The Lunch Counter

Not to belabor the point that there is a bias in news reporting because in a general sense that notion isn’t even debatable.  But what do you call it when news is not published, not printed?

Rather than call that a bias, it seems to me to be a matter of  independence. Left talkers like Mike Papantonio say that the media is owned by the political Right. Ridiculous I know, but that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.

So here’s an example of bias by omission, where a news media outlet doesn’t print a legitimate news story, when on the same subject and with the same players, the news story was front page, above the fold, and front cover.

Speaking of the debut of Air America Radio host Mike Papantonio and his Ring of Fire radio program. In January 2004 it was big news in the Pensacola News Journal, front page, above the fold. In the Independent, another local weekly paper it earned a front cover. Two of them in fact. Including a spot on ABC’s WEAR-TV

In 2007, AAR filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The PNJ printed a 2 column inch AP syndicated blurb. Nothing else. It was portrayed by the Independent as entering its Golden Age. Later in 2007, Independent publisher Rick Outzen credited AAR as being a good thing. Providing a ‘refreshing voice’ for talk radio.  He also said this . . .

News media should give perspective to the news. More voices are better. Then the public will truly be informed.

So last month, when Air America filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, liquidating all remaining assets, did you even know? Not if you depend on the Pensacola News Journal and the Independent for your news and information.

I know it shouldn’t be the case, but do you think that online sponsorship and advertising dollars has a deleterious effect on a publisher’s independence when it comes to reporting the news? Specifically these publishers?

Seems like Papantonio has caught on to the same game that he accuses the political Right of doing because his advertising ‘investments’ in the PNJ and the Independent seem to have payed off.

It’s not only The White House personnel, but Democrats in Congress. They’re all in the enact-health-care-legislation-at-all-cost bubble. By contrast, other Americans are outside that bubble more concerned with the state of the economy, which is broke now and for generations to come.

Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats.

Five sources who were in the room tell POLITICO that Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration’s failure to provide clarity or direction on health care and the other big bills it wants Congress to enact.

Failure to provide clarity? For whom? Clarity is what spelled the end of Hillary-care. When the folks learned what was in it, they found that it wasn’t the kind of ‘reform’ they wanted. Or is Franken upset at the realization that neither clarity nor direction comes from an empty suit? Maybe the clarity Franken is talking about is how can we fool the folks this time to get it passed? Or at this point, maybe it’s all of the above?

Democrats seem content to ignore everything rational about fixing the economy first, then chipping away at health care reform in some sort or any sort of bi-partisan way. Gaining the intimate control of the lives of Americans has been their brass ring for decades, and they plainly see this as their moment to grab it.

Updated: 1/6/2010

Link: Al Franken lays into David Axelrod over health care bill – Manu Raju and Andy Barr – POLITICO.com.

The House has an important vote today that directly affects your wallet and those of future generations, again. Apparently, all the new cuts and freezes that Obama is talking about requires raising the debt limit another $1.9 trillion.  That amounts to $6,000 for every U.S. resident. Already, the accumulated debt amounts to $40,000 per person. What is important about today’s vote is that if the House does not pass this increase, then there’s not enough borrowed money to implement the budget that Obama just presented to Congress.

The nut of Obamanomics is for the government to spend its way into prosperity and borrow its way out of debt. So in order to say he wants to cut spending and freeze spending (by less than 1%), he first needs to borrow and spend another $1.9 trillion, raising the cap on federal borrowing to $14.3 trillion. It’s obvious that neither Obama or his advisers are economic geniuses, but rather tax and spend idealogs where increases are cuts and up is down.

Related links: FOXNews.com – House Faces Tough Vote on $1.9T More Debt. | Obama’s Economic House Of Cards

It’s a good thing the President has a handle on the economy now. I mean, after all, the deficit he inherited from the Bush administration was enormous. Last year’s deficit surged to $1.42 trillion, more than three times the record of the previous year. So Bush’s last year budget deficit was $454.8 billion. Obama’s budget deficit last year was $1.42 trillion. That’s nearly $1 trillion more that he added to it in fiscal 2009. This business that he “inherited a $1.3 trillion budget deficit” is a lie. It’s a lie through and through. He has added $1 trillion.

Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) went on MSNBC today to put the lie to what Obama had said at the retreat in Baltimore to rest. Hensarling . . .

If you look at the 12 years when Republicans controlled the Congress, the average annual deficit was about $104 billion. I’m not proud of that number. That’s too high. But in the three years that Democrats have controlled Congress, the average annual deficit is now $1.1 trillion. Do the math. What used to be an annual deficit under Republicans has become a monthly deficit under Democrats.

But he’s got a grip on it, or us, now. Now, his budget is built on a house of cards that takes the deficit to between $8-15 trillion dollars (depending on whose numbers you want to use) in the next 10 years. And that is dependent upon Congress voting to raise the debt ceiling another $1.9 trillion. In just this past year, his budget is a mere 35% greater than they said it would be 12 months ago. Imagine how their estimates for health care and all the other government-building spending they propose will be?

The President asked for ideas from us serfs during his SOTU speech. Here’s one. Repeal the drug program that you criticize Bush for creating, the one you voted for as a Senator. The one that you said couldn’t be paid for. OK, so kill it. Now. Viola, look how much of the deficit you just ’saved.’

Do you get the impression that this administration doesn’t care how much they spend as long as they reach their goal of destroying the economy so as to reduce it to a socialist utopia via his facist economic policies? I do.

The house of cards, which I call this budget, is based on tax increases, it is based on the economy growing, it is based on taxes from cap and trade, it is based on costs of health care decreasing. Essentially, this budget buster is based on receiving trillions of dollars from from programs that are not in place and based on the most optimistic of projections. It is the definition of ’smoke and mirrors.’

Here’s something else to ponder about our economic circumstances. At the current interest rate on bonds, which is at 3%, a historic low, in 5 years the interest on our debt will be nearly a trillion dollars a year. That’s over a third of our GDP and about equal to all the money raised by income taxes. What happens when China stops buying our debt, which it is already signalling it intends to do, and interest rates rise? The interest on this debt, and by this debt I mean the debt we’ve got right now. That’s not including the debt that Obama wants to pile on. When interest rates go up further, the interest payments on this debt will be more than our GDP. The only way out then is hyperinflation, the devaluation of the dollar.

After taxing the rich, the spending programs will end up taxing the rest in increase cost all the way down the scale. So what’s left for the government to get their hands on when all else is maxed out? Your retirement plans, your 401K’s, your IRA’s. Whether this happens before or after hyperinflation kicks in is just a matter of timing. They’ve already got their eyes on the trillions of dollars Americans have managed to save for themselves. If only the government ran its business like you and I have to, we wouldn’t be in this precarious economic condition.

Best bet now is to salvage what you have left before the government takes it and gives you an IOU like they did with your Social Security. Asset protection now means cashing in your retirement funds and investing it somewhere where the government can’t get its greedy little hands on it.

You’ve heard it before, but it’s worth repeating. You can’t spend your way into prosperity, nor borrow your way out of debt. Sir Winston Churchill

Updated: 9:43
link: Big bang gives way to busted budget

To understand why President Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder chose to try five of the worst terrorists in New York City, putting the brakes on their military tribunal process in which they already plead guilty, all you need to know is where he came from.

David Remes, terrorist defense lawyer at Eric Holder's New York law firm.

That, plus the sensationalism of having the opportunity to put the previous administration on trial is a ‘crisis’ too good to pass up. Especially after Obama said on this matter, that he was going to look forward and not backward.

Holder said he was going to speed up justice for these detainees. He didn’t say it was his friends in the al-Qaeda bar that caused the trial delays he now criticizes.

Holder is a partner in a law firm, Covington & Burling, which has been representing 18 detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. You may have seen a picture of one of the other lawyers at C & B, David Remes. A natural defense attorney for the panty bomber don’t you think?

Where are the conflict of interest concerns? Not to mention the increased security risk the administration is putting upon New Yorkers. Not to mention the world stage that this dog squeeze will be put on, using their new found freedom to resume their jihad in a media that will be hanging on their every word.

The motivation is purely political. Obama ran on closing Club Gitmo without a plan on how he was going to do it. To fulfill this promise, who better to do that than Eric Holder, a lawyer in a law firm with a track record of attempting to criminalize the prosecution of the war by the Bush administration. He and Holder both enhanced these terrorists’ defense when they said that they deserve the same protection of our judicial system and Constitution afforded to U.S. citizens. They enhance their defense when they both said publicly that these enemy combatants were tortured. And in a civilian criminal trial, they enhanced their defense because they were not Mirandized.

Remember this. They all had already plead guilty in the military tribunal court system. Rather than let that play out, Holder resurrected it in favor of a show trial.  Reckless behavior for a Commander in Chief don’t you think?

Populating the Justice Department with terrorist defense lawyers is one thing. But what about people with direct ties to terrorists and loony radical groups?

Having heard an earful from New Yorkers, including Mayor Bloomberg and the Democratic Senators, Obama is looking for a way to back peddle, a way to save face. The only right thing to do here is to leave it all under the purview of the military court system and to send the panty bomber to Club Gitmo to face his fate as well. Watching this dance between the American people and his far-left base will be a show in and of itself. Not one I’ll take any enjoyment in seeing.

The President has not shown himself to be on the side of the American people when it comes to the war on terror. If Americans are left with no other alternative than the ballot box to make a correction, I’m confident that they will.

Links:

• Covington & Burling LLP | News & Events | Eric Holder Sworn in as Attorney General
• About (Saving) Face – Bill Burck & Dana Perino – National Review Online
• Justice Delayed – Andrew C. McCarthy – National Review Online
• American Thinker Blog: Questions raised about Holder appointees who defended GItmo prisoners
• Man Attempts to Set Off Explosives on Detroit-Bound Airplane

Have you seen Red Skelton’s Pledge of Allegiance? Note: if you don’t know who Red Skelton is, then you’ve grown up in the entitlement generation and really need to see this short video.

Red Skelton Pledge

Jimmy Kimmel skit, ‘guess what’s in my pants.’ Hilarious if not a little on the blue side.

Guess What’s In My Pants

This file is an assortment of pictures in powerpoint format. You’ll need a powerpoint viewer to see these interesting pictures. You can download a free viewer HERE.

What a Split Second Looks Like

Blues legend Etta James in hospital.

“She’s been in a pretty big battle,” her son Donto James told Reuters. The singer has been in hospital for a week.

Mr James said his mother, 72, became ill while in a detoxification clinic for treatment to an addiction to painkillers and other medicines.

He was good, but could have gone further. That’s the opinion of the Communist Party in the United States.

In some ways last night’s State of the Union address by President Obama was a virtuoso performance. There were stirring moments, memorable turns of phrase, humor, a defense of activist government, and proposals that will be welcomed, and surely help, millions of people in need.

But as good as many parts of Obama’s speech were, it didn’t fully rise in substantive terms to the challenges of our times and this era. The president could have knocked the ball out of the ballpark, but he settled for less. He had a chance to make the case for deep-going political, economic and social reform, including radical reform, but he came up short of that.

Who knew? Well, now you do.

[T]the private sector at this moment (big or small business) isn’t generating jobs and probably won’t for a long time. In these circumstances, only direct and indirect government intervention in the form of a massive public works jobs program, infrastructure repair and renewal, aid for state and local governments, and special measures for the hardest hit communities, and especially communities of racial minorities and immigrants, stands a chance of lowering unemployment in any kind of meaningful way.

Right. And that’s exactly why, unless Obama changes course, the private sector won’t be creating sustainable jobs for a long time. Obama will see to it. There’s not a dimes worth of difference between what Obama calls social justice and the CPUSA platform.

Link: Obama State of the Union: He got the ball rolling » cpusa.

Huh. Who knew the government was a cash cow for the newspaper’s postage account? Probably has nothing to do with any bias in reporting. Na. What do you think?

Centuries-Old Bailout of Newspapers is Going Away, Report Warns.

An analysis of the road show in Washington, or as Obama has made it, a campaign stop along the way to the remaking of America. Some people referred to it as the State of the Union Address. Your mileage may vary, and your comments are, of course, welcome.

But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day.

Couldn’t agree more. It should stop. How about you go first? And when you get back from your town hall rally in Tampa, how about visiting the Oval Office for awhile? Sit at that nice big desk and maybe do stuff. I know. Ask Speaker Pelosi to show you H.R.3400.

I’m also calling on Congress to continue down the path of earmark reform. You have trimmed some of this spending and embraced some meaningful change. But restoring the public trust demands more. For example, some members of Congress post some earmark requests online. Tonight, I’m calling on Congress to publish all earmark requests on a single website before there’s a vote so that the American people can see how their money is being spent.

A year has gone by where you signed bill after bill with thousands of earmarks in each of the major ones. Did you forget that you campaigned on exactly what you said last night, or are you that arrogant that you think the American people are too stupid to remember?

And if the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate are required to do any business . . .Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership.

Saying no to socialized medicine, economic fascism, and committing inter-generational theft is a good thing. Does your interpretation of bi-partisanship include locking Republicans out of negotiations of important legislation then expecting them to approve it with their vote? And don’t blame Republicans for your failure. You have a super majority in both houses. Truth is, it is Democrats that are pushing back.  It wasn’t Republicans that were being bribed for votes was it? Community organizers handbook, ‘if you say a lie over and over again, it will eventually become reality.’ See above about the Republican’s proposal to reform health care and are you that arrogant that you think the American people are too stupid to know?

Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections.

YOU LIE! And NOT TRUE! See above quote from the Community organizers handbook and are you that arrogant that you think the American people are too stupid to know?

Current federal law prevents “a partnership, association, corporation, organization, or other combination of persons organized under the laws of or having its principal place of business in a foreign country” from making, “directly or indirectly,” a donation or expenditure “in connection with a federal, state, or local election,” to a political party committee or “for an electioneering communication.”

We face a deficit of trust – deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years.

Yeah. Like that whole openness thing, how negotiations would be broadcast on C-SPAN. Did you forget that you campaigned on exactly what you said last night, or are you that arrogant that you think the American people are too stupid to remember?

To close that credibility gap we must take action on
both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; and to give our people the government they deserve.
That’s what I came to Washington to do. That’s why – for the first time in history – my Administration posts our White House visitors online. And that’s why we’ve excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions.

Right, er I mean Wrong again. Well, I guess if you don’t count all those in your administration that you gave waivers to. That trust deficit you speak of is real, and where you are concerned, I think unrecoverable.

But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.

Cool, OK, here it is, H.R.3400.

And in true campaign style, the arrogance and disrespect that you showed the Supreme Court, really shows the level of respect you have for the Constitution that gives the Judiciary separate but equal status in our government. You obviously feel that you are above all that and it was embarrassing to see you lash out in that forum in that way. Reminds me of Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers.

Related links:

• State of the Union – C-SPAN.
• Fact Check: President Obama’s State of the Union 2010
• The I’s Have It