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 17, 2009
Thursday December 17 -- Got news or an update?
If you have news or an update, leave it in comments. . . .
37 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Fistgate IX: Kevin Jennings’ Suggested Reading Included Porn Books for Kids With Images of Men Having Sex While Boy Scouts Watch– Media Silent (GatewayPundit)
We all know how the state-run media feels about Barack Obama but still you’d there would be someone in the democrat-media complex who would be outraged over these Fistgate reports on Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings.
Or, maybe they think that handing out fisting kits (or dental dam kits) and pushing children’s books that show adult men having sex while boy scouts watch to junior high students is acceptable?
Maybe, like the folks at Media Matters, this is something they want for their children? Maybe that’s just how they roll? It is strange.
Yesterday we reported that Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings was promoting a children’s book that detailed first-graders having sex.
But, it didn’t stop there. As founder and executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Jennings approved of and promoted several filthy sex books for children.
Scott Baker from Breitbart-TV.com and Co-Host of ‘The B-Cast‘ submitted a shocking report to Gateway Pundit blog back on December 4, 2009. The report detailed the reading list promoted to 7-12 grade students by Kevin Jennings’ GLSEN organization.
This material has not been reported in detail at Big Government website. Remember as you read this that Kevin Jennings is today the nation’s Safe Schools Czar.
Here is what Scott Baker had to say about this vile material being pushed on children.
Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings was the founder, and for many years, Executive Director of an organization called the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). GLSEN started essentially as Jennings’ personal project and grew to become the culmination of his life’s work.
And he was chosen by President Obama to be the nation’s Safe Schools Czar primarily because he had founded and led GLSEN (scroll for bio).
snip
To that end, GLSEN maintains a recommended reading list of books that it claims “furthers our mission to ensure safe schools for all students.” In other words, these are the books that GLSEN’s directors think all kids should be reading: gay kids should read them to raise their self-esteem, and straight kids should read them in order to become more aware and tolerant and stop bullying gay kids.
snip
Out of curiosity to see exactly what kind of books Kevin Jennings and his organization think American students should be reading in school, our team chose a handful at random from the over 100 titles on GLSEN’s grades 7-12 list, and began reading through.
What we discovered shocked us. We were flabbergasted. Rendered speechless.
We were unprepared for what we encountered. Book after book after book contained stories and anecdotes that weren’t merely X-rated and pornographic, but which featured explicit descriptions of sex acts between pre-schoolers; stories that seemed to promote and recommend child-adult sexual relationships; stories of public masturbation, anal sex in restrooms, affairs between students and teachers, five-year-olds playing sex games, semen flying through the air.
One memoir even praised becoming a prostitute as a way to increase one’s self-esteem. Above all, the books seemed to have less to do with promoting tolerance than with an unabashed attempt to indoctrinate students into a hyper-sexualized worldview.
We knew that unless we carefully documented what we were reading, the public would have a hard time accepting it.
Mere descriptions on our part could not convey the emotional gut reaction one gets when seeing what Kevin Jennings wants kids to read as school assignments.
So we began scanning pages from each of the books, and then made exact transcriptions of the relevant passages on each page.
12 Orgs Co-Sign Letter to Congress-Demand Jennings Be Fired (GatewayPundit)
Today 12 conservative organizations sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions demanding that Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings be Fired.
You can contact the committee yourself here.
Today this letter was delivered by our sister organization American Principles in Action to the offices of Senators on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
This committee has oversight over the Department of Education which employs Kevin Jennings.
Here is the full text of the letter:
The protection of children is one goal that we can all agree on. And presumably, it is the motivating mission behind the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.
But the innocence of our children is threatened by the appointment of Kevin Jennings as Deputy Assistant Secretary of that office.
Through his actions and statements, Mr. Jennings has shown that he cannot be trusted with this position and should be removed from it as soon as possible.
As head of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Mr. Jennings is on record as promoting liberal sex education and homosexual themes to children as early as Kindergarten.
Now, additional information comes to light regarding Mr. Jenning’s association with GLSEN “Fistgate” Conferences, encouraging extreme sexual practices in children as young as 14.
After objections were raised to that matter, Mr. Jennings announced that GLSEN presentations and presenters would be more closely monitored.
But then, the following such conference included the handing out of “Fisting Kits” to children. The descriptions of the use of these kits are beyond imagination.
To endorse this behavior, much less promote it, is unforgivable.
Kevin Jennings must not be allowed to continue to endanger our children.
The undersigned individuals and organizations ask the Senate Education Committee, its members and every individual Senator to demand Kevin Jennings’ resignation immediately.
Our children must be protected from the extreme and dangerous practices advocated by Kevin Jennings and the organizations he has represented.
Mystery as Lockerbie bomber goes missing from home and hospital (The Times) Has anyone checked the White House Guest Book for his name?
Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.
Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone.
They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.
Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and relatives of the 270 people who died in the 1988 bombing expressed anger about al-Megrahi’s disappearance.
Richard Baker, Labour’s justice spokesman in the Scottish Parliament, said the whole affair was turning into a shambles and putting Scotland’s reputation at risk.
“This flags up just how ludicrous it is that East Renfrewshire Council, a local council thousands of miles away from Libya, is responsible for supervising al-Megrahi’s conditions of licence,” he said.
“No.10 turns on Obama and Clinton for criticising decision to release Lockerbie bomber” By SIMON WALTERS 6th September 2009
SNIPPET: “British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return.
The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen.
‘The US was kept fully in touch about everything that was going on with regard to Britain’s discussions with Libya in recent years and about Megrahi,’ said the Whitehall aide.
‘We would never do anything about Lockerbie without discussing it with the US. It is disingenuous of them to act as though Megrahi’s return was out of the blue.
‘They knew about our prisoner transfer agreement with Libya and they knew that the Scots were considering Megrahi’s case.’”
Mysterious Group Buys Building Next to Ground Zero For Mosque(GatewayPundit)
A mysterous Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero.
Hudson New York reported: An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the WorldTrade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques.
At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards away from where Osama Bin Laden’s airborne Islamist bombers killed nearly 3000 people back in 2001.
The Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, told the New York Times — which put the story on its front page Wednesday — that he has assembled several million dollars to turn it into ‘’an Islamic center near the city’s most hallowed piece of land that would stand as one of ground zero’s more unexpected and striking neighbors.’’
The 61-year-old Imam said he paid $4.85 million for it — in cash, records show. With 50,000 square feet of air rights and enough financing, he plans an ambitious project of $150 million, he said, akin to the Chautauqua Institution, the 92 Street Y or the Jewish Community Center.
The origins of such monies are unexplained; neither are the countries or entity advancing such huge donations. Most US mosques, including many in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are funded directly or indirectly by Saudi Arabia the country to which 15 of the 19 hijackers who bombed the World TradeCenter belonged.
The UAE, Qatar and Iran are other major sponsors across the USA.
"Smoking Gun" CBO Memo Exposes Effort to Hide Cost of Obamacare (American Spectator)
A CBO memo ... was released with little fanfare over the weekend.... the "smoking gun" showing that there has been a concerted effort among Democrats to make sure the CBO does not start taking into account the cost of mandates and new regulations.
The memo concerned a proposal by Sen. Jay Rockefeller -- reportedly part of the now defenct Medicare expansion "deal" reached last week -- that would require insurance companies to spend 90 of the money collected in premiums on medical claims.
Their conclusion was: "In CBO's view, this further expansion of the federal government's role in the health insurance market would make such insurance an essentially governmental program, so that all payments related to health insurance policies should be recorded as cash flows in the federal budget."
In other words, adopting such a measure would have forced the CBO to begin to measure the private sector costs of certain elements of the bill, making it unlikely to be adopted.
"The Medical Loss Ratios memo is the smoking gun," [Cato's Michael Cannon] writes. "It shows that indeed, Democrats have been submitting proposals to the CBO behind closed doors and tailoring their private-sector mandates to avoid having those costs appear in the federal budget.
Proposals that would result in a complete cost estimate ... are dropped. Because we can’t let the public see how much this thing really costs."
President Obama: Federal Government 'Will Go Bankrupt' if Health Care Costs Are Not Reined in (ABC News Blogs) (So now he’s a liar AND a fear monger?)
President Obama told ABC News’ Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government “will go bankrupt.”
The president laid out a dire scenario of what will happen if his health care reform effort fails.
“If we don't pass it, here's the guarantee….your premiums will go up, your employers are going to load up more costs on you,” he said. “Potentially they're going to drop your coverage, because they just can't afford an increase of 25 percent, 30 percent in terms of the costs of providing health care to employees each and every year. “
The president said that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid are on an “unsustainable” trajectory and if there is no action taken to bring them down, “the federal government will go bankrupt.”
“This actually provides us the best chance of starting to bend the cost curve on the government expenditures in Medicare and Medicaid,” Obama said.
Obama told Gibson that anybody who says they are concerned about the rising deficit or worried about tax increases in the future has to support this health care bill.
“Because if we don't do this, nobody argues with the fact that health care costs are going to consume the entire federal budget,” the president said.
Obama is facing an increasingly skeptical American public when it comes to his push for health care reform.
Earth to Obama: you went bankrupt 12 TRILLION DOLLARS AGO!
Sanders withdraws single-payer amendment [Thank You Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) (The Hill)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday withdrew his single-payer healthcare amendment after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) initiated a procedural maneuver to shipwreck the measure.
Coburn earlier in the day forced the Senate clerk to read aloud on Sanders’ 767-page amendment to the Senate healthcare bill in an effort to halt the healthcare debate.
Sanders, a self-Described “democratic SOCIALIST,” spoke on the Senate floor to announce the withdrawal of the measure.
"The day will come, although I recognize it’s not today, when the U.S. Congress will have to vote to stand up to … all those who profit every single year off of human sickness,” Sanders said. "That day will come."
The amendment would have extended Medicare coverage to all who wanted it. The program currently serves people from the ages of 65 and up.
Senate aides estimated that the bill reading would have taken eight to 10 hours, which would have sidelined the healthcare debate as Democratic leaders are attempting to pass the overhaul by Christmas.
Dems Break Senate Rules Over Health Care PATTERICO
This afternoon, Democratic leaders in the Senate reportedly broke Senate rules by allowing the withdrawal of Senator Bernie Sanders’ 767 page single-payer amendment to the health care bill without the unanimous consent of all Senators.
In an effort to slow down the health care bill, Republican Senators had refused to waive reading of the amendment, an undertaking that would take an estimated 12-13 hours. (After 3 hours of reading, the Clerk had read 139 pages of the amendment.) Minority Leader Mitch McConnell responded (the complete text is at the link):
“The plain language of the Senate precedent, the manual that governs Senate procedure, is that unanimous consent of all members was required before the Senator from Vermont could withdraw his amendment while it was being read.
Earlier today, the majority somehow convinced the parliamentarian to break with the long standing precedent and practice of the Senate in the reading of the bill.”
Health care bill gets Mary Landrieu's stamp of approval (nola.com) 300 million dollar whore
Time is short, the political maneuvering tense and the ultimate vote will be tight, but Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., emerged from a White House meeting with President Barack Obama on Tuesday as a full-throated enthusiast for the Senate health care bill Democrats want to enact by Christmas.
"While many of us expressed cost and bureaucracy concerns about early drafts of health care reform legislation, it is clear that the product the Senate is debating is a dramatic improvement," Landrieu said Tuesday evening.
"Senate Democrats have developed a consensus that combines the best blend of private and public approaches to reduce cost, expand coverage and increase choice and competition for Americans."
Landrieu's statement, issued under the headline, "Now is the Time to Pass Health Care Reform," is the most positive she has issued about the health care plan, which has been the subject of intensive negotiations in recent weeks.
WaPo Buries Its Own Poll Showing 'Public Cooling to Health-Care Reform' (Newsbusters)
Eight weeks ago, The Washington Post topped its own front-page with its own ABC-Washington Post poll announcing that the public strongly favored a "public option" in health care. Their latest poll is much worse:
So it was buried on page 6. 44 percent support current health-care legislation, and 51 percent disapprove. Approval of Obama’s handling of health-care has gone sour: 44 percent approve, while 53 percent disapprove.
More than half of those polled, 53 percent, see higher costs for themselves if the proposed changes go into effect than if the current system remains intact.
About as many (55 percent) say the overall cost of the national health-care system would go up more sharply.
Moreover, just 37 percent say the quality of their care would be better under a new system; 50 percent see it as better under the current set-up.
(New York) Times Layoffs: Salkin, Konigsberg, Rimer, and More (New York Magazine)
It's a "pretty grim atmosphere" over at the Times today, when layoffs are coming down from on high as the paper tries to reach the 100-person editorial cut it announced earlier this fall.
While 74 staff members took the buyout, that left 26 to go.
Layoffs have been ongoing all day, sources tell us, with the unlucky few people called upstairs out of the newsroom — where now people are "standing around in clumps and obviously talking about everything."
Here's the list of names that we know so far who have gotten the ax, and their departments:
Eric Konigsberg — Culture Sara Rimer — National Christine Hauser — Metro Josh Barbanel — Real Estate Mitch Blumenthal — Continuous News Kate Galbraith — Business Allen Salkin — Styles Monica Evanchik — Web
Barbanel is married to Times writer Anemona Hartocollis, who remains on staff. "They both came to work today with jobs, and one of them went home without one," observed one writer.
"Not that that should mean some kind of job security, but it's kind of fucked up."
Salkin was another surprise, as he contributes a cover story almost every week to "Styles."
But the cut that's sparking the most buzz is Konigsberg, who was brought to the paper to be a "Metro" editor and also wrote the "Age of Riches" series.
He was later lured to the "Culture" section by Sam Sifton, who was recently made food critic for the paper.
"Eric basically lost his rabbi," said a co-worker. "He's a completely elegant writer ... People around here are in shock over it."
We'll keep you updated as we hear more names.
But wait, I seem to recall a plethora of recent MSM articles telling us how simply wonderful unemployment can be!
More down time to pursue hobbies. A chance to rediscover the really important things in life. Time to spend with the family.
Under a Republican President “trickle down economics” is the bane of all human evils.
Under a Democrat President unemployment from a tough economy that was inherited is a time for celebrating life.
And there you have it according to the MSM.
So the NYTimes, the paragon of the MSM should be rejoicing at their fate.
DeMint: Democrats Drank Kool-Aid on Obamacare (Newsmax)
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., had some harsh words for Democrats aiming to make President Obama’s healthcare program law.
In an interview with Newsmax.TV Monday, the Senate’s leading conservative Senator said his Democratic colleagues are not considering their constituent wishes, but are helping President Obama “make history” in putting through a radical government takeover of private healthcare.
DeMint said Congressional Democrats “have drank that Kool-Aid,” adding that they are even willing to “walk the plank” to see Obama’s plan rammed through Congress.
He noted that most members of Congress don’t even know what’s in the bill, since it is being drafted in “secret.”
Now the Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming (Telegraph Blogs (U.K.)
Climategate just got much, much bigger. And all thanks to the Russians who, with perfect timing, dropped this bombshell just as the world’s leaders are gathering in Copenhagen to discuss ways of carbon-taxing us all back to the dark ages.
Feast your eyes on this news release from Rionovosta, via the Ria Novosti agency, posted on Icecap.
A discussion of the November 2009 Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident, referred to by some sources as “Climategate,” continues against the backdrop of the abortive UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) discussing alternative agreements to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that aimed to combat global warming.
The incident involved an e-mail server used by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, East England.
Unknown persons stole and anonymously disseminated thousands of e-mails and other documents dealing with the global-warming issue made over the course of 13 years.
Controversy arose after various allegations were made including that climate scientists colluded to withhold scientific evidence and manipulated data to make the case for global warming appear stronger than it is.
Climategate has already affected Russia. On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with Russian-climate data.
The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory.
Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory,
VIDEO PROOF– The Associated Press Just Lied For Al Gore (GatewayPundit)
Man-Bear-Pig The AP lied for Al Gore today, via Sweetness and Light. The Associated Press reported:
Clarification: Gore misspoke on polar ice data (AP)
COPENHAGEN — In an early version of a Dec. 14 story, Al Gore told the U.N. climate conference that new data suggested the Arctic polar ice cap may disappear in the summertime within five to seven years. Gore’s office later clarified his statement and said he meant the cap would be nearly ice-free.
Of course, this is not true.
The Goracle told an audience in Germany last year that “the entire North Polari(ized) cap will disappear in 5 years.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d made the claim. Gore had been talking this nonsense for over a year already.
UPDATE: The British media is now reporting that the entire global temperature record used by the IPCC to inform world government policy is a total crock.
Wind power is a complete disaster (Denmark) (FP Canada)
There is no evidence that industrial wind power is likely to have a significant impact on carbon emissions. The European experience is instructive.
Denmark, the world’s most wind-intensive nation, with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its electricity, has yet to close a single fossil-fuel plant.
It requires 50% more coal-generated electricity to cover wind power’s unpredictability, and pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen (by 36% in 2006 alone).
Flemming Nissen, the head of development at West Danish generating company ELSAM (one of Denmark’s largest energy utilities) tells us that “wind turbines do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions.”
The German experience is no different. Der Spiegel reports that “Germany’s CO2 emissions haven’t been reduced by even a single gram,” and additional coal- and gas-fired plants have been constructed to ensure reliable delivery.
Indeed, recent academic research shows that wind power may actually increase greenhouse gas emissions in some cases, depending on the carbon-intensity of back-up generation required because of its intermittent character.
On the negative side of the environmental ledger are adverse impacts of industrial wind turbines on birdlife and other forms of wildlife, farm animals, wetlands and viewsheds.
Industrial wind power is not a viable economic alternative to other energy conservation options.
Again, the Danish experience is instructive.
Its electricity generation costs are the highest in Europe (15¢/kwh compared to Ontario’s current rate of about 6¢).
Niels Gram of the Danish Federation of Industries says, “windmills are a mistake and economically make no sense.”
Aase Madsen , the Chair of Energy Policy in the Danish Parliament, calls it “a terribly expensive disaster.”
The U.S. national debt hit $12.135 trillion and now exceeds the legal Debt Limit of $12.104 trillion approved by Congress in February.
But the Obama Administration’s Treasury Department knows how to get around it:
“A senior Treasury official told CBS News that the department has some “extraordinary accounting tools” it can use to give the government breathing room in the range of $150-billion when the Debt exceeds the Debt Ceiling.
Were it not for those “tools,” the U.S. Government would not have the statutory authority to borrow any more money.
It might block issuance of Social Security checks and require a shutdown of some parts of the federal government.”
The government’s solution is to increase the Debt Limit by another $290B. They wanted more than that, but Republicans and conservative Democrats blocked a move “to pass a $1.8 trillion dollar increase in the Debt Limit so the Democratic majority would not have to face the embarrassment of raising the Debt Limit yet again before next November’s midterm elections.”
AP Readers' Rule: Quickly Skip to the Final Paragraphs; Article Cites $60 Billion Per Year In Medicare Fraud At End (NewsBusters)
Longtime readers of Associated Press dispatches have long since learned that many of the most important facts of a story -- especially facts that put the government, bureaucrats, and leftists in a bad light -- are often found at in its final paragraphs.
This is a way for the wire service to boast that it really did report all important facts while usually ensuring that harried broadcasters and other users of AP content who attempt to digest it down to a couple of sentences will probably will leave the meaty and incriminating stuff on the cutting room floor.
Such is the case with a report on the arrest of dozens of Medicare ripoff artists in various US cities.
While the details of the arrests are indeed important, the final three paragraphs of AP writer Kelli Kennedy's report are the real jaw-droppers, especially in the context of the president's and Congress's dogged determination to set a statist takeover of the entire health care system into motion before the end of this year (bolds are mine):
32 accused of $60M in Medicare fraud in 3 states FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a major crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million in separate scams.
(Final three paragraphs)
Including Tuesday's arrests, a Medicare Fraud strike force formed by the Justice and Health departments has now charged suspects accused of bilking Medicare of more than $1 billion in less than two years.
The pilot strike force, which started in Miami in 2007, has indicted more than 460 suspects in Medicare fraud scams.
The program is now in Los Angeles, Houston and Detroit. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also announced Tuesday the operation will expand to Tampa, Fla., Baton Rouge, La., and Brooklyn.
Cleaning up an estimated $60 billion a year in Medicare fraud will be key to President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul.
HHS and DOJ have promised more money and manpower to fight the fraud.
So of all the fraud that is occurring, the feds have caught less than 1% of it ($1 billion divided by 2 years divided by $60 billion equals 0.83%).
Beyond that, Kennedy also avoided giving that $60 billion any context.
That $60 billion in fraud represents an almost impossible to fathom 12%-plus of all Medicare spending, based on these references:
•The 2009 Medicare Trustees' Report said that total Medicare spending in 2008 was $468 billion. $60 billion is 12.8% of that amount.
•A May 2009 report (PDF) from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation predicts that Medicare spending in 2009 will be $484 billion. Applied to this number, the fraud rate is "only" 12.4%.
Heck, $60 billion is over 0.4% of the entire country's gross domestic product of $14 trillion or so.
It is highly unlikely that the fraud rate in the private sector, where losses such as these would reduce business income, hurt returns to shareholders, and likely bankrupt any business with controls as apparently sloppy as Uncle Sam's, is anywhere near 12%.
And Medicare is what Democrats and other program advocates cite as the exemplar of why a so-called "public option" would be soooooo beneficial. Yikes.
Hopefully readers will pick up and pass on the lesson: In an AP report, after the headline and the first couple paragraphs, go to the final few paragraphs for the items you need to know, but which most casual news consumers will never read or hear.
WSJ/NBC News Poll: Tea Party Tops Democrats and Republicans (Just keep calling us teabaggers)
The loosely organized group made of up mostly conservative activists and independent voters that’s come to be known as the Tea Party movement currently boasts higher favorability ratings than either the Democratic or Republican Parties, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll coming out later today.
More than four in 10, 41%, of respondents said they had a very or somewhat favorable view of the Tea Party movement, while 24% said they had a somewhat or very negative view of the group.
The Tea Party movement gained notoriety over the summer following a series of protests in Washington, D.C. and other cities over government spending and other U.S. economic policies.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, which controls both the White House and Congress, has a 35% positive rating compared with a 45%negative rating.
Matthews Admits to 'Power' of Fox News in Rise of 'Crazy' Tea Partiers (NewsBusters)
In what had to be a tough admission for him to make, Chris Matthews, on Wednesday's Hardball, claimed the 2 to 1 positive rating for the tea party movement, in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, was a sign of "The power of Fox."
However, the MSNBC host went on to write off the tea partiers, even trashing his company's own poll in the process, as he suggested the 41percent positive to 21 percent negative rating was due to a "leading" question that portrayed the protestors as "just a group of conservatives," and not as the "screaming, crazy people" that Matthews views them to be.
The following exchange was aired on the December 16 edition of Hardball:
Pelosi Is Runner-Up For Time's Person of the Year [Confirms "Person" Irrelevancy] (SFGate) Time Magazine reveals themselves again as a joke of a magazine.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made runner-up as Time Magazine's person of the year, losing out to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. In a glowing profile, Time says Pelosi has "consolidated more power than any other Speaker in modern history."
In an interview with reporters in the Capitol today, Pelosi outlined what is in fact an astonishingly long list of accomplishments this year, from a hair-raising bank rescue to the largest fiscal stimulus in U.S. history, to a climate change bill to health care legislation and millions of acres of wilderness, food safety, labor legislation and other major bills that have gotten lost in the shuffle but would on their own be considered landmark legislation in quieter times.
The fact that much of this legislation is stuck in the Senate only underlines Pelosi's skill in corralling her fractious House majority. (She cast the Senate as "that saucer thing.") Yes the House rules favor her, but the record is indisputable.
A House Democrat speaking anonymously recently explained her key assets: she raises a ton of money for colleagues, she is relentless, she works harder than anyone else, she knows policy inside-out, and she is a master of the three-dimensional chess of House politics that requires an intimate knowledge of the needs and limits of each member to achieve the exquisite if sometimes messy blend of policies and perks necessary to pass legislation.
Newspaper Jobs Will Decline 25% By 2018 (Editor and Publisher) (Takes one final look in the mirror)
The newspaper industry is expected to lose nearly 25% of its jobs by 2018, according to a new federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
The Employment Projections Summary examines the expected job loss or gain for each industry between 2008, the last year for which data is available, and 2018.
Newspapers rank seventh among the top 10 industries slated for job losses.
BLS data shows that there were approximately 326,000 newspaper jobs at the end of 2008, with a prediction that there will be just 245,000 in 2018, a 24.8% drop.
"I suspect what has happened in recent years has a big influence on how they predict the future," said newspaper analyst John Morton. "I don't know how they base those predictions.
It is an unknown. A lot of it is going to depend on how the newspaper industry comes out of the recession and how successful they are in translating their business onto the Internet."
BLS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at The Poynter Institute, said the prediction is not a surprise: "That is consistent with what has been happening the past three years. But I don't think the next three years will be as bad."
Expected newspaper job losses ranked behind only department stores, semiconductor and electronic component manufacturing, motor vehicle parts, postal services, printing, and cut-and-sew apparel manufacturing.
"One thing that would be supportive of newspaper employment is that 70% of daily newspapers have circulation under 50,000," Morton added.
"Those kinds of newspapers have suffered far less than big city papers have. Going forward, they will suffer less."
Report: Nearly 50 percent of Detroit's working-age population is unemployed (MLive) Democrat run (into the ground) for 50 straight years
The unemployment rate in Detroit fell slightly last month to 27 percent, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But that official figure may not tell the whole story.
The Detroit News, using a broader definition of unemployment, reports that as many as 45 percent of the working-age Detroiters are without full-time employment.
U.N. Climate Conference President Connie Hedegaard Resigns (Fox) This can only be a sign that the Climate Conference is a smashing success.
The Danish president of the U.N. climate conference, Connie Hedegaard, has resigned and will be replaced by the Danish prime minister as head of the historic talks.
The change was announced Wednesday as the 193-nation conference enters into a higher phase of negotiations, with world leaders arriving.
U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer says Hedegaard will continue to lead informal talks but Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen will now be the formal head of the conference.
Gore's end run around the press in Copenhagen (AmericanThinker.com)
Surrounded by a phalanx of blockers including the lady press secretary showing a pretty solid stiff-arm, Al Gore demonstrates the Warmist End Run in the video
Don't be fooled by the lavish media attention given to raucous anti-globalization types at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark. I've seen only scant traces of that riffraff.
Instead of Seattle 1999 - the site of massive rioting at a World Trade Organization meeting - COP-15is more like a green Woodstock.
Thousands of naive young environmentalists have come to Copenhagen to revel in eco-harmony.
An excellent, if depressing, critique of Generation Watermelon. Vacuous, narcissistic, privileged, vain, and, above all, profoundly ignorant.
Copenhagen (AP) - The United States is counting on cows to help reduce its carbon footprint.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a plan Tuesday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the dairy industry 25 percent by 2020, mostly by convincing farmers to capture the methane from cow manure that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere.
Zobgy: Americans Turning Off on Climate Change (NewsMax)
As the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen heads into its final week, nearly half of Americans — 49 percent — say they are only slightly or not at all concerned about climate change, while 35 percent are somewhat or highly concerned, a new Zogby Interactive survey shows.
Zogby's latest polling shows an increase in those who hold this view compared with 2007, when 39 percent said they were slightly or not at all concerned about climate change and 48 percent said they were somewhat or highly concerned.
Intensity of concern about global climate change has shifted over the past three years in favor of those who are not at all concerned.
Twenty-seven percent held this view in 2007, compared to 37 percent who say the same now.
Fewer now say they are highly concerned — 20 percent today compared to 30 percent in 2007.
The Science is Settled: 100 Reasons Why Climate Change is Natural; Plus: Heavy Snow for Copenhagen! (JamieWearingFool)
Make sure you keep this away from the obsessed Global Warmers. Just reading it near them may melt their brains.
Then again, bombard them with the facts.
Top ten listed. Go here for the rest.
1) There is “no real scientific proof” that the current warming is caused by the rise of greenhouse gases from man’s activity.
2) Man-made carbon dioxide emissions throughout human history constitute less than 0.00022 percent of the total naturally emitted from the mantle of the earth during geological history.
3) Warmer periods of the Earth’s history came around 800 years before rises in CO2 levels.
4) After World War II, there was a huge surge in recorded CO2 emissions but global temperatures fell for four decades after 1940.
5) Throughout the Earth’s history, temperatures have often been warmer than now and CO2 levels have often been higher – more than ten times as high.
6) Significant changes in climate have continually occurred throughout geologic time.
7) The 0.7C increase in the average global temperature over the last hundred years is entirely consistent with well-established, long-term, natural climate trends.
8) The IPCC theory is driven by just 60 scientists and favourable reviewers not the 4,000 usually cited.
9) Leaked e-mails from British climate scientists – in a scandal known as “Climate-gate” - suggest that that has been manipulated to exaggerate global warming
10) A large body of scientific research suggests that the sun is responsible for the greater share of climate change during the past hundred years.
Now how hilarious is this? The Gore Effect!
Wednesday Cloudy with heavy snowfall.
Maximum day temperatures around 2 degrees Celsius, minimum night temperatures around minus 3 degrees Celsius.
Shocker: IL Prison Gets Gitmo Detainees (From a gladdened Associated Press)
WASHINGTON – Taking an important step on the thorny path to closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the White House plans to announce Tuesday that the government will acquire an underutilized state prison in rural Illinois to be the new home for a limited number of terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo.
snip
Republicans were quick to criticize the administration’s plan.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the American people "already have rejected bringing terrorists to U.S. soil."
He accused the administration of failing to explain how transferring the detainees would keep the public safer than keeping them offshore in Cuba.
The facility in Thomson had emerged as a clear front-runner after Illinois officials, led by Durbin, enthusiastically embraced the idea of turning a near-dormant prison over to federal officials.
Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., said Tuesday morning he had "full confidence that the facility will hold these terrorism suspects safely and securely."
In a statement, Burris said that with Illinois struggling with 11 percent unemployment, the transfer will be "a great economic benefit to the state by creating over 3,000well-paying jobs and bringing in valuable federal dollars to fund local facility operations." …
Gosh, what a shock to see this ‘perk’ go to Mr. Obama’s home state. And just in time for Kwanza Christmas!
Let’s hope that Mr. Durbin will be able to keep his state’s prison guards from acting like Nazis or Pol Pot, unlike those evil thug guards in Guantanamo.
But speaking of benefits, how is it that imprisoning terrorists in the US is good for the economy, but imprisoning regular run of the mill drug users and other common criminals (like Mr. Burris) is a drain on our economy and should be curtailed?
Just think how many more jobs would be saved and created if we started locking up illegal aliens. And yet Mr. Obama is insisting we stop jailing them. Why is that?
Obama wrote a personal letter to North Korea's Kim Jong Il (Washington Post)
Starve your people while blackmailing the United States? You get a personal, handwritten letter from Neville Chamberlain!
President Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that was delivered by the administration's special envoy for North Korea during a visit to Pyongyang last week.
The existence of the letter has been closely held, with the administration insisting to its partners in disarmament talks with North Korea that it not be publicly discussed.
State Department and White House officials confirmed this week that envoy Stephen W. Bosworth delivered a letter from Obama for Kim, but they declined to describe its contents.
"We do not comment on private diplomatic correspondence," said White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer.
Dear Leader Kim,
Please let me know your techniques for suppressing the population during a currency riot.
Seized N.Korean Weapons Likely Destined For Iran - Source (Reuters)
BANGKOK Weapons seized in Thailand from an impounded plane traveling from North Korea were likely destined for Iran, said a high-ranking Thai government official on a team investigating the arms.
"Some experts believe the weapons may be going to Iran, which has bought arms from North Korea in the past," said the official, quoting Thai government military experts who also took part in an investigation of the weapons.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media, he said the Thai investigating team considered Iran a likely destination because of the type of weaponry, including unassembled Taepodong-2 missile parts.
Security analysts have said North Korea's long-range Taepodong-2 is a product of join efforts with Tehran, coinciding with Iran's development of the Shehab-5 and 6 missiles.
George Stephanopoulos Repeatedly Warns Dean: Opposing ObamaCare Could Harm President (NewsBusters) (Unbiased Lib TV)
Former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday pleaded with Howard Dean, warning that his opposition to the current health care bill could harm Barack Obama.
The New Good Morning America co-host fretted, "The President's poll numbers at new lows. And a lot of leading Democrats believe that if this bill goes down, it will cripple the Obama presidency."
As though he was a representative of the Obama administration, Stephanopoulos challenged, "Are you prepared to do that?"
Dean, the former Democratic National Committee Chairman announced his opposition (from the left) on Tuesday and Stephanopoulos seemed beside himself:
"You say this is a big bailout for the insurance companies. But you saw Senator Harkin is for it.
Others liberals like Sherrod Brown, Jay Rockefeller, are for it. Are you saying they're all selling out?"
(Unbiased and Irrelevant) Dan Rather: Glenn Beck ‘Controversial;’ ‘Loves’ Keith Olbermann (NewsBusters)
In the third part of an interview on MediaBistro.com’s Media Beat, ex-CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather shared some thoughts on various media personalities.
He labeled Fox News host Glenn Beck “controversial,” while hailing MSNBC Countdown host Keith Olbermann: “Love him, as a person, as a journalist. Don’t always understand what he’s trying to do on his program, but I like Keith.”
Rather bizarrely went on to explain part of his admiration for the left-wing bomb thrower:
“For one thing, he’s a Yankee fan....give him credit. That Keith Olbermann has been with the Yankees through thick and thin, through good times and bad times, and I really respect that, among other things about him.”
Rather did manage to say one kind word about Beck, calling him a “talented TV personality.”
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer axed 2 more manager positions and one director position in the fourth quarter.
In November one circulation management position and one finance management position were eliminated. In December the Human Resources director position (which also served as the regional HR director for both Columbus and Macon)was eliminated.
Bee cheaper Sacramento’s last daily newspaper seeks more concessions from union(NewsReview.com)
Merry Christmas, worker bees. The McClatchy Co. is making money, thanks to deep cutbacks and layoffs and a marginally improved economy. This month, honchos at McClatchy, The Sacramento Bee’s parent company, announced they are lifting a companywide wage freeze. And CEO Gary Pruitt boasted last week that all of the company’s daily newspapers are now profitable.
But all is not necessarily calm and bright at 21st and Q streets.
The Bee is beginning a new round of labor negotiations with reporters and other newsroom employees. Their contract expires at the end of December.
The Bee management team has put forward what it calls a “tough proposal” to further cut costs at the paper.
Employees are particularly concerned about provisions that would cut severance pay for laid-off workers.
Currently, the maximum severance pay allowed is 40 weeks. This proposal would cut that to 26 weeks. Little more than a year ago, major layoffs were unheard of at the Bee.
Today, “Not only has McClatchy abandoned its long held position that it doesn’t lay people off. Now they want to make it cheaper to do it,” said Ed Fletcher, a reporter and officer for The Sacramento Bee Newspaper Guild in a statement to his co-workers.
Guild representatives say the new severance rules would make it $10,000-$20,000 cheaper to lay off some veteran employees.
Although Bee workers that SN&R spoke with are hopeful that major layoffs are, for now, in the past, the severance proposal has been troubling news.
“It takes months to find a new job, and so that severance, that cushion really makes a difference,” said Carl Hall, with the California Media Workers Guild, based in San Francisco.
Hall added that the severance rules offer some protection against layoffs. The guild is worried that the company will be quicker to lay people off if it’s cheaper to do so.
Among the other concessions that the company is seeking are the unlimited use of part-time and freelance workers, and the ability to assign Bee employees to do work for other McClatchy newspapers and Web sites.
For its part, the Bee guild is trying to roll back a 6 percent pay cut that was imposed in the spring, and to restore the company’s contributions to employee 401(k) plans.
37 comments:
Fistgate IX: Kevin Jennings’ Suggested Reading Included Porn Books for Kids With Images of Men Having Sex While Boy Scouts Watch– Media Silent (GatewayPundit)
We all know how the state-run media feels about Barack Obama but still you’d there would be someone in the democrat-media complex who would be outraged over these Fistgate reports on Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings.
Or, maybe they think that handing out fisting kits (or dental dam kits) and pushing children’s books that show adult men having sex while boy scouts watch to junior high students is acceptable?
Maybe, like the folks at Media Matters, this is something they want for their children? Maybe that’s just how they roll? It is strange.
Yesterday we reported that Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings was promoting a children’s book that detailed first-graders having sex.
But, it didn’t stop there. As founder and executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Jennings approved of and promoted several filthy sex books for children.
Scott Baker from Breitbart-TV.com and Co-Host of ‘The B-Cast‘ submitted a shocking report to Gateway Pundit blog back on December 4, 2009. The report detailed the reading list promoted to 7-12 grade students by Kevin Jennings’ GLSEN organization.
This material has not been reported in detail at Big Government website. Remember as you read this that Kevin Jennings is today the nation’s Safe Schools Czar.
Here is what Scott Baker had to say about this vile material being pushed on children.
Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings was the founder, and for many years, Executive Director of an organization called the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). GLSEN started essentially as Jennings’ personal project and grew to become the culmination of his life’s work.
And he was chosen by President Obama to be the nation’s Safe Schools Czar primarily because he had founded and led GLSEN (scroll for bio).
snip
To that end, GLSEN maintains a recommended reading list of books that it claims “furthers our mission to ensure safe schools for all students.” In other words, these are the books that GLSEN’s directors think all kids should be reading: gay kids should read them to raise their self-esteem, and straight kids should read them in order to become more aware and tolerant and stop bullying gay kids.
snip
Out of curiosity to see exactly what kind of books Kevin Jennings and his organization think American students should be reading in school, our team chose a handful at random from the over 100 titles on GLSEN’s grades 7-12 list, and began reading through.
What we discovered shocked us. We were flabbergasted. Rendered speechless.
We were unprepared for what we encountered. Book after book after book contained stories and anecdotes that weren’t merely X-rated and pornographic, but which featured explicit descriptions of sex acts between pre-schoolers; stories that seemed to promote and recommend child-adult sexual relationships; stories of public masturbation, anal sex in restrooms, affairs between students and teachers, five-year-olds playing sex games, semen flying through the air.
One memoir even praised becoming a prostitute as a way to increase one’s self-esteem. Above all, the books seemed to have less to do with promoting tolerance than with an unabashed attempt to indoctrinate students into a hyper-sexualized worldview.
We knew that unless we carefully documented what we were reading, the public would have a hard time accepting it.
Mere descriptions on our part could not convey the emotional gut reaction one gets when seeing what Kevin Jennings wants kids to read as school assignments.
So we began scanning pages from each of the books, and then made exact transcriptions of the relevant passages on each page.
12 Orgs Co-Sign Letter to Congress-Demand Jennings Be Fired (GatewayPundit)
Today 12 conservative organizations sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions demanding that Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings be Fired.
You can contact the committee yourself here.
Today this letter was delivered by our sister organization American Principles in Action to the offices of Senators on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
This committee has oversight over the Department of Education which employs Kevin Jennings.
Here is the full text of the letter:
The protection of children is one goal that we can all agree on.
And presumably, it is the motivating mission behind the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.
But the innocence of our children is threatened by the appointment of Kevin Jennings as Deputy Assistant Secretary of that office.
Through his actions and statements, Mr. Jennings has shown that he cannot be trusted with this position and should be removed from it as soon as possible.
As head of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Mr. Jennings is on record as promoting liberal sex education and homosexual themes to children as early as Kindergarten.
Now, additional information comes to light regarding Mr. Jenning’s association with GLSEN “Fistgate” Conferences, encouraging extreme sexual practices in children as young as 14.
After objections were raised to that matter, Mr. Jennings announced that GLSEN presentations and presenters would be more closely monitored.
But then, the following such conference included the handing out of “Fisting Kits” to children. The descriptions of the use of these kits are beyond imagination.
To endorse this behavior, much less promote it, is unforgivable.
Kevin Jennings must not be allowed to continue to endanger our children.
The undersigned individuals and organizations ask the Senate Education Committee, its members and every individual Senator to demand Kevin Jennings’ resignation immediately.
Our children must be protected from the extreme and dangerous practices advocated by Kevin Jennings and the organizations he has represented.
Mystery as Lockerbie bomber goes missing from home and hospital
(The Times) Has anyone checked the White House Guest Book for his name?
Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.
Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone.
They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.
Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and relatives of the 270 people who died in the 1988 bombing expressed anger about al-Megrahi’s disappearance.
Richard Baker, Labour’s justice spokesman in the Scottish Parliament, said the whole affair was turning into a shambles and putting Scotland’s reputation at risk.
“This flags up just how ludicrous it is that East Renfrewshire Council, a local council thousands of miles away from Libya, is responsible for supervising al-Megrahi’s conditions of licence,” he said.
“No.10 turns on Obama and Clinton for criticising decision to release Lockerbie bomber”
By SIMON WALTERS 6th September 2009
SNIPPET: “British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return.
The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen.
‘The US was kept fully in touch about everything that was going on with regard to Britain’s discussions with Libya in recent years and about Megrahi,’ said the Whitehall aide.
‘We would never do anything about Lockerbie without discussing it with the US. It is disingenuous of them to act as though Megrahi’s return was out of the blue.
‘They knew about our prisoner transfer agreement with Libya and they knew that the Scots were considering Megrahi’s case.’”
Mysterious Group Buys Building Next to Ground Zero For Mosque(GatewayPundit)
A mysterous Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero.
Hudson New York reported: An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the WorldTrade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques.
At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards away from where Osama Bin Laden’s airborne Islamist bombers killed nearly 3000 people back in 2001.
The Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, told the New York Times — which put the story on its front page Wednesday — that he has assembled several million dollars to turn it into ‘’an Islamic center near the city’s most hallowed piece of land that would stand as one of ground zero’s more unexpected and striking neighbors.’’
The 61-year-old Imam said he paid $4.85 million for it — in cash, records show. With 50,000 square feet of air rights and enough financing, he plans an ambitious project of $150 million, he said, akin to the Chautauqua Institution, the 92 Street Y or the Jewish Community Center.
The origins of such monies are unexplained; neither are the countries or entity advancing such huge donations. Most US mosques, including many in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are funded directly or indirectly by Saudi Arabia the country to which 15 of the 19 hijackers who bombed the World TradeCenter belonged.
The UAE, Qatar and Iran are other major sponsors across the USA.
"Smoking Gun" CBO Memo Exposes Effort to Hide Cost of Obamacare
(American Spectator)
A CBO memo ... was released with little fanfare over the weekend.... the "smoking gun" showing that there has been a concerted effort among Democrats to make sure the CBO does not start taking into account the cost of mandates and new regulations.
The memo concerned a proposal by Sen. Jay Rockefeller -- reportedly part of the now defenct Medicare expansion "deal" reached last week -- that would require insurance companies to spend 90 of the money collected in premiums on medical claims.
Their conclusion was: "In CBO's view, this further expansion of the federal government's role in the health insurance market would make such insurance an essentially governmental program, so that all payments related to health insurance policies should be recorded as cash flows in the federal budget."
In other words, adopting such a measure would have forced the CBO to begin to measure the private sector costs of certain elements of the bill, making it unlikely to be adopted.
"The Medical Loss Ratios memo is the smoking gun," [Cato's Michael Cannon] writes. "It shows that indeed, Democrats have been submitting proposals to the CBO behind closed doors and tailoring their private-sector mandates to avoid having those costs appear in the federal budget.
Proposals that would result in a complete cost estimate ... are dropped. Because we can’t let the public see how much this thing really costs."
President Obama: Federal Government 'Will Go Bankrupt' if Health Care Costs Are Not Reined in (ABC News Blogs) (So now he’s a liar AND a fear monger?)
President Obama told ABC News’ Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government “will go bankrupt.”
The president laid out a dire scenario of what will happen if his health care reform effort fails.
“If we don't pass it, here's the guarantee….your premiums will go up, your employers are going to load up more costs on you,” he said. “Potentially they're going to drop your coverage, because they just can't afford an increase of 25 percent, 30 percent in terms of the costs of providing health care to employees each and every year. “
The president said that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid are on an “unsustainable” trajectory and if there is no action taken to bring them down, “the federal government will go bankrupt.”
“This actually provides us the best chance of starting to bend the cost curve on the government expenditures in Medicare and Medicaid,” Obama said.
Obama told Gibson that anybody who says they are concerned about the rising deficit or worried about tax increases in the future has to support this health care bill.
“Because if we don't do this, nobody argues with the fact that health care costs are going to consume the entire federal budget,” the president said.
Obama is facing an increasingly skeptical American public when it comes to his push for health care reform.
Earth to Obama: you went bankrupt 12 TRILLION DOLLARS AGO!
Sanders withdraws single-payer amendment [Thank You Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) (The Hill)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday withdrew his single-payer healthcare amendment after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) initiated a procedural maneuver to shipwreck the measure.
Coburn earlier in the day forced the Senate clerk to read aloud on Sanders’ 767-page amendment to the Senate healthcare bill in an effort to halt the healthcare debate.
Sanders, a self-Described “democratic SOCIALIST,” spoke on the Senate floor to announce the withdrawal of the measure.
"The day will come, although I recognize it’s not today, when the U.S. Congress will have to vote to stand up to … all those who profit every single year off of human sickness,” Sanders said. "That day will come."
The amendment would have extended Medicare coverage to all who wanted it. The program currently serves people from the ages of 65 and up.
Senate aides estimated that the bill reading would have taken eight to 10 hours, which would have sidelined the healthcare debate as Democratic leaders are attempting to pass the overhaul by Christmas.
Dems Break Senate Rules Over Health Care PATTERICO
This afternoon, Democratic leaders in the Senate reportedly broke Senate rules by allowing the withdrawal of Senator Bernie Sanders’ 767 page single-payer amendment to the health care bill without the unanimous consent of all Senators.
In an effort to slow down the health care bill, Republican Senators had refused to waive reading of the amendment, an undertaking that would take an estimated 12-13 hours. (After 3 hours of reading, the Clerk had read 139 pages of the amendment.) Minority Leader Mitch McConnell responded (the complete text is at the link):
“The plain language of the Senate precedent, the manual that governs Senate procedure, is that unanimous consent of all members was required before the Senator from Vermont could withdraw his amendment while it was being read.
Earlier today, the majority somehow convinced the parliamentarian to break with the long standing precedent and practice of the Senate in the reading of the bill.”
The ends justify the means, right?
Health care bill gets Mary Landrieu's stamp of approval (nola.com) 300 million dollar whore
Time is short, the political maneuvering tense and the ultimate vote will be tight, but Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., emerged from a White House meeting with President Barack Obama on Tuesday as a full-throated enthusiast for the Senate health care bill Democrats want to enact by Christmas.
"While many of us expressed cost and bureaucracy concerns about early drafts of health care reform legislation, it is clear that the product the Senate is debating is a dramatic improvement," Landrieu said Tuesday evening.
"Senate Democrats have developed a consensus that combines the best blend of private and public approaches to reduce cost, expand coverage and increase choice and competition for Americans."
Landrieu's statement, issued under the headline, "Now is the Time to Pass Health Care Reform," is the most positive she has issued about the health care plan, which has been the subject of intensive negotiations in recent weeks.
WaPo Buries Its Own Poll Showing 'Public Cooling to Health-Care Reform' (Newsbusters)
Eight weeks ago, The Washington Post topped its own front-page with its own ABC-Washington Post poll announcing that the public strongly favored a "public option" in health care. Their latest poll is much worse:
So it was buried on page 6. 44 percent support current health-care legislation, and 51 percent disapprove. Approval of Obama’s handling of health-care has gone sour: 44 percent approve, while 53 percent disapprove.
More than half of those polled, 53 percent, see higher costs for themselves if the proposed changes go into effect than if the current system remains intact.
About as many (55 percent) say the overall cost of the national health-care system would go up more sharply.
Moreover, just 37 percent say the quality of their care would be better under a new system; 50 percent see it as better under the current set-up.
(New York) Times Layoffs: Salkin, Konigsberg, Rimer, and More (New York Magazine)
It's a "pretty grim atmosphere" over at the Times today, when layoffs are coming down from on high as the paper tries to reach the 100-person editorial cut it announced earlier this fall.
While 74 staff members took the buyout, that left 26 to go.
Layoffs have been ongoing all day, sources tell us, with the unlucky few people called upstairs out of the newsroom — where now people are "standing around in clumps and obviously talking about everything."
Here's the list of names that we know so far who have gotten the ax, and their departments:
Eric Konigsberg — Culture Sara Rimer — National Christine Hauser — Metro Josh Barbanel — Real Estate Mitch Blumenthal — Continuous News Kate Galbraith — Business Allen Salkin — Styles Monica Evanchik — Web
Barbanel is married to Times writer Anemona Hartocollis, who remains on staff. "They both came to work today with jobs, and one of them went home without one," observed one writer.
"Not that that should mean some kind of job security, but it's kind of fucked up."
Salkin was another surprise, as he contributes a cover story almost every week to "Styles."
But the cut that's sparking the most buzz is Konigsberg, who was brought to the paper to be a "Metro" editor and also wrote the "Age of Riches" series.
He was later lured to the "Culture" section by Sam Sifton, who was recently made food critic for the paper.
"Eric basically lost his rabbi," said a co-worker. "He's a completely elegant writer ... People around here are in shock over it."
We'll keep you updated as we hear more names.
But wait, I seem to recall a plethora of recent MSM articles telling us how simply wonderful unemployment can be!
More down time to pursue hobbies. A chance to rediscover the really important things in life. Time to spend with the family.
Under a Republican President “trickle down economics” is the bane of all human evils.
Under a Democrat President unemployment from a tough economy that was inherited is a time for celebrating life.
And there you have it according to the MSM.
So the NYTimes, the paragon of the MSM should be rejoicing at their fate.
DeMint: Democrats Drank Kool-Aid on Obamacare (Newsmax)
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., had some harsh words for Democrats aiming to make President Obama’s healthcare program law.
In an interview with Newsmax.TV Monday, the Senate’s leading conservative Senator said his Democratic colleagues are not considering their constituent wishes, but are helping President Obama “make history” in putting through a radical government takeover of private healthcare.
DeMint said Congressional Democrats “have drank that Kool-Aid,” adding that they are even willing to “walk the plank” to see Obama’s plan rammed through Congress.
He noted that most members of Congress don’t even know what’s in the bill, since it is being drafted in “secret.”
Now the Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming (Telegraph Blogs (U.K.)
Climategate just got much, much bigger. And all thanks to the Russians who, with perfect timing, dropped this bombshell just as the world’s leaders are gathering in Copenhagen to discuss ways of carbon-taxing us all back to the dark ages.
Feast your eyes on this news release from Rionovosta, via the Ria Novosti agency, posted on Icecap.
A discussion of the November 2009 Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident, referred to by some sources as “Climategate,” continues against the backdrop of the abortive UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) discussing alternative agreements to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that aimed to combat global warming.
The incident involved an e-mail server used by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, East England.
Unknown persons stole and anonymously disseminated thousands of e-mails and other documents dealing with the global-warming issue made over the course of 13 years.
Controversy arose after various allegations were made including that climate scientists colluded to withhold scientific evidence and manipulated data to make the case for global warming appear stronger than it is.
Climategate has already affected Russia. On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with Russian-climate data.
The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory.
Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory,
VIDEO PROOF– The Associated Press Just Lied For Al Gore (GatewayPundit)
Man-Bear-Pig The AP lied for Al Gore today, via Sweetness and Light. The Associated Press reported:
Clarification: Gore misspoke on polar ice data (AP)
COPENHAGEN — In an early version of a Dec. 14 story, Al Gore told the U.N. climate conference that new data suggested the Arctic polar ice cap may disappear in the summertime within five to seven years. Gore’s office later clarified his statement and said he meant the cap would be nearly ice-free.
Of course, this is not true.
The Goracle told an audience in Germany last year that “the entire North Polari(ized) cap will disappear in 5 years.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d made the claim. Gore had been talking this nonsense for over a year already.
UPDATE: The British media is now reporting that the entire global temperature record used by the IPCC to inform world government policy is a total crock.
Wind power is a complete disaster (Denmark) (FP Canada)
There is no evidence that industrial wind power is likely to have a significant impact on carbon emissions. The European experience is instructive.
Denmark, the world’s most wind-intensive nation, with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its electricity, has yet to close a single fossil-fuel plant.
It requires 50% more coal-generated electricity to cover wind power’s unpredictability, and pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen (by 36% in 2006 alone).
Flemming Nissen, the head of development at West Danish generating company ELSAM (one of Denmark’s largest energy utilities) tells us that “wind turbines do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions.”
The German experience is no different. Der Spiegel reports that “Germany’s CO2 emissions haven’t been reduced by even a single gram,” and additional coal- and gas-fired plants have been constructed to ensure reliable delivery.
Indeed, recent academic research shows that wind power may actually increase greenhouse gas emissions in some cases, depending on the carbon-intensity of back-up generation required because of its intermittent character.
On the negative side of the environmental ledger are adverse impacts of industrial wind turbines on birdlife and other forms of wildlife, farm animals, wetlands and viewsheds.
Industrial wind power is not a viable economic alternative to other energy conservation options.
Again, the Danish experience is instructive.
Its electricity generation costs are the highest in Europe (15¢/kwh compared to Ontario’s current rate of about 6¢).
Niels Gram of the Danish Federation of Industries says, “windmills are a mistake and economically make no sense.”
Aase Madsen , the Chair of Energy Policy in the Danish Parliament, calls it “a terribly expensive disaster.”
U.S. National Debt Exceeds Limit Patterico
The U.S. national debt hit $12.135 trillion and now exceeds the legal Debt Limit of $12.104 trillion approved by Congress in February.
But the Obama Administration’s Treasury Department knows how to get around it:
“A senior Treasury official told CBS News that the department has some “extraordinary accounting tools” it can use to give the government breathing room in the range of $150-billion when the Debt exceeds the Debt Ceiling.
Were it not for those “tools,” the U.S. Government would not have the statutory authority to borrow any more money.
It might block issuance of Social Security checks and require a shutdown of some parts of the federal government.”
The government’s solution is to increase the Debt Limit by another $290B. They wanted more than that, but Republicans and conservative Democrats blocked a move “to pass a $1.8 trillion dollar increase in the Debt Limit so the Democratic majority would not have to face the embarrassment of raising the Debt Limit yet again before next November’s midterm elections.”
AP Readers' Rule: Quickly Skip to the Final Paragraphs; Article Cites $60 Billion Per Year In Medicare Fraud At End (NewsBusters)
Longtime readers of Associated Press dispatches have long since learned that many of the most important facts of a story -- especially facts that put the government, bureaucrats, and leftists in a bad light -- are often found at in its final paragraphs.
This is a way for the wire service to boast that it really did report all important facts while usually ensuring that harried broadcasters and other users of AP content who attempt to digest it down to a couple of sentences will probably will leave the meaty and incriminating stuff on the cutting room floor.
Such is the case with a report on the arrest of dozens of Medicare ripoff artists in various US cities.
While the details of the arrests are indeed important, the final three paragraphs of AP writer Kelli Kennedy's report are the real jaw-droppers, especially in the context of the president's and Congress's dogged determination to set a statist takeover of the entire health care system into motion before the end of this year (bolds are mine):
32 accused of $60M in Medicare fraud in 3 states FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a major crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million in separate scams.
(Final three paragraphs)
Including Tuesday's arrests, a Medicare Fraud strike force formed by the Justice and Health departments has now charged suspects accused of bilking Medicare of more than $1 billion in less than two years.
The pilot strike force, which started in Miami in 2007, has indicted more than 460 suspects in Medicare fraud scams.
The program is now in Los Angeles, Houston and Detroit. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also announced Tuesday the operation will expand to Tampa, Fla., Baton Rouge, La., and Brooklyn.
Cleaning up an estimated $60 billion a year in Medicare fraud will be key to President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul.
HHS and DOJ have promised more money and manpower to fight the fraud.
So of all the fraud that is occurring, the feds have caught less than 1% of it ($1 billion divided by 2 years divided by $60 billion equals 0.83%).
Beyond that, Kennedy also avoided giving that $60 billion any context.
That $60 billion in fraud represents an almost impossible to fathom 12%-plus of all Medicare spending, based on these references:
•The 2009 Medicare Trustees' Report said that total Medicare spending in 2008 was $468 billion. $60 billion is 12.8% of that amount.
•A May 2009 report (PDF) from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation predicts that Medicare spending in 2009 will be $484 billion. Applied to this number, the fraud rate is "only" 12.4%.
Heck, $60 billion is over 0.4% of the entire country's gross domestic product of $14 trillion or so.
It is highly unlikely that the fraud rate in the private sector, where losses such as these would reduce business income, hurt returns to shareholders, and likely bankrupt any business with controls as apparently sloppy as Uncle Sam's, is anywhere near 12%.
And Medicare is what Democrats and other program advocates cite as the exemplar of why a so-called "public option" would be soooooo beneficial. Yikes.
Hopefully readers will pick up and pass on the lesson: In an AP report, after the headline and the first couple paragraphs, go to the final few paragraphs for the items you need to know, but which most casual news consumers will never read or hear.
WSJ/NBC News Poll: Tea Party Tops Democrats and Republicans
(Just keep calling us teabaggers)
The loosely organized group made of up mostly conservative activists and independent voters that’s come to be known as the Tea Party movement currently boasts higher favorability ratings than either the Democratic or Republican Parties, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll coming out later today.
More than four in 10, 41%, of respondents said they had a very or somewhat favorable view of the Tea Party movement, while 24% said they had a somewhat or very negative view of the group.
The Tea Party movement gained notoriety over the summer following a series of protests in Washington, D.C. and other cities over government spending and other U.S. economic policies.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, which controls both the White House and Congress, has a 35% positive rating compared with a 45%negative rating.
Matthews Admits to 'Power' of Fox News in Rise of 'Crazy' Tea Partiers (NewsBusters)
In what had to be a tough admission for him to make, Chris Matthews, on Wednesday's Hardball, claimed the 2 to 1 positive rating for the tea party movement, in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, was a sign of "The power of Fox."
However, the MSNBC host went on to write off the tea partiers, even trashing his company's own poll in the process, as he suggested the 41percent positive to 21 percent negative rating was due to a "leading" question that portrayed the protestors as "just a group of conservatives," and not as the "screaming, crazy people" that Matthews views them to be.
The following exchange was aired on the December 16 edition of Hardball:
Pelosi Is Runner-Up For Time's Person of the Year [Confirms "Person" Irrelevancy] (SFGate) Time Magazine reveals themselves again as a joke of a magazine.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made runner-up as Time Magazine's person of the year, losing out to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. In a glowing profile, Time says Pelosi has "consolidated more power than any other Speaker in modern history."
In an interview with reporters in the Capitol today, Pelosi outlined what is in fact an astonishingly long list of accomplishments this year, from a hair-raising bank rescue to the largest fiscal stimulus in U.S. history, to a climate change bill to health care legislation and millions of acres of wilderness, food safety, labor legislation and other major bills that have gotten lost in the shuffle but would on their own be considered landmark legislation in quieter times.
The fact that much of this legislation is stuck in the Senate only underlines Pelosi's skill in corralling her fractious House majority. (She cast the Senate as "that saucer thing.") Yes the House rules favor her, but the record is indisputable.
A House Democrat speaking anonymously recently explained her key assets: she raises a ton of money for colleagues, she is relentless, she works harder than anyone else, she knows policy inside-out, and she is a master of the three-dimensional chess of House politics that requires an intimate knowledge of the needs and limits of each member to achieve the exquisite if sometimes messy blend of policies and perks necessary to pass legislation.
Newspaper Jobs Will Decline 25% By 2018 (Editor and Publisher)
(Takes one final look in the mirror)
The newspaper industry is expected to lose nearly 25% of its jobs by 2018, according to a new federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
The Employment Projections Summary examines the expected job loss or gain for each industry between 2008, the last year for which data is available, and 2018.
Newspapers rank seventh among the top 10 industries slated for job losses.
BLS data shows that there were approximately 326,000 newspaper jobs at the end of 2008, with a prediction that there will be just 245,000 in 2018, a 24.8% drop.
"I suspect what has happened in recent years has a big influence on how they predict the future," said newspaper analyst John Morton. "I don't know how they base those predictions.
It is an unknown. A lot of it is going to depend on how the newspaper industry comes out of the recession and how successful they are in translating their business onto the Internet."
BLS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at The Poynter Institute, said the prediction is not a surprise: "That is consistent with what has been happening the past three years. But I don't think the next three years will be as bad."
Expected newspaper job losses ranked behind only department stores, semiconductor and electronic component manufacturing, motor vehicle parts, postal services, printing, and cut-and-sew apparel manufacturing.
"One thing that would be supportive of newspaper employment is that 70% of daily newspapers have circulation under 50,000," Morton added.
"Those kinds of newspapers have suffered far less than big city papers have. Going forward, they will suffer less."
Report: Nearly 50 percent of Detroit's working-age population is unemployed (MLive) Democrat run (into the ground) for 50 straight years
The unemployment rate in Detroit fell slightly last month to 27 percent, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But that official figure may not tell the whole story.
The Detroit News, using a broader definition of unemployment, reports that as many as 45 percent of the working-age Detroiters are without full-time employment.
U.N. Climate Conference President Connie Hedegaard Resigns (Fox) This can only be a sign that the Climate Conference is a smashing success.
The Danish president of the U.N. climate conference, Connie Hedegaard, has resigned and will be replaced by the Danish prime minister as head of the historic talks.
The change was announced Wednesday as the 193-nation conference enters into a higher phase of negotiations, with world leaders arriving.
U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer says Hedegaard will continue to lead informal talks but Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen will now be the formal head of the conference.
Gore's end run around the press in Copenhagen (AmericanThinker.com)
Surrounded by a phalanx of blockers including the lady press secretary showing a pretty solid stiff-arm, Al Gore demonstrates the Warmist End Run in the video
A green Woodstock (Washington Times)
Don't be fooled by the lavish media attention given to raucous anti-globalization types at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark. I've seen only scant traces of that riffraff.
Instead of Seattle 1999 - the site of massive rioting at a World Trade Organization meeting - COP-15is more like a green Woodstock.
Thousands of naive young environmentalists have come to Copenhagen to revel in eco-harmony.
An excellent, if depressing, critique of Generation Watermelon. Vacuous, narcissistic, privileged, vain, and, above all, profoundly ignorant.
US Counting on Cows to Help Save Planet (AP)
Copenhagen (AP) - The United States is counting on cows to help reduce its carbon footprint.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a plan Tuesday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the dairy industry 25 percent by 2020, mostly by convincing farmers to capture the methane from cow manure that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere.
Zobgy: Americans Turning Off on Climate Change (NewsMax)
As the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen heads into its final week, nearly half of Americans — 49 percent — say they are only slightly or not at all concerned about climate change, while 35 percent are somewhat or highly concerned, a new Zogby Interactive survey shows.
Zogby's latest polling shows an increase in those who hold this view compared with 2007, when 39 percent said they were slightly or not at all concerned about climate change and 48 percent said they were somewhat or highly concerned.
Intensity of concern about global climate change has shifted over the past three years in favor of those who are not at all concerned.
Twenty-seven percent held this view in 2007, compared to 37 percent who say the same now.
Fewer now say they are highly concerned — 20 percent today compared to 30 percent in 2007.
The Science is Settled: 100 Reasons Why Climate Change is Natural; Plus: Heavy Snow for Copenhagen! (JamieWearingFool)
Make sure you keep this away from the obsessed Global Warmers. Just reading it near them may melt their brains.
Then again, bombard them with the facts.
Top ten listed. Go here for the rest.
1) There is “no real scientific proof” that the current warming is caused by the rise of greenhouse gases from man’s activity.
2) Man-made carbon dioxide emissions throughout human history constitute less than 0.00022 percent of the total naturally emitted from the mantle of the earth during geological history.
3) Warmer periods of the Earth’s history came around 800 years before rises in CO2 levels.
4) After World War II, there was a huge surge in recorded CO2 emissions but global temperatures fell for four decades after 1940.
5) Throughout the Earth’s history, temperatures have often been warmer than now and CO2 levels have often been higher – more than ten times as high.
6) Significant changes in climate have continually occurred throughout geologic time.
7) The 0.7C increase in the average global temperature over the last hundred years is entirely consistent with well-established, long-term, natural climate trends.
8) The IPCC theory is driven by just 60 scientists and favourable reviewers not the 4,000 usually cited.
9) Leaked e-mails from British climate scientists – in a scandal known as “Climate-gate” - suggest that that has been manipulated to exaggerate global warming
10) A large body of scientific research suggests that the sun is responsible for the greater share of climate change during the past hundred years.
Now how hilarious is this? The Gore Effect!
Wednesday Cloudy with heavy snowfall.
Maximum day temperatures around 2 degrees Celsius, minimum night temperatures around minus 3 degrees Celsius.
Shocker: IL Prison Gets Gitmo Detainees (From a gladdened Associated Press)
WASHINGTON – Taking an important step on the thorny path to closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the White House plans to announce Tuesday that the government will acquire an underutilized state prison in rural Illinois to be the new home for a limited number of terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo.
snip
Republicans were quick to criticize the administration’s plan.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the American people "already have rejected bringing terrorists to U.S. soil."
He accused the administration of failing to explain how transferring the detainees would keep the public safer than keeping them offshore in Cuba.
The facility in Thomson had emerged as a clear front-runner after Illinois officials, led by Durbin, enthusiastically embraced the idea of turning a near-dormant prison over to federal officials.
Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., said Tuesday morning he had "full confidence that the facility will hold these terrorism suspects safely and securely."
In a statement, Burris said that with Illinois struggling with 11 percent unemployment, the transfer will be "a great economic benefit to the state by creating over 3,000well-paying jobs and bringing in valuable federal dollars to fund local facility operations." …
Gosh, what a shock to see this ‘perk’ go to Mr. Obama’s home state. And just in time for Kwanza Christmas!
Let’s hope that Mr. Durbin will be able to keep his state’s prison guards from acting like Nazis or Pol Pot, unlike those evil thug guards in Guantanamo.
But speaking of benefits, how is it that imprisoning terrorists in the US is good for the economy, but imprisoning regular run of the mill drug users and other common criminals (like Mr. Burris) is a drain on our economy and should be curtailed?
Just think how many more jobs would be saved and created if we started locking up illegal aliens.
And yet Mr. Obama is insisting we stop jailing them. Why is that?
Obama wrote a personal letter to North Korea's Kim Jong Il (Washington Post)
Starve your people while blackmailing the United States? You get a personal, handwritten letter from Neville Chamberlain!
President Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that was delivered by the administration's special envoy for North Korea during a visit to Pyongyang last week.
The existence of the letter has been closely held, with the administration insisting to its partners in disarmament talks with North Korea that it not be publicly discussed.
State Department and White House officials confirmed this week that envoy Stephen W. Bosworth delivered a letter from Obama for Kim, but they declined to describe its contents.
"We do not comment on private diplomatic correspondence," said White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer.
Dear Leader Kim,
Please let me know your techniques for suppressing the population during a currency riot.
I may need that info soon!
Yours,
Dear Leader (too/two)
Seized N.Korean Weapons Likely Destined For Iran - Source (Reuters)
BANGKOK Weapons seized in Thailand from an impounded plane traveling from North Korea were likely destined for Iran, said a high-ranking Thai government official on a team investigating the arms.
"Some experts believe the weapons may be going to Iran, which has bought arms from North Korea in the past," said the official, quoting Thai government military experts who also took part in an investigation of the weapons.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media, he said the Thai investigating team considered Iran a likely destination because of the type of weaponry, including unassembled Taepodong-2 missile parts.
Security analysts have said North Korea's long-range Taepodong-2 is a product of join efforts with Tehran, coinciding with Iran's development of the Shehab-5 and 6 missiles.
George Stephanopoulos Repeatedly Warns Dean: Opposing ObamaCare Could Harm President (NewsBusters) (Unbiased Lib TV)
Former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday pleaded with Howard Dean, warning that his opposition to the current health care bill could harm Barack Obama.
The New Good Morning America co-host fretted, "The President's poll numbers at new lows. And a lot of leading Democrats believe that if this bill goes down, it will cripple the Obama presidency."
As though he was a representative of the Obama administration, Stephanopoulos challenged, "Are you prepared to do that?"
Dean, the former Democratic National Committee Chairman announced his opposition (from the left) on Tuesday and Stephanopoulos seemed beside himself:
"You say this is a big bailout for the insurance companies. But you saw Senator Harkin is for it.
Others liberals like Sherrod Brown, Jay Rockefeller, are for it. Are you saying they're all selling out?"
(Unbiased and Irrelevant) Dan Rather: Glenn Beck ‘Controversial;’ ‘Loves’ Keith Olbermann (NewsBusters)
In the third part of an interview on MediaBistro.com’s Media Beat, ex-CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather shared some thoughts on various media personalities.
He labeled Fox News host Glenn Beck “controversial,” while hailing MSNBC Countdown host Keith Olbermann: “Love him, as a person, as a journalist. Don’t always understand what he’s trying to do on his program, but I like Keith.”
Rather bizarrely went on to explain part of his admiration for the left-wing bomb thrower:
“For one thing, he’s a Yankee fan....give him credit. That Keith Olbermann has been with the Yankees through thick and thin, through good times and bad times, and I really respect that, among other things about him.”
Rather did manage to say one kind word about Beck, calling him a “talented TV personality.”
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer axed 2 more manager positions and one director position in the fourth quarter.
In November one circulation management position and one finance management position were eliminated. In December the Human Resources director position (which also served as the regional HR director for both Columbus and Macon)was eliminated.
6:01 AM
Bee cheaper Sacramento’s last daily newspaper seeks more concessions from union(NewsReview.com)
Merry Christmas, worker bees. The McClatchy Co. is making money, thanks to deep cutbacks and layoffs and a marginally improved economy. This month, honchos at McClatchy, The Sacramento Bee’s parent company, announced they are lifting a companywide wage freeze. And CEO Gary Pruitt boasted last week that all of the company’s daily newspapers are now profitable.
But all is not necessarily calm and bright at 21st and Q streets.
The Bee is beginning a new round of labor negotiations with reporters and other newsroom employees. Their contract expires at the end of December.
The Bee management team has put forward what it calls a “tough proposal” to further cut costs at the paper.
Employees are particularly concerned about provisions that would cut severance pay for laid-off workers.
Currently, the maximum severance pay allowed is 40 weeks. This proposal would cut that to 26 weeks. Little more than a year ago, major layoffs were unheard of at the Bee.
Today, “Not only has McClatchy abandoned its long held position that it doesn’t lay people off. Now they want to make it cheaper to do it,” said Ed Fletcher, a reporter and officer for The Sacramento Bee Newspaper Guild in a statement to his co-workers.
Guild representatives say the new severance rules would make it $10,000-$20,000 cheaper to lay off some veteran employees.
Although Bee workers that SN&R spoke with are hopeful that major layoffs are, for now, in the past, the severance proposal has been troubling news.
“It takes months to find a new job, and so that severance, that cushion really makes a difference,” said Carl Hall, with the California Media Workers Guild, based in San Francisco.
Hall added that the severance rules offer some protection against layoffs. The guild is worried that the company will be quicker to lay people off if it’s cheaper to do so.
Among the other concessions that the company is seeking are the unlimited use of part-time and freelance workers, and the ability to assign Bee employees to do work for other McClatchy newspapers and Web sites.
For its part, the Bee guild is trying to roll back a 6 percent pay cut that was imposed in the spring, and to restore the company’s contributions to employee 401(k) plans.
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1339136
I love that NBC/WSJ Poll that puts Tea Partiers at 41 percent approval by the public and the Democrats at 35 percent!!! LMAO!
Post a Comment