Tag Archives: Media

Energy, Media, Politics

Obama To Fund Offshore Drilling

In Brazil. What?  After closing down ANWR’s coastal plain, which was set aside specifically for oil and gas exploration, President Obama is giving $2 billion in loan guarantees to Petrobras, one of the largest corporations in the Americas. Petrobras is Brazil’s state owned oil company.

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.

And you’ll never guess who has a 20% share in that company.  Billionaire George Soros, major Democratic contributor who spent $27 million to defeat George Bush in 2004, and then some. In fact, that share is the largest share of any of Soros’ single investments. But that was not always the case. He invested in it just before this corporate welfare plan took place.

Billionaire investor George Soros bought an $811 million stake in Petroleo Brasileiro SA in the second quarter, making the Brazilian state-controlled oil company his investment fund’s largest holding.

Just how this squares with the campaign rhetoric from Barack Obama about corporate welfare, and reducing the use of fossil fuels and separating himself from special interests is simple. It doesn’t.

As to why Obama would sanction such a thing is also simple.  Everybody gets their payback in Obama’s administration. Especially the  lobbyists he said he would distance himself from when he was a candidate. You simply have to wait your turn. AIG, Freddie and Fannie, Wall Street, the UAW, trial lawyers, and now major contributor George Soros.

Here’s an idea: Let American companies do what Obama is paying Brazilian companies to do — drill offshore. We won’t have to pay them money or float them any loans to do it, either. In fact, we will make money off of the leases, while the effort creates hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs in the US, creating more tax revenue rather than emptying out the Treasury.

You would think that, at a time when this administration is spending our grandchildren’s future in order to remake America (his words) and ‘rescue’ our economy, that making a deal like this to a foreign company that has the resources to go it alone would find its way into the mainstream media. Apparently, only when a Republican is in The White House.

Media, Politics, Race Relations

MSNBC, Propaganda Wing Of The West Wing

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It’s really a shame that there are viewers of MSNBC that think it is a reputable news outlet. It is an outlet, but a circular muscle comes to mind when you consider what comes out of it.

Yesterday in Phoenix Arizona, there was a rally outside a place where President Obama was speaking. And Arizona happens to be an ‘open-carry’ state, which means anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry it in public as long as it’s visible. A permit is required if the weapon is carried concealed.

Watch how the man carrying handguns at his side and an AR-15 over his shoulder is edited so tightly that you can’t tell that the guy is black. Then listen to reporterette, Contessa Brewer, suggesting that the people carrying guns are white racists.

there are questions about whether this has a racial overtones [sic] I mean here you have a man of color in the presidency and white people showing up with guns strapped to their waists, or to their legs.


In true David Axlerod style, make up whatever you can, including the race card, to discredit anyone that disagrees with Obama’s policies. GE, through all its so-called news subsidiaries is nothing more than the propaganda wing of the West Wing.

Below are pictures of the man shown in the video, who is clearly a white man, with guns strapped to him.

Guy with Assault Rifle 1

Guy with Assault Rifle 2

h/t Patterico’s Pontifications | Newsbusters

Media, Politics, Russia

A Diplomatic Smackdown In Russia

Correction: The video below is not what it appears to be. There was no diplomatic smackdown. I refer you to Snopes.

So do I delete the post altogether, or leave it as it is now to show that the video is a production of some dishonest folks out there (imagine that)?

The Lunch Counter is big enough to recognize when a mistake has been made and the truth should always be given the utmost respect. Therefore, the post will remain in its current form to shed the light on what is true.

Ross

Here’s an interesting 13 second clip of President Obama’s attempt at hitting the RESET button in Russian foreign relations. It amounts to nothing less than a political smackdown for the United States. Despite what The White House website has to say about it.


Looks like the Russians were not impressed with candidate Obama’s world tour during his campaign last year or with his apology tour following his election.

It is also the first time in my memory that our President was ever treated with such disrespect. The problem is, it wasn’t just a setback for him as President, it is a setback for us as a nation. He has his work cut out for him where Russia is concerned.

Unless you were watching it live, did you see this in the news?

Media, Politics

Obamacare Polling Questions You Won't See

Getting beyond the generic polling questions that appeal to the emotional aspect of the health care bill and who should be responsible for your health care, here are some polling questions that you probably won’t see anywhere else and which would, if asked, evoke a different result.

Keep in mind that anyone that questions the President’s plan is now labeled as un-American and part of organized angry mobs.

For a community organizer, President Obama isn’t acting very presidential by discounting over half the population he is supposed to represent. To put it another way, as President, he is acting more like a community organizer than  President of the United States.

The sad thing surrounding H.R. 3200 is that its opponents know more about what is in the bill than the President himself, most members of congress, and the mainstream media. Quoting the President himself, it’s what happens when bills get rushed through congress.

  1. Would you be strongly in favor of or strongly opposed to the provision on Page 59 in the health care bill that allows the government computer access to your bank records to transfer money from your account to their account to pay for whatever they think you owe?
  2. Are you strongly in favor or strongly opposed to the provision on Page 16 of the bill that would force you out of your private insurance plan?
  3. Are you strongly in favor of or strongly opposed to the provision on Page 30, Sec. 123  that sets up a Government committee, instead of you and your family and your doctor, to decide what treatments and benefits a person may receive?
  4. Are you strongly in favor of or strongly opposed to the provision on Page 50, Sec 152 that says that U.S. citizenship may not be used as a qualification for participation?

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Learn more about what is in the bill by looking at the bill.

Economy, Media, Politics

Is It Really About Health Care?

Polls show most Americans want lower health care costs. Polls also show most Americans are satisfied with the health care plan they currently have. That’s why the Obama administration has shifted the focus to health insurance instead.

This administration is hopping from one bogus justification for socializing nearly 20% or our private sector to the next, hoping that something will stick.

He started by saying that the economy can not recover unless his health care plan, H.R. 3200, is passed first. That the health care industry is the cause for our economic woes. A ridiculous assumption that the media never questioned. How serious could Obama be about reducing the cost of health care when tort reform remains conspicuously missing?

Then, the economy is in such dire straits that this bill has to be passed right away. Right away, as in before anyone finds out what’s in it.

And to a different audience he says Americas factories are ‘coming back to life.’  “We have stopped the freefall . . . [t]he market is up and the financial system is no longer on the verge of collapse. . . We’re losing jobs at half the rate we were when I took office six months ago. . . We may be seeing the beginning of the end of the recession.”

Playing both sides of the issue has been perfected in the Democratic party. While the Obama media sits by and marvels at it.

From what the President is saying, it sounds to me that the best thing he could do for the economy now is to stop the deficit spending.  Aside from seeking private sector solutions to reducing health care costs and increasing availability, saving 90% of  the ‘stimulus’ spending (only 10% of it has been spent so far) would be the best thing he could do to help the economy.

Media, Organized Labor, Politics

Political Tacticts Of The Left, Page 2, 'Health Care'

In the previous post, I document the tactics that the Obama administration is using, basically lying to the American people, to advance their disastrous health care reform bill, which has deftly shifted to health insurance reform.

That shift is not by accident. That shift is focus group tested. Why? Basically the reason is that most Americans are satisfied with the health care plans they have, and don’t want Obama or the government to mess it up, hence the angry citizens at town hall meetings trying to defend and protect what they have and to voice their objection to the whole socialist v private sector war that the administration is waging.

So, they need a better boogeyman to demonize, the insurance companies. Ahhh yes, that’s it, BIG INSURANCE. Who hasn’t had a bad experience of some sort with an insurance carrier at some time in their life? By shifting to this second ‘front’ in their ‘campaign,’ they hope to, and probably will, fool more people into thinking that Obama feels their pain and he is going to make it better. Fact is, the dumb masses out there won’t even notice this shift in strategy. You can depend on the media ignoring it as well.

Dutifully carrying the water for the administration’s bogus claim that that these protesters are astroturf and organized by BIG INSURANCE, and at the same time ignoring the truly organized effort to quell dissent, another paragraph on page 2 of their playbook is, don’t respond to the objections specifically, instead, paint them as evil agents of BIG INSURANCE.

The media won’t mention this union backed and union organized effort. To wit . . .

Our response is shaped by 3 things:

  • Our targets are Members of Congress who must vote “yes” for this bill. Our targets are not the rightwing extremists. The targets of these attacks are Members of Congress. Those Members are also our targets.
    We need to use these attacks as opportunities to work with the Members in ways that build our relationship in the field and bring us together as allies in health care reform. Members may be more receptive to partnering
    with us if they know we will help them combat the opposition.
  • Our core message is effective, and we should always come back to it. Our campaign plan has always anticipated opposition. No matter what the right-wingers bring up to distract the debate, we should always circle back to our key message. We are on the side of quality, affordable health care for everyone, and we are against turning over health care reform to the insurance companies and lobbyists who got us into this mess to begin with. We need to educate the press and the public that the protesters are aligned with the corporate lobbyists and insurance companies who are trying to stop reform.
  • Our ability to put the extremists into perspective helps us frame our narrative. We should be prepared to respond to the other side, but we don’t need to be reactive or feel pressure to answer their accusations point by point. Instead, we should treat them as agents of the insurance lobbyists who want to maintain the status quo. We can dismiss their radical rhetoric by circling back to the basic things that we know most people care about— affordability, access, and quality.

In many cases, protestors will show up at events or meetings you don’t organize but are participating in as an attendee or sponsor. You can still influence the outcome of these events or meetings, and it’s important for HCAN organizers and leaders to be ready to encounter these protesters in order to make sure that our volunteers and activists respond appropriately as well as capitalize on opportunities to also move our message, work with Members, and educate the public.

{emphasis added}

related link: The AFL-CIO and HCAN Plan Townhall Counterattack

Economy, Media, Politics

Left-Wing Conspiracy Or S.O.P.?

Maybe not a conspiracy, just more of the same lies that the political Left has been engaged in for years, aided and abetted by the media.

The nexus of the left-leaning media and the most liberal senator in the Senate was instrumental in getting him elected. Their ignoring his radical past and relationships with anarchists like William Ayers and Saul Alinsky, and the media’s discounting anyone who would bring that up as right-wing tinfoil hatters is all that it took. Now the most liberal senator is America’s most liberal president. And his agenda is antithetical to the founding of this country. 2008 was the year that the media watchdog died.

An observer of politics who is old enough to remember sees that, just like his Democrat predecessor Bill Clinton, the campaign did not stop after the election. Governance in Democrat administrations includes attacking anyone, regular citizens (half the country) and elected officials, that disagree with them. The difference is that the Clinton administration didn’t lie to advance their agenda. They just lied to protect their butt from prosecution.

Today, despite audio/video of President Obama clearly articulating his intentions to labor union audiences regarding single-payer health care, and the end of private sector health care, the administration is claiming right-wing conspiracy again, that he was taken out of context. It was not out of context. It was the context.

Now, on The White House’s website, the President is asking for names of citizens who are voicing their objections to his policies. Paramount of those objections is his race to socialism via a single-payer health care system, with Cash for Clunkers a close second. If you don’t think that this is exactly his purpose of having ‘citizen soldiers,’ with as much or greater funding than our military, then you need to remove your blinders.

And it doesn’t stop there. Try this from the Democratic National Committee.

Home is where we’re strongest. We didn’t win last year’s election together at a committee hearing in D.C. We won it on the doorsteps and the phone lines, at the softball games and the town meetings, and in every part of this great country where people gather to talk about what matters most. And if you’re willing to step up once again, that’s exactly where we’re going to win this historic campaign for the guaranteed, affordable health insurance that every American deserves.

Oh sorry. That was President Obama’s words. The following is from the DNC. Those dang Swiftboaters again. . . {who btw were never challenged, only attacked}

  1. These disruptions are being funded and organized by out-of-district special-interest groups and insurance companies . . .
  2. People are scared because they are being fed frightening lies.
  3. Their actions are getting more extreme.
  4. Their goal is to disrupt and shut down legitimate conversation.
  5. Republican leadership is irresponsibly cheering on the thuggish crowds.

Five lies the left can believe in.

If you’ve been following this administration closely, and I don’t mean just from what the mainstream media is saying, then you can see that being active in voicing your opinions and objections and exercising your First Amendment rights seem to only be patriotic when done by those on the Left. When done on the right, they are unruly mobs, with imagined, phony, made-up (astroturf?) anger. Does this look like phony and made-up anger to you?  VIDEO LINK

My personal experience is far different than what CNN and pMSNBC will describe. I’ve been to Tea Parties in Pensacola and just yesterday in Fort Walton Beach. If there ever was a grass roots movement, not motivated by special interests, but motivated by citizens that love their country and don’t want it going down the socialist path that this administration has laid out, this is it.

link: NWF Daily News

Economy, Immigration, Media, Politics

What's In The Health Care Bill?

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Here are some of the highlights of some of the change the President has in mind for our health care. Complete bill here.

{UPDATE 11/10/09: This is the old version, as of July 2009. The latest version is H.R. 3962. We’ll call it Obamacare v2.0. You’ve come here due to a net search. The latest incarnation of this is the one the House approved last Saturday night and is HERE.}

But first, the lead sentence of the bill H.R. 3200 .

To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans

and reduce the growth in health care spending, and

for other purposes.

‘Pan American’ would be a truthful description. That this bill is intended to cover only Americans is a deception that Democrats and their willing accomplices, the mainstream media, continue to perpetuate.

Below is some of the highlights from the first 500 pages.

Continue reading What's In The Health Care Bill? →

Economy, Immigration, Media, Politics

Obama's Pan American Health Care

Last Friday, Democrats in Washington were forced to show their hand when it comes to providing taxpayer-funded health care to millions of Mexican citizens, PG 50 Section 152 of H.R.3200. The House Ways and Means Committee nixed a Republican-backed amendment that would insure that whatever health care legislation comes out of Washington will not include health care for citizens of Mexico or any other country.

On Friday, Democrats moved one step closer to giving free health insurance to the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal aliens when they successfully defeated a Republican-backed amendment, offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., that would have prevented illegal aliens from receiving government-subsidized health care under the proposed plan backed by House Democrats and President Barack Obama.

The House Ways and Means Committee nixed the Heller amendment by a 26-to-15 vote along straight party lines, and followed this action by passing the 1,018-page bill early Friday morning by a 23-to-18 margin, with three Democrats voting against the plan.

Additionally, the Democrats are exempting illegals from paying the same penalty that would be assessed on US citizens for not participating in the government-run health care system. Short of amnesty, I can’t think of a better illegal alien magnet. Instead of removing incentives to illegals, they are supplying them.

Thanks to Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev) for introducing the legislation that forced Democrats to show their hand when it comes to illegal aliens.

As usual, the media gives this action little attention, paying more attention instead to what Obama and his administration is saying rather than to what it is actually doing.

The fact that Mexicans, if and when they are allowed to vote in the US, would be a solid Democrat voting block has not been overlooked by the Obama administration. Doing that is not an unintended consequence of ‘health care reform.’ It is, by design, politics by the numbers.

link: Citizenship Verification Should be Used for Government-Run Health Plan

Media, Politics

Has Palin Changed The Game?

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From a perspective of politics as usual, one could easily call her decision to pass the baton to her Lt. Governor a ‘misunderstanding‘ about governing.

What we know is, like it or not, Palin doesn’t do politics ‘as usual.’

I’ll go out on a limb and say what no media person has said yet. That, being driven by her love of country and her State, she is stepping out of political office so that she can get her message out without being a burden on Alaska in dealing with endless lawsuits.  Which, by the way, is what she said. The tide of media opinion suggests she can’t take the heat and is getting out of the kitchen. Fact is, her message resonates with conservatives, which is a smaller, less intrusive government, where capitalism and free markets, personal freedom and liberty will once again prevail. Her core beliefs are what is driving her. Not conventional politics. Her priorities are faith, family, and then her State, in that order. Essentially, it is all the things that the Obama administration, which only believes in an all powerful and controlling federal government, does not believe in.

There’s no reason to not believe the reason she gave for leaving, nor to doubt the sincerity with which she gave it. (Anyone see a teleprompter?) And I’d wager a guess that her not playing ‘politics as usual’ will give David Axelrod  Excedrin headache number 13 trillion. All the speculation from pundits of her cutting and running is misplaced, wishful thinking.

She hasn’t given up. She has changed the game.

You go girl.