Tag Archives: federal

Verizon & Google Enter Reported Deal for Tiered Internet Use, Is Net Neutrality in Jeopardy?

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The internet and telecom giants Verizon and Google have reportedly reached an agreement to impose a tiered system for accessing the internet. The deal would enable Verizon to charge for quicker access to online content over wireless devices, a violation of the concept of net neutrality that calls for equal access to all services. The deal comes amidst closed-door meetings between the Federal Communications Commission and major telecom giants on crafting new regulations. Video at the link…. http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/6/verizon_google_enter_reported_deal_for added by: treewolf39

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ABC Skips Label for Liberal Media Matters During Shootout With ‘Conservative’ Andrew Breitbart

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart and Eric Boehlert of the liberal organization Media Matters debated each other on Wednesday’s Good Morning America, but ABC only identified the ideology of the right-leaning guest. Boehlert was simply the ” senior fellow with the watchdog group Media Matters for America .” [MP3 audio here. ] Yet, Breitbart’s website was described in a previous segment as “conservative.” In a follow-up piece, news anchor Juju Chang labeled him “a conservative blogger.” Breitbart and Boehlert were appearing to discuss the firing of USDA employee Shirley Sherrod, following the posting of a tape of her on Breitbart’s website. A number of topics not usually highlighted on network television were discussed. Host George Stephanopoulos actually allowed Breitbart to raise the 2008 case of voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party, a story previously ignored on GMA. He also explained how the mainstream media ignored factual challenges to the assertion that African American congressmen were called the N-word during protests in Washington. After pointing out that videos of the day’s events don’t back up the Democrats’ claim, Breitbart challenged, “When I showed four exculpatory videos that it did not happen, the mainstream media would not show it, because the lie is so massive, it was meant to hurt the Tea Party.” An odd moment at the end of the segment occurred when Stephanopoulos turned to Boehlert and wondered, ” Why not show the four videos he’s talking about? ” Boehlert simply replied, “You can show them.” George Stephanopoulos hosts a two hour, daily program on a major network. If he was interested in the subject, he certainly could have shown the videos at some point in the past. A transcript of the July 21 segment, which aired at 7:33am EDT, follows: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And joining us now to debate all this fallout, Andrew Breitbart, publisher of BigGovernment.com, which started this firestorm by posting that video of Shirley Sherrod. Also, Eric Boehlert, senior fellow with the watchdog group Media Matters for America . You guys are on different sides, obviously, of this issue. But, Andrew, let me begin with you. After seeing the whole tape, White House calls Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. He’s now reconsidering this firing. Any second thoughts for you? ANDREW BREITBART: I have no second thoughts regarding the course that Vilsack took. I have no idea why a video that was posted to draw attention between the conflict of the Tea Party and- the Tea Party- and the Democratic party, are trying to attack- STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me stop you there. Because, your original column said that the video lays out, in stark detail, that her, Shirley Sherrod’s federal duties, are managed through the prism of race and class distinction. When you see the whole video, that’s clearly not true. BREITBART: No, she does talk about race and class distinctions in it. But this was always- STEPHANOPOULOS: But, not in the context of her job as a federally appointed executive bureaucrat, which is what you say in the column. BREITBART: What this video clearly shows is a standard that the Tea Party has not been held to. The NAACP shows people in the audience there, applauding her when she discriminates against a white farmer. That was the point that I was trying to make. Because what the NAACP is arguing about the Tea Party is that there are people in- STEPHANOPOULOS: But, you said she did this as a federally appointed bureaucrat. BREITBART: Let me finish my point. There are people in the crowds of tea parties. And they’re rebuking the tea party on that behalf. And I’m telling you, that this is a standard. If you want to talk about people clapping racist behavior, that’s exactly what you see in the video. STEPHANOPOULOS: Eric? ERIC BOEHLERT: Well, Andrew had no idea what the context of the comments were. But that didn’t stop him from launching the smear campaign. That’s what Andrew Breitbart and Fox News and the right-wing media does. And they’ve been doing it for a long time. And it’s sort of ugly and contemptible. If he had decency, he would apologize to Shirley Sherrod. And he would also stop with the race-bating that we’ve seen all summer. BREITBART: He talked about race-baiting here. The context is laid out here by an icon within the civil rights movement. Mary Francis Berry, who was appointed by both Clinton- STEPHANOPOULOS: Former head of the Civil Rights Commission- BREITBART: Civil Rights Commission- said this. Appointed by Clinton and Carter said this: “Tainting the Tea Party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There’s no evidence that Tea Party adherents are any more racist than any other Republicans and, indeed, many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s opponents rebut charges of racism, is far better than discussing joblessness.” An ally as you described, Think Progress, has been at the forefront of pushing out false videos, which you didn’t show here, in which they take infiltrators of the Tea Party, who put up artificial racist signs, to improperly taint the racist- STEPHANOPOULOS: False videos? BREITBART: Yes or no? Yes or no? Yes or no? Yes or no? BOEHLERT: Andrew gets very excited about this charge of racism. I think he knows Mark Williams. Mark Williams is a national spokesperson for the Tea Party, who was expelled for making racist comments. The NAACP called out the Tea Party for racist elements. There are clearly racist elements. If you look at the Tea Party media, Glenn Beck is saying Barack Obama is orchestrating a race war. Rush Limbaugh is saying Obama is keeping unemployment artificially high to exact revenge on white America. There’s elements that the race-baiting is out of control. And Andrew’s smear on Shirley Sherrod is- BREITBART: This was never about Shirley Sherrod. BOEHLERT: So, apologize to her. BREITBART: This was not about Shirley Sherrod. STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you did say- BREITBART: This was not about the Tea Party. This was not about Shirley Sherrod. It’s about the smears that have gone about the Tea Party. Including the primary one that led the charge that got reinstigated by the NAACP, condemning the Tea Party by saying the N-words were hurled at congressmen Carson, Lewis and Eldridge Cleaver. That did not happen. When I showed four exculpatory videos that it did not happen, the mainstream media would not show it, because the lie is so massive, it was meant to hurt the Tea Party. STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s get into this. Because, this was during the health care debate. BREITBART: Yes. The day before. STEPHANOPOULOS: And you say that you have videos of the members of Congress showing that they were not- BREITBART: They were walking down the steps. They said- Congressman Carson said as he was walking down the steps that the N-word was said 15 times by 15 different people. 400 People gathered around him. He thought there would be rocks being thrown at him. The police finally interceded. When they isolated that it happened on those steps, we found four videos that show them walking down briskly. Cleaver, who says that he was with them, is not in the video. But Congressman John Shadegg from Arizona, is walking behind them. And you can hear, “kill the bill. Kill the bill” and “you arrogant bastards.” But, there was no N-word. And it became the basis- STEPHANOPOULOS: So, what’s your response? BOEHLERT: My response is this is sort of a he said/he said, between Andrew and John Lewis. I’ll take John Lewis any day over Andrew Breitbart. John Lewis is an American icon. Andrew Breitbart is a propagandist. BREITBART: Four videos that nobody would show. Four videos tell the story. And the thing is, once they were out there, camera-hogging, saying the event happened, the second we said we had four videos and we offered $100,000 to try and show that this was- this was concocted, the people hogging the cameras wouldn’t take response, even from Associated Press. Jesse Washington from the Associated Press, could not get responses from Carson, Lewis or Cleaver. STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the broader point- BREITBART: This is the basis of the smear against the Tea Party movement. It’s a massive smear. If we can prove that three Congressmen were participants in a hoax of that proportion, that’s why we’re here today. And I was trying to make a huge point here. If they’re going to create a false argument against the Tea Party-

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CBS: Financial Reform ‘Another Huge Milestone For President Obama’

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

On Wednesday’s CBS Early Show, fill-in co-host Erica Hill cheered the passage of financial reform legislation as “another huge milestone for President Obama.” Hill went on to explain: “The first was when he signed the historic health care bill back in March. Today he is set to sign a bill aimed at completely overhauling Wall Street.” White House correspondent Chip Reid began a report on the new bill by proclaiming: “It’s being hailed as the biggest shakeup of Wall Street since the Great Depression.” Reid enthusiastically touted provisions in the legislation: “The bill’s centerpiece is the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection….charged with regulating financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, and student loans. The legislation also gives broad new powers to the federal government, allowing it to take control of and shut down large financial institutions…” Reid pointed out criticism of the legislation: “But critics say the bill fails to reform mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, does not create a fund to help shut down big banks when they fail, and gives too much power to federal regulators to create reams of new rules.” After noting GOP concern that bill “will curb growth and kill jobs,” Reid turned to an analyst from the left-leaning Brookings Institution for reassurance: “Still, former investment banker Douglas Elliott believes the bill is better than doing nothing.” Elliott argued: “The bill addresses most of the problems and makes a good start. It’s not perfection, but in the real world, we don’t get perfection.” Reid concluded his report by declaring: “And adding to his accomplishments, later this week the President is expected to sign a bill extending unemployment benefits to millions of Americans.” During a report on the July 15 Evening News , Reid celebrated the financial reform bill as a “big win” for Obama and that “he’ll add it to a long list, headlined by health care reform and the stimulus.” On Tuesday’s Early Show , Reid described the extension of unemployment benefits in similar terms: “Democrats appear to have won a major battle in the long fight to extend unemployment benefits.” Here is a full transcript of the July 21 Early Show segment: 7:00AM TEASE ERICA HILL: Financial reform. President Obama set to sign a bill that will radically alter the way Wall Street does business. But does it go far enough?                                      7:04AM SEGMENT HILL: It is another huge milestone for President Obama. The first was when he signed the historic health care bill back in March. Today he is set to sign a bill aimed at completely overhauling Wall Street. CBS News chief White House correspondent Chip Reid joins us this morning with more. Chip, good morning. CHIP REID: Well, good morning, Erica. It’s being hailed as the biggest shakeup of Wall Street since the Great Depression. And while this bill does have teeth, some critics say it doesn’t have a big enough bite. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Financial Reform Bill Becomes Law; Obama to Sign Sweeping Legislation Today] The bill’s centerpiece is the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection that will be housed within the Federal Reserve. It’s charged with regulating financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, and student loans. The legislation also gives broad new powers to the federal government, allowing it to take control of and shut down large financial institutions like Lehman Brothers, which went bankrupt in 2008. President Obama hailed its passage. BARACK OBAMA: Because of this reform, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes. There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts, period. REID: But critics say the bill fails to reform mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, does not create a fund to help shut down big banks when they fail, and gives too much power to federal regulators to create reams of new rules. Republicans, who almost universally opposed this legislation, argue it will curb growth and kill jobs at a time when the nation can least afford it. JOHN BOEHNER: I think it ought to be repealed. REID: Still, former investment banker Douglas Elliott believes the bill is better than doing nothing. DOUGLAS ELLIOT [FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION]: The bill addresses most of the problems and makes a good start. It’s not perfection, but in the real world, we don’t get perfection. REID: And adding to his accomplishments, later this week the President is expected to sign a bill extending unemployment benefits to millions of Americans. Erica. HILL: Chip Reid this morning. Chip, thanks. REID: Joining us now CBS News business and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis with a closer look at how these changes could affect you and me, the average consumer, everybody at home. So first up, we know this law is establishing the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, that’s going to regulate mortgages, credit cards, student loans. What does it really mean? REBECCA JARVIS: All the things, Erica, that we deal with on a daily basis as consumers are now going to fall under the jurisdiction of this consumer protection bureau. And there are a lot of things that we’ll see as changes in our lives as a result. For example, mortgages, clearly a big problem with the crisis that we faced have been housing prices as well as mortgage crises. And we will see, as consumers, big relief for mortgages. So for example, if you got an adjustable rate mortgage, it used to be that you couldn’t pay it back without paying a big penalty – pay it back early – without paying a big penalty. Now, you will see the relief in that you can save those thousands of dollars in penalties because you can pay it back without – early – without paying the penalty on top of that. Banks now, they are forbidden from giving out bonuses for particular types of mortgages. So, in some cases, back in the crisis, they would give out a mortgage that was bad for us but good for them. They can’t do that anymore. HILL: Because they would make a little extra money off of it. I know credit scores are also going to be effected here. Talk to me about how, because that’s always so confusing. JARVIS: Well, of course, our credit score is the thing that gives us every opportunity in the financial world. The way credit scores will be impacted is that we will be able to learn our credit score. If you go out and apply for a loan, you apply for a credit card, you apply for an apartment, and you get turned down for that, you have every right to ask for a free credit score and to understand the reason that the vendor turned you down. HILL: What a novel concept. You get access to your own information. I love that. There’s also a change about how you pay for things at the register. JARVIS: Yes, there will be some big changes at the register. First of all, you probably are going to have to carry a little more cash on hand if you want to go out and get a cup of java, for example, because merchants, under new regulations, are allowed to set limits on the amount that you can spend with a credit card. So for example, you walk up to the register, they say, no purchases with a credit card under $10, they’re allowed to do that. HILL: Which you actually see a lot of now, or they ask you not to. JARVIS: You do and now it’s legal. HILL: And they also, in some – I’ve noticed in some stores – some stores charge you less, or a gas station, if you pay with cash or a debit card, as opposed to a credit card. That’s going to be more permissible as well. JARVIS: That’s permissible. What is not permissible, Erica, is if they try and say you get a deal for using one credit card over another. You can’t have one credit card be – for example, Amex a better deal than Visa. HILL: Got you. Rebecca, good to have you here, as always. JARVIS: Thanks, Erica. HILL: Thanks for breaking it down.

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CBS: Financial Reform ‘Another Huge Milestone For President Obama’

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Liberals on JournoList Would Watch Limbaugh Die, Press DNC, Obama to Refuse to Recognize Fox News

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Jonathan Strong of the Daily Caller has more shocking e-mails from liberal journalists today. He starts with an NPR producer who admits flaming hatred for Rush Limbaugh: If you were in the presence of a man having a heart attack, how would you respond? As he clutched his chest in desperation and pain, would you call 911? Would you try to save him from dying? Of course you would. But if that man was Rush Limbaugh, and you were Sarah Spitz, a producer for National Public Radio, that isn’t what you’d do at all. In a post to the list-serv Journolist, an online meeting place for liberal journalists, Spitz wrote that she would “Laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out” as Limbaugh writhed in torment. In boasting that she would gleefully watch a man die in front of her eyes, Spitz seemed to shock even herself. “I never knew I had this much hate in me,” she wrote. “But he deserves it.” So much for the idea that NPR is an oasis of civil discourse in a desert of vituperation. Spitz is a producer for trendy-hot NPR station KCRW and its nationally distributed talk show Left Right & Center (which could be called Three Leftists and Tony Blankley ). But Spitz has also  done stories for NPR’s evening newscast All Things Considered. Strong found that JournoList liberals also discussed how Fox News isn’t a news organization and should be denied access to White House briefings and denied a skybox at the Democratic National Convention. Strong summarized it this way: The very existence of Fox News, meanwhile, sends Journolisters into paroxysms of rage. When Howell Raines charged that the network had a conservative bias, the members of Journolist discussed whether the federal government should shut the channel down. “I am genuinely scared” of Fox, wrote Guardian columnist Daniel Davies, because it “shows you that a genuinely shameless and unethical media organisation *cannot* be controlled by any form of peer pressure or self-regulation, and nor can it be successfully cold-shouldered or ostracised. In order to have even a semblance of control, you need a tough legal framework. ” Davies, a Brit, frequently argued the United States needed stricter libel laws. “I agree,” said Michael Scherer of Time Magazine. Roger “ Ailes understands that his job is to build a tribal identity, not a news organization. You can’t hurt Fox by saying it gets it wrong, if Ailes just uses the criticism to deepen the tribal identity.” Jonathan Zasloff, a law professor at UCLA, suggested that the federal government simply yank Fox off the air. “ Do you really want the political parties/white house picking which media operations are news operations and which are a less respectable hybrid of news and political advocacy? ” But Zasloff stuck to his position. “ I think that they are doing that anyway; they leak to whom they want to for political purposes ,” he wrote. “If this means that some White House reporters don’t get a press pass for the press secretary’s daily briefing and that this means that they actually have to, you know, do some reporting and analysis instead of repeating press releases, then I’ll take that risk.” Scherer seemed alarmed. “So we would have press briefings in which only media organizations that are deemed by the briefer to be acceptable are invited to attend?” John Judis, a senior editor at the New Republic, came down on Zasloff’s side, the side of censorship. “Pre-Fox,” he wrote, “I’d say Scherer’s questions made sense as a question of principle. Now it is only tactical. ” It’s a little bizarre to see liberal journalists saying Fox offers too much opinion to be recognized at the Obama White House, when the Obama White House puts Ed Schultz in the front row of press conferences and calls on The Huffington Post — as if it were a news outlet that didn’t offer opinions.

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Liberals on JournoList Would Watch Limbaugh Die, Press DNC, Obama to Refuse to Recognize Fox News

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BP Hopes to Keep Gulf Well Closed, But Seeping Is Being Detected | The New York Times

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The New York Times July 18, 2010 BP Hopes to Keep Gulf Well Closed, but Seeping Is Detected By HENRY FOUNTAIN After three days of encouraging pressure tests, a senior BP official said Sunday that the company’s recently capped well in the Gulf of Mexico was holding up and that BP now hoped to keep the well closed until it could be permanently plugged. But government officials were more skeptical and cited a new potential problem. That BP plan differs sharply from the one the company and the federal government had suggested only a day earlier, to eventually allow the flow of oil to resume temporarily, collecting it through pipes to surface ships. If BP succeeds in keeping the cap atop the well closed until a relief well is finished, that would mean the gusher would effectively be over, three months — and tens of millions of gallons of oil — after it began. It would be a major turnaround after weeks of failure for the oil giant, which had been harshly criticized as being unprepared for such a disaster. “We’re hopeful,” Doug Suttles, the company’s chief operating officer for exploration and production, said in a conference call with reporters Sunday morning. “Right now we do not have a target to return the well to flow,” he said. The federal government was more cautious, saying only that the test could be extended 24 hours at a time after scientific reviews. Late Sunday, the government ordered BP to step up monitoring of the well after “undetermined anomalies” were discovered on the seafloor nearby. In a letter to the company, Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral who commands the response to the oil spill, also noted that tests had detected a seep — usually a flow of hydrocarbons from the seafloor — “a distance from the well.” And while the letter said the federal government would allow the test to continue for now, the discovery of a seep and the unspecified anomalies suggest that the well could be damaged and that it may have to be reopened soon to avoid making the situation worse. The pressure testing, which began Thursday with the closing of valves on the cap and is designed to assess the condition of the well, was originally expected to last 48 hours. “We need to be careful in predicting how long it will go,” Mr. Suttles said. If a problem crops up, he said, collection systems could be restarted, some within a few hours. In a few weeks there should be enough capacity to collect more than the high estimate of 60,000 barrels a day. But Mr. Suttles said that if valves on the cap were reopened to restart collection, oil would pour anew into the gulf for up to three days. If the well is not reopened, it could mean that the precise volume of oil that leaked — the well has been estimated to be flowing at a rate of 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day — may never be known. That raises the question of whether the company might escape some liability for the spill. It has been an encouraging several days for BP, but it comes after many engineering efforts that produced little but a lexicon of strange terms, all defining failure: containment dome, junk shot and top kill among them. Even the good news about the test and the new cap, which was installed last week, left many wondering why the project could not have happened earlier. BP has pointed out that the concept — essentially, putting a new blowout preventer atop the existing one that failed when the Deepwater Horizon drill rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers — had been in the works since shortly after the disaster occurred. They have said, and diaries and other documents tend to bear out, that ideas were worked on in parallel, with those that were easier to accomplish and had a greater chance of succeeding being tried first. In a discussion with a reporter in mid-May, Kent Wells, a senior BP vice president in charge of the subsea work, and others described in broad terms an option to install a second preventer if the top kill, in which heavy drilling mud was to be pumped into the well to stop oil and gas from coming up, did not work. The top kill failed and one proposed explanation at the time was that the well was damaged. That put a halt, for a while, to talk of putting another blowout preventer or other tight-sealing cap on the well, out of concern that a buildup of pressure could further damage the well. But the idea was revived, and in June BP considered using the blowout preventer from the Development Driller II rig, which was working on the second relief well, for the job. The company halted drilling of the well, aiming to bring the blowout preventer to the surface. But the federal government intervened and ordered BP to continue drilling the well as a backup in case anything went wrong with the first relief well. The cap that was eventually used was designed and built more or less from scratch, although off-the-shelf valves and rams were used. And as with any engineering project, particularly one being conducted by remotely operated submersibles a mile underwater, installation procedures had to be devised and practiced. That practice appeared to pay off last week when the cap was installed. It was by far the smoothest operation of the many that had been undertaken in the three-month disaster. With the valves on the cap closed and the gulf still free of fresh oil on Sunday, Mr. Suttles said that skimming ships near the site were collecting far less oily water. Only one controlled burn was conducted Saturday, compared with 19 the day before, he said. And there were no new reports of oil reaching the shore. “There is less and less oil to recover,” he said. Barring bad weather, the relief well, which will be used to pump heavy mud, followed by cement, into the blown-out well to seal it permanently, may be ready by the end of July, although it may take several more weeks for the process to be completed, Mr. Suttles said. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/07/19/us/19oilspill_337-395/19oilspill_… added by: EthicalVegan

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Ron Paul to Obama: Don’t Assassinate American Citizens! "If This Is True We’re Really Screwed"

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Ron Paul: My topic for this evening is “now, it’s assassinations”. What have we allowed ourselves to become? Are we no longer a nation of laws? Have we become instead a nation of men who make secret arrests? Are secret prisons now simply another tool of the federal government law enforcement? Is secret rendition of individuals now permitted out of misplaced fear? Have we decided that the writ of habeas corpus is not worth defending? Is torture now an acceptable tool for making us safe? The latest outrage is the Obama administration’s acknowledgement that we now have a policy that permits assassination not only of foreign suspects but of American citizens as well. Of course, the CIA has used secret assassinations in a limited fashion for decades despite international, domestic, and moral law. When done secretly as in the past, our government at least recognized that assassination was illegal and wrong. Frighteningly and astonishingly, however, the policy is now explicit. added by: congoboy

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ABC, CBS, WaPo, NYT Use Loaded Poll Questions to Tout Dem Unemployment Agenda

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The New York Times today touted two polls that supposedly demonstrate support for the Democratic position on unemployment benefits. But a further examination of the poll questions reveals that their findings were inaccurate; the questions misrepresented the issues at play, and the Republican position on the matter. “Two national polls published last week suggest that most Americans are on [Democrats’] side of this debate,” wrote Dalia Sussman . How she knows that fact is a mystery, given that the GOP argument — that benefits should be extended and paid for with unused stimulus funds — was never offered as an option to those polled. Both polls asked, essentially, if respondents thought it was more important to extend unemployment benefits, or to preserve PayGo rules. Majorities said they thought extending benefits is more important. But under the GOP plan, the two are not mutually exclusive. Nowhere in either poll were respondents asked whether they would favor paying for extended benefits with unused stimulus funds. Neither the Times nor anyone else can accurately claim that voters favor one approach over the other since the GOP position was not an option. The first poll , conducted by the Washington Post and ABC, asked the following question: Because of the economic downturn, Congress has extended the period in which people can receive unemployment benefits, and is considering doing so again. Supporters say this will help those who can’t find work. Opponents say this adds too much to the federal budget deficit. Do you think Congress should or should not approve another extension of unemployment benefits? First of all, there are no opponents of an unemployment benefit extension. The only difference between the two parties’ positions on the issue is that Democrats want to borrow more money to pay for the extension while Republicans want to use unspent stimulus funds. It’s an outright falsehood that the GOP opposes extending unemployment benefits due to concerns about the deficit. The second poll , conducted by CBS News, asked: Do you think Congress should extend unemployment benefits for people who are currently out of work, even if it means increasing the budget deficit, or shouldn’t they do that? As in the previous poll, this question misrepresents the potential options before Congress. It offers a yes or no question on the Democratic position, but does not offer the Republican alternative. You can bet that if the questions had been framed accurately, so as to actually present the Republican position on the issue, the results would have been far different. Both polls should have asked, “Congress is going to extend unemployment benefits. Do you think the government should borrow more money to pay for those benefits, or use unspent stimulus funds?” Does anyone seriously doubt that a majority would prefer the latter? Unlike the Democrats’ position on the issue, the GOP favors both extending benefits and avoiding an increase in the federal budget deficit. And according to this same CBS poll, less than a quarter of Americans believe the stimulus created jobs, while almost half think slashing the deficit should be the federal government’s economic priority. The GOP position seeks to extend unemployment benefits while addressing two other pressing national economic concerns — the failure of the stimulus package and the skyrocketing national debt. But the Republican option was not presented to respondents by either of these polls, so neither they nor the New York Times can accurately present those polls’ findings as endorsements of the Democratic alternative.

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ABC, CBS, WaPo, NYT Use Loaded Poll Questions to Tout Dem Unemployment Agenda

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CBS: ‘Tough’ Pennsylvania Immigration Law, Like ‘Controversial’ Arizona Law, Faces ‘Fierce Opposition’

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

On Saturday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Jeff Glor reported on an immigration protest in Boston: “…hundreds opposed to Arizona’s controversial immigration law protested the presence of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer at a meeting there.” One protestor held a sign that read: “Jan Brewer is a Bigot.” Glor then turned to a report on a similar immigration law proposed in Pennsylvania.   Correspondent Elaine Quijano explained how a CBS News poll showed 52% of Americans support the Arizona’s immigration law and that “other states are preparing to follow Arizona’s lead”: “In Pennsylvania, bipartisan measures to compel construction companies to check worker’s status are moving swiftly through the legislature.” She then warned: “Republican state representative Daryl Metcalfe wants to go further, introducing a tough measure modeled after Arizona’s law.” She went on to declare: “Metcalfe’s proposal is already facing fierce opposition.” Quijano described one source of that “fierce opposition,” the Democratic mayor of Philadelphia: “Michael Nutter says the solution lies with the federal government, not the states.” Nutter repeated Obama administration talking points on the issue: “We should not have a patchwork of immigration policies for every state in the United States of America. That’s insane.” Quijano added: “Nutter believes the law could create problems for law enforcement, making illegal immigrants afraid to report crimes to police.” In addition to highlighting Nutter’s objections to the proposal, Quijano began her report by describing the plight of one illegal immigrant from the state: “Every day 23 year-old Jose fears he could be deported. His parents brought him to America illegally from Mexico when he was two.” Quijano lamented: “He grew up in Pennsylvania, feeling every bit American, but it wasn’t until high school that he realized what it meant to be an illegal immigrant. That he could not pursue his dream of joining the Air Force.” While Quijano’s report featured five sound bites from Nutter and Jose, it only included two from state representative Metcalfe. She described how “Metcalfe argues illegal immigrants strain city and state budgets by siphoning off health and social services that Americans pay for.” In the clip that followed, Metcalfe argued: “For decades in the past the federal government has been AWOL in securing or borders and protecting American lives, liberty, and property, so we at the state level need to join together to do so.” Quijano concluded the segment by observing: “As politicians grapple with these issues, people like Jose wait and worry.” Jose remarked: “I don’t remember Mexico. To me this is my only home.” Quijano added: “A country that continues to struggle with this divisive issue.” Here is a full transcript of the July 10 report: 6:38PM JEFF GLOR: In Boston, hundreds opposed to Arizona’s controversial immigration law protested the presence of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer at a meeting there. The law’s facing legal challenges from the Justice Department. Arizona was the first, but likely will not be the last. Dozens of states right now are considering enacting similar immigration laws in the coming months. Elaine Quijano has this report from Pennsylvania. JOSE: We want to come out of the shadows. ELAINE QUIJANO: Every day 23 year-old Jose fears he could be deported. His parents brought him to America illegally from Mexico when he was two. He grew up in Pennsylvania, feeling every bit American, but it wasn’t until high school that he realized what it meant to be an illegal immigrant. That he could not pursue his dream of joining the Air Force. JOSE: I lost all hope. I said I can’t join the armed forces, I can’t get a good job. So basically I got pushed into the shadows like any other undocumented.      QUIJANO: Jose is one of the country’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, whose status is sparking heated debate. Debate and demonstrations have also interrupted over a new Arizona law allowing police to check the immigration of status of anyone suspected of being involved in crime. A recent CBS poll found a majority of Americans, 52%, support the law. Now other states are preparing to follow Arizona’s lead. In Pennsylvania, bipartisan measures to compel construction companies to check worker’s status are moving swiftly through the legislature. Republican state representative Daryl Metcalfe wants to go further, introducing a tough measure modeled after Arizona’s law. DARYL METCALFE: As a nation, we have to set a no amnesty policy and we have to be very black and white about that. That there’s no reward for violating our border. QUIJANO: Metcalfe’s proposal is already facing fierce opposition. Here in Philadelphia, where more than half of the immigrant population is illegal, Mayor Michael Nutter says the solution lies with the federal government, not the states. MICHAEL NUTTER: We should not have a patchwork of immigration policies for every state in the United States of America. That’s insane. QUIJANO: Nutter believes the law could create problems for law enforcement, making illegal immigrants afraid to report crimes to police. NUTTER: We do not want to send the wrong message to victims or witnesses. QUIJANO: But Representative Metcalfe argues illegal immigrants strain city and state budgets by siphoning off health and social services that Americans pay for. METCALFE: For decades in the past the federal government has been AWOL in securing or borders and protecting American lives, liberty, and property, so we at the state level need to join together to do so. QUIJANO: As politicians grapple with these issues, people like Jose wait and worry. JOSE: I don’t remember Mexico. To me this is my only home. QUIJANO: A country that continues to struggle with this divisive issue. Elaine Quijano, CBS News, Philadelphia.

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CBS: ‘Tough’ Pennsylvania Immigration Law, Like ‘Controversial’ Arizona Law, Faces ‘Fierce Opposition’

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Zuckerman, Beckel Reveal Previously Undisclosed Ties to Obama WH

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The confluence between the Obama administration and the journalists who cover it can leave news consumers wondering if they’re getting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Two prominent media personalities — liberal Fox News Channel commentator Bob Beckel and media mogul Mort Zuckerman, owner of the New York Daily News — have recently let slip that they have worked closely with the Obama administration. Neither disclose this fact with regularity. Indeed, their recent admissions were revelatory. Zuckerman, a self-described Obama supporter, has written at least one speech for the President. Beckel, who worked with David Axelrod during the campaign, is now an adviser in some capacity to the White House.

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IBD Op-Ed Wonders Where Social Security/Medicare Trustees’ Report Is; Rest of Media Doesn’t

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Once again, it’s clear that reading editorials and op-eds at publications like the Wall Street Journal and Investors Business Daily becomes a requirement to be truly informed when a Democratic administration in power. On July 6 , Peter Ferrara at IBD noted that the annual report from the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare system is long overdue, and wondered why: Are Overdue Reports Concealing ObamaCare Impact On Medicare? Every year, the Annual Report of the Social Security Board of Trustees comes out between mid-April and mid-May. Now it’s July, and there’s no sign of this year’s report. What is the Obama administration hiding? The annual report includes detailed information about Social Security and its financing over the next 75 years, produced by the Office of the Actuary of the Social Security Administration. The Congressional Budget Office reported last week in its Long Term Budget Outlook that Social Security was already running a deficit this year. According to last year’s Social Security Trustees Report, that was not supposed to happen until 2015, with the trust fund to run out completely by 2037. With the disastrous Obama economy, the great Social Security surplus that started in the Reagan administration is gone completely. Every year, the federal government has been raiding the Social Security trust funds to take that annual surplus and spend it on the rest of the federal government’s runaway spending, leaving the trust funds only with IOUs backed by nothing but politicians’ promise to pay it back when it’s needed. Now even that annual surplus is gone. How soon will the trust funds run out completely now? … (But) The implications for Social Security aren’t what the Obama administration is hiding by delaying the annual trustees reports. Those annual reports also include information regarding Medicare over the next 75 years. What the administration is trying to hide are sweeping draconian cuts to Medicare resulting from the ObamaCare legislation, which the annual report will document. The administration is trying to delay the report until mid-August, when it’s hoping the country will be on vacation and won’t notice. Or maybe the delay is because the White House is trying to bludgeon the chief actuaries for Medicare and Social Security into fudging the numbers. The Social Security “IOUs backed by nothing but politicians’ promise to pay it back when it’s needed” are from a government that itself has well over $10 trillion dollars in other debt, before counting Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and a host of other off-the-books liabilities. Then there are the additional tens of trillions in actuarial liabilities. Ferrara didn’t note that the administration announced a delay until June 30 back on April 5 , “so that the new report can reflect the impact of the recently passed health care overhaul.” But they’re now almost two weeks late. What are they waiting for? A really, really busy news day? A Friday night midsummer doc dump? Meanwhile, no one in the rest of the press appears to be the least bit curious. Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com .

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IBD Op-Ed Wonders Where Social Security/Medicare Trustees’ Report Is; Rest of Media Doesn’t

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