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.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Wednesday December 16 -- Got news or an update?
If you have news or an update, leave it in comments. . . .
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Fistgate VIII: Safe School’s Czar Jennings’ Org Promoted Book Detailing Gay Sex Between First Graders(GatewayPundit)
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.
Kevin Jennings is today the nation’s Safe Schools Czar.
—-Warning on Content—–
snip
The list is divided into three main categories: books recommended for grades K-6; books recommended for grades 7-12; and books for teachers. (The books on the list span all genres: fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, even poetry.)
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.
Today we will focus on one of GLSEN’s recommended books for 7 to 12 graders–
Reflections of a Rock Lobster: A Story About Growing up Gay This book is promoted at the GLSEN website and can be purchased there.
This book covers group sex between first graders and makes it sound completely normal.
Reflections of a Rock Lobster – Page 13 (At the age of six, the author frequently performed fellatio on his fellow first-graders in the school restroom, part of a “busy homosexual childhood.”)
My sexual exploits with my neighborhood playmates continued.
I lived a busy homosexual childhood, somehow managing to avoid venereal disease through all my toddler years.
By first grade I was sexually active with many friends. In fact, a small group of us regularly met in the grammar school lavatory to perform fellatio on one another.
A typical week’s schedule would be Aaron and Michael on Monday during lunch; Michael and Johnny on Tuesday after school; Fred and Timmy at noon Wednesday; Aaron and Timmy after school on Thursday.
None of us ever got caught, but we never worried about it anyway. We all understood that what we were doing was not to be discussed freely with adults but we viewed it as a fun sort of confidential activity.
None of us had any guilty feelings about it; we figured everyone did it. Why shouldn’t they?
This is just one of the books promoted by the Kevin Jennings’ GLSEN organization.
Today Kevin Jennings is Barack Obama’s Safe School Czar.
FOX News reported on Kevin Jennings support of these pornographic books on Monday.
Gay Patriot wonders how the media would handle a similar story if the president were a Republican?
And, Verum Serum has the latest on GLSEN’s comic book for kids.
An Honest Appraisal- Hannity Gives Obama 3 F’s and an A+
After tripling the deficit, nearly doubling unemployment and increasing the national debt to $12Trillion, Sean Hannity hands President Obama his report card:
Here are Hannity’s marks for the president:
Job Creation – Good Solid F Afghanistan – F Keeping Your Word – F Teleprompter Reading – A+
CBO confirms ObamaCare is a takeover of the health insurance industry PATTERICO
While everyone has focused on the Senate Dems caving to Sen. Lieberman’s demand to drop the “public option” from ObamaCare, this tidbit has slipped by largely without notice:
The CBO on Sunday issued a strongly worded memo on the proposal establishing all health insurance companies’ “medical-loss” ratio at a maximum of 10 percent — meaning 90 percent of premiums would have to go to medical claims.
Companies would have to issue rebates to their customers if they fail to meet this standard.
Alternatives would set the level at 80 percent to 85 percent, as included in the House-passed healthcare bill.
Considering the medical-loss ratio in tandem with the other strict new insurance regulations contained in the bill, the CBO predicted that such a policy would “reduce the types, range of prices, and number of private-sector sellers of health insurance,” the memo says.
“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,” the memo states. (Emphasis added.)
The official copy is available through the CBO. OpenLeft’s Chris Bowers moans:
The Senate will not pass a public option. It will not pass a Medicare buy-in. It will not mandate a 90% medical loss ratio.
Ugh. This deal keeps getting worse all the time.
If only Darth Lieberman would appear to say, “Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
Obama: 'Last chance' for health reform (Politico) He could have been honest had he said “This is the last chance to force socialism on the USA”
In a provocative argument designed to rescue his foundering health care plan, President Barack Obama will warn Senate Democrats in a White House meeting Tuesday that this is the "last chance" to pass comprehensive reform.
Obama will contend that if it fails now, no other president will attempt it, aides said.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told POLITICO: "If President Obama doesn't pass health reform, it’s hard to imagine another president ever taking on this Herculean task. For those whose life's work is reforming health care, this may be the last train leaving the station."
Previewing the message, Vice President Joe Biden said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe": "If health care does not pass in this Congress ... it's going to be kicked back for a generation."
The new argument comes as the Senate races to pass the measure by Christmas, in the face of a costly setback this week.
Senate Democrats say they are prepared to drop a plan to expand Medicare coverage after Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he could not support it.
That could keep the bill alive but would infuriate the party's liberals, who feel the moderate Lieberman has thwarted them once again.
Biden said on MSNBC: ""Say it ain't so. ... Joe is a great guy. ... I think Joe's judgment is wrong on this."
Senate strategists say the current impasse will have to be resolved in the next couple of days in order to allow passage by year's end.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declined to say whether the Medicare expansion would be dropped and was waiting for congressional scorekeepers to put a price tag on the plan before making a final decision.
Dems Offer Nelson up to $500 Billion, er Million in Earmarks to Vote Yes (Red State)
Sell your country down the river for a couple of hundred million dollars of pork. I am thinking of the scene from 300 when Queen Gorgo stabs Theron and the Persian gold coins fall to the floor and the Spartan Assembly start crying out "TRAITOR!”
The White House and Democratic Leadership in the Senate has told Senator Nelson they will close every military base in Nebraska — a threat that is not credible, really — but they have also offered Senator Nelson between $300million to $500 million in earmarks, according to key hill health care operatives.
These hundreds of millions will be available for whatever he wants to spend them on in Nebraska.
Given Senator Nelson’s hard core earmarking history as an appropriator, the word on the street is that this is the real carrot that could get Nelson to agree to some cover amendment that would allege to protect the innocent unborn from government funding of abortion, but, in fact, would not.
ObamaCare: the not-unexpected cave-in on the public option PATTERICO
The White House pressured Sen. Maj. Ldr. Harry Reid to cut a deal with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and hours later, liberal Sens. Tom Harkin and Jay Rockefeller said they would be willing to drop a “public option” government insurance program to win passage of a healthcare overhaul.
It is unclear whether this development gets the Senate Democrats out of their weekly pep talk from Pres. Obama, or whether a photo-op chock full ‘o’ fauxmentum is coming tomorrow.
Clearly, the White House is desperate to move Reid’s bill before Christmas.
Dropping the public option gets the Dems closer to that goal, though how much closer remains unclear (e.g., the tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans — which Big Labor hates — is among the issues still unresolved).
Indeed, if the swing senators continue to throw up objections after the public option gets dropped, there will be a very real question of whether they ever want to get to “yes” for Harry.
This news will only intensify this morning’s netroots screeching.
TNR’s Jonathan Chait claimed that “Lieberman is the beneficiary, or possibly the victim, of a cultural stereotype that Jews are smart and good with numbers.”
However, unlike many of his unhinged pals on the Left, Chait understands the real game:
If Harry Reid decided to submit to Lieberman’s demands, the health care bill would basically revert to what the Senate Finance Committee produced. That’s still a major piece of legislation.
Expectations among liberals have risen since then, so the come-down is understandable. But this isn’t the end of reform.
Bingo. It has been clear for some time that dropping the public plan is necessary, but not sufficient to defeat a government takeover of the US healthcare.
The Obama administration has always been willing to dance the public option – mandate two-step.
The cat is in the bag. The bag will be in the river unless the GOP — and public opinion — stop the Dems from forcing everyone in America to buy health insurance.
Democrat introduces SEIU-backed illegal alien amnesty bill (Michelle Malkin)
The SEIU needs more dues-paying members. The open-borders lobby needs something to do. Voila!
Meet the new illegal alien shamnesty push via the Washington Times:
Democrats on Tuesday begin their new push for an immigration bill, hamstrung by the image of legalizing millions of illegal immigrant workers at a time when the unemployment rate stands at 10 percent — more than twice what it was the last time Congress tried to act.
“It certainly will confuse the debate a lot more, but at the end of the day what we have to understand is fixing this system will be good for American workers,” said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, which is one of the major advocates for legalizing illegal immigrant workers.
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, the Illinois Democrat who has taken over leadership on the issue after the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, plans to introduce an immigration legalization bill Tuesday, and backers are planning a strategy to avoid repeats of the failed attempts of 2006 and 2007.
The bill would torpedo the joint federal-local deportation program known as 287(g) and opposes beefing up our land borders with more Border Patrol agents or fencing.
SEIU has been lobbying for illegal alien amnesty as a massive membership booster all year.
In May, the Purple Shirts held a pro-illegal immigration rally from Malcolm X Park to the White House to put pressure on homeland security officials to call off workplace raids (not that Janet Napolitano needed any convincing):
House Dems Offer Legal Status to Undocumented in Immigration Bill (Fox News)
Lawmakers pushing for immigration reform say job losses and a sluggish economy should not deter legislation legalizing illegal immigrants.Hispanic, black, Asian and other House lawmakers backing immigration overhaul called Tuesday for legalizing illegal immigrants in the U.S., despite a weakened economy and joblessness.
The coalition of lawmakers said Tuesday immigration reform can protect American workers as well as bring into the mainstream economy productive immigrant workers who have lived in the shadows because of their illegal status.
"For those who say that given the state of our economy, given the unemployment rate, this is not the time, I would say to you there is no wrong or right time.
There is a moral obligation," said Rep. Lydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Congressional
Ex-Kennedy Aide In Fraud Bust (Smoking Gun) Just a small time crook compared to his dead boss' fleecing of America
DECEMBER 15--The former office manager for the late Senator Ted Kennedy was indicted today on federal theft and fraud charges for allegedly pocketing more than $75,000 in unauthorized bonus payments over five years.
Ngozi Pole, 39, was named today in a six-count felony indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. (a copy of the charging document can be found below).
According to prosecutors, Pole, pictured at right, was in charge of processing bonus payments approved by either Kennedy or his chief of staff.
These payments, according to the indictment, came in two forms: a "holiday bonus" paid in December or January, and an "end-of-the-fiscal-year bonus" paid after September 30. The holiday bonuses ranged between $1000 and $2000, while the fiscal year bonuses "generally ranged from $3000 to $5000."
These bonuses were not paid in lump sums, rather Kennedy employee salaries "were raised for a short period, after which employees' annual salaries were returned to their prior levels."
Pole has been accused of keeping his salary at the inflated level for more than the prescribed period.
From 2002-2007 he illegally pocketed more than $75,000, according to the indictment, and hid these larger-than-authorized payouts by submitting falsified records to successive Kennedy chiefs of staff.
Drooling with diversity, Ted Kennedy pushed SEVEN amnesties into law. None was followed by a reduction in illegal immigration.
1. In 1986, Ted Kennedy’s blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens promised a lot more enforcement but did not set any requirements for actual reductions in illegal immigration.
2. In 1994, Ted Kennedy’s Section 245(i) Amnesty gave legal residence and jobs to 578,000 illegal aliens.
It was a temporary rolling amnesty primarily for extended family members of immigrants who instead of waiting in line, come on to the country illegally.
3. In 1997, Ted Kennedy’s extension of the Section 245(i) rolling amnesty was followed by an increasing flow of illegal immigration.
4. In 1997, Ted Kennedy also won an amnesty for close to one million illegal aliens from Central America. Illegal immigration sped up some more.
5. In 1998, Ted Kennedy won an amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti.
6. In 2000, Ted Kennedy got the so-called Late Amnesty, legalizing another 400,000 illegal aliens who claimed that they missed out on Kennedy’s 1986 amnesty.
7. In 2000, Ted Kennedy also won the LIFE Act Amnesty for an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. It was another reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty.......an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. Illegal immigration accelerated.
Another disastrous Kennedy legacy: Teddy and his brother Bobby were instrumental in drawing up and passing the 1965 immigration "reform" law----that changed the ethnic distribution of immigrants who were coming in from predominantly European origin...
to encourage predominantly Latin American, and other Third World immigration, and Asians (including Moslems).
The primary purpose of their bill (never admitted publicly), was new Dem voters.......including illegals with stolen ID's that followed.
Another disastrous consequence: the US was more vulnerable to sabotage from within. The immigration tidal wave enabled the Left's evil agenda of "diversity," "multiculturalism,"and "political correctness."
Ethnic tensions in both urban and suburban areas were exacerbated.
The MSM has never linked the increased "Balkanization." and instability of American culture to the Kennedy brothers, although they deserve a huge share of the blame.
Gore Refuses ClimateGate Questions, UN Official Disconnects Mic (NewsBusters)
United Nations security officials have once again prevented a journalist from asking attendees at the climate change conference in Copenhagen questions about the growing ClimateGate scandal.
This time, the person on the receiving end of the apparently forbidden queries was Nobel Laureate Al Gore.
Much as when Ireland's Phelim McAleer tried to ask Stanford professor Stephen Schneider questions Thursday about the controversial e-mail messages obtained from the British Climatic Research Unit last month, McAleer was similarly rebuffed by Gore and his entourage Monday.
Not only did the former Vice President completely refuse to answer questions about his blatant misrepresentations of the age of the most recent e-mail message obtained from Britain's CRU, a U.N. security official actually disconnected McAleer's microphone to make sure any answers would be unrecorded
(Disgraced) Ex-CBS Anchor Dan Rather Worried About Accountability’ of Internet Journalism (NewsBusters)The joke(s) just write themselves
In a Monday interview on MediaBistro.com’s weekly video series Media Beat, disgraced former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather shared his concerns over the credibility of internet journalism:
“The difficulty with some of the things on the internet...is transparency and accountability about who’s responsible for what’s on.”
TVNewser.com columnist Gail Shister sparked the discussion by asking Rather:
“Are you concerned at all that there is the absence of quality control when it comes to so much of the modern platforms?”
Rather went on to fret: “...you can put something on the internet that’s really terrible about your neighbor or about a friend or a competitor and it’s almost impossible to find out who the source is.
And you can say anything about them. That part of it troubles me.”
Rather of course ended his tenure at CBS after using fraudulent documents to smear President George W. Bush just days before the 2004 presidential election.
He showed little concern for accountability and proper sourcing as he used fabricated memos to claim that Bush had gone AWOL while serving in the Texas Air National Guard in the 1970s.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Cuts Retiree Health Care (BUSINESS WIRE) mmmmm, mmmmm, Marxists eating Marxists? DeathCare will fix this! Or is it all wee-weed up! Donations?
In an act of corporate greed, Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other newspapers, is canceling company-paid health insurance for scores of retirees, the Newspaper Guild of St. Louis announced today.
Retirees will protest outside the Post-Dispatch building, 900 North Tucker Boulevard, in downtown St. Louis, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15.
The move affects about 100 retired Guild members and dozens more management retirees. Many will lose their health coverage because they can’t afford the premiums.
Some couples will have to pay nearly $1,200 per month to continue coverage under company plans.
The union expects Lee to cancel coverage for dozens of other retirees once the current union contract expires.
“Lee is trying to increase its profits on the backs of the sick and elderly. The greed and venality of this profitable corporation know no bounds,” said Shannon Duffy, business administrator for the union, which represents news and advertising employees at the paper.
While stiffing retirees, executives of Lee continue to rake in cash for themselves. CEO Mary Junck received compensation worth $2.5 million in the 2008 fiscal year, according to the company proxy.
Chief Financial Office Carl Schmidt was paid $1.2 million. “For executives to enrich themselves while cutting health care for the elderly is morally repugnant,” said Duffy.
“Lee is reneging on a promise made to men and women who dedicated their working lives to the Post-Dispatch,” said Duffy. “That promise was explicit in union contracts.” In many cases, company representatives repeated that promise personally to employees when they were considering retirement.
Guild members were promised company-paid health coverage for life. On the strength of that promise, many retired before becoming eligible for Medicare.
They will now be forced to pay premiums as high as $1,161 a month for a husband and wife. In many cases, the premiums exceed their company pensions.
Retirees on Medicare will lose their Lee supplementary health coverage completely.
The Newspaper Guild is already pursuing a law suit with the aim of forcing Lee to pay the full cost of retiree health coverage.
That suit was filed months ago after Lee began requiring retirees to pay one third of coverage premiums.
“Lee Enterprises may abandon its retirees. Their union never will,” said Duffy. Lee, based in Davenport, Iowa, owns 53 newspapers around the nation.
The company reported a profit of $1.75 million in the September quarter, which marked the low point of the recession. The Post-Dispatch also makes a hefty profit.
The company notified retirees of its decision in letters dated Dec. 4. They will lose their health insurance subsidy beginning Jan. 1
The New Republic laid off several staffers today – probably at least a half dozen – as the company tries to lower its expenses for the coming year, according to sources.
Things are still in flux, I’m told, but it could be about at 10 percent cut in staff across the board.
Some staffers may remain on the masthead but as freelancers, while others take salary reductions, which will factor into the final numbers.
Frank Foer will remain as editor, and the senior level staff should stay relatively the same.
However, senior editor Christopher Orr was among those laid off. Orr had been executive editor at the magazine for several years, before leaving for roughly a year-and-half.
He returned as a senior editor and has been primarily written on film. Still, Orr had nothing but good things to say about the magazine' s top editor on the way out. "Frank Foer is the best boss in the history of the world," he said.
Despite the cuts, TNR's publication frequency will not be affected. Foer declined to comment.
Like many DC politics and policy magazines, the New Republic has never boasted a huge editorial staff, so any layoffs will be felt at the magazine.
While there hadn't been editorial layoffs in recent years, there have been reductions through attrition and pay cuts among some top staffers.
Long-time owner Marty Peretz -- who sold his stake in 2007 -- bought back the magazine last March with a group of investors. He could not be immediately reached for comment.
Warren Buffett -- Newspaper Industry Got Too Complacent (Editor and Publisher) WOW, never saw this coming? Donationas anyone?
NEW YORK The newspaper industry got too complacent with its success years ago, says Warren Buffett, and failed to change its business model to grow with the times.
"It is so easy when you've got a wonderful business," Buffett told E&P during a recent interview.
"Complacency is pretty easy and it is why they weren't looking over their shoulder at what was happening."
Buffett, the billionaire owner of The Buffalo News and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, spoke with E&P for an upcoming story in our January issue on the News, which he has owned since 1977.
Saying his interest in owning a newspaper "is not totally rational," Buffett says he is content with just one. But he also sees that the industry as a whole did not properly utilize the Internet when it came on the scene.
"When the Internet came along, you gave away your [online] product for free and charged for it in another place [print]," he says. "I'm not positive what you would have done differently, but not figuring out some kind of business model was a mistake."
Buffett, who sits on the board of The Washington Post Company, also points to circulation revenue as a missed opportunity: "They should have probably tried to get more revenue from circulation over the years.
Newspapers were essential years ago," he states. "If they had trained [readers] to value it more, they might have had a model that worked in this environment."
The one-time newspaper delivery boy adds that Web revenue is still there, although he stops short of saying the News would begin charging for online: "One way or another, you need a different business model for the dailies.
We need to get quite a bit of revenue from online. It is the place where people go."
Asked if the News would charge for online content, he says, "we are going to look at everything everyone else does.
How do you charge when a thousand other people don't? We have a business model that is eroding.
The whole industry. But we still have a huge base of readers."
NBC To Take Major Loss ($200 Million) On Winter Olympics (Media Daily News)
General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt said Tuesday that NBC Universal will lose an estimated $200 million on the February Olympics. GE is "counting on a tough economy around the Olympics," Immelt said.
"It's just a tough time for an event like that," he said, referring to the Olympics as a "no-margin" business.
NBCU would post an operating profit increase in 2010, Immelt said, but the Winter Olympics will instead bring a decrease.
Under Murdoch, Tilting Rightward at The Journal (says NYT) WSJ What? The NYT is complaining about bias at the WSJ? This is akin to Tiger Woods speaking out on the evils of adultry.
[U]nder Mr. Murdoch’s leadership, the [WSJ] is no longer anchored by those deep dives into the boardrooms of American business with quaint stippled portraits, opting instead for a much broader template of breaking general interest news articles with a particular interest in politics and big splashy photos. [...]
But there are growing indications that Mr. Murdoch, a lifelong conservative, doesn’t just want to cover politics, he wants to play them as well.
A little over a year ago, Robert Thomson, The Journal’s top editor, picked Gerard Baker, a columnist for The Times of London, as his deputy managing editor.
Mr. Baker is a former Washington bureau chief of The Financial Times with a great deal of expertise in the Beltway. The two men came of age in the more partisan milieu of British journalism.
According to several former members of the Washington bureau and two current ones, the two men have had a big impact on the paper’s Washington coverage, adopting a more conservative tone, and editing and headlining articles to reflect a chronic skepticism of the current administration.
And given that the paper’s circulation continues to grow, albeit helped along by some discounts, there’s nothing to suggest that The Journal’s readers don’t approve.
Mr. Baker, a neoconservative columnist of acute political views, has been especially active in managing coverage in Washington, creating significant grumbling, if not resistance, from the staff there.
Reporters say the coverage of the Obama administration is reflexively critical, the health care debate is generally framed in terms of costs rather than benefits — “health care reform” is a generally forbidden phrase — and global warming skeptics have gotten a steady ride. (Of course, objectivity is in the eyes of the reader.)
Andrew Breitbart Summoned to Grand Jury About ACORN
Big Government founder Andrew Breitbart has been summoned to New York for a grand jury appearance tomorrow morning, reports Andrea Shea King at the Radio Patriot.
Breitbart's appearance is in regard to the sting operation exposing ACORN that was broken in the media by Big Government.
Breitbart informed King about that the grand jury summons when he explained to her he was unable to appear on her radio show this evening because he would be in transit to New York at the time.
King is a contributor to Big Government and its sister site, Big Hollywood.
Breitbart did not disclose whether he would cooperate with the grand jury or invoke any constitutional rights against testifying.
Nor did he say whether the 'pimp' and the 'prostitute' in the ACORN sting operation, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, respectively, had been called to testify.
The Government Is Monitoring Facebook And Twitter (Newsbusters) And if the Bush administration did this?
"The government is increasingly monitoring Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites for tax delinquents, copyright infringers and political protesters."
So ominously began an editorial [1] in Sunday's New York Times.
Those with accounts at such websites should pay attention, for according to the Times, and other sources, Big Brother is watching you:
The Wall Street Journal reported this summer that state revenue agents have been searching for tax scofflaws by mining information on MySpace and Facebook.
In October, the F.B.I. searched the New York home of a man suspected of helping coordinate protests at the Group of 20 meeting in Pittsburgh by sending out messages over Twitter.
The Boston Globe reported [2] on this matter in January: In an informal survey of 14 departments in this area, officials in half of them said they use social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace in detective work - particularly in investigations involving young people.
Wired magazine reported [3] in October: America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.
In-Q-Tel [4], the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies [5], a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media.
It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using ”open source intelligence [6]” — information that’s publicly available, but often hidden in the flood of TV shows, newspaper articles, blog posts, online videos and radio reports generated every day.
The Times continued: This month the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law sued the Department of Defense, the C.I.A. and other federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act to learn more about their use of social networking sites.
The suit seeks to uncover what guidelines these agencies have about this activity, including information about whether agents are permitted to use fake identities or to engage in subterfuge, such as tricking people into accepting Facebook friend requests.
Privacy law was largely created in the pre-Internet age, and new rules are needed to keep up with the ways people communicate today.
Much of what occurs online, like blog posting, is intended to be an open declaration to the world, and law enforcement is within its rights to read and act on what is written.
Other kinds of communication, particularly in a closed network, may come with an expectation of privacy. If government agents are joining social networks under false pretenses to spy without a court order, for example, that might be crossing a line.
On the other hand, it will be interesting to see how Obama-loving media follow this story.
After all, the press were constantly bashing the Bush White House concerning electronic surveillance designed to protect the nation from terrorist attacks.
The Times might be pleased with itself by publishing an editorial on this subject in its opinion section, but under the previous administration, this would have resulted in a front page story with thousands of words.
The Times published a piece [7] in its Business section last November that touched on this very subject:
Carbon Footprint: Thousands Flew to Copenhagen, Only to Be Denied Admittance to the Climate....CNSnews)
On Monday, the United Nations announced that thousands of representatives of accredited non-governmental organizations who had not yet been admitted to the conference would not be admitted for the rest of the week.
One of those NGOs said the delegates apparently are being left out because the United Nations accredited 45,000 people for a building with a capacity of 15,000, although the stated reason was "security concerns."
The Washington, D.C.-based National Center for Public Policy Research said the "security concerns" may stem from the fact that after waiting outside the conference center for hours on Monday -- in 32-degree temperatures -- the NGO delegates began to chant, "Let us in! Let us in!"
Calls to 'redouble effort' as climate talks flounder (France 24)
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged countries to redouble efforts to reach a final deal against climate change in Copenhagen, in an effort to rescue failing talks at what has been dubbed the 'Last Chance Summit'.
World leaders began arriving at the UN climate summit Tuesday, seeking to give a shot in the arm to the floundering talks after warnings that the whole event was at risk of ending in failure.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were among the heavyweights expected in the Danish capital where officials and climate ministers have struggled to make any progress since the marathon meeting began eight days ago.
"I appeal to all world leaders ... to redouble efforts to find the room for compromise, to make a final push in this final stretch," Ban told reporters in New York before flying to the Danish capital.
"Time is running out... There is no time for posturing or blaming," he said.
"If everything is left to leaders to resolve at the last minute, we risk having a weak deal or no deal at all.
And this would be a failure of potentially catastrophic consequence."
The summit, which reaches its climax on Friday when 120 heads of state huddle in the Danish capital, has been billed as one of the most important gatherings of the post-World War II era.
Some Guantanamo Detainees to Move to Illinois Prison (DEFENSE.gov)
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2009 – President Barack Obama’s administration plans to transfer a limited number of detainees held at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a prison in rural western Illinois, senior administration officials said here today.
The federal government plans to acquire Thomson Correctional Center, a 10-year-old maximum security prison in Thomson, Ill., a farming community about 150 miles west of Chicago, officials said in a background briefing.
The administration would need to work with Congress to amend the law related to the pending transfer and to seek necessary funding, officials said.
Terrorists Beat the System in Federal Prisons (ABC)
White House officials said Tuesday Americans have nothing to fear from the Guantanamo detainees to be transferred to Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois, but in at least two cases, individuals connected to terror who are already in federal prisons have managed to beat the system.
One passed messages to his followers, and another seriously and permanently injured a guard during an escape attempt.
The federal Bureau of Prisons says it already holds some 240 individuals who it says are connected in some way to acts of international terrorism.
The most dangerous of the al Qaeda connected terrorists are held at what's known as the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.
Dick Armey to Protesters: ‘I’ve Never Seen So Many Attractive Domestic Terrorists’ (CNS News.com) (So McClatchy types can understand, think teabaggers)
Hundreds of people dressed in red and carrying American flags gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to protest the Senate health care bill, chanting “kill the bill” and calling for the impeachment of President Barack Obama.
The protesters also called for the impeachment of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and the crowd cheered as members of Congress, tea party activists, and conservative talk-radio host Laura Ingraham harpooned the Senate’s health care legislation as costly and dangerous. The bill could be voted on as early as this week...
Obama might not get health care overhaul for Christmas (McClatchy Newspapers) What a powerful, non-milk toast article supporting Dear Leader’s DeathCare! They even quote Max Baucus! How can I donate? And do you accept Rubles?
President Barack Obama tried mightily Tuesday to jolt the Senate's stalled health care overhaul effort, but after an hour-long closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats, the fate of his top 2009 domestic priority remains unclear.
Obama afterward said he was "cautiously optimistic" the measure could pass the Senate before Christmas, and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Democrats left the meeting "enthusiastic."
Obama, Baucus said, reminded them "politics catches up with good policy," and that they should remember they may not get all they want in this bill, but they would create a framework for future changes.
"He reminded, this is why we run for these jobs," said Baucus, reading off notes he made on a cocktail napkin with the White House seal.
Time for pre-Christmas action is running out, however, because Senate rules are likely to require several days of procedural votes that will need 60 members to cut off debate.
Many Democrats remained circumspect about the bill.
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.
31 comments:
Fistgate VIII: Safe School’s Czar Jennings’ Org Promoted Book Detailing Gay Sex Between First Graders(GatewayPundit)
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.
Kevin Jennings is today the nation’s Safe Schools Czar.
—-Warning on Content—–
snip
The list is divided into three main categories: books recommended for grades K-6; books recommended for grades 7-12; and books for teachers. (The books on the list span all genres: fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, even poetry.)
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.
Today we will focus on one of GLSEN’s recommended books for 7 to 12 graders–
Reflections of a Rock Lobster: A Story About Growing up Gay
This book is promoted at the GLSEN website and can be purchased there.
This book covers group sex between first graders and makes it sound completely normal.
Reflections of a Rock Lobster – Page 13 (At the age of six, the author frequently performed fellatio on his fellow first-graders in the school restroom, part of a “busy homosexual childhood.”)
My sexual exploits with my neighborhood playmates continued.
I lived a busy homosexual childhood, somehow managing to avoid venereal disease through all my toddler years.
By first grade I was sexually active with many friends. In fact, a small group of us regularly met in the grammar school lavatory to perform fellatio on one another.
A typical week’s schedule would be Aaron and Michael on Monday during lunch; Michael and Johnny on Tuesday after school; Fred and Timmy at noon Wednesday; Aaron and Timmy after school on Thursday.
None of us ever got caught, but we never worried about it anyway. We all understood that what we were doing was not to be discussed freely with adults but we viewed it as a fun sort of confidential activity.
None of us had any guilty feelings about it; we figured everyone did it. Why shouldn’t they?
This is just one of the books promoted by the Kevin Jennings’ GLSEN organization.
Today Kevin Jennings is Barack Obama’s Safe School Czar.
FOX News reported on Kevin Jennings support of these pornographic books on Monday.
Gay Patriot wonders how the media would handle a similar story if the president were a Republican?
And, Verum Serum has the latest on GLSEN’s comic book for kids.
An Honest Appraisal- Hannity Gives Obama 3 F’s and an A+
After tripling the deficit, nearly doubling unemployment and increasing the national debt to $12Trillion, Sean Hannity hands President Obama his report card:
Here are Hannity’s marks for the president:
Job Creation – Good Solid F
Afghanistan – F
Keeping Your Word – F
Teleprompter Reading – A+
That looks like a more accurate appraisal.
Unwitting tourists attend White House breakfast (AP)
The White House is once again explaining how uninvited guests wound up shaking hands with President Barack Obama.
This time, a Georgia couple hoping to tour the White House ended up at an invitation-only Veterans Day breakfast.
The Dardens thought they were starting their tour until they were ushered into the East Room and offered a buffet.
Hillary Clinton Admits Obama’s Iranian Policy Is Also a Failure (Video)(GatewayPundit)
What a complete and utter shock. Who would have guessed this?
Hillary Clinton admitted today that Barack Obama’s Iranian policy of extending a hand to the evil Iranian regime has produced nothing– Nada– Zilch.
Former UN Ambassador John Bolton agrees.
In related news… Jennifer Rubin discusses Hillary’s doublespeak yesterday on dictators and democracy.
Hillary insisted that Team Obama has stood by the Iranian freedom fighters.
The Iranian freedom fighters disagree.
CBO confirms ObamaCare is a takeover of the health insurance industry PATTERICO
While everyone has focused on the Senate Dems caving to Sen. Lieberman’s demand to drop the “public option” from ObamaCare, this tidbit has slipped by largely without notice:
The CBO on Sunday issued a strongly worded memo on the proposal establishing all health insurance companies’ “medical-loss” ratio at a maximum of 10 percent — meaning 90 percent of premiums would have to go to medical claims.
Companies would have to issue rebates to their customers if they fail to meet this standard.
Alternatives would set the level at 80 percent to 85 percent, as included in the House-passed healthcare bill.
Considering the medical-loss ratio in tandem with the other strict new insurance regulations contained in the bill, the CBO predicted that such a policy would “reduce the types, range of prices, and number of private-sector sellers of health insurance,” the memo says.
“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,” the memo states. (Emphasis added.)
The official copy is available through the CBO. OpenLeft’s Chris Bowers moans:
The Senate will not pass a public option. It will not pass a Medicare buy-in. It will not mandate a 90% medical loss ratio.
Ugh. This deal keeps getting worse all the time.
If only Darth Lieberman would appear to say, “Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
Obama: 'Last chance' for health reform (Politico) He could have been honest had he said “This is the last chance to force socialism on the USA”
In a provocative argument designed to rescue his foundering health care plan, President Barack Obama will warn Senate Democrats in a White House meeting Tuesday that this is the "last chance" to pass comprehensive reform.
Obama will contend that if it fails now, no other president will attempt it, aides said.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told POLITICO: "If President Obama doesn't pass health reform, it’s hard to imagine another president ever taking on this Herculean task. For those whose life's work is reforming health care, this may be the last train leaving the station."
Previewing the message, Vice President Joe Biden said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe": "If health care does not pass in this Congress ... it's going to be kicked back for a generation."
The new argument comes as the Senate races to pass the measure by Christmas, in the face of a costly setback this week.
Senate Democrats say they are prepared to drop a plan to expand Medicare coverage after Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said he could not support it.
That could keep the bill alive but would infuriate the party's liberals, who feel the moderate Lieberman has thwarted them once again.
Biden said on MSNBC: ""Say it ain't so. ... Joe is a great guy. ... I think Joe's judgment is wrong on this."
Senate strategists say the current impasse will have to be resolved in the next couple of days in order to allow passage by year's end.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declined to say whether the Medicare expansion would be dropped and was waiting for congressional scorekeepers to put a price tag on the plan before making a final decision.
Dems Offer Nelson up to $500 Billion, er Million in Earmarks to Vote Yes (Red State)
Sell your country down the river for a couple of hundred million dollars of pork. I am thinking of the scene from 300 when Queen Gorgo stabs Theron and the Persian gold coins fall to the floor and the Spartan Assembly start crying out "TRAITOR!”
The White House and Democratic Leadership in the Senate has told Senator Nelson they will close every military base in Nebraska — a threat that is not credible, really — but they have also offered Senator Nelson between $300million to $500 million in earmarks, according to key hill health care operatives.
These hundreds of millions will be available for whatever he wants to spend them on in Nebraska.
Given Senator Nelson’s hard core earmarking history as an appropriator, the word on the street is that this is the real carrot that could get Nelson to agree to some cover amendment that would allege to protect the innocent unborn from government funding of abortion, but, in fact, would not.
ObamaCare: the not-unexpected cave-in on the public option PATTERICO
The White House pressured Sen. Maj. Ldr. Harry Reid to cut a deal with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and hours later, liberal Sens. Tom Harkin and Jay Rockefeller said they would be willing to drop a “public option” government insurance program to win passage of a healthcare overhaul.
It is unclear whether this development gets the Senate Democrats out of their weekly pep talk from Pres. Obama, or whether a photo-op chock full ‘o’ fauxmentum is coming tomorrow.
Clearly, the White House is desperate to move Reid’s bill before Christmas.
Dropping the public option gets the Dems closer to that goal, though how much closer remains unclear (e.g., the tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans — which Big Labor hates — is among the issues still unresolved).
Indeed, if the swing senators continue to throw up objections after the public option gets dropped, there will be a very real question of whether they ever want to get to “yes” for Harry.
This news will only intensify this morning’s netroots screeching.
TNR’s Jonathan Chait claimed that “Lieberman is the beneficiary, or possibly the victim, of a cultural stereotype that Jews are smart and good with numbers.”
However, unlike many of his unhinged pals on the Left, Chait understands the real game:
If Harry Reid decided to submit to Lieberman’s demands, the health care bill would basically revert to what the Senate Finance Committee produced. That’s still a major piece of legislation.
Expectations among liberals have risen since then, so the come-down is understandable. But this isn’t the end of reform.
Bingo. It has been clear for some time that dropping the public plan is necessary, but not sufficient to defeat a government takeover of the US healthcare.
The Obama administration has always been willing to dance the public option – mandate two-step.
The cat is in the bag. The bag will be in the river unless the GOP — and public opinion — stop the Dems from forcing everyone in America to buy health insurance.
Democrat introduces SEIU-backed illegal alien amnesty bill (Michelle Malkin)
The SEIU needs more dues-paying members. The open-borders lobby needs something to do. Voila!
Meet the new illegal alien shamnesty push via the Washington Times:
Democrats on Tuesday begin their new push for an immigration bill, hamstrung by the image of legalizing millions of illegal immigrant workers at a time when the unemployment rate stands at 10 percent — more than twice what it was the last time Congress tried to act.
“It certainly will confuse the debate a lot more, but at the end of the day what we have to understand is fixing this system will be good for American workers,” said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, which is one of the major advocates for legalizing illegal immigrant workers.
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, the Illinois Democrat who has taken over leadership on the issue after the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, plans to introduce an immigration legalization bill Tuesday, and backers are planning a strategy to avoid repeats of the failed attempts of 2006 and 2007.
The bill would torpedo the joint federal-local deportation program known as 287(g) and opposes beefing up our land borders with more Border Patrol agents or fencing.
SEIU has been lobbying for illegal alien amnesty as a massive membership booster all year.
In May, the Purple Shirts held a pro-illegal immigration rally from Malcolm X Park to the White House to put pressure on homeland security officials to call off workplace raids (not that Janet Napolitano needed any convincing):
House Dems Offer Legal Status to Undocumented in Immigration Bill
(Fox News)
Lawmakers pushing for immigration reform say job losses and a sluggish economy should not deter legislation legalizing illegal immigrants.Hispanic, black, Asian and other House lawmakers backing immigration overhaul called Tuesday for legalizing illegal immigrants in the U.S., despite a weakened economy and joblessness.
The coalition of lawmakers said Tuesday immigration reform can protect American workers as well as bring into the mainstream economy productive immigrant workers who have lived in the shadows because of their illegal status.
"For those who say that given the state of our economy, given the unemployment rate, this is not the time, I would say to you there is no wrong or right time.
There is a moral obligation," said Rep. Lydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Congressional
Ex-Kennedy Aide In Fraud Bust (Smoking Gun) Just a small time crook compared to his dead boss' fleecing of America
DECEMBER 15--The former office manager for the late Senator Ted Kennedy was indicted today on federal theft and fraud charges for allegedly pocketing more than $75,000 in unauthorized bonus payments over five years.
Ngozi Pole, 39, was named today in a six-count felony indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. (a copy of the charging document can be found below).
According to prosecutors, Pole, pictured at right, was in charge of processing bonus payments approved by either Kennedy or his chief of staff.
These payments, according to the indictment, came in two forms: a "holiday bonus" paid in December or January, and an "end-of-the-fiscal-year bonus" paid after September 30. The holiday bonuses ranged between $1000 and $2000, while the fiscal year bonuses "generally ranged from $3000 to $5000."
These bonuses were not paid in lump sums, rather Kennedy employee salaries "were raised for a short period, after which employees' annual salaries were returned to their prior levels."
Pole has been accused of keeping his salary at the inflated level for more than the prescribed period.
From 2002-2007 he illegally pocketed more than $75,000, according to the indictment, and hid these larger-than-authorized payouts by submitting falsified records to successive Kennedy chiefs of staff.
Drooling with diversity, Ted Kennedy pushed SEVEN amnesties into law. None was followed by a reduction in illegal immigration.
1. In 1986, Ted Kennedy’s blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens promised a lot more enforcement but did not set any requirements for actual reductions in illegal immigration.
2. In 1994, Ted Kennedy’s Section 245(i) Amnesty gave legal residence and jobs to 578,000 illegal aliens.
It was a temporary rolling amnesty primarily for extended family members of immigrants who instead of waiting in line, come on to the country illegally.
3. In 1997, Ted Kennedy’s extension of the Section 245(i) rolling amnesty was followed by an increasing flow of illegal immigration.
4. In 1997, Ted Kennedy also won an amnesty for close to one million illegal aliens from Central America. Illegal immigration sped up some more.
5. In 1998, Ted Kennedy won an amnesty for 125,000 illegal aliens from Haiti.
6. In 2000, Ted Kennedy got the so-called Late Amnesty, legalizing another 400,000 illegal aliens who claimed that they missed out on Kennedy’s 1986 amnesty.
7. In 2000, Ted Kennedy also won the LIFE Act Amnesty for an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. It was another reinstatement of the rolling Section 245(i) amnesty.......an estimated 900,000 illegal aliens. Illegal immigration accelerated.
Another disastrous Kennedy legacy:
Teddy and his brother Bobby were instrumental in drawing up and passing the 1965 immigration "reform" law----that changed the ethnic distribution of immigrants who were coming in from predominantly European origin...
to encourage predominantly Latin American, and other Third World immigration, and Asians (including Moslems).
The primary purpose of their bill (never admitted publicly), was new Dem voters.......including illegals with stolen ID's that followed.
Another disastrous consequence: the US was more vulnerable to sabotage from within. The immigration tidal wave enabled the Left's evil agenda of "diversity," "multiculturalism,"and "political correctness."
Ethnic tensions in both urban and suburban areas were exacerbated.
The MSM has never linked the increased "Balkanization." and instability of American culture to the Kennedy brothers, although they deserve a huge share of the blame.
Gore Refuses ClimateGate Questions, UN Official Disconnects Mic (NewsBusters)
United Nations security officials have once again prevented a journalist from asking attendees at the climate change conference in Copenhagen questions about the growing ClimateGate scandal.
This time, the person on the receiving end of the apparently forbidden queries was Nobel Laureate Al Gore.
Much as when Ireland's Phelim McAleer tried to ask Stanford professor Stephen Schneider questions Thursday about the controversial e-mail messages obtained from the British Climatic Research Unit last month, McAleer was similarly rebuffed by Gore and his entourage Monday.
Not only did the former Vice President completely refuse to answer questions about his blatant misrepresentations of the age of the most recent e-mail message obtained from Britain's CRU, a U.N. security official actually disconnected McAleer's microphone to make sure any answers would be unrecorded
(Disgraced) Ex-CBS Anchor Dan Rather Worried About Accountability’ of Internet Journalism (NewsBusters)The joke(s) just write themselves
In a Monday interview on MediaBistro.com’s weekly video series Media Beat, disgraced former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather shared his concerns over the credibility of internet journalism:
“The difficulty with some of the things on the internet...is transparency and accountability about who’s responsible for what’s on.”
TVNewser.com columnist Gail Shister sparked the discussion by asking Rather:
“Are you concerned at all that there is the absence of quality control when it comes to so much of the modern platforms?”
Rather went on to fret: “...you can put something on the internet that’s really terrible about your neighbor or about a friend or a competitor and it’s almost impossible to find out who the source is.
And you can say anything about them. That part of it troubles me.”
Rather of course ended his tenure at CBS after using fraudulent documents to smear President George W. Bush just days before the 2004 presidential election.
He showed little concern for accountability and proper sourcing as he used fabricated memos to claim that Bush had gone AWOL while serving in the Texas Air National Guard in the 1970s.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Cuts Retiree Health Care (BUSINESS WIRE) mmmmm, mmmmm, Marxists eating Marxists? DeathCare will fix this! Or is it all wee-weed up! Donations?
In an act of corporate greed, Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other newspapers, is canceling company-paid health insurance for scores of retirees, the Newspaper Guild of St. Louis announced today.
Retirees will protest outside the Post-Dispatch building, 900 North Tucker Boulevard, in downtown St. Louis, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15.
The move affects about 100 retired Guild members and dozens more management retirees. Many will lose their health coverage because they can’t afford the premiums.
Some couples will have to pay nearly $1,200 per month to continue coverage under company plans.
The union expects Lee to cancel coverage for dozens of other retirees once the current union contract expires.
“Lee is trying to increase its profits on the backs of the sick and elderly. The greed and venality of this profitable corporation know no bounds,” said Shannon Duffy, business administrator for the union, which represents news and advertising employees at the paper.
While stiffing retirees, executives of Lee continue to rake in cash for themselves. CEO Mary Junck received compensation worth $2.5 million in the 2008 fiscal year, according to the company proxy.
Chief Financial Office Carl Schmidt was paid $1.2 million.
“For executives to enrich themselves while cutting health care for the elderly is morally repugnant,” said Duffy.
“Lee is reneging on a promise made to men and women who dedicated their working lives to the Post-Dispatch,” said Duffy. “That promise was explicit in union contracts.” In many cases, company representatives repeated that promise personally to employees when they were considering retirement.
Guild members were promised company-paid health coverage for life. On the strength of that promise, many retired before becoming eligible for Medicare.
They will now be forced to pay premiums as high as $1,161 a month for a husband and wife. In many cases, the premiums exceed their company pensions.
Retirees on Medicare will lose their Lee supplementary health coverage completely.
The Newspaper Guild is already pursuing a law suit with the aim of forcing Lee to pay the full cost of retiree health coverage.
That suit was filed months ago after Lee began requiring retirees to pay one third of coverage premiums.
“Lee Enterprises may abandon its retirees. Their union never will,” said Duffy. Lee, based in Davenport, Iowa, owns 53 newspapers around the nation.
The company reported a profit of $1.75 million in the September quarter, which marked the low point of the recession. The Post-Dispatch also makes a hefty profit.
The company notified retirees of its decision in letters dated Dec. 4. They will lose their health insurance subsidy beginning Jan. 1
Layoffs at TNR (The New Republic) Politico
The New Republic laid off several staffers today – probably at least a half dozen – as the company tries to lower its expenses for the coming year, according to sources.
Things are still in flux, I’m told, but it could be about at 10 percent cut in staff across the board.
Some staffers may remain on the masthead but as freelancers, while others take salary reductions, which will factor into the final numbers.
Frank Foer will remain as editor, and the senior level staff should stay relatively the same.
However, senior editor Christopher Orr was among those laid off. Orr had been executive editor at the magazine for several years, before leaving for roughly a year-and-half.
He returned as a senior editor and has been primarily written on film.
Still, Orr had nothing but good things to say about the magazine' s top editor on the way out. "Frank Foer is the best boss in the history of the world," he said.
Despite the cuts, TNR's publication frequency will not be affected. Foer declined to comment.
Like many DC politics and policy magazines, the New Republic has never boasted a huge editorial staff, so any layoffs will be felt at the magazine.
While there hadn't been editorial layoffs in recent years, there have been reductions through attrition and pay cuts among some top staffers.
Long-time owner Marty Peretz -- who sold his stake in 2007 -- bought back the magazine last March with a group of investors. He could not be immediately reached for comment.
Warren Buffett -- Newspaper Industry Got Too Complacent (Editor and Publisher) WOW, never saw this coming? Donationas anyone?
NEW YORK The newspaper industry got too complacent with its success years ago, says Warren Buffett, and failed to change its business model to grow with the times.
"It is so easy when you've got a wonderful business," Buffett told E&P during a recent interview.
"Complacency is pretty easy and it is why they weren't looking over their shoulder at what was happening."
Buffett, the billionaire owner of The Buffalo News and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, spoke with E&P for an upcoming story in our January issue on the News, which he has owned since 1977.
Saying his interest in owning a newspaper "is not totally rational," Buffett says he is content with just one. But he also sees that the industry as a whole did not properly utilize the Internet when it came on the scene.
"When the Internet came along, you gave away your [online] product for free and charged for it in another place [print]," he says. "I'm not positive what you would have done differently, but not figuring out some kind of business model was a mistake."
Buffett, who sits on the board of The Washington Post Company, also points to circulation revenue as a missed opportunity: "They should have probably tried to get more revenue from circulation over the years.
Newspapers were essential years ago," he states. "If they had trained [readers] to value it more, they might have had a model that worked in this environment."
The one-time newspaper delivery boy adds that Web revenue is still there, although he stops short of saying the News would begin charging for online: "One way or another, you need a different business model for the dailies.
We need to get quite a bit of revenue from online. It is the place where people go."
Asked if the News would charge for online content, he says, "we are going to look at everything everyone else does.
How do you charge when a thousand other people don't? We have a business model that is eroding.
The whole industry. But we still have a huge base of readers."
NBC To Take Major Loss ($200 Million) On Winter Olympics (Media Daily News)
General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt said Tuesday that NBC Universal will lose an estimated $200 million on the February Olympics. GE is "counting on a tough economy around the Olympics," Immelt said.
"It's just a tough time for an event like that," he said, referring to the Olympics as a "no-margin" business.
NBCU would post an operating profit increase in 2010, Immelt said, but the Winter Olympics will instead bring a decrease.
Under Murdoch, Tilting Rightward at The Journal (says NYT) WSJ
What? The NYT is complaining about bias at the WSJ? This is akin to Tiger Woods speaking out on the evils of adultry.
[U]nder Mr. Murdoch’s leadership, the [WSJ] is no longer anchored by those deep dives into the boardrooms of American business with quaint stippled portraits, opting instead for a much broader template of breaking general interest news articles with a particular interest in politics and big splashy photos. [...]
But there are growing indications that Mr. Murdoch, a lifelong conservative, doesn’t just want to cover politics, he wants to play them as well.
A little over a year ago, Robert Thomson, The Journal’s top editor, picked Gerard Baker, a columnist for The Times of London, as his deputy managing editor.
Mr. Baker is a former Washington bureau chief of The Financial Times with a great deal of expertise in the Beltway. The two men came of age in the more partisan milieu of British journalism.
According to several former members of the Washington bureau and two current ones, the two men have had a big impact on the paper’s Washington coverage, adopting a more conservative tone, and editing and headlining articles to reflect a chronic skepticism of the current administration.
And given that the paper’s circulation continues to grow, albeit helped along by some discounts, there’s nothing to suggest that The Journal’s readers don’t approve.
Mr. Baker, a neoconservative columnist of acute political views, has been especially active in managing coverage in Washington, creating significant grumbling, if not resistance, from the staff there.
Reporters say the coverage of the Obama administration is reflexively critical, the health care debate is generally framed in terms of costs rather than benefits — “health care reform” is a generally forbidden phrase — and global warming skeptics have gotten a steady ride. (Of course, objectivity is in the eyes of the reader.)
Andrew Breitbart Summoned to Grand Jury About ACORN
Big Government founder Andrew Breitbart has been summoned to New York for a grand jury appearance tomorrow morning, reports Andrea Shea King at the Radio Patriot.
Breitbart's appearance is in regard to the sting operation exposing ACORN that was broken in the media by Big Government.
Breitbart informed King about that the grand jury summons when he explained to her he was unable to appear on her radio show this evening because he would be in transit to New York at the time.
King is a contributor to Big Government and its sister site, Big Hollywood.
Breitbart did not disclose whether he would cooperate with the grand jury or invoke any constitutional rights against testifying.
Nor did he say whether the 'pimp' and the 'prostitute' in the ACORN sting operation, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, respectively, had been called to testify.
The Government Is Monitoring Facebook And Twitter (Newsbusters) And if the Bush administration did this?
"The government is increasingly monitoring Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites for tax delinquents, copyright infringers and political protesters."
So ominously began an editorial [1] in Sunday's New York Times.
Those with accounts at such websites should pay attention, for according to the Times, and other sources, Big Brother is watching you:
The Wall Street Journal reported this summer that state revenue agents have been searching for tax scofflaws by mining information on MySpace and Facebook.
In October, the F.B.I. searched the New York home of a man suspected of helping coordinate protests at the Group of 20 meeting in Pittsburgh by sending out messages over Twitter.
The Boston Globe reported [2] on this matter in January:
In an informal survey of 14 departments in this area, officials in half of them said they use social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace in detective work - particularly in investigations involving young people.
Wired magazine reported [3] in October: America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.
In-Q-Tel [4], the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies [5], a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media.
It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using ”open source intelligence [6]” — information that’s publicly available, but often hidden in the flood of TV shows, newspaper articles, blog posts, online videos and radio reports generated every day.
The Times continued: This month the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law sued the Department of Defense, the C.I.A. and other federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act to learn more about their use of social networking sites.
The suit seeks to uncover what guidelines these agencies have about this activity, including information about whether agents are permitted to use fake identities or to engage in subterfuge, such as tricking people into accepting Facebook friend requests.
Privacy law was largely created in the pre-Internet age, and new rules are needed to keep up with the ways people communicate today.
Much of what occurs online, like blog posting, is intended to be an open declaration to the world, and law enforcement is within its rights to read and act on what is written.
Other kinds of communication, particularly in a closed network, may come with an expectation of privacy. If government agents are joining social networks under false pretenses to spy without a court order, for example, that might be crossing a line.
On the other hand, it will be interesting to see how Obama-loving media follow this story.
After all, the press were constantly bashing the Bush White House concerning electronic surveillance designed to protect the nation from terrorist attacks.
The Times might be pleased with itself by publishing an editorial on this subject in its opinion section, but under the previous administration, this would have resulted in a front page story with thousands of words.
The Times published a piece [7] in its Business section last November that touched on this very subject:
Carbon Footprint: Thousands Flew to Copenhagen, Only to Be Denied Admittance to the Climate....CNSnews)
On Monday, the United Nations announced that thousands of representatives of accredited non-governmental organizations who had not yet been admitted to the conference would not be admitted for the rest of the week.
One of those NGOs said the delegates apparently are being left out because the United Nations accredited 45,000 people for a building with a capacity of 15,000, although the stated reason was "security concerns."
The Washington, D.C.-based National Center for Public Policy Research said the "security concerns" may stem from the fact that after waiting outside the conference center for hours on Monday -- in 32-degree temperatures -- the NGO delegates began to chant, "Let us in! Let us in!"
Calls to 'redouble effort' as climate talks flounder (France 24)
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged countries to redouble efforts to reach a final deal against climate change in Copenhagen, in an effort to rescue failing talks at what has been dubbed the 'Last Chance Summit'.
World leaders began arriving at the UN climate summit Tuesday, seeking to give a shot in the arm to the floundering talks after warnings that the whole event was at risk of ending in failure.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were among the heavyweights expected in the Danish capital where officials and climate ministers have struggled to make any progress since the marathon meeting began eight days ago.
"I appeal to all world leaders ... to redouble efforts to find the room for compromise, to make a final push in this final stretch," Ban told reporters in New York before flying to the Danish capital.
"Time is running out... There is no time for posturing or blaming," he said.
"If everything is left to leaders to resolve at the last minute, we risk having a weak deal or no deal at all.
And this would be a failure of potentially catastrophic consequence."
The summit, which reaches its climax on Friday when 120 heads of state huddle in the Danish capital, has been billed as one of the most important gatherings of the post-World War II era.
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Some Guantanamo Detainees to Move to Illinois Prison (DEFENSE.gov)
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2009 – President Barack Obama’s administration plans to transfer a limited number of detainees held at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a prison in rural western Illinois, senior administration officials said here today.
The federal government plans to acquire Thomson Correctional Center, a 10-year-old maximum security prison in Thomson, Ill., a farming community about 150 miles west of Chicago, officials said in a background briefing.
The administration would need to work with Congress to amend the law related to the pending transfer and to seek necessary funding, officials said.
Terrorists Beat the System in Federal Prisons (ABC)
White House officials said Tuesday Americans have nothing to fear from the Guantanamo detainees to be transferred to Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois, but in at least two cases, individuals connected to terror who are already in federal prisons have managed to beat the system.
One passed messages to his followers, and another seriously and permanently injured a guard during an escape attempt.
The federal Bureau of Prisons says it already holds some 240 individuals who it says are connected in some way to acts of international terrorism.
The most dangerous of the al Qaeda connected terrorists are held at what's known as the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.
Dick Armey to Protesters: ‘I’ve Never Seen So Many Attractive Domestic Terrorists’ (CNS News.com)
(So McClatchy types can understand, think teabaggers)
Hundreds of people dressed in red and carrying American flags gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to protest the Senate health care bill, chanting “kill the bill” and calling for the impeachment of President Barack Obama.
The protesters also called for the impeachment of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and the crowd cheered as members of Congress, tea party activists, and conservative talk-radio host Laura Ingraham harpooned the Senate’s health care legislation as costly and dangerous. The bill could be voted on as early as this week...
Fed Chief Ben Bernanke Named Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year'
(FOX News)
Faux hero.
Faux news source.
A crushing blow to TOTUS, who believes he should have won again this year, and every year for eternity.
Obama might not get health care overhaul for Christmas (McClatchy Newspapers) What a powerful, non-milk toast article supporting Dear Leader’s DeathCare! They even quote Max Baucus! How can I donate? And do you accept Rubles?
President Barack Obama tried mightily Tuesday to jolt the Senate's stalled health care overhaul effort, but after an hour-long closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats, the fate of his top 2009 domestic priority remains unclear.
Obama afterward said he was "cautiously optimistic" the measure could pass the Senate before Christmas, and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Democrats left the meeting "enthusiastic."
Obama, Baucus said, reminded them "politics catches up with good policy," and that they should remember they may not get all they want in this bill, but they would create a framework for future changes.
"He reminded, this is why we run for these jobs," said Baucus, reading off notes he made on a cocktail napkin with the White House seal.
Time for pre-Christmas action is running out, however, because Senate rules are likely to require several days of procedural votes that will need 60 members to cut off debate.
Many Democrats remained circumspect about the bill.
I don't get this: Ben Bernanke is Person of the Year
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.
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