This blog is mainly about the spectacular train wreck at The Sacramento Bee and its parent company, the McClatchy Company. But I also post about current events, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, politics, anything else that grabs my attention. Take a look around this blog, hope you enjoy it.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Monday August 10 -- Got news or an update?
If you have news or an update, leave it in comments. . . .
43 comments:
Anonymous
said...
SEIU Thugs Who Beat a Black Conservative & Smashed a Woman's Face Claim They Were the Real Victims. But wait!
Meet SEIU Leader Behind Attacks Public Service Director of SEIU Local 2000, and Baptist minister Elston McCowan.
You may recognize Elston McGowan. He was one of the thugs who beat Kenneth Gladney last week after the Carnahan town hall meeting. McGowan said Gladney, who is half his size, actually attacked him.
At least two of the other thugs arrested at the town hall were Russ Carnahan supporters. What a shock.
Dem Leaders Pelosi & Hoyer Incite a Mob... Say Protesting Their Socialist Agenda Is "Un-American" (USA Today)
Dem Leaders Pelosi and Hoyer misrepresent tea party patriots-- misrepresent their socialist health plan-- say protesting their agenda is "un-American"-- forget to mention the violent physical attacks by Leftist thugs on patriotic protesters.
MORE PRIVATE HEALTH CARE IN CANADA URGED (single-payer is breaking the bank NCPA
MORE PRIVATE HEALTH CARE IN CANADA URGED February 20, 2008
The architect of Quebec's now-overburdened public health care system is proposing a strong and controversial remedy that includes further privatization and user fees of up to C$100 (about U.S. $98) for people to see their family doctor.
In a 338-page report, former provincial Liberal health minister Claude Castonguay concluded that Quebec can no longer sustain the annual growth in health care costs. The province currently spends about C$24 billion (about U.S. $23.6 billion) annually on health care, or about 40 per cent of its budget.
Other recommendations include:
- A new tax, including a "health care deductible" based on income and the number of visits made to a doctor's office or hospital in a calendar year. Low-income families and children would be exempt.
- Encouraging private-sector involvement in the management of hospitals and medical clinics.
- Lifting a ban that prevents doctors from practicing both in the public system and privately.
- Raising the provincial sales tax by up to one percentage point.
In the report, provocatively titled "Getting Our Money's Worth," the working group headed by Castonguay also recommends an overhaul of the Canada Health Act, which "sooner or later must be adapted to today's realities."
"If nothing is done, at one point we will reach a crisis point ... this is why we say it is urgent to act," Castonguay said. "There's no miracle solution, there is no simple solution."
California could get nine House seats it doesn’t deserve because illegal aliens will be counted in 2010.
Next year’s census will determine the apportionment of House members and Electoral College votes for each state. To accomplish these vital constitutional purposes, the enumeration should count only citizens and persons who are legal, permanent residents. But it won’t.
Instead, the U.S. Census Bureau is set to count all persons physically present in the country—including large numbers who are here illegally.
The result will unconstitutionally increase the number of representatives in some states and deprive some other states of their rightful political representation. Citizens of “loser” states should be outraged. Yet few are even aware of what’s going on.
JERUSALEM – The Associated Press is delivering to its subscribing 1,500 American newspapers content, it has emerged, penned by groups with financing from philanthropist George Soros and another far-leftist billionaire who not only campaigned for President Obama but also topped donor lists to groups like ACORN and MoveOn.org.
The AP announced last month it will allow its subscribers to publish free of charge work by four nonprofit groups, the Center for Public Integrity, the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, the Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica.
Controversial Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., a friend of President Obama who was embroiled in a recent national race scandal, sits on the board of ProPublica. The group defines itself as "an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest."
ProPublica was founded with a $10 million yearly grant from Herbert and Marion Sandler, the former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation, which was one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders and savings and loans. The Sandlers last year sold their business to the Wachovia Corporation for about $26 billion, a deal which valued their personal shares at about $2.4 billion.
The Sandlers are major donors to the Democratic Party and are top funders of ACORN, MoveOne.org, the American Civil Liberties Union and other far-leftist groups like Human Rights Watch.
In 2008, the Sandlers were behind two controversial California Political Action Committees, Vote Hope and PowerPac.org, which spent about $5 million in pro-Obama ads in that state. The two groups were run by the Sandler's son-in-law, Steve Phillips, the former president of the San Francisco School Board.
The journalistic integrity of the Sandler-backed ProPublica, however, has been repeatedly called into question.
Yesterday a poster wrote, “Hmmm, then is it safe to say our troll is a Bee Guild member?”
I had not thought of that, but it makes perfect sense. Thuggish attacks on the posters, not the topic has become common on this blog. The liberals that post here know they are in the minority, and yet they bring their hateful bile to every thread. Why would they bother? They are of the union ilk, destroy their oppositions’ right to speak. That has been plainly seen in the thugs at the townhall meetings. Any comment mentioning another poster should be deleted. They don’t know how to write anything of merit. The troll situation would be solved, and this blog a better place to read the news.
Bipartisan opposition is emerging in the Senate to a plan by House lawmakers to spend $550 million for additional passenger jets for senior government officials.
The resistance to buying eight Gulfstream and Boeing planes comes as members of both chambers of Congress embark on the busiest month of the year for official overseas travel. The plan to upgrade the fleet of government jets, which was included in a broader defense-funding bill, has also sparked criticism from the Pentagon, which has said it doesn't need half of the new jets.
"The whole thing kind of makes me sick to my stomach," said Mrs. McCaskill in an interview Sunday. "It is evidence that some of the cynicism about Washington is well placed -- that people get out of touch and they spend money likes it's Monopoly money."
Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.) says the planned purchase "is a classic example of Congress being out of touch with the realities of deficit spending."
The Obama administration had sought $220 million to buy four passenger jets, including two that are currently being leased by the Air Force, to replace a fleet of older planes. Before leaving town for the August break, House lawmakers doubled the aircraft order to eight, at a total cost of $550 million.
NBC Launches Liberal Site For 'The' African-American Perspective On News (Mark Finkelstein)
"There is not a Black America and a White America and a Latino America and an Asian America -- there's the United States of America." -- Barack Obama, 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address.
"theGrio.com. The African-American perspective on news. Our lives, our world, our stories. theGrio.com. Part of NBC News." -- promo for new NBC News website, August 9, 2009.
So much for Barack Obama's promise of a post-racial America. NBC News apparently believes that African-Americans can be pigeonholed. In NBC's view, there exists "the" African-American perspective on news. So announced the NBC promo, aired during today's Meet The Press, for a new website, theGrio.com.
Journalist: '45%-65% of protestors are racists' (So says Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta-Journal) American Thinker
Why of course that many protestors are racists, says Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
(In an exchange between Tucker and Crissy Matthews on Hardball)
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Put 100 of these people in a room. Strap them into gurneys. Inject them with sodium pentathol. How many of them would say "I don't like the idea of having a black president"? What percentage?
CYNTHIA TUCKER: Oh, I'm just guessing. This is just off the cuff. I think 45 to 65% of the people who appear at these groups are people who will never be comfortable with the idea of a black president.
Douglass stands by W.H. effort to gather 'fishy' health information The Hill ^
Obama administration official Linda Douglass on Sunday dismissed claims that the White House has tried to compile an "enemies list" and censor debate on healthcare reform legislation.
Last week, the White House made a blog post accusing opponents of spreading "disinformation" on healthcare and encouraged supporters to submit "fishy" information floating around the internet.
"We don't have a list we're not keeping any of the sources of information those are all crazy charges," said Douglass, who is Communications Director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Douglass appeared on CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) sent the White House a letter at the end of last week expressing concern that the Obama administration may be collecting personal information belonging to their vocal opponents.
Though town halls are American as apple pie and one of the great examples of direct democracy, Democratic congressmen are thinking of trashing the concept, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Democrats have been holding town hall meetings in an effort to build support for healthcare-reform legislation, but opponents have been attending the events and voicing their opposition.
As a result, Democrats are reconsidering the town hall format for alternatives such as audio conferences and invitation-only small-group meetings.
Death Drugs Cause Uproar in Oregon ABC News/Health
The news from Barbara Wagner's doctor was bad, but the rejection letter from her insurance company was crushing.
The 64-year-old Oregon woman, whose lung cancer had been in remission, learned the disease had returned and would likely kill her. Her last hope was a $4,000-a-month drug that her doctor prescribed for her, but the insurance company refused to pay.
What the Oregon Health Plan did agree to cover, however, were drugs for a physician-assisted death. Those drugs would cost about $50.
"It was horrible," Wagner told ABCNews.com. "I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won't give you the medication to live."
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Media company E.W. Scripps Co. said Monday it made a profit in the second quarter despite a decline in revenue.
E.W. Scripps earned $2.3 million, or 4 cents per share, up from a loss of $531.2 million, or $9.78 per share, in the same period a year earlier. The 2008 quarter included an impairment charge of $525 million from the company's newspaper businesses, and a charge of $58 million from investments in newspaper partnerships in Colorado.
Revenue fell 23 percent to $193.9 million from $250.9 million.
Rich Boehne, president and CEO of the Cincinnati-based company, says Scripps is seeing slight improvement in its advertising markets over the past several weeks, especially at TV stations.
Revenue from the company's television stations was $61.1 million, a decrease of 24 percent from the same period a year earlier. The decline was largely due to reduced ad spending from companies in the automotive, financial services and retail industries.
Revenue from newspapers managed solely by Scripps fell 22 percent to $113 million. Advertising revenue declined 29 percent to $79.4 million, hurt by a weakness in print classified advertising.
How long should dead paper linger on web? (Newsosaur)
There is a special drawer in my house containing a neatly wrapped copy of the final edition of the Chicago Daily News, where I worked until it ceased publication on March 4, 1978.
So, I understand the affection and enduring sense of loss felt by a staff that has had a newspaper shot out from under it.
Still, I can’t help but wonder why the final website of the Rocky Mountain News remains online today as an uncomfortably maudlin reminder of the paper’s demise nearly six months after it closed.
The beautifully produced site (image below) attracted hundreds of comments – mostly sympathetic – when the E.W. Scripps Co. shut the paper on Feb. 27 after suffering tens of millions of dollars in operating losses that it said it could not staunch.
But the last of those comments came on March 3, which seems about the right length of time for a proper mourning period.
While the site attracted more than 600,000 unique visitors a month when the paper was going strong, traffic dropped to 132,000 visitors in June and has fallen off the radar since then, according to Compete.Com.
There’s no reason to visit, either. The site, which effectively captured the shock, grief and anguish of the paper’s talented staff at the moment it was closed, hasn’t been updated since then.
So, there it sits, frozen in time, evoking an awkward mawkishness that ill becomes the proud men and women who made the Rocky the hard-charging paper it was.
Tax on High-End Health Plans Threatens Wider Group WSJ(18% of plans by 2011)
A proposal to tax generous health plans could ensnare a broader swath of employers and workers whose benefits aren't necessarily gold-plated.
The idea, first pitched by Democratic Sen. John Kerry late last month, is being given serious consideration by members of the Senate Finance Committee. Senior House leaders and the Obama administration have said they are willing to entertain the idea to help finance a health-care overhaul.
Besides potentially generating tens of billions of dollar, proponents argue the move could slow the steep rise in health spending. They say generous insurance plans can encourage people to spend more freely on medical care.
The White House cited the health benefits enjoyed by top executives of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as an example of a so-called Cadillac health plan. The Wall Street firm pays roughly $40,000 in annual premiums for each executive's family.
Feds Holding Back $100 Million in Drill Leases (CNBC)
Brian Wixom's company has paid the U.S. government hundreds of thousands of dollars for leases to drill for oil and gas on federal lands over the years, only to never put a rig in the ground.
The money simply sits in a federal bank account as Wixom and other drillers wait for an agonizing bureaucratic process to run its course.
As it turns out, the federal government is holding a boatload of money for leases it auctioned and sold but hasn't issued, holding them back for bureaucratic review because of environmental protests and lawsuits. The backlog grew exponentially under the administration of President George W. Bush as it pushed for more domestic drilling.
The Associated Press has calculated that the government is sitting on close to $100 million paid for millions of acres of energy leases in the Rocky Mountains that have been withheld for as long as seven years, according to records and interviews with BLM officials in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.
Drillers are steamed by the process. They don't understand why the federal government is sitting on such an enormous sum of money, especially at a time when politicians in Washington are so focused on spending stimulus money to revive the economy.
My sister nailed it many years ago when she said, "Your basic human is not such a hot item."
Keep that filed in your head as I tell my little tale.
About five or six years ago, roughly, I was solicited to write a column every two weeks for the Sunday New York Times Business Section. I was really thrilled. I have written for the Washington Post (when I was a teenager), for the Wall Street Journal edit page under the legendary Bob Bartley, for Barron's, under the really great Alan Abelson and Jim Meagher, for my beloved American Spectator, under the great Bob and Wlady, and now having a regular column at the Times was going to be great stuff.
The column went well. I got lots of excellent fan mail and fine feedback from my editors, who, however, kept changing.
The first real super problem I had was when the movie I narrated and co-wrote, Expelled--No Intelligence Allowed, was in progress. A "science writer" for the Times blasted the movie on the front page and noted that I, whom she repeatedly called "...a freelance writer..." (not a columnist ) for the Times was somehow involved. That was followed by a really fantastically angry blast against the movie by a reviewer who really hated it a lot. (I note that the Times also disliked Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Hmm.)
Expelled was a plea for open discussion of the possibility that life might have started with an Intelligent Designer. This idea, that freedom of academic discussion on an issue as to which there is avid scientific disagreement has value, seems obvious to me. But it drives the atheists and neo-Darwinists crazy and they responded viciously.
Congressmen Took Exotic 'Climate Change' Junket (Newsmax)
Diving and snorkeling at Australia's Great Barrier Reef, watching New Year's fireworks in New Zealand and sleeping in a luxury Hawaiian hotel is the vacation of a lifetime – unless you're a member of Congress. Then it's a fact-finding mission to study climate change.
Ten lawmakers – six Democrats and four Republicans – spent 11 days on an international junket in some of the most breathtaking spots on Earth, and then stuck taxpayers with the $500,000-plus bill.
According to the Wall Street Journal, six spouses also made the journey at the end of 2007, and their expenses for lodging and travel also came out of taxpayers' pockets.
“The trip we made was more valuable than 100 hearings," Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., to the Journal. “Are there members of Congress who take trips somewhat recreationally?
Baird, the lead congressman on the exotic junket, was the chairman of the House Science Committee's subcommittee on research and science education at the time. The trip was ostensibly to gather information on global warming and how federal funds are used for scientific projects.
During their adventure, the 10 lucky lawmakers visited the Great Barrier Reef, Australia's rain forest, a research station at the South Pole, a penguin colony, and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach.
The final tab? The lawmakers reported the total cost at merely $103,000, according to the Journal. But that figure doesn't include flight costs because commercial airlines were not used. Instead, Air Force jets ferried the participants to their far-flung destinations. The Journal used Pentagon figures to estimate that the flight expenses brought the overall cost of the junket to more than $500,000.
Democrats imploding over health care (The Baltimore Sun)
The Democratic Party seems to have placed itself on the fast track to oblivion. As public rejection of Obama-care increases, our Democratic representatives are slinking into their shells, just like that fatal character who places her fingers in her ears and chants, "la la la."
Worse than that, our representatives are now attempting to convince themselves that the opposition is actually some type of conspiracy; that the insurance and pharmaceutical companies have paid off some vast numbers of Americans, or that they all march to the drum of the Republican Party.
The liberal legislators of Oregon try to convince taxpayers that the state taxes are low, but it is becoming a state of hidden taxation and fees. The environmentalist whackjobs ruined the logging industry, and taxpayers throughout the US pay welfare payments to loggers that lost their means of livelihood. The payments were recently extended past the time period promised by the bluenoses. What fools we have been. If the thuggish tactics of the Obama regime wake people up, it will be the best oppression of free speech that ever happened, and backfired on socialist pigs.
Second Stimulus Needed to Avoid Lost Decade: Krugman (CNBC)
The world economy needs a second stimulus if it is to avoid the fate of Japan in the 1990s when the country was stuck with years of sluggish growth, Nobel laureate and professor of economics Paul Krugman told CNBC Monday.
"The good news is that it does not look like the 2nd great depression. For a few months it did," Krugman said.
Though town halls are American as apple pie and one of the great examples of direct democracy, Democratic congressmen are thinking of trashing the concept, according to the Wall Street Journal.
They should stop them. These meetings have become a total joke. To watch all of these crazy people yelling and screaming their staged protest is stupid. It'll get nothing done except to diminish their message.
Think about it. What do you do when your kid throws a temper tantrum. Do you cave in? No; you send them to their room.
Liberal school teachers indoctrinate our children into believing that cutting a tree down is like killing a human being. That is why we import wood from Canada, while we have millions of acres of trees untouched, and new houses cost twice what they should. Sort of like our oil in the ground while we import foreign oil. School teachers have become nothing more than a thuggish union voting block, and they wonder why their profession has lost credibility, sort of like lying media journalists. This is the time to look closely at all union thugs, and reveal who they really are.
The Drudge Report has a photo of Pelosi. It looks like she had better get on ‘Our’ private jet, and fly to the Botox factory. Man, she looks like a hag.
Figures... Leftists Hurl Racist Insults at Black Man After Horrible Beating
On Thursday night, Kenneth Gladney was beaten, kicked and called racist names by Russ Carnahan's SEIU supporters after a town hall meeting in Mehlville, Missouri.
Now, the Left is mocking him. The racists at Fire Dog Lake lead the charge with this racist photo of Kennth the silly black man in a wheelchair:
The title of their post says it all: Kenneth the Teabagging Drama Queen
Not only do these racists mock Kenneth's fragile condition after the beating he endured from Obama-supporting SEIU thugs, they also hurl sexual slurs at him. To these clods, calling a black man n*gger and then beating him is funny. Classy.
Democratic Underground continued the tea bagging insults:
Kenneth Gladney is a fraud, being pimped by tea baggers (aka POLITICAL TERRORISTS)
And, of course, they are repeating the lie that Kenneth is without insurance.
Drug Industry to Run Ads Favoring White House Plan
WASHINGTON — The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday.
The unusually large scale of the industry’s commitment to the cause helps explain some of a contentious back-and-forth playing out in recent days between the odd-couple allies over a deal that the White House struck with the industry in June to secure its support.
The terms of the deal were not fully disclosed. Both sides had announced that the drug industry would contribute $80 billion over 10 years to the cost of the health care overhaul without spelling out the details.
Horrible Thought of the Day: If Obama gets his handout national health care plan pushed through just think how many Mexicans will be storming the border for free medical in this country.
Just annex Mexico and get it over with. The only difference between Mexico being a country and part of the U.S.of A. is some legal paper work that Obama and Fox need to work out and sign. Then we can all sneak into Canada for free health care!
Now we know why the Democrats try to rush through their nincompoop plans. Everything they try to do is wrong for the USA. As the truth about their socialist agenda comes out, taxpayers revolt. What a creepy person Obama is. Just plain creepy!
AARP is in a tizzy. They didn’t plan on seniors holding ‘Cut-up your AARP card parties’. They plan to spend thousands on ads to get The Debt President's plan passed, but say they have not endorsed any plan at this time. Strip their no-tax status, what liars they are. Just yesterday there was a post about how much money the frauds paid to elect Obama. I hope they go broke for their dishonesty.
Some members of the radical group La Raza brag that they will take back the land the US stole from Mexico without firing a shot. Sonia Sotomayor was a 'La Raza member'- The damage has been done, and a shot wasn’t fired for truth by the leftist media. Truth to Power? What a joke!
“About 20 million of the 47 million without health care in this country are illegals.”
Yes, and hard working taxpayers will be waiting for doctor’s appointments in line behind them. The illegals will need interpreters, and the vile attorneys’ will have a whole new source of litigation. “They didn’t understand their doctor”, sue him out of the profession. BTW: Where is the tort reform needed to bring down healthcare costs?
Yes, and hard working taxpayers will be waiting for doctor’s appointments in line behind them. The illegals will need interpreters, and the vile attorneys’ will have a whole new source of litigation. “They didn’t understand their doctor”, sue him out of the profession.
====================
Our dear leader has already addrssed this you right wing bully.
Page 91 is your mandate for paying for linguistics experts for our undocumented citizens of utopia.
Page 124 Clearly states that you cannot sue dear leaders minions you right wing crazy person.
Editor & Publisher, which doesn't have much credibility in the fairness department, has nontheless named its 10 newspapers that "Did It Right" under tough economic circumstances. The year's top 10 didn't include a single McClatchy newspaper. They "did it wrong."
AARP has performed an amazing turnout in public perception - from respected senior organization to despised, on-the-take Obama suckup. Their leadership should resign in disgrace.
We're already paying for illegals health care every time they show up in ER in need of an Aspirin. The Feds are fanning racial hatred in this country by not doing a damn thing about illegal immigration and handouts to these lawbreakers. Legal citizens can't be expected to embrace illegals who are ruining the economy.
I read that the Indianapolis Star's guild and the company today have tentatively agreed to a 10 percent PAY CUT! What about that much-rumored August pay raise for what's left of McClatchy employees? Having heard much about it...
43 comments:
SEIU Thugs Who Beat a Black Conservative & Smashed a Woman's Face Claim They Were the Real Victims. But wait!
Meet SEIU Leader Behind Attacks
Public Service Director of SEIU Local 2000, and Baptist minister Elston McCowan.
You may recognize Elston McGowan. He was one of the thugs who beat Kenneth Gladney last week after the Carnahan town hall meeting. McGowan said Gladney, who is half his size, actually attacked him.
At least two of the other thugs arrested at the town hall were Russ Carnahan supporters. What a shock.
Dem Leaders Pelosi & Hoyer Incite a Mob... Say Protesting Their Socialist Agenda Is "Un-American"
(USA Today)
Dem Leaders Pelosi and Hoyer misrepresent tea party patriots-- misrepresent their socialist health plan-- say protesting their agenda is "un-American"-- forget to mention the violent physical attacks by Leftist thugs on patriotic protesters.
"White House Fishstapo"
I suppose this is fishy. Too funny!
MORE PRIVATE HEALTH CARE IN CANADA URGED (single-payer is breaking the bank NCPA
MORE PRIVATE HEALTH CARE IN CANADA URGED February 20, 2008
The architect of Quebec's now-overburdened public health care system is proposing a strong and controversial remedy that includes further privatization and user fees of up to C$100 (about U.S. $98) for people to see their family doctor.
In a 338-page report, former provincial Liberal health minister Claude Castonguay concluded that Quebec can no longer sustain the annual growth in health care costs. The province currently spends about C$24 billion (about U.S. $23.6 billion) annually on health care, or about 40 per cent of its budget.
Other recommendations include:
- A new tax, including a "health care deductible" based on income and the number of visits made to a doctor's office or hospital in a calendar year. Low-income families and children would be exempt.
- Encouraging private-sector involvement in the management of hospitals and medical clinics.
- Lifting a ban that prevents doctors from practicing both in the public system and privately.
- Raising the provincial sales tax by up to one percentage point.
In the report, provocatively titled "Getting Our Money's Worth," the working group headed by Castonguay also recommends an overhaul of the Canada Health Act, which "sooner or later must be adapted to today's realities."
"If nothing is done, at one point we will reach a crisis point ... this is why we say it is urgent to act," Castonguay said. "There's no miracle solution, there is no simple solution."
Our Unconstitutional Census (WSJ)
California could get nine House seats it doesn’t deserve because illegal aliens will be counted in 2010.
Next year’s census will determine the apportionment of House members and Electoral College votes for each state. To accomplish these vital constitutional purposes, the enumeration should count only citizens and persons who are legal, permanent residents. But it won’t.
Instead, the U.S. Census Bureau is set to count all persons physically present in the country—including large numbers who are here illegally.
The result will unconstitutionally increase the number of representatives in some states and deprive some other states of their rightful political representation. Citizens of “loser” states should be outraged. Yet few are even aware of what’s going on.
5:34 AM Read the article. What an eye opener!
AP to distribute Soros-funded 'journalism'
JERUSALEM – The Associated Press is delivering to its subscribing 1,500 American newspapers content, it has emerged, penned by groups with financing from philanthropist George Soros and another far-leftist billionaire who not only campaigned for President Obama but also topped donor lists to groups like ACORN and MoveOn.org.
The AP announced last month it will allow its subscribers to publish free of charge work by four nonprofit groups, the Center for Public Integrity, the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, the Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica.
Controversial Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., a friend of President Obama who was embroiled in a recent national race scandal, sits on the board of ProPublica. The group defines itself as "an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest."
ProPublica was founded with a $10 million yearly grant from Herbert and Marion Sandler, the former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation, which was one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders and savings and loans. The Sandlers last year sold their business to the Wachovia Corporation for about $26 billion, a deal which valued their personal shares at about $2.4 billion.
The Sandlers are major donors to the Democratic Party and are top funders of ACORN, MoveOne.org, the American Civil Liberties Union and other far-leftist groups like Human Rights Watch.
In 2008, the Sandlers were behind two controversial California Political Action Committees, Vote Hope and PowerPac.org, which spent about $5 million in pro-Obama ads in that state. The two groups were run by the Sandler's son-in-law, Steve Phillips, the former president of the San Francisco School Board.
The journalistic integrity of the Sandler-backed ProPublica, however, has been repeatedly called into question.
Yesterday a poster wrote,
“Hmmm, then is it safe to say our troll is a Bee Guild member?”
I had not thought of that, but it makes perfect sense. Thuggish attacks on the posters, not the topic has become common on this blog. The liberals that post here know they are in the minority, and yet they bring their hateful bile to every thread. Why would they bother? They are of the union ilk, destroy their oppositions’ right to speak. That has been plainly seen in the thugs at the townhall meetings. Any comment mentioning another poster should be deleted. They don’t know how to write anything of merit. The troll situation would be solved, and this blog a better place to read the news.
Opposition Emerges to House's Jet Spree (WSJ)
Bipartisan opposition is emerging in the Senate to a plan by House lawmakers to spend $550 million for additional passenger jets for senior government officials.
The resistance to buying eight Gulfstream and Boeing planes comes as members of both chambers of Congress embark on the busiest month of the year for official overseas travel. The plan to upgrade the fleet of government jets, which was included in a broader defense-funding bill, has also sparked criticism from the Pentagon, which has said it doesn't need half of the new jets.
"The whole thing kind of makes me sick to my stomach," said Mrs. McCaskill in an interview Sunday. "It is evidence that some of the cynicism about Washington is well placed -- that people get out of touch and they spend money likes it's Monopoly money."
Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.) says the planned purchase "is a classic example of Congress being out of touch with the realities of deficit spending."
The Obama administration had sought $220 million to buy four passenger jets, including two that are currently being leased by the Air Force, to replace a fleet of older planes. Before leaving town for the August break, House lawmakers doubled the aircraft order to eight, at a total cost of $550 million.
NBC Launches Liberal Site For 'The' African-American Perspective On News (Mark Finkelstein)
"There is not a Black America and a White America and a Latino America and an Asian America -- there's the United States of America." -- Barack Obama, 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address.
"theGrio.com. The African-American perspective on news. Our lives, our world, our stories. theGrio.com. Part of NBC News." -- promo for new NBC News website, August 9, 2009.
So much for Barack Obama's promise of a post-racial America. NBC News apparently believes that African-Americans can be pigeonholed. In NBC's view, there exists "the" African-American perspective on news. So announced the NBC promo, aired during today's Meet The Press, for a new website, theGrio.com.
Journalist: '45%-65% of protestors are racists' (So says Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta-Journal)
American Thinker
Why of course that many protestors are racists, says Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
(In an exchange between Tucker and Crissy Matthews on Hardball)
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Put 100 of these people in a room. Strap them into gurneys. Inject them with sodium pentathol. How many of them would say "I don't like the idea of having a black president"? What percentage?
CYNTHIA TUCKER: Oh, I'm just guessing. This is just off the cuff. I think 45 to 65% of the people who appear at these groups are people who will never be comfortable with the idea of a black president.
Douglass stands by W.H. effort to gather 'fishy' health information
The Hill ^
Obama administration official Linda Douglass on Sunday dismissed claims that the White House has tried to compile an "enemies list" and censor debate on healthcare reform legislation.
Last week, the White House made a blog post accusing opponents of spreading "disinformation" on healthcare and encouraged supporters to submit "fishy" information floating around the internet.
"We don't have a list we're not keeping any of the sources of information those are all crazy charges," said Douglass, who is Communications Director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Douglass appeared on CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) sent the White House a letter at the end of last week expressing concern that the Obama administration may be collecting personal information belonging to their vocal opponents.
Democrats May Stop Town Halls
Though town halls are American as apple pie and one of the great examples of direct democracy, Democratic congressmen are thinking of trashing the concept, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Democrats have been holding town hall meetings in an effort to build support for healthcare-reform legislation, but opponents have been attending the events and voicing their opposition.
As a result, Democrats are reconsidering the town hall format for alternatives such as audio conferences and invitation-only small-group meetings.
Death Drugs Cause Uproar in Oregon ABC News/Health
The news from Barbara Wagner's doctor was bad, but the rejection letter from her insurance company was crushing.
The 64-year-old Oregon woman, whose lung cancer had been in remission, learned the disease had returned and would likely kill her. Her last hope was a $4,000-a-month drug that her doctor prescribed for her, but the insurance company refused to pay.
What the Oregon Health Plan did agree to cover, however, were drugs for a physician-assisted death. Those drugs would cost about $50.
"It was horrible," Wagner told ABCNews.com. "I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won't give you the medication to live."
E.W. Scripps posts 2nd-quarter profit of $2.3M
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Media company E.W. Scripps Co. said Monday it made a profit in the second quarter despite a decline in revenue.
E.W. Scripps earned $2.3 million, or 4 cents per share, up from a loss of $531.2 million, or $9.78 per share, in the same period a year earlier. The 2008 quarter included an impairment charge of $525 million from the company's newspaper businesses, and a charge of $58 million from investments in newspaper partnerships in Colorado.
Revenue fell 23 percent to $193.9 million from $250.9 million.
Rich Boehne, president and CEO of the Cincinnati-based company, says Scripps is seeing slight improvement in its advertising markets over the past several weeks, especially at TV stations.
Revenue from the company's television stations was $61.1 million, a decrease of 24 percent from the same period a year earlier. The decline was largely due to reduced ad spending from companies in the automotive, financial services and retail industries.
Revenue from newspapers managed solely by Scripps fell 22 percent to $113 million. Advertising revenue declined 29 percent to $79.4 million, hurt by a weakness in print classified advertising.
How long should dead paper linger on web? (Newsosaur)
There is a special drawer in my house containing a neatly wrapped copy of the final edition of the Chicago Daily News, where I worked until it ceased publication on March 4, 1978.
So, I understand the affection and enduring sense of loss felt by a staff that has had a newspaper shot out from under it.
Still, I can’t help but wonder why the final website of the Rocky Mountain News remains online today as an uncomfortably maudlin reminder of the paper’s demise nearly six months after it closed.
The beautifully produced site (image below) attracted hundreds of comments – mostly sympathetic – when the E.W. Scripps Co. shut the paper on Feb. 27 after suffering tens of millions of dollars in operating losses that it said it could not staunch.
But the last of those comments came on March 3, which seems about the right length of time for a proper mourning period.
While the site attracted more than 600,000 unique visitors a month when the paper was going strong, traffic dropped to 132,000 visitors in June and has fallen off the radar since then, according to Compete.Com.
There’s no reason to visit, either. The site, which effectively captured the shock, grief and anguish of the paper’s talented staff at the moment it was closed, hasn’t been updated since then.
So, there it sits, frozen in time, evoking an awkward mawkishness that ill becomes the proud men and women who made the Rocky the hard-charging paper it was.
When does a newspaper get to rest in peace?
Tax on High-End Health Plans Threatens Wider Group WSJ(18% of plans by 2011)
A proposal to tax generous health plans could ensnare a broader swath of employers and workers whose benefits aren't necessarily gold-plated.
The idea, first pitched by Democratic Sen. John Kerry late last month, is being given serious consideration by members of the Senate Finance Committee. Senior House leaders and the Obama administration have said they are willing to entertain the idea to help finance a health-care overhaul.
Besides potentially generating tens of billions of dollar, proponents argue the move could slow the steep rise in health spending. They say generous insurance plans can encourage people to spend more freely on medical care.
The White House cited the health benefits enjoyed by top executives of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as an example of a so-called Cadillac health plan. The Wall Street firm pays roughly $40,000 in annual premiums for each executive's family.
Feds Holding Back $100 Million in Drill Leases (CNBC)
Brian Wixom's company has paid the U.S. government hundreds of thousands of dollars for leases to drill for oil and gas on federal lands over the years, only to never put a rig in the ground.
The money simply sits in a federal bank account as Wixom and other drillers wait for an agonizing bureaucratic process to run its course.
As it turns out, the federal government is holding a boatload of money for leases it auctioned and sold but hasn't issued, holding them back for bureaucratic review because of environmental protests and lawsuits. The backlog grew exponentially under the administration of President George W. Bush as it pushed for more domestic drilling.
The Associated Press has calculated that the government is sitting on close to $100 million paid for millions of acres of energy leases in the Rocky Mountains that have been withheld for as long as seven years, according to records and interviews with BLM officials in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.
Drillers are steamed by the process. They don't understand why the federal government is sitting on such an enormous sum of money, especially at a time when politicians in Washington are so focused on spending stimulus money to revive the economy.
Expelled From the New York Times (Ben Stein)
My sister nailed it many years ago when she said, "Your basic human is not such a hot item."
Keep that filed in your head as I tell my little tale.
About five or six years ago, roughly, I was solicited to write a column every two weeks for the Sunday New York Times Business Section. I was really thrilled. I have written for the Washington Post (when I was a teenager), for the Wall Street Journal edit page under the legendary Bob Bartley, for Barron's, under the really great Alan Abelson and Jim Meagher, for my beloved American Spectator, under the great Bob and Wlady, and now having a regular column at the Times was going to be great stuff.
The column went well. I got lots of excellent fan mail and fine feedback from my editors, who, however, kept changing.
The first real super problem I had was when the movie I narrated and co-wrote, Expelled--No Intelligence Allowed, was in progress. A "science writer" for the Times blasted the movie on the front page and noted that I, whom she repeatedly called "...a freelance writer..." (not a columnist ) for the Times was somehow involved. That was followed by a really fantastically angry blast against the movie by a reviewer who really hated it a lot. (I note that the Times also disliked Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Hmm.)
Expelled was a plea for open discussion of the possibility that life might have started with an Intelligent Designer. This idea, that freedom of academic discussion on an issue as to which there is avid scientific disagreement has value, seems obvious to me. But it drives the atheists and neo-Darwinists crazy and they responded viciously.
Congressmen Took Exotic 'Climate Change' Junket (Newsmax)
Diving and snorkeling at Australia's Great Barrier Reef, watching New Year's fireworks in New Zealand and sleeping in a luxury Hawaiian hotel is the vacation of a lifetime – unless you're a member of Congress. Then it's a fact-finding mission to study climate change.
Ten lawmakers – six Democrats and four Republicans – spent 11 days on an international junket in some of the most breathtaking spots on Earth, and then stuck taxpayers with the $500,000-plus bill.
According to the Wall Street Journal, six spouses also made the journey at the end of 2007, and their expenses for lodging and travel also came out of taxpayers' pockets.
“The trip we made was more valuable than 100 hearings," Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., to the Journal. “Are there members of Congress who take trips somewhat recreationally?
Baird, the lead congressman on the exotic junket, was the chairman of the House Science Committee's subcommittee on research and science education at the time. The trip was ostensibly to gather information on global warming and how federal funds are used for scientific projects.
During their adventure, the 10 lucky lawmakers visited the Great Barrier Reef, Australia's rain forest, a research station at the South Pole, a penguin colony, and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach.
The final tab? The lawmakers reported the total cost at merely $103,000, according to the Journal. But that figure doesn't include flight costs because commercial airlines were not used. Instead, Air Force jets ferried the participants to their far-flung destinations. The Journal used Pentagon figures to estimate that the flight expenses brought the overall cost of the junket to more than $500,000.
Democrats imploding over health care (The Baltimore Sun)
The Democratic Party seems to have placed itself on the fast track to oblivion. As public rejection of Obama-care increases, our Democratic representatives are slinking into their shells, just like that fatal character who places her fingers in her ears and chants, "la la la."
Worse than that, our representatives are now attempting to convince themselves that the opposition is actually some type of conspiracy; that the insurance and pharmaceutical companies have paid off some vast numbers of Americans, or that they all march to the drum of the Republican Party.
The liberal legislators of Oregon try to convince taxpayers that the state taxes are low, but it is becoming a state of hidden taxation and fees. The environmentalist whackjobs ruined the logging industry, and taxpayers throughout the US pay welfare payments to loggers that lost their means of livelihood. The payments were recently extended past the time period promised by the bluenoses. What fools we have been. If the thuggish tactics of the Obama regime wake people up, it will be the best oppression of free speech that ever happened, and backfired on socialist pigs.
KRUGMAN COMPLETE AND UTTER LUNATIC
Second Stimulus Needed to Avoid Lost Decade: Krugman (CNBC)
The world economy needs a second stimulus if it is to avoid the fate of Japan in the 1990s when the country was stuck with years of sluggish growth, Nobel laureate and professor of economics Paul Krugman told CNBC Monday.
"The good news is that it does not look like the 2nd great depression. For a few months it did," Krugman said.
Democrats May Stop Town Halls
Though town halls are American as apple pie and one of the great examples of direct democracy, Democratic congressmen are thinking of trashing the concept, according to the Wall Street Journal.
They should stop them. These meetings have become a total joke. To watch all of these crazy people yelling and screaming their staged protest is stupid. It'll get nothing done except to diminish their message.
Think about it. What do you do when your kid throws a temper tantrum. Do you cave in? No; you send them to their room.
Liberal school teachers indoctrinate our children into believing that cutting a tree down is like killing a human being. That is why we import wood from Canada, while we have millions of acres of trees untouched, and new houses cost twice what they should. Sort of like our oil in the ground while we import foreign oil. School teachers have become nothing more than a thuggish union voting block, and they wonder why their profession has lost credibility, sort of like lying media journalists. This is the time to look closely at all union thugs, and reveal who they really are.
Liberal school teachers indoctrinate our children into believing that cutting a tree down is like killing a human being.
This part of your statement as well as what else you wrote is so stupid I can only hope that you dont' have children.
The lunacy of you conspiracy theorists is laughable.
7:41 AM - You mean like the liberal's conspiracy theory that the GOP is behind the tax protests?
Bwhahahahahaha
The Drudge Report has a photo of Pelosi. It looks like she had better get on ‘Our’ private jet, and fly to the Botox factory. Man, she looks like a hag.
Figures... Leftists Hurl Racist Insults at Black Man After Horrible Beating
On Thursday night, Kenneth Gladney was beaten, kicked and called racist names by Russ Carnahan's SEIU supporters after a town hall meeting in Mehlville, Missouri.
Now, the Left is mocking him.
The racists at Fire Dog Lake lead the charge with this racist photo of Kennth the silly black man in a wheelchair:
The title of their post says it all: Kenneth the Teabagging Drama Queen
Not only do these racists mock Kenneth's fragile condition after the beating he endured from Obama-supporting SEIU thugs, they also hurl sexual slurs at him. To these clods, calling a black man n*gger and then beating him is funny.
Classy.
Democratic Underground continued the tea bagging insults:
Kenneth Gladney is a fraud, being pimped by tea baggers (aka POLITICAL TERRORISTS)
And, of course, they are repeating the lie that Kenneth is without insurance.
Drug Industry to Run Ads Favoring White House Plan
WASHINGTON — The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday.
The unusually large scale of the industry’s commitment to the cause helps explain some of a contentious back-and-forth playing out in recent days between the odd-couple allies over a deal that the White House struck with the industry in June to secure its support.
The terms of the deal were not fully disclosed. Both sides had announced that the drug industry would contribute $80 billion over 10 years to the cost of the health care overhaul without spelling out the details.
Somebody please give me an Obotomy so I can follow Fearless Leader's path to destruction without any moral qualms!
Horrible Thought of the Day: If Obama gets his handout national health care plan pushed through just think how many Mexicans will be storming the border for free medical in this country.
About 20 million of the 47 million without health care in this country are illegals. We'll be paying for those parasites under Obama's plan.
Just annex Mexico and get it over with. The only difference between Mexico being a country and part of the U.S.of A. is some legal paper work that Obama and Fox need to work out and sign. Then we can all sneak into Canada for free health care!
Now we know why the Democrats try to rush through their nincompoop plans. Everything they try to do is wrong for the USA. As the truth about their socialist agenda comes out, taxpayers revolt. What a creepy person Obama is. Just plain creepy!
AARP is in a tizzy. They didn’t plan on seniors holding ‘Cut-up your AARP card parties’. They plan to spend thousands on ads to get The Debt President's plan passed, but say they have not endorsed any plan at this time. Strip their no-tax status, what liars they are. Just yesterday there was a post about how much money the frauds paid to elect Obama. I hope they go broke for their dishonesty.
Some members of the radical group La Raza brag that they will take back the land the US stole from Mexico without firing a shot.
Sonia Sotomayor was a 'La Raza member'- The damage has been done, and a shot wasn’t fired for truth by the leftist media.
Truth to Power? What a joke!
“About 20 million of the 47 million without health care in this country are illegals.”
Yes, and hard working taxpayers will be waiting for doctor’s appointments in line behind them. The illegals will need interpreters, and the vile attorneys’ will have a whole new source of litigation. “They didn’t understand their doctor”, sue him out of the profession.
BTW: Where is the tort reform needed to bring down healthcare costs?
Yes, and hard working taxpayers will be waiting for doctor’s appointments in line behind them. The illegals will need interpreters, and the vile attorneys’ will have a whole new source of litigation. “They didn’t understand their doctor”, sue him out of the profession.
====================
Our dear leader has already addrssed this you right wing bully.
Page 91 is your mandate for paying for linguistics experts for our undocumented citizens of utopia.
Page 124 Clearly states that you cannot sue dear leaders minions you right wing crazy person.
CONFORM! NOW or ELSE YOU RIGHT WING MEANIES!
Editor & Publisher, which doesn't have much credibility in the fairness department, has nontheless named its 10 newspapers that "Did It Right" under tough economic circumstances. The year's top 10 didn't include a single McClatchy newspaper. They "did it wrong."
AARP has performed an amazing turnout in public perception - from respected senior organization to despised, on-the-take Obama suckup. Their leadership should resign in disgrace.
We're already paying for illegals health care every time they show up in ER in need of an Aspirin. The Feds are fanning racial hatred in this country by not doing a damn thing about illegal immigration and handouts to these lawbreakers. Legal citizens can't be expected to embrace illegals who are ruining the economy.
I read that the Indianapolis Star's guild and the company today have tentatively agreed to a 10 percent PAY CUT! What about that much-rumored August pay raise for what's left of McClatchy employees? Having heard much about it...
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