MTV aims to make a profit airing a show about a pregnant teen deciding to abort her baby, and the best media writers can muster is to call it a “sensitive issue.” An MTV Special to be aired at 11:30pm Dec. 28, “No Easy Decision” is a half-hour program that follows a teen mom’s tragic decision to abort her child. The media coverage leading up to the program’s air date has merely glossed over the murderous reality that is abortion, and used terms like “sensitive issue,” “wrenching decision” and “ostracized party guest” to downplay the severity of infanticide. The most egregious example of glossing over the impact of abortion comes from Linda Lowen at about.com. Lowen twists the media's lack of interest in abortion into some fantasy victimhood like a socially awkward teen at a party. read more
Continue reading …enlarge Credit: Nicole Sandler (Ed. note: We invited Nicole Sandler to blog here to announce her new site, designed to help 99ers find support and work.) Last week, while guest hosting The Randi Rhodes Show and discussing the unexpected but wonderful progress made in the lame duck session of Congress, we began talking about the group of Americans who’ve been left out in the cold: the 99ers . I wanted to something to help them, so I spent Christmas weekend building Helpthe99ers.com . The 99ers . That’s the name given to the millions of people who lost their jobs during the Bush almost-a-depression-recession, and have now exhausted all of their unemployment benefits. President Obama “negotiated” a big deal just weeks ago that, I supposed, paved the way for the lame duck Congress to repeal DADT, give health care to the 9-11 first responders, pass a food safety bill and ratify the new START treaty. He agreed to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans in return for the big Republican concession — a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits, something that they should have (and likely would have) agreed to anyway. But what most people don’t realize is that the 13-month extension doesn’t extend the benefits for the unemployed… it just allows the current unemployment benefits programs to continue operating, giving people benefits for up to a maximum of 99 weeks, for another 13 months. But if you’re a “99er” — if you’ve exhausted your benefits, you’re likely feeling quite forgotten right now. From the Obama-GOP tax cut “compromise” to the very productive not-so-lame duck session of Congress, there was nothing for the 99ers. So, last week on the Randi Rhodes Show, we were talking about the plight of the 99ers, and people began calling in with their stories. I knew I needed to do something, though I’m not in much better shape than they are! I’m also unemployed. Or, I guess, under employed. My last regular paycheck stopped coming on January 21, 2010 when Air America radio filed Chapter 7 and closed its doors. I immediately moved my show online, where it continues to this day Monday through Thursday mornings from 10-noon ET at www.radioornot.com . It doesn’t come with a paycheck, but I don’t collect unemployment, as I’m now technically self-employed. In addition to doing some voiceover work, voicetracking, web work, and other odd jobs, I’m honored to guest host the Randi Rhodes Show when she’s out or on vacation, as is the case for these last two weeks of the year. So, I was trying to figure out what I could do, and I came up with the idea of www.HelpThe99ers.com , where people in need can post their stories, and those fortunate enough to be in a position to help can contact them directly. The main part of the site is The Help Board . In addition to a general discussion area and a jobs area (where people can post their skills, employers can post openings, and entrepreneurs can share ideas), there’s a section for 99ers to tell their stories, organized by states. My idea and wish is that people who can help will read the stories and reach out to those who touch them the most. The site is set up so that people can contact one another directly. But it will only work if people use it. So, if you’re in need, post your story. If you can help someone, please do. And please help spread the word.
Continue reading …October wasn’t a good month for sales of single-family homes in the U.S.—in fact, it was pretty dismal—and you know it’s bad when number-crunching economist types say there’s nothing good to say about not only the current moment but the foreseeable future as well.
Continue reading …Click here to view this media We all saw what a vicious hypocrite John McCain really is last week when he voted against the DREAM Act — a bill he not only sponsored, but campaigned before Latinos on. Now he’s justifying his mendacious flip-flop by complaining that Latinos turned their backs on him: McCain also voted no Saturday on the Dream Act, which would have granted citizenship to thousands of foreign-born college students. He initially sponsored the legislation. Gullett said McCain constantly faced voters on the campaign trail last year asking about border security and that affected his stance. His communications director, Brooke Buchanan, explained that on immigration, McCain believes the border needs to be secured above all else, citing the increasing border violence over the last four years. “His opinion has evolved with time,” she said. “Don’t we expect our leaders to base their opinions and policies, don’t we expect them to change with the time? And that’s what Sen. McCain has been doing. It’s truly in the best interest of our country.” Woods said “it hurts” McCain to vote against legislation like the Dream Act after years of working on reform but said the senator felt betrayed when Latinos overwhelmingly supported Obama in 2008. “When you carry that fight at great sacrifice year after year and then you are abandoned during the biggest fight of your life, it has to have some sort of effect on you,” he said. But as Kos observes, McCain actually threw Latinos under the bus in January 2008, during the Republican presidential debates : MS. HOOK: Senator McCain, let me just take the issue to you, because you obviously have been very involved in it. During this campaign, you, like your rivals, have been putting the first priority, heaviest emphasis, on border security. But your original immigration proposal back in 2006 was much broader and included a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are already here. What I’m wondering is, and you seem to be downplaying that part, at this point, if your original proposal came to a vote in the Senate floor, would you vote for it? SEN. MCCAIN: It won’t. It won’t. That’s why we went through the debate. MS. HOOK: I know, but what if it did? SEN. MCCAIN: No, I would not, because we know what the situation is today. The people want the border secured first. And so to say that that would come to the floor of the Senate, it won’t. We went through various amendments which prevented that ever, that proposal. He also backed the bus back up and ran over Latinos again in May, on Bill O’Reilly’s show: Bill O’Reilly: But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you’re a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right. So I say you’ve got to cap with a number. John McCain: In America today we’ve got a very strong economy and low unemployment, so we need addition farm workers, including by the way agriculture, but there may come a time where we have an economic downturn, and we don’t need so many. [crosstalk] O’Reilly: But in this bill, you guys have got to cap it. Because estimation is 12 million, there may be 20 [million]. You don’t know, I don’t know. We’ve got to cap it. McCain: We do, we do. I agree with you. A few months later, McCain held a secret meeting with Latinos in which he told Latinos, again, that he really was their friend — but just didn’t want them to tell anyone about it. Yeah, Latinos betrayed McCain. Like Jesus betrayed Judas.
Continue reading …Matthew Boyle of The Daily Caller reported the “Diversity Committee” of the Society of Professional Journalists wants a yearlong “education campaign designed to inform and sensitize journalists” that the words “illegal immigrant” are hurtful and insensitive. In an article for the SPJ magazine The Quill, reporter Leo Laurence insisted that since our legal system presumes innocence until proven guilty, “Simply put, only a judge, not a journalist, can say that someone is an illegal.” (The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has also argued that the I-word unfairly “criminalizes a person.”) At the national convention in Las Vegas, the Diversity Committee resolution urged journalists to use the phrase “undocumented immigrant(s), and avoid both “illegal immigrant” or “illegal alien.” In several MRC studies of TV immigration coverage, we found the networks still primarily use “illegal immigrants,” but some journalists (like CBS's Harry Smith) used “undocumented” as a matter of routine. Laurence explained: read more
Continue reading …The holiday 2010 season is destined to go down in wintry infamy for countless would-be travelers, and even residents just trying to get around already in New York City. Here’s a few of them giving their appraisal of the snowy situation in the Big Apple on Tuesday. Related Entries December 27, 2010 White Christmas December 25, 2010 38 Dead in Christmas Attacks
Continue reading …“The last American soldier will leave Iraq” after the pre-negotiated 2011 deadline, regardless of any rumblings among American officials, says Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The status of forces agreement governing the U.S. military presence in Iraq, Maliki adds, “is not subject to extension, not subject to alteration, it is sealed, it expires on Dec. 31 [2011].” The Wall Street Journal: WSJ: Some American officials have spoken about contingency plans being drawn now in Washington for the possibility that some American troops will stay after 2011. Do you know about these contingency plans, and do you need troops? Mr. Maliki: I do not care about what’s being said. I care about what’s on paper and what has been agreed to. The withdrawal of forces agreement [Status of Forces Agreement or SOFA] expires on Dec. 31, 2011. The last American soldier will leave Iraq. Secondly this agreement is sealed and at the time we designated it as sealed and not subject to extension, except if the new government with Parliament’s approval wanted to reach a new agreement with America, or another country, that’s another matter. This agreement is not subject to extension, not subject to alteration, it is sealed, it expires on Dec. 31 [2011]. Read more Related Entries December 27, 2010 White Christmas December 25, 2010 38 Dead in Christmas Attacks
Continue reading …The Russian government would like certain of its Western counterparts, particularly Germany and the U.S., to know that their critiques of the Russian justice system’s approach to the trial of sometime Putin antagonist and oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky are unwelcome at this time. Both nations have expressed concerns about the potential role of local politics in Khodorkovsky’s extortion trial, but their judgments have since been met with a clear message: Butt out.
Continue reading …It’s a golden era in government! No more wasteful spending or cronyism! It’s a brave new day, where integrity rules every single thing the new Tea Party politicians do: By the way, this same daughter, Lauren LePage, went to school in Florida, where she paid in-state tuition –because LePage’s wife violated tax laws by claiming residency in both Maine and Florida. (She was eventually ordered to pay back taxes). In other words, business as usual. Teabaggers, you were suckered: With the strong backing of the tea party movement, Maine Gov.-elect Paul LePage (R) rode a wave of discontent over bull semen taxes to a surprising victory last month, telling President Obama to “ go to to hell ” and warning a reporter that he would punch him in the face . On the campaign trail, LePage raged against a what he considered a corrupt state government and “pledged to surround himself with ‘the best and the brightest’ and to avoid political cronyism .” But on Thursday, LePage announced that he had hired his own 22-year-old daughter for a position in the “upper echelon of his administration,” with a salary of $41,000, the Bangor Daily News reports : Lauren LePage, 22, will serve as assistant to the governor’s chief of staff, John McGough — a position that administration officials describe as entry-level and is commensurate with her experience, work history and education. LePage, a recent college graduate, will be a salaried political appointee earning approximately $41,000 a year, according to Dan Demeritt, incoming director of communications in the LePage administration. Maine governors have wide discretion in creating staff positions within their offices, filling those positions and setting salaries . Because such appointments are political positions — known as “special assistants to the governor” — there are no rules barring Maine’s chief executive from hiring family members . According to the current administration, the average entry level salary is $30,000 .” Indeed, the minimum starting salary for a certified teachers in Maine is only $30,000, and that requires extra study. Meanwhile, the entry-level salary for a Maine State Police officer is just $36,000 after graduation from the police academy. And as Maine progressive blog Dirigo Blue points out, LePage’s daughter will also be moving into the governor’s mansion with her father. With taxpayers footing the bill for her rent, utilities, food, and other expenses, “Not only will Lauren be earning $41,000 in direct income, but she’ll be making another $12,000 or more indirectly.” Maine Democrats Executive Director Mary Erin Casale called the hiring a “ brazen display of political nepotism ,” but LePage aides said the position is “entry-level and is commensurate with her experience, work history and education.”
Continue reading …On the Wednesday, December 22, Nightline on ABC, inspired by recent extreme weather, correspondent Dan Harris filed a report on global warming in which he gave attention to the views of a proponent of global warming theory, while giving a lesser amount of attention to two skeptics, one of whom he labeled “controversial.” Harris related that, “despite all that compelling evidence” of global warming, climate scientists “feel more embattled than ever,” taking heat from “politicians on the right.” He even went so far as to highlight examples of reported harassment of climate scientists, including anti-Semitic insults. Harris also concluded his report passing on a warning from scientists that there will be more “extremely deadly weather” in the future “if the world doesn’t act very quickly”: Corbyn is now predicting a mini ice age in the coming years. However, the vast, vast majority of climate scientists disagree and say, if you like this year’s extreme and extremely deadly weather, you’ll likely get much more if the world doesn’t act very quickly. read more
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