[IUSB Vision Editor's Note - Even though I agree with the reprimands (a letter of reprimand (LOR) is a slap on the wrist), I also understand that these officers were put between a rock and a hard place. If they would have moved against Hasan he would have made a stink. Social Actions in the Army likely would have sided with him. How do I know this? I know this because I served two tours in the military and have seen Social Actions at work. If you are accused you are guilty unless you can prove otherwise. Even in basic training the Military Training Instructors (Drill Sergeants) feared the female recruits. The officers who feared speaking out were right to. Odds are it would have been bad for their careers. As far as giving Hasan an undeserved good performance review, it is no secret that in the military, your performance review is about anything and everything before your actual performance.
The military, just like the Federal Government, does not treat whistle-blowers well and that goes double if the whistle-blower is right. That is also something I have seen first hand.
Here is the rub, an LOR is MUCH preferred over a Social Actions investigation or an accusation of bigotry against what is perceived as a far left, PC protected group. So just giving these officers an LOR will encourage other officers faced with a similar circumstance another reason to behave exactly the same way. There are several levels of LOR. The "counciling letter", "admonition letter" and the standard "LOR". Each is considered more serious than the other and can be removed by a serviceman's sitting commander. For officers they can get a letter of censure which is still more serious and usually comes as a directive above that officer's immediate commander. A letter of censure sometimes means that future commands or promotions will be slower coming or not available. ]
We have just searched the ABC News, NBC News, CNN, and CBS News web sites. There is no mention of this story.
Nine Army officers are being reprimanded for failing to spot signs of radicalism in the gunman who went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 and injured 29 in the massacre at the Texas military base on November 5, 2009, and had a track record of mental instability as he moved along his medical career.
Saying that although no single event directly led to the tragedy, Army Secretary John McHugh found that certain officers failed to meet expected standards, an Army statement said yesterday.
The officers – all lieutenant or above – will receive punishments ranging from an oral reprimand to the far more serious written letter of censure that is considered a career-ender.
A Pentagon review last year found that 40-year-old Hasan’s supervisors at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre where he worked expressed serious concerns about his questionable behaviour and poor judgement but failed to heed their own warnings.
It said the Army psychiatrist’s supervisors continued to give him positive performance evaluations that kept him moving up through the ranks despite worries about his strident views on Islam and worries about his competence.
In one episode, Hasan reportedly gave a class presentation questioning whether the U.S.-led war on terror was actually a war on Islam.
DAYTON — The Dayton Police Department is lowering its testing standards for recruits.
It’s a move required by the U.S. Department of Justice after it says not enough African-Americans passed the exam.
Dayton is in desperate need of officers to replace dozens of retirees. The hiring process was postponed for months because the D.O.J. rejected the original scores provided by the Dayton Civil Service Board, which administers the test.
Under the previous requirements, candidates had to get a 66% on part one of the exam and a 72% on part two.
The D.O.J. approved new scoring policy only requires potential police officers to get a 58% and a 63%. That’s the equivalent of an ‘F’ and a ‘D’.
“It becomes a safety issue for the people of our community,” said Dayton Fraternal Order of Police President, Randy Beane. “It becomes a safety issue to have an incompetent officer next to you in a life and death situation.”
“The NAACP does not support individuals failing a test and then having the opportunity to be gainfully employed,” agreed Dayton NAACP President Derrick Foward.
The D.O.J. and Civil Service Board declined Dayton’s News Source’s repeat requests for interviews. The lower standards mean 258 more people passed the test. The city won’t say how many were minorities.
“If you lower the score for any group of people, you’re not getting the best qualified people for the job,” Foward said.
They are so stupid… and in this case stupid is the best word….that their latest rant against the military is that it is discriminatory against the aged and the physically disabled.
Wow.
We have reported just how stupid the nonsense that comes out of Columbia Journalism Review and to be honest I was virtually certain that stupidity in such a degree could not be surpassed. I now stand corrected.
Equally important is the fact that ROTC will remain a discriminatory institution even after DADT has become a relic of history. There are many reasons–from physical disability to age–for which people are disqualified from admission.
Lee Doren from “How The World Works” posted a brilliant rant about academic stupidity and of course, the latest abject stupidity form Michael Moore.
Mary Katharine Ham vs. Michael Moore: http://goo.gl/LBP4v
Global Warming Caused Earthquake: http://goo.gl/20scw
Discriminates Against the Disabled: http://goo.gl/19QBD
A good question from MSNBC talker Dylan Ratigan and from all of the information I have been able to gather Ratigan has this story correct and Manning is being treated this badly.
MSNBC is so often so brutishly anti-journalism and anti-intellectual that just ignoring them seems best, but when they get it right we have no fear of saying so.
I am not going to hold back here. Eugene Robinson is the quintessential example of what is wrong with journalism today. His arguments amount to emotionalism, fear mongering and demagoguery, which he uses to try to hide that fact that he rarely does his homework.
We have talked about the way the far left argues. The first argument is S.I.N. and the last argument is an attempt to paint you as a monster to shut you up. This is all that is in the far left play-book. You can see that Cong. King pummels Robinson with fact after fact while Robinson just sits there and shakes his head. The far left typically ignored most facts that threaten their narrative. You will see this pattern perfectly in this video.
When Joe Lieberman and Snow had similar hearings some years ago why did the left not call Lieberman a McCarthy or a bigot? This is all politics folks and Eugene Robinson once again shows himself to be a naked partisan hit man.
How many times have you heard that public school teachers are sorely underpaid, under-appreciated public servants with hearts of gold who love your kids more than you do? There is a myth out there that every person who enters into the sacred field of education has the heart of a servant, a love of children and no desire for personal gain or satisfaction. And certainly, there are teachers that fit that description (I’ve had a few myself.)
But I’ve also had teachers who should never have been allowed within fifty feet of children. A 2004 study by Hofstra University scholar Charol Shakeshaft on the sexual misconduct of public school teachers is a shocking wake-up call that was widely ignored by the public union-friendly press. And even worse, the public teachers unions protected many of the offending teachers and allowed them to quietly transfer to other schools where they victimized more children. “Examples include touching breasts or genitals of students; oral, anal, and vaginal penetration; showing students pictures of a sexual nature; and sexually-related conversations, jokes, or questions directed at students.”
Everyone agrees that the sex scandal in the Catholic Church is a tragedy of immense proportions and the media has done a good job at uncovering the network of cover-ups and lies that harmed children irreparably. But what would you say if I told you that the public school system, which is about the same size as the Catholic Church in America with a school in every parish, has more sexual abuse cases in ten years than the Catholic Church has had in fifty? The mishandling of sex offenders in the public school system has cost hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees to the taxpayers and unmeasurable damage to the victims. The following are among the worst offenders in the public school system.
Ted Kennedy reached out to Russia to undermine Reagan.
Democrats opposed Reagan’s efforts to end the Cold War.
Democrats favored Daniel Ortega when he aligned with the Soviets in the 80’s
NPR was just caught expressing a willingness to funnel illegal terrorist funds from the Muslim Brotherhood to itself.
On college campus around the country the progressive secular left and the MSA, which is a part of the Muslim Bortherhood, collude to harass Christians and Jews and to stifle free speech.
The Daily Caller has acquired the talking points that the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a group with deep ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, supplied to its supporters as an aid in attacking the Muslim radicalization hearing New York Republican Rep. Peter King held Thursday. Save for Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s incoherent ramblingson Thursday, Democrats’ statements and testimony against King’s hearing, whether intentionally or unintentionally, largely mirrored MPAC’s talking points.
MPAC recommended that its supporters accuse King of “pure political posturing,” and told them to say, “these hearings appear little more than a political circus with Rep. King as the ringleader.” MPAC also recommended supporters say that the “hearings hurt our national security” because of their “narrow scope.” Finally, it said supporters should say that the hearings were unnecessary because “active” partnerships between law enforcement and the American Muslim community already exist.
California Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson hit on the “pure political posturing” point in the MPAC memo. She compared King’s hearings to those of the McCarthy era.
Rep. Al Green, Texas Democrat, asked why King wasn’t investigating the Ku Klux Klan, something that plays right into the MPAC “suggested message” that the “hearings hurt our national security” because of a “narrow scope.”
“I think that all criminals should be prosecuted. I think that all terrorists should be investigated which is why I said we ought to investigate all of them and that would include the KKK,” Green said. “Over a hundred years of terrorism why not investigate them too. They are rooted in a religion as well. Check their website out. You’ll see.”
Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison regurgitated all the MPAC talking points in his testimony at the beginning of the hearing.
“Ascribing the evil acts of a few individuals to an entire community is wrong; it is ineffective; and it risks making our country less secure,” Ellison said. “Targeting the Muslim American community for the actions of a few is unjust. Actually all of us–all communities–are responsible for combating violent extremism. Singling out one community focuses our analysis in the wrong direction.”
A spokesman for Ellison told TheDC that the congressman didn’t receive the MPAC talking points and “wrote his testimony himself.” Spokespeople for Green and Richardson did not immediately respond to TheDC’s request for comment.
The MPAC’s talking points aren’t something that surprise Ben Lerner of the Center for Security Policy. He said they are just another example of a self-described “rights” group shifting the debate away from the issues at hand and onto whatever they want to talk about.
“Serious people are trying to raise serious questions about the issue of homegrown terrorism and radicalization in the Muslim community,” Lerner said in a phone interview. “A lot of what these ‘so-called mainstream’ Muslim organizations are doing is throwing out insults and labels to anyone who has tried to delve into this. They’re not offering any serious, substantive responses to the concerns that are being raised by Congress.”
This is what kills me about Ron Paul. He makes some points worthy of consideration and then he talks about how Bush Lied (no he didn’t) and “maintaining our empire all over the world” as if we had some moral equivalence with Russia or the old British Empire – NUTS. When you have some good points of serious consideration, why gum it up with “code pink” like nuttery?
His points (like the blowback argument), while worthy of consideration might not be as compelling as arguments the other way, but it is good to ask the questions and good to have the debate.
By the way, it was not blowback of the Shaw that radicalized parts of Iran’s population. The Muslim Brotherhood has been doing that since WWII. And that kind of militant Islam has been around since Mohammad invaded Medina.
It would be fair to say that when there is one side another side will escalate, but that is true about everything. For example: a bad blowback argument might have been “The USA should not have have stopped trade with Japan after it invaded China. The blowback was Pearl Harbor and Kamikaze attacks!”
The problem with Ron Paul is that many of his arguments, like my sample “blowback” argument, omit certain key truths.
It is rare when CAIR will get on the same air with Robert Spencer and you just saw why.
Robert Spencer is perhaps the worlds foremost expert on the Jihadist Movement. I have read one of his books. Spencer, like Walid Shoebat (Palestinian former Muslim Brotherhood member), Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somalia), and Brigitte Gabriel (Lebanon) believe that Islam itself is a militant cultural theo-politic. According to all of my study of the Koran, Hadith and Sharia this is correct.
Pamela Gellar is correct when she reminds people that Islam is not a race, it is an ideology. Islam has rules for culture, criminal law, family law, taxes, finance and banking, war, courts etc.
Of course these people will also be the first to tell you that 70% or more of the worlds Muslims do not practice Islam much beyond saying the prayers. However polls in England for example have shown that 28% of Muslims polled were willing to tell a pollster that they were sympathetic of or supportive of the 9/11 hijackers and the subway bombers. Hardly a tiny minority. In fact this very writer has been threatened by a Jihadist student face to face right here at IUSB.
Right now the far left and the domestic smiley face of Jihad (CAIR) are having a cow over hearings into domestic terror and Islam. The far left and their friends in the elite media are playing up the “McCarthy” or “racist!” propaganda angle. The truth is that Joe Lieberman had over a dozen hearings on this very subject and no one had a cow. But you see the new head of the committee is a Christian and not a committed Jew such as Joe Lieberman so people can criticize Chairman King without being called an antisemite. Of course since King is a Republican the double standard in coverage applies automatically.
This writer has great sympathy for non-militant Muslims. They are in between a rock and a hard place. If they speak out someone in their family may be offended and they usually keep in mind that militant Muslims have no qualms about killing dissenters.
“District taking money, but censoring Christians?”
“No opting out of pro-gay school propaganda”
“District pays up for slamming student’s rosary”
“Judge cites homeschoolers for violating U.N. mandate – Police interrogate parents, confiscate their curriculum”
“Some say schools giving Muslims special treatment”
On Dec. 27, 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his vision for the University of Virginia (chartered in 1819), “This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error as long as reason is left free to combat it.”
But what should happen 200 years later when our public schools and universities avoid the testing of truths? Or suppress alternate opinions because they are unpopular or politically incorrect? Or no longer tolerate opinions now considered errors or obsolete by the elite? What happens when sociopolitical agendas or scientific paradigms dominate academic views to the exclusion of a minority even being mentioned?
What happens when the political and public educational pendulum swings from concern for the tyranny of sectarianism in Jefferson’s day to secularism in ours? What happens when U.S. public schools become progressive indoctrination camps?
Dr. Jim Nelson Black, founder and senior policy analyst of the Sentinel Research Associates in Washington, D.C., wrote an excellent book, “Freefall of the American University.” In it, he documents the clear biases pervading our public academic settings. Among that lopsidedness is the intentional training of students to disdain America, freely experiment sexually, forcefully defend issues like abortion and homosexuality, as well as become cultural advocates for political correctness, relativism, globalization, green agendas and tolerance for all.
One of the primary ways these educative platforms are spread is by recruiting and retaining faculty members who reflect and teach them. For example, citing from the polling firm of LuntzResearch, Dr. Black notes that the 57 percent of faculty members represented in our most esteemed universities are Democrats (only 3 percent Republican) and 64 percent identify themselves as liberal (only 6 percent conservative). Moreover, 71 percent of them disagree that “news coverage of political and social issues reflects a liberal bias in the news media.” And the No. 1 answer they gave to the question, “Who has been the best president in the past 40 years?” was Bill Clinton (only 4 percent said Ronald Reagan).
This is why it is no surprise that the two largest teachers unions, the NEA and AFT, are the largest campaign contributors in the nation (giving more than the Teamsters, NRA or any other organization), and that 90 percent of their contributions fund Democratic candidates. In doing so, do we think such funding is going to balance traditional and conservative values in public schools?
The impact of progressivism is being experienced bystudentsacross this land, hundreds of thousands of whom have already cried out withcomplaintsof academic inequity. A sampling of the hundreds of student grievances from across the academic spectrum can even be found on websites like theStudentsfor Academic Freedom and NoIndoctrination.org.
It is also no surprise that an average of 6,000studentsevery year is leaving the approximately 94,000 public schools in America. If the power-to-be over our public schools, likegovernmentand unions, continue to oppose conservative curricula and impose overarching liberal educational revisions and laws, public schools will continue to experience an exodus.
I fully realize there are some great conservative people on the staffs of many public schools and universities, but I know virtually all of them would concur that a liberal bias in our academic curricula and system is overwhelmingly dominant and ubiquitous.
Is thispresent, restrictive and one-sided educational environment that which Thomas Jefferson and other founders intended for the future generations of America? Absolutely not! Rather than encourage free thinking, the U.S. academic system has turned Jefferson’s plans for open education into our culture’s system of indoctrination.
Something similar happened to Ruth Malhotra at Georgia Tech except she was persecuted by far left students, faculty, and administrators. A professor told Ruth that if she attended the Conservative Political Action Conference that it would mean an automatic fail in the class. The professor carried out the threat and when Ruth complained the university exonerated the professor. The threats against Ruth were so bad that local police had to escort her form class to class because university police refused to respond to the threats against her. Ruth and fellow student Orit Sklar, in conjunction with our friend David French at the Alliance Defense Fund, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Georgia Tech. It gets better, after Georgia Tech lost the first ruling, they put out a press release claiming victory. After the second ruling George Tech suffered a large payout and revocation of their illegal speech codes
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Neal Sher, an attorney practicing in New York City. He, along with San Francisco attorney Joel Siegal, is presently representing Jessica Felber, a Jewish UC Berkeley student who is suing the university over being physically attacked by Muslim Students.
Previously, Sher was the Director the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations, which investigated and prosecuted Nazi criminals in the U.S. In that capacity, he was responsible for bringing many dozens of prosecutions and for barring former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim from coming to this country. He also served as the National Executive Director of AIPAC and was the President of the American Section of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists.
FP: Neal Sher, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Tell us about this suit that you are filing on behalf of Jessica Felber. What happened exactly?
Sher: On March 5, 2010, Jessica Felber, a twenty-year-old Jewish student at Berkeley, was attacked and injured on campus during a pro-Israel event while she was holding a sign stating “Israel wants Peace.” Her assailant, Husam Zakharia, also a UC Berkeley student, was the leader of Students for Justice in Palestine at Berkeley. There is no doubt that she was attacked because of her religion and Jewish ancestry.
Defendants – UC Berkeley, the Regents of the University of California and their ranking officials - were fully aware that Zakharia, the SJP and similar student groups had been involved in other incidents on campus to incite violence against and intimidate Jewish and other students. Nevertheless, in clear dereliction of their legal responsibilities, Defendants took no reasonable steps to protect Ms. Felber and others.
The Complaint further describes how the SJP conspires and coordinates with the Muslim Student Association, which has a publicly documented history of affiliation with and support of organizations deemed “terror organizations” by the United States Department of State. That they have resorted to intimidation and harassment is evidenced most recently by the fact that the District Attorney of Orange County, California, has indicted eleven students from these groups for inciting and disrupting a speech given by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States at the University of California, Irvine.
Ignoring complaints from students about the poisonous climate on campus, defendants condoned, allowed and enabled groups such as the Muslim Student Association and the SJP to threaten, harass and intimidate Jewish students and to endanger their health and safety. Their tolerance of the growing cancer of a dangerous anti-Semitic climate on its campuses, and their failure to take adequate measures to quell it, violated the rights of Ms. Felber and other students to enjoy a peaceful campus environment free from threats and intimidation.
FP: Tell us in what ways this is a very significant and important lawsuit. It can be seen in many ways as turning point right?
Sher: This is, to our knowledge, a precedent complaint demanding that the university honor its legal obligations to protect the rights of its students. It is also important because, as people who follow and monitor events on campuses around the country well know, universities and colleges are major battlegrounds for those who are pressing the campaign to delegitimize and denigrate Israel. They have created an atmosphere of intimidation and harassment for Jewish and pro-Israel students which has been condoned and allowed to fester by university officials.
FP: Why did UC Berkeley fail to provide security to Felber?
Sher: It’s also difficult to pinpoint motives. Perhaps officials themselves were intimidated or, perhaps, they were simply hostile to students like Jessica and their causes. But, the central point is that the officials were fully aware of the threats posed by the SJP, MSA and their followers and they failed to respond adequately as they were legally obligated to do.
FP: Your thoughts on the growing Muslim extremism on campuses putting Jewish students in danger?
Sher: Clearly, this is a very serious problem as there has been a growing number of incidents on campuses, not just within the University of California system but throughout the country, where groups like the SJP and MSA have intimidated and harassed students and faculty members. Moreover, this campaign appears to be highly organized and thoroughly planned.
It is also very troubling that the on-campus activities of the SJP and MSA against Jessica and other students - and the university’s failure to confront them – present a disturbing echo of the darkest period in history: the incitement, intimidation, harassment and violence carried out under the Nazi regime and those of its allies in Europe against Jewish students and scholars in the leading universities of those countries during the turbulent years leading up to and including the Holocaust.
I can tell you that there is a genuine fear by Jessica and other students of Jewish ancestry on campuses throughout the University of California system that the tragic lessons of history have not yet been learned by these defendants. They fear that the University of California campuses are no longer places of hope and dignity, of academic and personal freedom, or of peaceful life and personal safety.
FP: What do you hope this lawsuit will help achieve?
Sher: First, we are demanding damages for Jessica injuries she suffered, physical and otherwise, due to defendant’s failure to honor its legal obligations. And, we would all like to see a sea change in the attitudes and actions on the part of the university and officials. As it now stands, students such as Jessica have been deprived of their constitutional rights and their ability to live and learn in a campus environment free of intimidation, threats and bullying.
FP: The thought of the roles reversed here, and with Berkeley having the same disposition toward the events, is simply unfathomable. What I mean is this: I can’t even imagine (1) Jewish students physically attacking Muslim students on a campus and (2) that if this hypothetically happened, that Berkeley would respond in the same way. First, if Muslim students sensed they were in danger from Jewish students, I am sure Berkeley would have made security arrangements – to say the least. And if Jewish students attacked a Muslim student, while the entire country’s media would be up in arms, Berkeley would be engaged in all kinds of disciplinary action. What are your thoughts on this observation?
Sher: You’ve hit the nail on the head. There is no question that if the shoe was on the other foot, immediate and decisive action would be taken by the powers that be. It’s time that we demand an end to the hypocrisy and double standards which have gone on far too long and which will be exposed in this lawsuit. The silent majority should remain silent no longer!
FP: Neal Sher, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview and thank you for coming to the defense of those who are no longer safe from violence on our campuses.
Years of tremendous overspending by federal, state and local governments have brought us face-to-face with an economic crisis. Federal spending will total at least $3.8 trillion this year—double what it was 10 years ago. And unlike in 2001, when there was a small federal surplus, this year’s projected budget deficit is more than $1.6 trillion.
Several trillions more in debt have been accumulated by state and local governments. States are looking at a combined total of more than $130 billion in budget shortfalls this year. Next year, they will be in even worse shape as most so-called stimulus payments end.
For many years, I, my family and our company have contributed to a variety of intellectual and political causes working to solve these problems. Because of our activism, we’ve been vilified by various groups. Despite this criticism, we’re determined to keep contributing and standing up for those politicians, like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who are taking these challenges seriously.
Both Democrats and Republicans have done a poor job of managing our finances. They’ve raised debt ceilings, floated bond issues, and delayed tough decisions.
In spite of looming bankruptcy, President Obama and many in Congress have tiptoed around the issue of overspending by suggesting relatively minor cuts in mostly discretionary items. There have been few serious proposals for necessary cuts in military and entitlement programs, even though these account for about three-fourths of all federal spending.
Yes, some House leaders have suggested cutting spending to 2008 levels. But getting back to a balanced budget would mean a return to at least 2003 spending levels—and would still leave us with the problem of paying off our enormous debts.
Federal data indicate how urgently we need reform: The unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid already exceed $106 trillion. That’s well over $300,000 for every man, woman and child in America (and exceeds the combined value of every U.S. bank account, stock certificate, building and piece of personal or public property).
The Congressional Budget Office has warned that the interest on our federal debt is “poised to skyrocket.” Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is sounding alarms. Yet the White House insists that substantial spending cuts would hurt the economy and increase unemployment.
Plenty of compelling examples indicate just the opposite. When Canada recently reduced its federal spending to 11.3% of GDP from 17.5% eight years earlier, the economy rebounded and unemployment dropped. By comparison, our federal spending is 25% of GDP.
Government spending on business only aggravates the problem. Too many businesses have successfully lobbied for special favors and treatment by seeking mandates for their products, subsidies (in the form of cash payments from the government), and regulations or tariffs to keep more efficient competitors at bay.
Crony capitalism is much easier than competing in an open market. But it erodes our overall standard of living and stifles entrepreneurs by rewarding the politically favored rather than those who provide what consumers want.
The purpose of business is to efficiently convert resources into products and services that make people’s lives better. Businesses that fail to do so should be allowed to go bankrupt rather than be bailed out.
But what about jobs that are lost when businesses go under? It’s important to remember that not all jobs are the same. In business, real jobs profitably produce goods and services that people value more highly than their alternatives. Subsidizing inefficient jobs is costly, wastes resources, and weakens our economy.
Because every other company in a given industry is accepting market-distorting programs, Koch companies have had little option but to do so as well, simply to remain competitive and help sustain our 50,000 U.S.-based jobs. However, even when such policies benefit us, we only support the policies that enhance true economic freedom.
For example, because of government mandates, our refining business is essentially obligated to be in the ethanol business. We believe that ethanol—and every other product in the marketplace—should be required to compete on its own merits, without mandates, subsidies or protective tariffs. Such policies only increase the prices of those products, taxes and the cost of many other goods and services.
Our elected officials would do well to remember that the most prosperous countries are those that allow consumers—not governments—to direct the use of resources. Allowing the government to pick winners and losers hurts almost everyone, especially our poorest citizens.
Recent studies show that the poorest 10% of the population living in countries with the greatest economic freedom have 10 times the per capita income of the poorest citizens in countries with the least economic freedom. In other words, society as a whole benefits from greater economic freedom.
Even though it affects our business, as a matter of principle our company has been outspoken in defense of economic freedom. This country would be much better off if every company would do the same. Instead, we see far too many businesses that paint their tails white and run with the antelope.
I am confident that businesses like ours will hire more people and invest in more equipment when our country’s financial future looks more promising. Laying the groundwork for smaller, smarter government, especially at the federal level, is going to be tough. But it is essential for getting us back on the path to long-term prosperity.
Mr. Koch is chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, Inc. He’s the author of “The Science of Success: How Market-Based Management Built the World’s Largest Private Company” (Wiley, 2007).
Ann says that kids are fed anti-capitalist, anti-freedom propaganda almost daily. I would say that my experience in college almost mirrors that description.
Ann says that kids are shown Al Gore’s debunked movie several times before they graduate with no balance. I know this is true as I just went through this with Riley High School and my child.
Ann says no one, and I mean no one will stand up in public schools and tell kids how capitalism lifts people up. How it brings wealth and gives people more of a chance for upward mobility. Well in my case in college that was not completely true. I did have one professor who spoke very well about capitalism. The administration fired him for it.
Ann mentions “The Story of Stuff” Marxist indoctrination video – you can see it and a complete refutation HERE.
Ann McElhinney, director/producer of Not Evil Just Wrong and Mine Your Own Business, speaking at Tea Party American Policy Summit in Phoenix (AZ) on February 26th 2011. For more, please see www.noteviljustwrong.com and follow Ann on Twitter @annmcelhinney.
Lou Dobbs on this indoctrination video called “The Story of Stuff”
An analysis of the propaganda campaign to get Al-Jazeera carried by more cable and satellite systems reveals an interesting fact. The terrorist TV channel is already available through something called MHz Networks. And it turns out that the MHz Networks is supported by the American taxpayers at the federal and state levels.
MHz Networks is a division of Commonwealth Public Broadcasting and receives over $2 million a year from federal and state governments. In this case, because Commonwealth is based in Virginia, the culprit is the state of Virginia. However, Governor Robert F. McDonnell has proposed eliminating state funding of public broadcasting by cutting $2 million in fiscal 2012 and $2 million in fiscal 2013. Even if state legislators go along with this proposal, that still leaves the federal subsidies for Commonwealth and MHz Networks.
According to figures supplied by Joseph H. Koch, Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, $1.4 million of that $2 million came from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which is funded by Congress. The CPB distributes taxpayer money to public broadcasting stations and entities.
Since Al-Jazeera is totally owned, run, and paid for by the Emir of Qatar, officially known as “His Highness,” this means that American tax dollars are paying for foreign propaganda in the U.S.
Not only that, but American taxpayers are being fleeced on behalf of an Arab dictator with billions of oil dollars. The Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, is number 8 on the Forbes list of the “richest royals,” with an estimated net worth of $2.4 billion. His channel has been labeled “the greatest Arab media organization” by the Muslim Brotherhood, which has spawned various terrorist organizations and is now poised to take power in Egypt and perhaps other countries.
I have some disagreements with the good Senator, but today my hat is off to him. It must have felt SO good to tell one of these looters what we all are thinking.
Oh and if you do not know exactly what I mean by a looter please do not make yourself look silly by trying to guess.
My family had to buy one of these new, expensive “super energy saver” washers with no agitator and uses very little water and energy which is being pushed by the government. The washer is a disappointment. I always have to use the extra rinse feature and with heavy clothes I sometimes have to wash them twice.
The story is further complicated because the boys were all black and the girl was Latino.
Anyone have a theory. I do.
Maybe the valueless, Godless, “progressive” public school system doesn’t impart the kids with a sense of duty and restraint. But that is just a theory.
I went through this story very carefully and as far as I can tell this is a solid piece of journalism. Readers know that we are critical of the elite media with good reason, but when they do good work to look out for the folks they deserve credit. Good work ABC.
Hastings Allegedly Retaliated Against Victim for Complaining About Conduct
Alcee Hastings
Washington, DC — March 7, 2011Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a lawsuit on March 7, 2011, against Florida Democrat Congressman Alcee Hastings on behalf of a female employee who was repeatedly subjected to “unwelcome sexual advances,” “unwelcome touching” and retaliation. The alleged harassment and retaliation began in 2008, when Hastings was Chairman of the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Commission is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Also named is the Commission’s former staff director, Fred Turner. Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit on behalf of Commission employee Winsome Packer (Packer v. US Comm. On Security & Cooperation in Europe, and Hastings and Turner (CV No. 11-00485 D.D.C.))
According to Judicial Watch’s lawsuit, filed on Monday March 7th with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia:
For over two years, from January 2008 through February 19, 2010, Ms. Packer was forced to endure unwelcome sexual advances, crude sexual comments, and unwelcome touching by Mr. Hastings while serving as the Representative of the Commission to the United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Although Ms. Packer repeatedly rejected Mr. Hastings’ sexual attention and repeatedly complained about the harassment to the Commission Staff Director, Fred Turner, Mr. Hastings refused to stop sexually harassing her. Rather, Mr. Hastings and Mr. Turner began to retaliate against Ms. Packer—including making threats of termination—because she continued to object to Mr. Hastings’ conduct.
Ms. Packer was particularly vulnerable to such threats because she was a Republican working for the Democratically-controlled Commission, a point that both Mr. Hastings and Mr. Turner used to threaten and intimidate her. Eventually, the emotional distress, anxiety, and humiliation caused by the sexual harassment and retaliation caused Ms. Packer to suffer severe health problems and forced her to leave her prestigious position.
According to Judicial Watch’s complaint, “Mr. Hastings’ intention was crystal clear: he was sexually attracted to Ms. Packer, wanted a sexual relationship with her, and would help progress her career if she acquiesced to his sexual advances.” These advances included: Making multiple demands that Ms. Packer allow Rep. Hastings to stay in her apartment while she served as the Commission’s lead staff representative overseas; subjecting Ms. Packer to unwanted physical contact, including hugging her with both arms while pressing his body against her body and his face against her face; inviting her on multiple occasions to accompany him alone to his hotel room; making sexual comments and references to Ms. Packer, and asking Ms. Packer humiliating and inappropriate questions in public, such as “What kind of underwear are you wearing?”
After Ms. Packer repeatedly rebuffed these advances and reported them to her superior, Mr. Turner, and other officials (including Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD)), Hastings allegedly scolded her for not being a “sport” and for rejecting him after he had “come to [her] as a man does a woman.” He said he was very upset she had reported his behavior to Mr. Turner: “How dare you complain about me! You had better forget about being Republican.” Moreover, Hastings and Turner then allegedly took retaliatory actions against Ms. Packer by repeatedly threatening her job at the Commission, by refusing to allow her to return from overseas to her position as Policy Advisor in Washington, D.C., and by intentionally marginalizing her from her colleagues. Hastings also pressured Ms. Packer to buy him personal gifts and make a campaign contribution to him.
As a direct result of Mr. Hastings’ sexual harassment, Ms. Packer experienced insomnia, anxiety, depression, high-blood pressure, and developed symptoms of coronary artery disease. At one point, these symptoms were so severe Ms. Packer collapsed and was rushed to the emergency room. Ms. Packer has been prescribed medication and is under the care of a physician because of the severity of her heart problems.
“The allegations against Alcee Hastings as detailed in this complaint are outrageous. Is Congress so far gone that its members think they can get away with the most base sexual harassment of staff! For two years Hastings subjected Ms. Packer to a never-ending barrage of unwanted sexual advances. And when Ms. Packer tried, time and again, to put a stop to it, he resorted to threats and intimidation to force her compliance. Even after Hastings’ behavior caused Ms. Packer’s physical collapse, he would not relent. We look forward to holding Alcee Hastings and the other defendants accountable for their unlawful behavior in court,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Hastings, a former federal judge, was impeached by the House and, after a trial, removed by the U.S. Senate from the bench in 1989 for bribery and perjury.
If you read just one book in your life besides the Bible it should be Atlas Shrugged. It is fun, a total page turner, completely gripping, and you will walk away smarter and with a much better understanding of human nature.
The trailer:
Atlas Shrugged is the “second most influential book for Americans today” after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club.
The man with the southern accent said that Rand is an Aristotelian. He is difficult to understand. I would say that such a statement is 85% true.
The challenge.
View this clip. It will very likely offend you, especially if you are a college student.
View this clip now. Get the book. Read the book. Don’t let the length bother you. Once you read the first 30 pages you will not be able to put it down. When you are finished come back and view the clip.
You will realize that how you percieve the world and man after will be far superior and you will see in the clip what others are mentally and/or spiritually incapable of seeing.
Welcome to a new world you never knew existed.
Questions to consider:
As you can see, Hank is disgusted with the other people in the room. Why?
When asked if he cares about the poor and downtrodden Hank says no. Is Hank being flippant or does he really mean it?
Hank gives plenty to charity and provides thousands of people with good paying jobs. If he doesn’t care why do those things?
Could it be there there are poor people that Hank does care about and those he doesn’t? Yes? No? Explain.
The only thing more economically ignorant than American leftists are economically suicidal European leftists as MEP Farage so correctly demonstrates. The tax that has been proposed is so painfully du…. well I will let him say it. He has the cool accent.
[IUSB Vision Editor's Note - Sometime down the road. A few months or a couple of years from now, these videos from recent weeks will be replayed in the elite media and attributed to the Tea Party. I will bet lunch. Any takers? Our previous Wisconsin roundup post is HERE. ]
UPDATE March 28, 2011 – Fleebagger Democrats finally come home. It is about time.
The leftists react.
Democrats who left the state are having a fit. Just so you have story straight. The Democrats abandoned their constitutional duty to engage in unusual and illegal tactics to reverse the will of an election. So the GOP used a much less unusual and perfectly legal procedural tactic and oh no THAT is unfair the Democrats are claiming.
It seems to me that someone is upset because they got “out tacticaled” (I know it is not really a word but it sounded cute). They got “out-tacticaled” by a bunch of noobsauce Republican freshman.
If the unions are protesting for freedom, why do they want to strip people from having the right to choose to join one? IF they are what “democracy looks like” as they claim, why are unions pushing to take away worker’s right to a secret ballot?
The facts: 22 states and the federal government have far more restrictions on collective bargaining than what Wisconsin is proposing and Indiana has had the same thing since 2005. The world did not burn, the sky did not fall.
More:
Since when does a private organization (union) have a RIGHT to have a monopoly on govt labor/hiring? Aren’t monopolies bad?
When the govt union “negotiates” with a Dem governor it is not adversarial, and as a result “the man” becomes the tax payer. Make no mistake, it IS the taxpayer unions are protesting.
Democrats have promised the govt unions the moon for those big donations and leave a future governor holding the bag to pay the bill.
Gov Christie in New Jersey went to the union halls and told them the truth, [paraphrasing] “The guys before me who promised you all this stuff lied to you, they knew we couldnt afford it. Don’t boo me, I am the first guy who is telling you the truth, but if we reform it now we can get you more than if the system crashes” - Video -
Talk to the voters like adults. really they can take it. You just have to make the case.
While it might be a bold political move, the changes are modest. We ask government workers to make a 5.8% contribution to their pensions and a 12.6% contribution to their health-insurance premium, both of which are well below what other workers pay for benefits. Our plan calls for Wisconsin state workers to contribute half of what federal employees pay for their health-insurance premiums. (It’s also worth noting that most federal workers don’t have collective bargaining for wages and benefits.)
For example, my brother works as a banquet manager at a hotel and occasionally works as a bartender. My sister-in-law works at a department store. They have two beautiful kids. They are a typical middle-class Wisconsin family. At the start of this debate, David reminded me that he pays nearly $800 per month for his family’s health-insurance premium and a modest 401(k) contribution. He said most workers in Wisconsin would love a deal like the one we are proposing.
The unions say they are ready to accept concessions, yet their actions speak louder than words. Over the past three weeks, local unions across the state have pursued contracts without new pension or health-insurance contributions. Their rhetoric does not match their record on this issue.
UPDATE II – Wisconsin Lawmakers Get Death Threats – Bomb Threats. WTMJ:
Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes (SIC) will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.
WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me have decided that we’ve had enough. We feel that you and the people that support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand for it any longer. So, this is how it’s going to happen: I as well as many others know where you and your family live, it’s a matter of public records. We have all planned to assult (SIC) you by arriving at your house and putting a nice little bullet in your head.
UPDATE III - Gateway Pundit
Protesters have penetrated the inner assembly hallways. Assemblymen are trapped in their offices with their doors barricaded. Protesters are trying to break into their offices.
The Wisconsin fleebaggers are still hiding out in Illinois.
MORE… John Jagler, spokesman for Jeff Fitzgerald, on phone with Fox. They are trapped in his office. Had to literally step over protesters outside his office. Protesters waving signs. Go limp when police lift them for removal. They are pounding on glass and doors, jiggling locks. They are “vowing to hold this ground”.
Wisconsin Capitol police just announced: “Capitol bldg is on lock-down until it is secured”.
MADISON – State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says the situation at the Capitol is “unsafe.”
Fitzgerald appeared on Newsradio 620 WTMJ’s Wisconsin’s Morning News. He’s concerned about the ability for business to take place inside the Capitol.
“Law enforcement is doing the best they can, but they’re just undermanned,” Fitzgerald said.
Protesters forced their way into the Capitol following the senate vote Wednesday night. Fitzgerald says many of those protesters had help getting into the building, claiming “When the Democrat staffers opened the windows for protesters to get in…that’s not how democracy is supposed to work.”
UPDATE V – Indiana not Urbana!
Indiana legislators make a new song about fleebagger Democrats. On the left is our friend Tim Wesco. This is the only time you will see him on the left. Our pal Greg Dudeck comments, “Wesco has some good pipes.”
Listen to the lyrics carefully. Hilarious.
UPDATE VI - Death threats -
UPDATE VII – Presidential Candidate Herman Cain on Wisconsin
UPDATE VII – Police escorted legislators out of the capital due to threats.
UPDATE VIII – Megyn Kelly with Jesse Jackson – Democrats lied, Gov Walker did make concessions on expanding collective bargaining in other areas.
Notice how Jackson speaks in platitudes that could not stand 10 minutes of serious examination.
If this was a Tea Party protest Jackson would be saying, ”Awe look at these oppressed white folks. I would say poor but since even after this is passed they still have a sweetheart deal which leaves them paying less than half what others pay for their benefits and with wages that are much higher than the state average. Give me a break.”
UPDATE IX – Ann Coulter vs Sean Hannity on how Gov Walker handled the PR Campaign.
Ann is right. If it wasn’t for some debate on Fox, talk radio, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and smarter politicians in other states, the Wisconsin GOP would have been destroyed in the public image much worse. Even if Gov. Walker would have someone of my profession to help him out he would have been much more effective. Heritage provided some great talking points which are accurate, so have many bloggers and yet very few of these are being used. There is no excuse for it. The GOP communications machine lets its constituency down repeatedly. The talking points I wrote would best any argument form the other side.
UPDATE XI - Andrew Klavan: Behold! Your Public Sector Unions at Work.
UPDATE XII – Wisconsin House Passes Amended Bill.
UPDATE XIII - Indiana State House Worker Assaulted by Union Thugs
Adventures in the left’s “new civility”. IndyChannel:
INDIANAPOLIS — A state worker told police she was assaulted by three men during Thursday’s union rally that brought thousands of people to the steps of the Statehouse.
The 33-year-old Department of Child Services employee said she was taking a smoke break at the west end of the Indiana Government Center South building just after 12:15 p.m. when she was approached by three men who asked her to use her electronic pass to let them in the building.
When she refused, directing them toward the public entrance, she said the men pushed her, causing her to fall backward, off the sidewalk, and hit her head.
The woman flagged down a Capitol police officer to report the assault. The officer said the woman had a bump on her head and that her clothes were muddied from where she fell onto the ground.
UPDATE XIV - Speaker Bosma Statement
I sincerely support the right of every Hoosier, and even their out of state colleagues, to appear at the Indiana Statehouse as they did today, and to have their say. But the misrepresentation of the Republican proposals before the General Assembly – even by our Democrat colleagues – continues to amaze me.
No reasonably informed person can honestly state that our desire to transform public education is an effort to destroy it. In fact, our hope is just the opposite – to make outstanding education options, whether public or private, available to every Hoosier family regardless of their income or zip code.
Likewise, no reasonably informed observer can honestly state that our proposals are designed to “eliminate the middle class” or drive workers to “the minimum wage for life.” Our goal is just the opposite – to create high skill high wage jobs for every Hoosier worker, whether those jobs are union supported or non-union supported jobs.
This is the clear agenda House Republicans ran on in November, and this is what we continue to stand for today. We will continue to advance these proposals at every opportunity, if only our Democrat colleagues will return from Illinois.
UPDATE XV – Half of Indianapolis protesters bussed in from out of state (Via Hoosier Access)
Here are the numbers reported by the Indiana State Police
Here are the states where the buses were from:
60 – Indiana
48 – Illinois
7 – Kentucky
2 – Michigan
1 – Florida
At its peak, law enforcement estimated 8,000 people.
UPDATE XVI - POLITIFACT: The MacIver Institute says average annual salary and benefits for Milwaukee Public Schools teachers tops $100,000 – TRUE! LINK
UPDATE XVII – Herman Cain on the courage of governors
UPDATE XXI – The Oppressed Teachers Speak! - Teachers Union Leader Calls WI a Revolution, Wants To Learn From Socialists, Says Republicans Evil.. (See the chart above)
How long have we said that the mortgage crisis has been used to primarily as an excuse for a power grab, with a distant second being helping out those who could use some help?
Of course one of the reasons there are so many empty homes on the market is because the Democrat’s mortgage plans were a failure if you view the top goal as helping out people with at risk loans. If you view them from the primary purpose of a power grab they are a smashing success.
We have been saying this since February 3rd. Obama’s mortgage plan wasn’t serious and would help very few. Anyone who wanted to seriously tackle the economy needed to have a plan for the toxic assets, keep mortgage holders in their homes and get housing prices to steady. Obama’s plan wasn’t designed to even do that and the economy has continued to suffer for it.
The administration managed to drastically cut down the number of banks. Wealth consolidation is important for the left because the fewer people that have it and control it the easier it is to control that wealth and engage in social engineering. This was done by not suspending the mark to market rule so that mortgage securities would have to be counted as worthless even though that had homes standing besides them, abuse of regulatory enforcement was another method, and another method was the selective use of the buying of bank stocks and issuance of bailout funds. For example: Bank A would get bailout, bank B would not. Bank A buys bank B. Bank A gives money to ACORN or another Obama political ally. The financial reform bill was a massive power-grab as we have recently covered. This is not conspiracy stuff folks. This is history.
Since that February 3rd article we have covered this story repeatedly and told you how the mortgage crisis was being prolonged as an excuse to gain control of the banks. [LINKS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 1, 2,]. Examination of these links shows we started reporting this before Fox, CNBC’s Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer. [Gratuitous self promotion - why not /wink - editor]
Think about it folks. I will ask this question again. We are over two years into the Obama presidency and since the 2008 campaign everyone has said that priority one for getting the economy back in place is dealing with the toxic assets and at risk mortgages to keep people in their homes and stabilize the housing market. It still has not been done. WHY?
Now we might not be able to afford it even if we wanted to. The housing market is now in a double dip.
Too many journalists like to smear, too may far left activists like to smear, too may far left academics like to smear. Put it all together and you get Columbia Journalism Review (CJR).
An example is this story that came out accusing Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck of secretly hiring actors to call in.
FM “Morning Zoo” shows often use a service to have an actor call in with a crazy story everyone can laugh at. Anyone who has worked in radio knows this. FM “zoo” shows have to because those people who they call up for those great laughs have to be actors due to FCC rules. You see it is illegal to put someone on the air unless you can be reasonably sure they know who they are talking to.
So a CJR “reporter” decided to take such a known service and accuse them of calling political news/talk shows with no evidence whatsoever. Said reporter never even called the company who has the service for comment, nor did the reporter call Limbaugh or Hannity to even ask the question. Instead the reporter just made the allegation.
The story gets worse, the story is from Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), allegedly from the finest teaching journalism professors in the country. Journalism teachers who cannot follow the basic ethics rules found in any j-school textbook. CJR is partially funded by George Soros.
UPDATE – MSNBC lefty talker Ed Schultz admits he used hired actors coached by Congressional Democrats as callers. (H/T The Blaze)
His excuse is lame. When my radio show started we had nothing and I built it up with hard work and talent to beat the competition. I never used staged ringers as callers. A good host should be ready to go an entire show filled with great content and never have to take a call. The most obvious reason why is that at times technical difficulties will prevent you form taking calls. People do not listen to a show to hear callers so quite frankly callers are not that important. That is why I never took very many calls on my show.
Folks, this is Hitler Youtharian. That is not a term I use lightly as I oppose frivolous comparisons to WWII.
After you watch the Van Jones video, compare that with the message from “Der Morgige Tag Ist Mein” (Tomorrow Belongs to Me) - English version LINK.
Creeped out yet?
What Jones is doing goes beyond what far left groups were pushing in schools shortly after Obama was elected such as this:
It starts out with a Cuban indoctrination song but then something happens….
and this….
There has also been concern about school teachers doing things like taking songs about Jesus and replacing Jesus with Obama and teaching the kids to sing them in public schools and other outrageous acts of propaganda as has been done HERE, HERE,HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. [Note: YouTube has pulled most of the video's down].
Remember that Clinton/Gingrich Welfare Reform that was so effective at stopping people from gaming the system and helping people get back to work? Did you know it was reversed with the stimulus bill?
Government payouts—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn’t taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement.
Even as the economy has recovered, social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1960, according to TrimTabs Investment Research using Bureau of Economic Analysis data.
“The U.S. economy has become alarmingly dependent on government stimulus,” said Madeline Schnapp, director of Macroeconomic Research at TrimTabs, in a note to clients. “Consumption supported by wages and salaries is a much stronger foundation for economic growth than consumption based on social welfare benefits.”
Gas and food prices are undermining the economy and confidence, while Obama maintains his illegal offshore drilling ban for which he is in contempt of court for costing many thousands of jobs and a 13% drop in domestic oil and gas production. Obama is also yanking perfectly legit coal mining permits. Of course the failed stimulus, cap & trade looming, ObamaCare surprises, the failed mortgage rescue bill, and the financial reform bill that amounted to the government having power to pick winners and losers, seize more private property, and give Wall Street endless bailouts etc are all contributing to the problems.
There is no question that Obama is deliberately raising energy prices just as he said he would in the 2008 campaign when he told Mort Kondrake on CNBC that he would like to see gas hit $4.00 a gallon gradually – LINK.
GOV. HALEY BARBOUR (R-Miss.): “This administration’s policies have been designed to drive up the cost of energy in the name of reducing pollution, in the name of making very expensive alternative fuels more economically competitive.” – VIDEO.
House Republicans are plotting aggressive spending cuts and planning to defund the national health care law in efforts to stimulate the anemic economy, the issue that remains at the forefront of voters’ minds.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 83% see the economy as a Very Important issue in terms of how they vote. That’s down slightly from results found in December, but the economy has earned top billing over the past several years among 10 issues regular surveyed on by Rasmussen Reports. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The number of voters who sees the economy as being Very Important in terms of how they vote has not dipped below 80% since September 2008.
Voters continue to trust the GOP more than Democrats on all 10 issues that Rasmussen Reports regularly asks about, including the economy, health care, taxes and immigration.
Health care comes in second to the economy in terms of importance among voters, with 72% who regard it as Very Important. The number of voters who saw health care as being Very Important hovered in the high 50s to low 60s in the year prior to President Obama’s inauguration, but interest began to rise as the debate over a national health care reform law heated up. Those who view health care as Very Important have ranged from 66% to 79% since the law’s passage last March.
The majority of all voters still support repeal of the national health care law and remain convinced that it will drive up the cost and hurt the quality of health care in the country.
(Reuters) – Americans, who are suffering from high gasoline prices, believe the United States is on the wrong track by a large margin, presenting a fresh challenge for President Barack Obama, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Wednesday.
The proportion of Americans who believe the country is on the right track dropped 7 points in the past month to 31 percent, and 64 percent think the country is on the wrong track.
It was the highest number of people in an Ipsos poll who believe the country is going in the wrong direction since Obama took office in January 2009.
Ipsos pollster Cliff Young said the rating was a direct result of gasoline prices that have risen sharply in recent weeks as a result of tumult in North Africa and the Middle East.
“We are moving into a scenario in the near-term that is much more uncertain given the issue of gas prices,” he said. “Gas prices specifically are things that affect people’s pocketbooks and have an immediate impact.”
U.S. retail gasoline prices spiked more than 10 percent over the past two weeks to an average of $3.52 a gallon, the second largest two-week rise on record. Crude oil prices have shot up due to the violence in Libya that has cut that country’s production by two-thirds while sanctions have all but halted its exports.
February survey had said Americans by 57 percent to 38 percent believed the country was on the right track.
Obama’s job approval rating dropped from last month to 49 percent from 51 percent, a statistically insignificant change.
But his approval among independent voters who he will need for his 2012 re-election drive took a sharp dive, to 37 percent from 47 percent, the poll found.
$105 billion hidden in the bill so that the GOP could never cut off funds for it, a $16 Billion slush fund, and unlimited budgetary authority to bail out state insurance pools. None of it known, none of it counted by the CBO and much of it unconstitutional.
The liberal media has been attacking my work to expose the truth about Obamacare. But all the major political fact-checking outlets–PolitiFact, FactCheck and the Washington Post Fact Checker–agree: the $105 billion hidden in Obamacare does exist! Get the facts: http://bit.ly/ggdOtv .
Today former Congressman Ernest Istook testified before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee about the $105 billion slush fund in advance appropriations liberals tucked inside Obamacare. The $105 billion bypasses the traditional yearly budgeting process and is spread throughout the 2,700 page legislation. It took the Congressional Research Service (CRS) seven months to identify all the disparate funds and it was not until February (11 months after the bill passed) that all of the funds could be totaled up.
Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) has been beating the drum to raise awareness of this unprecedented level of advance spending. But the liberal media has been attacking her for calling it “hidden” funding. In reality, Rep. Bachmann said that “practically no Member of Congress even knew that $105 billion of funding was” in the bill.FactCheck says that this funding was known to “those who read the bill … including members of Congress.” But does FactCheck really believe that any member of Congress read all 2,700 pages of the bill? Do they have any evidence at all that any member of Congress knew about the $105 billion figure before CRS published their report this February?
But more importantly, in their attempted take down of Rep. Bachmann, PolitiFact, FactCheck, and The Washington Post Fact Checker all confirm her underlying charge: the $105 billion exists. Poltifact writes: “We added up the spending Bachmann was referring to and got $104 billion — very close to her number.”
And a note to The Washington Post Fact Checker: Former Congressman Ernest Istook served in the House of Representatives, not the Senate.
UPDATE II –
UPDATE III – Speaker Boehner Blasts Democrats for Hidden Slush Funds in ObamaCare
For the past two weeks, the news media have been swarming over Madison, Wis., covering every detail of the public-sector union protests against Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget cuts, as well as other similar protests around the country.
If you’ve followed the mainstream press, you’ve seen lots of civil protests, lots of interviews with reasonable teachers, pictures of signs about the need for quality education.
But have they been giving viewers and readers the whole story? Not quite.
Here’s a sampling of what you likely missed:
Uncivil language
During the protests, there have been signs comparing Gov. Walker to Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mubarak, even Satan. Some signs featured Walker’s face in crosshairs with the words “Don’t Retreat, Reload: Repeal Walker.” Another held a sign saying “Political Death to Tyrants.”Click here to see a gallery of signs(caution, several signs contain adult language).
On Feb. 22 in Boston, Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., fired up a union crowd in front of the statehouse: “I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an e-mail to get you going. Every once [in] a while you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.”
In Rhode Island, a union supporter called a cameraman a derogatory term for a homosexual and threatened to have anal sex with him.
In Ohio, a union activist called tea party members “corporate butt-lickers” and Nazis.
Violence
Tabitha Hale of FreedomWorks was filming a union protest outside their offices in the nation’s capital Feb. 23 and was shoved to the ground by a middle-aged male activist wearing a T-shirt of the Communications Workers of America.
Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin said he was hit by pro-union protesters in Wisconsin amidst cries of “Fox News lies” from the crowd, which also tried to block the cameraman’s view of Tobin.
Not one of those outrages was apparently worthy of much in the way of news coverage.
For example, a Media Research Center study of 53 Wisconsin stories on ABC, CBS and NBC found that only eight stories visually featured signs comparing Gov. Walker to Hitler, or Mussolini, or Stalin, or Mubarak, or Satan. More incredibly, not a single network anchor or reporter addressed whether that kind of signage was civil or appropriate. And only Fox covered Capuano’s “get a little bloody” remark.
Now, compare this to how tea party protests have been covered, and you can see a glaring double standard at work.
These same media outlets spent two years obsessing over every over-the-top tea party sign and mere accusation of uncivil behavior.
Do you remember the claims that tea party activists intentionally spit on Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (a charge he backed away from) and that tea partyers yelled the N-word at black congressmen (which no one could produce on video)? The mere accusation, the mere suggestion was enough for blanket network coverage.
Do you recall the endless parade of anti-tea-party stories after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tucson? All of them uniformly denounced Sarah Palin as if she encouraged the shooting. Palin put crosshairs on a congressional district, on the Internet. The Wisconsin protesters put Walker’s head in the crosshairs on posters. But Palin was the evil one, and the Wisconsin protesters got a free pass: No one denounced them.
Well, one uncivil action did break through the media blackout — when blogger Ian Murphy of the “Buffalo Beast” made a crank call to Gov. Walker pretending to be billionaire conservative philanthropist David Koch. But he was celebrated by the press.
On “The Early Show,” CBS reporter Dean Reynolds talked about how gullible the governor was. NBC News correspondent Michael Isikoff asserted that Murphy proved the union conspiracy theorists were right. CNN named Murphy “The Most Intriguing Person of the Day.”
None of these networks, it’s worth pointing out, mentioned that Murphy’s article on this prank call was titled “Koch Whore,” or that he’d in the past written such things as “If Rove is Bush’s brain, may the 43rd president be lobotomized before we string him up.”
Why would they, since that apparently wouldn’t fit the media’s preferred narrative that the pro-union protesters are, unlike tea partyers, champions of civility?
Mitt Romney. He looks good, he is likable, he is a legendary business man. He is willing to go after Obama directly and take on his belief system, which some other candidates or would be candidates have been afraid to do.
I look at this speech and I can see that Mitt has been studying Reagan speeches in a big way. I see the similarities in the tactical messaging and in some of the body language. Mitt has money but lacks a certain something that I cannot quite define.
Mitt has challenges as well. The first being a history of election day epiphanies. While candidates are entitled to a few of these as they grow and learn Mitt has a few too many and they are on big issues. The Tea Party remembers how the 1994 class started letting us down in 2000 and are NOT having any more of that. The rank and file Tea Party people are well informed and YouTube is going to be painful for his campaign. If Mitt gets elected and waffles when he gets into office the Tea Party will make certain he is a one term president. They will primary him and weaken him so badly that a Democrat can win. I hope that the Romney team understands this. Call it whatever you like but one thing seems consistent with Tea Party voters, take out those who violate their brand and deal with the consequences later.
Michael Kinsley in the L.A. Times is using the same strategy against Romney that the GOP used so well against John Kerry. Kinsley said that Romney is a flip flopper and will say anything to get elected. I said the the same thing about him in 2008.
With that said presidential campaigns tend to mature people and help them to understand the weight of the job. They tend to help increase their character and Romney’s 2008 CPAC speech helped to demonstrate this. I hope Mitt has grown. I am open to giving him a second chance to convince me, but be warned, GOP bloggers are smart and miss very little. Keep it real guys.
Mitt has a problem with RomneyCare in Massachusetts which is having problems as some reports have indicated. It is similar to ObamaCare in some aspects and judging by the recent vote in Missouri fighting ObamaCare in the referendum, they had the largest turn out in the states history. The American people have gotten informed on what a disaster ObamaCare is, and how it has already cause thousands to lose coverage and millions to see an immediate increase in premiums, including this very writer’s premiums.
Mitt is fighting this problem by standing up for federalism calling RomneyCare a state experiment that the nation has learned valuable lessons from. He says that experiments like this are what the states are for and he is correct. I just wish he had said this much sooner. CNN is already going after Romney.
Romney did say that some parts of his RomneyCare could be a model for the nation, that can be spun against him, “Well in 2009 it was a national model and now it is not so which is it?” Of course, Romney can counter with, “Some aspects of it might be good for the country, but ObamaCare has terminal flaws. Besides state experiments are great for learning about problems. The Democtrats should have looked at some of the problems we were having in Massachusetts , instead they double downed on the worst parts of it and piled on even more damage by putting restrictions on doctors that the people of Massachusetts never would have tolerated, and in fact the whole country is upset about and will become more upset about as more control in it kick in leading to 2014unless we repeal it.”
When CNN asked Romney about the “debunked Sarah Palin claims about death panels” Romney did not speak up in defense of Palin. Palin was right and some of the law blogs explained how she was right. The combination of the two bills, the Stimulus and Obamacare, gave the administration “death panel” like authority at the stroke of a pen. All the administration has to do is write a regulation, publish it, and it is done. The “show me in the bill where it has the word “death panel” question is a red herring. This means that Palin did her homework on the released parts of the bill early and Romney didn’t.
Tim is a film maker, cartoonist, humorist and teacher. He is the creator of several films including the comedy spoof ”Harvey Putter and the Ridiculous Premise“. The film has won multiple awards. The Facebook fan site is HERE.
This of course is Charlie Sheen. Wow he looks satanic or something doesn’t he? The photo has a nasty narrative all its own doesn’t it?
Now let me tell you just how one gets such a photo. Take a film of yourself giving a short speech with some animation or telling a short story. Now go through it frame by frame. You are going to find frames that make you look like a complete dork. You will find the strangest looks on your face while in mid word or gesture.
The New York Times and a few others use this technique frequently. When I was writing for The Preface I ran a photo essay constructed of political snapshots collected in the weeks before an election from a biased elite media newspaper. The pictures of Republicans were largely like what you see above. The pictures of Democrats looked prepared and great. If you want to be taken seriously, don’t participate in this kind of nonsense.
This video is a great teaching aid for journalism students.
The South Bend Tribune once snapped a picture of a strip joint just to have a file picture. In the picture were two people walking on the sidewalk innocently. The picture implied, not with intent, but with carelessness, that the two ladies were going to the strip club. The ladies got upset and the Tribune, to their credit, made it right with them.
In this case, Fox News did a similar thing. Watch the video and before you read below see if you can spot what their producer who put this clip together did wrong.
At the 45 second mark Fox shows several clips of people on YouTube asking people to donate. Notice the word “scam” is under the clips. One of the clips belonged to the man below. His full clip can be seen HERE. His link went to the United Nations World Food Program at http://www.wfp.org/ which is legit.
One can honestly say that Fox News painted him in the light of a scam artist, a criminal. It is doubtful that they had intent and the language they used in talking about it does mitigate any claim of intent. What likely happened here is that a producer or an intern just did a search on YouTube for “donate Haiti” and pasted in the first three clips he could find.
As a result this man was made to suffer. Needless to say he was very upset and he is right to be upset.
Now before the campus crazies go all nuts trashing Fox News it is important to remember that unintentional smears like this are not uncommon. In fact every news organization who has been in business for a while can likely point to such a gaffe they have made. This is why journalism text books usually point this kind of mistake out. If you do make this kind of mistake apologize and run a visible retraction ASAP.
As a journalist, you are going to screw up sometimes. When you do just apologize and make it right. No one expects you to be a saint, they just expect you to make a best effort to be fair.
Too many journalists like to smear. An example is this story that came out accusing Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh of secretly hiring actors to call in. FM “Morning Zoo” shows often use a service to have an actor call in with a crazy story everyone can laugh at. Anyone who has worked in radio knows this. So a reporter decided to take this known service and accuse them of calling political news/talk shows with no evidence whatsoever. Said reporter never even called the company who has the service for comment, nor did the reporter call Limbaugh or Hannity to even ask the question. Instead the reporter just made the allegation.
The story gets worse, the story is from Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), allegedly from the finest teaching journalism professors in the country; journalism teachers who cannot follow the basic ethics rules found in any j-school textbook. CJR is partially funded by George Soros.
While this may make your editor’s day in a highly ideological news room, as most are, be careful. If a reporter ever pulled a stunt like that on one of my clients I would have that reporters face on 100 blogs, make them the butt of jokes and make their dishonesty a viral blog story. Many publicists and press secretaries make a list of what reporters are honest and who is not. If you aren’t you will find that people will stop talking to you.
Politico.com is finding this out the hard way. Lately the quality of the journalism there has been going down and it has become more tabloid/smear like Slate. People on the inside have told us that Politico is aware of this problem. Now it seems that Politico’s planned first presidential debate on May 2, 2011 is not going to happen as Palin and Bachmann have both made it clear that they have no interest in helping Politico’s business model or in helping them regain their credibility. Now that Hotair.com seems to be taking a similar editorial view it appears that the debate is not going to happen, or will have so few candidates there that it will be irrelevant. You brought it on yourselves guys.
UPDATE – MSNBC lefty talker admits he used hired actors coached by Congressional Democrats as callers.
His excuse is lame. When my radio show started we had nothing and I built it up with hard work and talent to beat the competition. I never used staged ringers as callers. A good host should be ready to go an entire show filled with great content and never have to take a call. The most obvious reason why is that at times technical difficulties will prevent you form taking calls. People do not listen to a show to hear callers, so callers are not that important. That is why I never took very many calls on my show.
