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.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Thursday December 10 -- Got news or an update?
If you have news or an update, leave it in comments. . . .
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Fistgate III: Obama’s Safe Schools Czar’s “Black Book” For Kids Included Tips on Fisting & Pi$$ing on Your Partner(GatewayPundit) (Warning on Content)
In March 2000 the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) organization of Massachusetts held its 10 Year Anniversary GLSEN/Boston conference at Tufts University.
This conference was fully supported by the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Safe Schools Program, the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and some of the presenters even received federal money.
During the 2000 conference, workshop leaders led a “youth only, ages 14-21″ session that offered lessons in “fisting” a dangerous sexual practice.
During the same workshop an activist asked 14 year-old students, “Spit or swallow?… Is it rude?” The unbelievable audio clip is posted here.
Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings is the founder of GLSEN. He was paid $273,573.96 as its executive director in 2007.
Jennings was the keynote speaker at the 2000 GLSEN conference.
Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” was the keynote speaker at the GLSEN/Boston Conference at Tufts University in 2000.
High school students at the conference learned about fisting and watersports from the GLSEN activists. Jennings is seen here holding the conference program. (Via Mass Resistance)
Unfortunately for GLSEN, undercover journalists with Mass Resistance recorded these outrageous sessions at Tufts University. The audio was later leaked to a local radio station. This created such an uproar that GLSEN leaders were forced to apologize for their disgusting behavior.
Despite the controversy, Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings and his GLSEN organization did nothing to clean up their act.
In fact in 2001 activists handed out “fisting kits” to the children and teachers who attended the GLSEN conference.
But that’s not all. The children who attended Kevin Jennnings’ GLSEN 2005 Conference also left with their own “Little Black Book –Queer in the 21st Century”.
This book exposes the young teens to–Rimming – Fisting – Water Sports (Pi$$ Play) – Toys It’s what every teen needs to know...
The page titled “How safe is dat?” introduces young teens to fisting, rimming, and watersports (pi$$ing on your partner). Shouldn’t every teen know this?
And in case any of the teens got bored, GLSEN was also kind enough to include a list of the local gay bars in the booklet distributed to high school students. The entire Little Black Book is posted here.
Kevin Jennings insists his programs are about education and not sex (video here)...
But is education on fisting and pi$$ play what young teens really need?
Because of his excellent work with children Kevin Jennings was promoted by Barack Obama to be his Safe Schools Czar.
Today he’s running the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools in the US Department of Education.
Dozens in Congress: Oust Obama's porn-promoter (FistGate)
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following includes descriptions of adult themes and objectional subject material.
More than four dozen members of Congress have signed a letter to President Obama urging the removal of Kevin Jennings, the pro-homosexual activist appointed to head the nation's office of safe schools.
The campaign is available online under the website StopJennings.org.
The site tells why signers believe Jennings is unfit for the office. His books promoted for children are by the homosexual advocacy organization Jennings founded, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, include descriptions on child molestation, adult-child sex, explicit descriptions of sex acts and tales of cruising restrooms for sex.
Among the book titles recommended for children are "Queer 13," "Passages of Pride," "Growing Up Gay/Growing Up Lesbian," "In Your Face," "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son" and "Love & Sex: Ten Stories of Truth." Get the new "Marketing of Evil" audiobook on 4 CDs now.
When the campaign was launched with about a dozen members of Congress asking Obama to remove Jennings:
"We respectfully request that you remove Kevin Jennings, the Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, from your administration.
It is clear that Mr. Jennings lacks the appropriate qualifications and ethical standards to serve in this capacity."
The letter was signed by U.S. Reps. Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Steve King of Iowa, Duncan Hunter of California, Darrell Issa of California,
Andrew Breitbart Strong Arms Media Matters Over Fistgate Scandal(GatewayPundit)
Yesterday, the Soros-linked Media Matters defended Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings after it was revealed that his GLSEN conference was giving children tips on fisting.
Yes. It is shocking to see the depths these people will stoop to defend a degenerate.
Today Andrew Breitbart let them have it on his Twitter account.
Here is one tweet directed at Media Matters founder and White House puppetmaster and chairman of the Obama-Biden Transition Project John Podesta:
“John Podesta, as puppetmaster of left, will you get your hands around FistGate & get to bottom of it: http://tinyurl.com/ycotzex @mmfa”
Here’s another one: “EARACHE (Eric) BOEHLERT? You don’t find something stinky about this Obama Safe Sex Czar ‘Fisting for Teens’ story? http://tinyurl.com/ycotzex @mmfa“
Here’s another: “Perils of Not Vetting Prez, MCLVII: Creates SafeSchoolCzar & Appoints Fella Fixed on Teaching Fisting to Minors: http://tinyurl.com/ycotzex“
EDITORIAL: Obama's risky-sex czar (The Washington Times)
WARNING: This editorial includes discussion of topics that are sexually graphic.
snip
Simply, the deep level of depravity involved in this subject cannot be portrayed without providing a couple of examples to illustrate the inappropriate content.
Please do not read any further if you will be offended by sexually graphic language.
The Obama administration is stonewalling serious inquiries about sexual filth propagated by a senior presidential appointee who is responsible for promoting and implementing federal education policy.
Democrats clearly are terrified of ruffling the feathers of their activist homosexual supporters, who are an influential part of the Democratic party's base.
This scandal, however, is not merely about homosexual behavior; it is about promoting sex between children and adults - and it's time for President Obama to make clear that abetting such illegal perversion has no place in his administration.
Obama’s “Safe School” Czar Promotes Teaching Fisting to Teens. Personally Hid Report of Pedophilia (Right Wing News)
Kevin Jennings has been appointed as director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools under Obama.
Here's a bit of his bio: In 1997, according to a transcript put together by Brian J. Burt, managing editor of the student-run Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Jennings said he hoped that promoting homosexuality in schools would be considered fine in the future.
The group Jennings founded has also been accused of promoting homosexuality in schools.
At a GLSEN conference in 2000, co-sponsored with the Massachusetts Department of Education, the group landed in hot water when it was revealed that it had included an educational seminar for kids that graphically described some unorthodox sex techniques.
A state official who spoke to teens at the conference said: "Fisting (forcing one's entire hand into another person's rectum or vagina) often gets a bad rap....
[It's] an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with...[and] to put you into an exploratory mode."
That's not the worst of it, I'm afraid. Jennings admits not reporting a child's sexual abuse:
As a teacher, he knew a high school sophomore named Brewster who was "involved" with an "older man":
"Out spilled a story about his involvement with an older man he had met in Boston. I listened, sympathized, and offered advice.
He left my office with a smile on his face that I would see every time I saw him on the campus for the next two years, until he graduated."
The account led Diane Lenning, head of the National Education Association's Republican Educators Caucus, to criticize Jennings in 2004 for not alerting school and state authorities about the boy's situation, calling Jennings' failure to do so an "unethical practice."
Jennings threatened to sue Lenning for libel, saying she had no evidence that he knew the student in question was sexually active, or that he failed to report the situation.
But a professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, Warren Throckmorton, has produced an audio recording of a speech Jennings gave in 2000 at a GLSEN rally in Iowa, in which Jennings made it clear that he believed the student was sexually active:
"I said, 'What were you doing in Boston on a school night, Brewster?'
He got very quiet, and he finally looked at me and said, 'Well I met someone in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him.' High school sophomore, 15 years old'
I looked at Brewster and said, 'You know, I hope you knew to use a condom.'" [Audio is available on the professor's Web site.]
The Washington Times reported in 2004 that "state authorities said Mr. Jennings filed no report in 1988."
A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department for Children and Families, the department to which Jennings -- as a Massachusetts teacher -- would have been legally obliged to report the situation, did not return calls from FOXNews.com.
Jennings is just another radical in a line of radicals found in this administration.
Remember, Obama told you, "Judge me by the people who surround me."
Planned Parenthood Partnered in Safe School Czar's "Fistgate" Scandals (LifeSiteNews)
Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, was a collaborator in the sex-education scandal now known as "Fistgate" that has enmeshed Obama's "Safe School Czar" Kevin Jennings in recent days.
According to information posted at Andrew Brietbart's Big Government blog, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in 2000 held its 10 Year Anniversary GLSEN/Boston conference at Tufts University.
At that time Jennings was the executive director of GLSEN. At the 2000 event, which was cosponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education, a youth workshop was held, specifically targeting 14-21-year-olds, which taught them how to perform a dangerous sexual practice known as "fisting" - a practice so extreme that it cannot be described here.
After the content of the workshop was made public and an uproar ensued, Kevin Jennings, dismissed the event as an aberration.
"Like the Parents Rights Coalition and the Department of Education, GLSEN is also troubled by some of the content that came up during this workshop," he said.
"We need to make our expectations and guidelines to outside facilitators much more clear, because we are surprised and troubled by some of the accounts we've heard."
However, despite Jennings' assurances, a similar event happened at the 2001 GLSEN conference the following year, again held at Tufts University, and this time involving Planned Parenthood.
According to Breitbart, a Planned Parenthood booth offered "fisting kits" at the 2001 conference, which was attended by an estimated 400 students out of the 650 attendees.
MassNews, which obtained one of the Planned Parenthood "fisting kits" reported that "they contained a single plastic glove, a package of K-Y lubricant and instructions on how to make a 'dental dam' out of the material."
A label on the package bearing the Planned Parenthood logo and phone number stated, "protects against STD's."
Gay Adoptive Father Faces Arraignment in Abuse Case Edge (gay pride mag from Boston)
A former Duke University employee and adoptive gay father charged with molesting his five-year-old son--and offering the boy as a sex object to pedophiles online--is expected to make a plea bargain, according to a Dec. 1 article in local newspaper the Durham Herald Sun.
Frank Lombard faces charges stemming from alleged instances in which he molested his young adopted son and chatted about the deeds online even as he carried them out.
It’s thought that the U.S, Attorney’s Office is positioning the case for a plea arrangement because the Office is set to file an "information," which allows the prosecution to sidestep a grand jury indictment.
The "information" will be filed in Washington, D.C., and will charge Lombard with sexual exploitation of a minor, the Herald Sun reported.
Greta on CNN: 'Something is Going Very Wrong Over There' (TV Newser )
It’s death is a suicide. If it only stuck to real journalism and not the party line, it would be healthy and still alive. It’s passing will not be mourned....
Greta Van Susteren feels sorry for CNN. On her blog today, she writes:
So why do I feel bad (almost) for CNN? Because I have friends there...friends who now whisper to me everytime they see me, "what do you think is going on here? The place feels awful...it is dying."
I worry about them. I want my friends to have jobs. Don't get me wrong I want to continue to win, but not to the extent their place goes belly up and my friends lose jobs.
You should hear what is being said inside CNN. It is really bad when the employees start whispering like that...and whispering and emailing the competition.
They have some really good hardworking and journalists at CNN who I know well and like very much. I think our direct competition at 10pm - Cooper - is a smart person and a nice guy.
But something is going very wrong over there...they obviously feel a need to do something.
A CNN spokesperson responds to TVNewser, "You would think anyone commenting on the finances or marketing budget of CNN, would have at least an elementary understanding of our business.
CNN is enjoying its 6th straight year of profit growth and is, again, on track to deliver record earnings in 2009.
As for being #1: CNN continues to have a larger audience on TV and the web combined than Fox News or any other network."
Although both CNN and MSNBC are both hard liberals and Obama personality worshippers, I think it seems MSNBC tends to be more hardcore liberal doctrinists, while CNN is more of Obama personality worshippers.
7 companies that won't make it to 2020 (MSN Money) Guess who number 7is McClatchy? It’s you!
Potentially fatal flaws come in many forms. But three crop up the most when you talk to experts: excessive debt, superior competitors and the inability to keep up with technological change.
7. McClatchy: Technology has been particularly hard on the news business, as content has moved online but advertising dollars have been slow to follow.
For smaller, undiversified newspaper companies burdened with huge debt loads, time is running out.
Revolving Door: Politico's Jonathan Allen to Head Dem Political Action Committee (Newsbusters) And they still claim Politico is "unbiased" . . .
Here's another entry for the revolving door file: Politico's Jonathan Allen (pictured at right), formerly of Congressional Quarterly and former Sen. Paul Sarbanes' office, will take over as the top staffer at Debbie Wasserman Schultz's DWS PAC, according to Roll Call (h/t e-mail tipster Bob Foster).
For his part, Allen, whose wife works as the communications director for freshman Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), found it an offer he couldn't refuse:
"I wouldn't go work for just anyone," Allen said. "She wanted me to come work for her, and it was impossible for me to say no.
She has a heart of gold and resolve of steel. ... I find that inspiring."
Listen for the Outcry: Former Clinton Operative Taking Helm of Morning ‘News’ Show (NewsBusters)
The official announcement will apparently come tomorrow morning: former Clinton campaign operative George Stephanopoulos will start Monday as co-anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America.
He’ll also keep his job as the host of ABC’s This Week, at least for the time being.
But here’s one yardstick for measuring the media’s response:
Back in 1997, CBS announced that ex-GOP Representative Susan Molinari would take over as co-host of Saturday Morning.
Journalists quickly howled at the breaching of the sacred “barricade that is supposed to exist in journalism between the political people and the officials on the one hand, and the reporters on the other.”
NPR’s Mara Liasson said it was “disturbing” of CBS to hire a Republican;
Nina Totenberg exclaimed: “This really makes me want to puke.”
The daunting reality facing newspapers (Newsosaur.com)
If chief executives get the big bucks for their ability to put the best face on bad situations, then newspaper bosses really earned their pay this week at the annual UBS media conference in New York.
With straight faces, the chiefs of McClatchy Co., the New York Times Co. and other major publishers told investors that things were looking up for the newspaper business because their sales would be down “only” 20% to 25% in the fourth quarter of the year after tumbling as low as 30% in prior periods.
While a slowdown in the industry’s sickening sales slide beats the accelerating revenue deceleration that has been eating away at newspapers for the last 42 months, it’s time for a reality check. So, here goes:
Newspapers are on track this year to produce their lowest advertising sales since 1986, representing a 43% drop from their all-time peak of $49.4 billion in 2005.
Based on the historic sales slide in the first nine months of the year, newspapers are likely to generate no more than $28 billion in advertising revenues in 2009, thus shedding more than $21 billion in sales since 2005.
In other words, newspapers appear to have gotten mighty close to losing almost half of their revenue base in a mere four years –a decline that began well before the economy began unraveling.
Advertising sales matter because they traditionally have generated 80% of the revenues at most newspapers, with circulation fees providing the balance.
The profound contraction of the advertising market has caused some publishers to begin ratcheting up subscription and single-copy prices, but the industry at the moment will live, or not, by advertising.
Barack Obama 'takes tips' from Tiger Woods (Featured on Cover of Golf Digest) (telgraph UK)
Among the tips, Mr Obama is urged to learn from Woods' image, saying: "Tiger never does anything that would make him ridiculous."
Barack Obama is the latest to be embarrassed by Tiger Woods with the US president featuring on the front cover of a magazine 'taking tips' from the golfer.
The pair, two of the most recognisable faces in the world, feature together on the January 2010 edition of Golf Digest.
The magazine features a photo shop mock up front cover of the two with Woods acting as Mr Obama's caddie as part of an article titled "10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger".
Among the tips, Mr Obama is urged to learn from Woods' image, saying: "Tiger never does anything that would make him ridiculous."
The article refers to Mr Obama and Woods as "two men [who] might have much to talk about, like siblings separated at birth," with the golfer praised as "a good role model because has always been able to pull himself together after setbacks".
The magazine went to print in mid-November, only a couple of weeks before a string of allegations have been made about his private life.
Seven women have now been named as alleged mistresses of the World Number One golfer, the latest Holly Sampson, a 36-year-old porn star. Her lawyer said she had nothing to say on the matter.
Tiger 'chipped in' for affairs (Allegedly Paid mistresses) (NY Post)
Among the tips, Mr Obama is urged to learn from Woods' image, saying: "Tiger never does anything that would make him ridiculous."
A smokin'-hot lingerie model not only got Tiger's attention -- she also got a bundle of his dough to stay in his den, an astounding new report says.
Jamie Jungers, 26, used the scads of money she got from the 34-year-old Woods to enhance her already striking looks, Life & Style magazine reports in its new issue, on newsstands today.
"Tiger gave Jamie thousands of dollars," said an insider quoted by the mag. "She took that money to get liposuction on her thighs."
Jungers met Woods in Las Vegas in 2005 while working as a so-called "Trashy Girl" for the Trashy Lingerie line.
They supposedly cavorted without the knowledge of Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, for more than a year -- and at the same time the curvy Jungers was engaged, the report says.
"66% of Americans Say Obama Unqualified For Nobel Peace Award" (Translation from Japan) (Yomiuri Shimbun News Via Yahoo!Japan)
Large circulation Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun's reporter in Washington, D.C., Mr. Etsunari Kurose, reports in Japanese that Americans are not so hot on the idea of Obama receiving that award in Oslo, Norway.
66% of registered voters in a very recent Quinnipiac Poll said Mr. Obama did not have the right to receive that award. Only 26% said that he did.
Indonesia to Erect Statue of President Obama as a Boy (ABC News) His father listed him as a Muslim on his school record.
A six-and-a-half foot statue of President Obama as a 10-year-old boy has been commissioned in Jakarta, Xinhua reports.
The president spent some of his formative years there as a boy, where he was educated at a school that was decidedly not a madrassa, despite some false reports pushed by conservative news outlets two years ago.
Finally some Europeans are angry with Obama—the very ones who are awarding him his peace prize.
Katarina Andersson on the president’s rebuff of King Harald, a group of Norwegian children, and his own Nobel exhibit.
A day before President Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, the president’s treatment of his Norwegian hosts has become hot news across Scandinavia.
News outlets across the region are calling Obama arrogant for slashing some of the prize winners’ traditional duties from his schedule.
“Everybody wants to visit the Peace Center except Obama,” sniped the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, amid reports the president would snub his own exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center.
“A bit arrogant—a bit bad,” proclaimed another Aftenposten headline.
“You just don’t say no to an invitation from a European king.
Maybe Obama’s advisers are not very educated about European culture, but he is coming off as rude, even if he doesn’t mean to.”
“It’s very sad,” said Nobel Peace Center Director Bente Erichsen of the news that Obama would skip the peace center exhibit.
Prize winners traditionally open the exhibitions about their work that accompany the Nobel festivities. “I totally understand why the Norwegian public is upset. If I could get a few minutes with the president, I’d say, ‘To walk through the exhibition wouldn’t take long, and I’m sure you would love the show. You have no idea what you are missing.’”
LMAO, what did they expect? obama, did nothing to earn the peace prize and he knows it. What happens when you give someone a reward for doing nothing?.....They have no respect for it , it doesn't matter if its a car a house or a noble prize, without sacrifice and work its meaningless and treated without respect.
Gibbs Touts Gallup Numbers When They Support Obama (NewsBusters)
White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, recently ridiculed a Gallup poll which showed the President's approval ratings at a record low for this stage of his presidency, for seemingly no other reason than they showed the President in a negative light.
Gibbs referred to the Gallup polling organization as a wildly fluctuating EKG, labeling their results as the equivalent of ‘a 6-year-old with a crayon.'
Predictably, this administration has managed to throw a temper tantrum at every instance of failure that has defined them.
The only surprise here, being that Gibbs was capable of taking the pacifier out of his mouth long enough to make the analogy.
On the other hand, it was mere months ago that Gibbs himself used Gallup poll numbers to demonstrate support for President Obama's economic stimulus plan - a stimulus plan that a 6-year-old with a crayon would have voted ‘no' on.
Yes, Mr. Gibbs was so giddy over the Gallup survey - which showed roughly two-thirds of the public approved of the way Obama was handling the passage of the economic stimulus package - that he sent out an e-mail to reporters which praised the findings.
As the Washington Post reported on February 9th, 2009 (emphasis mine):
"As President Barack Obama heads to Indiana and Florida over the next two days to sell his economic stimulus plan to a somewhat skeptical Congress, White House and congressional Democrats are moving around new poll data that suggests the public is broadly supportive of the bill.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sent out an email to reporters this morning touting the data -- from a Gallup survey -- that showed roughly two-thirds of the public approves of the way Obama is handling the passage of the economic stimulus package while just 31 percent say the same of congressional Republicans."
MSNBC also covered the then Gallup-loving Gibbs: "Aides David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, both of whom were fixtures of the campaign plane, accompanied the president to this swing state, which he won narrowly in November.
The pair spoke with the press aboard Air Force One on the flight from Washington, arguing that the latest Gallup poll showed there was strong support for the stimulus package."
CNN also reported on how Obama echoed the comments made by Axelrod and Gibbs throughout the week, which continued the theme of citing Gallup as the be-all/end-all poll of choice regarding the stimulus:
Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One Tuesday, President Obama continued to make the case his top aides have pressed this week: that public support for his stimulus proposal is far stronger than many reports have reflected.
"I think if you took a look at the Gallup poll yesterday, the American people don't need convincing," he said.
Apparently, Gallup is an important polling source only if the numbers support the President's decisions.
This is pretty much typical behavior for the Obama administration - cite polls and fuzzy numbers to push a radical agenda, and if any organization dares dissent, ridicule them as being irrelevant and partisan.
Gibbs condescension is rather stunning, considering he is the press secretary for the lowest rated President at this stage of the game since Harry Truman. Then again, give a 6-year-old a podium...
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs claims the Obama Administration doesn’t care about today’s Gallup Daily Obama Job Approval poll, which is fortunate since it and other polls show Obama at the lowest rating of any modern President at this stage in his term:
“White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs slammed Gallup’s daily tracking poll on Tuesday after it showed President Obama’s approval rating had fallen to 47 percent, the lowest approval rating for any president at this stage of his presidency dating back to President Harry S Truman.
***
Despite the scope of Gallup’s data and its reputation for professional political polling, Gibbs dismissed its survey.
“I don’t put a lot of stake in, never have, in the EKG that is daily Gallup trend. I don’t pay a lot of attention to the meaninglessness of it.”
And it’s not just Gallup: “Rasmussen’s recent survey has Obama’s approval at 47 percent.
CNN/Opinion Research found Obama’s approval rating to be 48 percent.
Fox News/Opinion Dynamics pegged Obama’s approval rating at 46 percent.
The last poll to show Obama above 50 percent approval was conducted in mid-November by CBS News.”
As a candidate in Iowa, Obama promised to lead “not by polls, but by principle” although he nevertheless employed six campaign pollsters.
Some of them now work for him as President. Even Gallup’s Editor in Chief noticed the inconsistency between what the Obama campaign did and what the Obama Administration says:
“And I’m sure the Obama campaign in 2008 paid a great deal of attention to their own tracking polls measuring how his candidacy was doing as the events of the campaign rocketed across the news each day.”
I think President Obama cares about polls as much as candidate Obama cared — because the polls impact his ability to lead and govern.
At this rate, Obama will undoubtedly focus more and more on the urgency of acting immediately and sweepingly.
Obama to GOP: 'Stop trying to frighten the American people (The Hill) Translation: “Hey GOP, stop telling the American people the truth! It’s killing my presidency!!”
President Barack Obama told House Republican leaders to "stop trying to frighten the American people" even as he and Democrats said they see a possibility for bipartisan cooperation on job creation legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters that Obama made the admonition during a bipartisan meeting at the White House on Wednesday, producing a chart to show Republicans that "things are a lot better."
Democrats own congress since 2006. And ahh yes, the ever growing debt, the government takeover of healthcare, Cap & Tax, and the ever growing unemployment rate isn’t the reason people are frightened.
It’s all due to Republicans. lol, what happened to accountability Obama. Seems all he continues to do is point fingers at the reason the public is growing weary of his administration.
Dems to lift debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion, fear 2010 backlash (politico)
In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year’s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections.
“We’ve incurred this debt. We have to pay our bills,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO Wednesday. And the Maryland Democrat confirmed that the anticipated increase could be as high as $1.8 trillion — nearly twice what had been assumed in last spring’s budget resolution for the 2010 fiscal year.
The leadership is betting that it’s better for the party to take its lumps now rather than risk further votes over the coming year.
But the enormity of the number could create its own dynamic, much as another debt ceiling fight in 1985 gave rise to the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction act mandating across-the-board spending cuts nearly 25 years ago.
Already in the Senate, there is growing pressure in both parties for the creation of a novel bipartisan task force empowered to force expedited votes in the next Congress on deficit reduction steps now shunned by lawmakers.
As introduced Wednesday, the legislation sets no specific targets for deficit reduction, but its 18-member task force — 16 of whom would come from Congress — is promised immense leverage to force change if they can first come together behind a plan.
“This is a defining moment,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), one of the lead sponsors, and New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the panel’s ranking Republican, is already maneuvering to try to add the legislation as an amendment to any bill tapped to carry the debt increase.
Obama Tells GOP to Stop Scare Tactics As Dems Agree to Blow Billions More on Another Failed Jobs Creation Plan (GatewayPundit)
More Hope and Change...Barack Obama told GOP leaders to stop with the scare tactics today at a rare bipartisan meeting on the dems latest jobs creation legislation.
Obama and Democrats tripled the national deficit in less than one year.
They’ve increased the national debt to $12 Trillion.
Obama promised his stimulus plan would create 3.7 million new jobs. Instead America has lost 3.6 million jobs.
Now they want to try it again... And they are upset that Republicans are not backing their toxic plans to spend their way out of this economic downturn.
The Hill reported: President Barack Obama told House Republican leaders to “stop trying to frighten the American people” even as he and Democrats said they see a possibility for bipartisan cooperation on job creation legislation.
snip
But moments later, Republicans made it clear that they want to see a “spending freeze” and a “no-cost” jobs plan that consists largely of tax cuts.
“We can’t keep spending money we don’t have,” House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) pushed back on Obama’s request for an end to Republicans’ scare tactics by saying that Obama’s policies have led to a hiring freeze, and the GOP is simply telling constituents what is happening.
“The president wants to blame us for informing the American people and how this will affect them,” Boehner said.
...Despite the GOP opposition, Democratic leaders seemed optimistic they can move quickly on a jobs bill that contains much of what the president outlined in a speech Tuesday.
Just last week Barack Obama told the American public that government spending was not the answer.
Obama predicts $30B loss on auto bailout(Says he would make same "courageous" decision again)(Google)
The Obama administration will tell Congress Wednesday that it expects to lose about $30 billion of the $82 billion government bailout of the auto industry.
Gene Sperling, senior counsel to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, confirmed in an interview late today that the administration's forecast is that it will lose $30 billion on its auto investments -- but that's down from an earlier estimate of $44 billion.
"The real news is the projected loss came down to $30 billion from $44 billion," Sperling said, noting that auto sales have improved ahead of what many analysts had forecast.
The administration still holds out hope that if things improve, the administration could still recover more.
Saving General Motors and Chrysler saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, President Barack Obama said today.
"It was right decision then and the right decision now," Sperling said, calling it a "courageous decision by the president" to give the two automakers a "rebirth even though he knew it was not going to be politically popular."
"The real news is the projected loss came down to $30 billion from $44 billion," Sperling said.
WOW, New DNC talking point “More good news. Obama saved us $14 billion.”
Audit: Taxpayers lose $61B on AIG, auto bailouts (Yahoo)
WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department is acknowledging for the first time that it lost $61 billion on two key programs designed to stabilize the economy after the largest financial crisis in decades.
The government is losing more than $30 billion on lifelines extended to insurance giant American International Group Inc., according to Treasury data released Wednesday in an audit by the Government Accountability Office.
It also is losing more than $30 billion on rescues of struggling automakers Chrysler and General Motors.
Civil Liberties Group Loses $20 Million Donor [David Gelbaum-Hedge Fund Manager!] (NYTimes)Communist front group loses money as communists in Washington destroy US economy.
A longtime anonymous donor to the American Civil Liberties Union has withdrawn his annual gift of more than $20 million, punching a 25 percent hole in its annual operating budget and forcing cutbacks in operations.
Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the A.C.L.U., acknowledged in a written statement that a “family” had told the organization in September that it could not make its annual gifts, at least for next year.
“This family, that has sought to protect its privacy by arranging its gifts anonymously, notified us last month that due to market conditions it will be unable to make its expected sizable donations of over $20 million,” Mr. Romero said.
Dems Stimulate Dem Pollster With Gift of $6 Million in Stimulus Cash(GatewayPundit)
It’s nice to be with the in crowd...when you’re blowing other people’s money.
Democratic pollster Mark Penn was gifted $6 million in Stimulus money from his buddies in Washington.
The Hill reported, via Jammie Wearing Fool: Nearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn (photo above), Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.
Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn.
Burson-Marsteller won the contract to work on a public-relations campaign to advertise the national switch from analog to digital television. Nearly $2.8 million of the contract was issued to Penn’s polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, according to federal records.
But at least democrats created or saved 3 jobs with that $6 million in Stimulus cash. That’s important.
Some have speculated that Reid is simply "losing it"--but from the years in which we've been observing Reid, we'd say he never had it in the first place.
Yesterday's statement on the Senate floor was vintage Reid. He has a propensity for saying things that are splenetic, inappropriate and ignorant, such as his embarrassing series of claims a few years ago that Clarence Thomas was unintelligent.
This, however, raises a question that has long puzzled us about Reid: How did such an unappealing man who says so many foolish things get so far in politics?
He has been elected to Congress six times, and the Senate's Democrats chose him as their leader. Maybe he has exceptional backroom skills, or comes across better in person than on television.
And of course the polls show he is in trouble with the voters back in Nevada. Still, his success to this point seems something of a miracle--an inspiration to dour, foolish men everywhere.
Harry Reid is Wrong on History and Wrong on Health Reform (US News & World Report)
I am black. I am a woman. And, with all due respect, I think Harry Reid has lost his mind.
Yesterday, on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Reid compared those who oppose his healthcare reform package to those who opposed ending slavery, fought against women's suffrage, and thwarted civil rights.
What's next, Holocaust comparisons?
Many assume that given my race and gender, I would support the Senate health reform bill as a savior of the masses. I do not.
And thousands, if not millions, of blacks, Hispanics, women, low-income, and at-risk communities feel the same.
There are many reasons why I don't support the proposed healthcare legislation.
I worry about how Congress's regulations will drive up insurance premiums, a "public" option might strangle private health insurance, employer mandates might exacerbate the job crisis, and that ultimately this program will add to our already exploding debt.
(SNIP)
If comparisons to slavery are now fair game, Majority Leader Reid should consider this one. In 1839, slaves being transported on the ship La Amistad revolted and killed many of those holding them captive; when the matter was eventually taken up by the Supreme Court, the would-be slaves were found not guilty of wrongdoing and were freed.
Today, Reid and members of Congress are steering America toward a land of government-run healthcare, in spite of the fact that polls consistently show that most Americans don't want to go in that direction.
Just 27 percent of Americans polled have a favorable view of Congress, and just about 40 percent of Reid's constituents plan to vote for him again.
It's not a perfect analogy, but I hope it gets a point across: If Reid and his fellow congressman continue on their present course, they may be facing a mutiny of their own.
Higdon declares victory in special (Kentucky) state Senate race (Lexington Herald-Leader)
Central Kentucky voters rejected an attempt by Gov. Steve Beshear to erode Republican control of the state Senate Tuesday, choosing the GOP’s Jimmy Higdon over Democrat Jodie Haydon in a special Senate election.
The election — one of the most expensive legislative races in state history — marks a setback for Beshear and the horse industry, who had hoped to advance a proposal to allow electronic slot machines at racetracks by narrowing the Republican majority in the Senate to one.
[Snip]
Though he was outspent, Higdon said it was “great strategy” by the state Republican Party to nationalize the race.
His ads often attempted to tie Haydon with Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, particularly on the issue of health care.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville, called the decision to focus on national issues shrewd and suggested the race may be a bellwether beyond Kentucky’s borders.
“I think the district reflects the current national mood,” McConnell said.
Sensenbrenner: No New Laws Until Climate Data 'Scientific Fascism' Ends (FOXNews.com)
A Republican lawmaker said Tuesday he is going to attend the Copenhagen conference on climate change to inform world leaders that despite any promises made by President Obama, no new laws will be passed in the United States until the "scientific fascism" ends.
A Republican lawmaker said Tuesday he is going to attend the Copenhagen conference on climate change to inform world leaders that despite any promises made by President Obama, no new laws will be passed in the United States until the "scientific fascism" ends.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., also wrote to Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, on Monday to demand that researchers who authored e-mails and documents that demonstrate climate change data were manipulated should not be allowed to participate in the latest report written by the U.N. panel.
"I call it 'scientific fascism,'" Sensenbrenner said during a press conference with fellow climate change skeptics.
"The U.N. should throw a red flag. .... They relied on these scientists unjustifiably in my opinion."
Hacked e-mails from top environmental researchers, which appear to question whether humans influence climate, have been misunderstood, former Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday.
"The climate deniers tried to create the impression that that's what was in those stolen e-mails, but when you put them in context, it's clear that's not what [scientists] were doing, " Gore said on CNN's "American Morning."
Krauthammer: Environmentalism is the New Socialism, EPA Regulating CO2 Could Spark Revolution (Fox News)
Video Either you do cap and trade or we do cap; no trade... Government given power to regulate every aspect of your life through EPA... The new socialism... States there will be a new revolution... watch video.
Climate deal likely to cost trillions of dollars (msnbc)
If negotiators reach an accord at the climate talks in Copenhagen it will entail profound shifts in energy production, dislocations in how and where people live, sweeping changes in agriculture and forestry and the creation of complex new markets in global warming pollution credits.
So what is all this going to cost? The short answer is trillions of dollars over the next few decades.
It is a significant sum but a relatively small fraction of the world’s total economic output.
In energy infrastructure alone, the transformational ambitions that delegates to the United Nations climate change conference are expected to set in the coming days will cost more than $10 trillion in additional investment from 2010 to 2030, according to a new estimate from the International Energy Agency.
Capping Emissions, Trading On The Future - West's goals in Copenhagen are tantamount to suicide (Forbes)
Whatever the results of the Copenhagen conference on climate change, one thing is for sure: Draconian reductions on carbon emissions will be tacitly accepted by the most developed economies and sloughed off by many developing ones.
In essence, emerging economies get to cut their "carbon" intensity--a natural product of their economic evolution--while we get to cut our throats.
The logic behind this prediction goes something like this.
Since the West created the industrial revolution and the greenhouse gases that supposedly caused this "crisis," it's our obligation to take much of the burden for cleaning them up.
Plagued by self-doubt and even self-loathing, many in the West will no doubt consider this an appropriate mea culpa.
Our leaders will dutifully accept cuts in our carbon emissions--up to 80% by 2050--while developing countries increasetheirs, albeit at a lower rate.
Oh, we also pledge to send billions in aid to help them achieve this goal.
The media shills, scientists, bureaucrats and corporate rent-seekers gathered at Copenhagen won't give much thought to what this means to the industrialized world's middle and working class.
For many of them the new carbon regime means a gradual decline in living standards.
Huge increases in energy costs, taxes and a spate of regulatory mandates will restrict their access to everything from single-family housing and personal mobility to employment in carbon-intensive industries like construction, manufacturing, warehousing and agriculture.
You can get a glimpse of this future in high-unemployment California.
Here a burgeoning regulatory regime tied to global warming threatens to turn the state into a total "no go" economic development zone. Not only do companies have to deal with high taxes, cascading energy prices and regulations, they now face audits of their impact on global warming.
Far easier to move your project to Texas--or if necessary, China.
Dan Goodman AP Photo An issue of Editor & Publisher is shown atop newspapers in New York, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009. The journalism trade journal Editor & Publisher is shutting down after 108 years of publication.
By ANDREW VANACORE; AP Business Writer Published: 12/10/09 9:15 am | Updated: 12/10/09 10:21 am
NEW YORK –
The Nielsen Co. is selling some of its most prominent trade journals - including The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard - and shutting down Editor & Publisher, which has chronicled the newspaper business for 108 years.
In all, Nielsen is selling eight titles to e5 Global Media LLC, a new company formed by private equity firm Pluribus Capital Management, and Guggenheim Partners, a financial services company. James Finkelstein, who founded Pluribus this year with George Green and Matthew Doull, will serve as e5's chairman.
Thursday's closure of E&P "was a shock," said its editor, Greg Mitchell. "We knew that something big was happening but we didn't think the aftermath was that we wouldn't be sold and it would be folded."
Mitchell said Editor & Publisher appeared to have turned things around after struggling at the beginning of the decade. The magazine switched to a monthly format from weekly in 2003 and heightened its focus on the Web.
Nielsen said both the print and online operation will shut down immediately. But Mitchell hopes Editor & Publisher will return in another form.
"I would hope because of our special history and our role as a watchdog in journalism that it would be more likely in this case that there will be someone that's going to say, 'Hey, we're not going to let this die.'"
Along with Editor & Publisher, Nielsen is also shuttering the book review title Kirkus Reviews. The two publications have 18 employees combined. Nielsen would not reveal details about the financial performance of E&P or Kirkus.
Spokesman Gary Holmes said Nielsen is still reviewing its properties to make sure the company is focused on businesses with "the highest potential for growth." Nielsen is keeping a handful of other media properties, including Contract Magazine and Progressive Grocer.
Lachlan Murdoch, 38, the eldest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, was expected to be among the buyers of the Nielsen publications, but he was not part of the deal, according to two people familiar with the matter. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. A message left early Friday with Murdoch's investment firm in Australia was not immediately returned.
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Fistgate III: Obama’s Safe Schools Czar’s “Black Book” For Kids Included Tips on Fisting & Pi$$ing on Your Partner(GatewayPundit)
(Warning on Content)
In March 2000 the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) organization of Massachusetts held its 10 Year Anniversary GLSEN/Boston conference at Tufts University.
This conference was fully supported by the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Safe Schools Program, the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and some of the presenters even received federal money.
During the 2000 conference, workshop leaders led a “youth only, ages 14-21″ session that offered lessons in “fisting” a dangerous sexual practice.
During the same workshop an activist asked 14 year-old students, “Spit or swallow?… Is it rude?” The unbelievable audio clip is posted here.
Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings is the founder of GLSEN. He was paid $273,573.96 as its executive director in 2007.
Jennings was the keynote speaker at the 2000 GLSEN conference.
Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” was the keynote speaker at the GLSEN/Boston Conference at Tufts University in 2000.
High school students at the conference learned about fisting and watersports from the GLSEN activists. Jennings is seen here holding the conference program. (Via Mass Resistance)
Unfortunately for GLSEN, undercover journalists with Mass Resistance recorded these outrageous sessions at Tufts University. The audio was later leaked to a local radio station. This created such an uproar that GLSEN leaders were forced to apologize for their disgusting behavior.
Despite the controversy, Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings and his GLSEN organization did nothing to clean up their act.
In fact in 2001 activists handed out “fisting kits” to the children and teachers who attended the GLSEN conference.
But that’s not all. The children who attended Kevin Jennnings’ GLSEN 2005 Conference also left with their own “Little Black Book –Queer in the 21st Century”.
This book exposes the young teens to–Rimming – Fisting – Water Sports (Pi$$ Play) – Toys
It’s what every teen needs to know...
The page titled “How safe is dat?” introduces young teens to fisting, rimming, and watersports (pi$$ing on your partner). Shouldn’t every teen know this?
And in case any of the teens got bored, GLSEN was also kind enough to include a list of the local gay bars in the booklet distributed to high school students. The entire Little Black Book is posted here.
Kevin Jennings insists his programs are about education and not sex (video here)...
But is education on fisting and pi$$ play what young teens really need?
Because of his excellent work with children Kevin Jennings was promoted by Barack Obama to be his Safe Schools Czar.
Today he’s running the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools in the US Department of Education.
Do you feel safe now?
Dozens in Congress: Oust Obama's porn-promoter (FistGate)
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following includes descriptions of adult themes and objectional subject material.
More than four dozen members of Congress have signed a letter to President Obama urging the removal of Kevin Jennings, the pro-homosexual activist appointed to head the nation's office of safe schools.
The campaign is available online under the website StopJennings.org.
The site tells why signers believe Jennings is unfit for the office.
His books promoted for children are by the homosexual advocacy organization Jennings founded, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, include descriptions on child molestation, adult-child sex, explicit descriptions of sex acts and tales of cruising restrooms for sex.
Among the book titles recommended for children are "Queer 13," "Passages of Pride," "Growing Up Gay/Growing Up Lesbian," "In Your Face," "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son" and "Love & Sex: Ten Stories of Truth." Get the new "Marketing of Evil" audiobook on 4 CDs now.
When the campaign was launched with about a dozen members of Congress asking Obama to remove Jennings:
"We respectfully request that you remove Kevin Jennings, the Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, from your administration.
It is clear that Mr. Jennings lacks the appropriate qualifications and ethical standards to serve in this capacity."
The letter was signed by U.S. Reps. Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Steve King of Iowa, Duncan Hunter of California, Darrell Issa of California,
Andrew Breitbart Strong Arms Media Matters Over Fistgate Scandal(GatewayPundit)
Yesterday, the Soros-linked Media Matters defended Barack Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings after it was revealed that his GLSEN conference was giving children tips on fisting.
Yes. It is shocking to see the depths these people will stoop to defend a degenerate.
Today Andrew Breitbart let them have it on his Twitter account.
Here is one tweet directed at Media Matters founder and White House puppetmaster and chairman of the Obama-Biden Transition Project John Podesta:
“John Podesta, as puppetmaster of left, will you get your hands around FistGate & get to bottom of it: http://tinyurl.com/ycotzex @mmfa”
Here’s another one: “EARACHE (Eric) BOEHLERT? You don’t find something stinky about this Obama Safe Sex Czar ‘Fisting for Teens’ story? http://tinyurl.com/ycotzex @mmfa“
Here’s another: “Perils of Not Vetting Prez, MCLVII: Creates SafeSchoolCzar & Appoints Fella Fixed on Teaching Fisting to Minors: http://tinyurl.com/ycotzex“
EDITORIAL: Obama's risky-sex czar (The Washington Times)
WARNING: This editorial includes discussion of topics that are sexually graphic.
snip
Simply, the deep level of depravity involved in this subject cannot be portrayed without providing a couple of examples to illustrate the inappropriate content.
Please do not read any further if you will be offended by sexually graphic language.
The Obama administration is stonewalling serious inquiries about sexual filth propagated by a senior presidential appointee who is responsible for promoting and implementing federal education policy.
Democrats clearly are terrified of ruffling the feathers of their activist homosexual supporters, who are an influential part of the Democratic party's base.
This scandal, however, is not merely about homosexual behavior; it is about promoting sex between children and adults - and it's time for President Obama to make clear that abetting such illegal perversion has no place in his administration.
Obama’s “Safe School” Czar Promotes Teaching Fisting to Teens. Personally Hid Report of Pedophilia (Right Wing News)
Kevin Jennings has been appointed as director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools under Obama.
Here's a bit of his bio:
In 1997, according to a transcript put together by Brian J. Burt, managing editor of the student-run Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Jennings said he hoped that promoting homosexuality in schools would be considered fine in the future.
The group Jennings founded has also been accused of promoting homosexuality in schools.
At a GLSEN conference in 2000, co-sponsored with the Massachusetts Department of Education, the group landed in hot water when it was revealed that it had included an educational seminar for kids that graphically described some unorthodox sex techniques.
A state official who spoke to teens at the conference said:
"Fisting (forcing one's entire hand into another person's rectum or vagina) often gets a bad rap....
[It's] an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with...[and] to put you into an exploratory mode."
That's not the worst of it, I'm afraid. Jennings admits not reporting a child's sexual abuse:
As a teacher, he knew a high school sophomore named Brewster who was "involved" with an "older man":
"Out spilled a story about his involvement with an older man he had met in Boston. I listened, sympathized, and offered advice.
He left my office with a smile on his face that I would see every time I saw him on the campus for the next two years, until he graduated."
The account led Diane Lenning, head of the National Education Association's Republican Educators Caucus, to criticize Jennings in 2004 for not alerting school and state authorities about the boy's situation, calling Jennings' failure to do so an "unethical practice."
Jennings threatened to sue Lenning for libel, saying she had no evidence that he knew the student in question was sexually active, or that he failed to report the situation.
But a professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, Warren Throckmorton, has produced an audio recording of a speech Jennings gave in 2000 at a GLSEN rally in Iowa, in which Jennings made it clear that he believed the student was sexually active:
"I said, 'What were you doing in Boston on a school night, Brewster?'
He got very quiet, and he finally looked at me and said, 'Well I met someone in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him.' High school sophomore, 15 years old'
I looked at Brewster and said, 'You know, I hope you knew to use a condom.'" [Audio is available on the professor's Web site.]
The Washington Times reported in 2004 that "state authorities said Mr. Jennings filed no report in 1988."
A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department for Children and Families, the department to which Jennings -- as a Massachusetts teacher -- would have been legally obliged to report the situation, did not return calls from FOXNews.com.
Jennings is just another radical in a line of radicals found in this administration.
Remember, Obama told you, "Judge me by the people who surround me."
I see communists, radicals and racists.
Planned Parenthood Partnered in Safe School Czar's "Fistgate" Scandals (LifeSiteNews)
Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, was a collaborator in the sex-education scandal now known as "Fistgate" that has enmeshed Obama's "Safe School Czar" Kevin Jennings in recent days.
According to information posted at Andrew Brietbart's Big Government blog, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in 2000 held its 10 Year Anniversary GLSEN/Boston conference at Tufts University.
At that time Jennings was the executive director of GLSEN.
At the 2000 event, which was cosponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education, a youth workshop was held, specifically targeting 14-21-year-olds, which taught them how to perform a dangerous sexual practice known as "fisting" - a practice so extreme that it cannot be described here.
After the content of the workshop was made public and an uproar ensued, Kevin Jennings, dismissed the event as an aberration.
"Like the Parents Rights Coalition and the Department of Education, GLSEN is also troubled by some of the content that came up during this workshop," he said.
"We need to make our expectations and guidelines to outside facilitators much more clear, because we are surprised and troubled by some of the accounts we've heard."
However, despite Jennings' assurances, a similar event happened at the 2001 GLSEN conference the following year, again held at Tufts University, and this time involving Planned Parenthood.
According to Breitbart, a Planned Parenthood booth offered "fisting kits" at the 2001 conference, which was attended by an estimated 400 students out of the 650 attendees.
MassNews, which obtained one of the Planned Parenthood "fisting kits" reported that "they contained a single plastic glove, a package of K-Y lubricant and instructions on how to make a 'dental dam' out of the material."
A label on the package bearing the Planned Parenthood logo and phone number stated, "protects against STD's."
Gay Adoptive Father Faces Arraignment in Abuse Case
Edge (gay pride mag from Boston)
A former Duke University employee and adoptive gay father charged with molesting his five-year-old son--and offering the boy as a sex object to pedophiles online--is expected to make a plea bargain, according to a Dec. 1 article in local newspaper the Durham Herald Sun.
Frank Lombard faces charges stemming from alleged instances in which he molested his young adopted son and chatted about the deeds online even as he carried them out.
It’s thought that the U.S, Attorney’s Office is positioning the case for a plea arrangement because the Office is set to file an "information," which allows the prosecution to sidestep a grand jury indictment.
The "information" will be filed in Washington, D.C., and will charge Lombard with sexual exploitation of a minor, the Herald Sun reported.
Greta on CNN: 'Something is Going Very Wrong Over There'
(TV Newser )
It’s death is a suicide. If it only stuck to real journalism and not the party line, it would be healthy and still alive. It’s passing will not be mourned....
Greta Van Susteren feels sorry for CNN. On her blog today, she writes:
So why do I feel bad (almost) for CNN? Because I have friends there...friends who now whisper to me everytime they see me, "what do you think is going on here? The place feels awful...it is dying."
I worry about them. I want my friends to have jobs. Don't get me wrong I want to continue to win, but not to the extent their place goes belly up and my friends lose jobs.
You should hear what is being said inside CNN. It is really bad when the employees start whispering like that...and whispering and emailing the competition.
They have some really good hardworking and journalists at CNN who I know well and like very much. I think our direct competition at 10pm - Cooper - is a smart person and a nice guy.
But something is going very wrong over there...they obviously feel a need to do something.
A CNN spokesperson responds to TVNewser, "You would think anyone commenting on the finances or marketing budget of CNN, would have at least an elementary understanding of our business.
CNN is enjoying its 6th straight year of profit growth and is, again, on track to deliver record earnings in 2009.
As for being #1: CNN continues to have a larger audience on TV and the web combined than Fox News or any other network."
Although both CNN and MSNBC are both hard liberals and Obama personality worshippers, I think it seems MSNBC tends to be more hardcore liberal doctrinists, while CNN is more of Obama personality worshippers.
"As for being #1:
CNN continues to have a larger audience on TV and the Web combined than Fox News or any other network." "
Uh oh, it sounds like someone in the CNN PR department has got themselves all "we weed up".
Category | Cable News RatingsRSS feed for this sectionCable News Ratings for Tuesday, Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for December 8, 2009
P2+ Total Day
FNC – 1,300,000 viewers
CNN – 489,000 viewers
MSNBC –371,000 viewers
CNBC – 205,000 viewers
HLN –378,000 viewers
P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,572,000 viewers
CNN – 658,000 viewers
MSNBC –866,000 viewers
CNBC – 214,000 viewers
HLN –820,000 viewers
7 companies that won't make it to 2020 (MSN Money) Guess who number 7is McClatchy? It’s you!
Potentially fatal flaws come in many forms. But three crop up the most when you talk to experts: excessive debt, superior competitors and the inability to keep up with technological change.
7. McClatchy: Technology has been particularly hard on the news business, as content has moved online but advertising dollars have been slow to follow.
For smaller, undiversified newspaper companies burdened with huge debt loads, time is running out.
Revolving Door: Politico's Jonathan Allen to Head Dem Political Action Committee (Newsbusters) And they still claim Politico is "unbiased" . . .
Here's another entry for the revolving door file: Politico's Jonathan Allen (pictured at right), formerly of Congressional Quarterly and former Sen. Paul Sarbanes' office, will take over as the top staffer at Debbie Wasserman Schultz's DWS PAC, according to Roll Call (h/t e-mail tipster Bob Foster).
For his part, Allen, whose wife works as the communications director for freshman Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), found it an offer he couldn't refuse:
"I wouldn't go work for just anyone," Allen said. "She wanted me to come work for her, and it was impossible for me to say no.
She has a heart of gold and resolve of steel. ... I find that inspiring."
Listen for the Outcry: Former Clinton Operative Taking Helm of Morning ‘News’ Show (NewsBusters)
The official announcement will apparently come tomorrow morning: former Clinton campaign operative George Stephanopoulos will start Monday as co-anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America.
He’ll also keep his job as the host of ABC’s This Week, at least for the time being.
But here’s one yardstick for measuring the media’s response:
Back in 1997, CBS announced that ex-GOP Representative Susan Molinari would take over as co-host of Saturday Morning.
Journalists quickly howled at the breaching of the sacred “barricade that is supposed to exist in journalism between the political people and the officials on the one hand, and the reporters on the other.”
NPR’s Mara Liasson said it was “disturbing” of CBS to hire a Republican;
Nina Totenberg exclaimed: “This really makes me want to puke.”
The daunting reality facing newspapers (Newsosaur.com)
If chief executives get the big bucks for their ability to put the best face on bad situations, then newspaper bosses really earned their pay this week at the annual UBS media conference in New York.
With straight faces, the chiefs of McClatchy Co., the New York Times Co. and other major publishers told investors that things were looking up for the newspaper business because their sales would be down “only” 20% to 25% in the fourth quarter of the year after tumbling as low as 30% in prior periods.
While a slowdown in the industry’s sickening sales slide beats the accelerating revenue deceleration that has been eating away at newspapers for the last 42 months, it’s time for a reality check. So, here goes:
Newspapers are on track this year to produce their lowest advertising sales since 1986, representing a 43% drop from their all-time peak of $49.4 billion in 2005.
Based on the historic sales slide in the first nine months of the year, newspapers are likely to generate no more than $28 billion in advertising revenues in 2009, thus shedding more than $21 billion in sales since 2005.
In other words, newspapers appear to have gotten mighty close to losing almost half of their revenue base in a mere four years –a decline that began well before the economy began unraveling.
Advertising sales matter because they traditionally have generated 80% of the revenues at most newspapers, with circulation fees providing the balance.
The profound contraction of the advertising market has caused some publishers to begin ratcheting up subscription and single-copy prices, but the industry at the moment will live, or not, by advertising.
Study: Newspaper obits face online competition (Chcago Tribune)
The Internet's already drawn plenty of business away from newspapers.
But a new study says social networks and online memorials are now putting pressure on the institution of the newspaper obituary.
The Northwestern University study says newspapers are still the most popular way to communicate news of a death.
But study co-author Ian Monroe warns obituaries could move onto the Web as classified ads have done.
The study notes that Baby Boomers are at a stage where they take a greater interest in obituaries.
And so the study recommends that newspaper publishers avoid reducing space or staff devoted to obituaries.
It also says newspapers should get in the habit of linking obituaries that appear on their own sites to social networks.
Barack Obama 'takes tips' from Tiger Woods (Featured on Cover of Golf Digest) (telgraph UK)
Among the tips, Mr Obama is urged to learn from Woods' image, saying: "Tiger never does anything that would make him ridiculous."
Barack Obama is the latest to be embarrassed by Tiger Woods with the US president featuring on the front cover of a magazine 'taking tips' from the golfer.
The pair, two of the most recognisable faces in the world, feature together on the January 2010 edition of Golf Digest.
The magazine features a photo shop mock up front cover of the two with Woods acting as Mr Obama's caddie as part of an article titled "10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger".
Among the tips, Mr Obama is urged to learn from Woods' image, saying: "Tiger never does anything that would make him ridiculous."
The article refers to Mr Obama and Woods as "two men [who] might have much to talk about, like siblings separated at birth," with the golfer praised as "a good role model because has always been able to pull himself together after setbacks".
The magazine went to print in mid-November, only a couple of weeks before a string of allegations have been made about his private life.
Seven women have now been named as alleged mistresses of the World Number One golfer, the latest Holly Sampson, a 36-year-old porn star. Her lawyer said she had nothing to say on the matter.
Tiger 'chipped in' for affairs (Allegedly Paid mistresses) (NY Post)
Among the tips, Mr Obama is urged to learn from Woods' image, saying: "Tiger never does anything that would make him ridiculous."
A smokin'-hot lingerie model not only got Tiger's attention -- she also got a bundle of his dough to stay in his den, an astounding new report says.
Jamie Jungers, 26, used the scads of money she got from the 34-year-old Woods to enhance her already striking looks, Life & Style magazine reports in its new issue, on newsstands today.
"Tiger gave Jamie thousands of dollars," said an insider quoted by the mag. "She took that money to get liposuction on her thighs."
Jungers met Woods in Las Vegas in 2005 while working as a so-called "Trashy Girl" for the Trashy Lingerie line.
They supposedly cavorted without the knowledge of Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, for more than a year -- and at the same time the curvy Jungers was engaged, the report says.
"66% of Americans Say Obama Unqualified For Nobel Peace Award" (Translation from Japan) (Yomiuri Shimbun News Via Yahoo!Japan)
Large circulation Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun's reporter in Washington, D.C., Mr. Etsunari Kurose, reports in Japanese that Americans are not so hot on the idea of Obama receiving that award in Oslo, Norway.
66% of registered voters in a very recent Quinnipiac Poll said Mr. Obama did not have the right to receive that award. Only 26% said that he did.
Indonesia to Erect Statue of President Obama as a Boy (ABC News) His father listed him as a Muslim on his school record.
A six-and-a-half foot statue of President Obama as a 10-year-old boy has been commissioned in Jakarta, Xinhua reports.
The president spent some of his formative years there as a boy, where he was educated at a school that was decidedly not a madrassa, despite some false reports pushed by conservative news outlets two years ago.
Obama's Oslo Snub (Daily Beast)
Finally some Europeans are angry with Obama—the very ones who are awarding him his peace prize.
Katarina Andersson on the president’s rebuff of King Harald, a group of Norwegian children, and his own Nobel exhibit.
A day before President Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, the president’s treatment of his Norwegian hosts has become hot news across Scandinavia.
News outlets across the region are calling Obama arrogant for slashing some of the prize winners’ traditional duties from his schedule.
“Everybody wants to visit the Peace Center except Obama,” sniped the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, amid reports the president would snub his own exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center.
“A bit arrogant—a bit bad,” proclaimed another Aftenposten headline.
“You just don’t say no to an invitation from a European king.
Maybe Obama’s advisers are not very educated about European culture, but he is coming off as rude, even if he doesn’t mean to.”
“It’s very sad,” said Nobel Peace Center Director Bente Erichsen of the news that Obama would skip the peace center exhibit.
Prize winners traditionally open the exhibitions about their work that accompany the Nobel festivities. “I totally understand why the Norwegian public is upset. If I could get a few minutes with the president, I’d say, ‘To walk through the exhibition wouldn’t take long, and I’m sure you would love the show. You have no idea what you are missing.’”
LMAO, what did they expect? obama, did nothing to earn the peace prize and he knows it. What happens when you give someone a reward for doing nothing?.....They have no respect for it , it doesn't matter if its a car a house or a noble prize, without sacrifice and work its meaningless and treated without respect.
Gibbs Touts Gallup Numbers When They Support Obama (NewsBusters)
White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, recently ridiculed a Gallup poll which showed the President's approval ratings at a record low for this stage of his presidency, for seemingly no other reason than they showed the President in a negative light.
Gibbs referred to the Gallup polling organization as a wildly fluctuating EKG, labeling their results as the equivalent of ‘a 6-year-old with a crayon.'
Predictably, this administration has managed to throw a temper tantrum at every instance of failure that has defined them.
The only surprise here, being that Gibbs was capable of taking the pacifier out of his mouth long enough to make the analogy.
On the other hand, it was mere months ago that Gibbs himself used Gallup poll numbers to demonstrate support for President Obama's economic stimulus plan - a stimulus plan that a 6-year-old with a crayon would have voted ‘no' on.
Yes, Mr. Gibbs was so giddy over the Gallup survey - which showed roughly two-thirds of the public approved of the way Obama was handling the passage of the economic stimulus package - that he sent out an e-mail to reporters which praised the findings.
As the Washington Post reported on February 9th, 2009 (emphasis mine):
"As President Barack Obama heads to Indiana and Florida over the next two days to sell his economic stimulus plan to a somewhat skeptical Congress, White House and congressional Democrats are moving around new poll data that suggests the public is broadly supportive of the bill.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sent out an email to reporters this morning touting the data -- from a Gallup survey -- that showed roughly two-thirds of the public approves of the way Obama is handling the passage of the economic stimulus package while just 31 percent say the same of congressional Republicans."
MSNBC also covered the then Gallup-loving Gibbs: "Aides David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, both of whom were fixtures of the campaign plane, accompanied the president to this swing state, which he won narrowly in November.
The pair spoke with the press aboard Air Force One on the flight from Washington, arguing that the latest Gallup poll showed there was strong support for the stimulus package."
CNN also reported on how Obama echoed the comments made by Axelrod and Gibbs throughout the week, which continued the theme of citing Gallup as the be-all/end-all poll of choice regarding the stimulus:
Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One Tuesday, President Obama continued to make the case his top aides have pressed this week: that public support for his stimulus proposal is far stronger than many reports have reflected.
"I think if you took a look at the Gallup poll yesterday, the American people don't need convincing," he said.
Apparently, Gallup is an important polling source only if the numbers support the President's decisions.
This is pretty much typical behavior for the Obama administration - cite polls and fuzzy numbers to push a radical agenda, and if any organization dares dissent, ridicule them as being irrelevant and partisan.
Gibbs condescension is rather stunning, considering he is the press secretary for the lowest rated President at this stage of the game since Harry Truman. Then again, give a 6-year-old a podium...
My Kingdom for a Poll? (Gibbs Rant) PATTERICO
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs claims the Obama Administration doesn’t care about today’s Gallup Daily Obama Job Approval poll, which is fortunate since it and other polls show Obama at the lowest rating of any modern President at this stage in his term:
“White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs slammed Gallup’s daily tracking poll on Tuesday after it showed President Obama’s approval rating had fallen to 47 percent, the lowest approval rating for any president at this stage of his presidency dating back to President Harry S Truman.
***
Despite the scope of Gallup’s data and its reputation for professional political polling, Gibbs dismissed its survey.
“I don’t put a lot of stake in, never have, in the EKG that is daily Gallup trend. I don’t pay a lot of attention to the meaninglessness of it.”
And it’s not just Gallup:
“Rasmussen’s recent survey has Obama’s approval at 47 percent.
CNN/Opinion Research found Obama’s approval rating to be 48 percent.
Fox News/Opinion Dynamics pegged Obama’s approval rating at 46 percent.
The last poll to show Obama above 50 percent approval was conducted in mid-November by CBS News.”
As a candidate in Iowa, Obama promised to lead “not by polls, but by principle” although he nevertheless employed six campaign pollsters.
Some of them now work for him as President. Even Gallup’s Editor in Chief noticed the inconsistency between what the Obama campaign did and what the Obama Administration says:
“And I’m sure the Obama campaign in 2008 paid a great deal of attention to their own tracking polls measuring how his candidacy was doing as the events of the campaign rocketed across the news each day.”
I think President Obama cares about polls as much as candidate Obama cared — because the polls impact his ability to lead and govern.
At this rate, Obama will undoubtedly focus more and more on the urgency of acting immediately and sweepingly.
Obama to GOP: 'Stop trying to frighten the American people (The Hill) Translation: “Hey GOP, stop telling the American people the truth! It’s killing my presidency!!”
President Barack Obama told House Republican leaders to "stop trying to frighten the American people" even as he and Democrats said they see a possibility for bipartisan cooperation on job creation legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters that Obama made the admonition during a bipartisan meeting at the White House on Wednesday, producing a chart to show Republicans that "things are a lot better."
Democrats own congress since 2006. And ahh yes, the ever growing debt, the government takeover of healthcare, Cap & Tax, and the ever growing unemployment rate isn’t the reason people are frightened.
It’s all due to Republicans. lol, what happened to accountability Obama. Seems all he continues to do is point fingers at the reason the public is growing weary of his administration.
Dems to lift debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion, fear 2010 backlash (politico)
In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year’s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections.
“We’ve incurred this debt. We have to pay our bills,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO Wednesday. And the Maryland Democrat confirmed that the anticipated increase could be as high as $1.8 trillion — nearly twice what had been assumed in last spring’s budget resolution for the 2010 fiscal year.
The leadership is betting that it’s better for the party to take its lumps now rather than risk further votes over the coming year.
But the enormity of the number could create its own dynamic, much as another debt ceiling fight in 1985 gave rise to the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction act mandating across-the-board spending cuts nearly 25 years ago.
Already in the Senate, there is growing pressure in both parties for the creation of a novel bipartisan task force empowered to force expedited votes in the next Congress on deficit reduction steps now shunned by lawmakers.
As introduced Wednesday, the legislation sets no specific targets for deficit reduction, but its 18-member task force — 16 of whom would come from Congress — is promised immense leverage to force change if they can first come together behind a plan.
“This is a defining moment,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), one of the lead sponsors, and New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the panel’s ranking Republican, is already maneuvering to try to add the legislation as an amendment to any bill tapped to carry the debt increase.
Obama Tells GOP to Stop Scare Tactics As Dems Agree to Blow Billions More on Another Failed Jobs Creation Plan (GatewayPundit)
More Hope and Change...Barack Obama told GOP leaders to stop with the scare tactics today at a rare bipartisan meeting on the dems latest jobs creation legislation.
Obama and Democrats tripled the national deficit in less than one year.
They’ve increased the national debt to $12 Trillion.
Obama promised his stimulus plan would create 3.7 million new jobs.
Instead America has lost 3.6 million jobs.
Now they want to try it again...
And they are upset that Republicans are not backing their toxic plans to spend their way out of this economic downturn.
The Hill reported: President Barack Obama told House Republican leaders to “stop trying to frighten the American people” even as he and Democrats said they see a possibility for bipartisan cooperation on job creation legislation.
snip
But moments later, Republicans made it clear that they want to see a “spending freeze” and a “no-cost” jobs plan that consists largely of tax cuts.
“We can’t keep spending money we don’t have,” House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) pushed back on Obama’s request for an end to Republicans’ scare tactics by saying that Obama’s policies have led to a hiring freeze, and the GOP is simply telling constituents what is happening.
“The president wants to blame us for informing the American people and how this will affect them,” Boehner said.
...Despite the GOP opposition, Democratic leaders seemed optimistic they can move quickly on a jobs bill that contains much of what the president outlined in a speech Tuesday.
Just last week Barack Obama told the American public that government spending was not the answer.
Obama predicts $30B loss on auto bailout(Says he would make same "courageous" decision again)(Google)
The Obama administration will tell Congress Wednesday that it expects to lose about $30 billion of the $82 billion government bailout of the auto industry.
Gene Sperling, senior counsel to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, confirmed in an interview late today that the administration's forecast is that it will lose $30 billion on its auto investments -- but that's down from an earlier estimate of $44 billion.
"The real news is the projected loss came down to $30 billion from $44 billion," Sperling said, noting that auto sales have improved ahead of what many analysts had forecast.
The administration still holds out hope that if things improve, the administration could still recover more.
Saving General Motors and Chrysler saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, President Barack Obama said today.
"It was right decision then and the right decision now," Sperling said, calling it a "courageous decision by the president" to give the two automakers a "rebirth even though he knew it was not going to be politically popular."
"The real news is the projected loss came down to $30 billion from $44 billion," Sperling said.
WOW, New DNC talking point “More good news. Obama saved us $14 billion.”
Audit: Taxpayers lose $61B on AIG, auto bailouts (Yahoo)
WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department is acknowledging for the first time that it lost $61 billion on two key programs designed to stabilize the economy after the largest financial crisis in decades.
The government is losing more than $30 billion on lifelines extended to insurance giant American International Group Inc., according to Treasury data released Wednesday in an audit by the Government Accountability Office.
It also is losing more than $30 billion on rescues of struggling automakers Chrysler and General Motors.
Civil Liberties Group Loses $20 Million Donor [David Gelbaum-Hedge Fund Manager!] (NYTimes)Communist front group loses money as communists in Washington destroy US economy.
A longtime anonymous donor to the American Civil Liberties Union has withdrawn his annual gift of more than $20 million, punching a 25 percent hole in its annual operating budget and forcing cutbacks in operations.
Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the A.C.L.U., acknowledged in a written statement that a “family” had told the organization in September that it could not make its annual gifts, at least for next year.
“This family, that has sought to protect its privacy by arranging its gifts anonymously, notified us last month that due to market conditions it will be unable to make its expected sizable donations of over $20 million,” Mr. Romero said.
Dems Stimulate Dem Pollster With Gift of $6 Million in Stimulus Cash(GatewayPundit)
It’s nice to be with the in crowd...when you’re blowing other people’s money.
Democratic pollster Mark Penn was gifted $6 million in Stimulus money from his buddies in Washington.
The Hill reported, via Jammie Wearing Fool: Nearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn (photo above), Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.
Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn.
Burson-Marsteller won the contract to work on a public-relations campaign to advertise the national switch from analog to digital television. Nearly $2.8 million of the contract was issued to Penn’s polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, according to federal records.
But at least democrats created or saved 3 jobs with that $6 million in Stimulus cash. That’s important.
The Mystery of Harry Reid (WSJ)
Some have speculated that Reid is simply "losing it"--but from the years in which we've been observing Reid, we'd say he never had it in the first place.
Yesterday's statement on the Senate floor was vintage Reid. He has a propensity for saying things that are splenetic, inappropriate and ignorant, such as his embarrassing series of claims a few years ago that Clarence Thomas was unintelligent.
This, however, raises a question that has long puzzled us about Reid: How did such an unappealing man who says so many foolish things get so far in politics?
He has been elected to Congress six times, and the Senate's Democrats chose him as their leader. Maybe he has exceptional backroom skills, or comes across better in person than on television.
And of course the polls show he is in trouble with the voters back in Nevada. Still, his success to this point seems something of a miracle--an inspiration to dour, foolish men everywhere.
Harry Reid is Wrong on History and Wrong on Health Reform (US News & World Report)
I am black. I am a woman. And, with all due respect, I think Harry Reid has lost his mind.
Yesterday, on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Reid compared those who oppose his healthcare reform package to those who opposed ending slavery, fought against women's suffrage, and thwarted civil rights.
What's next, Holocaust comparisons?
Many assume that given my race and gender, I would support the Senate health reform bill as a savior of the masses. I do not.
And thousands, if not millions, of blacks, Hispanics, women, low-income, and at-risk communities feel the same.
There are many reasons why I don't support the proposed healthcare legislation.
I worry about how Congress's regulations will drive up insurance premiums, a "public" option might strangle private health insurance, employer mandates might exacerbate the job crisis, and that ultimately this program will add to our already exploding debt.
(SNIP)
If comparisons to slavery are now fair game, Majority Leader Reid should consider this one. In 1839, slaves being transported on the ship La Amistad revolted and killed many of those holding them captive; when the matter was eventually taken up by the Supreme Court, the would-be slaves were found not guilty of wrongdoing and were freed.
Today, Reid and members of Congress are steering America toward a land of government-run healthcare, in spite of the fact that polls consistently show that most Americans don't want to go in that direction.
Just 27 percent of Americans polled have a favorable view of Congress, and just about 40 percent of Reid's constituents plan to vote for him again.
It's not a perfect analogy, but I hope it gets a point across: If Reid and his fellow congressman continue on their present course, they may be facing a mutiny of their own.
Higdon declares victory in special (Kentucky) state Senate race (Lexington Herald-Leader)
Central Kentucky voters rejected an attempt by Gov. Steve Beshear to erode Republican control of the state Senate Tuesday, choosing the GOP’s Jimmy Higdon over Democrat Jodie Haydon in a special Senate election.
The election — one of the most expensive legislative races in state history — marks a setback for Beshear and the horse industry, who had hoped to advance a proposal to allow electronic slot machines at racetracks by narrowing the Republican majority in the Senate to one.
[Snip]
Though he was outspent, Higdon said it was “great strategy” by the state Republican Party to nationalize the race.
His ads often attempted to tie Haydon with Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, particularly on the issue of health care.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville, called the decision to focus on national issues shrewd and suggested the race may be a bellwether beyond Kentucky’s borders.
“I think the district reflects the current national mood,” McConnell said.
Jimmy Carter's Grandson Eyes State Senate Seat (AP) It’s gonna be a dynasty straight outa the trailer park!
Jason Carter Will Run For DeKalb Seat.
The Atlanta lawyer and Democrat says he will run for a seat representing part of DeKalb County.
The District 42 post is currently held by David Adelman, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be ambassador to Singapore.
If Adelman is confirmed in January, a special election will be held March 16.
Sensenbrenner: No New Laws Until Climate Data 'Scientific Fascism' Ends (FOXNews.com)
A Republican lawmaker said Tuesday he is going to attend the Copenhagen conference on climate change to inform world leaders that despite any promises made by President Obama, no new laws will be passed in the United States until the "scientific fascism" ends.
A Republican lawmaker said Tuesday he is going to attend the Copenhagen conference on climate change to inform world leaders that despite any promises made by President Obama, no new laws will be passed in the United States until the "scientific fascism" ends.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., also wrote to Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, on Monday to demand that researchers who authored e-mails and documents that demonstrate climate change data were manipulated should not be allowed to participate in the latest report written by the U.N. panel.
"I call it 'scientific fascism,'" Sensenbrenner said during a press conference with fellow climate change skeptics.
"The U.N. should throw a red flag. .... They relied on these scientists unjustifiably in my opinion."
Climategate: the inaugural Al Gore prize poetry competition (The Telegraph)
Al Gore has written a moving poem about climate change. Perhaps readers of Telegraph blogs would care to follow his example.
There’s a prize in it for the best one. The winner will receive a copy of Christopher Booker’s superb The Real Global Warming Disaster.
The competition closes midnight on Sunday. Just post your entry below. (Entries only please; save your comments for my non-poetry-related blogs).
Here are some themes you might want to consider:
Thoughts of a majestic polar bear as he gazes mournfully over the warming oceans from his melting ice cap.
Does anything rhyme with George Monbiot?
How the heroic MSM is threatening to put the internet out of business with its full and frank coverage of the Climategate scandal.
Ode to Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping.
How each drip of a melting glacier is like the tear of a dying child.
ManBearPig
“I have a mansion, forget the price...” The Al Gore song.
Gore: 'Climategate' e-mails misunderstood (CNN)
Hacked e-mails from top environmental researchers, which appear to question whether humans influence climate, have been misunderstood, former Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday.
"The climate deniers tried to create the impression that that's what was in those stolen e-mails, but when you put them in context, it's clear that's not what [scientists] were doing, " Gore said on CNN's "American Morning."
Krauthammer: Environmentalism is the New Socialism, EPA Regulating CO2 Could Spark Revolution (Fox News)
Video Either you do cap and trade or we do cap; no trade... Government given power to regulate every aspect of your life through EPA... The new socialism... States there will be a new revolution... watch video.
Climate deal likely to cost trillions of dollars (msnbc)
If negotiators reach an accord at the climate talks in Copenhagen it will entail profound shifts in energy production, dislocations in how and where people live, sweeping changes in agriculture and forestry and the creation of complex new markets in global warming pollution credits.
So what is all this going to cost?
The short answer is trillions of dollars over the next few decades.
It is a significant sum but a relatively small fraction of the world’s total economic output.
In energy infrastructure alone, the transformational ambitions that delegates to the United Nations climate change conference are expected to set in the coming days will cost more than $10 trillion in additional investment from 2010 to 2030, according to a new estimate from the International Energy Agency.
Capping Emissions, Trading On The Future - West's goals in Copenhagen are tantamount to suicide (Forbes)
Whatever the results of the Copenhagen conference on climate change, one thing is for sure: Draconian reductions on carbon emissions will be tacitly accepted by the most developed economies and sloughed off by many developing ones.
In essence, emerging economies get to cut their "carbon" intensity--a natural product of their economic evolution--while we get to cut our throats.
The logic behind this prediction goes something like this.
Since the West created the industrial revolution and the greenhouse gases that supposedly caused this "crisis," it's our obligation to take much of the burden for cleaning them up.
Plagued by self-doubt and even self-loathing, many in the West will no doubt consider this an appropriate mea culpa.
Our leaders will dutifully accept cuts in our carbon emissions--up to 80% by 2050--while developing countries increasetheirs, albeit at a lower rate.
Oh, we also pledge to send billions in aid to help them achieve this goal.
The media shills, scientists, bureaucrats and corporate rent-seekers gathered at Copenhagen won't give much thought to what this means to the industrialized world's middle and working class.
For many of them the new carbon regime means a gradual decline in living standards.
Huge increases in energy costs, taxes and a spate of regulatory mandates will restrict their access to everything from single-family housing and personal mobility to employment in carbon-intensive industries like construction, manufacturing, warehousing and agriculture.
You can get a glimpse of this future in high-unemployment California.
Here a burgeoning regulatory regime tied to global warming threatens to turn the state into a total "no go" economic development zone. Not only do companies have to deal with high taxes, cascading energy prices and regulations, they now face audits of their impact on global warming.
Far easier to move your project to Texas--or if necessary, China.
"How is that 'hoax & change' working for you now?"
--
Hoax & Change, a new bumper sticker for the "Debt President"
Romanesko is reporting that "Editor & Publisher" will be ceasing publication. That bodes well for the newspaper biz.
E&P is folding? Holy deadline! Our world IS crumbling. Scary.
Editor & Publisher closing after 108 years
Dan Goodman AP Photo
An issue of Editor & Publisher is shown atop newspapers in New York, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009. The journalism trade journal Editor & Publisher is shutting down after 108 years of publication.
By ANDREW VANACORE; AP Business Writer
Published: 12/10/09 9:15 am | Updated: 12/10/09 10:21 am
NEW YORK –
The Nielsen Co. is selling some of its most prominent trade journals - including The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard - and shutting down Editor & Publisher, which has chronicled the newspaper business for 108 years.
In all, Nielsen is selling eight titles to e5 Global Media LLC, a new company formed by private equity firm Pluribus Capital Management, and Guggenheim Partners, a financial services company. James Finkelstein, who founded Pluribus this year with George Green and Matthew Doull, will serve as e5's chairman.
Thursday's closure of E&P "was a shock," said its editor, Greg Mitchell. "We knew that something big was happening but we didn't think the aftermath was that we wouldn't be sold and it would be folded."
Mitchell said Editor & Publisher appeared to have turned things around after struggling at the beginning of the decade. The magazine switched to a monthly format from weekly in 2003 and heightened its focus on the Web.
Nielsen said both the print and online operation will shut down immediately. But Mitchell hopes Editor & Publisher will return in another form.
"I would hope because of our special history and our role as a watchdog in journalism that it would be more likely in this case that there will be someone that's going to say, 'Hey, we're not going to let this die.'"
Along with Editor & Publisher, Nielsen is also shuttering the book review title Kirkus Reviews. The two publications have 18 employees combined. Nielsen would not reveal details about the financial performance of E&P or Kirkus.
Spokesman Gary Holmes said Nielsen is still reviewing its properties to make sure the company is focused on businesses with "the highest potential for growth." Nielsen is keeping a handful of other media properties, including Contract Magazine and Progressive Grocer.
Lachlan Murdoch, 38, the eldest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, was expected to be among the buyers of the Nielsen publications, but he was not part of the deal, according to two people familiar with the matter. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. A message left early Friday with Murdoch's investment firm in Australia was not immediately returned.
Good news of the day from latest cable news nightly viewership ratings:
Glenn Beck 2,600,000 viewers
Chris Matthews 496,000 viewers
Can we say Beck beats that worm Matthews head-to-head five times over? Yes!
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