GINA COBB

Health Care Bill Lifts Off

Flashback: "Bush's Economy: Unemployment Soars" to 6.4%

It's hard to believe that just six years ago we were experiencing 6.4% unemployment under President Bush as compared to today's 9.5% unemployment courtesy of Barack Obama. And back then, we had stories like this:

Bush's Economy: Unemployment Soars

WASHINGTON - The nation's unemployment rate shot up to 6.4 percent in June, the highest level in more than nine years, in an economic slump that has added nearly a million people to jobless rolls in the past three months.

Businesses slashed 30,000 jobs in June for the fifth straight month, with cuts heavily concentrated in the nation's factories, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The 0.3 percentage point increase from May's 6.1 percent rate was the largest month-to-month rise since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. That surprised analysts, who predicted a smaller rise to 6.2 percent. The last time the overall rate was higher was in March 1994.

The poor economy and swelling unemployment could pose problems for President Bush next year in his re-election bid. But tax cuts recently passed by the Republican-controlled Congress are starting to take effect and will bolster job prospects, the administration has argued.

"Its effects will be felt by America's working families, seniors and small business owners later this month, as they begin receiving tax rebates and larger paychecks," said Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. "As this stimulus builds momentum, we expect to see more new jobs created and more out of work Americans receiving a paycheck again."

At the White House, press secretary Ari Fleischer said that while the economy experienced a "short and shallow recession, we are also an economy that is having a slow recovery."

Democrats are determined to make the economy a big issue in next year's elections. "The verdict is in: The Republicans' multi-trillion dollar failed economic policy is one the greatest disasters for working Americans in a decade," said Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

But now all is well again under President Obama!  Because 9.5% unemployment is -- well -- lookin'  good -- especially when we just spent a trillion dollars on a "stimulus" package to keep that number under 8%.  And if there's anything that's sure to create jobs, it's liberal tax-spend-regulate economic policies and a massive pile of federal debt! 

Of course, the lapdog media report all of this with their usual objectivity.

FBI: Homosexual Duke U. Official Attempted to Sell Adopted Black 5-Year Son for Sex

Why isn't this horrible story being covered?

The Duke official involved is the university's associate director of Center for Health Policy.

The story is already three days old.

CNN Hearts Iran's Mullahs

In covering the Iranian protests, CNN does what it does so well:  Spin the story.  CNN’s Shocking Suck-Up to Iran’s Fascists

"I think CNN should issue a correction or live forever in the journalistic hall of shame."  Agreed.

CNN Yanks Video From YouTube -- View It Here

By DemocracyRules

CNN is desperately trying to erase this video from the public memory.  As I write this, the authors, Founding Bloggers, have a fresh copy for viewing.

I smelled this coming, so I downloaded the video from YouTube before it was pulled.  You can download your own copy just by clicking here:

Download Chicago_Tax_Day_Tea_Party

The father who quotes Lincoln in the video just recently said he now fears for the safety of his family.

The video takes a moment to download, and then you will have it on your own computer.  (And of course you can send the link to all your friends, so they can download it too.) After it downloads, click on the file to see if it plays. If it doesn't, please note the file is in .flv format, so you will need a video player that can handle this type of file.

There are several good quality free video players that play .flv files.  My favorite is VLC media player.  It's free because it's written by a university research group.  Since many important YouTube videos get pulled, I find it handy to have my own .flv player.  VLC is useful because it will play movies and videos of almost any format.

Download VLC Media Player Here.

In fact the video is hardly controversial.  The CNN reporter spouts a bunch of left-wing falsehoods, but CNN already does that all day and night, 24/7.  The best part comes after the CNN report, when a tea party attendee rebuts the reporter's statements.  Finally, the political center gets to have a voice!

The reporter blames FOX News for the tea party phenomenon.  Ironically, the reporter applied to work for Fox on two occasions and was refused.

If you would like me to convert the video to a format that Windows Media Player can handle, please leave me a note in the comments.  Enjoy!

Pro Patria

It LOOKS Like Local News -- But It Really Just Today's Liberal Talking Points

Did you know that one out of three residents of [FILL IN YOUR STATE HERE] lacks health insurance?

It's a CRISIS! We need big government health care to fix it!  Because people can't fix their own problems!

Doug Ross noticed something this week:  The curious case of 200 nearly identical MSM headlines.  Hundreds of newspapers across the country ran headlines like this during the same 24-hour period -- and this is just a partial list of examples:

• Third of Illinoisans went without health insurance in last 2 years: Sun-Times
• Report: 2.5M in Michigan lacked health insurance: Chicago Tribune
• Study: 29% of Ohioans have gone without health insurance: BizJournals
• Report: More NJ residents lacking health insurance: Forbes
• Study: Many Kansans are uninsured: BizJournals
• Report tallies uninsured in Hawaii: KPUA AM 670
• Study: 1 in 3 Alabamians have no insurance: BizJournals
• 1 out of 4 NH residents lacked health insurance within last two years: WBZ
• 1 out of 3 Coloradans lacked insurance in past two years: Denver Post
• Nearly 1 in 3 Idahoans lack health insurance, study says: Idaho Statesman
• One in four nonelderly Minnesotans has been without health insurance, study shows: Twin Cities
• 1 in 3 are uninsured in Georgia, study says: Augusta Chronicle
• 1.3 million Louisiana residents uninsured: Independent
• Millions in N.C. lack health plan: Winston-Salem Journal
• Uninsured are mostly working: Sun-Herald
• Nearly one-third of Wyoming residents went without health insurance in past two years: Wyoming Tribune
• Report finds health insurance lacking in W.Va.: Charleston Gazette
• Nearly 1/3 Of Kentuckians Uninsured Says Report: WFPL Radio
• REPORT: 254K Rhode Islanders Uninsured at Some Point from 2007-2008: ABC 6

Doug Ross writes:

There are more. I just stopped listing them because I grew weary -- so weary -- of the physical labor associated with cutting and pasting.

All of the stories were marketed by a liberal "advocacy group" called Families USA.

According to Discover the Networks, Families USA is a member of the "Progressive States Network", which works closely with (you guessed it) ACORN and the SEIU. These ultra-partisan groups have truly one agenda: big government.

Doug Ross also lays out the actual statistics on uninsured Americans.  A huge chunk of them are illegal aliens -- at least 9.5 million -- whom Obama wants to encourage to come to America so that he can "count" them in the Census and get more Congressional seats for blue states.

About another 17 million are folks who could afford health insurance but prefer not to buy it.  Why?  Because most of them are healthy or are just between jobs and will have health insurance again within four months.  Many of them are probably also motivated by the fact that the law requires hospitals to treat them in an emergency even if they cannot pay. 

Gateway Pundit comments:

If you ever needed proof of a vast left wing conspiracy running through the media this would be it.

Dear Leader must have given them the order to start pushing his nationalized healthcare plan this week.

The problem here isn't the press release from Families USA.  The problem is that there are so many "reporters" who uncritically publish the leftist talking points that are sent to them as "news," as long as they fit their own political biases.

Will Rogers said that, if you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.  Sadly, I think we can add the making of the local news to that list.

Great News: Fred Thompson Replacing Bill O'Reilly's Radio Show

Great news!

Westwood One is pleased to announce the debut of The Fred Thompson Show on March 2, 2009. The show will replace The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly when the program ends its successful six-year run on February 27, 2009. Former U.S. senator and 2008 presidential candidate, Fred Thompson will share his views on politics, topical issues, pop culture and water cooler stories, as well as welcome guest interviews and take listener calls. The Fred Thompson Show will be a two-hour daily talk show and will air live Noon-2pm, Monday - Friday from the Westwood One studios in Washington DC.

"There is no prerequisite for a great talk show host, but if I were going to make one up, senator, presidential candidate, federal prosecutor, radio commentator, film and TV star would be a pretty good start," said Bart Tessler, EVP Westwood One News & Talk Programming.

A big improvement in the making.

In fairness to Bill O'Reilly, he tries to think independently -- and to that extent he has made some contribution as an exception to the predictable pablum of the liberal mass media.  But O'Reilly seems to lack a consistent  set of political and economic principles, and he tries to make up for his lack of consistency by being loud.

I don't know whether Thompson's show will be a hit, but he will certainly bring a coherent, commonsense philosophy to the microphone.

DemocracyRules Offers to Buy Cox Newspapers

By DemocracyRules

Apparently the Cox newspaper chain can’t afford a DC Bureau anymore.  No problem, I’ll do it!  I can do it myself, starting next Monday. I’ll run the whole DC bureau myself.  In fact, I hereby offer to buy the entire Cox newspaper chain for one dollar ($1).  Call me, we’ll do lunch.

Here’s my plan
(1) Get rid of all existing staff.  If they knew what they were doing, they would have done it by now.

(2) Hire a bunch of bloggers who are interested, and can write well.  No need to move to Washington, you can live wherever you want.

(3) Don’t duplicate any news story the big networks are covering.  If AP, Reuters, or the other news outlets are covering a story, it will be turned to garbage under their fingertips.

(4) Instead, for the big stories, run counter-stories, explaining how the other news people are lying their heads off.

(5) Mainly, write stories that focus on good news, including military advances and achievements, successful enforcement of the Constitution, good things that some politicians do, laws that work, policies that encourage self-reliance, citizen initiatives that work, viable plans to shrink government, and new ways to accelerate business growth.

(6) Get experts to write columns for free.  I know it’s a bizarre idea.  Most columns are written by pundits who have only a passing idea about their topics.  My columnists would include people like Bolton, Claudia Rosett, Gina Cobb, petroleum experts from Oil Week, economists like Captain Capitalism, etc.  People who can write and who know what they're talking about.

I wouldn’t pay them much, but they could push their books and other things like crazy in their columns.  That’s fine with me, a good columnist is usually a good book author.  They can even bind their columns together and publish those.

(7) No spin, no lies, no editorializing, no leftism, no garbage.  Just true and interesting stories, period.

(8) Put the bloggers and columnists on webcams and take over a TV channel.

I’ll have a blast, and make a mint. C’mon, let’s do it.

Pro Patria

U.S. Newspaper Ad Sales Plunge by $2 Billion

By DemocracyRules

(Blub)

Pro Patria

TV Networks "Need" Bailout -- DemocracyRules Steps In

By DemocracyRules

TV Network News Audience Shrinks Even During Election

TV Network ad revenue declines 13% this year, will get worse if Big 3 auto slow their advertising expenditures.  Only Obama and the Dems would rescue TV.

'Disgusting' Bias for Obama, Time Writer Admits

Most think TV news is biased, MSNBC is worst.  Internet cited as most reliable source.

Zogby Poll, commissioned by IFC.  Of those asked:
-- 38% consider the Internet the most reliable source of news.
-- 20% consider national TV news most reliable
-- 16% consider radio is the most reliable source.

"Which network do you trust for issues you consider the most important?"
-- Fox 39%
-- CNN 16%
-- MSNBC 15%.

"Do you believe the news you read and see is biased?"
-- Yes 73%
-- Yes (Republicans) 88.7%
-- Yes (Democrats) 57.5%

Garbage media remain silent about the connection between their desire for government rescue and their messianic support for Obama.

DemocracyRules proposes rescue plan for MSM:  Free one-way boat rides to Cuba.

Pro Patria

Journalists Reflect on Election 2008

  

New York Times Continues Dying

By DemocracyRules

It's controlled by Commies and Islamists anyway.  Let it die, that freedom may flourish.

Pro Patria