and then screw up their own grammar." RESPONSE : Sometimes it is fun to just sit back and watch. And the answer to your question - yes - blogspot gets their paper this next week. Let's see who steps up to fight it. It will not be CLEAT. "

Apparently, those people who correspond with Philip all use the same awkward sentence construction as Klein: "Have you seen them talk about your grammar and then misspell and then screw up their own grammar."

However, this is an opportune time to make an announcement. Because of popular demand, Operation Kleinwatch is now available in 8 different countries and 3 languages:

• Operation Klinewatch Canada
  
• Operation Klinewatch UK
  
• Operación Klinewatch Spain
  
• Unternehment Klinewatch Germany
  
• Operation Klinewatch Denmark
  
• Operasjon Klinewatch Norway
  
• Käyttö Klinewatch Finland
  

Article Statistics:

• Factual errors: 1
• Logical Fallacies: 2
• Effronteries: 2
• Threats: 1
• Misconceptions: 2
• Spelling errors: 0

Signs [Duh!]

In today's article, Philip Klein poses a false analogy, offers unsolicited advice to mayoral candidates in Port Arthur, and quotes an anonymous source. He also attacks Channel 6, Dr. Bruce Drury, Willie Lewis, Deloris Prince, and the population of Port Arthur. Woven loosely though this tapestry of disparate topics is an ambiguous thread about stolen campaign signs.

Klein neglected to mention that each sign cost $30 dollars, so the financial loss of 30 or 40 adds up to a fairly substantial sum. Klein also neglected to mention that three other local media outlets covered the same story, including the Beaumont Enterprise and the Port Arthur News. Furthermore, the theft of campaign signs happens everywhere, including little towns and big cities.

However, one local political consultant has never heard of campaign sign theft:

"...we have never seen anything like the story of political signs missing from a crime ridden community that is a in a county called Jefferson."

And so it goes - melodramatic gibberish and a silly subject not worthy of comment when considering other stories this week.

As an example, Klein's been very quiet about the transfer of airspace control over Jefferson County to Houston, which I suspect has as much to do with politics as missing campaign signs. Philip's sources apparently failed to brief him on those unsubstantiated rumors about the Southeast Texas Regional Airport.

Article Statistics:

• Manufactured Sources: 1
• Gross exaggerations: 1
• Biased statements: 3
• Unconfirmed rumors: 1
• Redundancies: 4
• Logical Fallacies: 1
• Spelling errors: 2

Editors Note [is this guy nuts or what?]

Today, Philip is threatening to sue everyone:

"Late yesterday afternoon, the Review and myself have given authorization to our legal counsel to begin the process of not only defending ourselves but to actively and aggressively pursue damages to this company and myself in State Court and with the Texas Bar. We have given authorization to issue subpoena to local media representatives who have information regarding this story, certain blog sites own by Google, Inc. and those who operate them, and individuals in Jefferson County
government. "

"Further, we are in the process of research of filing counter suits on multi-plaintiffs. We will have an announcement regarding this at a later date. "

Philip is bass-ackward. First, one needs a cause of action - even a sloppy process server knows a valid number must be on the subpoena.

Article Statistics

• Threats: 2
• Factual errors: 1
• Bias: 1
• Hubris: 1
• Spelling Errors: NONE

Philip has a ghost writer - his spelling is better than Philip's, but his grammar is just as bad.

Examiner

In a long-winded advertisement article today about this week's Examiner, Klein eventually wanders to a point:

"All three stations turned the company down citing expenses to send their camera people and a reporter to the site in Indiana. [Jerry] Jordan was the only reporter that took up the offer to go to the plant to witness the process which has created a huge wave of upset and pickets in Southeast Texas. "

Ignoring the biased language, I wonder who paid for Jerry's trip: Jerry Jordan, Veolia Environmental Services, or a pair of deep pockets at the Examiner?

Article Statistics:
Manufactured Sources: 3
Overtly partisan statements: 1
Logical Fallacies: 3
Name-calling: 1
Spelling Errors: NONE

Philip's proofreader gets a gold star today! If Klein can get his spelling together, we'll work on those grammatical train wrecks next - stay tuned!

In "16,185" on Monday, Philip Klein writes:

"There is a bunch of play in the United States on numbers. Like how many have been killed in the war in Iraq. That number, now pushing 3,500 or more, seems like a huge number. Until you look at the murder rate in the United States. "

Philip's point:

"...when you hear the media jump numbers out on the Iraq war, [think] about this: More Americans kill each other in three months than an entire war."

With judicious editing, even Philip can string together enough words to express a complete thought.

Unfortunately, PRK's point is another logical fallacy; specifically, a false analogy. Not only is this apples and oranges, but Philip Klein has trivialized the casualties of the Iraq War to a political talking point. Restating Klein's comparison circumspectly, more Americans have died in Iraq than in the World Trade Center attack.

Philip attributes another wild prediction to sources - he calls them anonymous, I call them manufactured:

"Who can predict this stuff. But it has not started off well," said one Beaumont officer we spoke with this morning. " "Another from Port Arthur told us : "You can never predict this stuff. But if you ask me I think it is going to get wild fast."

We'll revisit this statement in the fall.

For now, I think these figures and those years in the immediate past are representative of a shifting focus and redistribution of resources by the current administration. Instead of enforcing the law, the FBI and U.S. Justice Department are now focused on fighting terrorism.

The figure Klein quoted in his article's title, 16,185, came from a note on The Drudge Report yesterday:

The Drudge headline cites a Reuter's article on Yahoo!, but that number is not mentioned in the article. Nor is the number mentioned in the official press release on the Preliminary 2006 Uniform Crime Report from the FBI.

Philip did not mention the local numbers either, where the number of rapes and murders declined, and the total number of violent crimes was up by only 25. Typically, Klein offered no solutions:

"Maybe we can start up a new program for that and throw some more money at it? "

As a self-professed political analyst and conservative, what would Philip do?

The Linden/Klein Operation Klinewatch Ban

After his regular Saturday morning talk show, Philip Klein spent another half-hour on the air at KOLE as guest host of Ronnie Linden's show. I'm reminded of the old adage about the blind leading the blind. During this segment, both Linden and Klein called for a public boycott of my little blog.

This is another inconsistency and irony in their positions: two people who cite their 1st Amendment rights as a defense against publishing defamatory statements about a public official now want to limit your access to alternative opinions.

Klein is actively avoiding any of the issues that I regularly raise. You can keep track by referring to the list on right hand side of the page. I update this list regularly.

In his article Friday, Klein accused me of hate in an emotive argument after I raised questions about why he injected himself into this Central Mall mugging. This is another red herring and an appeal to emotion: Klein has avoided the original issue with his erroneous accusation. Apparently, Philip believes any criticism whatsoever constitutes hate.

After first positing that Central Mall would pay his fees to investigate this mugging, he solicited money on Friday, ostensibly for Crimestoppers. His readers were directed to send this money to Klein's post office box, not Crimestoppers.

While this may make sense to Klein, here's the issue that he never addressed: If this is truly on the level, why not have donors send money directly to EasTex Crimestoppers, rather than attempting to put himself in the middle of this issue?

On a related subject, Jeff Ortiz endorsed Klein's investigation on his website. I've reprinted the statement that Jeff apparently left in my comment section. As penance for the confusion in comments to this blog, I'll leave this up until Philip's mission is accomplished and the BG has been charged with the crime. The ball is in your court, Philip.

The Guidry Conspiracy

On another related subject, Klein is claiming that a conspiracy to replace Carolyn Guidry exists. After months of Klein's racially-tinged claims that that she's incompetent, his position has vacillated again and he's now defending her in his latest article, "Let's Get Her"

"In the end - this meeting with be what it is - politics and a chance to get Carolyn Guidry."

Philip's preoccupation with Rhonda Dugas is again evident:

"Or maybe even people like Rhonda Dugas that files reports at every election but cannot fill out a simple form."

No article from Philip Klein would be complete without a manufactured source:

"A source close to the 4th floor tells the Review : "I think this goes back to the days of old around the courthouse. She is one of the last Griffith supporters around the courthouse. And she has done nothing to promote the cause."

All of this has to do with a workshop session of the Jefferson County Commissioners this week, where citizens will be allowed to air complaints over recent elections. Channel 6 has the full story here.

Maybe Klein should submit some of his past articles on tampered ballot boxes, where he claimed Guidry was fixing the election for County Judge Ron Walker.

TIDBIT: Send Philip Your Money! (Updated 12:45 PM)

Philip is soliciting cash again:

"The Review is starting by asking the following web sites and sponsors to donate to Crime Stoppers in a special push to say enough and put this thug in jail."

Klein then advises potential donors to send cash or a money order (no checks, credit cards, or anything else that can be traced) to this address:

Operation ENOUGH
P.O. Box 1212
Nederland, Texas 77627

One might ask to whom this blind post office box belongs. The answer is found on Klein's front page:

Klein and Associates Political Relations
A Division of Klein Investments, Inc.
P.O. Box 1212
Nederland, Texas 77627

In my opinion, it's a bad idea to send cash to anyone with no accountability, who runs businesses badly, and who has previously declared bankruptcy shortly after taking out a small business loan of almost one million dollars from the SBA.

Furthermore, the entire notion of trusting Klein seems ludicrous because he's simply not credible. By the way, Philip, how's that investigation into racketeering in the Lamar University Political Science department coming along? Did that investigation on Rhonda Dugas result in a Class C misdemeanor charge? Did PG from the de Novo blog call you back?

Perhaps Klein's intentions are truly honorable - if so, then he should have no problem if donations are made directly to Eastex Crimestoppers. You can find their mailing address and more at their website here. The point here is to generate money for Crimestoppers, not get one's donation listed on Philip Klein's website.

Since I prefer someone with more accountability handling finances, my donation is going directly to Eastex Crimestoppers later today.

UPDATE:

A reader left this message:

To the person running this blog, I spoke with an Ortiz family member this morning and the Ortiz family is not in favor of sending money to Klein. This person had a distrust for Klein and liked your idea of donations going to Crime Stoppers. This whole idea by Klein sounds cheesy and a way to bail out his private investigator business. Note to everyone reading this blog, be leary of sending money to Operation Enough.

I haven't verified this posting, but reiterating, I think sending cash to Philip Klein's mailbox is a mistake - better to make your donations directly to Eastex Crimestoppers. Here is the link to their web page again.

However, this was posted to the comments section at about 3:20 PM or so:

"Ortiz family which consists of the immediate members of the person who was attacked and robbed in Central Mall supports the efforts of Mr. Klein and others who are trying to apprehend the man who did this my Grandmother."

Jeff Ortiz
www.jeffortiz.com

I haven't verified this either, but if this is truly from Jeff Ortiz, he should follow up with an endorsement of Philip Klein on his own website.