Thursday, October 22, 2009

Rush Should Sue

Bob Parks believes Rush should sue.

I believe he should also, although I am agnostic on which individuals and/or businesses have met the legal definition of libel in this instance. (For one thing, I haven't seen everyone's comments in context.)

Aside from whatever satisfaction Rush might get from the experience (assuming that would outweigh the hassle factor), I think Rush would be doing a significant public service inasmuch as the news media is way, way too casual about throwing around false information. Yes, about conservatives, but generally as well. A few lawsuits might remind some reporters and editors that if they don't care about accuracy out of pride in a job well done, they might care about it to save their own bank balances.

E-mail comments to info@nationalcenter.org. | Subscribe to this blog's feed. | Follow the National Center for Public Policy Research on Twitter. | Download our book Shattered Lives: 100 Victims of Government Health Care.

Labels: Conservatives, Limbaugh, Media, Project 21, Race

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:13 AM

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Deneen Borelli to Appear on Fox and Friends

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli will be a guest on the Fox New Channel show "Fox and Friends" Monday, October 19. She is expecting to discuss the White House war on Fox News as well as left-wing pressure on the White House to adopt a second "stimulus" package.

If you want to tune in, you can catch her at approximately 6:15 AM Eastern.

Labels: Government Spending, Liberals, Media, Project 21, Race

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:08 PM

Friday, October 16, 2009

Inside the Beltway on Deneen Borelli

The Washington Times' popular Inside the Beltway column today is covering Project 21's Deneen Borelli's comments on Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson's attacks on Rush Limbaugh.

Written by Amy Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research. E-mail comments to info@nationalcenter.org. | Subscribe to this blog's feed. | Follow the National Center for Public Policy Research on Twitter. | Download our book Shattered Lives: 100 Victims of Government Health Care.

Labels: Media, Project 21, Race

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:30 AM

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Nobel Committee's Not-So Unanimous Selection of Obama

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Agence France Presse today reports that three of the Nobel Committee's five committee members had problems with awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama.

Nobel Committee Secretary Geir Lundestad, however, insists that the selection was unanimous.

This is doubtful, given that one of the members represents the free-market-oriented, unabashedly pro-Israel Progress Party. The party's leader, Siv Jensen, not only criticized the Nobel Committee's choice of Obama but called on its chairman, Thorbjoern Jaglund, to step down just one day after the committee's announcement. Although Jensen called for his resignation for a supposedly unrelated reason, the timing of her demand is interesting.

Lundestad wasn't being honest when he claimed "unanimous" vote as he neglected to mention that the Nobel Committee's selections are always "unanimous" -- even if such unanimity doesn't exist.

The Nobel Committee makes its decisions by "consensus" and the functionally-illiterate often use this interchangeably with "unanimous." Now you know why so many Norwegian parents are asking, "why can't Jens read?"

Just to make sure that no committee member challenges its "unanimous" claim, Nobel Committee rules prohibit them from speaking publicly about its proceedings.

Unanimous decision? It really depends on what your definition of "unamious" is.

Bill Clinton may not have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but it turns out the Nobel Committee has found another way to honor him.

Editor's note: We covered President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize previously here, here and here.

Written by David A. Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research. Write the author at info@nationalcenter.org. As we occasionally reprint letters on the blog, please note if you prefer that your correspondence be kept private, or only published anonymously.

Labels: Constitutional Law, Foreign Policy, Media, White House

Posted by David A. Ridenour at 4:48 PM

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

On Nobel Funds, Talking Points Memo Misses the More Interesting Story

Christina Bellantoni of Talking Points Memo reported Tuesday afternoon that as of then, according to Robert Gibbs, President Obama was still planning to donate the cash prize accompanying the Nobel Peace Prize to charity.

Because Obama is President of the United States, it is unconstitutional for him to accept the money (which includes taking control of it long enough to direct that it be re-routed to a charity) unless Congress specifically gives him permission to do so.

As explained here, this is governed by Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution.

Perhaps Talking Points Memo either doesn't realize the Nobel Committee is appointed by a foreign government, or it doesn't have a problem with foreign governments bestowing cash gifts on U.S. presidents (surely not), but either way, it missed a better story when it failed to ask Gibbs why the White House seems to be ignoring the Constitution on this.

Written by Amy Ridenour. E-mail comments to info@nationalcenter.org. | Subscribe to this blog's feed. | Follow the National Center for Public Policy Research on Twitter. | Download our book Shattered Lives: 100 Victims of Government Health Care.

Labels: Constitutional Law, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:18 AM

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Quote of Note: Nobel Peace Prize Winners in Perspective

"The list of Nobel peace laureates is not an especially august one. I've never heard of most of the people on it, and I'd bet you haven't either. So I have no comment on them. Then there are the perfectly ridiculous ones, the paradigmatic figure being the Guatemalan peasant, Rigobertu Menchu Tum, who literally invented her life, for which fabrication the custodians of the prize bestowed it on her.

Yasser Arafat -- well, yes, Yasser Arafat -- spent his life as a murderer, and he got a Nobel, too.

Kofi Annan received the Nobel as well. Perhaps for Bosnia, where he delayed an intervention by the West, and for Rwanda, where he literally prevented both the United Nations and the United States from intervening. I don't know what the Bosnian death toll attributable to him is. But we all know how many Tutsis were murdered in the Rwanda enormity. One million. The jackpot.

Frank B. Kellogg and Aristide Briand each became a Nobel Peace Laureate for designing an international treaty outlawing war. It was approved by all of the salient governments. Within a decade, however, the world had gone to war ... to World War II."

-Marty Peretz, "Obama Would Have Been Better Off Saying Simply 'I Am Not Worthy' or 'Nolo Episcopari'," The New Republic, October 11, 2009.

Labels: Europe, Media, Quotes

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:06 PM

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Andrew Breitbart is Wondering...

Andrew Breitbart is wondering why a guy named Conor Friedersdorf, who writes for the Atlantic and the Daily Beast, keeps writing about Breitbart but refuses to interview him.

C'mon! Friedersdorf works for the Atlantic, which this month is running a very long cover story complaining about U.S. interrogation techniques without giving roughly equal consideration to the question of how many lives may have been saved by these techniques.

This is the logical equivalent of complaining about the U.S. dropping atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki without examining the possibility that these horrific attacks may have saved more lives than they cost. Did no one from the Atlantic even notice that the other side of the question was entirely missing from its cover story?

(Lest readers think it unfair of me to drag Andrew Sullivan -- who wrote the cover story -- into this, be aware that he injected himself by putting an approving piece on his own Atlantic magazine blog about what Conor Friedersdorf has written about Breitbart.)

MSM writers often fail to fact-check. Just ask Slate's Timothy Noah, or better, the White House staffers who relied on Noah's research when crafting President Obama's recent health care speech to a joint session of Congress.

(Not that the White House speechwriters have the slightest excuse for not checking the original sources themselves.)

When Conor Friedersdorf writes about Andrew Breitbart without giving Breitbart the courtesy of a phone call to give his side of the story, it's really just business as usual for the MSM.

And that, ironically, is in part why so many people choose get their news from Breitbart.

(As a very off-the-subject side note, the Atlantic cover story on torture contains this sentence, intended as part of its condemnation of U.S. interrogation techniques: "But 48 days and nights with no more than four hours' sleep every 24, combined with stress positions, hypothermia, and forced nudity, push these nuances over a line any decent person would acknowledge." Aside from the hypothermia, this is a precise description of the two-month period during which I gave birth to twins.)

Labels: Defense, Health Care, Media, Retirement, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:02 AM

What's Happening Now

If All Nippon airways really wanted to reduce carbon emissions, it wouldn't ask its customers to pee; it would ask them to stay home.

Here's hoping the idiotic sports reporters who attacked Rush Limbaugh over his perfectly-appropriate Donovan McNabb comment in '03 gag on this news.

Which health insurer denies the most claims? Find out here.

Tell me again why the USA gives one penny to the United Nations.

Labels: Business, Climate, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, United Nations

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:01 AM

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Project 21's Bob Parks on Sirius and XM Satellite Radio This Wednesday

Project 21 member Bob Parks is scheduled to appear on the satellite talk radio program "Make It Plain with Mark Thompson" on Wednesday, October 7 at approximately 6:15 PM eastern for around 20 minutes.

The program can be heard on Sirius channel 146 ("Sirius Left") and XM channel 167 ("America Left"). Bob has been asked to talk about the Obama Administration's handling of the economy and Afghanistan.

Listeners can call into the show at (866) 99-SIRIUS.

This post was written by David Almasi, executive director of the National Center for Public Policy Research. Write the author at info@nationalcenter.org. As we occasionally reprint letters on the blog, please note if you prefer that your correspondence be kept private, or only published anonymously.

Labels: Media, Project 21, Race

Posted by David W. Almasi at 4:29 PM

Radio Day!

I'm having another of what I call "radio days."

If you live in one of the following cities and are so inclined, you can hear me talking about health care reform and our new book Shattered Lives: 100 Victims of Government Medicine on the following stations between now and 11 AM Eastern today:

WTAG Worcester, MA
0706 AM ET

KTRH Houston, TX
0733 AM ET

WOWO Fort Wayne, IN
0738 AM ET

WSYR Syracuse, NY
0820 AM ET

KVI Seattle, WA
0834AM ET

WOAI San Antonio, TX
0840 AM ET

KOGO San Diego, CA
0907AM ET

WHLO Akron, OH
0915 AM ET

WTAM Cleveland, OH
1030AM ET

Labels: Congress, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:00 AM

Saturday, October 03, 2009

It's Bush's Fault...

...Chicago didn't get to host the Olympics.

Don't blame me for saying it. I read it in the Chicago Sun-Times.

E-mail any comments to the National Center for Public Policy Research at info@nationalcenter.org.
Subscribe to this blog's feed.

Labels: Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 8:04 PM

Thursday, October 01, 2009

What's Happening Now

Tim Cavanaugh: Another fiscal year older, another $1.65 trillion in debt.

Michael van der Galien: Everybody loves clowns, right?

GE gets its payoff.

Jules Crittenden: Intelligence without experience is like knowing how roller skates work without ever having skated. (One guess who he's talking about.)

PhRMA spends $9.4 million more promoting left-wing health care "reform"; forgets left-wing health care means drugs gets rationed.

Patterico tries to get a Washington Post correction. Good luck with that.

British Christian hotel owners charged with criminal offense after discussing religion with Muslim guest.

E-mail any comments to the National Center for Public Policy Research at info@nationalcenter.org.
Subscribe to this blog's feed.

Labels: Defense, Europe, Foreign Policy, Government Health Care, Government Spending, Health Care, Media, Religion, Retirement, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:34 AM

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Quote of Note: Keep Newspapers Independent

"Newspapers are the heart of America's greatest publishing tradition - independent voices eager to expose official wrongdoing, to shine light in dark places, to speak for ordinary people. It is no exaggeration to say that newspapers were so crucial to public debate that the American Revolution might never have happened without them. From the Republic's earliest days, newspapers have been the watchdogs of the high and mighty, holding them to account, criticizing their actions, and even denigrating them, though usually with good reason. Policy decisions on wars, taxes, tariffs and debts have been routinely judged as well, and often even more harshly. John Jay, for example, who was one of the 'Publius' trio of authors of the Federalist Papers, once complained that he could travel at night by the light of his own burning effigies after signing the Jay Treaty of 1794 with Britain.

If newspapers become tax-exempt foundations, such independence will sooner or later be lost forever. The tax code bars such organizations from taking positions on legislation or endorsing candidates. Just as think tanks now are routinely threatened with loss of their tax status for getting too close to politics, so editors of every political stripe will find themselves at constant risk, forced to weigh the words of their editorials and news stories based on tax consequences rather than accuracy and merit. Even more ominously, the bill extends the offer of tax-free status to newspapers only so long as they remain 'necessary or valuable in achieving an educational purpose.' No genius is required to figure out who will define what is an appropriate educational purpose."

-Editorial, "No government bailout for newspapers," Washington Examiner, October 1, 2009

Labels: Media, Taxes

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:31 PM

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Project 21's Bob Parks Discusses Health Care Policy on BET Special This Sunday

Project 21 member Bob Parks has taped a panel discussion on health care policy that is scheduled to air on Black Entertainment Television this Sunday, September 27, at 9:00 PM eastern.

Bob participated in BET's "Critical Condition: What's at Stake in Health Care Reform" with White House Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes and Representatives James Clyburn (D-SC) and Maxine Waters (D-CA).

You can read Bob's comments about the taping of the show by clicking here.

Check your local listings for BET on cable. BET is available on channel 230 on Fios, channel 124 on Dish Network and channel 329 on DirecTV.

Editor's note: BlackNews.com has published a story about the broadcast, which can be accessed here.

Written by David Almasi, executive director of the National Center for Public Policy Research. Write the author at info@nationalcenter.org. As we occasionally reprint letters on the blog, please note if you prefer that your correspondence be kept private, or only published anonymously.

Labels: Congress, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Project 21, Race

Posted by David W. Almasi at 12:53 AM

Friday, September 25, 2009

Project 21's Borelli to Discuss ACORN on Fox

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli is scheduled to appear on Fox & Friends on Saturday morning, September 26 at 9:50 AM Eastern.

The topic is on the undercover filmmakers who investigated ACORN and whether they should be prosecuted.

Labels: Media, Project 21, Race, Scandals

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:50 PM

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Conservatives Take Social Networking to the Next Level

Though my musings are often posted here, on a blog -- a quintessential tool of the web savvy Gen Y-er -- I am really no more than a troglodyte, blessed to be surrounded by many kind, helpful, computer nerd friends and co-workers. My level of personal internet knowledge is about that of a hound's understanding of pancakes, they're good, but just as the hound would rather chase birds than learn the intricacies of a griddle (indulge me as I ignore the obvious lack of opposable thumbs for the purposes of this tenuous metaphor), I often find myself engaged in other endeavors besides exploring the inner workings of Al Gore's much heralded brainchild. For, despite my relative youth, I am a representation of the type of conservative that needs to pull her act together and jump on the internet/social networking/online media bandwagon.

Many already have. The vast swarms of patriotic Americans who showed up for Tea Parties and Townhall events around the country used networking tools like Facebook and Twitter to communicate, organize and coordinate. Their efforts yielded tremendous results and will serve as a model for future ventures. While many may argue that it was the passion fueled by representatives' deafness to constituent appeals and the Obama/Pelosi/Reid government's odious infringements on American liberty, the Internet's ability to connect people drove a large portion of the movement's success.

It is a relief to see the conservative movement embrace these new methods of communication. During the 2008 election Barack Obama and his youthful disciples were experts at manipulating the Internet to manage their movement and garner popularity. Conservatives, it appears, are catching up and taking the directive a step farther. This week, the Washington Times and the Heritage Foundation gave new meaning to bringing "power to the people" with the launch of a new website that does just that, only online, TheConservatives.com. Using various multimedia communication and information gathering applications, TheConservatives.com is a one-stop-shop for political research, networking, and debate.

The site's architects hope to use the site as a way to proliferate knowledge and facilitate connections among not just the conservative/independent hoi polloi, but also leaders in positions of power. John Solomon, executive editor and vice president for content of The Times expressed his enthusiasm:

TheConservatives.com creates a cutting-edge new marriage between the social publishing world of bloggers and the social networking world of Twitter, YouTube and the like. Most opinion sites today enable thought-leaders to talk down to the masses, but TheConservatives.com empowers users to change the direction of that dialogue, allowing the Joe the Plumbers of the world to speak up to major thinkers, like Newt Gingrich.

Conservatives continue to make great inroads in the world of Internet organization. While we conservatives were working, raising families, and going to church the left leapt ahead early on to harness the political power of the Internet. Now that we are catching up, conservatives can and will do it better -- as perhaps demonstrated by innovative TheConservatives.com.

I for one resolve to join this new site and become an expert on all things Internet... Join me!

Written by Caroline May, policy analyst at the National Center for Public Policy Research. Write the author at info@nationalcenter.org. As we occasionally reprint letters on the blog, please note if you prefer that your correspondence be kept private, or only published anonymously.

Labels: Conservatives, Media

Posted by Caroline May at 12:01 AM

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Project 21's Deneen Borelli on "Hannity" on Thursday Night, "America's Newsroom" on Friday Morning

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli is scheduled to appear on two Fox News Channel panels later this week, discussing the pressing issues of that day.

On Thursday night, September 24, Deneen will be a member of Sean Hannity's "Great American Panel." "Hannity" airs at 9:00 PM eastern.

On Friday morning, September 25, Deneen will participate in a similar panel-style discussion on "America's Newsroom" at approximately 9:30 AM.

The topics of both panels will depend on the headlines at the time.

Check your local listings for Fox News Channel on cable. Fox News is available on channel 118 on Fios, channel 205 on Dish Network and channel 360 on DirecTV.

Editor's note: Deneen's appearance on the September 25 show has been changed to 10:45 AM Eastern.

Labels: Media, Project 21, Race

Posted by David W. Almasi at 11:44 PM

Monday, September 21, 2009

AFRO: One-on-One with Deneen Borelli

Danyel Jones of AFRO interviewed Project 21's Deneen Borelli.

You can read his interview here.

Labels: Media, Project 21, Race

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:46 PM

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Deneen Borelli to be on Fox and Friends Monday

Project 21's full-time fellow, Deneen Borelli, will be a guest Monday morning on the Fox New Channel's Fox & Friends show.

Deneen will appear at approximately 6:15 AM Eastern. She is scheduled to discuss President Obama's lackluster reaction to the ongoing ACORN scandal as well as the Obama Administration's Department of Justice's investigation of the CIA.

As noted here Saturday, Deneen also will be a guest of the nationally-syndicated G. Gordon Liddy radio show on Monday at noon Eastern and on the Great American panel on the September 24 9-10 PM Eastern Hannity Show on the Fox News Channel, among other upcoming appearances.

Posted by Amy Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research. E-mail comments to info@nationalcenter.org.
Subscribe to this blog's feed.

Labels: Defense, Media, Project 21, Race, Radio, Scandals, Terrorism, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:30 PM

Saturday, September 19, 2009

G. Gordon Liddy to Interview Black Conservative Deneen Borelli

Project 21's Deneen Borelli will be a guest on the national G. Gordon Liddy radio program Monday, September 21, at noon Eastern.

The Liddy Show archives interviews online, so if you are a hard-working taxpayer who can't listen in live, you can catch it later here.

Momentarily walking down memory lane, I recall that when Project 21 was first formed in 1992, Gordon Liddy was one of the first major talk show hosts to interview its members. He hosted several Project 21 members in a roundtable-style discussion in his studio, covering a variety of issues, not least of which was the hypocritically intolerant and unacceptably hostile way (my terms) the left treats black Americans who choose to believe in free markets.

Seventeen years later, the left still can't stand it when a black American holds an opinion contrary to those of the socialist left.

As noted earlier, in other upcoming major interviews, the Fox News Channel has also booked Deneen for an appearance Sunday, September 20 at 11:05 AM Eastern and Deneen will appear on the Great American panel on the September 24 Hannity Show on the Fox News Channel.

Labels: Conservatives, Media, Project 21, Race

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:57 PM

Friday, September 18, 2009

Media Matters Attacks Me as "Nativist" for Criticism of Andrew Sullivan

Got attacked by Media Matters today for what I wrote here (I also cross-posted it at Newsbusters, where you can leave a comment if you like).

Media Matters regards me as "nativist" because I expressed discomfort with Andrew Sullivan involving himself extensively in U.S. domestic affairs while retaining his British citizenship and not making it clear that he has done so.

I wrote, in part:

Would a little disclaimer once in a while of the I'm-telling-you-how-to-vote-but-be-aware-if-I-ever-get-drafted-it-won't-be-the-U.S.-Army's-unform-I-wear variety really have gone amiss?

Because the team a writer is playing for actually is important information for a reader to know.

Media Matters didn't mention me saying that Sullivan should include a disclaimer occasionally. It's not as if I called for Sullivan to be deported.

Media Matters also complained that in June I quoted Mark Steyn saying that the only way to reduce health care costs is to have less of it. You see, Mark Steyn is Canadian. Unlike Sullivan, though, Steyn frequently mentions this. I've been reading Sullivan since the mid-1980s and I had the impression he became an American a long time ago. When Sullivan writes phrases such as "our nation's history," referring to the USA, is it strange that I thought so?

Anyway, my original comments are here. You can read them and decide for yourself if I'm "harken[ing] back to the good old days of Know-Nothingism and immigration quotas" and believe "Sullivan shouldn't be trusted because he's a 'foreigner,'" as Media Matters says.

Labels: Liberals, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 9:19 PM

Quote of Note: Crybabies

"They are the biggest bunch of crybabies I have worked with in my 30 years in Washington."

-Fox News Sunday Host Chris Wallace, O'Reilly Factor, September 18, 2009, referring to officials of the Obama Administration, who appear to take media criticism personally

Labels: History, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 8:09 PM

A Tasteless Display of Drivel

The thematic mantra emanating from the Obama administration this week has been a general lamentation of the "coarsening of our political dialogue."

So you can imagine my shock and indignation, while commuting to work on the Washington Metro this morning, when my attention wandered from the dulcet tones of Mark Levin's podcast commentary and my eyes focused on an inflammatory back page advertisement in the Washington Post Company's daily tabloid Express. Sponsored by a website called Avaaz.org, the ad featured a large picture of former Vice President Dick Cheney with the caption "Could this be Al Qaeda's best recruiter?" followed by "Close Guantanamo. End Torture. Investigate All Abuses."

Sufficiently angered by the disrespect shown to not only one of the country's most effective Vice Presidents but also the men and women of our armed services and intelligence agencies (all of whom have kept the nation safe and protect the very rights permitting such contemptible displays), upon finally arriving to work, I quickly signed on to my Internet browser for a bit of Nancy Drew investigation. Here are my findings:

Avaaz.org advertises itself as "a community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world today. The aim of Avaaz.org is to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decisions." That is, to ensure a voice for the views and values of the world's people who promote provocative activism on such issues as human rights (especially as they pertain to that bastion of evil - the USA), ending the war in Iraq, and global warming... Your basic liberal nightmare group.

The ad that disturbed me so much this morning apparently is part of a metro billboard campaign the group is sponsoring "to remind policymakers that torture is illegal, unethical and a top recruiting tool for the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network." The group's website says the ads will be running at the Farragut North Metro Station and in Washington papers.

In addition to the tasteless display of drivel to which I was treated this morning, there will be other editions of the ads. One has Osama bin Laden in an "I love Gitmo" t-shirt (in the wake of bin Laden's recent endorsement of Carter's book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," it might be more fitting to feature the terrorist in an "I love Jimmy Carter" t-shirt) and another quotes from President Obama and Senator John McCain.

Though these ads appear to have a limited scope, due to the group's D.C. focus, they are nonetheless disturbing and deserve a response. The MoveOn.org General Petraeus "General Betray Us" advertisement in the New York Times two years ago garnered mass condemnation by a wide variety of powerful political leaders. We ought to demand a similar response to these Avaaz.org ads. Any less is an insult to those who fight each and every day to maintain our freedom to even have a commute.

This post was written by Caroline May, policy analyst at the National Center for Public Policy Research. Write the author at info@nationalcenter.org. As we occasionally reprint letters on the blog, please note if you prefer that your correspondence be kept private, or only published anonymously.

Labels: Defense, Liberals, Media, Terrorism

Posted by Caroline May at 4:28 PM

Washington Times Talk Radio Debuts

This afternoon, I was the first guest of the first broadcast of the new Washington Times Association Talk Radio show with host Chris Murch.

We discussed health care reform and the National Center for Public Policy Research's new book, Shattered Lives: 100 Victims of Government Health Care.

Based on what I heard today, it is a promising new show. You can listen live or to its archives via the Internet here.

Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 4:26 PM

What's Happening Now

No independent thought tolerated: A sample of the abuse black conservatives routinely receive.

Polish newspaper: "Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back."

Czech newspaper: "An ally we rely on has betrayed us, and exchanged us for its own, better relations with Russia, of which we are rightly afraid."

Lauri Regan/American Thinker: "Missile defense Obama will ditch, but General Electric he'll enrich?"

Timothy Carney/Washington Examiner: Obama helps strengthen General Electric-Putin ties.

ACORN to file criminal complaint. (H/T The Other McCain)

Speaking of ACORN, defend Glenn Beck.

The Max Baucus money trail. (Is it that expensive to run in Montana?)

John McCain IDs "certainly the worst President of the 20th Century."

Labels: Defense, Europe, Foreign Policy, FreeEnterpriseProject, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Project 21, Race, Scandals

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:41 PM

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Andrew Sullivan, Domestic Foreigner

The Atlantic is telling the world its own Andrew Sullivan is the 9th most influential commentator in the United States, which is hogwash (or did I miss the nation following Andrew Sullivan's obsession with Sarah Palin's last pregnancy?).

The Atlantic's often-silly list (Paul Krugman is #1!) is not completely without value, however, as it provides a cautionary tale of how foolish we can look when we pretend there is no such thing as a conflict of interest.

But back to Andrew Sullivan.

Why has a man who is not a citizen of the United States been commenting on U.S. domestic policy for the last couple of decades as if he had a citizen's stake in the nation? As Robert Stacy McCain, Ace, Patterico, Ann Althouse, Glenn Reynolds and others have reported (somewhat incidentally, given the more interesting scandal with intriguing implications to which their attention was primarily directed), after a couple of decades of telling us how to arrange our domestic affairs (in more ways than one), Sullivan's retained his foreign citizenship, at least until whenever his upcoming citizenship hearing is.

Way back in the days when Andrew Sullivan was still a 20-something toiling for the New Republic, I took a phone call from a pollster during a major British election while at a friend's house in London. As I was keenly interested in the outcome of the election, I was sorely tempted to assist my favored candidate with a miniscule poll bump. But I kept my opinions to myself and told the pollster, that, as I am an American, I have no business influencing Britain's internal political processes as if I were a British subject.

Sullivan took a different course. He has been happy to tell Americans how to vote while owing his allegiance to a foreign power. (I don't see a disclaimer on the linked page anywhere, do you?)

A bio of Sullivan I found in a source he presumably approved (an employer, not the often-fictional Wikipedia) doesn't mention his citizenship either way (beyond the fact that he was born and raised in England, a fact he does mention reasonably often), but it does say he testified before the U.S. Congress on domestic legislation as early as 1996. He may have testified as a neutral expert and taken no position on the legislation, but seeing as how the bill was the Defense of Marriage Act, I'm not going to bet on it. And an article Sullivan penned for the October Atlantic entitled "Dear President Bush" is topped by a paragraph including the phrase "our nation's history" (referring to the United States of America), starts with Sullivan saying to the most recent President Bush, "I supported your presidential campaign in 2000, as I did your father's in 1988," and includes the words "the America I love and have made my home."

I ask you, are these activities and phrases that could lead a reasonable reader to believe Andrew Sullivan, domestic commentator, had become an American? And was advising us as one?

Would a little disclaimer once in a while of the I'm-telling-you-how-to-vote-but-be-aware-if-I-ever-get-drafted-it-won't-be-the-U.S.-Army's-unform-I-wear variety really have gone amiss?

Because the team a writer is playing for actually is important information for a reader to know.

Next time I'm in London I suppose I'll answer the pollster (though given that the two biggest parties these days are both run by climate-deluded NHS vote whores, I can't imagine endorsing either one of them). So what if I have no allegiance to the Queen?

Cross-posted at Newsbusters, where comments are enabled

Labels: Liberals, Media, Scandals

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:03 PM

What's Happening Now

Even the anecdotes are lies. (Does this White House vet anything?)

Would you support a sex tax to pay for Obama's health care reform?

When a health care system has other priorities: "We were told to wrap him in a blanket and let him die."

How the poor cheat the IRS.

Scott Johnson: Who is lower, ACORN or the New York Times?

538: Baucus compromise draws enthusiastic support of Senator Max Baucus.

Obama Treasury Department admits: Cap-and-trade a huge energy tax.

This time, it's caribou: The left is trying to regulate energy using the Endangered Species Act again.

David Harsanyi: Conservatives have never opposed a president before. (So it must be racism.)

Congratulations to Mark Levin. (I'm one of the million.)

Labels: Climate, Congress, Energy, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Project 21, Race, Taxes, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:46 AM

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Project 21's Deneen Borelli on "Fox and Friends" on Friday Morning to Discuss Race and Obama Opposition

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli is scheduled to appear on the "Fox and Friends" program on the Fox News Channel on Friday September 18 at approximately 6:20 AM eastern.

Deneen has been asked to discuss the issue of race and opposition to the Obama Administration agenda. Deneen's comments on the issue of race and Obama in light of former President Jimmy Carter's comments on the issue can be found here.

Last Saturday, Deneen spoke at the 9/12 rally on the Capitol grounds. Coverage of her speech can be found here.

Check your local listings for BBCAmerica on cable. BBCAmerica is available on channel 118 on Fios, channel 205 on Dish Network and channel 360 on DirecTV.

Labels: Media, Project 21, Protests, Race, White House

Posted by David W. Almasi at 11:09 PM

Project 21's Deneen Borelli on BBCAmerica Wednesday Night to Discuss Race and Obama Opposition

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli is scheduled to appear on the "BBC World News America on the BBCAmerica channel on Wednesday September 16 at 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM eastern.

Deneen has been asked to discuss the issue of race and opposition to the Obama Administration agenda. Deneen was a speaker at the 9/12 rally on the Capitol grounds this past Saturday. Coverage of her speech can be found here.

Deneen's comments on the issue of race and Obama in light of former President Jimmy Carter's comments on the issue can be found here.

Check your local listings for BBCAmerica on cable. BBCAmerica is available on channel 189 on Fios, channel 135 on Dish Network and channel 264 on DirectTV.

Labels: Conservatives, Liberals, Media, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by David W. Almasi at 6:35 PM

Sunday, September 13, 2009

AP Quotes Deneen Borelli's Tea Party Speech

Deneen Borelli's Tea Party speech begins at 3:30 on this video

An Associated Press story has quoted the Washington DC Tea Party speech of Deneen Borelli, who is a full-time Fellow of the Project 21 black leadership network.

Said the AP:

...Race also became an issue when a black Republican leader denounced African-American politicians that she said had an "affinity" for socialism.

"I'm outraged prominent black politicians use the race card" to cover up their failed policies, said Deneen Borelli of New York...

I have no clue why the AP referred to Deneen as a "Republican leader." Project 21 is completely non-partisan. I've worked with Deneen for years, and I don't even know if she is a Republican.

Some of my favorite lines from Deneen's remarks:

...I will not sit silently and allow our critics to say our cause is about race and that we are a bunch of rednecks.

Hey, Janeane Garofalo, my neck isn't red!

Speaking of race, I am outraged that prominent black politicians are using the race card to deflect attention from their failed policies and leadership. I’m also stunned that black politicians have an affinity for socialism....

...The goal of cap-and-tax is to force Americans to use less energy by making it more expensive. The consequences of higher energy prices will be devastating: it will reduce our disposable income and our standard of living; it will lead to jobs loses when manufacturing jobs move overseas [and] it will reduce economic growth. That's why cap-and-tax is a ball and chain for all Americans, but especially for low-income households. It’s an energy policy that will enslave all of us...

The complete AP story can be read here.

Labels: Climate, Media, Project 21, Protests, Race, Socialism

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 2:26 AM

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

What's Happening Now

Penny Starr: Obama pitched health care to young people in audience before his national speech to students.

Rich Noyes: How media covered HillaryCare. Look familiar?

Michael Barone: The convenient fantasies of President Obama.

Prohibition coming back -- but in Britain? (H/T JunkScience.com)

When do the hearings begin? (H/T Devon Carlin)

We were wrong, says Commonwealth Foundation.

Labels: Education, Government Health Care, Government Spending, Health Care, History, Media, Retirement, Taxes, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:08 PM

Steve Milloy on O'Reilly Factor Discussing Relationship Between GE, NBC and White House

Steve Milloy, author of the 2009 book Green Hell, proprietor of the Green Hell and Junk Science websites and co-director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project, was the first guest on the O'Reilly Factor Monday evening.

The topic: The mutual support system between General Electric, NBC News, the left-wing environmental movement and the Obama Administration.

The discussion included an August 19 email by a GE vice chairman saying "The intersection between GE's interests and government action is clearer than ever," among other things. The e-mail made it clear GE supports climate legislation for its own financial benefit, and is working hard to see it enacted.

The August 19 email also makes clear that the company is making campaign contributions as part of its strategy to see the enactment of legislation from which it can benefit financially.

For more information on the August 19 email, see Timothy Carner's article in the Washington Examiner, "Leaked E-mail Shows How GE Puts the Government to Work for GE."

Hat tip to ConservativeNewMedia for posting the video on YouTube.

Labels: Climate, Congress, Environment, FreeEnterpriseProject, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 8:34 AM

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

What's Happening Now

"Beyond Petroleum" finds some. What to do?

39 fallacies about health care.

Cash for Clunkers spent $3 billion to save $375 million. More here.

I agree with Elliot Spitzer. Yikes.

GQ runs story connecting Vladimir Putin to terrorism within Russia, then bans story's publication in Russia. Conflicted?

NY Times news story shows jobs being killed when wages are mandated to be higher. Does the Times editorial page read the news section?

Just for fun: A huge snake. (Click on pic to see detail.)

Labels: Foreign Policy, Media, Minimum Wage, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 9:34 PM

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Dr. Bernadine Healy on Health Care Reform

Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the Red Cross, has some interesting insights in this quick (3:35) Q&A on the President's health care proposal in this interview provided by her current employer, U.S. News and World Report.

E-mail any comments to the National Center for Public Policy Research at info@nationalcenter.org. | Subscribe to this blog's feed. | Follow on Twitter.

Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:26 AM

Friday, September 04, 2009

ABC Won't Air Anti-ObamaCare Ad, But a Double-Standard is in Play

ABC and NBC are refusing to air a commercial critical of Obama's vision to remake health care as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Uncle Sam, but ABC's reasons for doing so don't stand up to scrutiny.

The ad, created by the League of American Voters, features neurosurgeon Dr. Mark J. Cuffe warning about threats posed by government-run health care such as rationing and limits on medical innovation. The commercial can be viewed above or by clicking here.

For reasons of full disclosure, be advised that League executive director Bob Adams is a former National Center for Public Policy Research employee. He did not, however, solicit this posting and my discovery of his link to the organization came after I was already appalled by ABC's duplicity.

According to a report posted on FoxNews.com, both ABC and NBC are refusing to run the ad nationally in its present form. In particular, ABC spokeswoman Susan Sewell said in a statement: "The ABC Television Network has a long-standing policy that we do not sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial public issue... Just to be clear, this is a policy for the entire network, not just ABC News." NBC might accept a revised version of the ad.

The ad is running on local affiliates of ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.

Former Clinton Administration political advisor Dick Morris, who is now helping out the League of American Voters, disputed ABC's assertion of impartiality. He said: "It's the ultimate act of chutzpah because ABC is the network that turned itself over completely to Obama for a daylong propaganda fest about health care reform... For them to be pious and say they will not accept advertising on health care shuts their viewers out from any possible understanding of both sides of this issue."

In fact, during ABC's June 24 White House event in which Obama was able to lay out his health care agenda with virtually no opposition from a small and select audience, the network did air an ad from PhRMA - the pharmaceutical lobby group that is a strong proponent of ObamaCare. It also ran an ad from Health Economy Now, a coalition made up of PhRMA, labor unions and special interest groups that is also backing ObamaCare.

It seems there is a double-standard at ABC as to what constituted partisan activity. And yet they insist they are being objective.

The National Center has been tracking national advertisers of ABC's daily "World News" program all summer as well as its specials on health care and oil. You can find a list of these sponsors and their contact information here. Write or call those sponsors. Tell them what you think of a network that restricts the ability of both sides of an issue to make their case.

In the commercial, Dr. Cuffe warned that what he feared might happen here under Obamacare is already happening in places such as Canada and England. The National Center recently published a compilation of stories of people denied proper and efficient care under government-run health care schemes abroad that can be downloaded for free by going here.

Labels: Business, Conservatives, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Retirement

Posted by David W. Almasi at 10:24 PM

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

What's Happening Now

Medicare proves it: Government-run health care leads to fraud.

A heartbreaking story.

Buycott party: Steak on the grill and salads from Whole Foods. We did it Sunday.

If you love Soviet art, you'll love this.

Looks like Hugo Chavez is trying to do to Pfizer what Pfizer, by supporting ObamaCare, is trying to do to us.

Canada cuts a deal.

Rationing may get worse in Britain.

More on the Swedish media's blood libel.

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Labels: Europe, Human Rights, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 8:11 AM

The Ad ABC Won't Run

Here's the health care ad ABC refuses to run.

Wondering who ABC News does accept commercials from? Go to our ABC World News Sponsors page to find out.

Hat tip: Bridgett Wagner

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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:14 AM

Thursday, August 27, 2009

What's Happening Now

Here are one million British National Health Service patients who don't use the Twitter hashtag #welovethenhs.

Fire extinguishers are dangerous -- people might use them.

Public health care is SO reliable. </sarcasm>

Making Dan Rather look good: Swedish newspaper admits it had no evidence when it claimed Jews steal organs from Palestinian children, then defends article making the claim.

Cap-and-trade a ball-and-chain.

Unions get a handout in the health care bill. Cheer up: Only $10 billion. (H/T @BridgettWagner)

Betsy McCaughey on Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, friend of 15-to 40-year-olds everywhere.

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Labels: Climate, Foreign Policy, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Regulation, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 8:02 AM

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Unlike Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, I Would Save the Babies and Children First

Betsy McCaughey has an op-ed on Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel in Thursday's Wall Street Journal.

I left the following comment on the Journal website:

I found it impossible to read Dr. Emanuel's Lancet article (Jan 2009) without getting a chill. He asserts that we have a social consensus that the lives of 15- to 40-year-olds should be saved ahead of the lives of children 14 and younger. When was this consensus developed? He doesn't say; he doesn't point to focus groups or polling or wherever one goes to gauge public opinion (assuming the public is to be consulted) on such horrible things; he just says it and we are apparently to believe it (The Lancet apparently didn't require him to provide support for his assertion). Yet, if this is so, why do societies not limited to our own parcel out flu vaccines to the most vulnerable first, with scant complaint? And why do so many (based on my admittedly small survey sample) seem to think saving children should be the priority, youngest first?

A century ago the notion "save the women and children first" was so accepted in western culture that one of the richest men in the world put his pregnant wife into a lifeboat on the Titanic and stepped back to be lost. We can accept that Betty Freidan has since killed the women but must the babies and children under 15 be lost as well?

As far as I am concerned, the further this man is away from government, the better. I don't care if some conservatives say he's a nice guy personally. I'm perfectly willing to stand back and drown, but no 40-year-old is getting on the proverbial lifeboat ahead of my elementary school-age kids.

Do any moms in America disagree?

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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Social Welfare

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:43 PM

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

What's Happening Now

Media: Obama's a neologist; Bush was just dumb.

Jokes to play on the President.

Where does YOUR state rank? (H/T Coyote Blog.)

Examiner: If Americans were getting an average of 20 miles to the gallon before Cash for Clunkers, they are getting 20.0046 mpg after it. In a best-case scenario.

All hail Octavia: A novel new national debt relief program.

"Jackass" was the correct term.

Americans want the legal opportunity to opt out of Social Security, 49% - 37%.

Dr. Roy Cordato: And they say private insurance companies are the bad guys.

Evil doesn't die easily.

Think scientists are objective? Read this.

The power to force people to buy stuff is not in the Constitution.

Superman job: Fact-checking the White House.

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Labels: Foreign Policy, Government Spending, Health Care, Media, Retirement, Social Security, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 8:33 AM

Thursday, August 20, 2009

What's Happening Now

The British government health care waiting list problem has been solved.

"Racial overtones," says MSNBC, capping its entry into the Stupidest News Clip of the Decade Contest.

British tax dollars at work: National Health Service gives Viagra to man with 30-year history of child sex crimes.

Sweden's largest newspaper claims Israel is kidnapping Palestinians and harvesting their organs. On MSNBC next?

White House deal with PhRMA undermines democracy.

Another polar expedition trapped in ice. Bonus picture of Al Gore's houseboat. Or go here.

Obama has lowest Gallup approval rating at this stage since Truman, except for one President. Find out which.

Ukraine's Got Talent.

Thomas Sowell on death guidance.

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Labels: Culture, Europe, Foreign Policy, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Project 21, Race, Retirement, Scandals, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 8:46 AM

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

What's Happening Now

6,000 surgical operations may be cut to make up for budgetary shortfall in Vancouver. Would 6,000 Canadians trade health insurance for health care? (Let's ask when some of them visit.)

Via Twitter, @ruffedge asks: USA or USSR?

How much would you spend to apply a solution that doesn't work to a problem that doesn't exist? Me: Not so much. Congress: $8 billion. (H/T Celebrity Paycut)

Media Matters lied? Say it ain't so!

The Cash for Clunkers program's rules say dealers will be reimbursed within ten days, but dealers have found themselves on waiting lists. Reminds me of this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this. You can't make government efficient by passing a law saying it has to be.

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Labels: Business, Climate, Congress, Government Health Care, Health Care, Liberals, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:39 AM

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

What's Happening Now

Tonsils redux: President Obama says greedy doctors are coming for your feet... but LA Times says prevention in these cases is expensive. Why don't the greedy doctors do prevention, Mr. Prez?

Funeral Director Full-Employment Bill: President Obama sees post office as model for health care system.

Obama: "Technically, I'm not for a single-payer system." Technically?

Murder a child; go free. Worse than appalling.

Wrong again, Mr. President.

Why are people upset about ObamaCare? Because certain politicians lie and lie and lie and lie and lie.

Government health care would cost more than the politicians claim.

CNN says talk radio hosts are too predictable.

Astroturf for hire. By the left.

No plants at Obama "town meeting." Uh huh.

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Labels: Congress, Courts, Crime, Economics, Government Health Care, Government Spending, Health Care, Media, Protests, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:06 PM

Monday, August 10, 2009

Egg on Face of Left, But It's Probably the Right's Fault Anyway

The left-wing Think Progress website reports that the situation of Kenneth Gladney, the "Don't Tread on Me" t-shirt salesman who reportedly was assaulted at a town meeting last week, "underscores the vital need for health care reform" because Gladney "has no affordable health care option available."

Another website the group quotes, the Moderate Voice, says, "If anything was more calculated to make the Right look foolish than this St. Louis incident then I'd love to see it."

Hmmm.... turns out Mr. Gladney has insurance after all. The erroneous report that he didn't appeared in the mainstream media.

But of course the Right is always defending the accuracy of the mainstream media, so the whole muck-up is probably still our fault.

To Think Progress' credit, it updated its blog post with the information that Mr. Gladney does have health insurance.

Nevertheless, something more needs to be said: this debate is not only, or even primarily, about access to health insurance. It is about access to health care. No one argues that Mr. Gladney got that, and promptly, too.

As a new book the National Center for Public Policy Research will soon release, "Shattered Lives: 100 Stories of Government Health Care" aptly demonstrates, prompt (or even any) access to health care is not something people in Britain, Canada, Australia or other nations with government-run health care systems can take for granted.

Insurance they got.

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Labels: Conservatives, Government Health Care, Health Care, Liberals, Media, Retirement, ShatteredLives

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:48 PM

Saturday, August 08, 2009

What's Happening Now

Who says the Fifth Amendment is dead? A woman set fire to a man's genitals and is charged with endangering private property.

Your Grandpa is the mob. Funny pics. (H/T The American Catholic)

How Cash for Clunkers hurts charities.

More scurrilous allegations that if you disagree with big spending, racism may be the reason. Cynthia Tucker this time.

It can hurt to be a redhead -- literally.

More global warming hypocrites. Again.

Other than the ones in Congress, what is a pantywaist, anyway?

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Labels: Climate, Congress, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Race, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 4:45 PM

Attention Paul Krugman: This Isn't About Obama Being Black

The New York Times' Paul Krugman suggests that the protesters against ObamaCare at townhall meetings are "reacting less to what Mr. Obama is doing... than to who he is" -- a black man.

Really? If that's true where were all these protesters during the campaign last year? Has the president changed his ethnicity since then?

This isn't about Obama being black... it's about him being pink.

This post was written by National Center for Public Policy Research Vice President David Ridenour. E-mail comments to info@nationalcenter.org. | Subscribe to this blog's feed. | Follow on Twitter.

Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Retirement, White House

Posted by David A. Ridenour at 8:53 AM

Project 21 Members Come Out Swinging Against Krugman Racism Allegation

Members of the Project 21 black leadership group have come out swinging against New York Times columnist Paul Krugman for "scurrilously pinning racist motives on critics of President Obama's health care proposals."

Project 21 has also called on President Obama to condemn "this effort to stifle debate with race-baiting tactics"; as well as "all efforts to derail legitimate public debate."

Krugman's column drew the following specific comments from Project 21 members:

Mychal Massie (Pennsylvania):

"Paul Krugman is the one with race on the brain. Specifically, he is using race in the lowest and most repulsive declinations. He is using it because every other argument to stem the growing tide of condemnation for the proposed health care reform bill has failed. Ergo, when all else fails, parade out the race card and attempt to incite blacks into becoming the useful idiots.

"Opposition to the proposed health care bill isn't based on race. It is based on a people who are tired of Congress and the President spitting in their faces. It is the collective resolve of a people who are tired of being tread upon. One would think a Nobel prize-winner such as Krugman could figure that out."

Mychal Massie is chairman of Project 21.

Joe Hicks (Los Angeles, California):

"I must have somehow missed the articles from Krugman and other liberal and leftist members of the mainstream media that were critical of the activities of ACORN - the radical, leftist group Barack Obama once represented. Somehow, their heavy-handed activities - that many argue bent the boundaries of legality - were just considered to be the organized expression of disadvantaged communities.

"Now the same shameless, clueless writers are trying to convince us that those Americans who rightfully feel threatened by government-run health care and confront Obama's noxious scheme at public forums are somehow the acts of a 'mob.' Krugman reveals his bias by admitting that people are genuinely angry without bringing himself to understand exactly why they are mad. Smearing the rightful anger and concern of everyday Americans as collections of angry, old white folks - or part of the 'birthers' movement - shows the elitist disdain that liberal journalists such as Krugman have for democracy in action."

Joe Hicks is a Pajamas Television commentator and vice president of Community Advocates, Inc. of Los Angeles. He is a former executive director of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission and former executive director of the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Deneen Borelli (East Chester, New York):

"Krugman's commentary shows he is as out of touch as many of our elected officials are with real Americans. What's happening at town hall meetings has nothing to do with race and everything to do with concern over the rapid expansion of government.

"Americans are frustrated that letters, phone calls and e-mails to their elected representatives have had no impact on significant pieces of legislation such as cap-and-trade and stimulus spending. Americans are taking the next logical step by directly voicing their opinions to their representatives at town hall meetings."

Deneen Borelli is a full-time fellow with Project 21. She serves on the board of trustees of The Opportunity Charter School in Harlem, New York and previously served as Manager of Media Relations with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

Bishop Council Nedd II (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania):

"I have nothing to do with the 'birther' issue, but I do have concerns about health care. So do the people in my parishes and in the local diner where I eat every day. Living in central Pennsylvania, these truly are the people portrayed in the Norman Rockwell painting about freedom of speech that Krugman reference in his column. To imply these people are now racists is racist in itself.

"Approximately half of the U.S. population didn't vote for Obama in the first place. Why is Krugman shocked that there is opposition to the Obama health care plan, and that people dare to voice their concern at public meetings? The Obama plan inserts government officials into end-of-life decisions for seniors and those among us with the least. That is not a race issue, that is a privacy issue. The Obama plan has given a whole new meaning to the idea of government for the people. This health plan is a bitter pill shoved down people's throat against their will."

Council Nedd is an Anglican bishop, serving the Diocese of the Chesapeake.

Bob Parks (Athol, Massachusetts):

"Why is it when liberals want to make their points, their knee-jerk reaction is to go racial? Paul Krugman is supposedly a journalist. Before throwing out the race card while speculating, he should give us some attributed quotes. Minus that, what he thinks is irrelevant."

Bob Parks is a Project 21 member and media commentator, and operator of the Black and Right web site.

Jimmie Hollis (Millville, New Jersey):

"I knew the moment Obama became a presidential candidate that anyone disagreeing with him would be called a racist, and that any opposition to his political views would be seen as racism. The left has always played the race card because it works.

"But I am nonetheless happy to see that people on the right and many in the middle are now beginning to speaking out firmly and with passion against policies they oppose. President Obama should speak out and condemn Paul Krugman racial commentary."

Jimmie L. Hollis is a Project 21 member and is retired from the U.S. Air Force, in which he served from 1962-1987.

Geoffrey Moore (Chicago, Illinois):

"This is not about race. It is about government control. The system is not perfect, but there is no need to have the government take over control of the entire health care system. The government has not demonstrated the ability to efficiently control costs and provide good service.

"Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who are not up in arms about their insurance. There are people who are somewhat pleased with the coverage they have. The government getting involved will create enormous expense and waste, while creating more problems than they intend to solve."

Geoffrey Moore is a Project 21 member and a marketing analyst in Chicago.

Project 21's entire statement can be read here.

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Labels: Congress, Media, Project 21, Race, Retirement, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:32 AM

Friday, August 07, 2009

Bill O'Reilly Covers National Center Free Enterprise Project's Call on Obama to Dismiss Jeffrey Immelt

The National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project has called on President Obama to dismiss General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt from his Economic Recovery Advisory Board following findings from the Security and Exchange Commission that "GE bent the accounting rules beyond the breaking point" to "avoid missing analysts' final consensus EPS expectations."

You can read the Free Enterprise Project's complete press release here.

In the video above, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly covers the Free Enterprise Project's call in this nightly "Talking Points Memo" and adds commentary of his own. He then is joined by political strategist Dick Morris, who continues the Immelt-GE-Obama discussion.

Hat tip: To NewsPoliticsNews for posting the video on YouTube.com.

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Labels: Business, Climate, Corruption, Energy, FreeEnterpriseProject, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 2:17 AM

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Washington Post: Obama Has a "Ready Command of Facts"

In "Polling Helps Obama Frame Message in Health-Care Debate" in Friday's Washington Post, reporter Michael D. Shear writes, "Obama is known for his soaring speeches and his ready command of facts..."

Ready command of facts?

Is he talking about the same President who admitted he was unfamiliar with a critical provision in his own trillion+ dollar health care plan?

Who thinks one of the functions of a living will is to stop extraordinary measures if "brain waves are no longer functioning"?

Who believes carbon dioxide emissions "contaminate the water we drink"?

Who says 14,000 people "every single day" will lose their health insurance unless we follow his advice on health care policy?

Who believes pediatricians remove tonsils?

Who says the health care plan he is backing will "keep government out of health care decisions"?

Who was under the impression that Austrians speak "Austrian"?

Who says with a straight face that his health care plan "will be paid for"?

Who keeps saying the U.S. is importing more oil today than ever before?

Who thought Emperor Hirohito personally surrendered to General MacArthur?

Who says the $1 trillion price tag on his health care bill is less than what we have spent on the war in Iraq?

Who repeatedly asserts that if his health care plan passes, "if you like your health plan, you can keep it, the only thing that will change is that you'll pay less."

The article in which this appeared, by the way, is about how the White House staff uses polls to determine what to put in the President's teleprompter. As one "top advisor" (evidently, his name is top secret), told the Post: "I mean, I'm looking at polling, like, all the time."

Right, dude.

Cross-posted at Newsbusters.

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Labels: Climate, Culture, Energy, Government Health Care, Health Care, History, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 4:22 PM

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

What's Happening Now

Shocking proof Obama was born outside the United States. (But did Microsoft Word exist in 1961?)

I believe Obama wants to keep the birther story going.

The New York Times "house conservative" says: "I feel politically closer to Barack Obama than to House Minority Leader John Boehner." Hmmm... wonder why they hired him...?

Everyone's watching: Captain Kirk channel Sarah Palin. Even more fun: David Frum (4,700) v. Mark Levin (900,000).

Associated Press reports: Secret testimony claims Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad knew they got preferential treatment from Countrywide. (H/T Ace) The Senators themselves say, essentially, "hogwash."

Ten questions for supporters of ObamaCare.

Marta Mossburg: "The average state government employee benefit package in Maryland is $24,347 per year..." (And still the lady at the Maryland DMV wouldn't answer my question!)

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Labels: Conservatives, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:19 PM

Hear Barack Obama Complain About Congress Passing Bills It Hasn't Read

Why would the man who is trying to pass health care reform and cap and trade without Congress reading the bills say anything like this?

Because it was 2004.

Hat tip: Naked Emperor News for posting the clip on YouTube; P.J. Gladnick on Newsbusters for writing about it.

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Labels: Congress, Liberals, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:04 AM

Monday, July 27, 2009

ABC News Broadcasts Selective "Truth About Oil"

Last Friday, July 24, ABC News aired the special "Over a Barrel: The Truth About Oil." It might have been more correctly titled "Charlie Gibson Hates the Oil Companies."

ABC News newsreader Charlie Gibson interviewed 18 people during the course of the program. Seven were gas station owners, refinery workers and the like - people who were there to specifically deliver raw information about the operations of the oil industry. When it came to the 11 people featured for their political insight, it was obvious Gibson only really wanted to hear one viewpoint.

For those who wanted to bash the oil companies, Gibson gave people such as Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America and New York University professor Vijay Vaitheesweran long segments to pontificate. On the other side was Rayola Dougher of the American Petroleum Institute, who was given very little time at all in comparison to her opponents and who gave more informational responses than a defense of her industry.

The other oil industry defender? Gibson used campaign footage of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and an interview he did with her during her vice presidential campaign. In the opening segment, for example, they have Gibson, Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and President Obama state that our nation is "addicted to oil," and then cut to Palin starting a "drill, baby, drill" chant at a rally.

No bias there.

Secretary Chu was also pitched softballs by Gibson, who even prompted Chu at one point to say our nation is "headed for a train wreck" due to our reliance on foreign oil. Despite a small portion of the program talking about how new technology is allowing more productive domestic offshore drilling, there was a definite implication that America's best energy days were in the past. And there was no mention of oil shale or tar sands exploration.

Further showing the network's apparent allegiance to the White House, every previous modern president - from Nixon to Bush 43 - was derided for pledging to reduce American dependence on energy and not delivering. Gibson reserved praise for the promises of President Obama. And Secretary Chu added that things must change to stop global climate change.

That's when they brought on "lifelong Republican" T. Boone Pickens to push for alternative energy. He's invested in windfarms these days.

"Over a Barrel" was billed as a "20/20" special, but it was originally supposed to be a stand-alone special the previous Wednesday. Due to the presidential press conference that day, however, the network decided to go with "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" that night instead.

Despite this apparent acknowledgement by the network through its reprogramming that this was a dog of a program, it still won the sponsorship of some top-tier advertisers such as Home Depot, American Express, S.C. Johnson (Glade air freshener and Off insect repellant) and Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster and Olive Garden).

The National Center has been tracking the advertisers of ABC's World News after they allowed Obama the ability to shill his health care plan on prime time television last month.

To see a list of corporate sponsors of ABC News programming and how you can contact them to express your thoughts on their bankrolling their nightly news and these news specials, go to our ABC News sponsors list.

Labels: Business, Energy, Media

Posted by David W. Almasi at 2:36 PM

What Talking Points Memo Doesn't Tell You

The liberal Talking Points Memo blog's Brian Beutler is touting some memos the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's staff created -- with tax dollars -- to pressure their fellow members of Congress (TPM wrongly reports they were created only for Committee members) into going along with the the Democrat health care bill.

The memos purport to show the benefits that will head toward constituents of the individual Members if only they would sell their souls to obtain the benefits.

Talking Points Memo helpfully displayed the one created for the district of Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR). Like others I reviewed, this document is just one page -- a curiously short summary for an over 1,000 page bill with literally life-and-death implications.

Such things as the following also were missing from the summaries:

references to the counseling sessions Medicare will start paying for so seniors know how to minimize the expenses of their last year of life (e.g., potentially by forgoing that last year of life);

revealing that people who pursue healthy lifestyles and are rewarded by lower premiums will lose this benefit ("hardly a formula for lower costs," says CNN Money) if the House bill becomes law;

the $500 billion in Medicare cuts, including the $156 billion in cuts to the popular Medicare Advantage option;

a minimum benefits package that includes abortion;

the Congressional Budget Office estimate that the bill "would result in a net increase to the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period." (The one-pager falsely claims the bill is "fully paid for.");

the Lewin Group estimate that 88.1 million Americans could lose their present health care coverage, even if they don't want to;

the fact that an estimated 1.2 million small businesses would be hit by a 5.4 percent surtax, and many Americans would face a higher income tax rate than do taxpayers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan;

the letter the Mayo Clinic sent to Congress, warning the House bill could put it out of business;

and a good bit more.

It appears that Talking Points Memo and the Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee want the public to be educated on what is in the House bill -- but not too educated.

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Labels: Congress, Government Health Care, Health Care, Liberals, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:14 AM

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Miscellaneous

The New York Times isn't buying everything Obama claimed at his press conference Wednesday.

Another hypocrite politician? Why, he's just like Al Gore.

Pay to play?

Paul Mirengoff says Walter Cronkite "didn't represent the victory of substance over style, but rather the victory of a style that implied substance over substance itself." I agree.

Hey Mr. President: Why no open meetings?

The CBO's integrity at risk?

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Labels: Environment, Government Health Care, Health Care, Liberals, Media, Retirement, Scandals, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:53 AM

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Video of Project 21's Mychal Massie on the O'Reilly Factor

Here's a video of Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie (right), guest host Laura Ingraham and Mark Sawyer, Ph.D. of UCLA on Friday's Fox News O'Reilly Factor.

They discussed President Obama's speech at the NAACP convention (including the President's curiously changed accent) and Senator Barbara Boxer's patronizing comments this week to a witness from the Black Chamber of Commerce at a recent hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Mychal also mentioned the National Center for Public Policy Research's recent poll of African-Americans on cap and trade.

Hat tip to AmericasNewsToday1 for posting the video on YouTube.

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Labels: Climate, Congress, Culture, Environmental Justice, Media, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:00 AM

Friday, July 17, 2009

Project 21's Massie Critiques Obama NAACP Speech On Tonight's "O'Reilly Factor"

Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie is scheduled to appear on the Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" program on Friday, July 17 at 8:00 PM eastern. Laura Ingraham is guest-hosting. Also on with Mychal will be Professor Mark Sawyer of UCLA.

Mychal has been invited to discuss President Obama's remarks last night to the NAACP convention in New York City. Along with praising the group on its centennial, Obama specifically promoted his vision for education reform.

Fellow Project 21 member Kevin Martin made the following remarks following the President's remarks to the NAACP:

President Obama may believe his speech before the bobbing heads of the NAACP won him some points in the black community, but the reality is that it is the past and present actions of elected officials such as Obama that are responsible for the current state of education in our community. Obama and his liberal allies on Capitol Hill have sought to crush any alternative to our failed public education system - such as public charter schools, vouchers and increased parental involvement - most likely because it would ultimately make the teacher unions and elected officials have to become more accountable.

Expect Mychal to echo Kevin's feelings as well as discuss how Obama's plan to institute new energy taxes is also against the best interests and will of black Americans.

Labels: Climate, Education, Energy, Media, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by David W. Almasi at 1:36 PM

Friday, July 10, 2009

Outrage of the Day: Obama's Unkept Tax Promise

Although I don't endorse every sentiment in every sentence of this Associated Press article "PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama's Unkept Tax Pledge" by Stephen Ohlemacher, it's well worth reading.

The piece begins:

President Barack Obama promised to fix health care and trim the federal budget deficit, all without raising taxes on anyone but the wealthiest Americans. It's a promise he's already broken and will likely have to break again.

Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress have already increased tobacco taxes - which disproportionately hit the poor - to pay for extending health coverage to 4 million children in working low-income families.

Now, lawmakers are looking for more revenues to help pay for providing medical insurance to millions more who lack it at a projected cost of $1 trillion over the next decade.

The floated proposals include increasing taxes on alcohol, which could raise $62 billion over the next decade, and a new tax on sugary drinks such as soda, which could raise $52 billion...

I recommend reading the whole thing.

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Labels: Government Spending, Media, Taxes, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:04 AM

Monday, July 06, 2009

Quote of Note: Big Government's Ultimate Impact

"A society of children cannot survive, no matter how all-embracing the government nanny."

-Mark Steyn, "Being Taken Care of Weakens Us," Washington Times, June 15, 2009

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Labels: Government Health Care, Government Spending, Health Care, Media, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:20 AM

Friday, July 03, 2009

Quote of Note: Do We Now Need Government for Big Ticket Items?

"Health is potentially a big-ticket item, but so is a house and a car, and most folks manage to handle those without a Government Accommodation Plan or a Government Motor Vehicles System -- or, at any rate, they did in pre-bailout America."

-Mark Steyn, "Being Taken Care of Weakens Us," Washington Times, June 15, 2009

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Labels: Government Health Care, Government Spending, Health Care, Media, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:01 AM

Thursday, July 02, 2009

National Center's Tom Borelli Discusses Cap-and-Trade on Glenn Beck

In case you missed it, here's the segment of Glenn Beck's Fox TV show from Wednesday night featuring Tom Borelli of the National Center for Public Policy Research and David Kreutzer of the Heritage Foundation.

The topic is cap and trade, USCAP, corporations doing the bidding of the left, the Waxman-Markey global warming bill and the use of last minute amendments filled with goodies (amendments Congress wasn't given time to read, of course) by the House leadership to get the legislation approved by the House.

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Labels: Business, Climate, Congress, Conservatives, Energy, Liberals, Media, Regulation

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:11 AM

Naughty Conservatives Shouldn't Mind Votes for Waxman-Markey (Or So We're Told)

In an error-riddled column posted Wednesday on TownHall.com, the supposedly conservative Michael Gerson has a novel take on the Republican Congressmen who voted for the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill: He blames conservatives for minding.

One of his reasons: "It is typical that we praise independent judgment and political nerve in our elected officials -- until they actually show those qualities."

If any conservatives and/or others dedicated to limiting government called on our elected representatives to show "independent judgement and political nerve" in service of anything other than principle, they were wrong to do so.

Gerson doesn't quote anybody, though, and I can see why: There are a lot more quotes available of conservatives calling upon their elected representatives to govern conservatively.

Gerson's try to tar the conservative movement with a hypocrisy tag doesn't work.

Gerson is honest, though, in saying he likes the bill (I find it difficult to believe this man is a conservative).

He likes it because, he says, the global warming theory is the dominant view of the "scientific community" (a brush broad enough to include gynecologists), because "some scientists" warn of "possible 'tipping points'," and because, supposedly, mankind's carbon dioxide emissions have reduced crop yields and driven some species to extinction. How he could possibly know this is not mentioned, possibly because what he claims is beyond the current ability of modern science to prove or disprove.

Gerson says "global warming since the 19th century is undeniable," which is another way of saying the planet warmed as the Little Ice Age ended, though Gerson does not mention that there even was a Little Ice Age (and before it, warmer temperatures, though no SUVs).

Gerson doesn't mention, either, that if concern for crop yields is paramount, a little more CO2 in the atmosphere might be just the thing.

And then there's his comment that warming since the end of the Little Ice Age is "closely correlated with increases in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide," which by itself would prove nothing if it were true, but it isn't.

There's more, such as Gerson's ludicrious comment that in failing to appreciate cap-and-trade, "conservatives seem strangely intent on ignoring the power of markets to encourage... innovation," as if Waxman-Markey had anything whatsoever to do with free markets (oops, Gerson left the word "free" out, so there goes the innovation).

I could go on, but there's really no need. I linked to the version of this column on TownHall with comments. The column is impossible to appreciate, but some of the comments are superlative.

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Labels: Climate, Congress, Environment, Liberals, Media, Regulation

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:16 AM

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

We're Not Traitors, But Is Paul Krugman?

Many readers will be aware that New York Times opinion writer Paul Krugman wrote in his Monday column that individuals who did not support the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill when it came up in the House for a vote last Friday are guilty of "a form of treason" against the planet.

A thought experiment: If two doctors were to disagree on a patient's diagnosis, and Krugman agreed with one of them, would the one Krugman disagrees with be guilty of a form of treason?

Even that analogy is too generous to Krugman, as doctors take an oath to (essentially) be loyal to their patients' welfare, but it is not at all common for people with opinions (of any kind) on cap-and-trade or even global warming to first take an oath of loyalty to the planet.

What many of us have done is take oaths of loyalty to the United States. The Waxman-Markey bill would ship American jobs overseas, raise energy prices, shovel money to special interests corruptly, drag down economic growth and impose regressive regulatory taxes on consumers. It would not have a measurable effect on temperature. As it does bad without doing good, the Waxman-Markey bill is bad for the United States of America.

Thus, by Paul Krugman's definition, anyone who supports Waxman-Markey is guilty of "a form of treason" against the United States.

Fortunately for Krugman, his definition of treason is even more silly than it is offensive, which is saying a great deal.

P.S. Climate Skeptic has very good commentary about Krugman's treason charge, going into different areas than I did. (I read it after seeing a link on Coyote Blog.) Interesting that neither Krugman nor his editors knew that you can't write "degrees" with meaning without specifying the temperature scale being used.

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Labels: Climate, Liberals, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:55 AM

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Quote of Note: How to Control Health Care Costs

"When President Obama tells you he's 'reforming' health care to 'control costs,' the point to remember is that the only way to control costs in health care is to have less of it."

-Mark Steyn, "Being Taken Care of Weakens Us," Washington Times, June 15, 2009

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Labels: Government Health Care, Government Spending, Health Care, Media, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:12 AM

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Quote of Note: CBS Anchor Osgood on Global Warming

"The sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle of activity—and last year, it was supposed to have heated up—and at its peak would have a tumultuous, boiling atmosphere, spitting out flares and huge chunks of superhot gas. Instead, it hit a 50-year low in solar wind pressure, a 55-year low in radio emissions, and a 100-year low in sunspot activity. Right now, the sun is the dimmest it’s been in nearly a century.

In the mid-seventeenth century, there was a quiet spell on the sun, known as the Maunder Minimum, which lasted 70 years and led to a mini-Ice Age here on Earth. Right now, global warming is a given to so many, it raises the question: Could another minimum activity period on the sun counteract, in any way, the effects of global warming?

Hush, child! You’re not even supposed to suggest that."

-CBS's Charles Osgood, April 21, 2009, as cited by Krystle Russin, "CBS Anchor Osgood Takes Skeptical Stand, Environment & Climate News, July 2009

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Labels: Climate, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:57 AM

Saturday, June 27, 2009

American Spectator Covers African-American Energy Poll

Thanks to W. James Antle for his story "Lights Out," in the American Spectator, which mentioned The National Center's poll of the African-American community on energy issues.

The article appeared on Rush Limbaugh's "Stack of Stuff" Thursday.

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Labels: Climate, Congress, Energy, Environment, Media, Polls, Race, Regulation

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:46 PM

Friday, June 26, 2009

Examiner Coverage of Poll

Mark Tapscott, Editorial Page Editor of the Washington Examiner, covered our poll today in his editorial, "Survey Finds Three-Fourths of African-Americans Have Big Worries About Obama-Waxman-Markey."

Many thanks to Mark, whose editorial page is a must-read. If you aren't reading daily now, try it for a week -- heck, try it for a day -- and you will be hooked.

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Labels: Climate, Congress, Environment, Media, Polls, Regulation

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:23 PM

Understatement of the Day

The New York Times, referring to the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill: "The bill has shortcomings."

Ya think?

P.S. Apologies. I forgot to add that, except for the sentence quoted above, the NY Times editorial is also one of the most dishonest bits of writing you'll ever come across. To name just one example, it ends on an implied claim that Waxman-Markey will prevent "drought, famine, [and] coastal devastation."

In fact, Waxman-Markey, if adopted, will have an impact on the environment that is too scant to measure even if human beings are causing global warming through CO2 emissions.

As the headline of far, far wiser Orange County Register editorial put it, "Climate change bill all pain, no gain."

Even environmentalists should oppose hurting people for no reason -- and some of them, including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, do oppose Waxman-Markey.

The rest have no excuse.

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Labels: Climate, Congress, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:44 AM

National Review Online Coverage of Our Poll

National Review Online has covered our poll on African-Americans and climate policy -- twice.

On The Corner, Kathryn Jean Lopez contributed "Blacks vs. Cap and Trade," and at Planet Gore, Edward John Craig wrote "More Opposition to the Obama Energy Tax."

Much appreciated!

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Labels: Climate, Congress, Energy, Environment, Media, Polls, Race, Regulation

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:21 AM

Politico Coverage of Our Poll

Cesar Conda has covered our energy and climate poll of African-Americans in his blog on Politico.

Thanks to Cesar for the coverage!

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Labels: Climate, Congress, Environment, Media, Race, Regulation

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:14 AM

Thursday, June 25, 2009

ABC Stands for "All Barack Channel"?

Writing on the Fox News Channel's Fox Forum website, our Tom Borelli examines the political connections of ABC and NBC, saying the Obama Administration seems to have a deliberate political strategy of co-opting media corporations as a deliberate strategy.

But that's no reason, Tom also says, for corporations such as Disney, which owns ABC, and GE, which owns NBC, CNB and MSNBC, to play along, or for the public to stand for it.

Tom's entire piece can be read here.

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Labels: Business, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 2:10 PM

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Iran Quick Hits

Husband David says Obama's message to the Iranian government boils down to: What you're doing is unacceptable and it's none of our business.

Michael Barone of the Washington Examiner sees in the President's Iran stance a bit of an adolescent still growing up: "There is a tendency for newly installed presidents, like adolescents suddenly liberated from adult supervision, to do the exact opposite of what their predecessors did. Presidents of both parties indulge in this behavior, though Democrats who campaign as candidates of hope and change are more likely to do so."

I assume that last sentence is a bit tongue-in-cheek.

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Labels: Foreign Policy, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:59 AM

Monday, June 22, 2009

White House Staff Misses George Bush

David Broder is reporting that the White House staff misses George Bush.

No, it's not about which President's family remembers to thank the permanent staff for the cooking and cleaning and door-opening.

It's Obama's political staff that misses Bush.

Hat tip: Jennifer Rubin at Contentions.

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Labels: Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:36 AM

Friday, June 19, 2009

Obama Shouldn't Be Taken Literally, Says White House

Courtesy of the White House itself, we now know why President Obama was willing to break a health care promise before he even made it.

According to the White House, the Associated Press reports, Obama didn't really do that, because Obama's promises "shouldn't be taken literally."

"Promises shouldn't be taken literally" could be the Obama White House's version of the Clinton White House's "depends on what the definition of is is."

Just speak straight, people! (But thanks for warning us that we can't trust you.)

Hat tip: Ramesh Ponnuru at the Corner.

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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Retirement, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:46 PM

Project 21's Borelli to Discuss MSM's ObamaCare Bias Monday on Fox

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli is scheduled to appear on the Fox News Channel's online "Strategy Room" program on Monday, June 22 between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM eastern.

Deneen expects to discuss the President's seemingly unfettered access to a sympathetic mainstream media as President Obama promotes legislation to increase the role of government in individual health care decisions. In particular, Deneen plans to speak about ABC's hour-long "Prescription for America" program that will air this coming Wednesday.

To access the live Internet broadcast, click here and then click the "STREAM THIS NOW" headline in the center or the page under the photo.

Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Project 21, Race, Retirement

Posted by David W. Almasi at 5:25 PM

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

If ABC Does Not Accept Advocacy Advertising....

...perhaps ABC should stop advocacy reporting.

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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:16 PM

Incessant Twittering Over the Heads of the Media

It's not often one can say a wonky op-ed on health care reform is funny as well as wise, but this one by Holman Jenkins in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal certainly is.

(I stole the title of this piece from it, by the way.)

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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Taxes

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:07 AM

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Quote of Note: How Big Would a U.S. Health Bureaucracy Be?

"The British National Health Service is the biggest employer not just in the United Kingdom, but in the whole of Europe. Care to estimate the size and budget of a U.S. health bureaucracy?"

-Mark Steyn, "Being Taken Care of Weakens Us," Washington Times, June 15, 2009

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Labels: Government Health Care, Government Spending, Health Care, Media, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:08 AM

Is the Liberal Health Care Plan a Trojan Horse for Socialized Medicine?

Get the answer from the liberals who know. Watch this 4-minute video from Glenn Beck's June 15, 2009 television program.

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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Religion

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:07 AM

Sunday, June 14, 2009

George Will's Dirty Little Secrets of Universal Health Care

Writing on Newsbusters, Noel Sheppard does us the service of transcribing George Will's dirty little secrets of universal health care from today's broadcast of ABC's "This Week."

Worth reading (or viewing, as the post contains a link to the video) if you did not see the show.

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Labels: Conservatives, Government Health Care, Health Care, Media, Retirement

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:24 PM

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Game, Set and Match to the Heritage Foundation

The National Resources Defense Council has attempted to undermine the credibility of the Heritage Foundation's analysis on the cost of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade global warming bill.

The NRDC would have done itself a favor to stay home from work that day. Heritage's response to the critique so thoroughly nails the NRDC that all the NRDC has done is give the Heritage study more publicity.

For instance, in the second paragraph of its critique, the NRDC complains that the Heritage Foundation analysis of the cost of the Waxman-markey cap-and-trade bill fails to take into account the "cost of inaction," that is, the cost of the bad stuff that would happen if Waxman-Markey is not adopted.

HEL-LO! Anybody home, NRDC? Waxman-Markey, even in a best-case scenario, would have negligible, if any, impact on the climate. And the Heritage Foundation DID mention this, to whit, in the original study:

The impact of Waxman-Markey on the next generation of families is thousands of dollars per year in higher energy costs, over $100,000 of additional federal debt (above and beyond the unconscionable increases already scheduled), a weaker economy, and more unemployment. And all for a change in world temperature that might not be noticeable [emphasis added].

You don't need to take Heritage's word for it, or mine. Even prominent environmental organizations that agree with the NRDC about the global warming theory say Waxman-Markey would not (to their way of thinking) sufficiently affect the climate.

Optimists are saying Waxman-Markey might (believe me, nobody knows) lower world temperatures by half a degree celsius over 40 years or so.

If spending all that money isn't going to solve the alleged problem, then what's the point of spending the money?

By way of congratulations to Heritage, let's recap Heritage's conclusions...

If Waxman-Markey is adopted, by 2035:

The typical family of four will see its direct energy costs rise by over $1,500 per year.

Pain at the electric meter causes consumers to reduce electricity consumption by 36 percent. Even with this cutback, the electric bill for a family of four will be $754 more that year and $12,933 more in total from 2012 to 2035.

The higher gasoline prices will have forced households to cut consumption by 15 percent, but a family of four will still pay $596 more that year and $8,000 more between 2012 and 2035.

In total, for the years 2012-2035, a family of four will see its direct energy costs rise by over $24,000. These inflation-adjusted numbers do not include the indirect energy costs consumers will pay as producers are forced to raise the price of their products to reflect the higher costs of production. Nor does the $24,000 include the higher expenditure for such things as more energy-efficient cars and appliances or the disutility of driving smaller, less safe vehicles or the discomfort of using less heating and cooling.

As the economy adjusts to shrinking GDP and rising energy prices, employment takes a big hit. On average, employment is lower by 844,000 jobs. In some years cap and trade reduces employment by more than 1.9 million jobs.

The negative economic impacts accumulate, and the national debt is no exception. Waxman-Markey drives up the national debt 29 percent by 2035. This is 29 percent above what it would be without the legislation and represents an additional $33,400 per person, or more than $133,000 for a family of four. To reiterate, these burdens come after adjusting for inflation and are in addition to the $450,000 per family of federal debt that will accrue over this period even without cap and trade.

No wonder the NRDC was so desperate to try to undermine Heritage's credibility.

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Labels: Climate, Congress, Conservatives, Energy, Environment, Media, Regulation

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:20 AM

Monday, June 08, 2009

We Need the Energy; We Need the Jobs; We Need the Revenue

In an op-ed appearing in papers nationwide this week, David Ridenour says Congress and the Obama White House are "shunning [an] economic stimulus that would cost taxpayers zilch, yet could create up to 160,000 jobs and up to $1.7-trillion in new government revenue."

What's more, he says, "A significant part of this would flow to cash-strapped states, giving them funding needed to help unemployed workers and their families, fund schools, and avoid cuts in critical state services."

The stimulus: Drilling for oil.

Let's face it: We need the stuff.

Speaking of which, David's piece also examines the likelihood that solar and wind power can meet America's energy needs.

Read the article online on the Miami Herald website, the Cleveland Plain Dealer website, or the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer website, among others.

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Labels: Economics, Energy, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:34 AM

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Move Over Chris Matthews...

...the "thrilling running up your leg" has just been outdone, and by a guest on Hardball, no less.

Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas announces that Barack Obama is "sort of God" (link includes video clip).

In the same comment, Thomas calls Reagan "parochial," apparently because he was a patriot.

Parochial enough to defeat the Soviet Empire. Obama hasn't gone toe-to-toe with anything bigger than a corporate board.

Have to agree with Thomas on one thing: Reagan was a patriot, and when you compare his presidency to the current one, that fact really stands out.

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Labels: Liberals, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:57 PM

A Somewhat Happy Ending to the Latest Death Threat Story...

...first covered in Climate Depot about the global warming believer and blog writer at the prominent liberal blog Talking Points Memo who asked: "at what point do we jail or execute global warming deniers?"

The gentleman appears contrite.

"The Insolent Braggart," as the anonymous blogger is known, isn't the first to wish death upon those of us who aren't convinced that human beings are causing soon-to-be-catastrophic global warming. (My own e-mail in-box is proof of that.) Over the years, I've reached the conclusion that most of these folks have stopped thinking of their political opposition as human beings, so when they express death wishes or grotesque threats, it doesn't seem real to them.

Until somebody who hasn't drunk the Kool-aid notices, that is.

Ironically, given how he got his 15 minutes of fame, "The Insolent Braggart" is probably a perfectly nice, if occasionally misguided, fellow.

Here's predicting that one day he'll feel about the global warming theory the same way he now feels about writing blog posts about executions.

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Labels: Climate, Liberals, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:14 AM

GE's Jeffrey Immelt Fights Back

General Electric boss Jeffrey Immelt faced a tough crowd at GE's annual stockholder's meeting in April, and it's just now becoming clear how much he minded.

At the meeting, Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli asked if media reports that Immelt had tried to silence anti-Obama reporting on GE-owned networks are true. During her dialogue with Immelt, her microphone was cut off (it was restored after she continued talking anyway).

Then Fox News Channel O'Reilly Factor Producer Jesse Watters, a GE shareholder, asked Immelt about Keith Olbermann's handling of the Janeane Garofalo interview. Watters' microphone was soon cut off as well, but this did Immelt no good, as next up was the National Center for Public Policy Research Free Enterprise Project Director Tom Borelli, who, as I reported here in April, asked Immelt about GE's business with Iran, GE's lobbying for cap-and-trade, and GE's double-hit on senior citizen stockholders [by cutting dividends after saying it wouldn't while lobbying for cap-and-trade regulations that will dramatically raise consumer energy prices].

Following the meeting, in an apparent counterattack against Borelli, false allegations were made that Tom was there as a front for Fox News, which competes with GE-owned MSNBC and CNBC. Tom has no relationship with Fox News except that he appears on the network periodically as a guest and he lent an audiotape he made of the GE shareholder's meeting to Fox, which broadcast it (leading fact-challenged Keith Olbermann to falsely accuse Fox's Jesse Watters of making the perfectly legal tape and lying about it to GE security guards).

So why bring all this up now? Because it seems that GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, whom one would think has better things to do, was so upset that three shareholders -- Deneen Borelli, Jesse Watters and Tom Borelli -- would ask him questions about the GE-owned networks' liberal bias, trade with Iran and lobbying for cap-and-trade that he ordered retaliation against a news media outlet that reported they had done so.

Specifically, the LA Weekly's Nicki Finke's Deadline Hollywood column reported Friday night that after Paul Bond of The Hollywood Reporter wrote a story about the three questions and the shareholder's meeting (a story immediately picked up by the Drudge Report), Immelt immediately ordered a GE-wide ban on Nielsen Business Media, which owns The Hollywood Reporter.

Here's how Nicki Finke of LA Weekly reports it:

That's when, sources inside and outside Nielsen Business Media tell me, GE Chairman Jeff Immelt ordered a GE company-wide ban on all of THR's parent company: advertising, editorial, the works. After a few days, the ban was reduced to GE's NBC Universal against Nielsen Business Media's The Hollywood Reporter and lasted six weeks. (My NBC Universal sources believe the ban was lifted yesterday.)

My reporting is the first about the ban or what led to it. "People need to know that GE is using its media arm to stifle coverage about its company, and this is coming from Immelt and Zucker," a Nielsen Business Media insider said.

Finke adds:

...sources inside and outside Nielsen Business Media tell me, GE Chairman Jeff Immelt personally issued a GE ban on all of the Nielsen company. "Jeff Immelt severed relations between all of GE with all of Nielsen over that story. Immelt called Zucker, and Zucker took it from there. Then, after a few days, GE backtracked, and then it became NBC Universal severing relations with The Hollywood Reporter."

According to my sources, Zucker ordered NBC Universal employees "not to talk" to THR. "They took away passes and tickets," says one insider. Another told me advertising was affected: it appears all or almost all advertising was stopped by NBC Universal at what was and continues to be a very important revenue time for the trade -- just before the Emmy nominations. Still another told me that NBC Universal employees stopped returning THR reporters' calls. One NBC Universal employee actually said to a THR reporter: "I'm not allowed to talk to The Hollywood Reporter."

Only a handful of people within the publication knew about the GE/NBC Universal ban. "It was all very mysterious," one reporter whose calls stopped being returned by NBC Universal told me. "No one told me specifically why. But I think some story really pissed them off."

I don't want to quote all of the Finke column here, so I'll just say GE's retaliation evidently did not stop there. GE reportedly also tried to use its advertising clout to get The Hollywood Reporter journalist, Paul Bond, fired (go to the Finke piece for details).

My conclusion: Never assume the corporate and news executives whose work product is being criticized aren't paying attention. GE's Jeffrey Immelt is one of the most powerful corporate executive in the world. His corporation owns not just MSNBC and CNBC, but the storied NBC itself. Yet despite his lofty position, he not only is paying attention, he's paying close attention, and he apparently doesn't like the criticism one bit.

Maybe someday he'll figure out that if he cleans up his networks and starts running GE like a capitalist firm instead of as a welfare queen-wannabe, he can get the criticism he hates so much to stop.

Note: For video on the story as it originally unfolded, go here for the audio of a Glenn Beck radio interview with Tom Borelli (prepared by Olbermann Watch) and here for video of the story on the Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly Fox News shows, including an interview with talk radio host Laura Ingraham about it.

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Labels: Business, Conservatives, Defense, Liberals, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:17 AM

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

On the Murder of Private William Long, Obama Finally Speaks

I guess the White House noticed rising numbers of complaints about the President's failure to give the apparently-political murder of Private William Long the same level of concern he gave to the apparently-political murder of Dr. George Tiller.

Michelle Malkin has the complete White House statement, along with commentary.

I agree with Michelle's commentary, but at least the President finally said something.

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Labels: Conservatives, Crime, Defense, Liberals, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:46 PM

On Sotomayor, Rumors of Conservative Hypocrisy are Overblown

ScienceBlogs, which, despite the neutral and academic-sounding name, apparently is a left-wing political blog, has a curious attack on "the Right" today on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. Since husband David and I are in it, mildly, and post author Ed Brayton appears to have a glaring blind spot that causes him to unfairly malign several of my fellow conservatives, I thought I'd take a minute to set the record straight.

Brayton claims there is "glaring hypocrisy" of which some conservatives are guilty. Specifically, Brayton charges, in 2005 (Brayton actually wrote "1995") quite a few conservatives signed a letter to Republican Senators opposing the use of the filibuster to obstruct up-or-down 50-percent-plus-one votes on judicial nominees. The hypocrisy comes in, Brayton charges, because some of those same conservatives also signed a letter dated June 2, 2009 calling on Republican Senators to consider using a filibuster to, if needed, make sure the Senate debate on Sotomayor is "appropriately long."

Brayton misses, either intentionally or because he did not understand one or both of the letters, the important common position in each letter: Opposition to the use of the filibuster to obstruct a straightforward up-or-down 50-percent-plus-one vote.

The 2009 letter spells out very clearly that the letter's signers are not trying to obstruct a majority vote on Sotomayor, but merely make certain a meaningful debate on the nomination occurs. Paragraphs are devoted to the explanation, as well as very clear phrases, such as "the traditional filibuster, not intended to obstruct [a vote]."

It seems so clear to me, I don't see how Brayton could have misunderstood it.

P.S. The Other McCain rebuts another ridiculous criticism of the June 2 letter. Really, why do certain people feel so threatened by a call for a mere debate?

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Labels: Conservatives, Constitutional Law, Courts, Liberals, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:25 PM

Outrage of the Day: Obama's Silence on the Murder of William Long

Thanks to Michelle Malkin for the link to the Newsbusters version of my post on the lopsided news media coverage of the George Tiller and William Long murders.

Kudos to Michelle for calling President Obama to account for the shameful way Obama has ignored William Long's murder.

Obama was Private Long's commander-in-chief. Long was murdered specifically because of this service. On Sunday, President Obama lamented the murder of George Tiller, whose killer allegedly had political and religious motivations. On Monday, Private Long was murdered by someone else who likewise allegedly had political and religious motives. Long, unlike Tiller, had a direct tie to President Obama -- Long had sworn an oath to follow Obama's orders, even at the risk of his own life. Then, in the performance of these duties, apparently directly because he had sworn that specific oath, Long is murdered. And Obama, so quick to condemn ideological murder just a day before, says nothing.

Even after people complain, giving the clueless White House a clue that words were sought, Obama still says nothing.

You should read the whole thing, but here's part of Michelle Malkin's column on this:

President Obama issued a statement condemning "heinous acts of violence" within hours of Tiller's death. The Justice Department issued its own statement and sent federal marshals to protect abortion clinics. News anchors and headline writers abandoned all qualms about labeling the gunman a terrorist. An almost gleeful excess of mainstream commentary poured forth on the climates of hate and fear created by conservative talk radio, blogs, and Fox News for reporting Tiller's activities.

By contrast, President Obama was silent about the military recruiter attacks that left 24-year-old Private William Long dead and 18-year-old Private Quinton Ezeagwula gravely wounded. On Tuesday afternoon -- more than 24 hours after the attack on the military recruiting center in Little Rock -- President Obama held a press conference to announce his pick for Army Secretary. It would have been exactly the right moment to express condolences for the families of the targeted Army recruiters and to condemn heinous acts of violence against our troops.

But President Obama said nothing. The Justice Department was mum. And so were the legions of finger-pointing pundits happily convicting the pro-life movement and every right-leaning writer on the planet of contributing to the murder of George Tiller. Obama's omission, it should be noted, comes just a few weeks after he failed to mention the Bronx jihadi plot to bomb synagogues and a National Guard airbase during his speech on homeland security.

Why the silence? Politically and religiously-motivated violence, it seems, is only worth lamenting when it demonizes opponents...

Michelle scolds the media, too: "Is it too much to ask the media cartographers in charge of mapping the 'climate of hate' to do their jobs with both eyes open?"

Yes, apparently it is.

William Long was willing to give his life to his country. Because of this, he was (apparently) targeted by a domestic terrorist and killed. His sacrifice deserves at least token recognition by his commander-in-chief.

Michelle's June 3 blog post on this contains the full text of her column. After you read it, click the "send to a friend" tag at the end, and send the column to at least five friends.

Obama does things when he thinks they'll help make him popular. If we keep this story alive, Private Long eventually may get the presidential recognition he deserves.

Addendum: Vocal Minority has good thoughts on this as well, including a roundup of comments from other sources. (That's where I learned of Michelle Malkin's hat tip in the first place, as well.)

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Labels: Conservatives, Crime, Defense, Liberals, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:13 PM

The Religious Right Didn't Kill George Tiller

"The Religious Right Didn't Kill George Tiller," by James Kirchick in the June 3 Wall Street Journal, is a powerful piece.

Kirchick is an assistant editor of the liberal New Republic magazine and a contributing writer to The Advocate, which is a national gay newsmagazine.

An excerpt:

...Within hours after the murder [of abortion doctor George Tiller], every antiabortion group in the country denounced the attack...

...These unqualified reproaches are nothing new. The organized antiabortion movement has always opposed violence against abortion providers. That has never stopped opportunistic prochoice activists, however, from conflating their passionate rhetoric with the behavior of individual criminals. True to form, on Sunday, Mike Hendricks of the Kansas City Star accused anyone who had criticized Tiller as a murderer (Tiller aborted healthy, nine-month old fetuses) of being an "accomplice" to his death.

Over the past decade this argumentative tactic has taken on an even more insidious twist. In addition to fighting violent, Muslim jihadists abroad, some liberals argue that America must deal with its own, homegrown terrorists. These are not just people who commit violence but millions of socially conservative evangelicals and Catholics -- "Christianists" -- who comprise the base of the Republican Party and threaten the stability of the country.

In 2007, former New York Times Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Hedges published a book called "American Fascists" that compared conservative evangelicals to European brownshirts of the 1920s and 1930s. That same year, CNN's Christiane Amanpour hosted a three-part series, "God's Warriors," that equated Christian (and Jewish) fundamentalists with Muslim extremists...

...But if the reactions to the death of Tiller mean anything, the "Christian Taliban," as conservative religious figures are often called, isn't living up to its namesake. If "Christianists" were anything like actual religious fascists they would applaud Tiller's murder as a "heroic martyrdom operation" and suborn further mayhem...

...There is no appreciable number of people in this country, religious Christians or otherwise, who support the murder of abortion doctors. The same cannot be said of Muslims who support suicide bombings in the name of their religion.

Yet speak of the disproportionately violent strain in Islam to a "progressive" person and you'll be met with sneering recitations of millennia-old Christian crusades or Jewish settlements in the West Bank. As for conservative Christians' contemporary political endeavors, lobbying to ban the teaching of evolution in schools or forbidding same-sex marriage simply does not threaten society in quite the same way as the genital mutilation of young girls or the bombing of the London transit system.

I happen to support a legal regime that would, in Bill Clinton's famous words, keep abortion safe, legal and rare. I hold no brief for the religious right, and its views on homosexuality in particular offend (and affect) me personally. But it's precisely because of my identity that I consider comparisons between so-called Christianists (who seek to limit my rights via the ballot box) and Islamic fundamentalists (who seek to limit my rights via decapitation) to be fatuous.

In the coming days, we will hear more about how mainstream conservative organizations and media personalities created an "environment" in which the murder of an abortion doctor became an inevitability. Just as talk radio was blamed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, an attempt will be made to extend the guilt for this crime from the individual who pulled the trigger to the conservative movement writ large. But the Christian right's responsible reaction to the death of George Tiller should put to rest the lie that Judeo-Christian extremists are anywhere near as numerous or dangerous as those of the Muslim variety.

Read it all here.

P.S. If you are interested at all in former New York Times Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Hedges' book, "American Fascists," you can read a review I wrote of it in the Washington Examiner here.

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Labels: Conservatives, Liberals, Media, Terrorism

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:09 AM

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Outrage of the Day: To the Media, Some Murders Matter More Than Others

At the time of this writing, there are nearly 7,000 references to "George Tiller" in Google News.

There are under 500 for "William Long."

George Tiller, of course, was the Kansas abortion doctor murdered Sunday morning by a man who allegedly had political and religious motives.

William Long was the 23-year-old military recruiter murdered Monday morning by a man who allegedly had political and religious motives.

Are there 14 times more stories about George Tiller in Google News right now because Tiller's murder occurred approximately 24 hours before Long's?

Will there be approximately 7,000 references to William Long in Google News 24 hours from now?

I'm not holding my breath.

Postscript dated 6/2/09, 11:37 PM Eastern: As I add this postscript, it's approximately 24 hours after I posted the post above, and thus now time to see how many references to "William Long" will appear on Google News. If the number of news articles referencing William Long approximates 7,000, I will have been unfair. Checking now... the answer is... there are 949 references to "William Long" on Google News. A search for "George Tiller" now finds 8,561.

Cross-posted on Newsbusters, which has a wealth of additional coverage of perceived media bias in the coverage of the George Tiller murder.

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Labels: Culture, Media, Terrorism

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:42 AM

Friday, May 29, 2009

Nothing Gets By CNN

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Labels: Courts, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:01 PM

Outrage of the Day: "Subsidymagination"

Writing in the Washington Examiner, columnist Timothy Carney exposes General Electric's penchant for lobbying the federal government to force us to pay for its products.

Carney writes:

GE is not simply taking advantage of subsidies that exist -- the company lobbies, with its $18 million-a-year lobbying outfit, to create or protect these subsidies. On greenhouse emissions restrictions, GE is leading the pro-regulation charge.

But these "green" profits for GE don't come out of nowhere. Regulations force businesses to buy GE's products. Subsidies incentivize them to buy GE's products. In either case, regular people foot the bill -- either through higher prices for electricity, shipping, and manufactured goods, or through higher taxes.

Pathetically but hilariously, Carney quotes the head of GE's "Ecomagination" scam, Steven Fludder, trying to pass off GE's lobby-robbery of taxpayers with a little spin:

I'd prefer not to think of words like 'subsidies' and that type of a construct. I think it is more supporting the creation of scale.

We'd prefer not to think of words like "subsidies," too, Mr. Fludder, if only parasites like General Electric and others who prefer not to earn their bread through honest trade would just mend their ways.

The column quotes Steve Milloy, who co-directs the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project, which has written extensively about GE's brand of game-the-system legal extortion on its FreeEnterpriser blog, crediting him with coining the term "subsidymagination." (Steve is also the author of the excellent new book about the harm environmental lobbyists due to ordinary folk, Green Hell, and he runs JunkScience.com.)

In the Washington Times today, Jerry Seper writes about a decision by political appointees at the Justice Department to overrule career lawyers, who wanted to prosecute men who allegedly stood outside a Philadelphia voting booth and intimidated voters with a stick.

I think of General Electric as the genteel lobbyist version of the men with sticks. We don't want to buy their products, but if we don't, the men with sticks -- Congress and the regulators backed by the tax men -- will see to it that we do.

I don't believe Obama's appointees are on our side on this one, either.

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Labels: Business, Environment, FreeEnterpriseProject, Media, Outrage, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 8:32 AM

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

What Happens When You Tie Half Your Brain Behind Your Back?

Now we know what can happen when Rush Limbaugh ties half his brain behind his back...

...he gets co-oped by an organization that stands for much of what he and his listeners stand against.

Rush Limbaugh recently did two radio spots for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), helping drive traffic to the organization's website and, presumably, donations to its coffers.

Limbaugh, who frequently boasts that he can beat liberals in a debate with half his brain tied behind his back, apparently overlooked the fact that HSUS is a radical animal rights group. Think People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, only they keep their clothes on.

Here are a few select quotes from HSUS leaders, past and present...

"Human beings aren't superior, we're just different..." - Dr. Michael W. Fox, former HSUS Scientific Director

"Our goal is to get sport hunting in the same category as cock fighting and dog fighting. Our opponents say that hunting is a tradition. We say traditions can change." - Wayne Pacelle, HSUS CEO

"...In promoting the rights of animals, we are doing so in a world where animals do not have equal status... The human species... will never concede equality to animals and will, I predict, resist with increasing vehemence all attempts to endow them with such." - John A. Hoyt, former HSUS president

"...We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States... We will take it species by species... state by state." - Wayne Pacelle, HSUS CEO

Perhaps Limbaugh confused HSUS with local Humane Societies, which are completely independent entities and tend to be less political, providing shelters and spay and neutering programs.

Confusion can occur when oxygen to your brain is cut off for extended periods.

Just ask Colin Powell.

This post was written by National Center for Public Policy Research Vice President David Ridenour. Write him at info@nationalcenter.org. Please state if a letter is not for publication or if you prefer that it be published anonymously.

Labels: Conservatives, Media

Posted by David A. Ridenour at 8:10 AM

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Airheaded Headline of the Day

Courtesy of a screen shot of my Google News homepage, I present yet another airheaded news media headline.

Truly, has any head of state ever gone to war and claimed it was without cause?

The real meat of the sentence the headline refers to ("I will only send you into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary, and with the strategy, the well-defined goals, the equipment and the support that you need to get the job done...") has to do with winning once the troops have been sent.

That's the pledge we will hold him to.

I guess the news media didn't think that was the important part.

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Labels: Defense, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 3:08 PM

The Problems of Time and Newsweek

Michael Kinsey has quite a takedown of the "new" Newsweek in the old New Republic, but he's very clear on one point: he dislikes Time more.

In my view, the only thing that would save either Time or Newsweek in the long run is really top-flight, undercovering-new-facts reporting on fast-breaking issues. People don't need news recaps any more. They have little reason to pay for access to opinion columns, or cutsey, gossipy short pieces.

The problem is the magazines face is that this kind of reporting is hard to do. Hard to research, hard to write, hard to edit. And even if the owners of either Time or Newsweek agreed with me and were willing to try the business model I suggest, it is unclear that the modern mainstream media has enough true journalists available to staff and maintain the truly high-quality newsroom that would be required.

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Labels: Liberals, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:53 AM

Friday, May 22, 2009

The Associated Press Has Lied

The Associated Press has lied.

This AP article claims President Obama signed H.R. 627, the Credit Card Holders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009, into law today, May 22. The legislation had formally been adopted by Congress on May 20.

The AP must have lied.

While running for president, Barack Obama promised to give "the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days before signing any non-emergency legislation."

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Labels: Congress, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:10 PM

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I Don't Watch Chris Matthews, But...

...based on this Jeff Poor post over at Newsbusters, I'm guessing that he's never studied the global warming issue well though to engage a guest in a serious conversation about it.

There's a great deal that's interesting to discuss about global warming, even (perhaps, especially) among two people who disagree about it. Asking a guest if they are a "Luddite, a troglodyte" because of the are skeptical that humankind is causing severe global warming isn't one of them.

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Labels: Climate, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:55 PM

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Misbehaving for Money: Something Wanda Sykes, Perez Hilton and Donald Trump Have in Common

When comedian Wanda Sykes, heretofore largely anonymous, got the gig to be the professional funny person at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, she could have been funny (she knows how). Everyone would have laughed (it was an easy crowd), she would have received compliments afterward (and presumably some more bookings), and that would have been that.

Alternatively, she could do something outrageous, be all over the news for a few days, and get even more bookings and interviews and make a lot more money.

When professional gossip Perez Hilton had the chance to be a judge at the Miss USA pageant, he could have asked the sort of question pageant judges ask, or limited himself to questions appropriate to a show with untold numbers of children in the audience, or even restrained himself from behaving intolerantly and abominably (and to the detriment of the political cause he claims to champion) after receiving the answer he solicited and presumably expected. Because he did not, he received extensive national publicity, which, I expect, has benefited him financially and professionally.

When Donald Trump saw that personnel employed by the beauty pageant he owns were behaving grotesquely, he could have issued a few orders and knocked 90 percent of this story off the front pages. Because he made a different choice, the news media is abuzz with the fact that he will hold a press conference in the morning, and he'll no doubt be all over the news tomorrow. Ratings for his pageant will be up next year, not because greater numbers will tune in to admire the young ladies for their grace and beauty, but for the same reason people slow down on the highway to look at a car wreck. But Donald Trump will receive more publicity, and he will earn more money.

The behavior of Wanda Sykes, Perez Hilton, Donald Trump and others who intentionally behave less than graciously for money and profit is not admirable. If we wish to see less of it, we should turn our eyes away.

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Labels: Business, Liberals, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:20 AM

Monday, May 04, 2009

Watch Deneen Borelli Live Online on Fox's "Strategy Room" Tuesday

By David Almasi:

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli is scheduled to speak about current events and breaking news as part of the group discussion on the Fox News Channel's online "Strategy Room" program on Tuesday, May 5 between 9:00 and 10:00 AM eastern.

To access the live Internet broadcast, click here and then click the "STREAM THIS NOW" headline in the center or the page under the photo.

To learn more about Fox's "Strategy Room" Internet talk show, click here to see an article about the program that appeared in the New York Times.

This post was written by National Center for Public Policy Research Executive Director David Almasi. To send comments to the author, write him at info@nationalcenter.org. Please state if a letter is not for publication or if you prefer that it be published anonymously.

Labels: Media, Project 21, Race

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 9:27 PM

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Outrage of the Day: Keith Olbermann Got a Big Raise While His Employer Got a Bailout

Writing on U.S. News and World Report's website, Peter Roff notes that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann negotiated a $3.5 million raise at the very time his employer was receiving a taxpayer bailout.

Peter reports the "Stop the Worst Bailout in the World" website has started on online petition to Olbermann:

Dear Mr. Olbermann,

While General Electric, the parent-company of your MSNBC network, was negotiating a $126 billion taxpayer-funded bailout, you signed a new contract raising your salary from $4 million to $7.5 million annually. You have used your show as a platform to call for the resignation of corporate executives accepting excessive bonuses on the backs of taxpayers who are picking up the tab for these atrocious bailouts, yet you yourself have no problem engaging in the same “class economic rape” that you accuse them of.

Please heed your own advice and stop accepting taxpayer money to subsidize your nightly diatribes. Resign or return the balance of your excessive raise to the U.S. Treasury.

Sincerely,

Go here if you'd like to sign it (and/or go if you'd like to watch a video the hilarious SNL send-up of Olbermann).

P.S. Here's a video of Keith Olbermann complaining about spending by bailed-out firms ("corporate pirates" ... who "need to be fired"). It's jaw-dropping to watch it knowing that he just got an extra $3.5 million in pay from a bailed-out firm.

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Labels: Government Spending, Liberals, Media, Outrage

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:46 AM

Monday, April 27, 2009

Fox Haters Week in Review

Johnny Dollar's Place has a lot of fun with Keith Olbermann's inability to get the facts straight in its latest Fox Haters Week in Review.

This edition has several links back to this blog and coverage of our General Electric-related activities (among other stories and issues), but it would have been a fun read for me even without that.

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Labels: Business, FreeEnterpriseProject, Media

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:18 AM

Important Links

About Amy Ridenour

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Historic Documents

Archives

Highlighted Project

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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Rush Should Sue

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Deneen Borelli to Appear on Fox and Friends

Friday, October 16, 2009

Inside the Beltway on Deneen Borelli

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Nobel Committee's Not-So Unanimous Selection of Obama

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

On Nobel Funds, Talking Points Memo Misses the More Interesting Story

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Quote of Note: Nobel Peace Prize Winners in Perspective

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Andrew Breitbart is Wondering...

What's Happening Now

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Project 21's Bob Parks on Sirius and XM Satellite Radio This Wednesday

Radio Day!

Saturday, October 03, 2009

It's Bush's Fault...

Thursday, October 01, 2009

What's Happening Now

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Quote of Note: Keep Newspapers Independent

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Project 21's Bob Parks Discusses Health Care Policy on BET Special This Sunday

Friday, September 25, 2009

Project 21's Borelli to Discuss ACORN on Fox

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Conservatives Take Social Networking to the Next Level

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Project 21's Deneen Borelli on "Hannity" on Thursday Night, "America's Newsroom" on Friday Morning

Monday, September 21, 2009

AFRO: One-on-One with Deneen Borelli

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Deneen Borelli to be on Fox and Friends Monday

Saturday, September 19, 2009

G. Gordon Liddy to Interview Black Conservative Deneen Borelli

Friday, September 18, 2009

Media Matters Attacks Me as "Nativist" for Criticism of Andrew Sullivan

Quote of Note: Crybabies

A Tasteless Display of Drivel

Washington Times Talk Radio Debuts

What's Happening Now

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Andrew Sullivan, Domestic Foreigner

What's Happening Now

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Project 21's Deneen Borelli on "Fox and Friends" on Friday Morning to Discuss Race and Obama Opposition

Project 21's Deneen Borelli on BBCAmerica Wednesday Night to Discuss Race and Obama Opposition

Sunday, September 13, 2009

AP Quotes Deneen Borelli's Tea Party Speech

Deneen Borelli's Tea Party speech begins at 3:30 on this video

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

What's Happening Now

Steve Milloy on O'Reilly Factor Discussing Relationship Between GE, NBC and White House

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

What's Happening Now

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Dr. Bernadine Healy on Health Care Reform

Friday, September 04, 2009

ABC Won't Air Anti-ObamaCare Ad, But a Double-Standard is in Play

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

What's Happening Now

The Ad ABC Won't Run

Thursday, August 27, 2009

What's Happening Now

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Unlike Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, I Would Save the Babies and Children First

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

What's Happening Now

Thursday, August 20, 2009