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 31, 2009
Monday August 31 -- Got news or an update?
If you have news or an update, leave it in comments. . . .
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Report: OC Register owner to file for bankruptcy (AP via Breitbart)
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the owner of the Orange County Register is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week.
The Journal reported on its Web site Sunday that Freedom Communications Inc. has reached agreements with its lenders to restructure its debts. The report cites unnamed people familiar with the situation.
Representatives of the company did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The Journal says Freedom's lenders are expected to take control of the company while it operates under bankruptcy protection. The lenders hold about $770 million in debt.
CA: Freedom Communications may declare bankruptcy-source (Orange County Register owner )
* Freedom has reached agreements with lenders - report (Recasts; adds new sourcing)
PHILADELPHIA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Freedom Communications Inc, owner of the Orange County Register newspaper, is expected to file for bankruptcy this week, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday.
Freedom, which has been majority owned for more than 70 years by the Hoiles family, has reached agreements with its lenders to restructure its debts, according to a report in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal. The lenders include JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), SunTrust and Union Bank of California.
Freedom, which owns of more than 30other daily newspapers and eight television stations, will continue to operate under bankruptcy protection, the Journal said.
Before he addressed a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) openly wished for the Las Vegas Review-Journal to “go out of business” … a newspaper which has held opposing political viewpoints with the Senator.
The comment came when Bob Brown, the Journal’s Director of Advertising met with Reid during the simple process of handshaking. Reid exclaimed to Brown: “I hope you go out of business.”
Experts see double-digit Dem losses (Politico)SHILL FASTER McCLATCHY, SHILL FASTER!
After an August recess marked by raucous town halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.
Some of the most prominent and respected handicappers can now envision an election in which Democrats suffer double-digit losses in the House — not enough to provide the 40 seats necessary to return the GOP to power but enough to put them within striking distance.
Top political analyst Charlie Cook, in a special August 20 update to subscribers, wrote that “the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and congressional Democrats.”
"Many veteran congressional election watchers, including Democratic ones, report an eerie sense of déjà vu, with a consensus forming that the chances of Democratic losses going higher than 20 seats is just as good as the chances of Democratic losses going lower than 20 seats,” he wrote.
At the mid-August Netroots Nation convention, Nate Silver, a Democratic analyst whose uncannily accurate, stat-driven predictions have made his website 538.com a must read among political junkies, predicted that Republicans will win between 20 and 50 seats next year
Kennedy Coverage Not Made for Prime Time (AdAge.com)
snip
And perhaps most remarkably for a non-presidential passing, two networks, CBS and ABC, devoted an hour to a senator's personal and professional life.
But beyond the Beltway and Midtown media organizations, how did the Kennedy coverage play?
CBS's "Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother" finished last amongst the Big Four networks at 8 p.m. in the ad-centric adult 18-49 demographic, and how ABC's "Remembering Ted Kennedy" lost to two forgettable reruns of cop dramas on CBS and NBC at 10 p.m.
Instead, easy escapism won the night, as the 8 p.m. winner, ABC's "Wipeout" (2.6/8 rating and share in the demo), as well as a recap episode of "America's Got Talent" (1.8/6) on NBC and a "Bones" repeat (1.2/4) on Fox, beat CBS's special (0.9/3). (The CW's rerun of "America's Next Top Model" delivered a 0.4/1).
At 10 p.m. ABC's "Remembering Ted Kennedy" (1.0/3) was also last, losing to reruns on CBS ("CSI: NY," 1.6/5) and NBC ("Law and Order: SVU," 1.8/5).
In between at 9 p.m., NBC had the highest-rated show of the night, "America's Got Talent" (3.0/8), which led the network to finish first with an overall 2.2/6, followed by ABC (1.8/6), CBS (1.3/4), Fox (1.2/4) and the CW (0.5/1).
The End of America's Experiment With Royalty (Townhall.com)
Saturday, the last son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, the longest-serving member of the only royal political family our democratic republic has ever produced.
Those who remember the 1960s understand viscerally, even if they do not share themselves, the almost mystical devotion the Kennedys inspired. Those who do not find it harder to understand, and those who come after us may find it utterly mystifying.
Ted Kennedy's wife good fit for Senate seat, say pols (NY Daily News)
Vicki Kennedy should be considered as a potential interim replacement for her late husband in the U.S. Senate, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle said Sunday.
"I think Vicki ought to be considered," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"She's a very brilliant lawyer. She's a very solid individual," Hatch said of Sen. Edward Kennedy's widow. "She certainly made a difference in Ted's life, let me tell you. And I have nothing but great respect for her."
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), a close friend of Ted Kennedy, said he too would be supportive of Vicki Kennedy if she wanted the job. So far, she's told friends she's not interested.
Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson.
In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out.
Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party.
Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.
Obama’s Third Way: Release the Terrorists (National Review)
Binyam Mohammed, who planned terrorist attacks on U.S. cities, has been set free.
Let’s imagine we’ve captured a highly trained terrorist al-Qaeda was attempting to embed in the United States, à la Mohamed Atta and company, to carry out mass-murder attacks in American cities.
For eight years, our national-security debate in the United States has been divided into two camps on these cases.
In the first are those who accept the post-9/11 law-of-war paradigm. They would have that enemy combatant detained for intelligence purposes (and to remove him from the battlefield) until he could be tried for war crimes by a military commission, and then either executed or imprisoned for life.
In the second are those who uphold the pre-9/11 law-enforcement paradigm... Each of these philosophies has benefits... Both have downsides.
Here’s the problem: The hypothetical suggested in the opening paragraph, is not hypothethical: It is the real case of a real jihadist, an Ethiopian named Binyam Mohammed. And, rejecting both military and civilian justice, the Obama administration has come up with its own third way: releasing him.
Obama inaction angers his base (Washington Times )
By the time this year's tally for gay service members discharged under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy had hit 250, Rep. Alcee L. Hastings said he could wait no longer.
The Florida Democrat decided in June to send a letter to President Obama demanding that the policy be repealed. Mr. Hastings said he was surprised when 76 other members - most of them fellow Democrats - agreed to add their signatures, and even more surprised when the letter went unanswered for the next two months.
"We're being ignored," he said. The president won't be able to ignore the simmering discontent within his own party much longer, the congressman said, not on this military policy or on a range of other issues on which the president appears to be charting a course that veers away from his political base.
Bill Moyers disses Dems as 'spineless' (And Obama a sellout) Politico
PBS's Bill Moyers issued a tough critique of the Democratic Party on Friday night on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher."
Moyers said that "too many Democrats have had their spines surgically removed."
"The problem is the Democratic Party," said Moyers. "This is a party that has told its progressives — who are the most outspoken champions of health care reform — to sit down and shut up.
Moyers said that, over the years, the Democratic Party "has become like the Republican party — deeply influenced by corporate money."
"I think Rahm Emanuel understands that the money for Obama's reelection would come primarily from the health industry, the drug industry and Wall Street, and so he is a corporate Democrat"
Bill Moyers is a quintessential elitist commie. He cannot accept the notion that the vast majority of Americans want nothing to do with his elitist, egalitarian schemes.
He insists that his ideas must be accepted simply on the basis of his superior intellect. Peasants be damned is his motto.
When intellectual superior beings such as himself are in control, then nirvana will be realized, at least for themselves.
Everyone else doesn’t count. Aren’t you happy that your tax dollars are supporting his enlightened way of thinking?
Many of the retrospectives on Ted Kennedy’s life mention his regret that he didn’t accept Richard Nixon’s offer of a bipartisan health care deal. The moral some commentators take from that regret is that today’s health care reformers should do what Mr. Kennedy balked at doing back then, and reach out to the other side.
But it’s a bad analogy, because today’s political scene is nothing like that of the early 1970s. In fact, surveying current politics, I find myself missing Richard Nixon.
No, I haven’t lost my mind. Nixon was surely the worst person other than Dick Cheney ever to control the executive branch.
But the Nixon era was a time in which leading figures in both parties were capable of speaking rationally about policy, and in which policy decisions weren’t as warped by corporate cash as they are now. America is a better country in many ways than it was 35 years ago, but our political system’s ability to deal with real problems has been degraded to such an extent that I sometimes wonder whether the country is still governable.
As many people have pointed out, Nixon’s proposal for health care reform looks a lot like Democratic proposals today. In fact, in some ways it was stronger. Right now, Republicans are balking at the idea of requiring that large employers offer health insurance to their workers; Nixon proposed requiring that all employers, not just large companies, offer insurance.
Nixon also embraced tighter regulation of insurers, calling on states to “approve specific plans, oversee rates, ensure adequate disclosure, require an annual audit and take other appropriate measures.” No illusions there about how the magic of the marketplace solves all problems.
So what happened to the days when a Republican president could sound so nonideological, and offer such a reasonable proposal?
Part of the answer is that the right-wing fringe, which has always been around — as an article by the historian Rick Perlstein puts it, “crazy is a pre-existing condition” — has now, in effect, taken over one of our two major parties. Moderate Republicans, the sort of people with whom one might have been able to negotiate a health care deal, have either been driven out of the party or intimidated into silence. Whom are Democrats supposed to reach out to, when Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who was supposed to be the linchpin of any deal, helped feed the “death panel” lies?
But there’s another reason health care reform is much harder now than it would have been under Nixon: the vast expansion of corporate influence.
Standard of care in some wards 'would shame a third world country' (British NHS) The Telegraph
The standard of care in some hospital wards and nursing homes “would shame a third world country”, nurses have warned
Their comments follow a damning report which estimated that one million patients had suffered appalling care, including neglect and cruelty, at the hands of NHS staff, many of them nurses.
Hundreds more people have come forward with their tales of appalling treatment since the report, by the Patients Association, was published on Thursday.
Nursing leaders have defended the profession, insisting that while poor care can never be excused only a small minority of staff were involved and that part of the blame lay with heavy workloads and staff shortages.
But nurses have admitted that in some cases patients are suffering appalling treatment on wards.
Maureen Hamilton, who has been a nurse for more than 40 years, said that the standards of care “would shame a third world country”, particularly on wards looking after the elderly.
Off the Wagon [FLASHBACK: Obama apologist and "enabler" COMMIE, PAUL KRUGMAN TRASHED BUSH DEFICITS IN 2003. BUT UNDER DEAR LEADER IN 2009, DEFICITS ARE GREAT! NY Times
Picture a recovering alcoholic falling off the wagon. First he says he can handle a few drinks... But eventually he turns mean... As a drunk is to alcohol, the Bush administration is to budget deficits.
During the 2000 campaign George W. Bush often pledged to maintain fiscal responsibility... [H]is people said they could cut taxes, pay for new programs... and still pay off most of the federal government's debt...
Now the budget director, Mitch Daniels, has admitted the obvious: The federal government faces the prospect of large deficits as far as the eye can see.
And sure enough, the drunk has turned mean. As the administration reaches for another bottle... its officials sullenly denounce the "fixation" on budget deficits...
[T]he administration's ever-changing rationale for tax cuts says a lot about its character...
Mr. Bush's promises of fiscal responsibility were dishonest... The administration's top economist certainly changed his mind about deficits very late in the game.
Glenn Hubbard... recently denied that deficits raise interest rates and depress private investments. Yet Mr. Hubbard is also the author of an economics textbook... that... explains how, yes, deficits raise interest rates and depress private investment... When the government sells bonds it competes with private borrowers... [T]his competition should... drive interest rates higher and investment lower.
There are exceptions to economic rules, but someone who suddenly discovers such an exception at the precise moment his political masters need a cover story isn't credible.
Will this alcoholic eventually go back on the wagon? Not for a while; he has too many enablers... It's O.K. to run a deficit during a recession, as long as the deficit is clearly temporary.
But both the numbers and the administration's search for excuses tell us that there's nothing temporary about the red ink...
Socialists are incapable of honesty. Like Kerry, krugman was against it before he was for it.
Obama’s health care tactics just like those he used in state Senate in 2004 (Chicago Sun-Times)
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama, deflecting criticism of his top agenda item to deal with the health care crisis, accuses opponents of "fear-mongering," telling lies and miscasting his proposal as "socialized medicine."
That wasn't President Obama in recent weeks, as the health care debate has been heating up in Congress and in town halls across the country.
That was then Illinois State Sen. Obama, arguing on the floor of the Illinois Senate on May 19, 2004.
If the themes sound familiar, it's because Obama is mustering some of the same rhetoric in 2009 he used in 2004.
Non-Union Contractors Lose In Obama Policy (The Bulletin)
An executive order issued by the Obama administration poses a significant challenge to nonunion contractors, right-to-work advocates and, those groups assert, American taxpayers.
Nonunion outfits are weighing their options to oppose it.
On February 6, President Barack Obama signed an executive order recommending that federal agencies enter into project labor agreements (PLAs) every time they hire a contractor for a construction project costing at least $25 million.
These documents are accords between labor organizations and an agency that typically insist that unions gain bargaining rights for the duration of a project.
In practice, this means that 84.4 percent of construction workers – those who are not union-affiliated – are highly unlikely to be considered to work on a federal project in the next several years.
The Middle Finger has always been the Kennedy family crest (The Collins Report)
I don’t know what the listed Kennedy family crest looks like. It may be a drunken “liberal lion” driving off a bridge for all I know.
Nevertheless, on Saturday during the funeral for “Sir” Edward Kennedy we got a glimpse of the real Kennedy family crest proudly displayed by one of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s daughters Rose 21 or Tatiana 18.
One of these “lovely” damsels held up her middle finger to a FOX TV camera for her adoring fans to feast on.
The Kennedy family crest has always been the middle finger.
The patriarch of the family, Joseph senior regularly displayed the crest when he became rich as a bootlegger and openly supported the Nazis while ambassador to England during WW II.
In 1960 according to his family Sam Giancana was visited by Joseph Kennedy to offer him a deal: Giancana would get an “open door” to the Oval Office in return for his help in swinging Chicago to Kennedy.
Keep in mind it’s common knowledge voting machines from Republican areas in Chicago disappeared. That was a big display of the Kennedy crest.
When JFK was elected the family showed us their crest again by getting a stooge named Benjamin Smith to sit on his old Senate seat until Teddy was old enough to ascend to that throne.
Perhaps the biggest and clearest flash of the Kennedy family crest came when Teddy murdered Mary Jo Kopechne and walked away in 1969.
Teddy’s Immigration bills, 100% votes for abortion and his attempts to shove Obamacare down our throats even while dying were other proud displays of the Middle Fingered, Kennedy family crest.
Now it’s clear the next generation of Kennedys understands what their real crest is and they’re ready to proudly flash it at a moment’s notice, how very Kennedy!
Et Tu, Lefty? Allies Critical Of President (Washington Post)
...the criticism of Barack Obama has turned strikingly personal as some of his liberal media allies have gone wobbly on him. After playing a cheerleading role during the campaign, some are bluntly questioning whether he's up to the job.
If Obama is losing Paul Krugman, can the rest of the left be far behind?
"I'm concerned as to whether, in trying to reach out to the middle, he is selling out his base," says Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page. "I find myself saying, 'Where's that well-oiled Obama machine we saw last year?' . . . Maybe he's being a little too cool at this point."
David Corn, a blogger for Politics Daily, says that despite a reservoir of support for the president, some of his policies "have caused concern, if not outright anger, among certain liberal commentators and bloggers.
It's been a more conventional White House than many people expected or desired. . . . He's made compromises that have some people concerned about his adherence to principle."
Perhaps that's why a recent Frank Rich column in the New York Times was headlined, "Is Obama Punking Us?"...the sense of letdown is palpable.
Krugman wrote recently that "Mr. Obama was never going to get everything his supporters wanted. But there's a point at which realism shades over into weakness, and progressives increasingly feel that the administration is on the wrong side of that line."...
Arianna Huffington has lamented Obama's "lack of leadership,"... It was liberal commentators, of course, who formed the leading edge of the most favorable coverage that any White House contender has drawn in a generation. Having swooned as they did, some were probably more susceptible to having their hearts broken....
Karl Rove and VP Chaney are nothing like the corrupted drumbeat/echo media led the people of the US to believe. For purely political reasons, the biased media tried to erase the fact that on 9/11 we were attacked and US citizens were killed on our own soil. The aftermath of the attack were black days for us, and the Bush administration did amazingly well to restore our economy, and the fears of being attacked again. The lying media nitpicked his every plan, as if there was a rulebook for President Bush to follow to keep us safe. Note they NEVER mention we have been free of attack since. Worse than demonizing three men that worked tirelessly to fight terrorists and protect our citizens, they have misled us about a liberal Obama that has broken his every campaign promise. Obama is an liar, and rules with a band of thugs. He has weakened the USA into a country without a leader. Far from other countries ‘Liking us better’ they see Obama as a pussycat, sitting on a satin cushion, willing to be stroked into purring out a socialist regime. What’s New Pussycat? Failure is an option!
All a Cub Reporter Needs Is a Scoop and an iPhone (NY Times)
A Web site for local news hopes to fill the growing void in professionally reported local news by recruiting citizens armed with iPhones as reporters.
The site, Fwix, will release an iPhone application this week that enables its users to file news updates, photos and videos, live from the field. The items will appear on Fwix’s year-old Web site, which also collects links to local news articles from newspapers and blogs in 85 cities.
“We believe we are the real-time local newswire,” said Darian Shirazi, Fwix’s 22-year-old founder.
Many local news Web sites are sprouting up, relying on sources like police reports and neighborhood bloggers to supplement dwindling local newspaper reporting. But most provide an incomplete picture of a reader’s town.
House Resolution 615 - Force Congress to enroll themselves in their new plan: (Fleming House Member, Congressman John Fleming)
House Resolution 615
Over the past few weeks, members of Congress and the American people have come to know the details of the Administration's proposed health care plan.
Call it whatever you like, I believe this proposal is nothing more than government-run health care.
As a physician, I am amazed at the number of bureaucrats in this House who are quick to claim a government-run health care plan is the reform this country needs.
In response to this, I have offered a resolution that will offer members of Congress an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is, and urge their colleagues who vote for legislation creating a government-run health care plan to lead by example and enroll themselves in the same public plan.
Under the current draft of the Democrat healthcare legislation, members of Congress are curiously exempt from the government-run health care option, keeping their existing health plans and services on Capitol Hill.
If Members of Congress believe so strongly that government-run health care is the best solution for hard working American families, I think it only fitting that Americans see them lead the way. Public servants should always be accountable and responsible for what they are advocating.
Together we will work to ensure that any plan that is good enough for American families is good enough for every member of Congress.
Newsstand sales of US magazines drop 12 percent (AP)
NEW YORK — Newsstand sales of U.S. magazines are continuing to fall.
An industry group says single-copy sales fell 12 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2008.
Total circulation, including subscriptions, edged down 1 percent.
The figures are being released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, based on 521 magazines that gave circulation numbers for both years.
The total circulation of those titles stands at roughly 340 million. About 36 million are sold at newsstands and other retailers but account for a disproportionate amount of publishers' revenue because subscriptions are discounted.
Cosmopolitan is still the most popular magazine at newsstands, though sales fell nearly 8 percent to 1.6 million.
Convicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson Files For Bankruptcy (The Times-Picayune)
Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and his wife, Andrea, have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection as the convicted ex-congressman prepares for a forfeiture hearing in his federal corruption case.
William Jefferson was convicted earlier this month in Virginia on 11 of 16 corruption charges. He faces a forfeiture hearing because the jury found that he and his family received $470,000 and more than 30 million shares of stock proceeds as a result of criminal activities.
Meanwhile, he and his wife are seeking protection from a handful of creditors. They owe more than $1million and less than $10 million, according to forms filed in federal bankruptcy court last week by the Jeffersons' daughter, attorney and former state legislator Jalila Jefferson-Bullock.
Illinois liquor stores brace for tax hike (St. Louis Business Journal)THE CHICAGO WAY, DOUBLE LIQUOR TAX
Illinois liquor stores are bracing for a drop in sales after a tax hike takes effect Tuesday.
“Everybody is upset but there’s nothing we can do,” said Bob Patel, manager of North Belt West Liquor Store in Belleville.
The tax increase is expected to raise an additional $109 million a year for a total of $267 million, up from $158 million last year, according to the Department of Revenue.
The tax revenue will help pay for Illinois’ $31 billion capital works plan for road construction, school renovations and bridge repair.
Starting Tuesday, the taxes will go from 90 cents to $1.71 on a fifth of liquor, from 15 to 28 cents on a bottle of wine and from 10 cents to 13 cents on a six-pack of beer, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.
Where is Code Pink, and the relentless daily body count by the MSM of yore? Was the media using our military deaths to gin up hate for anti-war votes? Why the big ‘Change” of interest?
Afghanistan is now Obama’s war By Clive Crook
Casualties there are mounting – this has been the deadliest month for US forces since the fighting began in 2001.[snip] The issue has not yet come to the boil but Mr Obama’s position is as difficult as it could possibly be. [This is now his war.] He asserted ownership again only recently, calling the conflict for the hundredth time “a necessary war”, unlike his predecessor’s supposedly needless “war of choice” in Iraq. www.ft.com
Unions are trying to take over our country, with Obama paying them back for their help to get him elected, they just may succeed.
Remembering what unions really do for the people: Chicago unions shutdown the plans for a Walmart store on the Southside of Chicago. The Walmart store would have been built within a project converting an abandoned steel mill into business space. The struggling area is high in unemployment, and racked with crime. The unions succeeded in saving the people of South Chicago from Walmart.
Walmart moved one block outside the city boundaries, and [“25,000 people applied for 325 jobs. Of 25,000 job applicants, all but 500 listed Chicago addresses... It is estimated that the store will generate about $1 million in property and sales taxes --(1991 estimate) revenue that the City of Chicago will miss out on.” http://www.theneweditor.com/index.php?/archives/1991-Thousands-Apply-for-Jobs-at-New-Wal-Mart.html
Re: Chicago unions stops Walmart jobs- On the flipside: MillerCoors announced it would move its corporate headquarters to downtown Chicago by the summer or fall of 2009. The cost was high. The City of Chicago and the State of Illinois will pay $20 million to help bring 300 to 400 jobs to Chicago.
What would Teddy do about health care? Who gives a shit, the old socialist would continue his stinking liberal ways. == It's Not About Teddy, It's About US! To change the way all of us live and die for selfish short term political gain by invoking a departed liberal hero is to lose the confidence of Americans.
To change the way all of us live and die for selfish short term political gain by invoking a departed liberal hero is to lose the confidence of Americans. Grief at the passing of Senator Kennedy has turned into raw political opportunism. Liberal Democrats, and their twittering mainstream media acolytes, are posing a loaded question which for them suggests its own answer: What would Teddy do about health care?
The Cold War At Home Big Hollywood by John T. Simpson
The news is really unbelievable these days. All that I once thought were core American values and traditions are now being washed away in a sea of propaganda and political attacks from the radical Left, which now rules supreme and knows it. The Left in power is now waging an ideological war not only against conservatives, but any dissenting Americans who get in their way.
Kennedy was a "trust-fund Robin Hood" -Right on! Breitbart tells it like it really is. --- -The end to two grim fairy tales- Washington Times Andrew Breitbart
With the deaths of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Michael Jackson, the summer of '09 marked the merciful ends to Camelot and Neverland, iconic American fairy tales whose story lines should have come to merciful ends long ago when their charismatic protagonists took dark and irredeemable turns. Our country was not built to support blood dynasties or to elevate the rich and famous to a higher ethical or constitutional plain. [snip] As long as he toed the liberal line, this trust-fund Robin Hood was protected by the liberal masses and the mainstream media. Hollywood did its job by not putting his story on the big screen.
47 comments:
Report: OC Register owner to file for bankruptcy (AP via Breitbart)
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the owner of the Orange County Register is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week.
The Journal reported on its Web site Sunday that Freedom Communications Inc. has reached agreements with its lenders to restructure its debts. The report cites unnamed people familiar with the situation.
Representatives of the company did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The Journal says Freedom's lenders are expected to take control of the company while it operates under bankruptcy protection. The lenders hold about $770 million in debt.
CA: Freedom Communications may declare bankruptcy-source (Orange County Register owner )
* Freedom has reached agreements with lenders - report (Recasts; adds new sourcing)
PHILADELPHIA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Freedom Communications Inc, owner of the Orange County Register newspaper, is expected to file for bankruptcy this week, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday.
Freedom, which has been majority owned for more than 70 years by the Hoiles family, has reached agreements with its lenders to restructure its debts, according to a report in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal. The lenders include JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), SunTrust and Union Bank of California.
Freedom, which owns of more than 30other daily newspapers and eight television stations, will continue to operate under bankruptcy protection, the Journal said.
OC Register open borders propaganda from Friday:
# Yvette Cabrera: “Desperation is setting in” for OC’s neediest
# Yvette Cabrera: Is hate on the rise in O.C.?
# Yvette Cabrera: Illegal and smart? Education can continue
# Yvette Cabrera: Not illegal, just a human being
# Yvette Cabrera: Obama’s words resonate, give hope
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/immigration-people-old-2545526-illegally-vigil
Harry Reid Threatened Las Vegas Newspaper
Before he addressed a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) openly wished for the Las Vegas Review-Journal to “go out of business” … a newspaper which has held opposing political viewpoints with the Senator.
The comment came when Bob Brown, the Journal’s Director of Advertising met with Reid during the simple process of handshaking. Reid exclaimed to Brown: “I hope you go out of business.”
Experts see double-digit Dem losses
(Politico)SHILL FASTER McCLATCHY, SHILL FASTER!
After an August recess marked by raucous town halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.
Some of the most prominent and respected handicappers can now envision an election in which Democrats suffer double-digit losses in the House — not enough to provide the 40 seats necessary to return the GOP to power but enough to put them within striking distance.
Top political analyst Charlie Cook, in a special August 20 update to subscribers, wrote that “the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and congressional Democrats.”
"Many veteran congressional election watchers, including Democratic ones, report an eerie sense of déjà vu, with a consensus forming that the chances of Democratic losses going higher than 20 seats is just as good as the chances of Democratic losses going lower than 20 seats,” he wrote.
At the mid-August Netroots Nation convention, Nate Silver, a Democratic analyst whose uncannily accurate, stat-driven predictions have made his website 538.com a must read among political junkies, predicted that Republicans will win between 20 and 50 seats next year
Kennedy Coverage Not Made for Prime Time (AdAge.com)
snip
And perhaps most remarkably for a non-presidential passing, two networks, CBS and ABC, devoted an hour to a senator's personal and professional life.
But beyond the Beltway and Midtown media organizations, how did the Kennedy coverage play?
CBS's "Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother" finished last amongst the Big Four networks at 8 p.m. in the ad-centric adult 18-49 demographic, and how ABC's "Remembering Ted Kennedy" lost to two forgettable reruns of cop dramas on CBS and NBC at 10 p.m.
Instead, easy escapism won the night, as the 8 p.m. winner, ABC's "Wipeout" (2.6/8 rating and share in the demo), as well as a recap episode of "America's Got Talent" (1.8/6) on NBC and a "Bones" repeat (1.2/4) on Fox, beat CBS's special (0.9/3). (The CW's rerun of "America's Next Top Model" delivered a 0.4/1).
At 10 p.m. ABC's "Remembering Ted Kennedy" (1.0/3) was also last, losing to reruns on CBS ("CSI: NY," 1.6/5) and NBC ("Law and Order: SVU," 1.8/5).
In between at 9 p.m., NBC had the highest-rated show of the night, "America's Got Talent" (3.0/8), which led the network to finish first with an overall 2.2/6, followed by ABC (1.8/6), CBS (1.3/4), Fox (1.2/4) and the CW (0.5/1).
The End of America's Experiment With Royalty (Townhall.com)
Saturday, the last son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, the longest-serving member of the only royal political family our democratic republic has ever produced.
Those who remember the 1960s understand viscerally, even if they do not share themselves, the almost mystical devotion the Kennedys inspired. Those who do not find it harder to understand, and those who come after us may find it utterly mystifying.
It’s purely a media thang.
In America, the royalty is made by the media by kissing up.
In Britain, the media delight on the foibles of the royalty, but the royalty do not fear losing their status because it isn’t based on the media.
Ted Kennedy's wife good fit for Senate seat, say pols (NY Daily News)
Vicki Kennedy should be considered as a potential interim replacement for her late husband in the U.S. Senate, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle said Sunday.
"I think Vicki ought to be considered," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"She's a very brilliant lawyer. She's a very solid individual," Hatch said of Sen. Edward Kennedy's widow. "She certainly made a difference in Ted's life, let me tell you. And I have nothing but great respect for her."
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), a close friend of Ted Kennedy, said he too would be supportive of Vicki Kennedy if she wanted the job. So far, she's told friends she's not interested.
Another Failed Presidency (American Thinker )
Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson.
In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out.
Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party.
Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.
Obama’s Third Way: Release the Terrorists (National Review)
Binyam Mohammed, who planned terrorist attacks on U.S. cities, has been set free.
Let’s imagine we’ve captured a highly trained terrorist al-Qaeda was attempting to embed in the United States, à la Mohamed Atta and company, to carry out mass-murder attacks in American cities.
For eight years, our national-security debate in the United States has been divided into two camps on these cases.
In the first are those who accept the post-9/11 law-of-war paradigm. They would have that enemy combatant detained for intelligence purposes (and to remove him from the battlefield) until he could be tried for war crimes by a military commission, and then either executed or imprisoned for life.
In the second are those who uphold the pre-9/11 law-enforcement paradigm...
Each of these philosophies has benefits... Both have downsides.
Here’s the problem: The hypothetical suggested in the opening paragraph, is not hypothethical: It is the real case of a real jihadist, an Ethiopian named Binyam Mohammed. And, rejecting both military and civilian justice, the Obama administration has come up with its own third way: releasing him.
Obama inaction angers his base
(Washington Times )
By the time this year's tally for gay service members discharged under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy had hit 250, Rep. Alcee L. Hastings said he could wait no longer.
The Florida Democrat decided in June to send a letter to President Obama demanding that the policy be repealed. Mr. Hastings said he was surprised when 76 other members - most of them fellow Democrats - agreed to add their signatures, and even more surprised when the letter went unanswered for the next two months.
"We're being ignored," he said.
The president won't be able to ignore the simmering discontent within his own party much longer, the congressman said, not on this military policy or on a range of other issues on which the president appears to be charting a course that veers away from his political base.
Bill Moyers disses Dems as 'spineless' (And Obama a sellout) Politico
PBS's Bill Moyers issued a tough critique of the Democratic Party on Friday night on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher."
Moyers said that "too many Democrats have had their spines surgically removed."
"The problem is the Democratic Party," said Moyers. "This is a party that has told its progressives — who are the most outspoken champions of health care reform — to sit down and shut up.
Moyers said that, over the years, the Democratic Party "has become like the Republican party — deeply influenced by corporate money."
"I think Rahm Emanuel understands that the money for Obama's reelection would come primarily from the health industry, the drug industry and Wall Street, and so he is a corporate Democrat"
Bill Moyers is a quintessential elitist commie. He cannot accept the notion that the vast majority of Americans want nothing to do with his elitist, egalitarian schemes.
He insists that his ideas must be accepted simply on the basis of his superior intellect. Peasants be damned is his motto.
When intellectual superior beings such as himself are in control, then nirvana will be realized, at least for themselves.
Everyone else doesn’t count.
Aren’t you happy that your tax dollars are supporting his enlightened way of thinking?
Missing Richard Nixon
Many of the retrospectives on Ted Kennedy’s life mention his regret that he didn’t accept Richard Nixon’s offer of a bipartisan health care deal. The moral some commentators take from that regret is that today’s health care reformers should do what Mr. Kennedy balked at doing back then, and reach out to the other side.
But it’s a bad analogy, because today’s political scene is nothing like that of the early 1970s. In fact, surveying current politics, I find myself missing Richard Nixon.
No, I haven’t lost my mind. Nixon was surely the worst person other than Dick Cheney ever to control the executive branch.
But the Nixon era was a time in which leading figures in both parties were capable of speaking rationally about policy, and in which policy decisions weren’t as warped by corporate cash as they are now. America is a better country in many ways than it was 35 years ago, but our political system’s ability to deal with real problems has been degraded to such an extent that I sometimes wonder whether the country is still governable.
As many people have pointed out, Nixon’s proposal for health care reform looks a lot like Democratic proposals today. In fact, in some ways it was stronger. Right now, Republicans are balking at the idea of requiring that large employers offer health insurance to their workers; Nixon proposed requiring that all employers, not just large companies, offer insurance.
Nixon also embraced tighter regulation of insurers, calling on states to “approve specific plans, oversee rates, ensure adequate disclosure, require an annual audit and take other appropriate measures.” No illusions there about how the magic of the marketplace solves all problems.
So what happened to the days when a Republican president could sound so nonideological, and offer such a reasonable proposal?
Part of the answer is that the right-wing fringe, which has always been around — as an article by the historian Rick Perlstein puts it, “crazy is a pre-existing condition” — has now, in effect, taken over one of our two major parties. Moderate Republicans, the sort of people with whom one might have been able to negotiate a health care deal, have either been driven out of the party or intimidated into silence. Whom are Democrats supposed to reach out to, when Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who was supposed to be the linchpin of any deal, helped feed the “death panel” lies?
But there’s another reason health care reform is much harder now than it would have been under Nixon: the vast expansion of corporate influence.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/
opinion/31krugman.html?_r=1&hp
NHS sorry for dead patient letter
(BBC News)
The NHS has apologised after writing to a man to address concerns over his treatment - three-and-half years after he died.
Tom Milner's daughter emailed the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) after her 76-year-old father died at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital.
Janet Brooks said when she received a response, it was entitled "Dear Tom".
The agency said it had reviewed its systems to ensure the error did not happen again.
Mr Milner, who had terminal leukaemia, was not given his prescribed pain-relieving morphine in the last two days of his life, his family say.
Standard of care in some wards 'would shame a third world country' (British NHS) The Telegraph
The standard of care in some hospital wards and nursing homes “would shame a third world country”, nurses have warned
Their comments follow a damning report which estimated that one million patients had suffered appalling care, including neglect and cruelty, at the hands of NHS staff, many of them nurses.
Hundreds more people have come forward with their tales of appalling treatment since the report, by the Patients Association, was published on Thursday.
Nursing leaders have defended the profession, insisting that while poor care can never be excused only a small minority of staff were involved and that part of the blame lay with heavy workloads and staff shortages.
But nurses have admitted that in some cases patients are suffering appalling treatment on wards.
Maureen Hamilton, who has been a nurse for more than 40 years, said that the standards of care “would shame a third world country”, particularly on wards looking after the elderly.
And this is from the world’s third largest employer, the NHS, which has a “health” worker for every 40 British subjects.
This is exactly the kind of “health care” that Ubama and McClatchy media types would foist on America.
Off the Wagon [FLASHBACK: Obama apologist and "enabler" COMMIE, PAUL KRUGMAN TRASHED BUSH DEFICITS IN 2003. BUT UNDER DEAR LEADER IN 2009, DEFICITS ARE GREAT! NY Times
Picture a recovering alcoholic falling off the wagon. First he says he can handle a few drinks... But eventually he turns mean...
As a drunk is to alcohol, the Bush administration is to budget deficits.
During the 2000 campaign George W. Bush often pledged to maintain fiscal responsibility... [H]is people said they could cut taxes, pay for new programs... and still pay off most of the federal government's debt...
Now the budget director, Mitch Daniels, has admitted the obvious: The federal government faces the prospect of large deficits as far as the eye can see.
And sure enough, the drunk has turned mean. As the administration reaches for another bottle... its officials sullenly denounce the "fixation" on budget deficits...
[T]he administration's ever-changing rationale for tax cuts says a lot about its character...
Mr. Bush's promises of fiscal responsibility were dishonest...
The administration's top economist certainly changed his mind about deficits very late in the game.
Glenn Hubbard... recently denied that deficits raise interest rates and depress private investments. Yet Mr. Hubbard is also the author of an economics textbook... that... explains how, yes, deficits raise interest rates and depress private investment...
When the government sells bonds it competes with private borrowers... [T]his competition should... drive interest rates higher and investment lower.
There are exceptions to economic rules, but someone who suddenly discovers such an exception at the precise moment his political masters need a cover story isn't credible.
Will this alcoholic eventually go back on the wagon? Not for a while; he has too many enablers...
It's O.K. to run a deficit during a recession, as long as the deficit is clearly temporary.
But both the numbers and the administration's search for excuses tell us that there's nothing temporary about the red ink...
Socialists are incapable of honesty. Like Kerry, krugman was against it before he was for it.
Rasmussen: Obama at new low, 46%
http://www.drudgereport.com/ ^
teaser at Drudge:
RASMUSSEN POLL: Obama Approval Hits Another New Low at 46%... Developing...
Paul Krugman articles didn't help huh?
Obama’s health care tactics just like those he used in state Senate in 2004 (Chicago Sun-Times)
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama, deflecting criticism of his top agenda item to deal with the health care crisis, accuses opponents of "fear-mongering," telling lies and miscasting his proposal as "socialized medicine."
That wasn't President Obama in recent weeks, as the health care debate has been heating up in Congress and in town halls across the country.
That was then Illinois State Sen. Obama, arguing on the floor of the Illinois Senate on May 19, 2004.
If the themes sound familiar, it's because Obama is mustering some of the same rhetoric in 2009 he used in 2004.
Non-Union Contractors Lose In Obama Policy (The Bulletin)
An executive order issued by the Obama administration poses a significant challenge to nonunion contractors, right-to-work advocates and, those groups assert, American taxpayers.
Nonunion outfits are weighing their options to oppose it.
On February 6, President Barack Obama signed an executive order recommending that federal agencies enter into project labor agreements (PLAs) every time they hire a contractor for a construction project costing at least $25 million.
These documents are accords between labor organizations and an agency that typically insist that unions gain bargaining rights for the duration of a project.
In practice, this means that 84.4 percent of construction workers – those who are not union-affiliated – are highly unlikely to be considered to work on a federal project in the next several years.
The Middle Finger has always been the Kennedy family crest (The Collins Report)
I don’t know what the listed Kennedy family crest looks like. It may be a drunken “liberal lion” driving off a bridge for all I know.
Nevertheless, on Saturday during the funeral for “Sir” Edward Kennedy we got a glimpse of the real Kennedy family crest proudly displayed by one of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s daughters Rose 21 or Tatiana 18.
One of these “lovely” damsels held up her middle finger to a FOX TV camera for her adoring fans to feast on.
The Kennedy family crest has always been the middle finger.
The patriarch of the family, Joseph senior regularly displayed the crest when he became rich as a bootlegger and openly supported the Nazis while ambassador to England during WW II.
In 1960 according to his family Sam Giancana was visited by Joseph Kennedy to offer him a deal: Giancana would get an “open door” to the Oval Office in return for his help in swinging Chicago to Kennedy.
Keep in mind it’s common knowledge voting machines from Republican areas in Chicago disappeared. That was a big display of the Kennedy crest.
When JFK was elected the family showed us their crest again by getting a stooge named Benjamin Smith to sit on his old Senate seat until Teddy was old enough to ascend to that throne.
Perhaps the biggest and clearest flash of the Kennedy family crest came when Teddy murdered Mary Jo Kopechne and walked away in 1969.
Teddy’s Immigration bills, 100% votes for abortion and his attempts to shove Obamacare down our throats even while dying were other proud displays of the Middle Fingered, Kennedy family crest.
Now it’s clear the next generation of Kennedys understands what their real crest is and they’re ready to proudly flash it at a moment’s notice, how very Kennedy!
Eleven Most Expensive Catastrophes
11. Titanic: $150 million
10. Tanker Truck vs. Bridge: $358 million
9. MetroLink Crash $500 million
8. B-2 Bomber Crash: $1.4 billion
7. Exxon Valdez: $2.5 billion
6. Piper Alpha Oil Rig: $3.4 billion
5. Challenger Explosion: $5.5 billion
4. Prestige Oil Spill: $12 billion
3. Space Shuttle Columbia: $13 billion
2. Chernobyl: $200 billion
1.Election of Barack Obama: $800 billion--in the first two months!
Rasmussen: Obama at new low, 46%
Gee how did this happen? Paul Krugman, help me out here?
He has attempted to paint his political opponents as terrorists.
Promised the unions better health benefits than everyone else.
Skewed the budget deficit projections by two trillion dollars.
Failed to stimulate the economy and reverse unemployment.
He has proposed costly, dangerous legislation that could damage the economy during a period of deep recession.
Proposed a massive health care overhaul that the majority of people don’t want to have anything to do with.
Thanks Paul, great analysis!
MSNBC Hosts Can't Defend Krazy Keith (JamieWearingFool)
In fairness to Rush Limbaugh, putting the psychotic Keith Olbermann on his level is a bit of a stretch, but the question is still valid.
Why don't Democrats distance themselves from the raving MSNBC lunatic?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-36DRVEMZ1s&feature=player_embedded#t=51 (51 seconds long)
Et Tu, Lefty? Allies Critical Of President (Washington Post)
...the criticism of Barack Obama has turned strikingly personal as some of his liberal media allies have gone wobbly on him. After playing a cheerleading role during the campaign, some are bluntly questioning whether he's up to the job.
If Obama is losing Paul Krugman, can the rest of the left be far behind?
"I'm concerned as to whether, in trying to reach out to the middle, he is selling out his base," says Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page. "I find myself saying, 'Where's that well-oiled Obama machine we saw last year?' . . . Maybe he's being a little too cool at this point."
David Corn, a blogger for Politics Daily, says that despite a reservoir of support for the president, some of his policies "have caused concern, if not outright anger, among certain liberal commentators and bloggers.
It's been a more conventional White House than many people expected or desired. . . . He's made compromises that have some people concerned about his adherence to principle."
Perhaps that's why a recent Frank Rich column in the New York Times was headlined, "Is Obama Punking Us?"...the sense of letdown is palpable.
Krugman wrote recently that "Mr. Obama was never going to get everything his supporters wanted. But there's a point at which realism shades over into weakness, and progressives increasingly feel that the administration is on the wrong side of that line."...
Arianna Huffington has lamented Obama's "lack of leadership,"... It was liberal commentators, of course, who formed the leading edge of the most favorable coverage that any White House contender has drawn in a generation. Having swooned as they did, some were probably more susceptible to having their hearts broken....
Karl Rove and VP Chaney are nothing like the corrupted drumbeat/echo media led the people of the US to believe. For purely political reasons, the biased media tried to erase the fact that on 9/11 we were attacked and US citizens were killed on our own soil. The aftermath of the attack were black days for us, and the Bush administration did amazingly well to restore our economy, and the fears of being attacked again. The lying media nitpicked his every plan, as if there was a rulebook for President Bush to follow to keep us safe. Note they NEVER mention we have been free of attack since. Worse than demonizing three men that worked tirelessly to fight terrorists and protect our citizens, they have misled us about a liberal Obama that has broken his every campaign promise. Obama is an liar, and rules with a band of thugs. He has weakened the USA into a country without a leader. Far from other countries ‘Liking us better’ they see Obama as a pussycat, sitting on a satin cushion, willing to be stroked into purring out a socialist regime.
What’s New Pussycat?
Failure is an option!
All a Cub Reporter Needs Is a Scoop and an iPhone (NY Times)
A Web site for local news hopes to fill the growing void in professionally reported local news by recruiting citizens armed with iPhones as reporters.
The site, Fwix, will release an iPhone application this week that enables its users to file news updates, photos and videos, live from the field. The items will appear on Fwix’s year-old Web site, which also collects links to local news articles from newspapers and blogs in 85 cities.
“We believe we are the real-time local newswire,” said Darian Shirazi, Fwix’s 22-year-old founder.
Many local news Web sites are sprouting up, relying on sources like police reports and neighborhood bloggers to supplement dwindling local newspaper reporting. But most provide an incomplete picture of a reader’s town.
House Resolution 615 - Force Congress to enroll themselves in their new plan: (Fleming House Member, Congressman John Fleming)
House Resolution 615
Over the past few weeks, members of Congress and the American people have come to know the details of the Administration's proposed health care plan.
Call it whatever you like, I believe this proposal is nothing more than government-run health care.
As a physician, I am amazed at the number of bureaucrats in this House who are quick to claim a government-run health care plan is the reform this country needs.
In response to this, I have offered a resolution that will offer members of Congress an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is, and urge their colleagues who vote for legislation creating a government-run health care plan to lead by example and enroll themselves in the same public plan.
Under the current draft of the Democrat healthcare legislation, members of Congress are curiously exempt from the government-run health care option, keeping their existing health plans and services on Capitol Hill.
If Members of Congress believe so strongly that government-run health care is the best solution for hard working American families, I think it only fitting that Americans see them lead the way. Public servants should always be accountable and responsible for what they are advocating.
Together we will work to ensure that any plan that is good enough for American families is good enough for every member of Congress.
Newsstand sales of US magazines drop 12 percent (AP)
NEW YORK — Newsstand sales of U.S. magazines are continuing to fall.
An industry group says single-copy sales fell 12 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2008.
Total circulation, including subscriptions, edged down 1 percent.
The figures are being released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, based on 521 magazines that gave circulation numbers for both years.
The total circulation of those titles stands at roughly 340 million. About 36 million are sold at newsstands and other retailers but account for a disproportionate amount of publishers' revenue because subscriptions are discounted.
Cosmopolitan is still the most popular magazine at newsstands, though sales fell nearly 8 percent to 1.6 million.
Convicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson Files For Bankruptcy
(The Times-Picayune)
Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and his wife, Andrea, have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection as the convicted ex-congressman prepares for a forfeiture hearing in his federal corruption case.
William Jefferson was convicted earlier this month in Virginia on 11 of 16 corruption charges. He faces a forfeiture hearing because the jury found that he and his family received $470,000 and more than 30 million shares of stock proceeds as a result of criminal activities.
Meanwhile, he and his wife are seeking protection from a handful of creditors. They owe more than $1million and less than $10 million, according to forms filed in federal bankruptcy court last week by the Jeffersons' daughter, attorney and former state legislator Jalila Jefferson-Bullock.
Poor, POOR Mr. Jefferson (D)-Louisiana!
I’m SURE that this is NOTHING but a CLASSIC case of RACISM!!!
Lokks like Gov. Paterson was right. Next they'll be going after Rangel.
Illinois liquor stores brace for tax hike (St. Louis Business Journal)THE CHICAGO WAY, DOUBLE LIQUOR TAX
Illinois liquor stores are bracing for a drop in sales after a tax hike takes effect Tuesday.
“Everybody is upset but there’s nothing we can do,” said Bob Patel, manager of North Belt West Liquor Store in Belleville.
The tax increase is expected to raise an additional $109 million a year for a total of $267 million, up from $158 million last year, according to the Department of Revenue.
The tax revenue will help pay for Illinois’ $31 billion capital works plan for road construction, school renovations and bridge repair.
Starting Tuesday, the taxes will go from 90 cents to $1.71 on a fifth of liquor, from 15 to 28 cents on a bottle of wine and from 10 cents to 13 cents on a six-pack of beer, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.
They worry that the higher prices will hurt business and whether he’ll have to lay off workers?
This must be the trickle down the drain stimulus plan...Dear Leader always talks about?
Funny how the Chicago voters probably applauded the soak the rich taxes like the income tax.
But sales taxes hit everyone, and they ain’t likin’ it too much.
Where is Code Pink, and the relentless daily body count by the MSM of yore? Was the media using our military deaths to gin up hate for anti-war votes? Why the big ‘Change” of interest?
Afghanistan is now Obama’s war
By Clive Crook
Casualties there are mounting – this has been the deadliest month for US forces since the fighting began in 2001.[snip]
The issue has not yet come to the boil but Mr Obama’s position is as difficult as it could possibly be. [This is now his war.] He asserted ownership again only recently, calling the conflict for the hundredth time “a necessary war”, unlike his predecessor’s supposedly needless “war of choice” in Iraq.
www.ft.com
1 in 5 Chicago Public High School teachers say they felt pressure to change grades last year (Sun Times)
MORE OF THE CHICAGO WAY
Nearly a third of Chicago public high school teachers say they were pressured to change grades this past school year.
"You can't completely be honest in grading students, otherwise the failure rate would be off the chart." (AND COULD YOU SAY THIS ABOUT McCLATCHY?)
They said the squeeze was put on them to pass failing students, to give ill students a break or to help athletes.
No Senate Seat for Vicki Kennedy
ABC ^
The trial balloon launched yesterday by Kennedy friends Chris Dodd and Orrin Hatch isn't going anywhere.
A solid source assures me that Vicki Kennedy won't run in a special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat.
She's not interested in an interim appointment if it becomes available.
Unions are trying to take over our country, with Obama paying them back for their help to get him elected, they just may succeed.
Remembering what unions really do for the people: Chicago unions shutdown the plans for a Walmart store on the Southside of Chicago. The Walmart store would have been built within a project converting an abandoned steel mill into business space. The struggling area is high in unemployment, and racked with crime. The unions succeeded in saving the people of South Chicago from Walmart.
Walmart moved one block outside the city boundaries, and [“25,000 people applied for 325 jobs. Of 25,000 job applicants, all but 500 listed Chicago addresses...
It is estimated that the store will generate about $1 million in property and sales taxes --(1991 estimate) revenue that the City of Chicago will miss out on.”
http://www.theneweditor.com/index.php?/archives/1991-Thousands-Apply-for-Jobs-at-New-Wal-Mart.html
Re: Chicago unions stops Walmart jobs-
On the flipside: MillerCoors announced it would move its corporate headquarters to downtown Chicago by the summer or fall of 2009. The cost was high. The City of Chicago and the State of Illinois will pay $20 million to help bring 300 to 400 jobs to Chicago.
What would Teddy do about health care? Who gives a shit, the old socialist would continue his stinking liberal ways.
==
It's Not About Teddy, It's About US!
To change the way all of us live and die for selfish short term political gain by invoking a departed liberal hero is to lose the confidence of Americans.
To change the way all of us live and die for selfish short term political gain by invoking a departed liberal hero is to lose the confidence of Americans. Grief at the passing of Senator Kennedy has turned into raw political opportunism. Liberal Democrats, and their twittering mainstream media acolytes, are posing a loaded question which for them suggests its own answer: What would Teddy do about health care?
Peter Johnson - FOX News.com
The Cold War At Home
Big Hollywood
by John T. Simpson
The news is really unbelievable these days. All that I once thought were core American values and traditions are now being washed away in a sea of propaganda and political attacks from the radical Left, which now rules supreme and knows it. The Left in power is now waging an ideological war not only against conservatives, but any dissenting Americans who get in their way.
Kennedy was a "trust-fund Robin Hood" -Right on! Breitbart tells it like it really is.
---
-The end to two grim fairy tales-
Washington Times
Andrew Breitbart
With the deaths of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Michael Jackson, the summer of '09 marked the merciful ends to Camelot and Neverland, iconic American fairy tales whose story lines should have come to merciful ends long ago when their charismatic protagonists took dark and irredeemable turns. Our country was not built to support blood dynasties or to elevate the rich and famous to a higher ethical or constitutional plain.
[snip]
As long as he toed the liberal line, this trust-fund Robin Hood was protected by the liberal masses and the mainstream media. Hollywood did its job by not putting his story on the big screen.
At the circus funeral, Kennedy’s son said his dad was not a quitter, he never gave up.
I wonder what the Kopechne family would say about that?
Federal Government Will Borrow 40 Percent of the Money It Spends Next Year -
Says White House Report
@CNS by Matt Cover
At the circus funeral, Kennedy’s son said his dad was not a quitter, he never gave up.
I wonder what the Kopechne family would say about that?
Anon 1:49 LMAO
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