What happens when a taxpayer-funded Cold War relic outlives its original reason for existence

In the case of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, it becomes a tool of leftist propaganda, and we get opinion pieces like this review of former president George W. Bush's new book.

This is just like the situation with National Public Radio.  RFE/RL is welcome to express or republish whatever opinions it likes, but let it do so without a dime of my money.

(It's probably just a coincidence that Hillary Clinton serves on the Board of Governors overseeing RFE/RL)

This is what fawning media coverage looks like

I still laugh when I hear Democrats complain that Fox News is the only biased news channel out there.  Thanks to NewsBusters, we have a sampling of how CBS and ABC waxed rhapsodic as they covered Obama’s signing of the health care “reform” law.

CBS Evening News’ Harry Smith, as a graphic of Obama’s signature was displayed:

This is what history looks like, as it came from the hand of President Obama today with 22 different pen strokes comprising his signature.

ABC World News’ Diane Sawyer lost no time insinuating that the Republicans are against Americans having health insurance:

Good evening. As of today, it is the law of the land that every man, woman and child in America will have health care coverage. And at the White House, the President signed the bill and marked this day in history, while Republican opponents marshaled forces, hoping to undo the law...

ABC also reported seriously on a bit of political theater at Ted Kennedy’s grave.  Said Sawyer:

You heard the President pay tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy, who devoted his career to health care reform. But there was another quiet tribute at the Senator's grave. A note left by his son, Congressman Patrick Kennedy. It said simply: 'Dad -- the unfinished business is done.'

Inexplicably, the graphic also showed that the gravestone was also covered with dead insects.  Not sure of the symbolism there.



So…. tell me again about Fox News?

If Obama’s opponents REALLY were motivated by racism…

Neal Boortz today has a slam-dunk retort to those intellectual featherweights who insist that opponents of Obama’s policies are driven by racism:

So .. here is what Jimmy Carter, Bill Moyers, Hank Johnson, much of the Washington and New York press corps, Newsweek Magazine and the brilliant thinkers on the American left would have you believe of Americans right now:

• We would be more than willing to welcome cap-and-trade with open arms, even if we paid a thousand dollars or more extra every year for our energy use, if Barack Obama were only white.
• We would be dancing in the streets celebrating the dawning of government control of our health care if only Barack Obama were white.
• It would be just dandy if government bureaucrats rationed health care for our parents, as long as the president is white.
• We would jump at the chance of the government owning ALL of the auto manufacturing companies .. not just General Motors ... if the president just didn't have dark skin.
• We would applaud those ACORN workers giving tax avoidance advice to a pimp and his prostitute if the workers hadn't been black.
• Most Americans - even ones that don't pay income taxes now - would be more than willing to give 70% of everything they earn to the federal government when asked ... so long as they are asked by a white president.
• We would have been thrilled, I tell you ... THRILLED to have all of those Islamic goons being held at Guantanamo be not only released, but sent to be school resource officers at our local government schools, if only a white president put that plan in motion.
• It would be OK if a white president stood back and allowed Iran to build its coveted nukes ... we're only unhappy about that because a black president is doing it.
• Deficits? We don't care about deficits! Make our children and grand children and great grand children pay through the nose for our president's spending habits ... just so long as the president isn't black.
• Government pork? Like we actually care? Look ... you folks in Washington can spend all the money you want - how about more studies of the mating habits of Polish Zlotnika pigs? - just make sure it's not a black president who signs the spending bill into law.
• We wouldn't care if all illegal aliens were counted twice in the next Census ... just so long as the president isn't black.
• Those Black Panther thugs who threatened voters in Philly? The ONLY reason we're upset that they were given a pass is because Barack Obama is black.
• Every single member of the president's cabinet could be a tax cheat as far as we're concerned ... just so long as the president is white.
• Forced unionization? Bring it on! We love card check! We love the idea of union goons threatening and intimidating workers to sign a card saying they want to belong to a union! What we don't like is that a black president is pushing this idea.
• Single-party talks with that Gargoyle that runs North Korea? It's about time we legitimized that little pipsqueak. We're only mildly upset here because the person who is doing that happens to be black.
• More regulation of the finance sector? We could care less! For all we care you can nationalize the banks and decree that only the government can make home loans .. .and you can even apportion those home loans on the basis of race if you want to ... just so long as the president is white!
• Minimum wage? Like we care about that? Raise it to $15 an hour if you want! Just give us our white president back.

Remember, though: These folks are not interested in the truth.  They are interested in accumulating and retaining power. In this quest, the end justifies the means.

Joe Wilson was right at the wrong time

I think Rep. Wilson should have exercised better self control during the president's speech.

Even though Wilson was correct -- Obama was lying about what was in the health care legislation -- his outburst was outrageous enough that the news cycle could be devoted completely to the outburst itself rather than to the substance of his charge. For the media, this was an easy choice.

Accept your rebuke, congressman, and get back into the fight (but more tactfully from now on, please).

Ziegler: The truth about Sarah Palin’s resignation

Excerpt from an outstanding essay by John Ziegler at Big Hollywood.  The entire essay is well worth the read.

This will evidently come as a complete shock to nearly every member of the media elite, but not everyone in public life is a manipulative and cynical liar, and not every person who has a shot at being President must live their lives to pursue that end no matter the costs to the public good, their family and their personal sanity. The Sarah Palin I know is at least one person in that position who is sufficiently well-grounded and secure enough in themselves and their values to not succumb to this illness of hyper-ambition. She is more than capable of putting something else above her own selfish, short-term political self-interest. You would think that a just society might reward that kind of person and not crucify them, but it has been long since clear that we don’t live in that kind of place. 
The bottom line is that Sarah Palin resigned simply because she was no longer allowed to do her job in a way that benefited her state and family. She saw that if she stayed on as Governor it would cost the state millions of dollars in wasted time and resources and doom it to gridlock. She knew that it would also continue to cost her family hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend against false and maliciously filed ethics complaints. And she had simply had enough of her children being fodder for inappropriate public attacks.
That’s it. Those are the facts and I’m positive there’s nothing else. There is ABSOLUTELY no hidden scandal (or as CNN’s hack Rick Sanchez “reported,” an unplanned pregnancy) and this was NOT a poorly executed ploy to ignite a 2012 Presidential run. Sarah Palin simply came to the “remarkable” conclusion that stepping down was the right thing to do for the greater good. How sad is it that so many in media (including a whole lot of “conservatives”) can’t even begin to see this obvious reality.

The truth about Honduras (SPREAD THE WORD)

The following is written by a longtime Christian missionary in Honduras (known personally to members of a sister church there). Please do your part to counter the 'coup' nonsense that we're being fed by the media and our government!

(Map credit: geology.com)

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Date: Sunday, July 5, 2009, 4:40 PM
Dear Friends,
This has been a very difficult and yet productive trip. At this point we need your prayers more than ever. Tensions are very high here in the capital of Tegucigalpa. Thankfully, we met some people here with military and police connections that offered to get us to a safe house if need be. Praying that will not be needed, but grateful God gave us that option. Many here think we will need it...
There have been unidentified planes and helicopters in Honduran airspace. The military was able to chase some away, but one helicopter is lost. The airspace over Honduras is closed because Zelaya threatened to come back today. Apparently he is in El Salvador now.
Who knows how long it will take for this drama to play out. We are praying hard to get out by Tuesday and head to Washington with our findings for the congressman who asked us to do a report. On this end we have been asked to assist a group of Honduran government officials get their information into the right hands when and if they leave for DC this week.
We are so incredibly sad that the American people know little about this situation and what they do know are mostly lies. We beg you to pass this email to anyone on your email list and to any government officials you know.
See link below for some more interesting background information:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/carlos_alberto_montaner/2009/07/preventing_a_honduran_bloodbat.html?hpid=talkbox1
In the last few weeks before the President was arrested for treason hundreds and hundreds (I have heard everything from 800 to 2000) Venezuelans were granted entrance to this country. We were told that they were given Honduran passports. These are counter-intelligence and military people whose prime job is to organize mobs and create chaos. They have much experience in these things. What Zelaya, Chavez, and the Castro brothers want more than anything is a bloodbath here to intimidate the population into allowing Zelaya back in the country as President.
Chaos is what this President has specialized in the past few months. He has tried to destabilize the country in every way he can. Class struggle is something that this regime really poked and stoked. It is true that Honduras needs to do more for its poor, but at the government level everything was a pinata. Not much assistance ever got to the poor.
This former President is a known narco-trafficker, allowing planes to land at the capital's airport loaded with drugs and cash. Our own government has documentation on this - it has not been released to Congress. Our government is advocating this thug be placed back in power. He broke 18 laws of the country - and by the Honduran constitution some of these laws he broke called for him to cease immediately to be the President of the country.
This was in no way a military coup. The military is not in power. They acted on the orders of their Supreme Court!
The grave mistake the government made here was not arresting the President, but letting him go free! Had they jailed him, the International community could not find fault with the current government. The only reason the government did what they did in whisking him off to freedom was because they had no idea who was in place in Honduras to create chaos. Many of the police and had been paid off by the President and they did not want bloodshed.
The thugs supporting Zelaya, many of them paid rioters brought in from every corner of the poorest of the poor areas are bombing, shooting, throwing grenades, burning things, and trying to scare the people here into giving in and letting Zelaya back.
We have talked to the poor and many of them tell us they prefer to eat only tortillas and salt rather than live under a Chavez puppet. The poor that Zelaya promised to help have received nothing in three and a half years of his presidency. He has bankrupted the country, most of the money that came in for aid is unaccounted for - presumably stolen by Zelaya. He provided NO BUDGET for the country for 2009 nor funding for the upcoming elections. He refused to release the funds putting their November elections in jeopardy.
He did manage to hand over 100 Venezuelan or Chinese tractors to the poor that cannot be maintained or fixed. Magnificent! Even the poor are laughing their heads off over that one.
I saw many poor people at the marches here carrying signs that said THE PEOPLE ARE NOT STUPID. They have somehow managed to inform themselves of the issues. That alone amazes me. The masses are waking up. The poor we know here have called Zelaya a crook for the last two years or more. In the beginning I think a lot of them had hope for change. No more.
CNN has been propagating the most ridiculous lies about what is going on here. One of their chief correspondists is married to some high ranking Sandanista - so much for objectivity.
Yesterday a friend in the states sent me an article about how the Honduran Military is a bunch of thugs and torturers. So really, why if the military are such thugs did they not torture Zelaya and take over the country? They were acting on orders of their Supreme Court who ordered them to arrest the treasonous President, a President who in a matter of a few hours was prepared to dissolve the contstitution and throw out the Congress!
All evidence we have says the US government was begging the Honduran Congress to let the President go ahead with his illegal referendum and then when the chaos began the US would back the Hondurans. Really? Like we did with the Iranians when their election was stolen and blood ran in their streets? I understand the Iranian situation is complicated, but it took forever to even condemn their actions of shooting innocent protesters. The Hondurans had zero confidence in the US to back them if bloodshed resulted. All they sought was peace and the legitimate removal of this man from power.
The Honduran people are devastated that the United States has not only abandoned them but actually insists they return a traitor, liar, and theif to power. Justice does not prevail here. Reason does not prevail here. Politics do, and innocent people may die.
In our villages, fifty years ago, the Nicaraguans came in and fought one very evil guerilla battle. Some of our friends there told us of their family members' heads being chopped off and placed on fence posts. Pregnant women's bellies were slashed open so that they and their children died. It is very much feared in our villages that these demonic deeds will happen again.
An army colonel we spoke with yesterday told us that the guerillas are already in place to intimidate the people not to fight. And armies are mobilizing according to the President.
Americans have always stood on the side of the underdog. Honduras has been our ally and friend helping us stand against communism for decades. Now is not the time to abandon them. Stop the politics! Do what is right!
Please help us by passing this information to anyone you know. I am sorry I do not have time to answer each of you individually. But your notes of encouragement have meant the world to us. This is a very scary time. We are holed up in a hotel that is only a block from the Presidential Palace and a place where it is feared will be a lot of violence.
Our mission here is nearly accomplished. One or two more meetings tomorrow with the very highest level officials and then we need to get out of here and head to Washington.
On a positive note we have been introduced to a slew of people that can help us advance the work with the children in Honduras if we survive this mess. We are very encouraged about that. This country will be a whole new nation once this is over and our ideas about working with the youth are being well received. Many are asking to learn more, come and see our work, and help mentor the youth!!!
Please pray for Honduras. Please send this to all your friends. Please bombard Washington with a plea for justice.
Love to all,
[Name withheld for safety's sake]

---

UPDATE: July 3 photo from LA Times:

Zelaya supporters are not ashamed to make known who their hero is. Make no mistake – left-wing leaders throughout the Americas are upset because the people and government of Honduras refuse to go quietly into the Marxist abyss.
This is a significant challenge to the ambitions of Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, Raul Castro & co. Don’t think for a moment that they’ll back down from the challenge.
Honduras is in for a rough ride, and it looks to be a lonely one.

John McCain, unwitting propagandist for the Obama administration

It looks like Sen. John McCain has provided President Obama with a soundbite to use in his 2012 reelection campaign.  AP, June 22:

Sen. John McCain says his opponent in last year's presidential campaign, Barack Obama, has "done well" in his first five months in the White House.

The Arizona Republican says that using a legislative scorecard to judge the presidency so far, Obama has achieved all his legislative goals.

McCain appears to have based his assessment on the technical fact that Obama has accomplished his major legislative goals.  He does not appear to be endorsing those legislative accomplishments.

If that is the case, the senator would have “done well” to have chosen his words a little more carefully.   The Obama administration and its state-run media will downplay the context of his remark, and will play it as an endorsement of Obama’s policies.

How could they pass up a gift like this?

PETA: Beyond parody

President Obama swats a fly, and if we can believe the media, everyone is in awe of the skill with which he dispatched the pest.  It’s certainly the most significant thing going on in the world this week.

Well, not everyone is in awe.  The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is complaining that Obama was wrong to murder the fly, because the fly is, you know, just a tiny animal, and it’s not ethical to kill animals (unless, of course, PETA itself carries out the death sentence).

AP reports that PETA wants Obama to set the example for us by practicing humane catch-and-release for this most maligned of pests:

The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's bedeviled by a fly in the White House.

PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.

"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals," PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals."

ABC becomes a more explicit propaganda arm of the Obama administration

One of the first principles of the MSM’s marriage to the Democrat Party is that they’re supposed to deny the existence of the relationship at all times. The ABC television network is violating this principle in a way that is raising a lot of eyebrows.

Drudge is reporting today that on June 24, ABC is planning to give president Obama a free, unchallenged bully pulpit to promote his health care agenda.

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda:

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

ABC will lead up to this event with a week and a half of promotions.

The Republican National Committee challenged ABC News to either allow opposing viewpoints or to make the Democratic National Committee pay for the airtime. ABC News Senior Vice President Kerry Smith sniffed in response:

"ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers -- of all political persuasions -- even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue.

"ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."

In other words, ABC says the balance will come through questions asked by its handpicked audience. They promise. Trust them.

Even if some audience member managed to slip a good question past ABC’s censors, that’s not the same thing as a high-profile opponent offering reasoned debate.

The fact of the matter is, ABC is acting as a willing shill for Obama’s agenda, and their protests to the contrary are sounding more and more pathetic as time goes on.