Tag Archives: Media

Economy, Media, Politics

Obama’s Tax Package Challenges Media

This is just so rich in Obama-speak that I don’t know where to start. Let’s start with that, for the last 10 years, Democrats, including President Obama, have been harping on George Bush and the ‘Bush tax cuts,’ which are to expire at the end of this month. They accused Bush of ‘lining the pockets of the rich on the backs of the poor.’ That’s their class warfare game. Nothing new with that. And for the last year running up to the mid-term election, Obama has said repeatedly that he and the Democrat majority we’re ‘looking forward.’ We’re not going back to ‘the failed policies of the past.’ You with me so far?

Not sure if the President is living in Fantasy Land, or if he thinks the American people are, but President Obama just said the tax-cut deal he negotiated with Republicans will determine whether the nation’s economy ‘moves forward or backward.’

Obama is only giving the appearance that he understands that raising taxes during a recession is counterproductive to growing the economy and creating jobs. And that cutting taxes are actually stimulative to economic and job growth. Trust me on this, he is not capable of that level of economic understanding. He understands two things, he needs to get re-elected in two years, and he wants you to think that he now ‘gets it.’ Improving the economy is not what he wants. If it was, he would not have spent two years of over-reaching into redistributing, spending, and borrowing other people’s money.

This President would like us to believe that his extending of the current tax rates are tax cuts, when they are not. They are a continuation of the current tax rates, instead of tax increases when they expire. He also wants us to believe that he is doing this in order to move the economy forward. Further, he says it has the potential to create millions of jobs. He also said if it fails, Americans would see smaller paychecks and it would result in fewer jobs. Still with me?

Keeping the current tax rates on a temporary basis just maintains the FUD factor and kicks any economic recovery further on down the road. It won’t create an investment climate, especially when the only job category that is showing signs of an increase is in the government sector, adding to our overhead. The fact is, under the current tax system, we have lost millions of jobs since President Obama took office two years ago. And now, he wants you to believe that this same tax system has the potential to create millions of jobs. What he is doing is setting us up for failure.

Why would the President want to set us up for failure you ask? So in two years time, when he wants to be re-elected, he can say ‘hey, I tried it their way and it doesn’t work.’ Our community organizer President cares more about political expediency than the welfare of our economy and the American people.

The challenge for the legacy media is this, how can we now support the President on what we have demagogued for the last ten years?

Link: Obama: Tax deal could yield ‘millions of jobs’

Economy, Media, Politics

Will An Articulate Republican Please Stand Up?

That class warfare and wealth envy play very well from the Left’s playbook is no surprise. Especially to the dumb masses. From Obama on down, and with the help of the media to carry the water for them, ‘tax cuts for the rich’ seem to be the mantra. Well, that and Republicans don’t want to extend unemployment benefits, yet they want tax cuts for the rich. And at Christmas time no less. Grinch!

There are two truths that blow the Left’s demagoguery out of the water, that the media has no interest in exposing. First, regarding extending unemployment. Regardless of what Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) says, Republicans have no objection to extending unemployment. After all, it would be a spending bill. And, like all spending bills, must be paid for. That’s according to Nancy Pelosi and her party’s PayGo legislation. The concept of PayGo was to not increase the debt. So pay for it already. Pay for it by cutting some other spending from somewhere else, or better yet, pay for it from the hundreds of billions of dollars that are still unspent from the porkulus bill. Pay for it. As a matter of fact, why not throw in an extra $100 as a stocking stuffer. There’s enough money to do it. Republicans would pass it. But, Democrats would lose their demonization tool. Sorry, can’t do that.

The next truth is that cutting taxes increases revenue. Not only does it increase revenue, but the percent that the evil rich pay actually goes up, not down. It is not, contrary to popular opinion, a cost. And certainly nothing that has to be borrowed, like Ms. Pelosi says. And it does not increase the debt. Cutting taxes is an incentive to produce. Cutting taxes leaves the money where it will be of most use. With the people who earned it. The Left quotes the CBO on tax cuts as being a cost. That’s because, by law, the CBO has to calculate everything as a static, zero sum game. They can not, by law, consider changes in behavior or consequences in the market place that a tax law or tax adjustment would cause. This is a fallacy in real life. They assume that by raising taxes by X percent, that they will actually get X percent more in revenue. And if taxes are cut by X percent, then the revenue will be decreased by X percent. Well, sorry Nancy. History and the laws of free-market economics tell a contradictory story.

Thomas Sowell writes . . .

Over that long span of time, there have been many sharp cuts in tax rates under Presidents Calvin Coolidge, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. So we don’t need to argue in a vacuum. There is a track record.

What does that record say? It says, loud and clear, that cuts in tax rates do not mean cuts in tax revenues. In all four of these administrations, of both parties, so-called “tax cuts for the rich” led to increased tax revenues— with people earning high incomes paying not only a larger sum total of tax revenues, but even a higher proportion of all tax revenues.

But when confronted with this concept, President Obama acknowledged that yes, even though revenues increased, that it was more important ‘to him’ to go the wealth envy route in the name of social justice and fairness. So while Democrats claim to want to increase revenues, they really don’t.

So, where are all, or any, Republican leaders in Congress talking about this? Grow a pair and tell it like it is. Show the Democrats for the class warfare demagogues that they are. Preferring to keep people down rather than lift them up.

Link: Can Republicans Talk? |  Can Republicans Talk?: Part II

China, Economy, Energy, Florida, Media, Pensacola, Politics

Florida’s No-Energy Policy Is No Energy Policy

It’s not surprising that the St. Petersburg Times would come out with an editorial supporting the President’s about face on opening up 25 million acres of land off of Florida’s coast to oil exploration. They also thought that shutting down ALL oil drilling in the entire Gulf of Mexico by ALL oil companies was a good idea too! It reflects the knee-jerk reaction to pressure from the environmentalist lobby who, last I checked, does not produce energy.

Critics of the plan, like State Senate President Mike Haridopolos, are right to say that the Florida ban will cost jobs. It is preventing jobs from being created. Forget that ‘saved or created’ nonsense. This, like the rest of Obama’s economic policies are preventing jobs from being created and the economy from recovering.

Out of the lost wages and earnings, all of which BP is responsible for replacing, the Times did not give a number of jobs lost due to the leak. And didn’t BP put thousands of people to work (because of the leak) all over the Gulf coast to do the cleanup work? Sorry to say, but devastating hurricanes create jobs and work too! This is no more a justification for lax safety procedures than a hope for another accident. Point is, we can recover from accidents and disasters.

The jobs lost by extending this Florida waters moratorium another 12 years is real. Likewise, the jobs lost from our president and Ken Salazar putting the drilling moratorium in effect for all drilling in the Gulf in the wake of the 4/20 BP rig explosion was ignored by the St. Pete Times. But, that is to be expected of them.

It’s been 15 years since the Clinton administration put the kibosh on ANWR development, which would have long been producing energy by now had that not happened. Now we’re to wait twelve more years for Florida and the Eastern U.S. to use its resources?

Time is long overdue for an energy policy that gets some. In every area. How many new nuclear generating plants have opened in the last 20 years? How many new refineries have been built in the last 20 years? Did you know that 57% (that’s more than half for those of you educated in government schools) of our electrical energy comes from coal? How many new coal-fired electrical generating plants have been built in the last 20 years? So President Clinton made our nation’s only low sulfur coal reserves (the largest in the world) off-limits, handing China a monopoly. And banning oil development off our East and Gulf coasts, leaves OPEC to profit. Buying coal from China and oil from OPEC is not good for national security, nor is it a good energy policy.

Long story short. Unless you expect the energy industry to make environmental guidelines, don’t expect the environmentalists to make energy policy.

Link:    Shelving expanded gulf oil drilling is responsible course |  Oil spills kill jobs

2010 Election, Media, Politics

MSNBC Supends Olbermann

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Right on the heels of the lowest viewer ratings in their category, pMSNBC suspends Kieth Olbermann indefinitely and without pay.

Keith Olbermann, MSNBC’s primetime firebrand host, has been suspended indefinitely for violating the ethics policies of his employer earlier this year when he donated to three Democrats seeking federal office, MSNBC announced Friday.

The offense being a violation of NBC’s ethics policy. Ethics policy? There’s a joke there somewhere . . .

The offense was donating $2400 each to three Democrat(ic) candidates. The network policy requires the news division employees to get permission before making political donations because (here’s the funny part) it ‘could be deemed as a conflict of interest.’ CNN says that they have a similar provision in their rules of engagement.

Were it not in the network’s ‘ethics policy’ I wouldn’t have a problem with him wasting his money on anyone trying to run for office. But to think that it took this little incident to call their attention to a potential conflict of interest issue has me ROTFL. Don’t they ever listen to what he says on the air? I would expect that he had a payroll deduction arrangement going to the DNC for crying out loud.

Where MSNBC is concerned, it is too little too late. Between Olbermann and Chris Matthews, it is no surprise that their ratings are down to employees, friends, and relatives.

Link: CNN; Olbermann suspended for Dem contributions

UPDATE 11/7/2010: Indefinite = 2 days. Olbermann back on Tuesday.

UPDATE 11/8/2010: Chris Hayes, editor of The Nation, a liberal magazine, tapped Friday by MSNBC to fill in for Keith Olebermann as host of the prime-time political show “Countdown.” Turns out, he gave money to two Democratic campaigns in recent years. Now, following that disclosure, MSNBC says Mr. Hayes won’t get the gig after all.

2010 Election, Media, Politics

In Denial, The Excuses Begin

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed (Fast Eddie) Rendell (also former DNC chairman) is but the first today to offer an explanation for the anticipated Democratic losses in today’s mid-term election. No doubt others will follow.

His excuse is typically nuanced. A new take on ‘we just didn’t get the message out.’ Rendell says their message was blurred. ‘We’ve got to learn to explain and communicate what we’ve done a lot more clearly,’ he said. Acknowledging the Obama effect on the anticipated poor results, Rendell also said ‘expectations were unreasonably high’ for Barack Obama when he took the presidency. Do ya think? That’s code for, this is what you get when you run on smoke like hope and change and have the media pumping you up to be America’s Messiah. The empty suit has fallen to the floor.

No Eddie, it’s not because your message was not clear. It is because the folks don’t like the message they hear or the policies they see. In living color Eddie, here’s why.

And from the Huffington/KOS/Ring of Fire crowd, we’ll know doubt hear that it’s because Obama is black.

Link: Pa. Gov. Rendell: Democratic message was blurred

2010 Election, Florida, Media, Pensacola, Politics

Pensacola News Journal Pulls Political Opinion Piece

The article by columnist Mark O’Brien entitled Hayward is a candidate of hype was pulled from the PNJ website late yesterday. It no doubt had something to do with a barrage of hate-mail from Hayward supporters, or the fact that Hayward was the newspaper’s endorsed candidate, or that one of the papers’ major advertisers is a contributor to the Hayward campaign. Or all three.

From memory now, since I didn’t save a copy, O’Brien wrote an opinion piece on Hayward that was less than flattering but all based on substantiated fact. Including his receiving campaign contributions from the Levin Papantonio law firm and their involvement in the BP lawsuit, and subsequent comments made by Hayward on the campaign trail. Not mentioned in that article, is Papantonio’s participation in a class action suit against BP. At any rate, aside from a columnist, O’Brien is also an opinion writer. Much the same as Juan Williams does, or did, double duty as a reporter, columnist, and opinion commentator for NPR and FOX News. O’Brien does both opinion and reporting functions.

The pulling of this piece from their website without comment shows the priorities are less about journalistic integrity than political and financial expediency. It’s no secret that the Levin Papantonio law firm is a big advertiser in the paper. It takes a willing suspension of disbelief to think that that was not part, if not all, of  Executive Editor Richard Schneider’s motivation.

Seems like only a couple days ago that the subject of journalistic ethics and objectivity came up. At issue there was who was paying the bills for the reporter. This brings a new twist to the topic which is, who is paying the bills for the paper?

Former link location: Hayward is a candidate of hype

Update Nov 1, 2010: Correction in today’s PNJ.

In Sunday’s column, Mark O’Brien erroneously stated that mayoral candidate Ashton Hayward III had urged the Pensacola City Council to hire the Levin Papantonio law firm to pursue possible legal action against BP for the April 20 oil spill.

Hayward did not specify any law firm when he urged the City Council to consider legal action.

Apparently everything else in the article was correct.  If you entertain conspiracies of coincidence, Johnson provided Hayward the cover that he needed. Both he and the candidate are allied to the law firm that was hired. Whether by contributions or the Emerald Coastkeepers club, the end result is the same. LP is on the case.

At least the paper did not attempt to deny the genesis of the article, that ‘Hayward is a candidate of hype.’

Economy, Media, Politics

Obama On GM, More Words, Just Words

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Harken back sixteen months ago when President Obama said this, ‘What I have no interest in doing is running GM,’ concerning the GM bailout and government ownership of 60% of the company.

Enter a little no spin zone with this little ditty from Reuters . . .

The Obama administration and GM executives say the White House has stayed good to its pledge to refrain from meddling in the day-to-day management of this 102-year-old industrial enterprise . . .

OK, that is if you don’t count the administration putting their own people on the Board of Directors, closing product lines, closing dealerships, and telling them what kind of car to make.

Now with an impending IPO of the new and improved BM (Barack Motors), or for the record, GM, we find that it is still the administration calling the shots.

Don’t you know the M.O. by now? We’re supposed to pay attention to what Obama says instead of what he does. He is counting on the dumb masses never finding out that he is an empty suit filled with Karl Marx stuffing.

Link: Special Report: For GM IPO, the government is back-seat driver | Reuters.

Economy, Media, War On Terror

Bin Laden Audio Message

Yeah. It is this Muslim, and his followers, that the West needs to neutralize. Maybe NPR will rebroadcast this. Do ya think?

As an aside, even Bin Ladin sees America headed towards bankruptcy, were it a perfect world. There are some vacancies in Obama’s economic czar department. But left up to Obama and his advisers, we’ll just print more money, create trickle up poverty, and transform America into just another broke and lazy country whose people are dependent on government. Oh happy day. NOT

Link: MEMRI, Bin Laden in Audio Message to France: As You Kill, So Shall You Be Killed

2010 Election, Media, Politics

Hang Tough, Campaign Noise On The Rise

In the closing days of the mid-term elections (and for weeks preceding) there will be no discussion on the issues that Americans care about. Nothing of substance from Democrats, the legacy media, and other supporters of the Left.

Bereft of anything positive to run on, what you will hear instead is she’s a bitch, a witch, and a whore. Have you noticed the vile attacks on conservative women lately? Well, I take that back. Have you noticed the attacks on conservative women since Sarah Palin in the 2008 presidential campaign?

Then there’s Obama himself explaining that half the country is just too scared to see what a great president he is. What? They have a reason to be scared, but their solution is based solidly on the fact that they don’t like where Obama is taking this country. And Obama isn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer.

Then there’s the race card being played by the race-baiter in chief, our President, the post racial President by the way, telling his political adversaries to get in the back of the proverbial bus in using his lame metaphor of a car that he’s been driving for the last 22 months. That Democrats are playing the race card during an election is not new. It’s on page one of their play book. But for the President of the United States to do it is quite another thing.

And what’s the media’s take on all this? The answer lies in all the stories about the policy differences. Nancy Pelosi, we will not increase the debt. The lies Obama told us when he was selling Obamacare, then shoved it down America’s throat.  You can keep your doctor, your policy, your costs will go down. Any of that true? All that while creating jobs was his top priority.

Now there are reports of voter fraud coming from all over the place. Oh how well he trained ACORN back in the 90’s.

No, there will be no useful discussion about why you should vote for anybody. Right now the country is focused on stopping Obama from transforming America in the image of Europe. And the Democrats are focused on name calling and dividing us on racial lines. The media doesn’t see that either.

November 2 isn’t the end. November 2 will only be the beginning. So hang tough.