Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Tea Party Video and Pictures from March 16 U.S. Capitol Code Red Rally

National Center for Public Policy Research David Almasi delivers petitions to Rep. Michelle Bachmann at Tea Party Rally at the U.S. Capitol, March 16

National Center Executive Director David Almasi and other National Center staffers loaded up petitions for delivery to Congress at Tuesday's Tea Party Express "Code Red" rally against ObamaCare.

The National Center delivered about 700 pounds of signed petitions (about 30,000) opposing any form of socialized medicine. Some petitions also expressed opposition to President Obama's plan to eliminate the popular Medicare Advantage option from the Medicare program. The petitions were accepted by Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN).

National Center-affiliated activists were busy outside of Washington, too. Project 21 member Emery McClendon helped organize several tea party rallies in Indiana, including in the state capital of Indianapolis. Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie, who was in Plymouth, Michigan on Sunday and Monday speaking to the "Rattle With Us" grassroots organization, attended a tea party in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Here are some photos from the petition delivery and rally:

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Labels: Congress, Conservatives, Government Health Care, Health Care, Protests, Retirement, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 2:01 AM

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Project 21's Deneen Borelli on "Hannity" Tonight

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli will appear on the "Great American Panel" on the Fox News Channel's "Hannity" program at 9:00 PM eastern on Tuesday, March 16.

Deneen has been interviewed on Fox News Channel, Hot Tea Radio and many other media outlets lately about the health care debate and how it is growing the tea party movement. Today saw several tea party rallies in Washington and across the nation related to the push for a health care vote this week, so it is likely Deneen will be speaking about this important issue tonight.

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.

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Labels: Congress, Government Health Care, Government Power, Government Spending, Health Care, Media, Project 21, Race, Retirement, White House

Posted by David W. Almasi at 2:14 PM

Monday, March 15, 2010

National Center's David Almasi to Speak at U.S. Capitol Tea Party Rally, Will Deliver Tens of Thousands of Petitions Against Socialized Health Care

David Almasi with a box of the petitions

National Center Executive Director David Almasi will speak at the Tea Party Express "Code Red" rally against Obamacare on Tuesday, March 16. The rally will be on the U.S. Capitol grounds at Taft Park (on the Senate side) at 10:00 AM. David is scheduled to speak at 10:35 AM.

David also will present Representative Michele Bachman (R-MN) with tens of thousands of petitions collected by the National Center for Public Policy Research. The petitions oppose socialized medicine and President Obama's plan to eliminate the popular Medicare Advantage option for Medicare recipients.

Here are two (unsigned) samples of the tens of thousands of petitions David will present on Tuesday (open in a new window to enlarge):

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Labels: Congress, Conservatives, Government Health Care, Health Care, Protests, Retirement, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 9:44 PM

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Slaughter Solution Unconstitutional

Justice Stevens' majority opinion in Clinton v. New York signals the Supreme Court's likely view of the Slaughter Solution

Frustrated by their inability to get President Obama's health care plan through Congress, the House leadership is now considering a mad new scheme, dubbed the "Slaughter Solution," to get the Senate version of the bill through a reluctant House.

As described by Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner, the Slaughter Solution would "pass [the] legislation by 'deeming' it approved under a House rule instead of following the process required by the U.S. Constitution in which they actually vote on the proposal itself... Slaughter's approach would bring to the House floor a reconcilliation bill to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of health care reform with the rule deeming the House to have approved the Senate version."

Mark goes on to say a senior House of Representatives GOP staffer has told him the Republicans can find no evidence such a ploy has ever been tried before in the history of the House.

In my view, there's a good reason why not: the legislation would stand a very good chance of being tossed out by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A dozen years ago, in a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the line item veto unconstitutional in Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998).

Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens laid a likely roadmap for how the Court might rule on a challenge to the constitutionality of the Slaughter Solution:

...our decision rests on the narrow ground that the procedures authorized by the Line Item Veto Act are not authorized by the Constitution. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 is a 500-page document that became 'Public Law 105--33' after three procedural steps were taken: (1) a bill containing its exact text was approved by a majority of the Members of the House of Representatives; (2) the Senate approved precisely the same text; and (3) that text was signed into law by the President. The Constitution explicitly requires that each of those three steps be taken before a bill may 'become a law.' Art. I, §7. If one paragraph of that text had been omitted at any one of those three stages, Public Law 105--33 would not have been validly enacted. [Emphasis added] If the Line Item Veto Act were valid, it would authorize the President to create a different law - one whose text was not voted on by either House of Congress or presented to the President for signature. Something that might be known as 'Public Law 105--33 as modified by the President' may or may not be desirable, but it is surely not a document that may 'become a law' pursuant to the procedures designed by the Framers of Article I, §7, of the Constitution.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the Court in the line item veto case, one cannot deny that the majority decision here is a powerful sign that the Slaughter Solution would not be ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Labels: Congress, Constitutional Law, Government Health Care, Health Care, Retirement, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:40 PM

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

The Madness of King Barack

Matt Patterson has a few words about the President's announcement that the health care reform debate is over.

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Labels: Climate, Government Health Care, Health Care, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 9:57 PM

Friday, February 26, 2010

One Man's "Talking Points" Might be Another Man's Point

At yesterday's "Health Care Summit," President Obama frequently expressed opposition to the use of talking points during the conversation.

In our biz, that is to say, the non-political public policy arena of the think-tank world, "talking points" are simply a succinct version of one's remarks, distilled in such a way as to present information in an orderly an efficient manner. I assume the same goes for the use of the term in business settings.

As it is likely President Obama is not opposed to succinct presentations, his definition of "talking point" must be something else.

Might that "something else" be "speech uttered for political gain"?

My sense in watching the summit was that that President continuously assumed speakers who disagreed with him were engaging in political rather than policy-oriented speech. He could not, or would not, not see that disagreement with his proposed methods could be based on principle.

This says something, I think, about the insular world he inhabits.

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

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:26 PM

"We Don't Think the Government Should Be in Control of All This"

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on the differences between conservatives and the White House on the way to improve our health care system:

Hat tip: RealClearPolitics.

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

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:25 PM

No Climate Bill In 2010

In an article by Ed Carson that includes embedded video of our Tom Borelli, Investors Business Daily's "Capital Hill" Politics and markets blog is reporting that President Obama will fail to get his climate legislation adopted by the Senate this year.

This failure could turn out to be the best thing the Obama Administration ever does to reduce unemployment.

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Labels: Business, Climate, Congress, FreeEnterpriseProject, Jobs, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 4:30 PM

More Project 21 Criticism of NAACP Image Award for Van Jones

Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie criticized the NAACP for giving an Image Award to Van Jones ’Äî the former Obama Administration ’Äúgreen jobs czar’Äù who was thrown under the bus by the White House last September. Massie gave a stern rebuttal to a commentary written by NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous that was posted on CNN.com in which Jealous sought to justify the award to Jones.

Mychal’Äôs comments about the award can be found here.

But Mychal is not the only Project 21 member speaking out about this dubious selection made by the NAACP. Here is what other Project 21 members are saying:

R. Dozier Gray:

The NAACP, through president Ben Jealous, christened Van Jones a ’ÄúAmerican treasure.’Äù Really? Why?

If he were such a treasure, why would the Obama Administration no longer have a place for him? It was certainly not because the White House disagrees with his bent on green jobs. It was because, through his past radicalism and current demeanor, he became a political liability.

So the question is, how is it that Van Jones is not too caustic for the NAACP?

It seems that regardless of the baggage that Jones carries with him, the NAACP thinks it worthwhile ’Äîeven beneficial ’Äî to associate with him.

The NAACP says Jones is qualified for one of its special Image Awards because of his work in helping develop a ’Äúgreen collar’Äù economy. We only need to look to Spain to see how silly this is. Every one Spanish green job cost 2.2 regular jobs in its creation, and one-in-ten of those green jobs might actually last. So, what is the value of this treasure? Anti-capitalism? Anti-jobs?

Deneen Borelli:

After Van Jones effectively slit his own throat by not being able to keep his radicalism in check ’Äî and was forced out of the White House as a result ’Äî it would appear the NAACP is helping Jones rebuild his image. I don’Äôt think this is what the Image Awards was originally intended to do.

In bestowing an Image Award on this once self-proclaimed communist and 911-truther, the NAACP is again showing its real aim these days is to promote and defend the left-wing agenda. With so many blacks making legitimate achievements in American society today, it’Äôs outrageous that the NAACP is picking from the bottom of the barrel with Jones.

The main beneficiaries of this award are Jones and the shamed Obama Administration that hired him. With their flawed cap-and-trade energy tax on the ropes, they are likely hoping a rehabilitated Jones will be an asset in touting the false benefits of a ’Äúgreen economy.’Äù

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Labels: Culture, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:00 AM

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Obama's Health Care Strategy in Under 25 Words

Writing in the Examiner, National Center for Public Policy Research policy analyst Matt Patterson nails the White House strategy on health care in 23 succinct words: "The President's strategy is clear: First turn the insurance companies into government utilities. Then run them out of business. Then fill the void."

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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:20 PM

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Harry Reid Proves Deficit Commission is a Joke

What a joke President Obama's "deficit commission" (deficit of leadership, I'd say) is. Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced that one of the three big-spending liberals* he's appointing to a commission intended to convince us the left isn't spending us into perdition is Montana Senator Max Baucus.

Baucus has since 2007 held the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee, which has oversight over the fiscal fortunes of Social Security and Medicare, both of which are insolvent. Does Baucus do anything about this? Does he even hold hearings to seriously discuss what to do?

No, except for spending much of the last couple of years working to expand the burden under which these systems operate (when he wasn't taking his girlfriend, who was on his taxpayer-financed staff payroll, on taxpayer-financed tours of exotic locales), Baucus has been doing nothing about the insolvent Social Security and Medicare systems.

And now we're supposed to believe he cares enough about the federal deficit to help make the hard decisions that can get the country out of this mess? Ha!

P.S. I hope the GOP gives one of its slots to Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who is likely to sit at all the meetings -- these meetings all will be on C-SPAN, right Mrs. President? -- and say "where in the Constitution does it give us the authority to spend this? Where in the Constitution does it give us the authority to spend that?" The leftists will ignore him but the public would love the fact that they can't give him an answer.

* The other two are Senators Dick Durbin and Kent Conrad, whose big-spending ways are legendary.

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Labels: Congress, Government Spending, Liberals, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:01 PM

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Deneen Borelli Debates Al Sharpton on Jobs

In case you missed it -- video of Project 21's Deneen Borelli debating Al Sharpton about the President Obama/Majority Leader Harry Reid jobs bill.


The debate was on the Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends on February 12, 2010.

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Labels: Congress, Economics, Jobs, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:18 AM

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Video: Deneen Borelli on Jobs, Tea Parties on Fox

For those who missed it, here's the video of Deneen Borelli on Fox and Friends this morning, discussing President Obama's jobs agenda, tea parties and more.

Hat tip: Thanks to WebsurferguyMN for uploading it to YouTube.

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Labels: Economics, Jobs, Project 21, Protests, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:33 PM

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Bizarre Climategate Update #4: IPCC Chairman Wishes Painful Death Upon Critics

Question this report, and a top UN official will wish you dead

Under fire for the Glaciergate, Amazongate and Please-Fund-My-Institute-Gate sectors, among others, of the ever-broadening Climategate scandal, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (and a man who cares so much about global warming, he doesn't use his free electric car because it isn't big enough for his chauffeur), has now all but wished a slow and painful death upon his critics.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Pachauri said:

I don't want to get down to a personal level, but all you need to do is look at [my critics'] backgrounds. They are people who deny the link between smoking and cancer; they are people who say that asbestos is as good as talcum powder - I hope that they apply it to their faces every day - and people who say that the only way to deal with HIV/Aids is to screen the population on a regular basis and isolate those who are infected.

Typical of IPCC research, everything here except, presumably, Pachauri's wish that we would put a carcinogen on our faces daily is an invention, and a strikingly obvious one at that.

The man doesn't even lie well.

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Labels: Climate, Corruption, Environment, Scandals, United Nations, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:05 PM

Monday, February 01, 2010

Obama Using Fear to Sell Health Care Plan

Matt Patterson

Policy Analyst Matt Patterson has an op-ed in today's Washington Examiner and San Francisco Examiner on President Obama's use of fear to help him increase weak public support for his health care proposal.

An excerpt:

In his efforts to reorganize the nation's health care system by giving the federal government power to compel and subsidize insurance, Obama has faced one bleak obstacle: The vast majority of Americans, while concerned about rising costs, nonetheless consistently report satisfaction with their existing health coverage.

So how do you convince people who are happy with what they have to go along with radical change? Convince them that what they are happy with can be lost at any time, and through no fault of their own.

In other words, scare them...

Read the whole thing here.

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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:08 AM

Friday, January 29, 2010

Thoughts on Barack Obama's Attack on the Court

Following the obligatory full disclosure that the National Center for Public Policy Research was not exactly neutral in the case of Citizens United v. FEC when it went before the Supreme Court (we supported and signed on to an amicus brief in the case spearheaded by the Free Speech Coalition last year), I want to slightly defend President Obama vis-a-vis his erroneous remarks about the case during the State of the Union address.

Yes, Justice Samuel Alito was right (Bradley Smith, a campaign finance expert and law professor, proves it succinctly here), and President Obama wrong, on the facts.

But in regards to those who are calling the President a liar on the matter: I doubt it because I doubt the President knew the facts of the case before he spoke. Unlike our last Democratic President, Barack Obama has never been particularly interested in issues, and his speechwriters draw heavily from left-wing sources without fact-checking (as when they blindly trusted Slate's Timothy Noah when drafting Obama's health care speech to the joint session of Congress).

The left-wing position on Citizens United, as Democracy 21 put it, is that a loophole now exists in the law because, although foreign corporations are banned from influencing elections, "there is no statutory prohibition against foreign-controlled domestic corporations from making expenditures to influence federal elections."

But the absence of a statute is not the fault of the Supreme Court, and President Obama and the left is wrong to criticize the Court for it. Congress had plenty of time to anticipate Citizens United v. FEC and to pass legislation to deal with this or any other loophole if it believes a loophole exists.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear Citizens United v. FEC in August 2008. The Court heard arguments on it twice (March and September 2009), which led court-watchers to expect that major parts of McCain-Feingold would be struck down. Any legislation affecting the influence of foreign-controlled domestic corporations on U.S. elections would have received extensive bi-partisan support. Yet Congress didn't pass it, and Obama never asked it to try.

The Supreme Court had one duty: to apply the Constitution. President Obama was criticizing the court on public policy grounds the Court would have been out of line to consider.

The role of the Supreme Court is something about which leftists in general tend to be willfully ignorant. For example, in comments about this case, Josh Glasstetter of the popular left-wing Crooks and Liars blog not only ignored the fact that the Supreme Court is supposed to be neutral on policy impacts, but he exaggerated the decision's impact immensely:

[The Supreme Court justices voting in the majority] don't seem to mind that Lukoil (Kremlin Inc.), Citgo (Hugo Chavez LLC), Aramco (King Fahd and Sons Co.), and countless other multinational corporations - including those run as business arms of foreign governments - now have a free hand to influence the government from top to bottom.

If it so chose, Congress could plug any loophole being exploited by Hugo Chavez long before November. Who would vote against it?

So I defend the President on the charge that he lied when he claimed the decision opened "the floodgates for special interests ’Äî including foreign corporations ’Äî to spend without limit in our elections," because I doubt he knew any better, but I don't excuse him for acting as if the Supreme Court and the Congress have the same responsibilities.

He's a former law professor, for heaven's sake!

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Labels: Constitutional Law, Courts, Liberals, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:12 AM

 

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Obama & ABC, Sitting in a Tree

Matt Patterson

On January 21, TVNewser reported that "NBC News has filed a formal complaint with the White House press office over the distribution of presidential interviews, specifically that several of the most recent broadcast TV interviews have gone to ABC News - including George Stephanopoulos's interview yesterday and Charlie Gibson's December 15."

Later they posted an update, saying "An NBC News spokesperson tells us, 'NBC News did not file a formal or informal complaint about this interview." The updated post now claimed merely that "NBC News has expressed concern" over the matter.

Whether NBC complained formally or informally, or merely expressed "concern," it is clear that the Peacock network is none too happy with ABC's cozy relationship with the Obama White House. And can you blame them? Goodness, how much can a network throw themselves at a politician before he pays them the requisite attention? Remember MSNBC's Chris Matthews' infamous and lurid "thrill going up my leg" reaction to an Obama speech? Have you seen the nightly Obama cheerleading from virtually the entire MSNBC prime time line-up?

But these are cable commentators you may say, whose sycophantic slobberings are seen by too few to matter (MSNBC regularly comes in a dismal third in the cable news ratings race). Perhaps. But then you have the troubling nuisance of a "hard news" reporter who covers politics for NBC Nightly News admitting "it's almost hard to remain objective" when covering Obama. And the nauseating spectacle of Brian Williams himself, anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, heir to Tom Brokaw and the lodestar of the network's news division, automatically and unconsciously bowing to Barack Obama.

NBC has received some White House access in return for their affections, of course, as the TVNewser story rightly acknowledges. But not enough, it seems, to placate the infatuated NBC newsies.

ABC does seem to have a special place in the President's heart. As I detailed in a recent National Center For Public Policy Research report:

On June 24, ABC devoted a full hour of valuable prime-time real estate to Barack Obama for a Primetime (a production of ABC News) health care forum titled "Questions for the President: Prescription for America," hosted by ABC World News host Charles Gibson and Good Morning America co-host Diane Sawyer. But ABC News wasn't done making itself a platform for the President's agenda; later that same night, Obama continued his pitch for his health care reform package on Nightline.

Why would ABC farm out its news team to help a politician ply his wares? Well, the fact that the pharmaceutical companies, prime allies of the White House in Obama's national health care push, have constituted the majority of sponsors for ABC World News may have something to do with it. Or maybe ABC just shows Obama the kind of tenderness that NBC can't match, a more subtle and sublime affection which prompts George Stephanopoulos to ask Obama if being president has been "fulfilling" for him.

That's sweet. ABC and Obama make a great couple, and I think they have a real future together. It's going to be a rough Valentine's Day for NBC.

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Labels: Liberals, Media, White House

Posted by Matt Patterson at 6:05 PM

R. Dozier Gray to Appear on Gordon Liddy Show at 11 AM Eastern

Project 21's R. Dozier Gray will appear on the G. Gordon Liddy Show at 11:30 AM Eastern discussing Project 21's black conservative response to the State of the Union address.

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Labels: Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:22 AM

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Project 21 Members Respond to State of the Union Address

Project 21's Bishop Council Nedd II, Mychal Massie, Kevin L. Martin, R. Dozier Gray, Lisa Fritsch and Ellis Washington have issued a press statement giving their views of President Obama's State of the Union address.

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Labels: Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:21 PM

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Project 21's Bob Parks to Offer Commentary on Obama State of the Union Address on Sirius and XM Satellite Radio

Project 21 member Bob Parks is scheduled to appear on satellite talk radio during President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address, offering his analysis of the speech as it is being made.

Bob will appear on Sirius channel 146 ("Sirius Left") and XM channel 167 ("America Left") with host Mark Thompson on Wednesday, January 27 from 9:00 PM to 10:30 PM eastern.

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Labels: Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by David W. Almasi at 5:02 PM

Monday, January 25, 2010

President Obama Has a Promise to Keep

In light of the IPCC/Climategate scandals, the GORE LIED blog says: "Obama must call out the UN IPCC to keep his inaugural pledge to 'restore science to its rightful place.'"

Hat tip: Tom Nelson.

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Labels: Climate, Environment, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:25 PM

Is Obamacare Dead?

Writing in the Washington Examiner today, Policy Analyst Matt Patterson answers the question: "Is Obamacare Really Dead"?

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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:36 AM

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Wall Street Journal on Climategate Grant

"Michael Mann Received Stimulus Money: A Case Study in One Job 'Saved'," the Wall Street Journal editorializes this morning on the stimulus funds grant received by Climategate scientist Michael Mann:

As for stimulus jobs - whether "saved" or "created" - we thought readers might be interested to know whose employment they are sustaining. More than $2.4 million is stimulating the career of none other than Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann.

Mr. Mann is the creator of the famous hockey stick graph, which purported to show some 900 years of minor temperature fluctuations, followed by a spike in temperatures over the past century. His work, which became a short-term sensation when seized upon by Al Gore, was later discredited. Mr. Mann made the climate spotlight again last year as a central player in the emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, which showed climatologists massaging data, squelching opposing views, and hiding their work from the public.

Mr. Mann came by his grants via the National Science Foundation, which received $3 billion in stimulus money. Last June, the foundation approved a $541,184 grant to fund work "Toward Improved Projections of the Climate Response to Anthropogenic Forcing," which will contribute "to the understanding of abrupt climate change." Principal investigator? Michael Mann...

Read the rest here.

We're not quoted in this, but National Center Senior Fellow/Free Enterprise Project director Tom Borelli provided information to the Journal for the piece.

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Labels: Climate, Environment, FreeEnterpriseProject, Government Agencies, Government Spending, Scandals, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:18 AM

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Union Deal Latest ObamaCare Outrage

Question: In what kind of country are laws applied differently for politically favored constituents?

If you said "constitutional republic" you are half right; just replace "constitutional" with "banana" and you have a fairly accurate description of what Barack Obama's America is shaping up to be.

Consider the "deal" struck between The White House and union leaders on Thursday. According to the Washington Post:

The agreement, forged in a marathon negotiating session that included White House officials and seven prominent labor leaders...

And not, it might be added, captured for posterity by C-SPAN cameras, in spite of the President's oft repeated, oft mocked promise that he would allow Brian Lamb's crew in to broadcast health care negotiations. The Post reports that the agreement:

...would exempt union members from a proposed surtax on expensive insurance plans until 2018, five years after the legislation would take effect.

And what surtax would union members be "exempt" from, exactly? The 40 percent surtax on high-end, or "Cadillac" insurance plans which the Senate, and the President, seem to think necessary to finance their heath care overhaul legislation.

The problem is that many unions have negotiated such sweet insurance plans for their members in collective bargaining; by some estimates, as many as one in four union households are "Cadillac" insurance owners. Those households, if the deal holds, would now be exempt from a tax to be levied on other holders of the same kinds of policies (the vast majority of such policy holders make under $250,000 a year) until 2018, "giving labor leaders time to negotiate new contracts."

Well, how nice for them. And how unlucky for the average, non-union, middle or blue class worker who has accepted such insurance in lieu of higher wages, who is not considered a valuable member of the Obama coalition. Put simply; unions are now promised exemption from an onerous new tax by the Democratic president whom they spent tens of million to help elect.

This is only the latest in a long line of deals made behind closed doors to keep the health care train moving along, deals which have promised exemption for one group or state from fiscal and legal burdens to be born by others. This is basket-case democracy, a troubling sign that power is consolidating in Washington in the manner usually seen in only nominally free, or nakedly unfree, states.

When a nation no longer applies its laws equally, it ceases to be a nation of laws and becomes a nation of men, where faction is pitted against faction, citizen against citizen, and the whims of a few govern the lives of the multitude.

In other words, exactly what our Founders were trying to avoid when they established this great republic.

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

Posted by Matt Patterson at 12:02 AM

Monday, January 18, 2010

Project 21's Deneen Borelli Talks Green Jobs on Glenn Beck

In case you missed it from Friday...


Project 21 full-time fellow Deneen Borelli talks about the fantasy of economic empowerment through radical environmental policies on the January 14, 2010 broadcast of the Glenn Beck program on the Fox News Channel.

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Labels: Climate, Environment, Environmental Justice, Jobs, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:44 PM

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Tom Borelli Discusses Climategate, Greening of California on Glenn Beck

Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of our Free Enterprise Project, was on the Glenn Beck Show Friday with Eric Bolling, guest host, discussing both the granting of economic stimulus funds to Climategate scientist Michael Mann and also Arnold Schwartzenegger's efforts to "green" California.

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Labels: Climate, Energy, Environment, Government Spending, Jobs, Regulation, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 10:38 PM

Project 21's Lisa Fritsch Discusses Reid's Racial Comments on Glenn Beck Show

Project 21's Lisa Fritsch discussed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's racial comments about President Barack Obama and related issues on the January 14, 2010 (Thursday edition of the Glenn Beck program on the Fox News Channel. Other guests on this segment included Charles Payne of the Fox Business Network, Bruce Gilbert, a Northampton County (PA)Councilman, and Lettee Eaton-White, a commentator for Hip Hop magazine.

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Labels: Congress, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 2:23 AM

Friday, January 15, 2010

Re: Climategate, Left-Wing DeSmogBlog Website Asks Us for Research Help

Kindness is not usually a term one associates with the anti-Holocaustglobal warming denier website DeSmogBlog, but its staff has made an exception today.

Managing Editor Kevin Grandia is so concerned about the American taxpayer being fleeced through wasteful disbursements of stimulus funds, he's trying to help us publicize the unfortunate decision of the Obama Administration to give over a half a million U.S. taxpayer dollars to Climategate scientist Dr. Michael Mann.

It's really very kind of Kevin, especially when you consider that DeSmogBlog is a Canadian website, run by a for-profit public relations firm. How many Canadian for-profits worry about U.S. taxpayers being shafted? And after normal working hours, too!

From: Kevin Grandia
Date: January 14, 2010 9:52:52 PM EST
To: dalmasi@nationalcenter.org
Subject: Mann claim

Hi David,

I am looking for your evidence backing your claim that Mann received stimulus money. I cannot find anything in your press release or on your blog. I also searched the Recovery.gov datbase and cannot find it. Obviously, it is imperative that such a claim is backed by solid sources and research so I would appreciate you sending this on to me as soon as possible.

Regards,

--Kevin Grandia
Managing Editor
http://www.desmogblog.com

DeSmogBlog's much anticipated book, "Climate Cover Up: the crusade to deny global warming" is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble - get your copy today! http://www.desmogblog.com/climate-cover-up

And thank you, too, Kevin, for telling us about DeSmogBlog's book highlighting the important work of many of us in the U.S. skeptic community (polite people don't call us "deniers," Kevin) who don't want to disproportionately hurt poor people by raising energy prices based on models that disagree with one another or on an injudicious analysis of the rings of a small number of carefully-selected trees. As it is always interesting to see what the neighbors next door have to say about one, Kevin, I'd be happy to read your boss's new book if you send me a free copy. You might be interested also in my book, which describes in sad detail the way the Canadian left has screwed up your health care system. You can get a free copy of it here. Be warned, though, since you live in Canada, it might come across as kind of terrifying. I regret that, but some leftist Americans want to do to us what yours did to you, and we really have to warn people.

Back to the Michael Mann grant. I can tell from your email, Kevin, that looking in three places on the Internet for information on the grant before giving up has kind of tired you out. Really, I don't blame DeSmogBlog for this, as you are PR professionals, not researchers. I'm sure if we were talking about the best way to market a new brand of laundry detergent, you'd know lots more than we would, so why should I expect you to know a lot about government? Or climate?

So I will help you out a little. The $541,184 grant from our taxpayers to Climategate scientist Michael Mann is National Science Foundation grant award #0902133. Is documentation about it online? Maybe, Kevin, but how would you learn to do research if we did all your work for you? And besides, if you want to claim we made it up, isn't it your job to prove it?

P.S. I know DeSmogBlog -- amusingly, for a PR agency website -- is in the habit of painting anyone with a differing point of view as a corporate whore, so be aware that the total funding we receive from all corporate sources combined amounts to about one-half of one percent of our total income. About 98 percent of our income comes from small gifts from over 100,000 people who are darned worried about the job-killing, price-raising and liberty-restricting agenda of people like you. Should you write about us, I doubt you'll be able to resist claiming we're corporate funded, but you won't be able to claim we didn't tell you by how much.

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Labels: Climate, Environment, Foreign Policy, FreeEnterpriseProject, Government Spending, Liberals, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:34 AM

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Administration Concludes UN "Impossible" Forum for Climate Negotiations

The Obama Administration appears to have concluded that if the world's nations continue to try to negotiate a climate treaty at the United Nations, there won't be one.

It almost makes you want the U.S. to stay a member...

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Labels: Climate, United Nations, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:34 PM

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Well, It Was 8 Years Ago

Evidently, as recently as eight years ago, Barack Obama did not know the difference between being majority leader versus being president of the U.S. Senate.

Not that I ever thought he was a wonk. Or is one now. But David Brooks notwithstanding, I bet most of the people who attend tea parties know the difference.

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Labels: Congress, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 9:41 PM

Project 21 Members Comment on Harry Reid "Game Change" Remarks

Members of the Project 21 black leadership network released a press statement tonight regarding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's 2008 comments about then-Senator Barack Obama, as reported in Mark Halpern and John Heilemann's new book, Game Change:

Black Activists Respond to Reid's Racial Remarks

Contact: David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or e-mail project21@nationalcenter.org

Washington, DC: Black conservatives with the Project 21 leadership network are speaking out about the recently-revealed racial comments about Barack Obama that were made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2008:

Mychal Massie (chairman of Project 21): "Harry Reid is a loathsome individual whose apology was based on exposure not repentance. Reid's comments are proof positive that the racial animus of the past is alive and prevalent among liberals today, notwithstanding the fact that their standard-bearer is a black man."

Robert A. George: "How nice to see that, when it comes to race in America, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has such, ahem, 'enlightenment' (pun intended). Thank goodness no jive-talkin' darky ever thought about running for president! No way Reid could have supported him!!" (This quote comes from Robert's "Ragged Thots" blog. The entire post can be seen at http://raggedthots.blogspot.com.)

Bob Parks: "The hazard of being an apologist is having your own words thrown back in your face. Obama demanded the Republicans drum Senator Trent Lott out of their party in 2002 when Lott gave inappropriate praise to centenarian and reformed segregationist senator Strom Thurmond on his birthday. The underlying problem here is that boneheaded racist statements by politicians are all too common, and only conservatives seem to get called on them and punished. Republicans did strip Lott of his leadership post. Obama is absolving the Democrats of acting against Reid. This is a dangerous trend." (More can be found on Bob's "Black and Right" web site at http://www.black-and-right.com.)

Lisa Fritsch: "Why would Harry Reid apologize now when it seems clear he felt it and meant it at the time? It was less likely 'a poor choice of words' than an honest reflection of Reid's character."

R. Dozier Gray: "Black people historically have a lot of forgiveness in their hearts for people who make statements like the one Reid made. I might have forgiven him long ago had he sought to be accountable when he realized that what he said was stupid instead of when he realized that a book featuring it was coming out. But the black 'leadership' will likely let this slide. Power is usually more important to them than this sort of soft racism from a political ally. Truth be told, some of the policies advocated by Reid and his allies are more damaging than a few of his random racial comments."

Darryn "Dutch" Martin: "In the grand scheme of things, what Reid said, his apology and Obama's acceptance of it is irrelevant. What is striking is that Reid said it in 2008, a Time magazine reporter knew it and didn't make it public until 2010! Why wasn't it reported as soon as it became known? Would the mainstream media exercise such restraint and bury a newsworthy quote if a conservative public figure made a similar linguistic faux pas? I think not."

In the book Game Change, set to be released Monday, authors Mark Halpern and John Heilemann write that Reid privately analyzed the electoral appeal of then-Senator Barack Obama, referring to Obama as "light-skinned" with "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

When the comments were posted on Marc Ambinder's Atlantic magazine website, Reid expressed "deep regret [for] using such a poor choice of words." President Obama issued a rare immediate public statement saying he "accepted Harry's apology without question."

Reid is no stranger to using the race card for political gain. In December 2009, for example, Reid compared those who opposed a government takeover of health care to lawmakers who opposed abolishing slavery and civil rights legislation.

Project 21, established in 1992, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (http://www.nationalcenter.org).

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Labels: Congress, Culture, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:59 PM

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Bob Parks Dares MSNBC Personnel to Read Urban Dictionary Definition of "Teabagger" on the Air

Still annoyed at Chris Matthews for lying about the tea parties being all-white?

If so, click here and listen to Bob Parks on the G. Gordon Liddy Show today dare Chris Matthews and David Shuster to read the urban dictionary definition of "teabaggers" live on the air.

Bob bets they won't.

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

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:29 PM

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Project 21's Deneen Borelli on Fox News "Special Report" and Throughout the Day Thursday to Talk About Iceberg Spy Games

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli is being interviewed for a segment set to air on the Fox News Channel's "Special Report with Bret Baier" program at 6:00 PM Eastern on Thursday, January 7. She will be speaking about the Obama Administration's diversion of our nation's intelligence resources to assist climate scientists.

In a National Center press release published yesterday, Deneen criticized a government program that will allow climate scientists to access classified intelligence data to help them study global warming. In the release, Deneen said:

"Given the very real threat posed by terrorists, it is ridiculous and downright dangerous to divert any intelligence resources to monitoring polar ice. Its said this won't hinder regular intelligence-gathering, but it's also clear that agencies can't yet share data and track a terrorism suspect who was identified by his own father. It's unwise to further distract our intelligence network by forcing it to consult with scientists about icebergs, polar bears and sea lions. The Obama Administration appears to be putting a left-wing political agenda before the safety and security of our nation.

In addition to the segment on "Special Report," shorter versions of the interview are supposed to air throughout the day. "Special Report" will also be rebroadcast at 4:00 AM Eastern.

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.

Addendum, 1/8/10: Note from Amy Ridenour: We apologize to those of you who tuned in to see Deneen, as the Special Report interview with Deneen was cancelled by Fox at the last minute. We'll try to post notices of that sort before shows in the future, when cancellations occur.

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Labels: Climate, Defense, Environment, Media, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by David W. Almasi at 5:27 PM

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Project 21's Deneen Borelli to Appear on Fox and Friends Thursday; Will Discuss Spying on Icebergs

Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli will be a guest on the Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends morning show at 6:20 AM Eastern [Editor's note: after this blog post was published, the scheduled time for the interview was moved up by five minutes, to 6:15 AM Eastern] on Thursday, January 7 to discuss comments she and her husband, Tom Borelli (who directs the National Center's Free Enterprise Project) made today about the Obama Administration's diversion of national security intelligence resources toward the climate change issue.

Deneen and Tom's comments can be found in the following press release:

Spying on Icebergs Instead of Terrorists?

Obama Program Diverts Intelligence Assets to Climate Research

As terrorists continue to infiltrate America, the Obama Administration is tasking some of our nation's most elite intelligence-gathering agencies to divert their resources to environmental scientists researching global warming.

Experts with The National Center for Public Policy Research are decrying this practice as a distraction from important counterterrorism duties. They further question if it is a possible avenue to renew climate change subterfuge already plaguing some of these scientists.

"This is another example of President Obama not taking terrorism seriously," said Deneen Borelli, a fellow with the National Center's Project 21 black leadership network. "Our enemies must be laughing at the Obama Administration's incompetence."

A January 5 article in the New York Times reported that the White House restarted a program in which scientists are obtaining classified intelligence data from the Central Intelligence Agency and National Reconnaissance Office. Information from these secret government surveillance programs is being used to track climate change.

A similar program was discontinued by the Bush Administration in 2001. Former vice president and current climate change entrepreneur Al Gore began lobbying for its renewal in 2008. It now reportedly has the strong support of CIA Director Leon Panetta.

"Given the very real threat posed by terrorists, it is ridiculous and downright dangerous to divert any intelligence resources to monitoring polar ice," added Project 21's Deneen Borelli. "Its said this won't hinder regular intelligence-gathering, but it's also clear that agencies can't yet share data and track a terrorism suspect who was identified by his own father. It's unwise to further distract our intelligence network by forcing it to consult with scientists about icebergs, polar bears and sea lions. The Obama Administration appears to be putting a left-wing political agenda before the safety and security of our nation."

Speaking on the involvement of Al Gore, Tom Borelli, Ph.D., director of the National Center's Free Enterprise Project, noted: "If anything, Al Gore is the real national security threat. Gore's climate change fear mongering, which lines his own pockets with cash, has stoked a war against the fossil fuels so vital to our nation's economic prosperity and national security. His self-serving agenda is stymieing domestic energy exploration and production efforts. Now, he successfully lobbied to resurrect this diversion of our intelligence assets after the Bush Administration wisely ended it."

The claims of some scientists are already suspect after the Climategate scandal. Tom Borelli pointed out: "We've already seen climate scientists discussing the idea of destroying raw data to preserve climate change models that may be seriously flawed, and then it turns out that very same sort of data was allegedly 'lost.' How can we trust them to not behave similarly with CIA data - such as denying the proper peer review under the guise that the data is secret? The real question is: who's going to be watching the scientists?"

The National Center for Public Policy Research is a non-partisan educational foundation based in Washington, DC. It receives less than one percent of its funding from corporate sources.

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Labels: Climate, Defense, FreeEnterpriseProject, Government Agencies, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 5:06 PM

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Tape of Tom Borelli on Glenn Beck

For any of you who missed it, here is a tape of Tom Borelli's appearance on the Glenn Beck Show Tuesday, with guest host Charles Payne.

The quality of the tape is not great, for which I apologize, but the substance of the interview comes through fine.

Addendum, 1/6/10: I changed the video link to a better copy, posted on YouTube by GlennBeckClips. The original video I had posted here is still available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS31VFLabWE.

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Labels: Business, Climate, Congress, Environment, Government Spending, Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:26 AM

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Tom Borelli on Glenn Beck Today

Tom Borelli, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project, will be a guest today, December 29, on the Fox New Channel's Glenn Beck Show.

Tom will be discussing the relationship between GE, President Obama and climate change policies.

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Labels: Business, Climate, Environment, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 2:57 PM

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

ObamaCare - All the Hallmarks of a Scam

A couple of summers ago, I moved from New York City to Washington, D.C.

Now, finding a new home long distance can be a tedious and enervating task -- train rides to unfamiliar cities, cab rides in unfamiliar neighborhoods, lots of wasted time and money. Fortunately these days online real estate listings make the process somewhat easier; at the very least it is another resource available to the prospective renter/buyer.

But online offers pitfalls of its own. During my search, I would often inquire via email about an online ad for what seemed like a nice apartment, only to get a response along these lines:

"Dear Sir,

I am overseas, but will send you the keys for apartment as soon as you send me check."

Of course, there was always a reason why I couldn't see the apartment first; there was no one available to show it; the apartment was about to be sold and so I had to send the check right away in order to secure it, etc.

ObamaCare is me reminding more and more of these online swindles. Consider, for example, the staggered nature of the proposed Senate bill (if passed and signed into law, of course) -- new taxes starting right away in 2010, with most of the costs and benefits delayed until after 2014. The Democrats seem to be saying: "Send us your money now, then you'll get your health care."

But it's much worse than that, of course. With the real estate scammers, I had the choice to not send them my money -- and then to report them to the authorities. Congress will not ask for our money -- they will take it. And if the delivered program does not operate as advertised -- if it busts the budget, or leads to rationed care -- who do we report Congress too?

Unfortunately, thomas.gov does not come with a "flag" button for rotten or dishonest legislation.

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Labels: Crime, Government Health Care, Government Power, Government Spending, Health Care, Taxes, White House

Posted by Matt Patterson at 4:16 PM

Sunday, December 20, 2009

From Hopenhagen to Nopenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark - The climate change conference in Copenhagen adopted a new, bold, historic agreement...

... to continue to talk. Wow, and accomplished in just two weeks!

The last-minute deal, helped along by our deal-closer-in-chief Barack Obama, was three-pages long (not counting appendices) and included a number of non-binding commitments, including...

* The U.S. and other developed countries will help raise $100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing nations with climate change mitigation and adaptation. In return, these nations agreed to accept the cash. The cash specifies on that "[m]itigation actions... be subject to... domestic measurement, reporting and verification."

* Developed nations also agreed to provide some $30 billion in aid between 2010 and 2012, with the U.S. pledging $3.6 billion of that amount.

* China and other developing countries agreed to what is being widely reported as international verification of their action to address climate change, but they agreed to do nothing of the kind. The agreement calls for the establishment of "guidelines" for international "consultations and analysis," but significantly, no international verification. And, lest there be any doubt that China won't tolerate such verification, the agreement specifies the guidelines it issues "will ensure that national sovereignty is respected."

* China, now the world's largest emitter of carbon, agreed to cut its "carbon intensity" by between 40% and 45% by 2020. Sounds good, doesn't it? But there's a difference between reducing carbon intensity (the amount of carbon emitted per dollar of GDP) and overall carbon reduction, which the U.S., EU and other large emitters committed to undertaking. India, too, vowed only to reduce its carbon intensity by between 20% and 25% by 2020. Both countries could meet these targets and still see their emissions grow substantially.

* State parties agreed to a goal of limiting global warming by 2 degrees Celsius, but as the above makes plain, they didn't establish a blue print ’Äì certainly not one that is binding to achieve this goal.

Obama hasn't had such a stunning success in Copenhagen since he closed the deal for Chicago to host the next Olympic games. Oh right - scratch that.

Though the climate summit was a spectacular failure for President Obama, it was a great victory for the American people.

The Heritage Foundation estimates that the imposition of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade regime, the type of system most likely to be imposed to ensure the U.S. meets its carbon reduction targets under a binding treaty, would destroy an average of 1.15 million jobs every year between 2012 and 2030. So President Obama's failure to deliver a treaty may have been his single biggest contribution to fighting unemployment in the United States.

Even if he didn't mean to do it.

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Labels: Climate, Environment, Government Power, Government Spending, Jobs, United Nations, White House

Posted by David A. Ridenour at 12:05 AM

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Copenhagen Accord

David Ridenour e-mailed me a final copy of the so-called Copenhagen Accord; you can download a PDF of it here if you are interested.

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Labels: Climate, Environment, Government Spending, United Nations, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 2:40 PM

Friday, December 18, 2009

We May Know Why Conservatives Were Locked Out of ABC's Health Care Programming in June (Aside From ABC Being Liberal)

Last June, ABC allowed President Obama to pitch his health care proposal in a special edition of ABC's Primetime hosted by retiring World News anchor Charlie Gibson and (now incoming anchor) Diane Sawyer. Obama was given additional airtime to pitch his health care agenda that evening on Nightline.

Conservatives didn't get equal time.

Worse, ABC News even refused to allow the conservative group Conservatives for Patients Rights to purchase paid advertising to put out an alternative perspective.

Immediately afterward, the National Center began a multi-month review of the commercials run on World News. We found something interesting.

In the 98 broadcast days of ABC World News advertising logged by National Center Executive Director David Almasi and analyzed by Policy Analyst Matt Patterson, ABC's World News broadcast featured 1,102 commercials, 597 of which were placed by member companies of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) trade association, representing 54.17 percent of total commercials aired.

PhRMA very aggressively supports President Obama's health care agenda.

David Almasi doesn't think it's a coincidence.

"It's clear that World News relies on the members of PhRMA to sponsor it," Almasi says. "Ford and Proctor and Gamble are reliable sponsors, but the overwhelming amount of paid ads were for drugs pushed by the members of this very powerful and very political trade association. Ad after ad on World News comes from members of the drug lobby group PhRMA. It's almost laughable how many ads they run each day. If they were to stop, it would seem doubtful the broadcasts could continue."

Says Matt Patterson, who analyzed and wrote a report on the findings, "ABC News seems to have a significant financial stake in the success of ObamaCare. Should we be surprised that they hand over an hour to Obama to promote his plan, while shutting out opposing views?"

"There was not one day in which the members of PhRMA were not major advertisers on World News," Almasi adds. "It's hard to believe that the producers of the program don't have this on their minds when they are selecting the issues they cover. CBS burned off the series Swingtown two summers ago because the network found advertisers weren't interested... NBC cancelled Southland before the second season even aired because of concerns the show... would be unacceptable to advertisers. The concerns of advertisers do drive content. With so many PhRMA members sponsoring World News, it would be hard not to think that people at the network are always mindful of who is paying their bills. PhRMA makes no bones about its support for ObamaCare, and PhRMA's member companies appear to be the lifeblood of ABC's flagship World News program."

Patterson recalls something Newsbusters readers won't have forgotten: White House Communications Director Anita Dunn attacked the legitimacy of Fox News in October and White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod said of Fox's news programming, "it's really not news." Patterson notes that the White House has shown no similar concern for objectivity at ABC: "ABC appears willing to turn over large chunks of its news programming to a politician, if that politician is backed by companies representing more than half of their advertisements. And for the President, it seems it's OK for a news organization to support a point of view - so long as it's his."

Cross-posted, more or less, on Newsbusters

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Labels: Business, Conservatives, Government Health Care, Health Care, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 6:52 AM

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Obama Must Nix Cap-and-Trade If He Cares About Jobs, Says Deneen Borelli on Fox

If you weren't watching the Fox News Channel at 7:15 AM Sunday morning you missed Deneen Borelli explain how cap-and-trade would lead to more unemployment, but thanks to the magic of online video, we have her interview here:


Thanks to YouTube user WebsurferguyMN for posting the video on YouTube.

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Labels: Climate, Economics, Jobs, Project 21, Radio, Taxes, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 11:25 PM

Deneen Borelli on Fox Sunday

Project 21 full-time fellow Deneen Borelli will be a guest on the Fox News Channel on Sunday, December 6 at 7:15 AM Eastern, discussing what President Obama should -- and should not -- do if he really wants to see the jobs situation in the U.S. improve.

You can read more about Deneen's views on the subject in
this Dallas Morning News op-ed.

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Labels: Business, Economics, Jobs, Media, Project 21, Race, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:03 AM

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Health Care Bombshell: ObamaCare Would Doom Medicaid

Writing for the Heritage Foundation, Dennis Smith and Ed Haislmaier have today exposed a huge political drawback to the liberal health care bill: ObamaCare -- without intending to -- could, almost certainly would, be the death knell of Medicaid, America's health care safety net for the poor.

Smith and Haislmaier convincingly demonstrate that the states can't afford Medicaid under an ObamaCare regime -- costs to the states would reach $725 billion over the 2013-2019 period alone. What's more, staying in Medicaid under ObamaCare effectively puts the federal government in charge of about a quarter of each state's budget, and every state except North Dakota would come out better financially by abandoning Medicaid.

Fiscally and logically, withdrawing from Medicaid would be a no-brainer for the states. It could even be seen as a compassionate choice, as ObamaCare provides subsidies to help low-income people buy health insurance unless they receive Medicaid. So, a state legislature or governor could reason, why not get rid of the burdensome, unaffordable and -- let's be frank, substandard -- Medicaid program? The poor of my state will still get help with their health care bills, because Washington D.C. will provide it!

The Heritage paper explains all this in far greater detail, and it is a must-read for anyone following the health care debate. (The paper is quite readable for people who aren't health care wonks, by the way.) If the mainstream media has any competence at all (I doubt it very strongly), it will cover this heavily, as the repercussions are immense.

A closing thought (from me): When Barack Obama was running for president, I don't recall him promising an end to Medicaid and steep cuts in Medicare, but if he gets ObamaCare through, it looks like that's what he'll be delivering. Surprise!

Full disclosure: Ed Haislmaier is a member of the National Center for Public Policy Research's board of directors.

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Labels: Conservatives, Government Health Care, Government Power, Government Spending, Health Care, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 7:16 PM

Friday, November 27, 2009

Who is in the Tiara? The President or the Prime Minister?

From MSNBC.com.

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Labels: Media, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 2:07 PM

Sunday, November 22, 2009

David Beamer Op-Ed Recommended

For those who have not already done so, I strongly recommend the Wall Street Journal op-ed of November 20 by David Beamer (father of Flight 93 hero Todd Beamer) on Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try the -- I suppose I am supposed to say "alleged" -- 9/11 terrorists as if they were domestic criminals.

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Labels: Constitutional Law, Courts, Defense, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 2:58 PM

Friday, November 20, 2009

Criticizing This Administration Is Getting Way Too Easy

Peter Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget at the White House has an op-ed in The Washington Post today entitled, "A Leap Forward to Better Care."

The last great leap forward left more than 30 million Chinese dead.

You'd think this wouldn't be the word association the White House would be wanting to promote.

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Labels: Liberals, White House

Posted by David A. Ridenour at 11:21 AM

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Political Correctness Rules

In reference to terrorists living among us (not that he phrased it that way), President Obama said today during his weekly address, "Our government must be able to act swiftly and surely when it has threatening information."

Notice he didn't say "Our government must act swiftly and surely when it has threatening information."

All he wants is the option.

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Labels: Defense, Terrorism, White House

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 3:20 PM

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A Bush By Any Other Name

President Barack Obama is often likened - and clearly sees himself as spiritual successor - to presidential luminaries like Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. But he is fast on track to following the footsteps of a less celebrated predecessor - George H.W. Bush.

Candidate Bush accepted his party's nomination at the 1988 Republican National Convention with the immortal, Peggy Noonan-penned promise "Read my lips: no new taxes." When President Bush later agreed to raise taxes as part of the 1990 budget negotiations, he wrecked his re-election chances and became a one-termer.

In September, 2008, candidate Obama promised, "I can make this firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making $250,000 will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."

Oops. The health care bill the House passed on Saturday, for which Obama personally lobbied members of Congress, contains - new taxes. Lots of them. New taxes that will effect earners of all income levels, but which will especially hurt small-business owners.

Of course this bill, like all of the health care proposals recently debated by Congress, was instigated by, and created at the behest of, Barack Obama, who promised in his February joint address to Congress, "quality, affordable health care for every American." That he could promise such a bauble while simultaneously vowing not to raise our taxes "one dime" betrays either a stunning economic ignorance - or deep mendacity.

Obama has clearly studied the greats, Lincoln and F.D.R. But he should also have made an examination of the less successful presidents, like George H. W. Bush, lest he repeat their mistakes and suffer their fate in political purgatory.

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Labels: Congress, Government Health Care, Government Spending, Health Care, Retirement, Taxes, White House

Posted by Matt Patterson at 1:15 AM