Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wednesday October 28 -- Got news or an update?

If you have news or an update, leave it in comments.
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31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Forbes to slash 30+ jobs (NY Post)

Forbes Media will cut 30 to 40 people from its depleted editorial ranks over the next three days, as its magazine braces for losses, sources said.

"We -- and the entire media world -- have been hit hard by the severe recession and the seismic shifts wrought by the Web," Chairman Steve Forbes said in a memo announcing the third round of layoffs this year.

The move comes three years after Elevation Partners, which counts U2 singer Bono and Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee as managing directors, paid an estimated $250 million to $300 million for what is believed to be a 40 percent stake of the Forbes family's media holdings.

Earlier this year, McNamee stepped down from Forbes Media's board, saying Forbes.com was no longer offsetting declines in the print business.

Anonymous said...

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels-"After Obama, Republicans Won't Have To Apologize For Nixon, Anymore!" (tcrlaf-WIBC)Greg Garrison's Radio Show!

"After Obama, Republicans Won't Have To Apologize For Nixon, Anymore!"

He went on to talk about how Obama needs to jettison some of the crazies around him. He was VERY frank!

Anonymous said...

Biden’s Popularity Plunges Across the Board; Lower Than Cheney’s

Joe Biden’s popularity is lower than Dick Cheney’s was after his first year.

The Washington Examiner reported:
Vice President Joe Biden’s favorable rating has fallen to 42 percent in a new Gallup poll, down from a high of 59 percent just after last year’s election.

Biden’s unfavorable rating in the new poll is 40 percent, up from 29 percent last November.

Biden’s average favorable rating during his time in office so far is 45 percent — well below the average 65 percent favorable rating for Vice President Dick Cheney during Cheney’s first year in office.

Vice President Al Gore’s favorable rating during his first year, 55 percent, was also higher than Biden’s.

Biden’s rating has fallen most dramatically among independents.

Anonymous said...

'Obama Is Average' (Charles Krauthammer interview!)
der spiegel ^ (It takes the German media to dare tell the truth)

SPIEGEL: Mr. Krauthammer, did the Nobel Commitee in Oslo honor or doom the Obama presidency by awarding him the Peace Prize?

Charles Krauthammer: It is so comical. Absurd. Any prize that goes to Kellogg and Briand, Le Duc Tho and Arafat, and Rigoberta MenchĂș, and ends up with Obama, tells you all you need to know.

For Obama it's not very good because it reaffirms the stereotypes about him as the empty celebrity.

Krauthammer: No. The UN is worse than disaster. The UN creates conflicts. Look at the disgraceful UN Human Rights Council: It transmits norms which are harmful, anti-liberty, and anti-Semitic among other things. The world would be better off in its absence.

Anonymous said...

VIDEO: Obama: Pelosi Will Go Down As One Of "Greatest Speakers Of All Time" (Real Clear Politics)
(WTF and the media sans FOX goes along with this?)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "First of all, I don't think people quite understand, Nancy Pelosi is not simply the first woman Speaker of the House -- I think she's going to go down as one of the greatest Speakers of all time. And she's very nice and she's very friendly, but, boy, she is tough."

Anonymous said...

Former NY Times Reporter Jayson Blair to Address W&L Journalism Ethics Institute Rockbridge Weekly (Knee slapper alert)

Jayson Blair, who was at the center of a major journalism scandal as a New York Times reporter in 2003, will be the featured speaker at Washington and Lee University’s 48th Journalism Ethics Institute on Friday, Nov. 6

The title of Blair’s talk is “Lessons Learned.” The public is invited to the presentation at 5:30 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons.



Isn’t this kind of like if Michael Moore addressed an anorexic psychiatric ward, or Janeane Garofalo and Rachel Maddow hosting the panel on heterosexuality.

Anonymous said...

Frank: "We Are Trying On Every Front To Increase The Role Of Government (RCP)

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) says Democrats are "trying on every front to increase the role of government."

Anonymous said...

The Spending Rolls On (WSJ)

The White House disclosed the other day that the fiscal 2009 budget deficit clocked in at $1.4 trillion, amid the usual promises to do something about it.

Yet even as budget director Peter Orszag was speaking, House Democrats were moving on a dozen spending bills for fiscal 2010 that total 12.1% in more domestic discretionary increases.

Yes, 12.1%.

Remember, inflation is running close to zero, or 0.8%. The good news, if we can call it that, is that Senate Democrats only want to increase nondefense appropriations by 8% for 2010.

Because these funding increases become part of the permanent baseline for future appropriations, the 2010 House budget bills would permanently raise annual outlays for discretionary programs by about $75billion a year from now until, well, forever.

Anonymous said...

GMAC Asks for Fresh Lifeline [Wants $2.8-$5.6 Billion More From Taxpayers] WSJ

GMAC Asks for Fresh Lifeline Lender in Advanced Talks for Third Slug of Taxpayer Cash -- at Least $2.8 Billion More

In a stark reminder of how some battered financial firms remain dependent on government lifelines, GMAC Financial Services Inc. and the Treasury Department are in advanced talks to prop up the lender with its third helping of taxpayer money, people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. government is likely to inject $2.8 billion to $5.6 billion of capital into the Detroit company, on top of the $12.5 billion that GMAC has received since December 2008, these people said.

Anonymous said...

Amtrak loses $32 per passenger.....(Still wants Govt. Healthcare ?)
The Reporter

U.S. taxpayers spent about $32 subsidizing the cost of the typical Amtrak passenger in 2008, about four times the rail operator's estimate, according to a private study.

Amtrak operates a nationwide rail network, serving more than 500 destinations in 46 states. Forty-one of Amtrak's 44 routes lost money in 2008, said the study by Subsidyscope, an arm of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Stephen Van Beek, president of the Eno Transportation Foundation, a think tank, said the analysis could help guide decisions on how to spend $8 billion set aside for high-speed and intercity rail in a $787 billion economic stimulus bill.

snip

Leading the list was the train traveling between New Orleans and Los Angeles — the Sunset Limited — which lost $462 per passenger. Taxpayers subsidize the losses to keep the passenger train service running.

Anonymous said...

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show Ratings Hit Lowest Level Ever (TV by the Numbers)

Most cable news ratings are going to show declines from their election year heyday last fall, but for MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show (which debuted in September, 2008) those year over year declines have made October, 2009 its lowest rated month ever in both average viewers and the cable news targeted adults 25-54 demo, down 54% and 65% respectively from October, 2008.


She lost 65% of her audience?

Is this that manly version of Keith Olbermann, or are viewers just tuning into Dennis Miller and thinking it’s her, hairdo and all.

Anonymous said...

News gets worse for the MSM
Politico

There have been a lot of bad days recently for what’s come to be known as the Mainstream Media – or MSM – but Monday was one of the worst.

New circulation figures showed that big city papers had lost as much as a quarter of their circulation in the last six months.

And new TV ratings showed that CNN, the cable network that prides itself on news coverage down the middle, finished dead last in prime-time against more partisan rivals like Fox News and MSNBC.

Are the two connected?

Anonymous said...

CNN's Ratings Falling Faster than Obama's (Power Line)

CNN, which pioneered cable news, now rates dead last among cable news networks.

Prime time ratings are down 68 percent since last year.

Of course, much of that is due to 2008 being an election year, but CNN's fall relative to the other news networks can't be blamed on the election cycle.

Can some of CNN's decline, at least, be attributed to the network's liberalism in general and its attacks on and sniggering denigrations of, normal Americans?

It's hard to tell. But sniggerer-in-chief Anderson Cooper's ratings are sliding into the toilet. (The midsummer blip was Michael Jackson's death.)

CNN apparently has tried to market its on-air personalities by having them participate in the television show Jeopardy, thereby showing off their superior intelligence.

That hasn't worked out too well either. If the network really gets desperate, it could consider covering the news straight. But that isn't likely: look how many newspapers have preferred to go bankrupt rather than abandon their liberal bias.

Anonymous said...

Pathetic: Jarrett backtracks from Fox News bias claim when asked about MSNBC (Hot Air)

Credit CNN here. Not only did Campbell Brown follow up with a question about MSNBC after this sorry hack went into Fox-bashing mode but CNN.com actually posted a write-up noting her lame retreat when confronted.

Say, did you know that the White House is “calling everybody out,” not just Fox News? Keep watching those Sunday morning chat shows; I’m sure Axelrod and Emanuel will be on again soon to lay out their arguments against CNN and MSNBC.

The money line? “We’re going to speak truth to power.” The ultimate expression of self-righteous victimhood, offered here by … a senior advisor to the most powerful man on earth.
-----------------------------------

Obama Advisor Tells CNN Fox Is Biased, Won't Comment On MSNBC
A senior White House advisor on Tuesday told Campbell Brown that Fox News is biased, but refused to comment when the CNN host asked her, "Well, then do you also think that MSNBC is biased?"

During a taped interview at the Woman's Conference in California later broadcast on CNN's "Campbell Brown," Valerie Jarrett sidestepped this marvelous question and instead haplessly said, "I don't want to just generalize all Fox is biased or that another station is biased."

Actually, Jarrett already had, and the incredulous look on Brown's face when the high-ranking Administration official contradicted herself and refused to talk about MSNBC's eminently apparent political leaning was absolutely priceless (video embedded below the fold with transcript,



Valerie Jarrett was married to the son of Vernon Jarrett who was good friends with Frank Davis — both communist.

The Bowman and Jarrett families were very close and Valerie Bowman married Vernon’s son. It gets even better, Jarrett’s mother was friends with Tom Ayers, father of Bill Ayers.

It all is beginning to fit together the more you look into relationships. It looks like Obama was groomed by Frank Davis (communist) and introduced into the Chicago scene by the same person (Davis originally came from Chicago).

Until I did the research on Tom Ayers, I never knew he was a major player in IL politics.

Anonymous said...

Vanity Fair Columnist and MSNBC Guest: Fox News 'Not Very Popular in this Country' (Newsbusters)
Can you hear the hypocrisy

Let's say, hypothetically, someone was to make a disparaging statement about Fox News and conclude as a news outlet it is way outside of mainstream political thought.

Well, then the follow-up appropriate question could be where does that put Fox News' competitors who get just a fraction of the cable news juggernaut's ratings?

Michael Wolff, a contributing editor and columnist Vanity Fair and CNBC regular, told MSNBC's "Hardball" host Chris Matthews on his Oct. 26 program the White House strategy was to marginalize Fox News the same way conservatives once did to liberals, making "liberal" a word with negative connotations.

However, he also made the bizarre conclusion that Fox News, which dominates cable news on a regular basis, is "not very popular."

Anonymous said...

CNBC Viewership Plunges 50% In October (Zero Hedge)

If anyone wants to know why CNBC anchors are so pale and nervous these days, look no further.

As Comcast CEO Brian Roberts considers what to keep and what to, well, cut, post his digestion of NBC Universal (assuming deal rumors are true naturally) his eyes likely cast casual nervous glances at Nielsen reports of CNBC viewership.

Yet his nervousness is quite minor compared to what actual employees must be feeling after Nielsen reported a 50% plunge in CNBC vierwership in October year over year.

Specifically, CNBC has experienced a massive 52% decline in overall viewers during business day hours (5 am - 7 pm), and a not much better 49% drop in its demo (25-54) in the month of October as compared to last year.

Anonymous said...

Pravda: America Turning to Socialism “Slowly but Surely” (Flopping Aces)

The big sign indicating this shift was Obama's decision to abandon Polish and Czech allies in missile defense pact! When the mouthpiece for world communism starts praising Obama, it's time for a change!

America Moving from Kingdom of Cash to Socialism Slowly but Surely Pravda October 19, 2009
Obama’s decision not to build the Missile Defense System in Poland and the Czech Republic and his Noble Prize have not yet been comprehended from a philosophical viewpoint. It’s time to do it.

The last turning point similar to the current one happened approximately 400 years ago. The Western European society discovered a new hierarchy of values.

Feudalism that valued service and chivalry was replaced with capitalism. Wealth became the measure of success, and everyone was to care about his own pocket only. The cult of money replaced all other values, including religious. ...

What does Obama’s decision not to build the Eastern European Missile Defense System have to do with all of this?

Well, it means that it’s not capitalism that’s undergoing the crisis, but the belief in its high efficiency. And this, in turn, means that America, the bulwark of capitalism, is no longer the boss of the world. And if it’s not the boss any more, it has to be friends with everybody, including Russia.

And it’s America’s turn to offer Russia to push the reset button. Or maybe it’s just tired of imposing its rules on others and felt that friendship is more valuable than money and power?

If this is the case, we will soon witness another turning point in the world history.

Anonymous said...

Dem’s Cap & Trade Bill Is $3.6 Trillion Gas Tax Too (GatewayPundit)

Democrats know their cap and trade energy legislation will cripple the US economy.

Barack Obama admitted this on the campaign trail in 2008 saying the program “would cause energy prices to skyrocket.”

Obama also promised an audience of supporters that cap and trade would bankrupt the coal industry.

White House Budget Director Peter Orszag told George Stephanopoulos in a March 2009 interview that Obama’s proposed cap and trade energy legislation would increase energy costs for everyone.

Democratic Congressman John Dingell (D-MI) summed up cap and trade at a Congressional hearing on April 24th saying, “It’s a Great Big Tax.”

Cap and trade policies will likely cost Americans $700 to $1,400 dollars per family per year.

The Department of Energy estimated GDP losses would be between $444 billion and $1.308 trillion over the 21-year period. Cap and trade also could cost the US 4 million jobs.

But that’s not all. Cap and trade would also mean a massive new national gas tax on American families and American business.

Cap and trade legislation will drive up the prices of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Higher fuel costs will feel like a new gas tax that will hit consumers at every income level, in every state, in every field of transportation and manufacturing.

Anonymous said...

Government fraud has cost Californians $600 million this year
(SacBee)

A report released this morning says waste, fraud and mismanagement by state and local governments cost California taxpayers more than $600 million so far this year.

The California Taxpayers' Association used media reports to compile its figures, but only 49 of the 117 examples were quantifiable, so the actual amount is likely much higher

Anonymous said...

Pelosi: Health care 'public option' needs new name (AP)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a government-sponsored public option for health care lives. But it may be going by a different name.

In an appearance at a Florida senior center Monday, the Democratic leader referred to the so-called public option as "the consumer option." Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, appeared by Pelosi's side and used the term "competitive option."

Both suggested a new moniker might get them past any lingering doubts among the public, consumers and competitors.

Pelosi says the term [...] creates the impression that taxpayers will foot the bill for health care.

Wasserman Schultz says she expects the speaker to give the new wording a test drive when she returns to Washington.

Anonymous said...

Tax refugees staging escape from New York (New York Post)

New Yorkers are fleeing the state and city in alarming numbers -- and costing a fortune in lost tax dollars, a new study shows.

More than 1.5 million state residents left for other parts of the United States from 2000 to 2008, according to the report from the Empire Center for New York State Policy. It was the biggest out-of-state migration in the country.

The vast majority of the migrants, 1.1 million, were former residents of New York City -- meaning one out of seven city taxpayers moved out.

"The Empire State is being drained of an invaluable resource -- people," the report said.

What's worse is that the families fleeing New York are being replaced by lower-income newcomers, who consequently pay less in taxes.

Anonymous said...

German coalition agrees tax cut (Sweetness-Light)

Shocker: Germany To Cut Income Taxes From an outraged BBC News:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have sealed a coalition deal with the Free Democrats (FDP) based on major tax cut plans.

The deal between the CDU/CSU and the pro-business FDP paves the way for the coalition to take office next week.

Income taxes will be slashed by 24bn euros ($36bn, £22bn) starting in 2011, according to the coalition agreement.

snip

"The burden on families has to be lessened, the burden on companies and inheritance tax has to be reformed," Mrs Merkel was quoted as saying by AFP news agency at the start of a press conference in Berlin…


Of course the BBC is so pig-biting mad they couldn’t even formulate a coherent headline.

Anonymous said...

Obama’s SEIU Pals: “Chamber of Commerce Have Ruined the Economy” (GatewayPundit)

Obama’s socialist SEIU pals lash out at the Chamber of Commerce–
In this video– Andy Stern tells SEIU socialists at a rally across from the Chamber of Commerce that the free enterprise group believes in:

“Old market-worshipping, privatizing, deregulating trickle down economy that took the greatest economy on the earth and sent it staggering forward...I say shame on them...We don’t approve and we have a friend in the White House who doesn’t improve as well.”

From a SEIU rally at the Chamber earlier this year: Naked Emporer News, via FOX Nation

Andy Stern — SEIU President: “People at the Chamber of Commerce have ruined the country.”

Anonymous said...

Maddow getting killed in the cable news ratings made my day. She is a complete and utter joke. Where does MSNBC dig up these zombies?

Anonymous said...

Speaking of tvbythenumbers.com, just saw this posted on that site: Fox News ratings up 14 percent since Obama White House declares war on Fox. Obama's posse is a bunch of amateurs. Keep declaring war on Fox, you morons!

Anonymous said...

BREAKING FROM THE MSM.....

Michelle Obama, Jill Biden to Attend World Series Game (cbsnews.com)

The White House announced this afternoon that Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden will make a trip to New York on Wednesday to attend game one of the World Series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Anonymous said...

The wives attending the World Series is just another good reason for not watching that tired, old sport where nothing happens for two hours.

Anonymous said...

More breaking news - stock is taking yet another beating today. Down to $2.85 cents and dropping. All that spin may not have done the trick.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't the stock at $4 just last week?

Anonymous said...

All the big chains are losing on the market today, but it looks like McCrappy is taking it the hardest, down 12 percent so far.

Anonymous said...

From Anonymous ... The move comes three years after Elevation Partners, which counts U2 singer Bono and Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee as managing directors ...


So Forbes is laying off people, eh? I guess no one is impressed by having on Bono and some investor as managing directors. Should we be?