Monthly Archives: July 2014

Media

Journalism Colleges Enrollment Declines

That news delivery has changed dramatically over the course of the last 15 years is obvious. We’ve seen print media like your daily newspaper shrink or go away, due in part to the electronic delivery that consumers of news seem to prefer. But there’s still news.

[R]ecent dips as a natural reaction to negative publicity about the news industry. Rosenstiel noted that media outlets have extensively documented the crises of journalism employment for years, causing high school students to wonder whether studying the profession will result in a steady career.

“This [study], to some extent, probably reflects the fact that the economic model that subsidized news for much of the last century has been disrupted in ways that are well-documented and publicized,” he said. “If you’re a young person, you’re wondering, ‘Will I have a job?’ and, ‘How much money will I make?’”

When journalism and the way it is taught morphed from being an objective, aggressive, media watchdog (that dog died) to being a fraternity hell-bent on “doing” good, that was the beginning of the end of journalism as it used to be. This accounts for all the “negative publicity” about the news industry.

I’ve not attended a journalism school. So I don’t know how they teach their craft. I do know what people say about why they want to be a journalist. And it is always they “want to make a difference.” This causes a natural conflict for journalism schools. Doing your job, or making a difference?

In a sense, journalism schools have shot themselves in the foot. Maybe even in the head.

Link: Journalism colleges weigh future amid two years of enrollment declines.

Organized Labor

Union Blues

For 50 years, the number of union workers on the private sector payroll has been decreasing. Today, the majority of union members works for government, at the local, state, or federal level. One out of every three government workers belongs to a union. In the private sector it’s one-in-fifteen.

Men with skilled trades once dominated unions. Now, most union jobs are held by women who run offices, are in the food or service sectors, or education.

The largest union is the National Education Association, with over three million members. The SEIU is second, with two million members. The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees is followed by the American Federation of Teachers, and then, the Teamsters.

So along comes the Tea Party, or any conservative group, advocating that the growth of government be contained or even worse, scaled back. They are smeared and vilified! To this crowd, it is heresy to want to eliminate even one government job. Government union members owe their government jobs to liberals who grow government by design, as they take million of dollars in union dues as campaign donations. It’s a circle, it’s a scheme.

The private sector had to shed union jobs in order to be competitive and grow. The only thing liberals grow is government. That’s why Obama keeps talking about private sector jobs, but does nothing to help create them. While all the while, he keeps adding layer upon layer of more government bureaucracy. Got it? That’s how it works.

endofstory

The above was graciously lifted from Rush Limbaugh in its entirety. In a way that only Rush can do, he covers so much ground, in so little space.

Immigration, Media, Politics

Obama Won’t Visit TX Border, Will Visit Three Fundraisers

I’m bracing myself for the onslaught of media coverage hounding the President over not going to see first-hand, the latest ‘crisis’ to visit the South. Somehow, I think I’m wasting my time expecting any media pushback upon their president.

Instead, what we get is White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest’s statement. OK, so let’s move on. He’s on it. Responding to a question about why PRESBO won’t personally visit the facilities where the illegal children are being stored, Earnest said . . .

Obama has all the information that he needs from his senior advisors. [T]here are a whole range of senior officials in this administration over the course of the last three or four weeks who have spent a lot of time in the southwest border,” he said. “The President has a very good sense of what’s happening on the border,” Earnest said. “He’s getting regular updates from his officials who have traveled to that region.”

Any other president would be there. Can you imagine a response like that from, oh say, the Bush White House after Katrina?

But President Obama will be in the region. Texas governor Perry asked him to see the problems they are dealing with first-hand.  But no. Why wouldn’t he want to go? Maybe he is afraid of bringing a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis back to his family?

Link: WH: Obama Won’t Visit Border While Attending Three TX Fundraisers Next Week.

Economy, Florida, Pensacola, Politics, Race Relations

Kids Shooting Kids In Pensacola

Here is a case where youth violence, youth gun violence specifically, has been a growing concern in the Pensacola area. One way to reach the kids, it was thought, was to give them something to do and try to teach them to behave responsibly.

An altercation early Sunday morning that led to a 16-year-old being shot and a 15-year-old being knocked unconscious occurred right after a Stop the Violence concert, according to an event organizer. A co-organizer of the concert, Bill Marshall, said the concert had been a free event where local music artists performed and spoke to the youths about ending violence in their communities.

So much for that idea. The Pensacola News Journal reporter does not say, but from the address of the place where the free concert was, it seems to be in a predominately Black neighborhood. I could be wrong in assuming that the youths involved were Black, but I doubt it. The reporter could clear this doubt up with just a little more information.

You can’t fix the out-of-control youth issue when you don’t know what the problem is. The problem is that Black youth unemployment is 33.4 percent nationally. That’s almost criminal to have a figure that high. I don’t know if it is better or worse in Pensacola. It is almost twice that of White youth unemployment at 18.9 percent. Which is still way too high. Either way, for all races, youth unemployment is unacceptably high. This makes for trouble the likes of which occurred over the weekend.

The answer obviously is not free concerts. And it isn’t a higher minimum wage. The answer is in a growing economy. Not a contracting economy like we have now. Contrary to what President Obama thinks (and economist he is not), raising the minimum wage (which is where youths always start) will create less opportunities for them. Not more.

Link: Pensacola American Legion shooting occurred after concert.

Politics

Happy Birthday America, And Many More

Lest we forget what Independence Day was, and why it was, lets appreciate the gift we have been given by our founders, and work hard to protect the America they left for us to keep.

Suffice it to say, America, liberty, and freedom need preserving like maybe never before. When, like never before, the government is over-stepping its boundary, which is the Constitution.

Liberty and freedom is the natural state of the human condition. So it’s hard to imagine why they need defending. Both free the person and unlocks their potential. But that can only happen when the government becomes incidental to our lives, instead of controlling our lives.

Enjoy the Star Spangled Banner from Madison Rising.

http://youtu.be/c8C7i9kdEf8

Two hundred thirty-eight years ago today, our Founding Fathers broke from the Crown and King George III. Check out the similarities of President Obama and King George III.

Related Links: The War on America’s Independence |  Generation Opportunity Celebrates Independence Day

Immigration, Media, Politics

Illegals Invasion, Spreading Disease Americans Just Won’t Do

There are no arrest powers in the HIPPA legislation. This is what happens when you have a president who believes that the Constitution and the three equal branches of government are an impediment to his mission. He’ll have open borders, welcome undocumented democrats, even if it means spreading disease all over the country.

A government-contracted security force threatened to arrest doctors and nurses if they divulged any information about the contagion threat at a refugee camp housing illegal alien children at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, sources say.

“There were several of us who wanted to talk about the camps, but the agents made it clear we would be arrested,” a psychiatric counselor told me. “We were under orders not to say anything.”

The sources said workers were guarded by a security force from the Baptist Family & Children’s Services, which the Department of Health and Human Services hired to run the Lackland Camp.

What is pathetic about this administration is that the Congress has abdicated its authority to put the brakes on him. Obama makes no bones about it, he says he’ll do what he wants without congress. His arrogant and condescending attitude is, “sue me, I’ll do what I want.”

Our founding fathers have to be rolling over in their graves. Not only for the tyrannical president, the a congress that is letting this happen, and the “free press” that is deaf, dumb, and blind to all the lawlessness.

Link: UNREAL: Feds Threaten to ARREST Doctors for Warnings About Epidemic at Border [DETAILS].

Media, Obamacare, Politics

HealthCare.Gov Still Not Finished

Hearken back to last year when the roll-out of the HealthCare.Gov website fell flat on its face from day one. There was so much of the $600 million website that was not completed. Millions more were spent to ‘fix’ the problems. Obama got a crack team on it.

Well guess what? According to the HHS Inspector General’s office, the system still lacks the ability to verify whether applicants are eligible.

The federal health exchange was unable to resolve 2.6 million out of 2.9 million data inconsistencies on insurance applications through December 2013 because the eligibility system didn’t work, according to one of two inspector general reports released Tuesday.

The highlights from the HHS IG’s office . . .

  1. The internal controls were not effective for validating Social Security numbers and citizenship at the Federal marketplace.
  2. The Federal and California marketplaces did not always resolve inconsistencies in eligibility data, and the Connecticut marketplace did not always properly determine eligibility for insurance affordability programs.
  3. These deficiencies occurred because (1) the marketplaces did not have procedures or did not follow existing procedures to ensure that applicants were enrolled in QHPs according to Federal requirements or (2) the marketplaces’ eligibility or enrollment systems had defects or lacked functionality. For example, the Federal marketplace’s system functionality to resolve inconsistencies in eligibility data had not been fully developed.

The network radio news swerved from the numbers to generalities from 8am to Noon. Starting with pull quotes of “The federal health exchange was unable to resolve 2.6 million out of 2.9 million data inconsistencies on insurance applications.” Inconsistencies like verifying identity and citizenship. And ending with “the Office of Inspector General recommends that HHS take action to improve internal controls.”

Words not mentioned in any news broadcast were “Obamacare,” the “Affordable Care Act,” “HealthCare.Gov,” President Obama, or Kathleen Sibelius.

Related Links: