CNN Rips Fox for Lying

CNN's Nic Robertson blasts the foreign-owned, Saudi-financed Fox channel for lying about US journalists allegedly being used as "human shields" by Khadaffi.

Americans Overwhelmingly Behind Wisconsin Protesters

The headline reads, "NBC / Wall Street Journal Poll Shows 62% Against Stripping Public Employees' Bargaining Rights."

From msnbc.com:

In the poll, 68 percent find it acceptable requiring public employees to contribute more of their pay for retirement benefits; 63 percent are fine with requiring these employees to pay more for their health-care benefits; and 58 percent are OK with freezing public employees' salaries for one year.

But just 33 percent say it's acceptable -- and 62 percent say it's unacceptable -- to eliminate these employees' collective-bargaining rights as way to deal with state budget deficits.

In addition, 77 percent believe that public employees have the same collective-bargaining rights (when it comes to health care, pensions, and other benefits) that union employees who work for private companies have.

Polls within Wisconsin show similar results. Apparently Regressive Governor Scott Walker didn't expect the first day's crowd of 3,000 peaceful protesters to grow to 15,000 the next day and over 100,000 by the end of the first week. He didn't expect Democratic legislators to stand their ground and refuse to allow teachers and firefighters to have their basic rights stripped away by letting this controversial issue come to a vote, even if it meant 14 of them had to leave the state and their families for two weeks on principle.

He didn't expect such a reaction to his War on American Workers.Regressives have always hated the middle class and done everything in their power to destroy as much of it as possible, favoring the richest 1% (their financial supporters) and huge corporations (their financial supporters).

The 3 week old controversy in Wisconsin can be summarized easily: the American teachers, firefighters, cops, snowplow drivers, etc, who make between $30k and $50k have already agreed to pay cuts and benefit cuts; Governor Walker insists they also give up their right to collective union bargaining.

Notice the obvious hypocrisy? Just a few weeks ago, Regressives screamed that we shouldn't dare raise taxes on the top-earning 2% who could easily afford it, to reduce the national debt.

The hypocrisy is claiming people making over $250k "cannot be considered rich" and therefore should not be burdened with a small tax hike, yet teachers making 45k are spoiled whiners who should have to bite the bullet and enjoy salary cuts, benefit cuts and GIVE UP THEIR RIGHT to bargain.

250k -- don't touch their money;

45k -- shut up and bite the bullet and take a cut.

In the world of Twisted Republican Logic, somehow this makes sense. And this makes Regressive Governor Scott Walker the REPUBLICAN JACKASS OF THE WEEK.

Jobless Rate Falls to 8.9%

Jobless rate keeps falling...

From the Wall Street Journal:

Brisk hiring in February pushed the U.S. unemployment rate below 9% for the first time in nearly two years—a development that reflects a broadening recovery.

Employers rebounded from a harsh winter to add 192,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in February as the unemployment rate fell one notch to 8.9%, the lowest level since April 2009, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Including revisions to previous monthly reports, the economy has added an average of 136,000 jobs a month since November, just barely more than the 100,000 a month needed to keep up with typical growth in the labor force.

Since President Obama took office, well over 2,000,000 jobs have been created. Contrast that to the 750,000 jobs being lost every month at the end of the Cheney/Bush administration.

The conference room at the Fox Channel is filled with people right now trying to figure out how to present this as terrible news.

Government Employment Declines

You know how you always hear Orange John Boner and the rest of that Regressive bunch whining about how President Obama and the Democrats keep increasing the size of government? Well guess what -- it's the usual bunch of lies. Look at the stats released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from an article today on msnbc.com:

Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday showed that employment at all levels of government, federal, state and local, dropped in February by 30,000, to 22,217,000.

The BLS data also shows the long-term trend line: government employment has been growing for decades, no matter which political party controls the Congress, the White House or the majority of state legislatures.

What’s most remarkable about the data is where the growth has occurred: in state and local government.

Federal employment over the past six decades peaked back in 1988 (when Ronald Reagan was president!), not including the temporary hires for the 1990 Census. According to BLS data, federal headcount today is about nine percent smaller than in the late 1980s.

In contrast, state and local government has continued to grow for six decades with occasional slowing or plateaus. In 1991 there were about 15.3 million state and local government employees; today there are more than 19 million.

That's right. After all the whining from the Regressives about President Obama, it turns out that their hero, Saint Ronald Reagan Who Could Do No Wrong had the biggest government on a federal level, and it's the state and local governments that have grown government pretty consistently for the last 60 years.

Think you'll hear this factual story on fox?

Fox Lies

Purposely misleading their audience is what it's all about. In this case, they chose to use year-old footage to pretend Ron Paul was booed when he won a straw poll concerning who the Regressive candidate should be. The current year's clip actually shows he received overwhelming cheers. Watch the clip:



Next time one of your rightwing friends/relatives/coworkers needs a little proof of how they are being purposely lied to by a foreign-owned, Saudi-financed organization, send them this link as well as the following links:

• They spliced in footage from a successful Teabag rally to prop up the crowds at a poorly-attended rally:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2009/11/fox-lies-surprised-to-make-protest-seem.html

• Tape of Anderson Cooper was carefully edited to make it sound like a quote he was reading was actually his own opinion presented as news:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2011/04/another-day-another-fox-lie.html

• They lie so much a survey shows how many issues are misunderstood:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2011/02/more-you-watch-less-you-know.html

• Footage of peaceful pro-union protests by 100,000 people in Wisconsin was replaced by hostile, violent crowds at some other event, as you can tell by the palm trees in Wisconsin:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2011/04/palm-trees-in-wisconsin.html

• They claimed CNN, Reuters and other journalists were "used as human shields" by Ghaddafi in Lybia:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post_22.html

• Edited clip to pretend President Obama wanted to raise taxes on everyone:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2010/09/another-fox-channel-lie.html

• An internal memo tells staffers which inflammatory words to use to provoke viewers:
  

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2010/12/fox-noise-internal-memo.html

• Graphic incorrectly states that a huge majority believes global warming is a hoax:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2009/12/fox-comedy-channel-uses-fraudulent.html

• Careful editing makes Shirley Sherrod say the opposite of what she actually said:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2010/07/fired-because-of-fox-channels-lies.html

• Providing ridiculous, sky-high false figures on a Presidential trip:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2010/11/president-obamas-zillion-dollar-trip.html

• "Fair and balanced", yet donates $1,000,000 to the republican party:

http://radiovegan.blogspot.com/2010/10/fox-gives-another-million-to.html

Pro-Democracy Protesters Oust Egypt's Mubarak

The whole world watched as peaceful protesters refused to give in, and refused to resort to violence for 18 days. Even after the Egyptian police and military used force and attempted to goad the protesters into violence, millions refused to take the bait. The result: a 30 year dictator was forced to resign.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41526422/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/

Obama Accomplishments: The First 2 Years

• Children's Health Insurance covering an additional 4 million kids
• Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
  
• Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act
• Tobacco Regulation
• Credit Card Reform protecting consumers
• Student Loan Reform
• Stimulus (Stopped the worst recession in 80 years from becoming another Depression; gave Americans the largest tax cut in American history)
• Signed nuclear arms deal with Russia that would diminish nukes on both sides by one third
• Signed non-proliferation initiative to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists
• Health Care Reform
• Wall Street Reform
• New GI Bill
• Food Safety Modernization Act
• Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell
• Dismantled the scandal-plagued Minerals Management Service (MMS), so the division collecting revenue from oil leases is not the same division that regulates and inspects the industry
• Cancelled the irrelevant, outdated F22 weapons program
• Passed the 9/11 First Responders Bill
  

Regressives Accomplish Nothing in First Month

They were dancing in the streets. The Regressive Republicans, with the help of the Teabaggers, won back a majority in the House of Representatives. "We're gonna balance the budget! We're gonna create jobs! We're gonna eliminate Obamacare!" they proclaimed.

Mission: Not accomplished.

What DID they do? Essentially nothing.

• The reading of the Constitution (or parts of it). Yes, they took turns reading aloud sections of the US Constitution -- except for the sections they didn't like or were embarrassed by, like that whole "blacks are 3/5 of a person" thing, and that Regressive Prohibition amendment.
• The pledge to have "open rules" allowing Democrats to offer amendments. Well, except for that very first bill trying in vain to repeal health care reform. No amendments were allowed. Whoops.
• The swearing in ceremony. The oath was taken by all Regressives except for 2 who failed to show up on the very first day. Pete Sessions(R) and Mike Fitzpatrick(R), pictured above, decided to go to a FUNDRAISER instead of the swearing-in ceremony. But, get this, they claim they watched on C-Span, raised their hands and took the oath in front of a TV set! As if that counts. If that were the case, anybody who watched on C-Span, raised their hands and took the oath could have instantly become a US congressman! Morons. To make matters worse, they actually voted on issues illegally on subsequent days before being given a second-chance swearing in ceremony.
  

Jobless Claims LOWEST Since 2008

The economic news in the fourth quarter of 2010 was relatively good. From msnbc:

The last two indicators of the year showed a slowly improving job market and a housing market whose wounds are healing, although it remains battered and bruised by the worst real estate slump in decades.

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell to its lowest point in nearly two and a half years, a sign that the job market is slowly improving. And the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in November, the fourth increase since contract signings hit a low in June.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40850565/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/


Notice the jobless rate's substantial increase through the final year of Bush/Cheney (2008). The high point comes at the transition from Bush to President Obama. The jobless rate decreases slowly and steadily all through the first two years of President Obama's first term. Source: US Dept of Labor.

The More You Watch, The Less You Know

What channel do you think that describes? Hint: It's foreign-owned and Saudi-financed.

A recent study from the University of Maryland shows that people who watch Rupert Murdoch's "Fox News" channel on a daily basis were more misinformed than people who watched any other source of news. Any other source.

The report shows that, regardless of a person's political party, if they watched a significant amount of Fox Noise, they believed the following FALSE statements:

Most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely)

Most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points)

The economy is getting worse (26 points)

Most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points)

The stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points)

Their own income taxes have gone up (14 points)

The auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points)

When TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points)

And that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points)

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/study-fox-news-viewers-most-misinformed-of-all-news-consumers/

Great Day for America

How do you get angry, hateful, recalcitrant, petulant Republicans to get anything done in Congress? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) knows.

You threaten to take away their vacation.

"No Christmas vacation until you get your homework done," is essentially what Harry told them. Oh, they balked and whined and complained (and I think John Boehner cried) all over cable TV.

But this week, the Senate passed three important bills:

• The 9/11 First Responders bill
• The Repeal of Don't Ask / Don't Tell
• The Nuclear Arms Control Treaty (The START Treaty. "START" stands for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.)

President Obama signed the second one today (photo above).

This means that:

• Congress will provide up to $4.2 billion in new aid to survivors of the 9/11 terrorism attack on the World Trade Center and responders who became ill working in its ruins
• Patriotic Americans in the US Armed Forces fighting for freedom and liberty will no longer have to deal with institutionalized discrimination against themselves
  
• The US and Russia would restart onsite weapons inspections Republicans should have endorsed all along, since Ronald Reagan's edict of "trust, but verify." (Reagan also spoke of his dream of a world without nuclear weapons at all. He would be a Democrat today.)

Republican Jackass of the Week

Tom Coburn.
Republican Jackass.
From Oklahoma.

This Jackass threatened to be the one to hold up funding for the American firefighters, cops and rescue workers -- the First Responders -- in the days and weeks following 9/11. Yes, the very people who Republicans held up as heroes and exploited in every campaign with flags waving in the background since 9/11, are the ones they refused to help with hospitalization, even though many of these heroes are now dying of cancer, lung diseases, etc, all related to 9/11.

Why would Republican Jackass Tom Coburn object? Because, he claims, the bill was "fast tracked" through Congress and didn't get heard in a committee first. But that's a lie. Fact is the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on the bill in June -- and Tom Coburn, who is actually on that committee, didn't bother to show up for it.

Jackass.

Regressive Senate Republicans

Today the Regressive Republicans in the US Senate blocked two important bills from passing. It was a spiteful move by Senate Regressives, keeping their promise/threat to not allow anything to pass until they get their bonus tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.

The first bill would have funded the health needs of ailing 9/11 responders and survivors. The second bill would have ended "Don't Ask Don't Tell."

So the Regressives continue to act like spoiled brats, holding their breath and refusing to vote on any issue until their ultra-rich campaign contributors get their additional tax breaks. Meanwhile, Americans who put their own lives on the line -- and are still suffering the consequences -- to help in NYC on 9/11 will not get funding.

And at the same time, "Don't Ask Don't Tell" will not be abolished, even though the Commander in Chief, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretary of Defense all have repeatedly said they were in favor of ending it. In addition, polls show that 70% of the American public, and 70% of active service members also want it to end.

How ironic that patriotic American soldiers, fighting for "freedom, liberty," and all that, still have to deal with institutionalized discrimination.

Fox Noise Internal Memo

A memo leaked to Media Matters from an insider at the foreign-owned, Saudi-financed Fox channel shows, once again, that their on air people are instructed on which specific words to use -- and which to avoid -- to shape the news and promote their rightwing agenda.

From Media Matters:

At the height of the health care reform debate last fall, Bill Sammon, Fox News' controversial Washington managing editor, sent a memo directing his network's journalists not to use the phrase "public option."

Instead, Sammon wrote, Fox's reporters should use "government option" and similar phrases -- wording that a top Republican pollster had recommended in order to turn public opinion against the Democrats' reform efforts.

Sources familiar with the situation in Fox's Washington bureau have told Media Matters that Sammon uses his position as managing editor to "slant" Fox's supposedly neutral news coverage to the right. Sammon's "government option" email is the clearest evidence yet that Sammon is aggressively pushing Fox's reporting to the right -- in this case by issuing written orders to his staff.

Two months prior to Sammon's 2009 memo, Republican pollster Frank Luntz appeared on Sean Hannity's August 18 Fox News program. Luntz scolded Hannity for referring to the "public option" and encouraged Hannity to use "government option" instead.

Luntz argued that "if you call it a 'public option,' the American people are split," but that "if you call it the 'government option,' the public is overwhelmingly against it."

And here's the memo:

From: Sammon, Bill
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 8:23 AM
To: 054 -FNSunday; 169 -SPECIAL REPORT; 069 -Politics; 030 -Root (FoxNews.Com); 036 -FOX.WHU; 050 -Senior Producers; 051 -Producers
Subject: friendly reminder: let's not slip back into calling it the "public option"

1) Please use the term "government-run health insurance" or, when brevity is a concern, "government option," whenever possible.

2) When it is necessary to use the term "public option" (which is, after all, firmly ensconced in the nation's lexicon), use the qualifier "so-called," as in "the so-called public option."

3) Here's another way to phrase it: "The public option, which is the government-run plan."

4) When newsmakers and sources use the term "public option" in our stories, there's not a lot we can do about it, since quotes are of course sacrosanct.